How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
They come out of the Court, the white on one side, the black on the other, according to custom. But the young white man breaks the custom, and he and Msimangu help the old and broken man, one on each side of him. It is not often that such a custom is broken. It is only when there is a deep experience that such a custom is broken. (2.28.26)
What do you think the "deep experience" is in this passage? What allows the "young white man" (the guy from Absalom's reform school) to break "the custom" by helping Kumalo into the courtroom? We think that it might have something to do with personal feeling: the young white man's sympathy for Kumalo allows him to overcome the Court's racist social customs to help an elderly black man. Personal feeling between people can help to overcome prejudice, the novel argues.
Quote #11
The white warder, hearing these cries, came in and said, but not with unkindness, old man, you must go now.
— I am going, sir. I am going, sir. But give us a little time longer.
So the warder said, well, only a little longer, and he withdrew. (2.29.56-8)
Alan Paton does not play into stereotyped representations of prison life in this passage. Here, even though he emphasizes that Absalom's guard is a white warder, the man is still sympathetic enough to the tragedy of Kumalo's last meeting with his son that he does give them a little more time together. Once again, we think that Paton is trying to emphasize the sadness of Absalom's fate without necessarily calling for a revolution against the whole racist system of authority that has led to Absalom's position in this prison. He doesn't want to encourage rage against the Man; he wants to focus on reform and on making things better. This sympathetic white prison guard prevents us from making easy assumptions about the cruelty of individual people with power in this system.