| The book opens with a white British 5-year-old being sent away from his home (and his sympathetic black nanny, who provides him with a lifelong understanding of black South African culture) on a South African chicken farm, to a rural, barely-civilized boarding school where all the other kids are Afrikaans. It's the late 1930s, and the Afrikaaners (Boers) hate the British, so the boy comes in for an enormous amount of physical and mental abuse - and acquires his nickname, Pisskop, which he later co-opts, calling himself 'Peekay' (in fact, we never learn his 'real' name - he becomes a one-name hero).
From there, we follow Peekay as he grows up over the next 12 years, becoming a successful scholar and a boxer, and in the process we learn a great deal about the political and racial situation in South Africa as it existed between about 1938-1950. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - depressed Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's Kids growing up/acting up? Yes Political/social activism Yes Plotlet: Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Parents/lack of parents problem? Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - a kid Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - a kid Profession/status: Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes Eccentric: How sensitive is this character? Intelligence - below average Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 () Africa Yes Kind of Africa: - Black Africa Writing Style Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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