Shades

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Victor and Benedict disagree as to where they will find Crispin. It is Benedict who is right, however, for he remembered the isivivane cairn near Mbokothwe where Crispin would have learnt to confess his sins to the shades.

Yet, even before the funeral has taken place, Benedict himself leaves the mission — to find Dorcas and to find himself.

Suicide for traditional Christians was a most serious sin.

Christians saw sin as falling into two primary categories:

• First, there were the "small sins" — little things like swearing, lying, being uncharitable, fighting, etc. If one died in a state of such a sin, one would still go to heaven — at least eventually;



• Then there were the "serious sins" like rape, murder, etc. All sins listed under the 10 Commandments fell into this category.

If one died while in a state of serious sin, one would go straight to hell. But one could always repent of such a sin while one was still alive. Forgiveness would then follow.

Suicide fell almost within its own category. A person who committed suicide was believed to have died in a state of despair. Despair, however, was a sin against the Holy Spirit from which there could be no forgiveness.

So serious was the Christian Church's attitude towards suicide that, until very recently, such a person could not even be buried within the boundaries of a Christian cemetery.

Cemeteries were consecrated places. People who had died in a known state of serious sin could therefore not be buried there. Their bodies would instead be interred outside the cemetery walls.

All mission stations had their cemeteries. Crispin should therefore have been buried in St Matthias Church cemetery but he was not. Instead he was buried beneath the great oak tree alongside the church.

Although his mother explained that this was his favourite tree, it was nevertheless an implicit recognition that his suicide prevented his burial in sacred ground.

"Crispin had gone. By his own choice and by his own hand, risking the possibility that there might be no gathering of shades to welcome him but only the void, the inescapable pain of sin and the sentence of an unforgiving God."

If you look carefully at the photograph at the top of this page of St Matthew's Church — upon which Shades is based — you will see that there is indeed a solitary grave beneath the oak tree alongside the church.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?

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

"Benedict was wrong. Victor was looking God in the eye and he could not bear the fire of that scrutiny."

• Comment on the meaning and significance of these words. (6)

[Need help?]

The problem with Victor was that he had never looked at God in the eye. As a result, challenges were growing all around him — challenges which he couldn't handle. Crispin had rebelled against him, and then committed suicide; Victor had failed the Pumani brothers. Was he now perhaps regretting the concept of recruitment upon which he had set his hopes of fortune? Benedict was rebelling against him; It was clear that Frances no longer loved him. Indeed, could he still go forward with the marriage?

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The isivivane cairn appeared to be important in Crispin's search for forgiveness.

• Explain its significance. (2)



• Why did Crispin choose to commit suicide there? (3)

[Need help?]

The isivivane cairn appeared to be significant as a conduit for contacting the ancestors or shades. If one could communicate with the shades by this means, then is it not possible to unburden one's conscience by confessing to them. The isivivane cairn therefore serves as a confessional, as the means by which Crispin can find relief for his soul. Moreover, if it is possible to contact the shades through this means, then what did the shades tell Crispin to do?

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In the light of the traditional Christian attitude towards suicide, would you say that Crispin has gone to heaven — or to hell? (30)

[Need help?]

This is a really good topic to debate. A whole class can debate this issue for an hour or more! Be careful with your conclusions though. Jesus Christ instructed his followers not to judge. And so, if you conclude that Crispin has indeed gone to hell, then are you not guilty of both judging — and therefore disobeying the specific instruction of Jesus — and of branding God as a harsh Demiurge who lacks any form of love?

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Benedict wrote, " . . . now I must be born, I must go forth alone. And if I should return, I will return in freedom, for without that freedom I can never call myself a man."

• What precisely does Benedict mean by these words? (10)

[Need help?]

You need to examine Benedict's place in the world of the White colonists, together with his place in the Xhosa world. Christianity promised that he would become the equal of Whites but this clearly did not happen. On the other hand, he was no longer an integral part of his own community — and, of course, there is the question of Dorcas Pumani, whom he loved but was no longer allowed to meet.

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• What significance do these words have for Victor, who is given the letter to read? (6)

[Need help?]

Victor was in a similar position. The world had appeared to be waiting at his feet but he had at last come to realise that all was changing. Indeed, his entire world was crumbling before him. If Benedict had to be reborn, perhaps Victor did too! Did Victor actually do anything to show that he was ready to be reborn? Or was his decision to set Frances free not actually based on a decision to set himself free? After all, Victor had moved up in the world — and was already dating the Warburton daughter. Indeed, the Warburton girl held far greater promise for a bright future than marriage to a naive mission girl who would probably never forgive him for what he had done to her. Frances therefore held it in her hands to make his life eternally miserable.

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