52 pages • 1 hour read
Bryce CourtenayThe Power of One
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1989A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 3, Chapters 23-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 3, Chapters 23-24 Summary
In 1951, Peekay continues his string of successes, winning the South African schools’ featherweight championship. He is awarded his colors (an award) for rugby and three times for boxing and becomes head prefect. Feeling confident, he applies for a Rhodes scholarship to attend Oxford; however, his bid is unsuccessful, forcing Peekay to reassess his plans. Instead, he is offered scholarships to attend multiple prestigious South African universities.
When his friends and family are distressed by the failure, Peekay also takes time to reassess his identity. He decides that he has become too reliant on his “camouflage,” allowing others to control his destiny rather than himself. He refuses the scholarships to the South African Universities. When Morrie Levy offers to pay for his time at Oxford, Peekay also refuses. He tells Morrie that he must take this time to commune with Doc’s spirit.
Peekay goes to the “night country” before visiting the “crystal caves” to visit Doc. Unable to bear seeing his corpse, Peekay sits outside the cave and speaks about his fears of losing “The Power of One.” A black mamba crawls out of the cave and over his boot. Peekay takes this as a sign from Doc that he will be tested soon. Following these realizations, Peekay resumes preparing for his original goal of becoming the Welterweight Champion.
Peekay decides to take a year to work in the copper mines of Northern Rhodesia and build his strength to improve his fighting once more. The job pays extremely well, but it is highly dangerous. As a “grizzly man,” Peekay must climb inside the rock and light fuses that blast the next level of rock away for the drillers. The chances of falling, being buried in rock, or the dynamite igniting before the “grizzly man” can move away are all dangers that he faces every day. It is company policy that the driller does not meet the “grizzly man,” but Peekay is so successful that his driller regularly sends him a case of brandy every month.
Peekay is lonely at first, since he does not speak the language. He quickly befriends a large Russian man by the name of Rasputin. Despite his size, Rasputin is kind and gentle. He loves bringing sweets to the local children. He makes stew that he shares with Peekay, and they develop a camaraderie despite a limited ability to communicate with one another.
Because of stress, it is unusual for a “grizzly man” to continue working beyond a three-month rotation. Peekay is so successful that he agrees to work additional rotations. The job becomes routine, and Peekay almost has enough to pay his way for three years of Oxford. One night, Peekay dreams that the fuse he holds becomes the black mamba from the crystal cave. In the dream, Peekay and the crew of Black miners that he leads are killed.
Peekay recognizes that he has been sent a vision. The next day, a fuse that he is handling burns too quickly, threatening to kill Peekay and his men. Forewarned, Peekay is able to save his men. Just as he is about to leave, the shaft caves in and Peekay is buried under the rock.
Rasputin’s job at the mines is to rescue and recover people when accidents happen. He becomes obsessed with saving his friend. Rasputin works tirelessly and is mortally injured just before he reaches Peekay. Peekay is badly injured but survives, while Rasputin succumbs to his injuries.
Saddened, Peekay handles Rasputin’s final affairs and creates a memorial to honor the man. An insurance agent visits Peekay and tells him that Rasputin has named the protagonist as a beneficiary, leaving him a sizable sum of money. Surprised and touched, Peekay now has enough money to pay his way through Oxford.
Peekay visits the local bar one last time, leaving his case of whiskey with the bartender with the instructions to tell the patrons that it is a final gift from Rasputin. The bartender graciously accepts when he is warned that Peekay’s driller from the mines has gone “mad” from a “powder headache,” a common effect from working as a driller. The bartender warns Peekay to quickly leave before the driller crashes into the bar.
Peekay sees the black mamba once again. He is shocked moments later when he sees the driller for the first time. The driller is a large Afrikaner with a swastika tattoo on his shoulder. Peekay shouts at the Judge, who finally recognizes “Pisskop” (512).
Peekay becomes enraged, realizing that the driller that he has worked with all this time was the Judge, his nemesis from his childhood. Recalling everything he has learned about “The Power of One” and Geel Piet’s advice, Peekay realizes that all of his training “had been designed for this moment” (511). He begins dancing around the Judge, attacking with quick, powerful punches that stun and wound the Judge, who crashes about the room. Peekay shouts at the Judge, who finally recognizes “Pisskop” (512).
Peekay uses Geel Piet’s eight-punch combination followed by a Solly Goldman 13-punch combination that finally knocks out the Judge. Peekay then uses Doc’s pocketknife to carve the Union Jack flag and the initials PK over the swastika tattoo. The books concludes as Peekay walks away.
Book 3, Chapters 23-24 Analysis
The final Book of The Power of One is the shortest part of the book, consisting of two chapters that make up the climax and denouement of the novel. Peekay faces his enemy, the Judge, and illustrates “The Power of the Individual” as the combined power of Peekay and his symbolic role of “Onoshobishobi Ingelosi."
In Chapter 23, Courtenay develops the theme of Adaption, Evolution, and the Science of Survival when Peekay realizes that he continues to wear masks as a form of self-defense. He understands that he has been so successful in “camouflaging” that he has fooled himself. This is a key development for the protagonist who has only just begun to acknowledge the effects of the trauma from his childhood. This alludes to his upcoming confrontation with the Judge as a necessary aspect of closure for Peekay as a character. His realizations also highlight his need to win as a weakness. This alludes to the symbolic significance of the upcoming confrontation with the Judge: Peekay represents hope for a future victory over Apartheid rather than the more personal victories of his boxing matches.
Peekay’s mentors are imaginatively present but literally absent in Book 3, highlighting Peekay’s development. Doc’s death occurs in tandem with Peekay’s final epiphany. After Peekay finds “The Power of One” and embraces his destiny as “Onoshobishobi Ingelosi,” Doc’s character has also fulfilled his role as mentor. In another vision in which Peekay encounters the black mamba from outside “the crystal caves of Africa” in a dream, he recognizes this as an omen from Doc warning of his final encounter with the Judge. Peekay will also think of Hoppie and Geel Piet later when he is fighting the Judge, signifying the lasting influence and voice of his mentors, which he carries with him. Book 3 concludes with Peekay acting alone for the first time since his initial departure for the Afrikaans boarding school in Book 1, signaling his adulthood. The novel ends when the novel’s present temporality matches that of the narrator, adult Peekay, who has finished retelling his past.
Chapter 24 includes the climax of the novel and the confrontation with the Judge. Peekay realizes that all his training was for this moment rather than becoming the Welterweight Champion. Once again, fighting functions on a literal and symbolic level. The narrator states that as the Judge fell, “a small child’s voice cried out from somewhere deep inside my body. ‘You killed Granpa Chook!’” (512). While the Judge lumbers around ineffectively during the fight, Peekay fights with the precision and strategy of Geel Piet and Solly Goldman. He also draws on “The Power of One” to focus his rage. The juxtaposition between the two fighting styles symbolizes the long-term battle facing “the People,” of whom Granpa Chook is a symbolic link. Thus far, Peekay has primarily fought for “the People” in the boxing ring. Mirroring the transition from Barberton Prison to Johannesburg, Peekay transitions from fighting in a boxing ring to fighting with an explicit proponent of Apartheid.
The symbolism becomes literal in the final image of the novel. Peekay is “unaware” as he carves the Union Jack flag and the initials PK over the swastika with Doc’s “mamba-driven blade” (512). The black mamba, appearing outside “the crystal cave of Africa,” is another symbol of “the People.” In the final moments of the novel, Peekay and “The People,” together, fight the violent racism of the Judge. However, Courtenay’s use of the Union Jack overlays the violent symbol of the swastika with another symbol of colonialism in South Africa. This image therefore evokes “the People” with the “blade” but also subsumes their voices with an image of white imperialism and the initials of a white heroic figure.
