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Vida de Villiers/Jesus
Marcus is Thandi and Dingani Masuku’s son and Krystle’s older brother. He spends his early childhood on the Beauford Farm and Estate, where his parents left him with grandparents while they pursued opportunities in the U.S. Though a “cautious” child, Marcus becomes friends with free-spirited Genie; they discover a sunflower field together and often play in an abandoned car there. When Genie’s father Golide returns to the farm and reunites with Genie’s mother Elizabeth, Marcus feels he belongs with their family. Yet afterward, Thandi and Dingani return and take him away against his will. Though Genie initially tries to free Marcus from his parents, she waves goodbye when Elizabeth tells her to let him go, which Marcus experiences as an intense betrayal. He is terrified of his family’s beauty, which he thinks is untrustworthy and superficial. Yet eventually he acclimates to his new household and accepts their values. At 16, Marcus realizes he’s in love with Genie (whom his parents have since adopted) and kisses her—but he instinctively rejects her when he learns she has HIV, betraying the selfish aspects of his love. Nevertheless, he takes her decision to leave home at age 18 as another betrayal and demonstrates obvious jealousy toward Vida. When he is accepted to a U.S. college, he impulsively asks Genie to come with him—an offer she refuses. He marries his college girlfriend, Esme, has children with her, and pursues a lucrative career in the U.S. but remains subconsciously fixated on Genie. When she falls into a coma at age 39 after deciding to die, he immediately flies home. He and his family initially refuse to accept Genie’s decision to die, blaming Vida and insisting she must return to the hospital. Eventually, however, Marcus realizes that he needs to lovingly let go of Genie the way she lovingly let go of him. He recommits to his own family and his wife—an ending suggesting how difficult but how worthwhile it is to learn to love others unselfishly.
Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku Quotes in The Theory of Flight
The The Theory of Flight quotes below are all either spoken by Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku or refer to Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku. 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:
).
Book 1, Part 2: History
Quotes
Well, Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku, you can be friends with my Genie here if you promise me one thing. Can you promise me one thing? […] Promise me that you will not become a politician . . . promise me you will become a real revolutionary instead.
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So engrossed were they in their travels that it took them a while to notice that shoots were beginning to rise out of the reddish-brown earth. The sunflowers were being reborn. This was how they learned their most valuable lesson about death—that after it there is life again, that things that perish will rise again, that after every ending there is another beginning.
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“We are your family now,” his new grandmother said, still not smiling. They all looked beautiful, the members of his family, but Marcus felt that their beauty was not to be trusted. It was a dangerous beauty. He was suddenly more terrified than he had ever been before. He let go of his bladder then, well aware that his urine would soil both his shorts and his mother’s shiny dress.
Book 1, Part 4: Teleology
Quotes
“You understand that in the grander scheme of things you are but a speck . . . a tiny speck , , , and that that is enough. There is freedom, beauty even, in that kind of knowledge . . . and it is the kind of knowledge that finally quiets you. It is the kind of knowledge that allows you to fly.”
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Book 1, Part 5: Epidemiology: Love in the Time of HIV
Quotes
It was only when he saw Genie looking at the things he had created with awe and wonder, only when he saw one hand traveling to her mouth to cover an “O” that had already escaped, only when he saw the other hand reaching out to touch him gently on the shoulder, only when she looked at the things he had created as things of utter beauty, only when she whispered, “I knew it. I knew you were special. I knew it,” her brilliant eyes never leaving the sculptures, it was only then that he realized that the things he created could actually have lives of their own—beyond him.
He heard his father’s voice say: “There are many ways to be a man. Always remember that.” He knew that in uttering these words his father had prepared him for precisely a moment such as this. His father had spoken the words at a time when Vida had needed absolute understanding and acceptance. And this was a time in Genie’s life when she needed absolute understanding and acceptance.
“Promise me you will never speak to me of love,” she said. She looked at him and ran the back of her hand idly over his chest. “To not have to speak of love is such a freeing thing.”
Book 2, Part 1: Epistemology
Quotes
“It is too intimate, this interference, this role the state plays in our lives,” Minenhle says, looking him in the eye. “Too intimate.”
Book 2, Part 2: Revelations
Quotes
This is where he belongs.
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Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku Quotes in The Theory of Flight
The The Theory of Flight quotes below are all either spoken by Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku or refer to Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku. 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:
).
Book 1, Part 2: History
Quotes
Well, Marcus Malcolm Martin Masuku, you can be friends with my Genie here if you promise me one thing. Can you promise me one thing? […] Promise me that you will not become a politician . . . promise me you will become a real revolutionary instead.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
So engrossed were they in their travels that it took them a while to notice that shoots were beginning to rise out of the reddish-brown earth. The sunflowers were being reborn. This was how they learned their most valuable lesson about death—that after it there is life again, that things that perish will rise again, that after every ending there is another beginning.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“We are your family now,” his new grandmother said, still not smiling. They all looked beautiful, the members of his family, but Marcus felt that their beauty was not to be trusted. It was a dangerous beauty. He was suddenly more terrified than he had ever been before. He let go of his bladder then, well aware that his urine would soil both his shorts and his mother’s shiny dress.
Book 1, Part 4: Teleology
Quotes
“You understand that in the grander scheme of things you are but a speck . . . a tiny speck , , , and that that is enough. There is freedom, beauty even, in that kind of knowledge . . . and it is the kind of knowledge that finally quiets you. It is the kind of knowledge that allows you to fly.”
Related Characters:
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Book 1, Part 5: Epidemiology: Love in the Time of HIV
Quotes
It was only when he saw Genie looking at the things he had created with awe and wonder, only when he saw one hand traveling to her mouth to cover an “O” that had already escaped, only when he saw the other hand reaching out to touch him gently on the shoulder, only when she looked at the things he had created as things of utter beauty, only when she whispered, “I knew it. I knew you were special. I knew it,” her brilliant eyes never leaving the sculptures, it was only then that he realized that the things he created could actually have lives of their own—beyond him.
He heard his father’s voice say: “There are many ways to be a man. Always remember that.” He knew that in uttering these words his father had prepared him for precisely a moment such as this. His father had spoken the words at a time when Vida had needed absolute understanding and acceptance. And this was a time in Genie’s life when she needed absolute understanding and acceptance.
“Promise me you will never speak to me of love,” she said. She looked at him and ran the back of her hand idly over his chest. “To not have to speak of love is such a freeing thing.”
Book 2, Part 1: Epistemology
Quotes
“It is too intimate, this interference, this role the state plays in our lives,” Minenhle says, looking him in the eye. “Too intimate.”
Book 2, Part 2: Revelations
Quotes
This is where he belongs.
