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Buntu
A white South African man who speaks with a heavy Afrikaans accent, Bradley supervised Styles when Styles worked at a Ford automobile plant under dirty, dangerous conditions. Bradley’s racist treatment of Styles—which Styles began to internalize—illustrates how apartheid’s economic hierarchies and official identities like employee limited Black South Africans’ options and damaged their sense of self.
Bradley Quotes in Sizwe Bansi Is Dead
The Sizwe Bansi Is Dead quotes below are all either spoken by Bradley or refer to Bradley. 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:
).
Sizwe Bansi Is Dead
Quotes
STYLES: That was my moment, man. Kneeling there on the floor . . . foreman, general foreman, plant supervisor, plant manager . . . and Styles? Standing!
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
STYLES: ‘Gentlemen, he says that when the door opens and his grandmother walks in you must see to it that you are wearing a mask of smiles. Hide your true feelings, brothers. You must sing. The joyous songs of the days of old before we had fools like this one next to me to worry about.’ [To Bradley.] ‘Yes, sir!’
STYLES: I took a good look at my life. What did I see? A bloody circus monkey! Selling most of his time on earth to another man. Out of every twenty-four hours I could only properly call mine the six when I was sleeping. What the hell is the use of that?
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Bradley Quotes in Sizwe Bansi Is Dead
The Sizwe Bansi Is Dead quotes below are all either spoken by Bradley or refer to Bradley. 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:
).
Sizwe Bansi Is Dead
Quotes
STYLES: That was my moment, man. Kneeling there on the floor . . . foreman, general foreman, plant supervisor, plant manager . . . and Styles? Standing!
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
STYLES: ‘Gentlemen, he says that when the door opens and his grandmother walks in you must see to it that you are wearing a mask of smiles. Hide your true feelings, brothers. You must sing. The joyous songs of the days of old before we had fools like this one next to me to worry about.’ [To Bradley.] ‘Yes, sir!’
STYLES: I took a good look at my life. What did I see? A bloody circus monkey! Selling most of his time on earth to another man. Out of every twenty-four hours I could only properly call mine the six when I was sleeping. What the hell is the use of that?
