This official, IEB Certified study guide and summary is 21 pages in length and contains a detailed, chapter by chapter English summary of Asem by Jan Vermeulen.
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ONE
On his birthday, Barries – who is busy smoking weed – is planning out
revenge against his father with his friends Floris and Theo. His girlfriend,
Lizette Kleyns, is also there. He plans on poisoning his father because of
his father's abusiveness. Barries’ room is messy, with his clothes and
pencil case scattered across the floor. We also learn that he owns a
blue-black Gibson guitar.
After Theo and Floris leave, begin to make out. However, before they
can start having sex, Lizette stops Barries as they do not have a
condom. Lizette also remarks that Barries seems to have changed lately
– he’s a lot more impatient and seems to do annoying things
purposefully.
When Lizette leaves, we’re given insight into Barries situation at home:
he has been living with his divorced mother, Vera ever since his father
walked out on them when he was 5. His father, Paul, never even
bothered to contact him on his birthdays until this year.
Later, having previously promised his friends that they'd all go out that
night, Barries and his friends all hop into Theo’s green Opel Kadette
and head out to a club in town. In the car, the conversation shifts to
what will make them happy. Lizette makes a particularly suggestive
comment-- that she would make Barries very happy later that night. But
Barries bluntly states that the only thing that would make him happy is if
Paul Barnard keeled over from pain and begged for forgiveness. From
this, we start to realise the extent to which Barries has suffered at the
hands of his abusive father.
TWEE
As the group arrives at the club that night – Gold Miners Delight in
Hilton– they are stopped by the bouncer. His name is Jumbo Kruger.
He has massive muscles, and is bald. However, thanks to a combination
of a couple of fake IDs, and a little bit of buttering of the bouncer by
Lizette, they are admitted to the club.
Inside the club, there are flickering laser lights shining everywhere. The
speakers blast old music, and everyone Theo and Floris find themselves
dates (wearing very short shorts) who accompany them and the group
for the rest of the night. However, when a middle-aged man touches
Lizette inappropriately, the night takes an ugly turn and Barries start
throws punches. Ultimately, the fight results in him being thrown out by
Jumbo and “dealt” with. His friends help him up, and they leave.
In the car, Barries implores his friends to keep the night alive, so they
end up going to a little shop in town that sells miscellaneous things –
but they’re there to see the owner, Butcher who secretly sells drugs.
Butcher’s shop is decorated with Christmas themed ornaments, but
looks gloomy. Barries ends up buying MDMA, ‘Durban Poison’ weed,
and a new roller. In this chapter, we see just how Barries behaves, and it
paints him out to be a bit of a troublemaker. On their way back home,
Theo is driving, and Barries is lying in the back over the girls. Theo
remarks that Butcher’s drugs weren’t clean. Barries falls asleep, but
awakes to screams. They had run someone over.
DRIE
When Barries wakes up, he is in a hospital bed with a drip attached to
his arm. His mother is present and looks furious. She explains to him
that he and his friends are in a whole lot of trouble. Barries and his
friends hit a traffic controller who is in ICU in their drug-influenced ride
that night. It’s Monday morning, and Barries is meant to be writing an
Afrikaans exam, but his school has agreed to take his Afrikaans average
as his mark. Faith, the nurse, gives him his medication, she notifies
Barries and his mother that there are people there to visit him and that
they can now be let into the ward.
A black man in a suit accompanied by a young white woman in police
uniform – Captain Mfeka of Narcotics and Sergeant Schreuder, bearing
Barries clothes from that night with the contraband. They announce
that they’re arresting him for various infractions, which include the
possession of illicit substances, assault from his scuffle in the club, as
well as damage to property for a broken door from an earlier incident.
Mfeka is eager to throw Barries into a cell, but Schreuder attempts to
appeal to his sense of mercy and draw upon the fact that Barries is
young. She suggests using him to find out the source of the drugs in
exchange for his freedom, revealing in the process that Lizette is going
to testify against Theo and that he should too if he wants a lighter
sentence.
Rage wells up within Barries and refuses to believe Lizette would
abandon them and steels his resolve not to do what he feels would be
betraying his friends. They eventually give him an ultimatum – he should
spend 6 weeks away with his father in the Eastern Cape, or go straight
to jail. They will return the next day at noon to hear his decision.
VIER
Back at home with his mother, Barries tries to claim that the police are
merely just trying to scare him into submission and that he isn’t scared;
however, his mother attempts to be the voice of reason , saying that the
situation is dire. Barries then retorts by saying that Theo’s father is a
judge and could help them get out of the situation; however, he, child
welfare and the police spoke in order to arrive at the conclusion of
sending Barries to the six-week rehab with his father in the first place.
He and his mother argue because she refuses to give him his phone, so
Barries takes the car keys instead, desperate to talk to his friends. With
her strength sapped, all his mother can say is “Drive safe”. When he
gets to Theo and Florisʼs luxurious house, Floris quickly hides both
himself and Barries from view, explaining that his father, Charles, does
not want Barries at their home, and cannot help both Barries and his
sons, because they have to testify against each other.
The De Kock family have to prevent Theo from going to prison for
running over the traffic cop who is currently in ICU, and so they have to
throw Barries under the bus by testifying against him , claiming that he
is a bad influence, and that Theo and Floris only went out with him that
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