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Post by Lacey Doby on Apr 16, 2014 1:31:59 GMT
Themes, symbols, overall effect on the novel, etc. Give it your best shot! Oh yeah, yeah I went there. |
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Post by Lacey Doby on Apr 16, 2014 2:22:59 GMT
As Maureen pointed out in the passage we had to super analyze, the people in the village "had nothing." I took this to mean that they had no tokens of upper class society, like air conditioning and refrigerators and tiles on the floor. The gun would fall into that category as well, and so I originally took the gun to be a symbol of clear separation between the classes; the haves and the have-nots.
But when Bam enters the village, he seems to try to incorporate himself into the society and become a part of the community, "He walked among them harmlessly; look, he and his gun were theirs," (Gordimer 75). He tries to push away that separation in the classes; he even offers to teach Daniel to use it. He still keeps the gun in his own possession and hidden in the roof. The gun makes Bam different, and useful when he kills the warthogs and feeds people. "...his function as a provider of meat settled upon him as status," (Gordimer 77). Now he as status, use, and he is a beneficial part of the community.
This explains his horror when he loses the gun. Once Bam loses the gun, he is described as "this man who had nothing, now," (Gordimer 145). He has no status, no use. Now he is just another part of the village who needs help and he will have to depend on July to give it to him. The gun kept the balance of servant and master in check, since July was so superstitions of the gun he hardly touched it and Bam was comfortable enough to walk through the village with it.
With the gun gone, that balance is gone as well. Bam loses his status, both as meat provider and as master.
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Post by sammywong on Apr 16, 2014 5:23:32 GMT
^nice Lacey!
I also think the gun also is a thing of a past world that Bam clings onto in order to still feel connected.
I think in some regard, it also served as an obstacle against Bam integrating into the village. Like Bam, Maureen also has a hard time adjusting to their new lifestyle. But unlike Bam, Maureen did not bring any equipment that could have made her time gathering food any easier. She had to learn from the women of the tribe. She learned from July's mom where to dig for roots. She was finally accepted by July's wife and the other women and everyday would join them in the field. Bam, on he other hand, has his gun that allows him to still march to his own beat. He does not have to learn from the village men their tricks and everyday routine.
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Post by jennyxu on Apr 17, 2014 6:00:03 GMT
^ I agree with both of the above.
The gun is very much comfort and security, as well as power, for the Smales, a part of their past life. As long as they have the gun, they feel like they still hold control over their situation and still hold hope for an ending to their suffering. The gun is also a source of envy for the Africans, seen when Daniel and the chief show interest in learning to use the gun. The Africans also view the gun as a symbol of power, as a means to achieve their desires. When the Smales lose the gun in the end, we see Maureen's desperate reaction, her repeated pleas to July: "You've got to get that gun back" (149). Without the gun, Maureen loses her grasp on reality, which leads to the end, where she gives up control and just runs.
When Daniel steals the gun, if we assume that is what happened, it represents the entire revolt of the Africans to seize power over the whites. The control of their destiny is taken out of the Smales's hands.
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Post by juliamoreland on Apr 20, 2014 18:42:11 GMT
I agree with all that has been said, but I noted the very first time the gun was mentioned and it highlights many of the themes we have been talking about.
"What place was there for a white man's gun among these people who had taken them in without asking why they should expect to be sheltered, fed, and hidden? ... I am a boy with a pea-shooter; he wanted to say aloud" (41).
This is the first time I noticed Bam really questioning his power role. He holds this gun, which used to bring so much power and comfort, but now, does it even protect him? Also he recognizes the "white man's gun" among a society where it has no place. This quote really points to how Bam continually tries to use the gun as a negotiating tool for power, yet he is only "a boy with a pea-shooter." It's an interesting battle going on in his head, and the gun encompasses the tear between past societal power roles and the roles in a new culture. I really like the pea-shooter line especially because it holds this moment of exposed fear/anxiety/change/tons of emotions with this degradation of a “white man’s” weapon.
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rishi
New Member
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Post by rishi on Apr 20, 2014 22:31:48 GMT
My interpretation of the gun in July's people is similar to Jenny's interpretation. While the gun, at first glance, appears to be a symbol of the mental, physical, and societal separations of blacks and whites in South Africa, it significantly represents power. I also think that Sammy had a good point about the gun as a source of connection to the past. In this post, I'll briefly discuss both of these interpretations.
Bam was the man with the gun. It was his source of status and power while living with July's people, and Lacy's post above essentially describes what I want to say here: "Once Bam loses the gun, he is described as 'this man who had nothing, now,' (Gordimer 145). He has no status, no use. Now he is just another part of the village who needs help and he will have to depend on July to give it to him." Meanwhile, the Africans (who have the gun) gain power. The shifting of possession of the gun correlates with the shifting of power between blacks and whites in July's village, and perhaps even in a broader spectrum.
When analyzing Maureen and her relationship with the gun, the gun clearly represents her longing to cling to the past. Like Jenny explained, when the Smales lose the gun towards the end of the novel, Maureen becomes desperate. She pleas, "You've got to get that gun back" (149). Throughout the novel, we observe that Maureen is not comfortable in her new setting. An example of this is the passage we analyzed at the beginning of the novel (the description of the huts). Despite this discomfort, Maureen tolerates her new environment...until Bam's gun is stolen. The loss of the gun correlates with Maureen's loss of connection to her previous home and culture. This poses an interesting question: would Maureen have ran if the Smales had not lost the gun?
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Post by yongkim on Apr 21, 2014 0:14:46 GMT
Before analyzing the importance of the gun, it's worth thinking about the role of technology and advancements in this book. In the passage we had to analyze, it is evident that Maureen has difficulty adapting to a new environment that does not have running water or electricity. Maureen is especially drawn to the objects that July and his people do not have (the bakkie, the gun, the helicopter at the end of the novel). The gun is an prominent symbol of white power and dominance in South Africa. However, once the gun has disappeared, the Smales' conceived power is vanished. We see Maureen at the end of the novel trying to cling back to own culture as she tries to get the gun back and even runs after a helicopter that could be filled with revolutionaries. The loss of the gun represents, for the Smales', a total loss of connection to their original culture.
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Post by danyhong55 on Jun 4, 2014 5:57:47 GMT
I wholeheartedly agree with Lacey and Rishi.
The gun is a symbol of status, identity and, most of all, power.
However, it also represents change.
The best example is when we kills the boars. It is more than a symbol of who he is (the provider)as Lacey states. On the same page, 77, Gordimer talks about how things have changed for the Smales, especially Bam. Bam who previously only use the gun for sport and fun now realize the true power and grue inherent in a gun. The sport killings had an almost sanitary description to them as Bam was recalling them, but the dead boars are described in all their bloody glory as a symbol of things changing. Dead is dead for animals, but the implications of dead animals have changed significantly. Bam must now use the gun as means of sustenance and survival. It no longer brings him any joy to shoot and kill.
When talking with the chief we can also see the changes that guns bring and how the gun changes the dynamic between the natives and the Smales. Society has been overthrown by the use of guns and their intentions to change the things that are in to things that are not. Their converstaion reveals that some tribes of native blacks have been noted to use guns as a means to change the balance of society in their favor, or at least in balance so that they may enjoy the niceties of being human. It also notes the power balance that guns can change. Daniel wants to use Bam's gun in order to change the world, and succeeds in stealing it; the chief wishes to use Bam's gun in order to change the balance of power between the tribes.
The things we must notice the most is the fundamental change that guns were made to make. It was designed to turn life into death. What is into what will inevitably be. We cannot escape this reality. Neither can the Smales.
The symbol of power is secondary to the nature of the book, but is worth mentioning in that it is common in all literature that involves guns. Their is power struggle between two opposing sides that must be defined. The Smales hold a limited amount of power in that holding the gun, they can help provide food. However the struggle lies in that the chief wants the gun to use for his own tribe, change the power balance.
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Post by Marshall on Jun 4, 2014 17:05:26 GMT
I think taken into account the physical abilities of a gun, it represents power. Bam takes his gun along with the few other things the Smales keep, because where they were, it was a symbol. They possessed the privilege not to have to use it for a real reason. Sport shooting is not hunting. All the factors are controlled, and the hunter is guaranteed to win most of the time. The gun might as well have been a novelty samurai sword on the mantel. But then the Smales are thrust into a new position, where it becomes not only useful, but necessary. The hunting passage was not fun to read. It wasn’t fun for Bam to do. That passage is the first time he has to use the gun to get food for his family, and it’s a stark new experience. Gordimer describes the awful squealing and blood and putting a final blow into the animal. Bam’s symbol of power is not the same at all. The iron and strength it once held has to be completely tarnished for him.
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