A detailed summary of A Dry White Season by André Brink. Contains: Extensive character list | General information (type of book, tense, setting, themes, symbols, narrator, point of view, etc) | Concepts from the book | Concepts from real life | Synopsis | Extensive background information (before a...
A Dry White Season by André Brink - Historical Context
A Dry White Season by André Brink - General
A Dry White Season by André Brink - Character List
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A Dry White Season
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Summary
Characters
• Benjamin (Ben) du Toit - He is a grandfather. He’s white and a born Afrikaner. He is a history
teacher. He used to be a y half (role) in rugby for the Transvaal team (province in South Africa)
when he was younger. He lives in Johannesburg.
• Susan - Ben’s wife. She’s white.
• Suzette - Ben’s daughter.
• Johan - Ben’s son.
• Piet - Ben du Toit’s grandchild.
• Gordon Ngubene - He is a black male. He’s Ben’s gardener. Ben has known him and his family
for 15 years. He lives with his family in Soweto, a township.
• Emily Ngubene - Gordon’s wive. She’s black.
• Jonathan - Gordon and Emily’s son.
• Julius Ngakula - Gordon’s lawyer. He’s black.
• Wellington - Jonathan’s friend.
• Stanley - A black cab driver with many connections. He is a very radiant man. Whenever he in a
room the people around him can feel his presence, because he is a very powerful and extravert
man. He helps Ben in his struggle for justice, because he nds that one has to keep ghting,
even when it seems that nothing is being reached, because if one stops ghting he could just as
well roll over and lie dead.
• Ian McKenzie - A barrister/lawyer and a friend of Ben’s. He has won many cases. He also cares
about human rights and equality.
• Colonel Viljoen - The “boss” of the Secret Branch.
• Captain Stolz - He is part of the Special Branch, who detains and kills black people that ght
the Apartheid-system.
• Jaanie - Captain Stolz’s son.
• Melanie Bruwer - She’s a a journalist for The Rand Daily Mail.
• Professor Bruwer - Melanie’s father.
• Father Masonwane - A priest and a friend of Emily’s. He helps getting justice for Gordon’
death.
• Margaret Ledwaba - A friend of Emily’s. She helps getting justice for Gordon’ death.
• Dr. Herzog - A doctor who pulled Gordon’s teeth without anaesthesia.
• Advocate Louw - The lawyer who tried to protect the o cials and Captain Stolz during the
court trials.
• Dr. Hassiem - One of the doctors who carried out the post mortem of Gordon’s death.
• Archibald Mabaso - He was tricked into testifying that he saw Gordon in good health, however,
during the court trial, he said he was tricked and that Captain Stolz beat him.
• Tokozile - A young girl who’s sister was shot during the school children-protests.
• The Nurse - She gave a statement about Jonathan in the hospital.
• Wellington Setole - A guy who was arrested with Jonathan and saw everything. He eventually
gave an a davit to Melanie.
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, General
• Full name - A Dry White Season.
• Writer - André Brink. André Brink was a South African teacher, writer and social activist of
Afrikaner descent. Although he was born into a privileged family, his time at a French university
proved a formative experience, and convinced him of the inherent injustice of the apartheid
system which was in place in South Africa at that time. He was one of the rst Afrikaans-
language writers to openly challenge the apartheid regime through his work, which resulted in
many of his novels being banned by the government. He died in 2015 on a ight from the
Netherlands to Cape Town after receiving an honorary doctorate from a Belgian university.
• Pages - 316.
• Type of book - Novel.
• Genre - Political thriller.
• Narrator & Point of view - The writer is the narrator; 3rd person.
• Use of Language - The writer writes in English. In the book, some people speak English too.
However, the writer mixes in typical Afrikaans words too, such as “Baba”.
• Languages Spoken - English and Afrikaans.
• Tense - Past tense.
• Where - Johannesburg, South Africa ; Soweto, South Africa.
• When - 1976.
• Theme I - Identity Crisis
• Theme II - Struggle to Maintain Faith
• Theme III - Knowledge versus Ignorance
• Theme IV - Power, Corruption and Injustice
• Symbol I - Hammer and Sickle on Ben’s Door.
• Symbol II - Soweto. —> Black resistance against Apartheid
• Title Explanation - The title refers to the dry white season when Ben was a child. His father lost
all his sheep during that season, forcing them to sell their farm and move. The dry white season
took everything from them, leaving them alone and scorched among the white skeletons of the
dead sheep.
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