8/12/2019 The Power of One Notes on Landscape for p. 132-136

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The Power of One:

Notes on Landscape for p. 132-136

  Personified House

  “ghoulish,” “dimly,” “shedding no real light,” “face,” “hollow,” “door squeaks”    “not unfriendly” –  PK imagines it must be safe because it will have a familiarity to it, with Mom

and Granpa there

  foreboding of Mom: “not unfriendly,” “hollow,” “no real warmth” –  objective correlative of PK’s

uncertainty about his mother

  Restrictive Place

  “sharp light spilled…grateful to escape the restrictions of the small square room” (p.133) 

  foreshadowing possible family conditions

  carbolic soap remind him of boarding school, another restrictive place

  “restrictive” link to English heritage: many English artifacts, eg. engraving of dead Zulus; at

school, his Englishness was a restriction

  Kudu Head  cramped: “the horns of the giant antelope [brushed] the ceiling” (p. 133) vs. the grand image of

the dead Zulus

  a prize for sport –  another article signifying English superiority/dominance

  What can we understand by the dimensions of the room and the tight nature of the belongings in the

home?

  financial downfall: fewer servants, nothing new in the space except the radio, things are worn out,

no car, cold stove

  old grandeur, British elements: eg. clock  –   familiar and continuous through time and memory,

although it sits in a new place; radio –  discontinuous with the surroundings

  Tone of Home

  institutional: eg. carbolic soap, cold welcome on the stove and from the people, the house seemsless familiar in the cold light of day

  PK still has many unanswered questions

  Kitchen

  compare old kitchen with new kitchen: old kitchen represents nanny’s love and care, ie. tended,

kept warm; whereas the new kitchen, like Mom, is cold and antiseptic, not warm

  even when PK did not need her, Nanny had always been there to help, but his mother is more

distant (eg. she lets him carry his own suitcase)

  South Africa

  Zebra symbolizes South Africa, while a chair of British origins sits on top of it, like being on top

of indigenous elements

  marks on the rug may symbolize the effect of British occupation (ie. “worn the hair off the hide”(p. 134) = worn down the resources of Africa)

  The new house is a place at odds with its surroundings and time: it contains British elements even

though the house is located in South Africa