Influences In 'Power Of One And Invictus'

There are influences and influencers all around you, you just have to find them. Bryce Courtenay’s story, The Power of One, and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus both demonstrate this countless times. Both of these stories take place in South Africa during the twentieth century, one before apartheid and one after. Power of One focuses on a kid named Peekay in the early 1900’s. When his mom has a mental breakdown, he is sent to boarding school and is the youngest kid there. This starts a chaotic life that he wouldn’t have been able to get through had it not been for his countless influences helping him along the way. Invictus takes place after apartheid. Nelson Mandela had just become president and is trying to unite all of the people in his country.

The main characters in both of the stories, Power of One and Invictus, influence and are influenced so much that they end up changing their, and other peoples, lives. In the Power of One, Peekay has influences all throughout his life and wouldn’t have been able to get by without them. The first of his major influences was Grandpa Chook. Grandpa Chook influenced Peekay a couple of ways, by being his first friend and by teaching him about camouflage. Peekay first met Grandpa Chook after his first semester at boarding school when he had Nanny call over the witch doctor to help cure Peekay’s bed wetting. The witch doctor taught Peekay a trick using chickens that made them not move from a spot and gave Peekay Grandpa Chook to practice it on. Peekay, now emotionally attached to Grandpa Chook, took him to boarding school. This is where the first way that Grandpa Chook influenced Peekay came in. The first semester of boarding school for Peekay was rough; he was extremely lonely and was constantly bullied by his Boer classmates. Now he had someone to go to, even if they are just a chicken. This made Peekay learn that having someone to be there with you will make life so much easier. Grandpa Chook also taught Peekay about camouflage. On

Nelson Mandela influenced a lot of people, the first being Francois Pienaar. South Africa’s rugby team, the Springboks, were on a huge losing streak and their captain, Pienaar, didn’t know what to do. Mandela met with Pienaar and taught him how to be inspirational, through the poem “Invictus”. This helped Pienaar get his team through the finals of the world championship. The second way that Mandela influenced Pienaar was by teaching him that everyone was equal. He did this by telling Pienaar about his time in prison and how when he came out, he wasn’t searching for revenge, instead he was wanting everyone to get along as equals. We know that Pienaar learned this since at the end of the movie, he gave his black maid a ticket to his rugby game. Nelson Mandela also influenced his bodyguards by teaching them to forgive. At the beginning of the movie, Mandela’s group of bodyguards, who at the time were all black, were sitting in their office when a bunch of white guys walked in saying that Mandela had signed them as more guards. The old bodyguards were mad saying things like, “Those are the same guys that arrested us and took our families from their homes.” (Eastwood) Nelson Mandela taught them that if they don’t forgive the white people and learn to get along with them, then they are just as bad as the white people were. He successfully influences them this way and by the end of the movie, all