The Power of One is a novel by South African born Australian author
Bryce Courtenay that was first published in 1989, has been
translated into many languages and has sold over 8 million copies. It was his first novel, published when he was in his 50s, which only goes to show, it’s never too late. It’s a
novel set in South Africa in the 1930s – 1950s which tells the story of a
boy who becomes known to all
as Peekay (a reference to Pisskop; Afrikaans for Pisshead), a nickname
he acquired at the age of five as the only English boy in an Afrikaans boarding
school.
I loved this book. I picked it up because a college friend on
Facebook raved about it last year, and I’m so glad I did. It reminds
me of a book that captivated me as a child, I Am David by Anne Holm, which was about a boy, David, who has grown up in a concentration camp somewhere in Eastern Europe but is
allowed to escape one day and must find his way to Demark to find a woman who turns out to be
his mother. His journey transforms him into a human. Seriously, he learns to laugh, to cry, and to
have fun. I think I flashback to that book now because it is also a
historical fiction with a first perspective narrative by a boy with
great courage, hope, and kindness who is discovering the world around
him.
Facebook raved about it last year, and I’m so glad I did. It reminds
me of a book that captivated me as a child, I Am David by Anne Holm, which was about a boy, David, who has grown up in a concentration camp somewhere in Eastern Europe but is
allowed to escape one day and must find his way to Demark to find a woman who turns out to be
his mother. His journey transforms him into a human. Seriously, he learns to laugh, to cry, and to
have fun. I think I flashback to that book now because it is also a
historical fiction with a first perspective narrative by a boy with
great courage, hope, and kindness who is discovering the world around
him.
Also told as a first person narrative in over 500 pages, in The Power of
One, Peekay shares with us the feelings and thoughts he had as a child
growing up. We start when he is but just a toddler living with his
grandfather on their farm, his mother in a mental hospital, and a Zulu
wet-nurse and nanny who he loves and who loves him. He gets sent to an Afrikaans boarding
school though he is not quite old enough where he is the only
English boy and there he is bullied and beaten by the older boys, one in
particular who is a Nazi sympathizer referred to as “the Judge”. He
begins to wet his bed so when he returns home during the first school break, his nanny
calls in a powerful Zulu medicine-man, Inkosi-Inkosikazi, to cure him of his night water. He is
not only cured but acquires the belief in self and the ability to
overcome his fears. He returns to school with a new outlook on life and though he continues to be mistreated survives through camouflage of his emotions.
One, Peekay shares with us the feelings and thoughts he had as a child
growing up. We start when he is but just a toddler living with his
grandfather on their farm, his mother in a mental hospital, and a Zulu
wet-nurse and nanny who he loves and who loves him. He gets sent to an Afrikaans boarding
school though he is not quite old enough where he is the only
English boy and there he is bullied and beaten by the older boys, one in
particular who is a Nazi sympathizer referred to as “the Judge”. He
begins to wet his bed so when he returns home during the first school break, his nanny
calls in a powerful Zulu medicine-man, Inkosi-Inkosikazi, to cure him of his night water. He is
not only cured but acquires the belief in self and the ability to
overcome his fears. He returns to school with a new outlook on life and though he continues to be mistreated survives through camouflage of his emotions.
When the next
school break comes, he learns that the family farm has been sold, his
mother has returned home as a born-again Christian, and his nanny sent away
for refusing to convert to Christianity. On his long train ride to the
new family home, he meets Hoppie Groenwald, who inspires him to be
the welterweight champion of the world. Mind you, he is still about six years old. It is Hoppie that teaches Peekay
the phrase “First with the head, then with the heart”. In his new home
he meets “Doc”, an eccentric elderly German professor who becomes his
best friend and from whom he learns many other life lessons as well as
an appreciation for nature and the power of observation. When World War
II breaks out, “Doc” is imprisoned, essentially for being German and undocumented, and Peekay continues to visit him in prison, joining the prison boxing squad, and developing sympathy for the
prisoners, who are mostly African of different ethnic groups, and who in
turn turn him into a living legend, the great chief “Tadpole Angel”.
school break comes, he learns that the family farm has been sold, his
mother has returned home as a born-again Christian, and his nanny sent away
for refusing to convert to Christianity. On his long train ride to the
new family home, he meets Hoppie Groenwald, who inspires him to be
the welterweight champion of the world. Mind you, he is still about six years old. It is Hoppie that teaches Peekay
the phrase “First with the head, then with the heart”. In his new home
he meets “Doc”, an eccentric elderly German professor who becomes his
best friend and from whom he learns many other life lessons as well as
an appreciation for nature and the power of observation. When World War
II breaks out, “Doc” is imprisoned, essentially for being German and undocumented, and Peekay continues to visit him in prison, joining the prison boxing squad, and developing sympathy for the
prisoners, who are mostly African of different ethnic groups, and who in
turn turn him into a living legend, the great chief “Tadpole Angel”.
Doc and others nurture Peekay’s intellect and he eventually wins a
scholarship to the prestigious Prince of Wales boarding school where he
meets Morrie who is from a wealthy Jewish family. Together, they are a
force to be reckoned with. He
excels in his academics and in the boxing ring as he grows into a teenager. But he is not accustomed to failure. When he doesn’t earn a
Rhodes scholarship, and therefore cannot join Morrie at Oxford where he
wants to go, he instead takes a year off school and boxing to go work
in the mines of Northern Rhodesia to both save money for school and to
build up the necessary muscle to qualify for welterweight status. There
too, he excels and earns enough money to continue on with his dream but
not before he meets and “takes care of” an old nemesis.
scholarship to the prestigious Prince of Wales boarding school where he
meets Morrie who is from a wealthy Jewish family. Together, they are a
force to be reckoned with. He
excels in his academics and in the boxing ring as he grows into a teenager. But he is not accustomed to failure. When he doesn’t earn a
Rhodes scholarship, and therefore cannot join Morrie at Oxford where he
wants to go, he instead takes a year off school and boxing to go work
in the mines of Northern Rhodesia to both save money for school and to
build up the necessary muscle to qualify for welterweight status. There
too, he excels and earns enough money to continue on with his dream but
not before he meets and “takes care of” an old nemesis.
Over 500 pages of boxing references, boyhood thoughts, war
references (Boer War, the World Wars), and South African politics that
tries to illustrate the birth of apartheid yet I truly and absoloodly enjoyed
this novel with one exception which is the superiority complex portrayed with
Peekay becoming like God and Saviour to the African people. No, did not
like that. That said, the novel is a wonderfully inspirational piece of
historical fiction. With each mentor Peekay meets as he comes of age the power of one is
reinforced. It is above all things the power to
believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have
previously demonstrated. It is to believe that in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed. It is to know that the person on the outside [is] only a shell, a presence to be seen and provoked…and that inside [is] the real me. The power of one is based on the courage to remain separate, to think through to the truth,and not to be beguiled by convention or the plausible arguments of those who expect to maintain power.
references (Boer War, the World Wars), and South African politics that
tries to illustrate the birth of apartheid yet I truly and absoloodly enjoyed
this novel with one exception which is the superiority complex portrayed with
Peekay becoming like God and Saviour to the African people. No, did not
like that. That said, the novel is a wonderfully inspirational piece of
historical fiction. With each mentor Peekay meets as he comes of age the power of one is
reinforced. It is above all things the power to
believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have
previously demonstrated. It is to believe that in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed. It is to know that the person on the outside [is] only a shell, a presence to be seen and provoked…and that inside [is] the real me. The power of one is based on the courage to remain separate, to think through to the truth,and not to be beguiled by convention or the plausible arguments of those who expect to maintain power.
There were so many inspirational and profound quotes in this novel that my poor book is earmarked everywhere!
First with the head, then with the heart.
Listening is a good camouflage.I had learned early that silence is better than sycophancy, that silence breeds guilt in other people. That it is fun to persecute a pig because it squeals, no fun at all to beat an animal that does not cry out.I had come to identify with my camouflage to the point where the masquerade had become more important than the truth…I had discovered that only two places are available to those who wish to remain concealed. The choices are to be a nonentity or an exception. You either disappear into a plebian background or move forward to where most others fear to follow.Winning was something you worked at intellectually; emotion clouds the mind and is its natural enemy. This made for a loneliness that left me aching to share an emotion but equally afraid that if I did so I would reveal a weakness that could later be used against me.
Survival is a matter of actively making the system work for you rather than attempting to survive it.As is so often the case with a legend, every incident has two plausible interpretations, the plausible and the one that is molded to suit the making of the myth. Man is a romantic at heart and will always put aside dull, plodding reason for the excitement of an enigma.
Good conversational debate is an end in itself, and talking for the love of conversation is what makes us human.
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.
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