THE CHILD

WHO WAS SHOT

DEAD BY
SOLDIERS AT
NYANGA
(INGRID
JONKER)
 INGRID JONKER
• Ingrid Jonker was born in the Northern Cape on 19 September
1933. Her parents separated very early in her life. Jonker’s mother
died in 1943, and Ingrid and her sister, Anna, were sent to school
in Cape Town. After their mother’s death, they moved in with their
father and his 3rd wife.
• Jonker began writing poems as a young girl, producing her first
collection, Na die Somer, at 13. The relationship with her father
was tempestuous and bitter. He was instrumental in implementing
censorship laws on art, publications and entertainment. Their
political differences were public and humiliating, and Abraham
publicly denied Ingrid as his daughter.
• She was a member of “Die Sestigers” a groups of anti-
establishment poets and writers who challenged the conservative
literary norms and censorship of the 1950s and 60s in South
Africa.
• The multiple losses of her childhood, her failed marriage, the
anxiety resulting from her affairs with literary figures Jack Cope
and Andrè P Brink and her father’s bitter rejection finally proved
overwhelming. On the night of 19 July 1965, she walked into the
sea at Three Anchor Bay, where a memorial now honours her
legacy.
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Ingrid wrote this protest poem in Afrikaans, in the aftermath of the
Sharpeville massacre. The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21
March 1960 at the police station in Sharpeville. After demonstrating
against pass laws, a crowd of about 7000 protesters went to the
police station. The South African Police opened fire on the crowd
when the crowd started advancing toward the fence. There were 249
victims in total, including 29 children, with 69 killed and 180
injured. Some were shot in the back as they fled.
 SUMMARY
Summary
This protests poem is about a child who was killed by the police during the
anti-pass-laws protests across South Africa. Especially, the Sharpeville
massacre stirred Ingrid Jonker to write this poem in resistance of the
brutality against innocent people. The poem describes how the child who
was killed during the protests is metaphorically still alive. He raises his fists
against the injustice happening in his country. His scream resembles the
tone of freedom, identity, and protest. According to the speaker, the
metaphorical child has grown bigger than the oppressors ever thought of.
He is present everywhere. Ironically, now he doe not need a pass to roam.
The child is not dead
the child raises his fists against hi mother
who screams Africa screams the smell
of freedom and heather
in the locations of the heart under siege

The child raises his fists against his father

in the march of the generations
who scream Africa scream the smell
of justice and blood
in the streets of his armed pride.
The child is not dead
neither at Langa or at Nyanga
nor at Orlando nor at Sharpeville
nor at the police station in Phillippi
where he lies with a bullet in his head

The child is the shadow of the soldiers

on guard with guns saracens and batons
the child is present at all meetings and legislations
the child peeps through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers
the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere
the child who became a man treks through all of Africa
the child who became a giant travels through the whole world

Without a pass
 Title
• The title evokes a sympathetic response.
• A child is vulnerable and helpless against armed soldiers.
• It shows the cruelty and senselessness of this death.
 Structure

• No specific rhyme scheme or rhythm > free verse

• The poem ends with a one-line coda > emphasises the poet’s message : freedom is
needed!
(A coda is an epilogue that concludes a story. This could be an entire chapter, a few
paragraphs, lines, or a single sentence.)
• Is written from the third-person point of view.
• Written with an iambic rhythm (daa-dum) that resonates with the footsteps of protests.
• Repetitions of similar sounds > creates internal rhyme
• Enjambment (run-on lines) > creates a free flow of though and also symbolises their
freedom that will come one day.
• Lack of punctuation > the child’s influence is never-ending.
• Synecdoche > a figure of speech in which part of something stands for the whole > the
child = the youth
 1)The child is not dead
2)the child raises his fists against his mother
3)who screams Africa screams the smell
4)of freedom and heather
5)in the locations of the heart under siege
• Repetition > The child > anaphora > the repetition of words at the beginning of a series of clauses> emphasises the age
and innocence of the youth and highlights how many children were killed because of apartheid laws. The child (does not
have a name) > becomes a symbol of resistance, hope and innocence.
• is not dead > contradicts the title > metaphorically he will live on by becoming a symbol. The child is a symbol of the
growing sense of freedom in the hearts of people against the Apartheid System
• raises his fists + screams > fists = symbol of resistance and revolution > the diction conveys the distress and the anger of
the child(the people) > the younger generation is rebelling
• Screams…screams > repetition emphasizes his anger. (onomatopoeia)
• Against his mother > the child is not happy with the parents’ submissive attitude – they did not fight hard enough.
• S-alliteration > emphasises the urgency and desperate cries of the oppressed people.
• heather > a plant with small flowers (positive image). Jonker connects freedom to the smell of flowers …freedom will be
like the smell of flowers.
• locations = black township / where something is located > pun > the child’s message(aspirations of the black population)
will continue in the heart of the people
• heart under siege > people who are oppressed or segregated from the mainstream.
 6)The child raises his fists against his father
7)in the march of the generations
8)who scream Africa scream the smell
9)of justice and blood
10)in the streets of his armed pride.

• The younger generation rebels against the system but also against the olde generation
• march> alludes to military action
• Younger generations will go further > they are the hope for the future.
• Scream the smell > mixing the senses > for emphasis
• The younger generation is willing to spill blood for their freedom
• armed pride > tone is very passionate and inspiring
 11)The child is not dead
12)neither at Langa or at Nyanga
13)nor at Orlando nor at Sharpeville
14)nor at the police station in Phillippi
15)where he lies with a bullet in his head

• The child is not dead…where he lies with a bullet in his head > paradox > Highlights that
the boy died physically, but he is still alive in the hearts of all Africans. He becomes the
symbol of innocence, resistance and hope.
• Langa, Nyanga, Orlando, Sharpeville > all sites of violent protests
• Sharpeville > allusion to the Sharpeville Massacre
• Phillippi > Cape Flats township where Jonker saw the body of the child that prompted this
poem.
 16)The child is the shadow of the soldiers
17)on guard with guns Saracens and batons
18)the child is present at all meetings and legislations
19)the child peeps through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers
20)the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere
21)the child who became a man treks through all of Africa
22)the child who became a giant travels through the whole world

• The child is the shadow of soldiers > Metahor > The child is compared to the shadow of soldiers >
foreshadowing > warning/ reminder of the possibility of violence > hope lies with the youth
• Saracens > armoured personnel carriers / vehicles
• the child peeps through the windows > people will always remember and act to not let it happen
again.
• The child…is everywhere…treks through all of Africa> The child was an innocent victim . As a symbol,
the child affects all aspects of life. The child as a symbol will become more powerful > will affect the
whole continent
• Giant > portrays the growing sense of freedom, justice and resistance by all those who are
oppressed.
• whole word >The whole world watched and protested the brutal and unjust system. What happened
to the child will have a global effect.
 23)Without a pass

• Pass > Apartheid ID document used to restrict movement of the black population. This was the
main reason for violent protests at Langa, Nyanga and Sharpeville. The pass-system
caused the death of this child > this made him a symbol > able to cross borders and
continents unrestricted. You cannot restrict a memory.
• Without a pass > coda = the concluding part of literature / drama / poem > the last
message of the poem > The dead does not require a pass > bitter irony here > you
first have to die to walk around freely.
 Tone

• Bold, passionate, inspired and determined.

• Despite the sadness about the innocent child’s death, the tone is not
sympathetic or sad.
• There is a sense of outrage and loss.
 Theme(s)

• Freedom > the speaker dreams of a time when all people will be
free. This freedom includes the freedom of speech, movement
and equal human rights.
• Resistance > The child stands up for what he knows is right and
he (the symbol) can never die. He is NOT a physical person, but
an idea. His raised fist symbolizes the yearning for freedom,
identity and protest.