Summary
The play begins in a photography studio in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, a township in South Africa. A young man named Styles sits in his studio, surrounded by his pictures and large signs advertising his business. Styles walks in and begins reading a newspaper. He comments aloud about the various pieces. He reads a few stories about international politics before finding one about a car factory expansion.
He reads that the factories claim to be improving conditions for Black workers. Styles scoffs at this claim, as he knows this will likely not happen. He also sees that Henry Ford will be visiting one of the factories. He recalls his time working at one of these factories, saying that when an executive like Ford visits, the workers get paid a little more but also have to make sure the factory looks nearly spotless. He remembers when Ford visited his factory and mentions the difficulty of cleaning all of the heavy machinery and equipment.
He also remembers how his old boss, Mr. Bradley, made the workers paint various lines to indicate various safety precautions. Styles mock this, as the lines are only being drawn so that the factory will be up to code—not for the workers' actual safety. Then they moved on to cleaning the bathrooms and later received higher quality overalls and gloves. Styles says that the following day, Bradley asked him to translate for him and tell the other workers that a big day was coming up.
Mr. Bradley also instructed them to always be smiling, to present a positive image of their work to Mr. Ford. Mr. Bradley made various hateful comments about Black people, calling them lazy and entitled. Styles saw several large cars arrive in a caravan. Mr. Ford briefly stopped at the factory and then left without stepping inside. Then everyone was called back to work. Styles says that this time was six wasted years of his life.
Styles says that he spent every hour either working or sleeping and was beginning to feel that he was not really a person. He believes that a person can easily surrender their whole life this way, as their obligations pile up and they lose themselves in daily toil. Fearing this, he says he decided to become a photographer.
Styles then talks about his decision to change careers. He faced criticism from his father who said this wasn't a real career path. However, he rejected this point of view and pushed ahead with his plan. He told his father that he wanted to be his own man and not be subject to the cruelty of another boss like Mr. Bradley.
He says that he asked around for an open room and eventually found one next to a funeral parlor. He applied for permission to open a photography studio and received approval. He was ecstatic about the news. The space was in disarray when he first saw it but he cleaned it thoroughly and remained undeterred in his dream.
Analysis
Work is a major aspect of this section of the play. Styles spends the first part of his monologue describing the bad working conditions at the automobile factory where he was employed. He says that the boss was cruel and treated his workers with disdain, pushing them to their physical limits every day. Styles takes note of the fact that they only painted safety instructions on the factory floor (demarcating various danger zones) when Henry Ford came to visit, showing the management's complete lack of care for the workers. Styles goes on to say that he found this labor incredibly dehumanizing, as it ground him down and made him feel as though he was not his own person. Between the long hours and poor treatment, Styles saw this time at the factory as not having his own life. These descriptions provide a look at how brutal labor can slowly crush a person, driving them to try to break away however they can.
Inequality is another important theme in this section. Styles says that the Black workers were treated with contempt at the factory. He recalls the racial slurs and derogatory remarks made by his old boss, Mr. Bradley. This short memory gives a window into the virulent racism that was so prevalent in South Africa during apartheid. By describing both Mr. Bradley's hateful comments and the punishing labor practices of the factory, Styles shows how personal prejudice and structural inequality went hand-in-hand. Mr. Bradley's decision to make the workers' hours long and keep their pay low is circularly justified by his worldview and supported by the state. Styles correctly perceives that the system is rigged against him and that remaining at the factory will not allow him to have a better, more fulfilling life. Styles is reminded of all of this because he glimpses a comment in the newspaper about how conditions will be improved for Black factory workers, according to the Ford company. He is incredulous because, in his experience, factory owners do not even show a passing thought for workers' well-being.
Identity is also a significant theme in these pages of the play, as Styles describes how he finds his sense of purpose in photography. At the end of this section, Styles says that he decided to stop working at the factory and immediately turned his attention to photography. He says that he did so in order to become his own person and no longer live on time dictated by someone else. For him, this career change was representative of taking back his life. He takes pride in owning his own studio and being his own boss. By shifting careers, and moving away from the overt exploitation of the car factory, Styles finds a stronger sense of individual identity. He now has work that he finds meaningful and is able to make money on his own terms. If the factory job slowly dehumanized him, then photography has reaffirmed his sense of self.
Photography is another key theme in this part of the book, as Styles sees it as an entirely different kind of work. Photography not only gives Styles a newfound identity, but it also gives him the ability to support himself financially. As he says to his father, it will let him control his business and finally not be subject to the whims of a vicious taskmaster. Styles later says that he believes his photographs help people hold onto their personal histories. In his case, photography also gave him the opportunity to be remembered and to life his life with more independence, less subject to forces of social and economic oppression. For Styles, photography is an escape from his former life.
This first part of the play focuses entirely on Styles, as he delivers a long monologue. He tells the reader about why he left the car factory and sought to become a photographer. Along the way, he paints a vivid portrait of the harmful politics and harmful labor practices of his era. Styles explains how he managed to escape a life of being forgotten and erased, no longer acting as another cog in the factory's machinery. Styles's story appears, at first glance, to have little to do with Sizwe's later narrative, but in fact many of these themes speak directly to it.
