My Children! My Africa!

by

Athol Fugard

My Children! My Africa!: Act 1, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
During an energetic debate at Zolile High School, everyone is shouting over one another, and Mr. M calls out for order. Thami has accused Isabel of claiming that women are naturally “more emotional than men,” but Isabel is loudly objecting to this: she actually claimed that women are naturally “more intuitive than men.” Mr. M quiets them by ringing a bell and then reads from a dictionary to remind them that debates are supposed to be “orderly and regulated.” He asks them to stop shouting and explains that it’s time for their three-minute closing statements.
The play’s riotous opening scene foreshadows the political disagreements happening during South African apartheid, a period of legally enforced racial segregation during which the play is set. Isabel and Thami’s debate over the differences between men and women is a clear parallel to the central debate in apartheid South Africa: whether and how to achieve equality for Black and white people in South Africa. Moreover, the “orderly and regulated” debate format presents one vision of how such political questions should be resolved: through persuasion and respectful deliberation. But the play’s characters (and audience) will soon be forced to ask themselves whether this kind of politics can really succeed outside of the classroom in apartheid-era South Africa.
Themes
Protest, Dissent, and Violence Theme Icon
Education Theme Icon
Thami is the first to give his closing statement, and the audience goes wild when he stands up. He glibly says that they should view him like an oracle representing the beliefs of their ancestors and traditional culture. Women’s liberation, Thami argues, is a foreign concept invented by the same Europeans who have enslaved and exploited Africans for centuries. He claims that women can’t do men’s jobs because they’re physically weaker and belong in the home. He jokes that he couldn’t breastfeed a child, and he encourages the audience to vote in his favor. Then, Thami sits back down.
Thami is clearly confident and popular among his peers. His pride in African tradition reflects his generation’s budding political consciousness and desire to free itself from European rule. But by associating gender equality with European colonialism, he plays into the misleading notion that all African cultures are rooted in ancient traditions and strict social hierarchies, which are stuck in the past. Over the course of the play, the protagonists learn to abandon this assumption as they look forward to the end of apartheid. Instead, they learn to ask a different question: how can Africans build a new culture and society for the future?
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
The Future of Africa Theme Icon
Next, it’s Isabel’s turn to give her closing statement. Unlike Thami, she’s serious and intensely focused. She declares that she values African tradition as much as anyone, but traditional gender roles are now holding Africans back. In the 20th century, physical strength doesn’t determine people’s success anymore, so women can work the same jobs as men. Men and women might differ in intelligence or emotion, she contends, but this doesn’t make one superior to the other. In fact, she concludes, the idea that such “differences” justify treating the sexes unequally can easily be applied to oppress “any other ‘different’ group.”
Despite pointing out her respect for African tradition, Isabel accepts Thami’s assumption that gender inequality is in accordance with African tradition, while equal rights is in accordance with European modernity. Moreover, her discussion of men and women’s jobs shows that she views the world in a narrow way because of her privilege: she is talking about the jobs that middle-class white people do in South Africa, not the jobs that the debate’s Black audience members will be forced into under the apartheid system. However, by mentioning how “differences” can justify unequal treatment, she also points out the connection between the classroom debate over gender inequality and the nationwide reckoning with apartheid. Here, she cites the idea that apparent differences between two groups don’t justify treating those groups unequally in society. This is the fundamental principle behind the anti-apartheid struggle, which contends that South Africa’s different racial and ethnic groups should be equal despite their social and cultural differences.
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
The Future of Africa Theme Icon
Quotes
The debate is over, and Mr. M calls for all the students to vote. He reminds them that this vote is a serious responsibility, so they should vote for the stronger arguments, not the person they like better. He repeats the topic of debate: because of “essential physical and psychological differences,” men and women should follow different syllabi in school. The students vote 17 in favor and 24 against. Mr. M congratulates Isabel on her win, and Thami compliments her for her closing statement. She explains that Thami’s arguments infuriated her—it almost seemed like he really believed in them. Thami responds that he does believe in them, which shocks Isabel.
By voting for Isabel in the debate, the high school students affirm their commitment to equality. It’s significant that the debate is specifically about the curriculum that should be taught in schools, as it speaks to how education plays a central role in students’ formation as citizens. The curricula they study will help determine which values they carry into adulthood.
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
Education Theme Icon
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Mr. M is delighted to see Thami and Isabel continue to debate, and he praises Isabel for her great achievement: she’s debating at Thami’s school, where he’s one of the most popular students. He also praises the audience for voting impartially and listening attentively, and he thanks Isabel for coming to debate. He has to go to a staff meeting, so he leaves Thami and Isabel alone to pack up their things.
The audience’s decision suggests that, even in a divided society like apartheid South Africa, people can choose their political ideas based on open dialogue and logical reasoning rather than political ideology. By setting up this debate, Mr. M has given his students a model for how political discussions and decision-making should happen in a free society more broadly.
Themes
Protest, Dissent, and Violence Theme Icon
Education Theme Icon
Isabel says that Mr. Myalatya is a great teacher—she says his name slowly and asks Thami if she pronounced it right. She did, Thami says, but everyone just calls him Mr. M. Thami. He and Isabel awkwardly agree that they both enjoyed the debate, even though neither of them expected to. Isabel gets Thami to admit that he’s never debated a girl—and a white girl, at that. Thami tells Isabel that she debated well, and she explains that she strongly believes in her arguments.
At this time, due to racial segregation under apartheid, it wasn’t common for Black or white South Africans to interact with people of other races. This explains why Thami and Isabel are uncomfortable around each other at first. Nevertheless, they begin to bond (albeit awkwardly) because of their respectful curiosity about one another. They are clearly interested in overcoming the racial line that separates them.
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
Isabel says that the debaters at her school are too polite and matter-of-fact, so she loved debating at Thami’s school, where everyone was enthusiastic and the whole event “was a riot!” Thami jokes that she shouldn’t say “riot” in his Black township, since the “police start shooting as soon as they hear it,” and Isabel apologizes—but Thami breaks out in laughter and explains that he was joking. Isabel is surprised that he’d joke about something like police violence, but he assures her that “we joke about everything.” He says she should tell her family that she had a great time at a riot in a township, and Isabel comments that her parents have no sense of humor at all.
Thami’s joke about the word “riot” is a reference to the play’s political context—it takes place during the growing militant protest movement against apartheid, which the police are violently suppressing. By depicting Thami and Isabel joking about such a serious matter, the play shows that their friendship transcends political divisions. In other words, they can both comfortably acknowledge what is happening in South Africa without assuming that they will be on opposite sides just because Thami is Black and Isabel is white.
Themes
Protest, Dissent, and Violence Theme Icon
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
Quotes
Isabel tells Thami that her family runs the town pharmacy. They’re an ordinary “happy family,” except for the fact that she disagrees with them about everything. She says that Thami can ask her anything he wants about her life—she starts by explaining that she wants to be a writer and likes hockey. Thami asks what Isabel had for breakfast, and she describes the bowl of oatmeal that Auntie, the family’s maid, prepared her that morning. Thami says that she must be a writer, since he's hungry just listening to her description.
Isabel feels like her life is perfectly ordinary, but she doesn’t fully recognize how her many privileges (as a white person under apartheid) make her life far easier than Thami’s. For instance, the Black maid, “Auntie,” takes care of Isabel’s daily needs. Although Isabel and her family call Auntie by an affectionate, familial-sounding nickname, it can also be read as somewhat condescending, since Auntie isn’t really a part of their family. Isabel doesn’t seem to recognize that the racial divide between her family and Auntie means that there’s a significant power imbalance between them. This reflects how the apartheid system both exploits Black people for white people’s benefit and blinds white people to the humanity of the Black people they exploit.
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
Next, Isabel asks Thami about his family, the Mbikwanas. He jokes that they’re average, hardworking Black people, and he’s the family’s 100,000th generation. His parents work in Cape Town, and he’s living in the country with his grandmother and sister while he goes to school. He jokes that it’s safer than “the big city” and starts laughing.
If Isabel’s family life is typical for white South Africans, then Thami’s is typical for Black South Africans. Their budding friendship therefore represents the kind of bond that could form between any white and Black youths in South Africa, if they weren’t thwarted by segregation.
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
Now more comfortable, Isabel goes through the names on Thami’s class roster and sits down at his wooden desk. She notices that other names are carved into it, but not his. Thami explains that he doesn’t want to leave any trace of himself at school. Isabel is surprised—she admits that school’s been pretty fun and straightforward for her, but she imagines that it’s easy for Thami, too. He says that he used to love school, but then “everything changed.” Now, he’s counting the days till it’s over, even though he doesn’t know what he’ll do afterwards.
The names carved into the desk represent other students’ commitment to school. Thami’s ambivalence about school reveals that he does not value education in the same way that Isabel does. Namely, while Isabel takes education for granted as a normal part of any child’s growth and development, Thami no longer views it this way. His comment that he enjoyed school until “everything changed” implies that he now views education as part of South Africa’s broader social and political system, which advantages white people by oppressing Black people.
Themes
Education Theme Icon
Isabel comments that she’s planning to get a journalism degree and points out that Mr. M seems to have high hopes for Thami. But Thami insists that he will never follow Mr. M’s advice. He complains that Mr. M wants to make decisions for him but doesn’t care what he wants or thinks. Isabel admits that adults have done the same to her. She says she’s going to report on their debate for her school newspaper. Thami is impressed that her school has a newspaper, and he gives her a copy of his speech. Although they clearly want to keep talking, Mr. M’s bell rings, signaling that it’s time to go.
Thami implies that his dissatisfaction with school is connected to his disagreement with Mr. M, who represents the very institutions that Thami wants to reject. Still, despite all their differences, Thami and Isabel bond over a common experience: as they come of age, they want to define their futures for themselves. In fact, this experience also serves as a metaphor for South Africa’s predicament in general, as the country is looking ahead to the future possibility of a democratic government that represents all of its people.
Themes
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection Theme Icon
Education Theme Icon
The Future of Africa Theme Icon