Summary
Summary Dream House notes and quotes on themes Grade 12 IEB
- Course
- English Home Language
- Institution
- 12
IEB notes on themes with quotes and explanations
[Show more]
Content preview
Dreamhouse - Possible themesRacial discrimination
- Apartheid South Africa has left a legacy of poverty and a wealth gap that, while it can be
bridged by education and financial support, may still impact relationships between races
Bheki and Beauty functioned as servants in Patricia and Richard’s household: they have no
agency and no way to exercise their own choices. E.g. moving to Durban, pursuing education or
different professions.
Truth
- The truth is entirely subjective and based on individual experience.
- The only way that a factual truth can be tested and built completely is when all the
role-players in an experience share what they remember and how they experienced it.
Patricia is looking at an old Pentax camera: “Inside there’s a half-finished film and she wishes
she knew what images had been captured there, but it’s too late now, for she has already
obliterated the images by opening the camera up.”
- The truth is obliterated to some degree by examining it too closely.
“At least – that is how she remembers it.”
- People remember the truth/history differently.
“For them English remains the language of lies and liars.”
- The English speaking people who ran the farm and discriminated against the people of
colour who lived and worked on the land, told them the lies that limited their education
and world-view.
“Actually they’re fleeing us blacks, but I think they prefer to call it “the crime”.”
- Looksmart suggests that white people who are leaving the country are lying about what
they are running away from.
“Ah, Madam…this is a strange land we live in. After all this time, you still want to be the mother.
And me, I must still be something like your child. But that relationship – it can have no place in
the future of this country.”
- Looksmart suggests that the truth of the situation is that they could never be as close as
what Patricia wanted them to be.
Fish Tale – Patricia and Looksmart both tell it as they remember it happening – or how they
want to remember it. Pat makes herself look like a patient teacher and he is a gentle soul that
returns the fish into the water after catching it. Contrarily, he remembers her belittling and
taunting him before instructing him to smash the head of the fish with a rock.
Looksmart and Grace – He remembers them being in love and on the verge of marriage. If one
is to believe Beauty’s account, they were neither of the two.
Grace and Richard – Looksmart knows nothing about their relationship or her pregnancy.
Though he is correct about Richard attacking Grace, he is incorrect about the type of violence.
He presumes sexual assault when in fact it was physical on account of her refusing an abortion
, Richard and his “daughter” – Richard’s memory is literally clouded by his ailing mind, making
him the least reliable source of the truth. At some point, he blatantly tells a lie to Looksmart,
about an uncle of his and his daughter. Everyone in the room knows he doesn’t have a daughter
but he continues nonetheless.
All of these instances – and more – work to illustrate the unreliability of the “truth”. Lying aside,
one may simply remember events incorrectly. One may not want* to remember things as they
occurred owing to trauma. One may only see it from one perspective without having access to
the other. One may add their own biases to what they see / hear and create a narrative they
believe to be true.
Truth in this tale is presented as complex and convoluted and never entirely complete. Every
character holds on to their own version, never fearing to correct the other. Beauty in particular
reveals her truth in snippets, always careful of when to stop.
The only one who never seems to be questioned is Beauty. She is called on frequently to
corroborate an aspect of the story, never once being doubted or accused of lying. This may be
owed to the fact that she saw everything as it happened on that day and she had inside
information on what had happened leading up to it, thanks to her relationship with her sister
Grace.
Regardless of her presence, however, it is interesting to see that none of the “normal” elements
that may cause distorted memories are applied to her. She was very young at the time, meaning
the passage of time along with her immature mind at the time may have reasonably caused her
to remember things incorrectly. She also experienced great trauma at seeing her sister being
mauled by a dog and trauma has long been known to cause memory loss and memory
distortion.
Identity
- Identity is shaped by environment and other people/”ubuntu”: we are who we are
through other people
“Is it possible that she has brought all her memories together into this one boy – the one boy
who stood out?”
- Patricia’s ideas on Looksmart’s identity is that he did not have one: he was many boys at
once.
“All he ever wanted to do was to impress her, to show her that he wasn’t like the rest of them –
the native…”
- Looksmart eschewed part of his cultural identity because he was taught to want to be
like Patricia and to please her./but perhaps he also loved her at some point?
“For a moment she thinks he’s going to say he loved her. She wants this more than anything, to
be told she was loved by him…”
- Patricia finds her identity in being loved/having been loved by Looksmart.
“Bheki… never said a word” and “Bheki rarely speaks to her outside of what is practical.”
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through EFT, credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying this summary from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller laurenjordaan. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy this summary for R150,00. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
71184 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy summaries for 14 years now