Africans (Style)

Style

Point of View

The story uses a first-person narrator, Mkatie's sister. In first-person narratives, the story is told from the point of view of one character, who gives readers information based on what the narrator has seen or heard. In this case, the narrator talks about her sister's life. Throughout the story, the narrator seems very dispassionate, merely reporting events. Even the most emotionally charged scenes, such as the narrator's retelling of Mkatie's husband's pedophilic acts, are described in plain, understated terms. The narrator says: "My sister's husband made their boy exercise in the morning to keep slim. He had him do sit-ups and scrub his fair skin with a loofah in the bath." In another example, the narrator describes the condition of her sister's deteriorating marriage: "By then my sister was keeping the shutters down and sleeping for hours in the afternoons." These simple statements have large implications, but the narrator leaves readers to draw their own conclusions.

However, at the end, the narrator switches tactics, suddenly turning from straight reportage to a passionate, in-depth description of the scene in which Mkatie is beaten. This abrupt change is designed to increase readers' sense of surprise and their sympathy for Mkatie. Says the narrator, "I imagine her lying on the blue silk counterpane, her face swollen as if she has soaked up water." This is a very lyrical description of Mkatie's face and is the first of many. The narrator also discusses the flush "that spreads over her cheeks like a stain," her "small chin" that "trembles," and eyes that are "as soft a blue as the silk beneath her." This is imagery that is imagined by the narrator, and it all builds up to the last sentence. Says the narrator: "The white baas takes off his belt and beats her across her legs, her breasts, her face." The narrator uses the contrast between the very personal, sympathetic description of Mkatie and the generic description of Mkatie's husband as the "white baas" to shock readers. This shock intensifies through the methodical style of the beating, which starts out bad, hitting "her legs," gets worse, hitting "her breasts," and finally gets to the worst part of all, "her face" — the same face that was just described in sympathetic detail by the narrator.

Setting

The physical setting is very important to the story. "Africans" takes place in South Africa, where the Zulus are a native people. Since the plot hinges on the effects of John's Zulu heritage, the story would not be as effective in any other location. There is an established history between the Zulu and white people in South Africa, and this story draws on that history. The temporal setting is equally as important. The story takes place over a long period of time, a fact that the narrator comments on near the end of the story, when she is trying to keep the specific details of her annual visits straight. "All those visits, year after year, have run into one another." Using a long period of time to tell the story is an effective method, because it shows the long-term effects of too much loyalty without humanity by demonstrating John's part in the beating of his once-beloved Mkatie.

Imagery

The story makes use of many images, the majority of which suggest ideas of war and violence — a suitable imagery for the tumultuous South Africa setting. In some cases, these images of violence are very clear, as in the description of the Zulu warrior culture from the past. "There was the cruel Shaka, who armed his men with short stabbing spears," says the narrator. The use of the word "stabbing" especially calls to mind images of violence. In addition, when the narrator talks about how Mkatie's husband starts to abuse his children, she notes that he "beat the children with a belt, especially the boy, broke his bones. He beat the eldest girl unconscious." Even John's mercy killing of Mkatie's parrot is described in violent terms: "He took its pulsing neck between his fingers and wrung it swiftly."

Kohler also uses many images of blood in the story, starting, once again, with the description of the brutal Zulu kings, "who conquered much territory in a series of bloody wars." In addition, Mkatie recounts an incident where she found her husband planting cabbages in the middle of the night. His response is violent and bloody: "He had thrown a glass at her, cutting her lip, the blood streaming down her chin." In fact, Mkatie's husband himself provides one of the bloodiest images, when he tries to commit suicide. Says the narrator: "All the children stood in a hushed circle with John at the bottom of the stairs and watched the blood running down their father's hands."

In other cases, the violence and war imagery is subtler, such as when the narrator describes bottles of champagne at a party, "which were lined up like soldiers on a field of damask." Following this description, the narrator makes note of John's "white uniform and the red sash with the tassel." At an earlier point in the story, the narrator associates this red tassel with John's Zulu warrior heritage, while describing what male Zulu servants wear. Says the narrator: "Red sashes ran slantwise across their chests from shoulder to waist and ended in tassels that dangled on their hips like decorations of valor." At one point, even the ground outside the servants' quarters is described as "red." Collectively, this use of the color red, a color commonly associated with violence and war, serves to underscore the brutal nature of the story.

Foreshadowing

Like her narration and some of her imagery, Kohler's use of foreshadowing — giving clues to future events — is very subtle in this story. When readers get to the end of the story, they may be shocked when John betrays his friendship with Mkatie. However, Kohler does offer some indications in the story that John might do this. In the beginning, John is a mentor to the two girls, who treat him like a mentor, not a black servant. When Mkatie is an adult, John tries to maintain this relationship but is slowly shut out by Mkatie. This starts even while Mkatie is away at school. Says the narrator: "My sister dreamed that she had passed John on the stairs without knowing who he was." Later, after school, Mkatie tells John and the narrator that she is going to marry a doctor. "'You said you wanted to be a doctor, Mkatie,' John reminded her, and chuckled." John is trying to give Mkatie advice, showing her that she has set aside her own goals, but Mkatie completely ignores John's comment and goes on talking. At the end of this conversation, "John stared down at the toothbrush in his hand," recognizing that he is only a servant and that his advice and opinions no longer matter. This shunning of John continues throughout the story. John is not invited to Mkatie's wedding and is not consulted when Mkatie decides that he will move in and perform housekeeping for her and her new husband. John begins to focus only on work and following orders. As a result, when Mkatie's husband tries to kill himself, John is powerless to stop it. "John clucked his tongue and shook his head and did what he was asked to do." By the end of the story, when Mkatie's husband tells John — "'Do what I tell you. Put her on the bed.'" — John is once again powerless to do anything but obey.