The Power of One Society and Class Quotes
How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"I'm not the next welterweight contender, Mr. Groenewald, I'm just a verdomde rooinek," I said [. . .]
"That's why you're going to be the next champ, Peekay, you've got the reason." (5.18)
Peekay believes what the other kids have told him, that because he's English he is less than they are, but Hoppie begins to turn around those bad thoughts. They become a reason to fight and win, not a reason to hide and cower.
Quote #2
[. . . A] classical piano player in the family was a social equalizer almost as good as money. (9.104)
Doc gives Peekay's mom an offer she can't refuse: the promise of a piano-playing son. In their small community, having a kid who plays the piano meant that the family was "nice," so of course Peekay's mom was willing to let Peekay practice with Doc.
Quote #3
My mother was constantly fighting to remain loyal to the Lord and his religiously garrulous congregation while at the same time aspiring to the ranks of "nice people." (9.105)
Why do you think Peekay's mother stays with her religion if it is looked down upon by the rest of the townspeople? Why doesn't she conform and go to a more mainstream church? Maybe this is where Peekay gets his maverick-like qualities.
Quote #4
"The stupidity. Already the stupidity begins again," he said softly. (10.13)
When Doc is hauled off to prison, he reminds us of the Boers who were put into concentration camps by the English, the Jews who were put into concentration camps by the Nazis, and the black people who would be systematically tortured and murdered by the Nationalist Party. Why do humans have to be so terrible to each other so gosh darn often?
Quote #5
Several pockets of people in the crowd had started to boo and someone shouted, "Once a Jerry, always a Jerry!" which brought about a little spasmodic laughter and clapping. (10.238)
"Jerry" is a derogatory term for a German, and the townspeople are showing their willingness to close ranks against someone who is perceived as an outsider, even if he was a beloved community member before. Groupthink can be a pretty scary and arbitrary thing.
Quote #6
While no more than a quarter of the prisoners were Zulus, they held the highest status in the prison. (11.113)
This difference between the tribes in the prison shows that the societal divisions Peekay notices in his town are present at all levels of society. Even in the closed-off world of the prison, the hierarchy determines who is on top and who's scrubbing the toilets.
Quote #7
"This town isn't going to let its enfant terrible go to boarding school looking like a ragamuffin." (15.66)
Even though Peekay is poor and sometimes left out of town society, when he leaves to go to a fancy school the whole town supports him as their representative. Now, instead of trying to decide who's the best in town, everyone supports their one and only college boy.
Quote #8
Odd-bods, he asserted, were always singled out by plebians, the worst kind of which were middle-class, Anglo-South African Protestants, who made up the remainder of the school. (16.61)
Morrie tells Peekay like it is their first day of school. He has a much clearer picture of English society, which is just as hierarchical and difficult to navigate as Afrikaner society. This is an indispensable resource for Peekay, who's spent his life in the country.
Quote #9
It didn't take too many brains to figure out that world champion boxers are not usually spawned within a system designed to educate upper-middle-class Christian gentlemen. (16.61)
How does Peekay reconcile being at the boarding school and pursuing his boxing dreams? Since he already doesn't fit in with the rich kids, boxing makes him all the more different. But by being the best, he finds a way to get in with the cool kids.
Quote #10
I'd been forced into thinking about money for the first time when the list for my school clothes had arrived, and I had already worked out that not having any at a boarding school for the sons of the rich was pretty well going to shape my school career. (16.97)
Peekay is wrong-o about this one; he will turn out to have a financial whiz as a best friend and will do just fine for himself in the money department—thanks to some school-sanctioned gambling.