THE THEME OF MINE BOY

Disease, most often imagined in the past as an external invasion of bacteria or viruses, can also be imagined as "dis-ease," a set of political, economic, and social imbalances that disturb the well-being of people's lives. Today, these imbalances would be termed psychological and psychosomatic diseases, but in a colonial arena, such as early twentieth-century South Africa, these forms of disease were inadvertently perpetuated and ignored. In addition, certain somatic diseases, such as tuberculosis, introduced into South Africa by the Europeans, had unforeseen and often fatal effects on the health of the natives. Tuberculosis, especially, became a peculiarly raced disease. Peter Abrahams fictionally recreates this area of colonial history in his 1946 novel, Mine Boy, which presents us with characters who negotiate the uncertain and often tragic terrain of colonial introduced and induced diseases. In particular, characters confront and deal, as best they can, with somatic, psychological, and psychosomatic diseases in ways that highlight the racist society of colonial South Africa.
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A striking example of the effects of colonization, and especially with respect to the diseases it brought, can be seen in the case of South Africa. For instance, until the mid-nineteenth century, tuberculosis (hereafter TB) was unknown, and there is "much evidence to suggest that TB came to southern and central Africa with white colonisers" (de Beer 3). Before then, people had enough food, were healthy, and were not cramped into overcrowded spaces. Clearly something changed this situation. Gold was discovered on the Witwatersand in 1886, and the history of South Africa changed dramatically as did the history of TB (de Beer 3). The disease was introduced into South Africa by the Europeans at the end of the nineteenth century when miners from Europe flocked to the gold mines to get rich quickly; mining conditions exacerbated the proliferation of this insidious disease, which killed thousands of black South Africans. Today, TB is still one of the biggest killers of blacks in South Africa. (1) Other forms of disease appeared too. Due to the increasingly racist structures of the South African colony, psychological and psychosomatic diseases were common among the native population although the authorities never acknowledged these conditions as diseases.
Pinpointing a definition of disease is no easy matter as the very structure of the word "dis-ease" implies multiple kinds of disturbances that may not all be somatic. Traditionally, in the Western world, disease has been thought of as a bodily contraction of a bacterium or virus, or a condition induced by a genetic disorder or mutation, or the result of a malfunctioning organ. But it should be noted that "dis-ease" can manifest in somatic, psychosomatic, or psychological forms. Indeed, modern Western medicine has, since the latter part of the twentieth century, broadened the definition of disease to describe "any state, organic or psychic, real or imaginary, that disturbs a persons sense of well-being" (Dubos 32). Most important, many Western physicians now realize that when treating a "dis-eased" person, they must take into consideration, in addition to the somatic or physic disturbances, the social factors with which the patient lives, a practice, ironically, long used by traditional African healing systems. It appears, then, that disease is a somewhat slippery concept that could be induced by a plethora of lived conditions and could, perhaps, be defined in the following manner. Disease is a state of being that causes considerable, and often debilitating, distress that may result in a somatic, psychosomatic or psychological disorder; whatever the form of the "dis-ease," the disease itself disallows the sufferer the continuation of life as it was experienced before the affliction.
Peter Abrahams has certainly written an unsung novel here, which is devastatingly simple (in some places too simple), concentrating on the story of Xuma, a young man who has moved from the North of South Africa (Vrededorp) to the hate-filled apartheid world of Johannesburg. Filling it up with supporting characters which are rather cardboard (the black girl who dreams of being white, the drunken South Africans, the sympathetic white man) does not help, but nonetheless instead of spitefully showing us the huge hate Abrahams may hold for the apartheid system, we instead hear the story of Xuma coping in Jo'burg, with all the horrors being just there in the background. Abrahams does not emerge with a conclusion of black superiority and that whites should leave, but through Xuma, we very clearly see that both races should just get along. For anyone with a serious interest in apartheid, this book is a must
This story set in South Africa portrays apartheid through following the life of Xuma, a villager in search of a better life. Xuma first lived in Malay camp where he was offered accommodation by Leah on his first night in the city. After getting a job, he moves to his own house in Vrededorp which was still a slum as Malay camp.
the novel centers around the main character's growing awareness that without respect and a strong sense of self life is hallow and has little meaning. The book's central theme is that when Black or white South Africans view their racially different neighbors as another species, no social mobility or equality is possible and no change is possible.
Through all of this Abraham is able to paint a picture of the resilience of the people who lived with constant discrimination during the apartheid regime. Leah as a stout courageous woman who eked out a living through selling illicit brew. Dladla was a man who was bitter about Leah controlling him and betrays her to the police. Leah found out about it but before she could deal with Dladla, he was found dead in the bush stabbed in the back. Johannes, a strong well built miner, was a timid person who became bold and loud only when drunk. Daddy was never sober and died after being hit by a car. Xuma falls in love with Elizabeth, Leah’s beautiful niece, who doesn’t love him back as she seeks the white man’s way of life. Xuma constantly rejects Maisy who loves him. However, in the end he accepts her and promises to marry her as soon as he gets out of jail as Elizabeth left him. Leah gets sent to jail for nine months after being caught red handed with the illicit brew by the crafty policeman nicknamed the Fox who had been trying to catch her for a long time. She had managed to escape the police dragnet by bribing some policemen who kept her informed on police moves. Johannes and his white boss Chris died under the mine as they tried to prevent it from collapsing. Paddy O’Shea, Xuma’s boss sides with the blacks and is arrested when a riot breaks out in the mine. Xuma flees but later surrenders himself at the police station.
The paper explains how the novel centers around the main character's growing awareness that without respect and a strong sense of self life is hallow and has little meaning. The paper also discusses the book's central theme that when Black or white South Africans view their racially different neighbors as another species, no social mobility or equality is possible and no change is possible When Xuma moves to Johannesberg he is a naïve country boy, but the impact of harsh city life awakens him to the new ways and values of a racially different world.
His vision of a man "without color" a race less society, is shattered by the realities of his under privileged existence.