Abstract
"More than a shebeen queen, she is the incarnation of motherhood?: a theme that Peter Abrahams develops in Mine Boy. Xuma, the protagonist, is surrounded by support and advice. Surprisingly, Leah is not the only mother figure in Mine Boy; a white woman called Di also plays this role. In addition to this, I will demonstrate that through his novel, Peter Abrahams asks the people of South Africa to gather as one people; as a people "without color." Eventually, I will study the image of a "cat and mouse game" as the metaphor used to show that no matter how strong the black South African women were, they remained the victims of racism and sexual discrimination, and ultimately, of the apartheid government. What is striking in the description of Malay Camp is the difficulty the newcomer faces in finding his way. As Xuma shows it, the streets and the houses and even the walls of that place all look the same. There is no point of reference. The first chapter of Peter Abrahams' Mine boy opens on a very important scene. Xuma, a stranger who comes from the countryside arrives at Malay Camp, a township adjoining the big city of Johannesburg. Like many other black South Africans, he has come to the city in order to find a job as a mine boy. As a newcomer, Xuma's feeling of alienation is deep when he enters into the unknown township of the Malay Camp.
