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Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene)
Mathabane describes his maternal grandmother as an “indomitable matriarch.” After her husband leaves her, Granny is left to raise her two younger children, Uncle Piet and Aunt Bushy, alone. To support herself and fund their educations, she works a number of gardening jobs, including for Mrs. Smith. When Granny realizes that Mrs. Smith is a kind woman who values black people nearly as equals, she introduces Mathabane to her, giving him the chance to occasionally earn an income and receive secondhand books and clothing from her. Despite Granny’s own hardships, she gives Mathabane’s family money whenever she can. However, she is unable to keep on Uncle Piet and Aunt Bushy’s school fees, and they both eventually drop out to work in factories and help support her.
Granny (Ellen) Quotes in Kaffir Boy
The Kaffir Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Granny (Ellen) or refer to Granny (Ellen). 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 30
Quotes
“Yes, I do believe in the Bible. That’s why I cannot accept the laws of this country. We white people are hypocrites. We call ourselves Christians, yet our deeds make the Devil look like a saint. I sometimes wish I hadn’t left England.”
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Chapter 32
Quotes
It struck me that [Granny] could not read, like millions of other blacks who worked for whites? How did they function normally in a world totally ruled by signs?
Thus my consciousness was awakened to the pervasiveness of “petty partied,” and everywhere I went in the white world, I was met by invisible guards of racial segregation.
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Chapter 33
Quotes
The thick veil of tribalism which so covered [my father’s] eyes and mind and heart was of absolutely no use to me, for I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that black life would never revert to the past, that the clock would never turn back to a time centuries ago when black people had lived in peace and contentment before the white man.
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Granny (Ellen) Quotes in Kaffir Boy
The Kaffir Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Granny (Ellen) or refer to Granny (Ellen). 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 30
Quotes
“Yes, I do believe in the Bible. That’s why I cannot accept the laws of this country. We white people are hypocrites. We call ourselves Christians, yet our deeds make the Devil look like a saint. I sometimes wish I hadn’t left England.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32
Quotes
It struck me that [Granny] could not read, like millions of other blacks who worked for whites? How did they function normally in a world totally ruled by signs?
Thus my consciousness was awakened to the pervasiveness of “petty partied,” and everywhere I went in the white world, I was met by invisible guards of racial segregation.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33
Quotes
The thick veil of tribalism which so covered [my father’s] eyes and mind and heart was of absolutely no use to me, for I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that black life would never revert to the past, that the clock would never turn back to a time centuries ago when black people had lived in peace and contentment before the white man.
Related Characters:
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