In
every culture there are symbols that have meaning to people. For example, in my
Christian culture the cross can represent spirituality. The colour black can
symbolise death and evil while white can symbolise life and purity. The Power of One also contains numerous
symbols that convey specific meanings to different people. Intertextual
references can also be found in the story such as references to the Bible and
to the story Alice in Wonderland.
When Peekay started to attend boarding school, the trauma he
experienced caused him to wet the bed every night. When he returns home, his
nanny calls the local witch-doctor Inkosi-Inkosikazi
to help cure Peekay’s ‘night water’. The doctor tells Peekay to close his eyes and takes him on a spiritual journey to three
waterfalls, a river and ten stepping stones (page 16 and 17). He then tells
Peekay ‘when you need me you may come to the night country and I will be
waiting. I will always be there in the place of the three waterfalls and the
ten stones across the river’ (page 17). The doctor opened Peekay’s mind up to
dreaming. He taught Peekay that the mind could be calmed with a little
imagination. The three waterfalls, river and ten stepping stones that Inkosi-Inkosikazi is referring to are not real; they are simply
symbolising a peaceful and serene area where Peekay can escape to when times
get tough. He used this method often, such as when he is getting bullied by the
judge and again when he went back to the crystal cave where Doc had died.
High
on the judge’s left arm is a swastika tattoo. We first hear about this tattoo
in the second chapter. At the time the judge reveals his tattoo, the Second
World War has already started. This means that Hitler was already in power and
his actions and words has started to influence the whole world. The judge tells
Peekay that ‘God has sent Adolf Hitler who will deliver the Afrikaner people
from the hatred English!’ (Page 27). The swastika is a well-known symbol that
was adopted as the symbol for the Nazi Party of Germany. These days it is known
to be associated with voluminous numbers of violent and unnecessary deaths in
World War II. Therefore when the audience reads that the judge has a swastika
on his arm, they resent him for it as that means he accepts and represents
Hitler and his ideas. By using this symbol, Courtenay has manipulated the views
of the reader to cause us to dislike the antagonist.
Mentioned
several times in the bildungsroman is the ‘loneliness bird’. This loneliness is
how Peekay sees himself. It is what he often felt while staying at the boarding
school. Peekay first speaks of the birds on page 60 where Granpa Chook is
killed. He often speaks of the loneliness bird laying eggs inside of him, such
as when he learns that Nanny had left. ‘I tried very hard not to cry. Inside me
the loneliness birds were laying eggs thirteen to the dozen’ (Page 173). This
portrays the strong sense of seclusion that Peekay felt. The loneliness bird
was ‘laying eggs’ inside of him. This is, of course, a metaphor that highlights
just how lonely Peekay was. At the very end of the book we hear about the birds
vanishing after Peekay defeats the judge.
Throughout
the book the full moon is mentioned. The experiences of Peekay that we read in
the story, the full moon symbolises death. In chapter nineteen we learn that his
is due to there being a full moon in the sky on both nights when Geel Piet and
Granpa Chook died. (I would like to quickly add that Granpa Chook himself is a
very symbolic animal in the story. He symbolises hope and gives Peekay the
courage to carry on). However, on the very last page we hear about the full
moon even when nobody has died. ‘Outside, high above me, a full moon, pale as
skimmed milk, floated in a day sky.’ This could symbolise the death of Peekay’s
hatred for the judge as he got his vengeance. Following this description Peekay
tells us that he felt clean and that all the bone-beaked loneliness birds had
banished. These two symbols that have been used throughout the book with
negative connotations now symbolise optimism and hope. They allow Courtenay to
end his book on a satisfying note for the readers.
A major intertextual reference
in the story is the references made to Alice
in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. For
example, in chapter eight, Peekay narrates ‘The path running up the centre of
the garden looked like the sort of tunnel Alice might well have found in
Wonderland (Page 160).’ This is a direct reference to another well-known text.
Peekay’s reference to this particular text reinforces the fact that he is still
a young boy. This is also reinforced when he says in chapter eighteen that the
cave looked like ‘an illustration
from a fairy tale’. Another example is the names of the kitchen maids
Dee and Dum. When reading this we straight away think of Tweedle-Dee and
Tweedle-Dum, the famous pair from the famous story.
The Bible is another
intertextual reference found in The Power
of One. Already on the third page, God is mentioned while Peekay is being
bullied for the first time. Peekay says ‘I closed my eyes and said a silent,
sobbing prayer. My Prayer wasn’t to God, but to my nanny.’ Even though Peekay
does not recognise God in the right way, He is still acknowledged. Wherever God
or the Bible is mentioned in this bildungsroman, Courtenay does not go into
detail, therefore not making religion an overly important aspect of the story. It
is clear that Peekay does not believe in God. He even says on page 6 that
praying to God ‘seemed to have the least effect.’ Peekay’s mother was a devout
Christian so it is interesting how Peekay did not follow in his mother’s
spiritual footsteps.
Different symbols can have
different meanings to everyone. It is how we as individuals interpret these
symbols that determine how we interpret the text. Courtenay has cleverly used a wide range of
symbols in the text to portray his messages. This was also achieved by
intertextual references.
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