The Power of One

Inkosi-Inkosikazi is an African “medicine man” whom Peekay’s Nanny calls upon to treat the bedwetting that results from Peekay’s trauma of his initial hazing at boarding school. Inkosi-Inkosikazi’s role in the novel is short, but his character is symbolic within the Race, Racism, and Power in South Africa and The Power of the Individual themes. Inkosi-Inkosikazi is Peekay’s introduction to the majestic past of the South African tribes whom Peekay describes as a “man for all Africa” (10), and he initiates Peekay as a warrior “worth now to fight in the legion of Dingaan [Zulu Nation]” (15). This establishes a connection between Peekay and “the People” that foreshadows the symbolic significance that he will acquire later in the novel as “Onoshobishobi Ingelosi.”

Peekay describes Inkosi-Inkosikazi’s Zulu heritage with admiration, noting that he is descended from the last, great “Zulu king who fought both the Boers and the British to a standstill” and inspired “awe” from his enemies (10). However, Inkosi-Inkosikazi’s physical appearance illustrates the more contemporary state of the indigenous people of South Africa. He is “dressed in a mismatched suit, the jacket brown and shiny with age” and wears a “mangy-looking leopard-skin cloak” around his shoulders (10). He is skinny, with white hair “and only three yellowed teeth remain[ing] in his mouth” (10). This appearance contrasts with the power and prestige of his ancestors, illustrating his loss of position due to colonialism.

Inkosi-Inkosikazi also provides Peekay with a mental landscape that he uses to withstand the bullying and abuse of the Judge and his Jury with the power of his mind. Courtenay aligns Peekay with marginalized African communities through Inkosi-Inkosikazi’s help, yet Inkosi-Inkosikazi is a colonized subject whose background receives limited exploration.

Hoppie Groenewald is a night guard on the train that takes Peekay from his boarding school to his new home in Barberton. While Hoppie earns Peekay’s immediate favor with shows of kindness and compassion, Peekay also connects with Hoppie’s assertion that he is “a natural welterweight” who shows no fear and overcomes those much bigger than him through his boxing skills (67). Hoppie reassures Peekay that “if you’ve got the speed to move and can throw a big punch as you’re moving away” then size does not matter (67). Through Hoppie, Courtenay generates the size and power motif to explore power structures. This also resonates with Peekay, whose size has made him a victim of bullying.

Peekay explains that “Hoppie Groenewald was to prove to be a passing mentor who would set the next seventeen years of my life on an irrevocable course” (60), making him a key figure within the scope of the protagonist’s character development. Most notably, Hoppie introduces Peekay to boxing and establishes his goal to be the welterweight champion of the world. He also describes “The Power of One” in a farewell letter to Peekay, writing that Peekay should “say always to yourself, ‘First with the head and then with the heart, that’s how a man stays ahead from the start” (103). This advice stays with Peekay throughout the novel, a concept that Peekay adapts to mean “one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination” (103). Peekay concludes that Hoppie “had sensed [his] need to grow [. . .] to be assured that the world around [him] had not been specially arranged to bring about [his] undoing” (103). Hoppie hence initiates Peekay’s journey to self-belief. Through boxing, Hoppie gives Peekay a “defense system” (103), and through “The Power of One” he “gave [Peekay] hope” (103).

Doc is the most significant figure in Peekay’s adolescent life. He is described as an extremely tall, thin man with a wrinkled and deeply tanned face and eyes of intense blue that “[seem] too young for his face” (143). This description is an important aspect of his characterization, reflecting his youthful, humorous persona despite his age. He introduces himself as Professor von Vollenstein but encourages Peekay to simply call him Doc. He meets Peekay just after Peekay learns that his mother has sent away his Nanny, signaling that the protagonist has moved to a new stage in his development. Doc is less parental than Nanny and fills the role of mentor.

In their initial encounter, he notices Peekay’s sadness and challenges Peekay to a game of logic, using his victory to lighten Peekay’s mood, saying that he must “stand on one leg and say, ‘No matter what has happened bad, today I’m finished from being sad. Absoloodle!’” (144). This episode establishes kindness as one of Doc’s key characteristics. Doc’s speech makes Doc a comical figure, but his character making up words also highlights his status as an outsider as a German person in the context of World War II.

He loves the South African environment, teaching Peekay the importance of observation as a scientific principle as they hike the surrounding area looking for cacti and unique plants to document and add to his garden. This teaching about observation reflects Peekay’s role as an observational narrator. Together, Doc and Peekay find the legendary “Crystal Cave.” Doc eventually goes to the cave to die. Peekay struggles to accept Doc’s death, having only witnessed death as an unexpected and brutal part of life, but consoles himself with the idea of Doc preserved forever as a part of Africa.

Geel Piet is one of four central characters who mentor Peekay in a manner that determines the protagonist’s character development. He is described as an “old, toothless lag” whose name translates as “Yellow Peter,” indicating his status as “halfcast, or Cape Colored, neither black nor white” (208). Peekay describes him as a “a limbo man of Africa despised by both sides” (208). This indirectly reflects Geel Piet’s resignation to staying in the Barberton prison, “freely [admitting] that it was hopeless on the outside” (208).

Geel Piet thrives within the unofficial system of the prison, running a bootleg market that includes selling tobacco, sugar, salt, and eventually passing letters between prisoners and their families for the Sandwich Foundation. He hence becomes a key figure within the Adaptation, Evolution, and the Science of Survival theme by demonstrating the benefits of successfully mastering and maneuvering within a social structure. This is reinforced when Peekay is impressed by Geel Piet’s “camouflage.” The social structure of this prison system foreshadows the Apartheid system.

Geel Piet also has vast knowledge about boxing that he uses to train and guide Peekay. He refuses to teach Peekay any form of street fighting, determined to develop his boxing skills to their fullest potential, establishing a distinction between the sport and more simplistic styles of fighting. Courtenay hence develops the art of boxing as a motif that distinguishes Peekay’s journey. Instead, Geel Piet’s instruction emphasizes footwork and begins the narrator’s many references to footwork as dancing.

Geel Piet is the pivotal character within the novel’s thematic treatment of Race, Racism, and Power in South Africa; his brutal murder is a representation of the cruelty and inhumanity of racism. Through Doc’s music tribute, and his influence upon Peekay as the “Tadpole Angel,” Geel Piet also becomes a representation of “the People,” the Black Africans in South African Society, despite his status as “Cape Colored.”