2. The background of Dark Web
Donker Web is the sequel to Onderwêreld, a novel that has been prescribed for the NSC examination for
Afrikaans Home Language in recent years. Although Dark Web can be read as an independent novel, there is
important background information from the first novel that must be considered. Greg Owen is the protagonist in
Underworld. He is the main son of Lawson College, an elite boys' school for rich men's children in the
Drakensberg. Greg's father puts him under great pressure to perform, but when he befriends the mysterious
newcomer, Eckardt Wilken, his life becomes complicated. Eckardt teaches him to hack, and Greg falls behind
on his schoolwork while he gradually getting caught up in the underworld of hacking. When Eckardt disappears
without a trace, Greg rebels against the principal because the school does not bother to track him down and
wants to keep his disappearance a secret.
He finds a clue on a photo and a peculiar message on Eckardt's blog, Ekk-0's Underworld. The message leaves
Greg under the impression that Doc Pienaar, the school principal, has something to do with Eckardt's
disappearance. He follows every clue through hacking and comes across Project Nursery Rhyme, a
hemorrhagic virus that is being bred to cause a pandemic and which can lead to the death of innocent victims.
The vaccines for the virus will then be sold at high cost so that the three partners of the project, who trade under
the pseudonyms The Butcher, The Baker, and The Candlestick-maker, can profit financially from it.
Greg finds out the principal, Doctor Alex Pienaar, is the Butcher. After he is having found out all about Project
Nursery Rhyme, he gives the information to the police, not knowing that his own father is the Candlestick
maker.
Eckardt Wilken appears out of the blue and tells Greg the truth about his father's involvement. Greg realizes
that Eckardt has planned his own disappearance and that he has been socially manipulating him to expose the
villains of Project Nursery Rhyme. It was Eckardt's way of taking revenge on the people who were responsible
for the death of his father, a judge.
Greg is completely disillusioned because Eckardt was never really his friend and has been abusing him from the
start to carry out his revenge plan. He finds out that Eckardt used a pseudonym and that he is not at all who he
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,pretends to be. The fictional Eckardt Wilken disappears again without a trace at the end of Underworld, and no
one knows where the Baker is.
Dark Web takes place a year and a half later. Eckardt's real name, Xander Gericke, is revealed in Dark Web.
Chris Owen (Greg's father) is in prison, while Greg and his mother still live in Sandhurst, Johannesburg. Greg
leaves for Stellenbosch at the end of January to study Sports Science. His decision to track down the Baker
forces him to work with Xander.
Prologue
The prologue is a preface at the beginning of the novel that immediately catches the reader's attention. The
prologue is indicated by the computer term "Reboot". It is used to close and restart all programs on the
computer. The prologue is an incident that precedes the story. In Dark Web, the prologue is a flash back to
twelve-year-old Xander Gericke's life and refers to the previous novel Underworld.
If the events in both stories were to proceed chronologically, the structure would look like this: Prologue of
Underworld
Central content
The beginning of the central content of the novel is indicated by "Recovery Drive". This computer term refers
to the data of a computer that is stored on something like a memory stick that can be used again after an error
on a computer has been repaired. This reference suggests that the main character, Greg Owen, is starting a new
life after the trauma he and his family went through.
Dark Web's central content consists of 68 chapters that follow one another chronologically. Each chapter is
indicated in html format just like in Underworld and has a heading that gives the reader an indication of the
content of the chapter. The parts in italics are intertextual references - a direct quote from another text such as a
newspaper article, a quote from a website, text messages or a reference to a previous conversation.
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,Epilogue
The epilogue is the final word of the novel. It starts with the computer term "Format" which is used to erase
everything on a computer so that the space can be used again.
In the epilogue, the questions the reader wonders about are answered. The epilogue in Dark Web consists of a
conversation between Greg and his father in which his father asks for forgiveness and absolves Greg of all
feelings of guilt surrounding his prison sentence. There is also a reference to Xander and Ayla who
disappeared.
Narrator perspective
The third-person narrator used in the prologue and epilogue has a limited omniscience, because it is not
narrated by one of the characters themselves. In chapters 1 to 68, the first-person narrator speaks. The first-
person narrator is one of the characters in the story. The protagonist, Greg Owen, tells the story as he
experiences it.
The advantages of the first-person narrator are:
• It makes the story believable.
• The narrator type can best describe his deepest emotions and feelings.
• It involves the reader in the story events.
However, there are disadvantages to this type of narrator because this narrator does not know what the other
characters think or how they feel because the story is only told from his own perspective, as he sees it.
Type of novel
Dark Web is a development novel (Entwicklungsroman), because the main character, Greg Owen's spiritual
development, growth and change are emphasized in the novel. The novel revolves around the main character's
attitude towards life. He is placed in difficult situations and learns through experience to deal with the
onslaughts of life as a young adult.
There are elements of the travelogue, a detective story and crime fiction in Dark Web. Greg travels to Istanbul
in Turkey and together with Xander he enters the dangerous cyberspace of the dark web. They search for clues
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, in Italy to track down the Baker and make him pay for his crimes. The story focuses on Greg's spiritual journey
to adulthood. Finally, he finds himself and makes peace with his father.
5. Summary of Dark Web
Dark Web in a nutshell:
Greg Owen begins his studies in Sports Science at the University of Stellenbosch. However, he is not the
typical carefree student, but someone who regrets his part in his father's imprisonment. He believes that the
Baker, who is one of the three partners of Project Nursery Rhyme, also belongs in the prison and decides to
track him down.
Greg surprises his mother on Easter weekend and is upset because his mother has a lover. He also visits his
father in Kgosi Mampuru II prison. His father warns him against the Baker, but he is determined to track him
down.
He contacts Xander Gericke to help him get the Baker so he can also pay for his involvement. Greg receives a
package with a burned book from an anonymous sender that can help him track down the Baker.
Plank, who planted the transponder Xander sent Greg in his hand, goes with Greg to Turkey where Xander and
his girlfriend, Ayla, live. Xander and Greg butt heads because Greg is hiding things from him, but they still
manage to work together.
They are trying everything in their power to locate the Baker through the dark web and the Elsewhere web
page. They must flee Turkey when the Baker's people attack them. Plank is captured by the Baker.
The search for the Baker leads them to Italy, but the Baker gets snuff and disappears again. Dirk Schutte arrives
and tells Greg some bad news. Through hacking, they follow the trail of the Baker to Venice. However, the
Baker finds them before they find him and then the sparks fly.
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