Power Of One- Bryce Courtenay

Our book discussion for this month is Power of One by Bryce Courtenay.  I read this book in one of my literature classes at UCSD.  There were many books that I sold after the quarter was over and but for some reason, I couldn't let go of this book.  Rereading the book for a second time I understood why.  It felt like I was reading it for the first time.  Granted it's been about 15 years since I read this book.  I had forgotten about many of the characters that Peekay comes in contact with during his early life but the one thing that I remembered during and after the last word was read was the feelings and emotions that was arouse once more.  It's a feeling of true triumph of a boy turned man.  His victories were of him and beyond him.    

One aspect that I really appreciated about the book was the author's focus on Peekay's character development from boy to man without the common addition, usually found in other fiction books, of a love affair or girl crush to divert Peekay's focus and, consequently, the story's message.   There were some hints of his hormonal developments coming to natural maturity but the author didn't have sex be a part critical turning point of Peekay's maturity into manhood. He didn't sell out his virginity to the admiring girls of his hometown nor did he get raped by the large brutes of the copper mine town.  Thus, I thought the author mirrored Peekay's life very closely to the way he viewed Africa.  

Here are some discussion questions that I put together for our upcoming discussion.  

1. There are many characters that come into Peekay's life but what group affects him more?  Is it his nanny, inkosi-Inkosikazi, Hoppie, Doc, and Geel Piet?  Or is it Mevrou, the Judge, Sergeant Borman, and his mother?

2.  Peekay seemed to have a natural way of creating his own families when seemed nearly an orphan himself.   Who were his family?  Why were they so devoted to Peekay?  Who was absent in Peekay's life and how did it (or not) affect him?

3. Peekay had an opportunity to throw a fight against his nanny's true son and be rid of his Tadpole image.  Why do you think Peekay change his mind on how he was going to fight that night?

4.  Peekay is able to connect to a world beyond what can be seen and experienced by others. Cite some of these examples of this.  Who taught him how to transform his thoughts?  Who joined him in these experiences and what does it represent?  How does this affect Peekay?

5. What is the Power of One?  When and how did Peekay discover this?   Do you have the power of one within you?  Or in your past?  Was there a situation where you had to overcome an ordeal in which only you could resolve on your own?

6. There seems to be something mystical or religious about Peekay and the world around him.  Do you think this was Peekay's imagination to recreate a world that could better protect him? 

7.  Why did Peekay decline the scholarship and decide instead to work in the copper mines?  What was the significance of his decision?  

8.  Survival seems to be based largely on one's network of people to lean on and band together in order to beat the system.  Cite some examples of this.  

9. In contrast, does being an individual, being "one" open up one's vulnerability?  How does standing on one's own help one survive in such a system?  

10. What do you think of Doc?  How did he nurture Peekay's development from boy to man?  What significance would you give Doc in Peekay's life?  

11. Racism is woven throughout the countryside.  How does Peekay perceive this racial world that the author has depicted?  

12.  Death seems to follow Peekay.  Was this the sign of the times in Peekay's world?  Discuss the deaths of some of the characters and how Peekay was affected by them.  How did it change his world?

13. In a twist of fate, Peekay comes face to face with the Judge once more.  What did this encounter represent?  Did Peekay finally find closure to his early childhood experiences at the boarding school?