Student Question
In "Kaffir Boy," what imagery does the author use and why?
Quick answer:
In "Kaffir Boy," the author uses vivid imagery to convey the protagonist's harsh realities and emotional suffering. Hunger is depicted as a monstrous presence, emphasizing fear and desperation. Dark colors and violent imagery highlight the terror and oppression faced by the protagonist, such as in scenes with policemen or nightmares of bloodshed. Descriptions of physical sensations, like choking on coal fumes or stress-induced headaches, further illustrate the brutal conditions and deprivation experienced by the main character.
Imagery is visually descriptive or figurative language that allows readers to more viscerally experience the book. A frequent image throughout this book deals with hunger. The main character is from a poor family, and he struggles to get the necessary nutritional needs. The narrative very well could have told readers that he was hungry or even really hungry, but it doesn't quite evoke the emotional response that descriptive imagery of hunger can arouse in readers. I like this bit of imagery from chapter 10.
"At times it was the silent destroyer, creeping in unseen, unrecognized, except when, like a powerful time bomb, it would explode inside my guts. At other times it took the form of a dark, fanged beast, and hovered constantly over my dizzy head, as if about to pounce on me and gouge my guts out with its monstrous talons."
The above quote does a wonderful job...
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of arousing emotions in readers through the vivid description of hunger. In the above section, hunger isn't simply a physical signal being sent to the brain that encourages eating. No, it is equivalent to a monster that exists to destroy a person. The imagery in this paragraph shows readers that hunger is very much related to fear for the narrator.
What colors and imagery are used in Kaffir Boy, and why does the author use them?
In Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane dark colors and frightening imagery are often used in order to convey the terror under which the protagonist lives.
In the second chapter of the novel, the narrator describes his nightmares in which
...throngs of black people sprawled dead in pools of red blood, surrounded by all sorts of slimy, creeping creatures. (Ch.2)
Then, in Chapter 3 as the children are terrorized by the assault of policemen outside the shacks, the brown of their uniforms and other mention of dark colors depict the threat of harm to the family. Another prominent image in this chapter is that of blinding light and blood as the policemen knock down doors and bludgeon some people. The protagonist is terrified as the policemen knock in the door to his family's shack:
As it swung wide open, two tall black policemen in stiff brown uniforms rushed in and blinded me with the glare from their flashlights. (Ch. 3)
The black and "red-necked" white policemen become a tormenting presence in the main character's life.
In several of the early chapters, the "flickering light of ...candle(s)" is mentioned. This repeated image suggests the glimmer of hope that will come for the narrator in the darkness. Amidst this light, however, the short, gaunt figure of his father looms. The boy describes his father as having fearsome features. Two of these features are
...smooth, tight, black-as-coal skin...small bloodshot eyes which never cried. (Ch. 7)
Further, as the protagonist suffers terribly from hunger, he describes it using sensory imagery:
[Hunger was] in the empty pots, in the black children....At times it was the silent destroyer, creeping in unseen, unrecognized, except when, like a powerful time bomb, it would explode inside my guts. At other times it took the form of a dark, fangedbeast, and hovered constantly over my dizzy head, as if about to pounce... and gouge my guts out with its monstrous talons. (Ch. 10)
One night in the winter, with coals burning in order to warm the shack, the boy awakens, choking for breath. He feels
...as if two steel claws had locked themselves around my throat. (Ch.13)
His mother explains that the fumes from the coal--"puffs of smoke coiledupward as raindrops fell on them"--have cut off her son's breath. (Ch.13)
In Chapter 17 he describes the stress under which he suffers,
O, my eyes were cloudy and my
head pounded as if it were being split with an axe” (Ch.17)
This use of vivid and strong imagery conveys the brutal conditions and deprivation under which the protagonist lives, along with the struggles of his youth.