The main character of this story is a boy called Peekay. While he
was at boarding school the boys would call him ‘pisskop’ which in English means
‘piss head’. His name changed when he walked into a shoe shop and the shopkeeper
did not think that ‘pisskop’ was an appropriate name for a young boy. The shopkeeper
then dubbed him Peekay. Courtenay has
crafted Peekay as the protagonist by his speech, actions, appearance and by the
way he interacts and compares to other characters. He has also used generic and
language conventions to portray Peekay as an innocent but naïve young boy.
The speech in this bildungsroman is meant to portray Peekay in a
certain manner and also present certain characteristics of Peekay. Peekay is
narrating the story when he is older, telling us about his childhood. This is
just like Courtenay telling us about his own childhood from the present age. While
Peekay is narrating his life from age five to seventeen, we can sometimes hear the
mature adult shine through in the text. This is a reminder for us that the
story is being told by an adult about a child’s life. Early on in the story,
Courtenay introduces us to Peekay’s understanding of death, or lack thereof. We
learn early on that Peekay is a naïve yet innocent young boy who still doesn’t
even understand what death is. While the narrator seems to keep a distance
between the mature self (vocabulary such as ‘stentorian’) and the younger self,
he often portrays events as they would be seen through a young boy’s eyes. Peekay’s
speech is very childlike at first however throughout the story we see him grow
in maturity through his speech. Dialogue seems to increase once he is away from
the judge. This occurs mainly after spending time with Doc.
Throughout the story Peekay usually acts in a very calm and
rational way in situations. For example, whenever he would get bullied by the
judge he would not fight back. He simply allowed the other boys to ostracize
him without a word. Peekay would only do as he was told out of fear of the
consequences if he didn’t. Peekay’s actions in the book were mainly for the
benefit of others and by this we can see that although he is still very young,
he does have a lot of common sense. At the beginning of the story, Peekay is
unable to fight the judge due to his small stature and his adolescent views on the situation.
However, as the book progresses we can see Peekay develop from a young, naïve
boy into a man as he finally faces off against the judge and wins the fight.
We are not told much about Peekay’s physical appearance apart from
that he is a small, white English boy. This could be because Courtenay felt it
more important to focus on the emotional aspects of the character rather than
on the physical appearance. From what we are told it is quite easy to form a
picture in one’s mind of what the character looks like so it seems
insignificant to give a lengthier description.
Another way that Courtenay portrays Peekay in the bildungsroman is
by juxtaposing him with other characters. On his own we know who Peekay is, but
when he is compared to other characters such as the judge, we are able to gain
a full sense of his personality and characteristics. When Peekay is with the
judge he becomes very quiet and submissive which is a way of his survival. Next
to the judge, Peekay is conveyed as a quiet yet nice young boy. When
Peekay is with other characters such as Hoppie Groenewald or Doc, he becomes
much more relaxed. We can see from his interaction with others that he starts
off as a naïve boy with little knowledge about certain aspects, yet he grows in
maturity and learns to fight against evil, both physically and mentally.
The generic and language conventions used in the story also help
in the construction of Peekay’s character. Generic conventions are conventions
that allow a text to fit into a specific genre. The genre of this book is a
bildungsroman which if a coming of age story. The goal in this genre of story
is maturity and the audience follows the protagonist as he gradually achieve
it. We are first introduced to Peekay when he is five and told about his
horrendous ordeals with the older school boys. We are made to sympathise with
the main character as he struggles with certain hardships. Through this
technique we are able to feel the same emotions as Peekay and therefore feel
part of the story. Courtenay has also used conventions such as plot, setting
and climax to tell Peekay’s story. By knowing the setting, we are able to
understand where Peekay is situated and how that has an effect on him. The plot
and the climax also build his character as we see him mature from a young boy
who couldn’t fight his own battles to a mature young man who learns how to
solve his own problems and not allow for such bullying.
Courtenay has also used language conventions, namely dialogue and
narration, to construct Peekay’s character. Through his speech and the speech
of others we are able to gain a good understanding of Peekay’s character as he
develops through the story. The dialogue of Peekay is very minimal to begin
with, however as he matures, his dialogue increases as he becomes comfortable
expressing his emotions. The deep descriptions Peekay gives of certain matters
emphasises to the audience how some things affected his life on a big level.
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