falsehope?

Passage: pg. 61, Mr. M trying to get to school, and pg. 62, at school. [The nightmare soliloquy]

This passage, located just after the initial argument between Thami and Mr. M, starkly contrasts Mr. M’s hope for the future with the harsh realities of violence during the apartheid. Here, in this vivid description, the youth of the country are rebelling against their government and blindly following the doctrine “Liberation First, Then Education” (61). Mr. M is terrified – he sees his young students being carried away in this frenzy of power and energy. He realizes the extent of the force against which he is struggling and sees how amidst the cacophony, hostility and aggression of his very own pupils he could easily buckle under the pressure. However, Mr. M proves that he has some shred of hope left in such a dismal place. His last words of Scene 2, Act 2, telling himself to “stop the madness” (62), are put into action in the very next scene, which finds him “alone in Number One Classroom…ringing his school bell” (62). This is Mr. M’s method of taking action against the force – education. Here, Mr. M proves his dream is still alive, the dream of teaching the youth and providing them with the possibility to do great things. He attempts to stop the deafening madness in the streets by simply ringing the school bell, reminding the children of what they are leaving behind in making their choice to fight for the cause and hoping that maybe, just maybe, someone may change their minds. Mr. M focuses on small change in this play, working from the ground up, as exemplified in his hope for Thami to someday move on to bigger and better things. In these scenes Mr. M continues to push to make a small difference in a world of chaos. By ringing his school bell persistently, he shows he is unwilling to give up, even in the face of extreme uprising and rebellion. In this passage, Mr. M refuses to lose hope as his country falls to shambles.