Quote 4
“‘Why do you want me to go to school, Mama?’ I asked, hoping that she might, somehow, clear up some of the confusion that was building in my mind. “I want you to have a future, child,” my mother said. ‘And, contrary to what your father says, school is the only means to a future...I want you to go to school, because I believe that an education is the key you need to open up a new world and a new life for yourself...It is the only key that can do that, and only those who seek it earnestly and perseveringly will get anywhere in the white man’s world. Education will open doors where none seem to exist. It will make people talk to you, listen to you and help you...and leave poverty, hunger and suffering behind...Above all, it’ll make you a somebody in this world.’” (Mathabane 133-134).
Analysis
In this quote, Johannes' mother says that the only way he will have a future is through education. She also mentions a "new world and a new life". Not only can education shape people to be more intelligent, but it also can put people onto a better path than the one they are on. In this situation, the surrounding environment was in such a bad state that having an education was basically the only way to have a future. During the Apartheid, the white population was viewed as superior. They were educated, successful, and especially priviledged. A common theme seen in this story is the desire to have what the white people had. The only way for the black population to earn such priviledges was through education; therefore, simply having an education put some people at an advantage.