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Dingani Masuku
An unnamed leader in an unnamed postcolonial African country implied to be Zimbabwe, The Man Himself is likely based on Robert Mugabe (1924-2019), Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and President from 1987 to 2017, when a coup deposed him. An imposing figure, The Man Himself illustrates the fundamental similarity between Zimbabwe’s colonial and postcolonial leadership: like his colonial predecessor Emil Coetzee, The Man Himself spies on, terrorizes, and falsely imprisons the citizens of the country he is supposed to lead. His actions show how oppressive governments damage the lives of their citizens: he bullies and corrupts journalist Bhekithemba Nyathi, arrests and interrogates Dingani Masuku until Dingani makes a false accusation, sexually harasses Dingani’s wife Thandi, orders the massacre of former freedom fighter Golide Gumele and his followers on the Beauford Farm and Estate (which likely leads to the rape and infection with HIV of Golide’s nine-year-old daughter, Genie), attacks the sculptures of mixed-race artist Vida de Villiers because Vida is “too white,” and on and on. Long after the massacre on the Beauford Farm and Estate, The Man Himself tries to appropriate the land to secretly collect the “beautiful and precious somethings” that Golide’s followers’ hearts transformed into after death. But he is thwarted by his subordinate Valentine Tanaka, secretly inspired by Golide’s and Genie’s free-spiritedness; Valentine acts to keep the farm in the possession of its current owners, a former orphan gang called The Survivors. At the novel’s end, Valentine Tanaka leaves The Man Himself lonely and failed, though still powerful—an ending that suggests the limits of corrupt leaders’ power in the face of inspired, determined resistance.
The Man Himself Quotes in The Theory of Flight
The The Theory of Flight quotes below are all either spoken by The Man Himself or refer to The Man Himself. 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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The Man Himself told Bhekithemba that because the country was still young and working out its differences, and because civil wars often had repercussions, conflict was inevitable. However, the country had an image to portray and protect, and Western countries were waiting for it to fail. It was Bhekithemba’s job to ensure that the West did not receive any ammunition with which to destroy the country’s image.
Bhekithemba did not believe in love, at least not in romantic love. He understood the love one had for one’s parents and one’s country—but that sort of love was born of respect and gratitude. It was a sort of giving back. There was a reason for that kind of love. It was only natural to love the things that had given you life, a sense of place, a feeling of belonging, a connection to things beyond yourself. You could not exist without those things and so of course you loved them. It was a selfish love: a love of self-preservation. Selfish love was understandable . . . reasonable. But romantic love had no reason.
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The Man Himself Quotes in The Theory of Flight
The The Theory of Flight quotes below are all either spoken by The Man Himself or refer to The Man Himself. 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:
The Man Himself told Bhekithemba that because the country was still young and working out its differences, and because civil wars often had repercussions, conflict was inevitable. However, the country had an image to portray and protect, and Western countries were waiting for it to fail. It was Bhekithemba’s job to ensure that the West did not receive any ammunition with which to destroy the country’s image.
Bhekithemba did not believe in love, at least not in romantic love. He understood the love one had for one’s parents and one’s country—but that sort of love was born of respect and gratitude. It was a sort of giving back. There was a reason for that kind of love. It was only natural to love the things that had given you life, a sense of place, a feeling of belonging, a connection to things beyond yourself. You could not exist without those things and so of course you loved them. It was a selfish love: a love of self-preservation. Selfish love was understandable . . . reasonable. But romantic love had no reason.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
