|
|||||||||||||||||
|
PLEASE NOTE. As of June 2004 these pages and the links herein are no longer being updated or maintained. Disclaimer : Oakland Unified School District is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Book Description: A Walk in the Night recounts a single terrible night when the fragile world of Mikey Adonis, a young Coloured steel worker, disintegrates. As the pressures on Mikey build, we see a decent man driven to an act of brutality by a racist society which humiliates him at every turn. The parallels with Richard Wright's seminal portrait of black rage in Native Son are unavoidable. Mikey has just been fired from his job because he objected when his foreman called him "kaffir," a racial epithet. Coming out of the factory, he runs into his girlfriend's brother Joey, an "at risk" youth dabbling in male prostitution and drug running in response to South Africa's 40% black unemployment rate. Mikey, a respected father figure for the boy, tries to save him from the gangster life-style but realizes that his own recent work experience doesn't offer a very promising alternative. Next his girlfriend, Zelda, tells him she is pregnant, the day he has lost the job he would need to support a family. Finally, on his way home, a racist cop harasses him for no other reason than to force Mikey to call him "baas," stripping away whatever dignity Mikey might have left. More... (© California Newsreel) Booknotes about A Walk in the Night:
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
