Summary
Valley Song begins with The Author, a sixty-something white man symbolizing Fugard himself, presenting the audience with a few "genuine Karoo pumpkin seeds." He illustrates the beauty and fertility of the land in South Africa's Sneeuberg Mountains within the expansive Karoo region. He invites the audience to envision Abraam Jonkers, a mixed-race tenant farmer in his seventies, sowing these seeds into the moist spring soil right after a rain. The imagery in The Author's introductory monologue—seeds, earth, rain, mountains, and valleys—plays a crucial role not only in setting the scene for Valley Song but also in shaping the characters' personalities and the play's overarching themes.
While speaking, The Author transforms into Abraam Jonkers, affectionately called "old Buks" by the villagers of Nieu-Bethesda. Old Buks has spent his entire life in the village, working as a tenant farmer on the same land his father cultivated. Although the property has been owned by the Landmans, a white family, for many generations, Abraam Jonkers and his family have only been permitted to live on its periphery and farm a small portion. Old Buks has tended the crops for the Landmans, and his late wife had cleaned their house and scrubbed their floors. Now, with the Landmans gone, the property is up for sale.
As Buks hums snippets of an old tune and plants pumpkin seeds in the moist ground, his granddaughter Veronica arrives with his lunch. Veronica, a seventeen-year-old black girl, is lively and deeply devoted to her grandfather, whom she affectionately calls "Oupa." As she lays out their meal—bread with jam and a thermos of tea—Buks expresses his worry about a white man who visited earlier that day, interested in purchasing the house and land. Since Buks doesn't own the land he lives and farms on, the new owner could force him to leave, a situation he fears more than anything. Veronica doesn't want to see her grandfather displaced, but for her, losing the land might signify opportunity rather than disaster. She laments that nothing exciting ever happens in their small valley village, craving "Adventure and Romance!"
Veronica dreams of becoming a renowned singer. With her beautiful, natural voice, she often creates songs to amuse herself and old Buks. She sings a tune she made up that morning, "Railway Bus O Railway Bus," which expresses her yearning to board a fast bus and explore the world, visiting big cities and unfamiliar places she's only heard about. The song stirs old Buks' painful memories, leading him to finally open up to Veronica about her mother and her past.
Caroline, Veronica's mother, was the only daughter of Buks. In her youth, she fled to Johannesburg with her mischievous boyfriend. A year passed before Buks and his wife, Betty, got a call from a city hospital. Caroline had fallen seriously ill, prompting Betty to go to her side. When she came back on the "railway bus," she carried with her Veronica, a newborn baby. Caroline had passed away. Old Buks and Betty took on the responsibility of raising Veronica, treating her as if she were their own child. Now, Buks' life is undergoing significant changes. Betty died when Veronica was just a few years old, and now it seems Veronica is contemplating escaping to the city like her mother did. To complicate matters, a white man is inquiring about his land, leaving him with an uncertain future.
Later that night, Veronica sneaks away to the village. She stands on an apple box, pretending to be on TV, singing to thousands, when The Author emerges from the shadows and startles her. After her initial shock, Veronica...
(This entire section contains 1577 words.)
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shares with The Author her dream of becoming a famous performer. He cautions her about the risks of pursuing unattainable dreams, but she argues that with the right mindset and strong belief, people can make their dreams a reality.
The following day, Veronica and old Buks receive troubling news: the white man they've noticed around town plans to purchase the land they live on and farm. Veronica proposes they oppose the loss of their home, possibly by submitting a petition to the government, but Buks is resigned to the situation. He's accustomed to yielding to the white landowners and intends to talk to the white man, hoping to persuade him to allow Buks and Veronica to remain on the land to tend to it and clean his house, as their family has done for many years.
Buks' suggestion leads to a significant clash between him and his granddaughter. While Buks is content to spend his remaining years cultivating vegetables on his small plot of land, with Veronica working for a new white employer, she envisions a different future. She believes there are better opportunities available to her in the new South Africa, where blacks now have equal access to jobs and can live in cities like everyone else. However, Buks sees Veronica's ambition as a sign of ungratefulness and a rejection of the values he cherishes. For the first time in their lives, he feels angry with her, and his anger brings her to tears.
The following Sunday, Buks intercepts The Author just before he departs for the city for a while. Buks offers him a wheelbarrow full of vegetables and begs the white man to let him remain on the land and perhaps allow his granddaughter to clean his house. For The Author, who seeks to purchase the land as a retreat from the "make-believe world of theatre," this gesture seals the deal. The character, who is essentially Fugard himself in disguise, shares with the audience his wish to escape the "nonsense from actors, producers, and critics" and spend some time in the "real" world. However, he pauses as he grasps the land's importance to old Buks. Although The Author can simply write a check and acquire the property's title deed, it is Buks and his family who have cultivated the land and grown up with it for at least two generations. Due to South Africa's tragic history of denying black citizens equality, Buks is now forced to plead with the white man for what may rightfully be his.
While The Author grapples with his guilt, Veronica joins him and discloses her disdain for the land both men cherish. "It gives us food," she says, "but it takes our lives." She views her beloved Oupa as enslaved by the land and believes the fear of being trapped by it drove her mother away. Once more, The Author cautions Veronica about the risks of dreaming too ambitiously, but she remains defiant, asserting, "You will never see me on my knees scrubbing a white man's floor."
The next clash between Veronica and Buks comes with the mail. Although Buks cannot read, he opened a letter Veronica received from a friend in Johannesburg and had someone read it to him. From the letter, he discovered that Veronica plans to leave the valley to seek employment in the city and pursue her singing career. Confronted with the letter, Veronica confesses her plan and shows Buks some money she has saved by singing for white people in the village streets. Buks dismisses her modest savings as "Devil's money" and throws it into the field. That Sunday, Veronica refuses to sing in church. The joy in her voice has been shattered by old Buks' response to her aspirations.
As winter unfolds, Veronica approaches her Oupa to inform him that it's time for her to leave. Just like the pumpkin seeds he meticulously plants and nurtures, she explains that she, too, has matured. She tells him that her singing is her passion, and she must care for it just as old Buks tends to his vegetables. Although he cautions her about the harsh world beyond their small valley, she reassures him that he has helped her become strong, and now is the right moment for her departure. In the end, old Buks gives Veronica his blessing, and she departs, leaving him with a song dedicated to the valley she cherishes.
As Veronica exits the town, she encounters The Author for the final time. He confesses that he understands the drive behind her ambitions and acknowledges that he was merely testing her determination when he questioned the seriousness of her aspirations. Both The Author and Veronica are artists who are guided by a mysterious higher calling, following wherever their dreams lead. The Author, nearing the twilight of his life, finds his dreams of a "Glorious Future" dwindling. In a poignant symbolic gesture, he tells Veronica, "The future belongs to you now." Since The Author represents Fugard, the playwright, this statement carries a significant meaning. Throughout his career, Fugard has been "dreaming" on stage about a brighter future for his nation. Now, in his later years, he witnesses some changes but knows he won't be present to see them fully realized. It will be up to a new generation of artists, both black and white, to envision new dreams.
Veronica heads to the city, leaving behind The Author and old Buks. Yet, to avoid concluding the play with old Buks "slumped in defeat and misery," The Author reaches out to him, reviving his spirit in the only way he knows: through the land. The Author informs Buks of the new spring rain that fell the previous night and presents him with a handful of pumpkin seeds, encouraging him to plant his field and once again draw new life from the earth.
