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Martha
July’s mother is an elderly woman who lives in the village with the rest of July’s extended family. She agrees to give up her hut to house the Smales family when violent riots force them to flee their home in Johannesburg. Like Martha, July’s mother is skeptical of the Smales and white people in general. She complains about the Smaleses’ extended stay in the village but goes along with her son’s requests. July’s mother has difficulty understanding her son’s loyalty to the Smaleses. Unlike July, she has never served white people and is vehemently opposed to taking orders from them. While July’s mother is not openly hostile toward the Smaleses, she regards them skeptically. She believes that all white people are trouble—even those as desperate and powerless as the Smales family.
July’s Mother Quotes in July’s People
The July’s People quotes below are all either spoken by July’s Mother or refer to July’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
Her son, who had seen the white woman and the three children cowered on the floor of their vehicle, led the white face behind the wheel in his footsteps, his way the only one in a wilderness, was suddenly aware of something he had not known. —They can’t do anything. Nothing to us any more.—
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
Abstractions hardened into the concrete: even death is a purchase. One of Bam’s senior partners could afford his at the cost of a private plane—in which he crashed. July’s old mother (was she not perhaps his grandmother?) would crawl, as Maureen was watching her now, coming home with wood, and grass for her brooms on her head, bent lower and lower towards the earth until finally she sank to it—the only death she could afford.
Chapter 11
Quotes
—They will bring trouble. I don’t mind those people—what do they matter to me? But white people bring trouble.—
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July’s Mother Quotes in July’s People
The July’s People quotes below are all either spoken by July’s Mother or refer to July’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
Her son, who had seen the white woman and the three children cowered on the floor of their vehicle, led the white face behind the wheel in his footsteps, his way the only one in a wilderness, was suddenly aware of something he had not known. —They can’t do anything. Nothing to us any more.—
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
Abstractions hardened into the concrete: even death is a purchase. One of Bam’s senior partners could afford his at the cost of a private plane—in which he crashed. July’s old mother (was she not perhaps his grandmother?) would crawl, as Maureen was watching her now, coming home with wood, and grass for her brooms on her head, bent lower and lower towards the earth until finally she sank to it—the only death she could afford.
Chapter 11
Quotes
—They will bring trouble. I don’t mind those people—what do they matter to me? But white people bring trouble.—
