The Evolution of Peekay in the Power of One free essay sample

The Evolution of Peekay in the Power of One Think back to when you were five years old. Were you sent to a boarding school with kids a couple years older than you? Were you persecuted and bullied for being a â€Å"redneck† or for just being who you were? Chances are, the answer to these questions should be â€Å"no†. However, a small little boy growing up in Africa during the mid-1990s can probably describe every single tortuous day that he went through in this situation. His name is Peekay, and he is the narrator in Bryce Courtenay’s award-winning novel, The Power of One. Peekay describes his life form being a small five-year old boy to a teenager. Along the way, he meets many mentors and friends, such as Hoppie Groenewald, a champion boxer, â€Å"Doc†, a retired professor, and Geel Piet, a boxing coach. With the help of his mentors and friends, Peekay evolves from being an unsure little boy into a mature young man – living life without camouflage, with the ability to overcome adversity and strong faith in the power of one. We will write a custom essay sample on The Evolution of Peekay in the Power of One or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In Book One, Peekay hides behind a wall of camouflage in order to protect him from anything set out to threaten his survival; however, with the help of mentor Hoppie Greonewald, he overcomes his dependence on it. Camouflage, or to conceal something by making it match its surroundings, especially in appearance, is what most high school students try to do while on campus. They try to blend in, and not be the odd person out. Peekay does the exact same thing during the first half of the novel. In his first boarding school, Peekay learns that to stand out is dangerous and disappearing into the masses is the best camouflage. In fact, he becomes quite good at it. â€Å"I had become an expert at camouflage. My precocity allowed me, chameleonlike, to be to each what they required me to be. (Courtenay, 472). Peekay frequently needs to present himself in various guises in order to survive the system. He compares himself to a chameleon that is so adept at camouflage that he can submit his own will to that of everyone else. However, we see Peekay become antsy – he has the desire to become a champion, and he must find a way to camouflage while still a winner. He poses this dilemma in the following statement: My camouflage, begun so many years before under the persecution of the Judge, was now threatening to become the complete man. It was time to slough the mottled and cunningly contrived outer skin and emerge as myself, to face the risk of exposure, to regain the power of one. I had reached the point where to find myself was essential. (472). After years of being subjected to the Judge’s gibes, Peekay finally realizes that it is time that he reveals his true self and face whatever challenges appear along the way. He receives help by stumbling upon Hoppie Greonewald, a train conductor and boxing champion. Hoppie only spends a day with Peekay, but teaches him many important lessons. His idiom, â€Å"First with the head and then with the heart, that’s how a man stays ahead from the start† stays with Peekay throughout his life (103). It is a saying that Peekay uses to defeat his opponents in boxing matches, and it is one that inspires him. Hoppie also gives Peekay something much more important and valuable: the power of one. Peekay notes, â€Å"Even though Hoppie had passed briefly through my life†¦. he had managed to change my life†¦. Hoppie had sensed my need to grow, my need to be assured that the world around me had not been specially arranged to bring about my undoing. He gave me a defense system, and with it he gave me hope. † (103). As a result, Hoppie’s gift of the power of one, along with his quote, gives Peekay the inspiration to defeat his need of camouflage. Throughout the novel, we see Peekay constantly battling adversity, and every time he manages to succeed, he is faced with more challenges. As a five-year old boy in a boarding school, Peekay is intimidated and bullied by the Judge and his friends, and he is subjected to cruel and harsh punishment. However, he does not let this faze him. He decides never to cry, because crying is a sign of weakness. After Peekay abstains from crying after watching his pet chicken and best friend Granpa Chook die, the Judge becomes frustrated. â€Å"Then he let out a howl, a mixture of anger and anguish. ‘ Why don’t you cry?. ’ he sobbed and started to kick blindly at me. † (50). This is the first of many challenges that Peekay overcomes. Showing the Judge that he will not cry takes guts and willpower. Later in the novel, Peekay exacts his revenge on the Judge by knocking him unconscious and inscribing his name on the Judge’s body. Another challenge that Peekay overcomes is his rejection by Oxford, a prestigious college, for a scholarship. This seems to surprise everybody, especially after Peekay had done great in the interview and scored high on the entrance test. The people around me became accustomed to me winning. It was a habit that they shared, an indulgence they took for granted. I could see they were shocked and bitterly disappointed that, their having done their part, I had somehow failed them. Miss Bornstein and Mrs. Boxall were distraught beyond belief, having quickly convinced themselves of some kind of plot. 466-467) Peekay does not let this bring him down. Instead of accepting other scholarship offers, he decides to take a year off and work in the mines of Northern Rhodesia. He becomes a â€Å"grizzly man†, or a person who works with explosives along with having to be on watch for long periods of time. Peekay uses his boxing skills to excel at being a grizzly man. Peekay is a strong-willed boy, and he will not let adversity bring him down. Whether it is being bullied by kids at school, or not getting a scholarship to Oxford, he finds a way to fight through the pain and sorrow. Peekay develops more and more natural instincts to overcome adversity as the novel continues. The power of one is something that Peekay uses throughout the novel as inspiration and guidance. The belief of the power of one is perhaps the prominent theme in this novel. Peekay refers to it time and time again. He receives the power of one from Hoppie, a champion boxer who spends a day with Peekay. â€Å"He had given me the power of one – one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination† (103). Peekay develops the power of one to help him focus on his future goals, endure current hardships, and influence those around him. This holds true in the end of the novel, where Peekay and the Judge coincidentally meet again in a bar. After a fight, which he wins, Peekay exits the bar, and stands alone outside. He then narrates the last paragraph of the novel, in a calm and collected tone. I walked slowly toward the western-style salon doors and then out of the Crud Bar. Outside, high above me, a full moon, pale as skimmed milk, floated in a day sky. I felt clean, all the bone-beaked loneliness birds banished, their rocky nests turned to river stones. Cool, clear water bubbled over them, streams in the desert. 513) Peekay spends the last moments of the novel by himself, demonstrating the power of one one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination. He completes his payback on the Judge using the ideas that he had learned from his many mentors. Using Hoppie’s idiom, â€Å"First with the head and then with the heart† (103), and Doc’s many teachings of life and the mind, Peekay gain s a psychological advantage on the Judge. He plans his moves out perfectly, using combinations of boxing moves such as the â€Å"Geel Piet Eight† and a â€Å"Solly Goldman Thirteen† to finish the Judge off. Finally, he uses determination and the willpower to never give up and finish the fight. The power of one, a well-documented idiom throughout the novel, is embraced by Peekay as an inspiration and guidance through times of hardship and adversity. Peekay, once an insecure, troubled adolescent, grows into a confident, poised, young adult living without a guise, triumphing over challenges and difficulties, and believing in the power of one. He overcomes his dependency on camouflage thanks to the help of Hoppie Greonewald, and he defeats adversity and hard times by grinding it out and making instinctive decisions that ease his troubles. Finally, he uses the power of one as the goal for his life, which he eventually achieves at the end of the novel. Peekay’s transition from a timid boy into a mature young man is a true inspiration to many young adults today. Peekay coins the phrase, â€Å"Never give up† with his â€Å"don’t quit† attitude and his knack of getting back up when life knocks him down. He not only survives, but becomes a champion and a leader by using the belief of the power of one.