Hum If You Don't Know the Words

The novel’s second narrator and secondary protagonist, Beauty Mbali is a foil for Robin. Beauty is 49 years old and lives in Transkei with her two sons. Her daughter Nomsa lives in Soweto with Beauty’s brother because she wanted to go to school there. Years ago, Beauty lost her oldest son in a flood that also forced her husband to work in the mines. Her husband died years later of a disease from the mines, but she lost him when he was forced to do such dehumanizing labor. Beauty loves her life in Transkei, where she spends time outside with her community and lives without much imposition from the white government.

Beauty’s journey begins when she receives a letter from her brother that her daughter is in danger. Through Nomsa’s choices to lead the student protest, Beauty grapples with her place in the world and her influence over her daughter. She sees the injustices in their country and respects her daughter’s beliefs, but as a mother she yearns for Nomsa’s safety. She suspects that violence can’t bring forth the world they want, but she also feels despair at their current situation and wonders if perhaps the children are right that something must change.

Beauty cares for Robin as her own child and at one point chooses to stay with Robin while she’s ill instead of following the directions of a phone call that could take her to Nomsa. Because of her meetings to find Nomsa, her life is threatened. However, she chooses to keep going, no matter the consequences. Beauty is a consistent, honest presence in Robin’s life, and Robin credits her for bringing her back to herself when she thought she was lost. Beauty has a strong sense of duty and commitment: She never stops looking for Nomsa and doesn’t waver in her belief that connection, not separation and violence, will help them all.

Robin’s Aunt Edith is the sister of Jolene, her mother. Edith is a young, liberal white woman living in South Africa as a flight attendant for South African Airlines. When Keith and Jolene die, Edith’s life transforms. In addition to losing her sister, she loses the man she was dating, her job, and her independent lifestyle. In her mourning, she begins drinking all day and only stops when another adult gets involved through Robin.

Edith is a complex character because though she’s Robin’s lifeline and only connection to her life before her parents died, she doesn’t prioritize Robin as a caretaker should. Once Beauty comes and Edith goes back to work, she stays away for weeks at a time, breaking her promise to her niece to be home sooner. Robin observes, “The promise—like most of Edith’s promises, I would come to learn—was a loose and slippery one” (244). On two important dates, Christmas and Robin’s 10th birthday, Edith is away working while someone else covers for her in Robin’s life.

Despite her slipperiness, Edith helps Robin learn about the world and tries to be honest with her. One of Robin’s many lessons in complexity comes from Edith saying that she “didn’t want the responsibility of being a parent” (206) but that she does want Robin. In the end, Edith arrives in the parking lot of the hospital in Soweto to collect her niece, showing her responsiveness to Robin’s distressing call and her commitment to be there in the end.

Both Beauty and Robin’s guardian angel, Maggie assists Beauty in her search for Nomsa and helps her believe in the possibility of a better future. When Robin breaks down in the library weeks after her parents’ deaths, Maggie lets her cry, encourages her to tell the truth, and helps her start a new life.

Maggie is generous, driven, and trustworthy. She has a strong moral compass, and while she breaks numerous laws, she believes wholeheartedly in her work. At one point, she asks Beauty to stop pushing so hard in her search that she compromises Maggie’s contacts in the African National Congress, and Beauty doesn’t argue but knows that she can’t obey Maggie’s wishes. Maggie admires Nelson Mandela and his ability to compromise and stay driven toward his goal.