ENG 1501 ASSIGNMENT 01_2023

The poem was relevant to former President Nelson Mandela’s
introduction after the first democratic election as it is an important text
in South African literature. Ingrid Jonker highlights the African heritage
and the early struggle against Apartheid (Fischer, 2018). A closer look
at the content of the poem, suggest that it is a protest against
Apartheid. It symbolizes all the innocent people and children who were
killed by soldiers under Apartheid in South Africa. The contrast in line
11: “The child is not dead” and line 15: “where he lies with a bullet
through his brain” tells us that the child is medically declared dead but
not spiritually (Moffet, 2013:216). It can be concluded that the child’s
legacy will live forward as a reminder of the injustice. The child’s death
has inspired others and given them energy to fight the struggle against
Apartheid. The final line “without a pass” symbolizes hope for South
Africa. The child is free. Therefore, it is a very relevant piece to open
the parliament after the first democratic and non-racial election. It
symbolizes the struggle and the long road walked to the day where
South Africa became democratic, yet the legacy of those who were
harmed will live on.
2. The tone of the fourth stanza becomes more hopeful. Jonker speaks
about the child’s future and his freedom. The focus is more on the
child. A rhetorical device, anaphora, is used to appeal to the emotions
of the reader (Literary devices, 2019) by emphasizing and repeating
“the child” at the beginning of each line. Connotations refers to a
word’s secondary meaning, the meanings that are associated with the
word (Byrne, Kane & Scheepers, 2018: 54). The word choice in the
fourth stanza connotes future, power and freedom. The child who was
a victim has now become strong and free. He is able to roam the
country “without a pass”. He is no longer limited to the Townships
referred to in the third stanza. The stanza symbolizes hope and
freedom.
3. An Allusion is something that is said or written that mentions another
person or subject, mostly in an indirect way (Byrne, Kane & Scheepers,
2018: 142). All the names mention in the third stanza; Langa, Nyanga,
Orlando, Sharpeville and Philippi are townships, yet they are not being
called that. It emphasizes how restrictive Apartheid was and that most
of the violence occurred in the Township. An allusion can be drawn here
to the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 (same year as the poem).