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Misuse Of Power In Byrce Courtenay's The Power Of One

716 Words3 Pages

As the poison takes over you, you begin to wonder, why me? This book takes place in the 1930s-1940s in South Africa before Apartheid with the main character Peekay, who deals with many tough struggles at a young age such as abuse and grief. In the novel, The Power of One, by Byrce Courtenay the misuse of a position of power is a poisonous way to take advantage of your acquaintances. Throughout the book we see Peekay growing while figuring out his passions and meeting people who are important to him
Showing power over people in a bad way can be an evil poison. In the novel it states, on page 24, “Come here, Pisskop. I looked up at the Jhhudge as he wiped his forefinger under my nose then pushed me to the floor. This tells me that the way the judge shows power is awful because of the way the judge pushes him down and even wants him to bleed showing him that he can do whatever he wants with him which can bring him into a very bad mental state at a very young age. I think Bryce Courtenay was showing us the effect people can have on anyone. Second, in the novel on page 39 it states, “He reached out and grabbed me by the shirtfront. If I don't pass, I will kill you first …show more content…

Next, the text on page 147 states, “She has made us take off our bangles of womanhood and these dresses make our bodies really hot.” This is very important to think about because his mother was making them do things they weren't comfortable with but they had to because she had power over them. I realized that Bryce Courtenay has really put so many factors to think about in the book with anything that can make people upset. And then on page 151 Mother states, “Your nanny was possessed by the devil.” In fact, if any mother said this there kids would of course get upset if you said this about one of there favorite people. For the mom to show her power like this is so sad and it definitely made Peekay upset too. Power is a bad way to take advantage of

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