Short Story: ‘The Suit’ (1963)

By can Themba
LECTURE BY FRANCES RINGWOOD
EMAIL: RINGWOODF@UNIZULU.AC.ZA
Who is Can Themba?

Daniel Canodoise "Can" Themba (21 June 1924-8

September 1967)

Summary: He was one of the Drum writers made famous

for his investigative journalism into Apartheid
discrimination. His fellow Drum writers included Henry
Nxumalo, Bloke Modisane, and Todd Matshikiza.

Writing: Themba was based in Sophiatown during the early

part of his writing career. In the 1950s, this once vibrant
hub of black culture was wiped out by the Apartheid
government and replaced with the hated ‘Triomf’ – filled
housing for poor white people. Themba’s writing often
sought to reinvigorate what had been lost by the forced
removals that had sought to flatten ‘Soulfiretown’.
Photo taken by Jurgen Schadeberg
 Summary: ‘The Suit’

Philemon is a loving husband to his wife Matilda (‘Tilly’). He wakes

up each morning to serve her breakfast. He only stops short at
washing up the dishes too after breakfast because his wife protests.

The couple are poor and black, as is evident from the fact that they
share a toilet with 20-30 other families and the fact that Philemon
must heat up a kettle to wash himself in the mornings. The setting of
Sophiatown also indicates details about the couple; their lives, their
struggles, their friends, and their frustrations.

One morning on his way to work as a clerk at a lawyer’s office,

Philemon runs into his old friend, Maphikela. Maphikela tells
Philemon about a matter Maphikela’s wife has been nagging him
about. It’s a subject that appears to trouble him. Finally he tells
Philemon that Tilly has been having an affair for some three months.
 Summary Continued

At the moment Philemon learns of his wife’s affair, it’s as though something has broken down
inside his mind. He endures a stomach-churning taxi-ride home. On his arrival at their dwelling,
Philemon witnesses Matilda in bed with her lover.
The man in bed with Matilda is so startled by Philemon’s arrival that he jumps out of bed
wearing nothing but his underpants. In the course of his escape, he leaves behind his suit. At
the same time Philemon acts as though he sees nothing and pretends that he left his pass at
home that morning.
Philemon then starts pretending that the disguarded suit is an honoured guest. He tells
Matilda that she is to dish up for the suit, take care of the suit, and occasionally, take it out for
a walk. If Matilda does not comply, Philemon promises to kill her.
Matilda finds this constant reminder of her guilt and infidelity too much. She starts to think of
ways she might escape from Philemon’s emotional abuse. Divorce wasn’t really a practical
option for women in her community back then. Eventually, Matilda decides to join a Cultural
Club run by the Anglican Mission.
 Summary Concluded

Although Matilda is nervous to ask Philemon about joining the club, he consents. This
activity allows Matilda to make friends outside the home and find some relief from the
strained situation of her marriage.
One day, Matilda decides that she wants to host a party for her Club friends. She
prepares meticulously for the party; making sure that there is enough food for everyone.
To Matilda’s horror, on the day of the party, Philemon makes her serve the suit in front of
her guests. He then goes out and gets drunk. On returning home, Philemon arrives to find
his wife dead, curled up around the suit.

NOTE:
Philemon thinks himself better than other husbands because he would never dream of
raising a hand to his wife. The story reveals this character’s hypocrisy by showing how his
emotional and psychological abuse leads to Tilly’s death.
 Extract analysis
This ritual was thorough, though no white man a-complaining of 1. Why is it so
the smell of wogs knows anything about it. Then he dressed himself important for
fastidiously. By this time he was ready to prepare breakfast. Philemon to show
Breakfast! How he enjoyed taking round a tray of warm breakfast he loves his wife?
to his wife, cuddled in bed. To appear there in his supremest 2. Why do black
immaculacy, tray in hand when his wife comes out of ether to people ‘bloody-
behold him. These things we blacks want to do for our own . . . not well got to’ do
fawningly for the whiles for whom we bloody-well got to do it. He things fawningly for
felt, he denied that he was one of those who believed in putting their white bosses in
his wife in her place even if she was a good wife. Not he. Matilda, the story?
too, appreciated her husband’s kindness, and only put her foot 3. Does Philemon
down when he offered to wash up also. believe in putting
his wife in her
“Off with you" she scolded him on his way.
place?
 Characters

Philemon: Philemon is a loving husband who works for a white lawyer and lives in
Sophiatown. He believes himself to be a loving, caring man, so much so that a
large part of his identity is built around the idea that he is a good husband. The
reason why Philemon needs to see himself in this way is due to the way that
Apartheid power structures have demeaned him and taken away his agency (his
ability to make his own choices in life). Philemon is clearly an intelligent person; he
reads constantly on sophisticated subjects like abnormal psychology. He may
have been a lawyer himself or a psychologist, had Apartheid inequities not barred
him from these levels of career attainment. Had Philemon had more options
available to him, he also may have had a way out of the poverty in which he lives.
So many of his freedoms are circumscribed, causing Philemon to place a high
value on the one freedom he has: the freedom to love his wife. Consequently, he
places too much value on that one freedom. When his wife has an extramarital
affair, Philemon is unable to handle the situation rationally because the thing that
is most important to him has been violated. As a result, he becomes a cruel
husband who resorts to emotional abuse as a way to punish and dehumanize his
wife. Ironically, the suit is treated like a person, while Philemon objectifies his wife.
 Characters

Matilda: (Can you write a description of Matilda based

on the one you have just read about Philemon?)

Maphikela: Clearly, Philemon and Maphikela share a close relationship

because Philemon calls Maphikela ‘dad’. Maphikela is not
Philemon’s real father, this is a term of endearment and respect.
Maphikela also has a loud, boisterous type of personality. In the
short story it says that Maphikela is ‘jovial’, that his laughter is
‘raucous’ and that his conversation is ‘uninhibited’.
 Setting
Sophiatown

 Hub for black culture

 A place where intellectuals of
different colours could share opinions
and ideas
 An important gathering place for
resistance and organising against
Apartheid
 That is why the Group Areas Act and
the Natives Resettlement Act of 1954
were used to justify forced removals in
an attempt to kill the soul of
Sophiatown
 Setting

Time:

Apartheid South Africa

How do we know when the story is set?

We know the story is set in Apartheid
South Africa because Sophiatown
Is named as the place where Philemon
and Matilda live. During Apartheid and before the forced removals of the 1950s, Sophiatown
was a nexus where freedoms fighters from across the various divides could meet. It was
also an important node for black resistance and black culture. The story was clearly set in this
time because Philemon talks about serving the ‘white bosses’ ‘fawningly’.
 Themes

1. The way racist power dynamics and their imbalance impacts on relationships, resulting in
their reinscription as sexism and gender-based violence.
2. Recapturing the spirit of Sophiatown, the way people lived there, their daily struggles,
passions, ambitions and fears.
3. Psychological abuse, particularly in terms of gender violence. It is telling that Matilda can
conceive of no way to escape her abusive marriage. She knows that her own mother will not
forgive her for her adultery. Matilda thinks specifically of a woman in her community: Staff
Nurse Kakile, and the way she has become a drunkard and a loose woman. In the 1940s and
1950s, women did not have as many options as they do now, especially black women.
Matilda’s story highlights the pressures faced by black women and in many ways, shows how
Apartheid and conventional gender norms conspired to make life especially difficult for
black women. They weren’t supposed to work, and if they married they were at the mercy of
husbands, who often felt powerless due to poverty, ill treatment by Apartheid authorities, and
all the evils associated with that situation.
 Activity

1. On a piece of paper, write your own paragraph or two summarising ‘The

Suit’. (Don’t copy mine or one off Wikipedia; practice your own writing.)
2. What kind of narrator relates this story? How do you know?
3. Write a paragraph or two describing Matilda’s character. Analyse her as
though she was a psychologically consistent person and remember to use
evidence from the story upon which to base your description.
4. Write a paragraph in which you explain how and why you think Matilda
dies at the end of the story.