The Smell Of Apples And Thirteen Cents Analysis

The Economies of Anal Penetration in Post-Apartheid South African Bildungsromans:
A Comparative Analysis Between The Smell of Apples and Thirteen Cents

Stellenbosch University English Professor, Shaun Viljoen, wrote in the introduction of K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents, that “a comparative study of a string of South African boy bildungsromans, from (...) Mark Behr’s The Smell of Apples (1995), to Thirteen Cents” would “cut across the racial writing divide” (xxii). Albeit the idea behind this paper was not inspired by Viljoen’s commentary, nor does the paper purport to fully address his concern over the racial separation found in boy bildungsromans, this paper does initiate an analytical juxtaposition between The Smell of Apples and Thirteen Cents through examining the same motif: male-on-male anal penetration as a rite of passage in a toxically masculine environment. To examine the practice, a methodical framework that deconstructs its origins, intentions, and usage is crucial. Following Robert Morrell’s lead in “Of Boys and Men: Masculinity and Gender in Southern African Studies,” this paper is predicated on a few key premises. First, it is necessary to …show more content…
Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents, male-on-male anal penetration serves as part of the coming-of-age process, though the role it plays often varies along socioeconomic and racial lines. The act of anal penetration as a form of coming-of-age is not new – Halperin describes it in Ancient Greece as a “generalized ethos of penetration and domination” where the social articulation of power (superordinate versus subordinate) matter more than the “typology of anatomical sexes (male versus female)” (14, 16). But, the portrayal of anal penetration in South African bildungsromans sheds light on key issues involving their characters and greater South African