The power of one by Bryce Courtenay, a novel that talks about ideas such as hope, logic and friendship throughout the book.
Firstly, the relationship between doc and peekay helped me understand peekays logic better. At a young age peekay is smart, and has an advantage of having more logic and understanding than others his age. Peekay has always been a bright kid.” I was the youngest kid in the first form but, what with one thing and another, I was clearly seen to have a bright future at the Prince of Wales School”
The old german man, Doc is like a mentor for peekay. Peekay learns more and more from Doc as their friendship grows. That is why peekay has a good education and stands out. His mother doesn’t have a lot of logic, instead has a strong belief for religion, but peekay doesn’t. That’s what prevents his mother from having a relationship with her son, because peekay knows more logic and he’s only young.
Peekay skips two classes at the local school. Doc has convinced him that he should drop his camouflage and reveal his intelligence. Doc is Peekay’s true teacher. When around Doc, Peekay says that his brain is constantly “hungry.” As in the summer months, Peekay arrives shortly after dawn each day for his music lesson with Doc. Doc’s eyes are often bloodshot and he tells Peekay that the “wolves were howling” in his head the previous night-his euphemism for being drunk. Doc’s Johnny Walker whisky bottles border the path in Doc’s cactus garden. One Saturday afternoon in January 1941, Doc and Peekay are working in the garden when Peekay notices a military police van drawn up. An officer and a sergeant emerge and, smoking cigarettes, they wait for Doc and Peekay to approach. Then the sergeant arrests Doc under the Aliens Act of 1939. Doc does not resist but instead sadly tells Peekay that he now must care for the cactus garden. Then Doc asks permission to shave and make a change of clothing before leaving for Barberton prison. Peekay brings jugs of water for Doc to wash.
When peekay started visiting doc in prison he started questioning racism and religion, ‘if he’d already done the dying for black people’s sins, why was the white man always punishing the black man?’
Peekay wasn’t really a big believer in religion, so he started thinking in logic and asking questions, ‘If nobody is dirty and nobody works in heaven and black and white are equal, why then can’t’ they live in the same place as us?’ was one thing peekay was curious about and questioned a lot.
Secondly , doc and peekays relationship helped me understand the hope that doc gave peekay. Peekay has never really been treated right or wanted, so with doc helping him and teaching peekay to have more knowledge of things, gives peekay hope because he never really had anyone there to love and help him throughout his journey “Peekay, i love you more than my life” what doc said there shows how much doc cares about peekay, this is one key aspect about this relationship is that doc “loves him more than his life”. Peekay looks up to doc as a mentor, a teacher and most importantly, a friend. During the novel doc gives peekay advice “Always listen to yourself, peekay. It’s better to be wrong than simply to follow the convention. If you
are wrong, no matter, you have learned something and you will grow stronger. If you are right, you have taken another step toward a fulfilling life” doc’s advice is so important to peekay because it gives him a sense of hope and that he is not alone because peekay has felt like that for most of his life, so doc being there makes a big difference for peekay. Remembering that peekay is only young and has not had the best childhood, so this hope that he has been given is a gift for peekay.
In conclusion, the novel the power of one by bryce courtenay, helped me have more of an understanding of some of the topics and ideas throughout the text, the book explains a lot about the main character “peekay” and is very easy to understand the character in the novel, as well as the relationship between Doc and Peekay.
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