The Visitor

The story begins with a boy answering a knock at the door. He meetsa man who had an
uncertain smile on his face and an apologetic tone in his voice. Although the man’s eyes look
sad, the boy finds there is something sinister about him.

What a funny man, I thought , as I went to the door.

‘Mama’
‘What?’
‘A man out there to see you.’
‘A man? Which man that?”
‘Dont know him. Never seen him before.’
She got up and peeped through the window. By now I was anxious myself to know who the
stranger might be and so I observed her closely as she peered outside at him.
She stared and stared. He did not move and seemed petrified by the window. I walked inside
and had a mild shock as I saw her expression. ‘what happen Mama?”
She did not answer . I realise something was very wrong. I had never known her to be
confronted with a situation which she seemed in any way incapable of handling. Not until that
moment.
‘Mama’
‘Go an’ tell ‘im me not here…go an tell him…no wait, tell im…tell im me coming.’
Whoever the stranger was , I realised he somehow threatened us and instictively began to
fear him. Yet when I walked back to him, his appearance instilled little apprehension in me.
His manner was uncertain, vague and distant. It reassured me against my every instinct. I
even had, for a moment, the absurd impression that he was afraid of us. And this flattered my
childhood pride.
‘My mother says she’s coming,’ I told him.
He said thanks softly. My mother walked out the door , then stopped and continued to stare at
him. He walked towards her and stopped a few yards away.

A conspiracy of silence seemed to reign between them, between us I should say, for by
now I too was left simply staring, wondering what it was all about. It was he who finally
broke the silence.
‘Hi Gladys. I hope I didn’t surprise you too much.’
‘How you find where I live?” Her voice was unusually restrained though there was ever
a slight note of threat in it.
‘Oh, I was just passing through the town. I asked at the Chiniman shop if they know you,
an’ they show me the way…’
 After a long pause she beckoned to him to come inside. The door remained half -closed
and I remained staring at it for the next fifteen minutes. Then I heard my mother calling me.
My heart leaped at finally solving the mystery of the stranger.
I found myself stuffing my shirt into my trousers respectfully. My mother called again,
impatiently. I ran inside.
He was sitting on the only chair we had.; she was on the edge of the bed. They both
looked at me as I entered. I made sure to avoid his eyes , staring at her for refuge.Then after,
another long pause,she beckoned to him hesistantly and mumbled, ‘Your father’.

From: The Visitor by Orlando Patterson

Questions:

1. What is the mothers first physical reaction on seeing the visitor?

2. What is the boys response when he sees his mothers reaction at this point?
3. What do you understand about the mother’s reaction when he says ‘Go tell im me not
here…Go tell im…’?
4. What is the boys reaction to his mothers behaviour at this point?
5. What made the boy realised that the visitor somehow threatened them?
6. Why do you think the boy felt at first that the visitor was afraid of them?
7. What does the slight note of threat tells us about the mothers reaction at this point?
8. What does the boys action of stuffing his shirt into his pants suggest about the boys attitude
to the visitor at this point.
9. The visitor says and does very little. What impression does this help to create to the reader?
10. Give the meanings of the following words and phrases as used in the passage:
A) Peered
B) Petrified
C) Refuge
D) Conspiracy of silence

END