Setting of Mine Boy by Peter Abraham

The book “Mine Boy” by Peter Abrahams is set in South Africa during the Apartheid era. It is set during the time where racism and Marginalization was rampant is South Africa.

The book with the aid of the setting lays emphasis on the brutality and the exploitation of the whites towards the black. Though, the main setting is South Africa, there are two sub-settings highly emphasised in the book which is Malay Camp and the Countryside.

Malay Camp represents the city and a place for greener pastures in the book as Xuma decides to go to Malay Camp for better job opportunities.

In Malay Camp, the emphasis on racism is more outlined or prominent. To the blacks in Malay Camp, alcohol and booze is their source of joy as depicted in the character of Johannes who gain courage when drunk. In Malay Camp, Xuma realizes the highly emphasized segregation between the blacks and the white as Peter Abrahams borrows a feature of a Bildungsroman as he depicts Xuma to be naive at first when he arrives at Malay Camp but he arrives at Malay Camp but he soon gets used to the lives of the blacks there

This is in contrast to Xuma’s experience in the Country Side, the Country side symbolizes happiness as Xuma is truly happy when he visits the Countryside and unlike Malay Camp where alcohol is taken to drown sorrow but in the Countryside, Xuma’s experiences happiness and alcohol is taken not for sorrow but to enhance joy. The Countryside represents the freedom of the Blacks . Here, Xuma and the others blacks get to live like free humans