ENGLISH 2A/B 2022

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Mthiyane

AO

221127228 & 0713184257

TOPIC (Please write out the Essay Title in full):

DRUM STORIES

___09_/__MAY__/2022

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Signature: _____________________________AO MTHIYANE___________________

Date: ____09 MAY 2022________________________

Bruno Esekie’s “Down the quiet street”, Bruno Esekie’s “The suitcase”, and William
Bloke Modisane’s “The dignity of begging” are Drum Stories which were published in
the year 2015. They were written during apartheid, the events that take place in the
short stories are evidence of that. Timi, Nathaniel, and Constable Tefo are protagonists
in these stories. Certain characters in the short stories portray the theme of ambiguity
which is one of the main themes. Paul Gready’s (2002) “The Sophiatown writers of the
fifties: The unreal reality of their world” essay explores how the Drum writers were
resilient to apartheid and indirectly wrote pieces which exposed the life in Sophiatown. I
will discuss the extent to which I agree with the statement extracted from Paul Gready’s
(2002) essay and I will prove my stance by providing a detailed examination of the
elements of fiction and literary devices that are found in the short stories, I will also
argue this using the theme of ambiguity which is evident in the short stories.

The writers used different imagery in the short stories to create images that portrayed a
vivid view of the life in Sophiatown. “And in such oppressive heat Timi had been sitting
for an hour” (Mphahlele 2015: 73). This imagery has both figurative and literal meaning.
It means that Timi was seated in a place that was very hot and on the other hand, the
word “oppressive” (p.73) that has been relates to what the Sophiatown writers of the
fifties thought about the life in Sophiatown, which was black people being oppressed by
white people, the writer is using such language to hint on the real life of society, it
exposes the life in Sophiatown. The word “oppressive” (p.73) would be usually found in
a political context. This hints that these stories are written in a political manner rather
than in a manner that is just meant to amuse people, in that way the writers are trying to
portray reality of the life in Sophiatown by using this type of political diction.

The use of political language is also evident in one of the writings, “My wife is waving to
us as we enter the gate of the farm” (Modisane 2015: 16). The writer portrayed
Nathaniel’s home as a “farm” (p.16) and by using this type of political language, the
writer was hinting at the type of house Nathaniel lived in and usually the rural areas are
referred to as farms because they have houses that are not properly built and are not
luxurious as most of the houses in urban areas so this brings an image of what
Nathaniel’s house is like and it also explains that black people did not have fancy
houses.
Writers used literary devices to address deeper meanings, of which in those deep
meanings, they were telling a story about the life in Sophiatown. “Relentlessly they drive
him like an animal that has to work for its keep and its feed” (Modisane 2015: 10). The
use of this simile describes the treatment of the black man, the way Nathaniel is chased
out of the court room is inhumane and the writer here again tried to hint on how the
black people were treated, that they were treated like animals, and they had to adhere
to whatever they are told to do. Nathaniel cannot really do anything about it because he
is residing in an area that is governed by the white people, and he is black.

Some of the drum stories seem to view most black people as people who do bad deeds
and who are against the law. “Drum covered numerous gangster ‘conversion stories
and generally ended articles with a ‘crime does not pay’ type conclusion”. (Gready,
2002: 150). In the short story “The suitcase”, Timi is caught by the police after
possessing a suitcase that had a dead baby inside and they take him to the police
station because he has committed a crime. On the other hand, Nathaniel gets to be
taken to a Bantu Refuge and he loses his son while he is there. This is because what
he was doing was considered as crime at that time. The characterization points them
out as people who commit crimes in the area. But the actual reason could be because
they live in a place ruled by the white community and they do not have a lot to sustain a
basic life, so they would do anything to sustain their lives even if it is through crime
because the white government does not favour them. Nathaniel has a matric certificate,
but it cannot be of any use because of the white government, at the same time the law
does not allow him to be a beggar, this elaborates how oppressive the white people
were. These writers are elaborating that the blacks brought corruption and it did not do
them any good because they ended up in the hands of the law.

Ambiguity is portrayed in “Down the quiet street”. The events that take place have no
reason to take place, there is no climax or rising action in the short story. In “The dignity
of begging”, Nathaniel is crippled but instead of feeling sorry for himself and staying at
home like a usual crippled person would, he manipulates people into giving him money
by telling them his sad stories, of which that is not something that would be expected
from a crippled person. Timi finds a suitcase that he thinks will be an escape from
poverty, only to find that the suitcase is going to bring him trouble and he is going to be
on the wrong side of the law. “He coaxed, caressed and stroked his instrument”
(Mphahlele 2015: 74). This imagery portrays the type of person Timi is, the way he
touches his instrument clearly shows that he is a soft and gentle person. Besides
stealing the woman’s suitcase, a soft side of Timi is shown through the imagery. And it
tells us that the reason why Timi steals is because he wants to take care of his wife, but
he cannot because he is in Sophiatown and cannot maintain a reason, so he resorts to
crime as a reason. Which is ironic because what he anticipated was something valuable
that could have been an escape from the undesirable life him and his wife live but in fact
it turned out he had to be taken by the police because of it.

In conclusion, writers used certain imagery for the readers to see Sophiatown for what it
really was, and they used a type of diction that elaborated a political context as a way of
indicating that black people were oppressed even though Drum writings were supposed
to be in a journalistic narration. Ambiguity is evident in “Down the quiet street” due to
that no specific events take place and there is no reason why certain things are the way
they are. The characterization of some of the characters in the stories points them out
as criminals but the imagery used also shows that they are innocent people who are
trying to make a living through illegal ways like Nathaniel and Timi, because the white
government does not allow black people to thrive. The writers also use literary devices
to elaborate the treatment that black people received during apartheid. It is apparent
that the writers succeeded in exposing Sophiatown by using a certain diction and using
literary devices that make the reader search for a deeper meaning, and the elements of
fiction such as characterization, plot and theme.
REFERENCES

Esekie, B, (Mphahlele, E). 2015. “Down the quiet street”. The Drum decade: Stories
from the 1950s. Chapman, M. ed. Scottsville: KwaZulu-Natal Press.

Esekie, B, (Mphahlele, E). 2015. “The suitcase”. The Drum decade: Stories from the
1950s. Chapman, M. ed. Scottsville: KwaZulu-Natal Press.

Gready, P. 2002. ‘The Sophiatown writers of the Fifties: The unreal reality of their
world’. Readings in African popular fiction. Newell, S. ed. London: The International
African Institute. pp 144-155.

Modisane, W.B. 2015. “The dignity of begging”. The Drum decade: Stories from the
1950s. Chapman, M. ed. Scottsville: KwaZulu-Natal Press.