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Cars represent the relationship between economic inequality and racial inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. Though some Black South Africans have wealth in the twenty-first century, many still lack opportunities for economic advancement. The first car that appears in the novel is Patricia Wiley’s beaten-up, 25-year-old Mercedes-Benz. The dilapidated luxury vehicle shows how Patricia, a white South African farm owner, had greater economic privilege and power during South Africa’s racially segregated apartheid era, which ended in the 1990s, than in the novel’s present. Looksmart, a Black man who grew up on the Wileys’ farm during apartheid, later suggests that Patricia’s pride in her then-new car led to her Black employee Grace’s death shortly before apartheid ended. Looksmart claims that years ago, under apartheid, Patricia hesitated to let him drive Grace to the hospital after a dog attacked Grace—for fear Grace would bleed on the car’s seats. Patricia’s hesitation may have contributed to Grace’s death. Thus, Patricia’s car represents how, during apartheid, white employers exploited and disregarded Black workers—even to death—to protect their own economic privilege.
In the post-apartheid era, Looksmart himself has bought a new Mercedes-Benz, which demonstrates that some Black South Africans now have access to economic privileges once reserved for whites. Yet when Grace’s sister Beauty—Patricia Wiley’s domestic employee—encounters Looksmart’s new car in the Wileys’ driveway, she can “barely imagine” the places the car has been, a detail revealing that many Black South Africans still have no opportunities for economic mobility. Moreover, when Looksmart encounters Beauty in the Wileys’ house, he mentally compares her to homeless people in the city; he used to give money to these homeless people—but now he ignores them while driving past. These details suggest that economic privilege for a few Black South Africans like Looksmart will not lead to improved conditions for all Black South Africans. Thus, using cars as a symbol, the novel shows how contemporary South Africa still excludes many Black South Africans from wealth.
Cars Quotes in The Dream House
The The Dream House quotes below all refer to the symbol of Cars. 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:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
He has a shameful secret: even today, he’s unaccustomed to the freedom he’s been given to drive around the country and go wherever he likes. Whenever he sits down in a restaurant or cinema, surrounded by white people, a part of him still expects someone to ask him politely to leave. It is a thing he could never mention to his daughters or even his wife. They would laugh at him and accuse him of making it up. Yet it is a thing he feels: he is an intruder in his own land, condemned to arriving at places where he will never quite belong.
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Chapter 2
Quotes
“Of course, you would have forgotten what a car right out of the box looks like, or smells like. The freshly stitched leather, the air of wealth that breathes out of the air conditioner. My car is like a racehorse—skittish, responding to my every thought, my lightest touch. But you wouldn’t know anything about that. Not these days. What with that wreck of yours still sitting there under its tin roof.”
Like a fat toad, he wants to add, at the heart of his life.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
“You know what I can’t forgive?”
“Sorry?”
“It is that you wanted to protect your seats.”
“My what?”
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Get the entire The Dream House LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cars Symbol Timeline in The Dream House
The timeline below shows where the symbol Cars appears in The Dream House. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
The interior of Patricia’s 25-year-old Mercedes-Benz car has been badly damaged by her dogs—Patricia often leaves them in the back seat to...
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...to Durban. Though Patricia wanted to pay for Bheki’s education when he was young, he cared more about cars and used to wash the Mercedes all the time. Noting this, Patricia...
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It’s raining. As Bheki drives down the farm’s muddy driveway—surrounded by construction—the car skids off the road. Patricia yells at Bheki to be careful. He gets back on...
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Patricia. Patricia hears a car coming but is distracted by possessions she’s examining, including a “used ticket stub for a...
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Chapter 2
Beauty. Beauty approaches the car in the driveway. The car’s owner parked it where Patricia likes people to park, and...
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...whether Patricia wants to know how much his suit cost. When she says she doesn’t care, he describes how excellent his car is and how Patricia couldn’t imagine it, given her...
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...and the rural poor to panhandlers in Johannesburg. He used to keep money in his car to give panhandlers “to appease his guilt.” Now his own thoughts distract him, so he...
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Chapter 3
...child, Looksmart looked up to Bheki because Patricia let Bheki (and only Bheki) drive her car. As he grew older, however, he looked down on Bheki, seeing the car as the...
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...Even Richard, having forgotten nearly everything, is “defending himself against the same hurt.” When Beauty carries the soup into the sitting room, she asks Patricia where Looksmart is. Patricia asks whether...
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...but, unlike Looksmart, doesn’t have much capacity for producing words. She says she saw Grace carried to the car; Bheki had left the farm to get married at that point, so...
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...to protect [her] seats.” He says Patricia told him not to put Grace in the car. Though Patricia didn’t say it, she was worried about Grace’s blood getting on the back...
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Patricia claims she never sent Looksmart to get the bakkie—he put Grace directly into Patricia’s car. He points out that a moment ago, Patricia didn’t even remember he was present, so...
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Looksmart says that if Patricia remembers, she’ll remember him carrying Grace to the dairy while she “hid in the house.” Patricia claims she was locking...
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...saved Grace’s life but instead retreated, which proved she never valued Looksmart but only her car. He imagines himself forever trapped with the beast. He thinks his wife noticed and then...
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...she was thinking the day Grace died, so it’s possible she was worried about her car seats and didn’t do enough to help Grace. She asks why Looksmart can’t accept the...
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Chapter 4
...tells him she gave him work and taught him about the household; he contends that caring for her lawn and car doesn’t count as real work and that perhaps she should...
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...and wheels herself to the front door, where she sees the receding taillights of his car. Calling to him one more time, Patricia isn’t sure what she’s trying to accomplish. She...
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Chapter 5
In John’s driveway, Patricia sees an ambulance and a police car as well as someone’s Toyota. Bheki gets Patricia her walker but doesn’t accompany her into...
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Patricia. Patricia gets into the car. Bheki drives, while Beauty and Richard sit “as far apart as possible” in the back....
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As Bheki guides the car down the driveway, they see a car coming. Bheki moves aside to let it pass....
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