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READ THIS
A small boy has heard that it is possible to climb the sheer rock face of a quarry. He decides to attempt
the climb himself but lands in difficulties. The whole community assembles to participate in the boy's
rescue.
READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE:
These thoughts and speculations took him some minutes, so that the crowd below knew that he was
facing some kind of crisis. He was nearly fifty feet up, about one-third of the height of the quarry face.
There were now a hundred people watching him, talking to each other, but not loudly, because they were
subdued by contemplation of the dangers that lay ahead. The boys were filled with admiration and awe,
and the women were tender feeling and care. It was a white boy, it was true, but there in the danger and
excitement of his journey up the quarry face he had become one of their own. The boys wished him luck
and the women shook their heads, unable to be indifferent to either his naughtiness or his plight.
Johnny lifted his right foot to make the first step of the ascent, and this action put the big Indian man into
a panic.
"Sonny," he cried, "true's God, don't go up any more. You'll die, sonny, and no one here wants you to die.
Sonny, I ask you to come down." He went down on his knees on the quarry floor, and said, "I pray God
to make you come down. I pray God not to be angry with you." The women there, both Indian and
African, seeing him kneeling there, cried out, "Shame," but not because they thought his action was
shameful, they were merely saying how sad the whole thing was.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Why was Johnny attempting to climb the quarry face? (4)
[Need help?]
Johnny knew a boy (Tom Hesketh) who had climbed the cliff face twice.
Although Tom had told him that it was almost impossible, Johnny wanted to try the climb for himself
perhaps to prove to himself that he was just as good as Tom.
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What was the racial make-up of the crowd of onlookers? (2)
[Need help?]
The onlookers formed a mixed racial group, but mainly Indian and Zulu.
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"It was a white boy, it was true."
- What point is the narrator attempting to make by this statement? (4)
[Need help?]
The story is set back in the days of Grand Apartheid, when there was a strict division between the racial
groups of South Africa.
The races were separated and theoretically did not mix. The story attempts to show how, given the correct
circumstances, the different population groups did indeed mix and supported one another.
The fact that Johnny was White did not prevent the Black and Indian onlookers feeling for him.
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Comment on the role that "the big Indian man" plays in this story. (4)
[Need help?]
The Indian tends to provide light comedy to a serious situation. His comic antics, though well meant,
cannot fail but to make the reader smile.
At the same time, he forms a pivotal role of showing how an Indian man will feel so strongly for a White
boy. The Indian also breaks the narrative by providing eye-witness statements.
Later a Zulu will enter the story as a rescuer, forming a racial triangle of co-operation between Indian, Zulu
and White.
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Is there a point to the story? If so, what is it? (4)
[Need help?]
The story is set back in the days of Grand Apartheid, when there was a strict division between the racial
groups of South Africa.
The races were separated and theoretically did not mix. The story attempts to show how, given the correct
circumstances, the different population groups did indeed mix and supported one another.
The fact that Johnny was White did not prevent the Black and Indian onlookers feeling for him. The author
is therefore gently pointing out that the legal separation of the races was not a natural thing. People of
different races could work together.
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Did Johnny succeed in climbing the quarry face? Explain. (3)
[Need help?]
No, Johnny did not!
He went as far as a ledge from where he could progress no further -- nor could he return. He then
needed rescue.
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In the final moments of this story, a certain Thomas Ndhlovu becomes a hero.
- How does he become a hero? (2)
[Need help?]
Thomas Ndhlovu becomes a hero by rescuing Johnny.
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- What is the point of the narrator making him the hero? (4)
[Need help?]
The story is set in the days of Grand Apartheid, when there was a strict division between the racial groups
of South Africa. The races were separated and theoretically did not mix.
The story attempts to show how, given the correct circumstances, the different population groups did
indeed mix and supported one another.
The fact that Johnny was White did not prevent the young Zulu putting his own life at risk by rescuing him.
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"The policeman cleared a way through the mob of congratulators, and there, under the eyes of
authority, Johnny Day put out his hand and thanked Thomas Ndhlovu again for the act which, for all we
know, saved his life."
- Comment on these lines as a conclusion to this short story. (6)
[Need help?]
In a normal life, Johnny would probably have had nothing to do with Thomas Ndhlovu, and he certainly
would never have spoken to him.
In this story, however, Thomas is presented as the rescuer, and the White boy is able to shake the hands
of the Black boy as a friend.
The policeman represented the maintenance of the apartheid laws. Theoretically, therefore, the
policeman should have prevented the two boys shaking hands as it was against the law.
The writer, therefore, ends the story by having the White boy and the Black boy defy the law by shaking
hands right in front of the apartheid policeman.
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