Shades

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Johannesburg is captured by the Imperial forces. It is the chance for everyone to go home but the Black people find that, without passes, they can go nowhere.

Crispin attempts to help Tom and Reuben but his attempt fails and they are shot by British troops. Crispin returns to St Matthias, his conscience heavy with guilt.

The Black people of South Africa tended to support the British war effort during the Anglo- Boer War, hoping for a speedy end to the Dutch Republics.

It was generally recognised that the treatment of Black people in the two republics was nothing short of barbaric. The war therefore offered liberation for them.

The two newspapers mentioned in the novel — Imvo Zabantsundu and Izwi Labantu — both carried many an article by people like Benedict pointing out the righteousness of the conflict.

Intelligent Black people were also quick to offer their services in the British army. On the other hand, the British forces were careful to encourage this attitude as a means of uniting opposition to the Boers.

When the war was over, however, the Black people found their expectations dashed. Almost at once the British forces jettisoned Black support in favour of a policy of reconciliation with the Boers.

At its heart was a philosophy that White people — including previous enemies — must work together, while the Black people of South Africa presented the greater threat.

Soon the four British colonies began to implement a common practice for holding the Black people in subjection. Victor was to be a key person in this process.

The Boer War was therefore a tragic disappointment. Instead of finding that the Boer's system of legal discrimination would soon be obliterated, the Black people discovered that discrimination would become the norm everywhere — including the Cape Colony.

It is in this context that Tom and Reuben find themselves caught — and the very British forces which they had trusted for so long would become the means for their execution. Note that the brothers were murdered by the British army and not by the Boers!

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?

Read the notes in the left column before answering the questions below:

Why does Crispin blame himself for the death of the Pumani brothers? (5)

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Consider the following: For Crispin, a promise was a promise — and he had promised the Pumani brothers that he would get them home to St Matthias; It was also he who had suggested that they board the cattle trucks even though they had no passes. How would such a failure — coupled with their deaths — affect one with so tender a conscience as his?

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Explain the significance of the mphafa twig. (4)

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One has to go back to the beginning of the novel — to the references of trouble caused by the shades of people who had died on the battlefields away from their homes. The shades would wonder forever, causing mischief. It was important then to lead these shades home. This could be accomplished by using the mphafa twig which somehow magically or mystically led home the spirits of the dead.

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Father Charles nodded. "Yes, lad. Brompton died. A greater rest, I think, than he could ever find among us here."

• Comment on the fateful significance of these words to Crispin. (4)

[Need help?]

Although Crispin was thoroughly depressed after the deaths of the Pumani brothers, one may ask whether or not he would have committed suicide if his father had not mentioned the death of Hubert Brompton and the fact that the priest was now at peace. Crispin was suffering mental anguish from which there was no happiness, no peace. The idea of finding happiness and peace was therefore attractive to him — and so it is possibly this reference to Brompton and eternal peace that pushed Crispin to taking his own life.

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