The Immoral Action
The novel centers around one of the most egregious laws passed during the Apartheid era. The Immorality Act, in an effort to stem the tide of miscegenation, actually made it illegal for a whites and blacks to have sex with each other. This outlandishness of laws designed to curb natural behavior for unnatural reasons is made ironically clear:
“While miscegenation and immorality were doing the rounds, and the law was saving the Afrikaner man from himself, the trinity was creating nuns in blue flowing habits.”
Opening Line
The novel opens with a metaphorical assertion.
“All these things flow from the sins of our mothers.”
That paragraph which proceeds from this image goes about detailing the literal part of the sense. “These things” refers to expanses of flat land, black roads, flowers and sunflower fields creating a sea of yellow. As for the “sins of the mother,” the explication of its meaning takes up the rest of the novel, not just a paragraph.
Character Description
She is playing a flute. Only it is not really a flute. It is penny-whistle and the narrator is quite struck by her. Metaphors flow freely, culminating in a striking direct comparison:
“She is sullen like the weather. Yet her tune is as bright as the fireflies of a deep night.”
Character Description…to the Extreme
Technically, of course, to call someone “sullen” would be an insult. Wrap it up in a metaphor connected to the variations of weather and it almost begins to sound like a compliment. A metaphor used to describe a character Niki does not just stray far from ambiguity as to whether insult or compliment, but is constructed of a some genuinely creative compositional talent:
“Her face was scarred and cracked like a dried-up swamp experiencing a prolonged drought”
Skin Lightening
The practice of using chemicals to lighten black skin plays a significant role in the story. The reality of the potential risk of this practice is put into sharp relief through the comparison of a similie that makes the consequences crystal clear:
“Hydroquinone did lighten the skin. But only for a while. Then it fried it until it became discolored and hard like the skin of an alligator.”
