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Post by mitralebuhn on Apr 17, 2014 6:05:08 GMT
Let's get started talking about the Bakkie (a.k.a. the fam's car).
I'd like to start by pointing out the tension that is sprung by the vehicle. At first the Smales don't seem to care too much about the car. July hides it, they take some of the cushions out to use them in the house, and they lock the car up, using it almost like a safe. But then when July randomly goes off with it the family suddenly cares about the vehicle and immediately react. It's the common feeling of wanting something you can't have, or wanting something only when it is taken away from you. As July learns out to drive the bakkie he gradually gains more independence; just as a teenager gains a sudden sense of freedom when she steps behind the wheel. In this interpretation the bakkie could symbolize taking control of ones fate and unlocking the "vehicle" that breaks boundaries without question and sets a progressive attitude in motion.
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Post by elizabethmeyer on Apr 17, 2014 6:32:26 GMT
Oooh I really like that, Mitra! It makes total sense! I see what you mean about them wanting something they can't have, or only noticing how much they value it when they don't have it anymore. It's sort of like all of the other nice, modern things the Smales had back home in Johannesburg, like their house and their beds and bathrooms. People don't think about how lucky they are to have something until it's taken from them, either by force or by fate or whatever else. The bakkie is described as: "It makes a cheap car-cum-caravan for white families, generally Afrikaners, and their half-brother coloureds who can't afford both. For more affluent South Africans, it is a second, sporting vehicle for purposes to which a town car is not suited" (5). So I guess the Smales having to literally live out of their car (albeit by taking it apart and using the bits inside another sort of shelter) is sort of like what it would be for a family with a Jeep in this day and age to life out of their car during the zombie apocalypse. At least they have something (unlike so many others around them), but they're still going to miss everything they don't have anymore.
Another part I think we should point out is the description of the bakkie once Bam brings it home to show his family:
"The vehicle was bought for pleasure, as some women are said to be made for pleasure. His wife pulled the face of tasting something that set her teeth on edge when he brought it home. But he defended the dyed-blonde jauntiness; yellow was cheerful, it repelled the heat. They stood round it indulgently, wife and family, the children excited, as it seemed nothing else could excite them, by a new possession. Nothing made them so happy as buying things; they had no interest in feeding rabbits. She had smiled at him the way she did when he spurted ahead of her and did what he wanted; a glimpse of the self that does not survive coupling. -Anything will spot you a mile off, in the bush.-" (6)
What?
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shanejohnson
New Member
"Kindness is the only investment that never fails." - Thoreau
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Post by shanejohnson on Apr 17, 2014 16:24:47 GMT
You guys have brought up some really interesting points. To me, the Bakkie also serves as an extension of the broader conflict and questions at play. The greater societal roles have been upheavedm which begs the question (for the Smales, and more broadly, the white community) how to treat these people who were once considered socio-economically lesser (any racism aside). Similarly the Bakkie serves as a device to examine the flipped power dynamic, by forcing the Smales to consider how to view July using this possession which was once kept for themselves.
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amychen
New Member
“But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go—we’ll eat you up—we love you so!”
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Post by amychen on Apr 21, 2014 1:22:15 GMT
Sorry for posting so late!
I like the use of the Bakkie as a spark of tension and a symbol of power, as Mitra said. A few of the passages that I think really help support this are:
• July trying to fix car: "He persisted with pliers and screwdriver; got no message from the awkward stress between metal and his fingers. He never had; what problems with the lawn mower, half-dismantled, and left in the yard until Bam came home" (99) and "You don't have to be afraid. He won't steal it from you" (101)—July tries to adopt Maureen and Bam’s ways of life without the knowledge necessary to do so; it’s kind of like New Money in The Great Gatsby.
• July and Martha talking about dreams for life after the conflict: "The vehicle that had brought his white people had never been mentioned between the two of them” (135). —The conflict shows how July aims to adopt the white characters’ lifestyles. Meanwhile, Martha is fine just the way they are—a reflection of how while those driving the conflict might be the loudest, they don’t represent everyone.
• Maureen talking to July: “You want the bakkie, to drive around in like a gangster, imagining yourself a big man, important, until you don’t have any money for petrol, there isn’t any petrol to buy, and it’ll like there, July, under the trees, in this place among the old huts, and it’ll fall to pieces while the children play in it. Useless. Another wreck like all the others. Another bit of rubbish” (153)—Maureen makes it even more obvious that the disconnect is a huge problem.
These quotes highlight the central problem: cultural disconnect and how characters try to resolve the issue, more specifically on the side of July. The parallel character who shows this is Maureen. She assumes that July’s actions come from some bond of friendship on page 71, and tries to enforce her own images of others on them (page 152). The Bakkie highlights July’s side of this conflict. He assumes that his idea of Maureen and Bam’s culture is correct, and so when he tries to adopt it, it becomes evident that he needs help in order to do so. In other words, both of them are stuck with simplistic and idealized images of each other, and so when they are put in positions in which they must confront these images, they are forced to realize that they cannot become a part of each other’s cultures without help.
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Post by chrisb on Jun 4, 2014 7:38:19 GMT
Sorry for posting so late! amychen hits the ignition and puts this Bakkie in drive! Maureen's relationship with July does, indeed, highlight the narrow but all-encompassing dialogue between the reader and author. In effect, Gordimer architects an overwhelming, almost cloying denouement, thus further communicating the significance of the Bakkie throughout the novel. |
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Post by hannahboe on Jun 4, 2014 12:45:02 GMT
I think July driving the Bakkie without permission struck the Smale's particularly hard because it was their last real possession. Yes, they had to leave almost everything behind, but they still had their shiny yellow car. It was an important possession in the first place - something they splurged on and had a fondness for (they felt super cool in their very yellow car) - but it was also their LAST really significant belonging.
Losing control of the Bakkie also meant losing their control over their only means to return home (if ever there was an opportunity). First and foremost, the Bakkie is a vehicle. It got them where they are and it can take them back to where they came from. It is their last hope for return to their home and July's driving it established that it is no longer a way to get home, but a way to survive in their current situation.
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Post by hannahboe on Jun 4, 2014 12:45:32 GMT
I think July driving the Bakkie without permission struck the Smale's particularly hard because it was their last real possession. Yes, they had to leave almost everything behind, but they still had their shiny yellow car. It was an important possession in the first place - something they splurged on and had a fondness for (they felt super cool in their very yellow car) - but it was also their LAST really significant belonging.
Losing control of the Bakkie also meant losing their control over their only means to return home (if ever there was an opportunity). First and foremost, the Bakkie is a vehicle. It got them where they are and it can take them back to where they came from. It is their last hope for return to their home and July's driving it established that it is no longer a way to get home, but a way to survive in their current situation.
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