It is quite mind blowing that a nation is
represented by the use of two characters, character who happen to share the
same familial ties. Well this is Athol Fugard’s extraordinary achievement in
his more than recommendable play, The Blood Knot.
This is a play that capture a nation at the height
of apartheid and the divisions that have cut across a nation. It would be
undeserving not to consider this play parabolic by all who appreciate Fugard’s
literary skill and wit throughout the play.
Highly and utterly symbolic, this is one of the best
plays one could ever set out to read. The plight of the less favourable in the
society (blacks) is depicted by the use of elements of nature with the
favourable class depicted with what truly suits them (birds).
In this play, Athol Fugard uses two characters;
Morris and Zachariah who happen to be of the same mother but different fathers
who are absent from their lives for a considerable time of their lives probably
since their birth. Morris is a fairly light skinned individual and could pass
for a white while his brother Zachariah is black. It is evident that Morris is
favoured at the expense of Zachariah by their mother. Why? Well, this is one of
the many questions Fugard leaves unanswered but worry not because I will try
and answer them to the best of my ability in this article.
After
their mother’s death, Morris leaves Zachariah behind as he goes to try and fit
in to the white culture just because his complexion could pass him for a white.
This turns out to be quite a trap for him since being a white had more to it
than just the skin colour. Life becomes unbearable for him and he returns home.
It
is quite ironical that Zachariah works the whole day while Morris gets to save
his, Zachariah’s, hard earned money. Morris in other words could be said to be
the de-facto accountant of the family. This occurrence is symbolic to the harsh
conditions the blacks go through, they get to work as slaves while the whites
save/keep their money. It could be said that among many other forms of
enslavement, the blacks are financially enslaved. Morris happens to be more of
a polished African compared to Zachariah. He is literate to the extent that he
writes and reads letters addressed to Zachariah. During his time away, it is
also clear that Morris learnt a lot from the whites most notably their
mannerisms and speech. He is more of a gentleman compared to Zachariah who
exhibits the traits of a native African man.
Absent
fathers, one mother and totally different children. It could be said that
Morris was of a white father while Zachariah is of a black one. But why is
Morris favoured? The father is black and so is the mother. What we could
suppose is that the level of apartheid drove the blacks to a point if dire
inferiority complex such that they turned on they own so as to appease the
powerful race. Fugard kills it with this. He removes the fathers from the
picture and lets a mother turn against her own child. At this point, one would
also like to reflect on the position of black women in the South African
society. The boys’ mother must have been a servant to a white who must have
raped her so that she conceived and gave birth to Morris and refused to claim responsibility
of Morris. What of Zachariah’s father? His case must be a quite definite one,
though not told, a keen reader could and should figure it out that he was
killed by the whites probably before his wife was raped or after and he too
must have been a worker, slave, at their farms. Black women are also not
protected just by the virtue of being black. Most if not all of the black women
in this play are raped. Zachariah rapes Connie while his mother is raped so as
to conceive Morris. Miss Ethel Lange, a white who is also a sister to a police
officer, is not raped. This is a depiction of how the whites were close to
power, if figures of power seems an overstatement.
The monstrous theme of Apartheid and Exploitation
are things that Fugard masterfully depicts in this play. Morris confesses his
sins by saying that they are not that black, one may wonder if sin is actually
coloured and since this is an abstract idea, it leaves the impression that the
black skin complexion has nothing to be desired.
Living a more or less mechanical and technical life,
the brothers have no time to spare for themselves, especially Zachariah who
spends the whole day at the gate where he chases children of fellow blacks.
This task seems tiresome since he comes home a wretch. Morris in the meantime
spends the whole day in the house waiting for Zachariah’s earnings so he could
save them. Quite ironical.
It is also important to note that when Morris plans
to leave he packs his Bible, his OTHER shirt and an alarm clock. All these
three items are symbols of the life the brothers are living. The alarm clock is
symbolic to the mechanical life they are leading. Their life is controlled and
they have no choice but to adhere to the rules or norms. The bible Morris packs
must strike the reader as a fortune discovered. It serves to symbolize a lot of
issues depicted in the play. The basic and most common attribute represented
here is Christianity. Morris is definitely a Christian since he seem to cherish
his Bible a lot and even recites Christian prayers. It is symbolic of the white
man’s religion—who Morris represents in the play. Zachariah has no religious
affiliation to which he ascribes and this is a depiction of the native African
community. It is ironical since oppression of the weak is a vice condemned in
the Bible yet the Whites oppress the Blacks. The Bible also symbolizes Morris’s
literacy. Not to over rate this but I believe it must have been a King James
Version. His prayer may also serve to prove my point “…our Father which art…”
Morris also packs his other shirt. He might have had
several or two yet Zachariah had one which he constantly or at worse none.
“…You see, we are tied together, Zachariah. It’s what
they call the blood knot…the bond between brothers.”
Reference is payed to Athol Fugard’s The Blood Knot
