Peekay In John Steinbeck's The Power Of One

I started kindergarten when I was 3 to 4 yrs old and kindergarten was fun we did a lot of fun projects and just played game I thought we would have tons of work but I was wrong I remember when I would take my folder with the numbers and colors and act like it was computer by tapping the multiplication chart with my fingers.

Parental figures tend to shape children into the individuals they become later in life. In The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, Peekay lacks the traditional parental figure that most people have, and instead crosses paths with many significant people over the course of the book. This puts Peekay at an advantage because he is able to see the world through different perspectives, the perspectives of those who mentored him. He learns from people of all walks of life, which leads to him being unbiased and open minded. Peekay also is at an advantage because he has to learn to think for himself. His mentors help him with this, but the lack of a true parent forces him to learn this skill early on and master it by time is was older. Finally, each of Peekay's mentors have something different to offer, a different key piece of advice, that give him a set of morals to live by. In the Power of One, the lack

Steinbeck’s Idea on how people can have a chance at the brief nature of power before it shifts can be summed up into the quote:

Throughout an individual’s life, one is bound to encounter domination against others. There are different ways to show power; physically, economically, intellectually, etc. However, power can be used positively or negatively. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Lennie has the capability to use his strength to gain power. Next, Curley’s wife uses her gender to control men and takes advantage of her role as her husband’s wife to make the workers fear to lose their job. Finally, Curley has the advantage to use his father’s status on the ranch to make himself seem “untouchable”. Lennie, Curley’s wife, and Curley all have power, but when he or she gets directly or indirectly belittled, the character tends to use their own power to disempower others.

Think back to when you were five years old. Were you sent to a boarding school with kids a couple years older than you? Were you persecuted and bullied for being a “redneck” or for just being who you were? Chances are, the answer to these questions should be “no”. However, a small little boy growing up in Africa during the mid-1990s can probably describe every single tortuous day that he went through in this situation. His name is Peekay, and he is the narrator in Bryce Courtenay’s award-winning novel, The Power of One. Peekay describes his life form being a small five-year old boy to a teenager. Along the way, he meets many mentors and friends, such as Hoppie Groenewald, a champion boxer,

Early on I worked from the premise that people don’t exercise enough imagination when naming their children and merely employ the same names over and over again. Every child in the country carries the name David or Robert or Ann or Mary. Well, that isn’t true and there’s an abundance of unusual, exotic, strong, wonderful names currently being worn with pride.

In Bryce Courtenay's The Power of One, Peekay's loyalty to those who help him throughout his life allows him to honor their wishes and bring them justice when the need arises. When Peekay finds himself face to face with the Judge at the end of the book, part of why he fights the Judge so fiercely is because the Judge killed Granpa Chook. Granpa Chook is Peekay's first real friend, and the chicken does a lot to protect him during boarding school. Peekay wants to avenge the death, so he tears away at the Judge mercilessly until the Judge is lying weak on the floor. From there, rather than scream something about payback for all the torture and bullying he put Peekay through in boarding school, Peekay screams, "'You killed Granpa Chook!'" (Courtenay

Bryce Courtenay’s novel The Power of One illustrates that an individual needs a mentor, determination, and purpose, to foster a positive social change. These characteristics are found in Hoppie.  He informed Peekay valuable life lessons that were never taught to him because he did not grow up with his parents exhibiting these behaviors throughout his life. Hoppie became almost a father figure for a time and taught Peekay many lessons that opened several doors to create a good man out of a young boy like Peekay.

Peekay, from The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, is a character whose struggles and achievements have caused him to develop the trait of perseverance, which has led him to even greater heights. Throughout his life, Peekay has been blessed with many victories: the positive influences in his life and the happiness boxing gives him. However, they have still developed his perseverance. In addition to those, Peekay’s downfalls have also toughened up his enduring abilities. Peekay has been influenced greatly by outside forces, but it is his perseverance that has kept him afloat.

Doc was influential to Peekay because he was the man who taught Peekay important life lessons, and Hoppie was a prominent character because he was the man who initially introduced Peekay to boxing. Geel Piet was and still is a very influential person in Peekay’s life. Even though Geel Piet was brutally murdered by Lieutenant Borman, Peekay still remembers his teachings to this day. Geel Piet was an influential figure because he was Peekay's boxing coach.

It all begins with Hoppie Groenewald as Peekay’s life is heavily influenced by him. This is shown by how “(Hoppie) had given Peekay the power of one, one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination,” after he proved to him that small can defeat big if you “first use your head and then your heart.” This motto heavily transforms Peekay’s life and is what he constantly uses to keep his composure in future boxing matches. Hence I thought “the power of one” was a fitting title as it later not only becomes a feeling for Peekay but a philosophy which defines his life. “The power of one is how above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated.”

As I was growing up, when I was sent outside to play, I had things to do that I loved to do. I created games I had never thought of before.

We had so much fun, being able to mess around the whole school day with no teachers telling us not to. After all, it was a “social experience.”

    Names are a terrible way to understand someone’s identity because names are regularly replicated. In my sixth grade class, there were three Mollys. We all had different backgrounds, different religious affiliations, and different personalities. If our names displayed who we are, wouldn’t our identities all be the same? Instead of staring at names and trying to understand their meaning, one should focus on a person’s personality, for personality depicts our identity. In fact, I have learned from experience to not infer one’s identity based on their name. For instance, in middle school, I was mutual friends with a girl named Kassidy. One Tuesday afternoon, my friend, Katy told me that Kassidy was going to sit with us at lunch that day. I shrugged my shoulders and replied with a casual “okay”. Before Kassidy walked in, I had a whole image of her in my mind: blonde hair, cute pastel colored clothes, and religious, all stereotypes that I thought a person with an innocent name like Kassidy

Elementary school started out as a bore but moved on to eventually being fun and enjoyable. I grew to love school and learning during my fourth and fifth grade years at Zia elementary school. My teacher taught me the value of history and American History