Discrimination In His Life In Bryce Courtenay's The Power Of One

The novel The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, is a story that takes place in South Africa, and is narrated by a young English boy by the name of Peekay. The story follows his life, including both negative and positive events that shape who he is. Through his negative experiences with inequality and prejudice against others, Peekay develops his moral code that everyone should be treated equally. As a small child, Peekay had dealt with inequality first-hand, which gave him the drive to make sure no one else feels the disrespect and pain he had felt. At boarding school, The Judge wanted to “march every rooinek bastard into the sea” (24). Since Peekay is an English boy and often called a rooinek, The Judge’s prejudice comment was

Before Peekay was old enough to go to school, he started having a close relationship with his nanny. His nanny, that he knew his whole life, was black and he often described her as his “lovely black nanny” with a “...white smile” (3). As he learned later on in life, Black people were seen as an inferior group of people, yet he disagreed because he knew a black women that raised him and knew the beauty within her is most likely the same in others, proving his push for equality. Not only did he find beauty in different races as a toddler, but a few years later he did as well. When Hoppie took Peekay to trade in his tackies (shoes) for new ones, Peekay was amazed at the “beautiful dark lady” at the counter, whereas Hoppie believed that the lady, as well as her family, “‘will cheat you anytime he [they] can’” (77&80). Hoppie allowed his racism to hold him back from viewing these people as equivalent to a white man, but Peekay was in awe at their beauty and cultural differences from what he’d seen before. This further presents Peekay’s ability to see beauty in races other than his own, allowing him to treat everyone the same. From both his ability to see the good in his Nanny and the family from Patel & Sons, it inspired him to create a school for black Africans towards the end of the book, showing how he took his admiration

When various men at the jail refused to be in a picture with Geel Piet, a black man, he understood that “racism is a primary force of evil” (265). He hated the fact that a close friend and boxing coach of his was discriminated against by people he thought were good men. After Peekay’s school for black people got shut down, Peekay knew that not only was racism evil, but “It’s a disease, a sickness” (456). He tried to create something positive for the black African community, only for it to be shut down by racist policemen. He followed the rules with his school and didn’t break the curfew, yet the police still tried to get rid of the school because of their racist instinct. The unfair acts against his close friend and innocent Africans caused Peekay to remind people of the good in them. After Geel Piet’s death, he created a song dedicated to him, as an attempt to bring light to such a wonderful spirit rather than allow the negative claims about his race define