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one of the black women who were accompanying the Girl, there would have been no public outcry, no police involvement, and he likely would've walked free.) Now that Mxolisi is in jail, he has access to amenities he never had as a free man. She wonders, why is Mxolisi “living a better life, if chained?" Mandisa ends her address with a plea to God. She says she is "a mother, with a mother's heart," and she is overwhelmed with shame, and the hurt of the Mother. She asks God to forgive Mxolisi for his sin. 1 Chapter 2: Mandisa imagines the Girl's last morning alive. Although it is a school day, Mandisa knows her children will not be going to school. For Mandisa, this is "burdensome knowledge" that "weighs [her] spirit down," but she cannot do anything about it. She acknowledges she doesn't actually expect them to follow her rules, and doesn't even remember them herself come evening, but she feels its her duty as a mother "to have authority over my children." At university, the Girl sits with a group of friends including three black African women from Guguletu. Everyone is upset the Girl is leaving, and she herself doesn't want to say goodbye quite yet, so she offers to take three of her friends home. → They appreciate the gesture but worry about a white woman driving into Guguletu in the late afternoon. ● ● Still, the Girl insists and gathers her three friends, plus a young man who lives near her in Mowbray, and begins to drive. Mxolisi's group encounters a burning car. They watch it burn and joke about the fate of the driver, who has either fled or been burned alive. → The sound of police sirens scatters the group They meet up with their other half, which has salvaged metal from a van → returning home they pass the police station, which everyone treats cautiously, as they don't know "what mood the pigs might be in.” Even so, "there is always the possibility of sporting with them." Mxolisi and his group of friends are almost home, but they're distracted by a crowd swarming a small car Chapter 3: Mandisa ("Mandy") is working at the home of her employer, Mrs. Nelson Wednesdays are Mrs. Nelsons day off (even though she doesn't really work in the first place) Mandisa knows her own life is harder than that of her mlungu woman (white employer). Mandisa is doing "real and exhausting work," and on her day off she "work[s] the hardest and longest of all week." Mrs. Nelson cuts Mandisa's day short (it's unusual → Mandisa knows something is very wrong) Mrs. Nelson does not drive Mandisa home to Guguletu, as no white people are allowed there, but instead drops her off at a nearby bus station. → The bus station is chaotic. no one knows what happened→ Mandisa assumes it's another youth riot and is upset by this prospect. (She feels children have become "power crazed" and tyrannical) ● Mandisa makes her way onto a bus, densely crowded → the bus driver yells that Guguletu is "completely surrounded" by police. ● the irony of the name Guguletu= "Our Pride," although residents call it Gugulabo = “Their Pride.” Mandisa remembers being dumped in Guguletu with her family as a child. She was raised in Blouvlei, but then, like tens of thousands of others, she was relocated from her former home into this enormous city made up of tiny houses The government underestimated the number of Africans they were relocating, and thus had not built enough houses. ▸ the government claims that the Natives were the problem 2 ● ● there are still to little schools and teachers in Guguletu Mandisa still misses Blouvlei, which, although made up of shacks, was "no pretense," unlike Guguletu, which pretends to be a “civilized" "housing development” → The difference, in her mind, is that living in Blouvlei was a choice ● the people in the bus speculate what happened at Guguletu (in Section3, where Mandisa lives) turns out a car, which carried UWC students, was "stoned, overturned, and set alight." Mandisa is worried about her children (expecially Mxolisi) → prays (feels bad about prefering Mx.) The bus driver kicks off his passengers earlier than usual ( it's their own fault for having troublesome children) Mandisa is worried about Siziwe (every day there are rapes in Guguletu) → as she arrives Siziwe is fine Chapter 4: Mandisa arrives at home, and asks Siziwe where Mxolisi and Lunga are now that Mandisa knows her daughter is safe, she is concerned for her boys. again realizes the stronger bond between her and Mxolisi (worries most about him) (doesn't know why) Lunga is home, but Mxolisi is still missing. Mandisa is upset that Siziwe is not more concerned by her brother's absence. (her younger children accuse her of favoring Mxolisi) ● Skonana (Mandisa's neighbour) wants to know why Mandisa is limping → Manidsa lies Sknonana's cousin Mzonke, who is a policeman, told her that a white woman was killed this morning in Guguletu → Mandisa knows that "Guguletu is a violent place," but violence against a white woman will have dangerous repercussions for the black community. The police “are not our friends,” and their involvement will only lead to more trouble and “pull this township apart.” ● with impunity the police killed other people in the past Mandisa wonders aloud what is wrong with people, that they commit violence against their neighbors, and now against a white woman. Skonana reveals the crime was committed by “schoolchildren”; she is “gloating” because she is childless and therefore blameless. ● Annoyed, Mandisa says goodbye, but curious about what happened, opens her door again and reengages her neighbor in conversation. Skonana tells Mandisa the crime happened on their street, and was committed with a knife. Chapter 5: Mandisa begins to address the Mother again: wondering why the Girl was in Guguletu at all, why anyone would come there. Mandisa begins to tell the story of how she ended up in the township 3 Mandisa began her life in Blouvlei. She recounts her memories the Friday she first heard rumors of relocation (the removal of all Africans to a common area set aside only for them)→ they first all laughed about the rumour (didn't believe it) + the location eldest (Grandfather Mxube) said that Blouvlei was going nowhere → reassured them → a year later the rumour was forgotten → even by Tat'uSikhwebu, who she has got the rumor from On a Sunday, months later, Mandisa and Khaya (her brother) are playing on a hill nearby her home with their friends, when an airplane appears overhead. It spews pieces of paper, which the children and their parents first mistake for some kind of weapon. Instead, they are flyers full of typos, which translated announce, “ALL BLOUVLEI WILL BE RELOCATED [...] NEXT MONTH.” Mandisa is suddenly hit with a "bleak sadness,” realizing she'll soon lose the only home she's ever known. ● A bell sounds, announcing a town meeting and the adults leave their homes to gather and discuss the flyers they come home frustrated (The meeting was full of endless questions, and very few ● answers); Representatives are sent to the government, but are rejected; even white employers are asked to help, but nothing will change the mind of the government and its officials. ● The only setback is that the relocation occurs in September, instead of the promised July. • Early in the morning on September 1st, Mandisa and her family wake up to their house burning down → Police cars, bulldozers, and military vehicles surround the township, and white men are destroying homes, forcing the residents to relocate → Families try to salvage what they can from their homes, pulling the structures down themselves to save building materials • Arriving in Guguletu, Mandisa observes, “everybody changed." → with the better homes some people believed they'd been bettered, and strove hard to live up to that perception. As the men, who typically worked, had the same wages as before, women started going to work to increase the family's income, leaving children home alone to fend for themselves. Back in the present, in 1993, neither Mxolisi, nor Mandisa's husband, Dwadwa, have returned home. Once again, Mandisa wonders why Mxolisi refuses to listen to her (she remembers how Mxolisi used to be open with her, and would share his secrets. She wonders why he stopped) Dwadwa returns home Mandisa gets ready for bed. She reflects on the violence that has been occurring in her neighborhood for years. Still, this past violence was different than today's murder of a white woman, which was committed "for no reason at all. ● Dwadwa warns Mandisa that he will “bring you big trouble one day." Mandisa explains that schools have gotten worse since her own childhood. Mxolisi is twenty but still in the classes he should've completed at age eleven or twelve. With “boycotts, strikes, and indifference" Mandisa knows her "children have paid the price." To her, it seems children have decided that their parents are stupid, and that it is now the children's job to lead the revolution. They reported to adult leaders who told the children to "make the country ungovernable." At first, Mandisa admits, parents cheered on their children as they stoned white people's cars. Mandisa remembers singing a song about black South Africans murdering a nun in school, but the song took pity on the nun. Now, she explains, children sing “AmaBhulu, azizinja," or "whites are dogs," an idiom learned from their parents who would say it as they returned from work Chapter 6: Mandisa wonders what woke her up in the middle of the night, and realizes it was the sound of a car door being quietly shut. She wonders if Mxolisi has arrived by car. She comforts herself by asserting her son "is not a bad boy," just a student caught up in politics. She reasons that two weeks ago he saved a girl from an attempted rape, proving he's not a bad person. Her house has been surrounded by police officers demands the family "open up." Mandisa worries about Mxolisi again, but knows the police wouldn't come to announce that something bad happened to him. Dwadwa goes to open the door, but the police break it down before they have a chance. The police accuse the family of taking too long to open the door because they are hiding something, and retaliate by breaking apart the furniture in the house. (Even as the police destroy Mandisa's home, she is relieved they are really are law enforcement, and not some anonymous mob.) still, she wonders why they're here. The police don't help black South Africans in Guguletu, and have even been responsible for several deaths. ● ● ● → Mandisa's children's generation got increasingly out of hand Mandisa recognizes the children “descended into barbarism,” losing their humanity. More people were publicly executed, and when questioned, the children said they were “fighting the apartheid government,” and explained, “a war was going on." ● one of the police officers questions her, shouting “where is he?” over and over, finally clarifying he’s looking for her son. → Mandisa truthfully explains she doesn't know where Mxolisi is, and the white police officer slaps her. As they leave, although they know Lunga is not Mxolisi, they beat him anyway, joking that "you must be your brother's keeper." even though the police have left, mandisa knows that she and her family will never be the same Chapter 7: Mandisa briefly address the Mother, explaining that Mxolisi has caused her so much trouble in her life, but he can no longer surprise her, given his surprise conception. ● She then begins to tell the story of her first pregnancy. Mandisa was only fifteen-still a child-in 1973 when her son was born The story begins: in 1972, Mandisa is a star student, and Mama hopes that both Mandisa and Khaya can use "education to free [themselves] from the slavery" Mandisa gets her period for the first time in 1971, which brings with it Mama's constant fear that she will get pregnant. Mandisa's best friend, Nono, begins dating Mandisa's brother, Khaya. Mandisa cuts off their friendship, upset that Nono initially kept this romance a secret, as she would pretend to visit Mandisa while really visiting her boyfriend. 5