Journal 7

Peekay is one of the most inspiring characters I have ever read about. The moment he went to ‘sit down’ and tell his life story, I felt attracted to him and stuck up for him. Yet I realise that I was heavily influenced by the way Bryce Courtenay represented Peekay, by way of his speech, actions and appearance.

            As a narrator, Peekay tells his story with the ‘voice’ or tone of an adult, tracing his life from the age of five up until he was seventeen. However he describes every event of his life as he experienced it, with ignorance and inexperience. For example when Peekay says ‘I felt a sudden splash on my neck and then warm blood trickled over my trembling naked body’, he narrates the event in the ignorance that he experienced it in, not acknowledging that he knows the boys were peeing on him. As a character, Peekay does not talk much in the first half of the book. As a five year old boy he is quite shy and his childhood at the boarding school haunts him, leaving him insecure and vulnerable. This vulnerability along with his tongue-in-cheek humor makes him a likeable person with whom I can identify.

            What also makes Peekay an attractive character is that although he undertakes many extraordinary adventures, he is not an arrogant hero. On the contrary he is seen to be a generous and loving person, which he displays to all people whatever their race – much to the surprise of others around him. Peekay’s name was given to him by a Jewish man, Harry Crown, as a more decent name then the one given by Judge – ‘pisskop’. This is another example of how Peekay is formed by and dependent on the people around him. In spite of his horrific youth, Peekay becomes a ‘winner’. He excels in boxing, not losing a match throughout the novel, and before the book ends he is admitted to Oxford University. This was the result of Peekay trying to become independent – not relying on others such as his Nanny or Hoppy Groenewald – and this is actually the basis of the idea of ‘the power of one’.

            In The Power of One, Peekay shows his attitude toward Christianity and the apostolic faith mission. Courtenay divulges this attitude by the way he wrote, including certain words and using the right tone. Marie, the fourteen year old girl who talked with Peekay, was described with numerous pimples that ‘stuck-out’ of her face. This immediately makes her and all of her values and beliefs repulsive and you are inclined to disagree with them. Courtenay also creates the same effect with Pastor Mulvery and his beliefs. He is described as having crooked teeth “as if they were trying to escape”. Courtenay actually makes Peekay state “that the members of the Apostolic faith tended to be on the losers’ side”. When the Sunday school teacher cannot answer any of his questions, Peekay uses the phrase “Biblical malpractice”. These are strong words that Courtenay uses to reveal the full character Peekay. It is obvious that he and Peekay have very little respect for Christians.