However the story ends with Nature anticipating the violence that will happen. For instance the trees have “angled braches”, “tips and edges” which “gleam with the quivering shine of scattered quicksilver”. These phrases suggest and conjure up images of shiny, metallic weapons associated with death and violence. In addition, the moon comes out “from behind the bands of cloud”, and it “clung for a while to the leaves”. The word “quivering” and the moon’s emergence also suggest the Nature is waiting for the impending beating. La Guma’s depiction of Nature condoning the violence, shows that Nature has made a paradoxal U-turn from its initial position of condemning racism. This shows the Nature’s perversion and contributes to the story’s stability by reinforcing his message that racism should be condemned.
La Guma uses contradictions to signal something is wrong. He does this by describing clouds which hang like “dirty cotton wool in the sky”. Since clouds are usually pure white, a colour that symbolizes innocence and beauty, the fact that these clouds are dirty suggests that the beauty of nature has been spoilt. He also describes the “sharp, bitter-sweet citrus smell” of the lemons lingering “gently on the night air”. The oxymoron and the contrasting words create a sense of uneasiness and tension. The description of the physical setting also reinforces the idea that something foreboding is going to happen. The dogs stop barking and the crickets become silent. Through these contradictions and physical setting, he implies that racism should be condemned.
His portrayal of the white leader achieves a similar effect. He wears a “shooting jacket” and carries a “loaded shotgun”. This suggests that he is prepared to kill. The leader’s face is invisible signifying anonymity, and creating a sense of horror and danger, because we cannot tell who it is, meaning it could be anyone, therefore hinting how widespread racism really is. The leader’s eyes were like “two frozen lakes”, implying that he is cold and inhuman. The leader’s face is full of lines that look like a “map”, which suggests that he is a representation of his country, and further supports that racism is very common throughout South Africa.
The empathy we feel for the teacher’s plight and our admiration for his courage and quiet dignity leads us to criticise the whites’ racist treatment of him. The teacher is the only one not “warmly dressed”. “His fear was mixed with stubbornness which forbade him to answer them”. He refrains from shivering in the cold “in case it should be mistaken for cowardice”. “Speaking with a mixture of dignity and contempt”. The fact that nature has actually chosen sides against the black teacher is extremely significant. It suggests a frightening sense of isolation where the defenceless teacher is left all alone as the white people gang up on him, cheered on by Nature.
The use of irony furthermore strengthens La Guma’s message that racism should be deplored. There is dramatic irony when the leader threatens to shoot the black man because he demands “respect from these donders”. Through this act of threatening to shoot a defenceless man in the back, shows extreme cowardice and makes it clear to the reader that he certainly does not deserve respect. The lantern carrier remarks that “this is a good place as any” for the beating to occur, but we know that there can’t be anything ‘good’ about a place where you beat someone. Also they are beating the black man in the dark, not in broad daylight, which further enforces the face that the real cowards are the white men.
He uses diction and imagery to symbolise the defilement of the physical setting and the distortion of Nature. Towards the end of the story, he uses words such as “crouched” and “harsh” suggest brutality and the image of a predator waiting to pounce on its prey. These words combined with phrases such as “chill in the air” creates a sense of malevolence. The phrase “blended into solid strips of high pitched sound” appears to be foreshadowing the whipping that will occur, conjuring up an image of a whip, tearing off ‘strips’ of flesh, and the reader can almost hear the ‘high-pitched’ screams of the black man. The word crushed also generates an image of an explosion of blood from the black man. The “harsh whispering” and the “pleasant scent of lemons” totally contradict each other, symbolising the internal conflict that suffers with the soul of Nature.
La Guma’s concerns on the issue of prejudice are conveyed very strongly through his writing. The reader is able to share La Guma’s feelings by reading how the black man is treated in the story. This story provides a basis of motivation for readers to do something about the expansion of racism.
Written By Victor Li