How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Yes, there are a hundred, and a thousand voices crying. But what does one do, when one cries this thing, and one cries another? Who knows how we shall fashion a land of peace where black outnumbers white so greatly. Some say that the earth has bounty enough for all, and that more for one does not mean less for another, that the advance of one does not mean the decline of another. […] And others say this is a danger, for better paid labour will not only buy more but will also read more, think more, ask more, and will not be content to be forever voiceless and inferior.
Who knows how we shall fashion such a land? For we fear not only the loss of our possessions, but the loss of our superiority and the loss of our whiteness. (1.12.39-40)
The "we" and "our" in this passage suggests that the narrator is speaking from the perspective of a white person. How does this subtle white perspective at the level of the narration affect your sense of this book's racial politics? Do you think that the book asks a particular set of questions because it starts with an assumption of "our whiteness"? Also, what does Paton view as the primary problem that prevents white people from overcoming their racism in South Africa? What are some of the reasons he gives for why there is so much prejudice among white South Africans?
Quote #8
"He thought and acted slowly, no doubt because he lived in the slow tribal rhythm; and he had seen that this could irritate those who were with him." (1.16.1)
When Kumalo first talks to Absalom's girlfriend after Absalom has been arrested, he asks her how old she is, and she says that she doesn't know. This sense that the black characters do not keep track of time appears in other parts of the books, as, for example, when Kumalo thinks of his own slowness in the second passage. What do you think the second passage's "slow tribal rhythm" is? How does it differ from other ways of keeping time? And how is it possible that time itself can be faster or slower for characters from different races and cultures?
Quote #9
Indeed Ixopo was full of Afrikaners now, whereas once there had been none of them. For all the police were Afrikaners, and the post-office clerks, and the men at the railway-station, and the village people got on well with them one way and the other. Indeed, many of them had married English speaking girls, and that was happening all over the country. His own father had sworn that he would disinherit any child of his who married an Afrikaner, but times had changed. (2.18.12)
Here, Paton shows something complicated about race in South Africa. Not only are there huge, awful divisions between black and white communities, but there is also prejudice between language groups within the white population of South Africa. The Afrikaners speak Afrikaans, a language that comes from the Dutch spoken by 17th-century settlers in southern Africa. Historically, there has been a lot of conflict between these Afrikaners and the British settlers who came to South Africa later on, largely in pursuit of South Africa's mineral wealth.
In this passage, we see that Jarvis's father would have "disinherit[ed] any child of his who married an Afrikaner." But now, "times had changed." So if the Afrikaners and the British can learn to get along, the novel seems to imply, surely times will also change for black and white South Africans?