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Hokkie
The Xhosa word for a white person. Often Mandisa refers to her “Mlungu Woman,” meaning her white employer.
Mlungu Quotes in Mother to Mother
The Mother to Mother quotes below are all either spoken by Mlungu or refer to Mlungu. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
As I step out of the door minutes later, I hastily throw out a couple of reminders: what they’re supposed to do for me that day around the house, what food they’re not to touch. “And remember, I want you all in when I come back!” Not that I think this makes any difference to what will actually happen. But, as a mother, I’m supposed to have authority over my children, over the running of my house. Never mind that I’m never there. Monday to Saturday, I go to work in the kitchen of my mlungu woman, Mrs Nelson; leaving the house before the children go to school and coming back long after the sun has gone to sleep. I am not home when they come back from school. Things were much better in the days when I only had Mxolisi. […] To remind them of my rules therefore, each morning I give these elaborate, empty instructions regarding their behaviour while I am away. A mere formality, a charade, something nobody ever heeds. The children do pretty much as they please. And get away with it too. Who can always remember what was forbidden and what was permitted? By the time I get back in the evening, I am too tired to remember all that. I have a hard time remembering my name, most of the time, as it is. But, we have to work. We work, to stay alive.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
“Mandy!” Mrs. Nelson screams. That is what the white woman I work for calls me: Mandy. She says she can’t say my name. Says she can’t say any of our native names because of the clicks. My name is Mandisa. MA-NDI-SA. Do you see any click in that?
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Mlungu Term Timeline in Mother to Mother
The timeline below shows where the term Mlungu appears in Mother to Mother. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: 5.15 p.m. – Wednesday 25 August 1993
...she is “exhausted.” However, Mandisa knows her own life is harder than that of her mlungu woman (white employer). Mandisa is doing “real and exhausting work,” and on her day off...
(full context)
Chapter 8
...zombie,” although he never cries. Mandisa worries for him, and eventually gets Mama and Mama’s mlungu woman to help her. They recommend a hospital where doctors, nurses, and social workers examine...
(full context)
