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Poem Analysis : ' Mine Boy '

Satisfactory Essays

Peter Abrahams’ “Mine Boy” is a complex exploration of finding one’s identity and manhood. A significant aspect of Abrahams’ novel is the development of the character Xuma throughout the novel. More importantly, Abrahams examines the theme of a quest for self-assertion and manhood. This essay contends that, though oppression, survival, and love are themes portrayed in the novel, the primary theme portrayed within the novel is the examination of Xuma’s journey from innocence to the eventual realization of his manhood and self-assertion. However, though it is not the primary theme it is tenable to argue that racial inequality is a major theme within the novel.
Some critics of the novel may argue that the primary theme of this novel was Xuma’s journey from innocence to the eventual realization of his manhood and self assertion which spans from the very beginning of the novel to the very end. Xuma entered the city in hopes of working in the mines as a mine boy. Ignorant to the ways in which the city works, he found himself lost showing his innocence to the city. Leah took Xuma under her wing in order to teach him the ways in which the city worked. Leah taking Xuma in showed the reader the innocence of Xuma’s mind, because it showed that he did not know what to do. The non-whites were a part of a cutthroat world, so Xuma learned two things: every man for himself and everyone is always running. It is plausible to say that the character Leah was used to help Xuma develop from his

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