Identity In Mine Boy

Decent Essays
Peter Abrahams’ Mine Boy is a novel which took place during the time of apartheid in South Africa and explores the stereotypes and institutions that discriminate against working class black Africans. Throughout the book, the main character, Zuma, had first contact with the city and grew from there. He began as a boy but transformed into manhood by the end of Mine Boy. This essay will argue that Peter Abrahams’ primary objective in Mine Boy was to examine his hero’s journey from innocence to the eventual realization of his manhood and self assertion from the beginning of the novel to the end. When Zuma arrived in Malay Camp, he was welcomed, just shy of open arms, into the house of Leah where he learned the ways of the city and how things …show more content…
Throughout the book, Zuma struggled with the realities of society and that some people want what the can not have and this is exemplified when Eliza wants the things of the white man. She consistently battles back and fourth between wanting Zuma and the things of the white man and when she leaves for the last time, Zuma realizes that she was bad for him all along. He was able to understand that Maisy was the one meant for him and used that knowledge to figure out that all people were equal. Zuma said, “People were people. Not white and black people. Just people. Ordinary people. And one could understand a white person as well as a black person.”(174) At this point, Zuma transitioned into manhood and he was able to grasp the concept that people were equal even with different colors of skin. This lead Zuma to lose his hatred for whites when he said, “His own secret resentment against all white people disappeared. There were no white people. Only people.”(174) He made the observation that people were people first and then he was able to look deeper than the surface or color of the skin. Zuma understood that humans were made to love each other for who they are inside and not all about what they look like on the outside. He was able to behold his realization in first person when he undressed in his room by saying, “And above all this was man. Man the individual, strong and free and happy, and without colour. Man alive. Pushing out with his chest and being proud. Man in his grandeur.”(174) This was Zuma’s personal proudest moment as a character in the book. He was able to build a sense of confidence, something which he had never done before in his life. These points add up to illustrate Zuma’s construction into manhood and

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