Boyhood - J.M.

Coetzee
Plot Summary
The novel is set in South Africa at a time when cultural identity and race were areas of
conflict. The novel tells about a youn boy John who is intellient and sensitive. !e also
thin"s about himself a lot# es$ecially about how uni%ue he is. This uni%ueness leaves
him feelin cut off from his environment and alienated. !is relationshi$ with his mother is
central to his life and yet that relationshi$ is a difficult and sometimes cold one. !e
doesn&t tell her much# es$ecially not about his bi secret at school' he has become a
(oman Catholic )by mista"e*.
John wants to be different. +n $olitics# he su$$orts the (ussians in the Cold ,ar not li"e
all other children who su$$ort the Americans. Aain the feelin of bein different is both
a condition of the youn boys mind# a difficulty he has to deal with but also an as$iration
that he craves. John is acce$ted on his mother&s side of the family because they were
-ust li"e him when they were youner. !is father&s side of the family thouh# does not
acce$t him in the same way# but he must maintain ood relations with them because his
favourite $lace in the whole world is at his uncle&s farm.
John is the ty$ical outsider viewin the culture he must inhabit with very clear and
unsym$athetic vision. Some readers have com$lained that the novel is too detached# too
unemotional.
The mode of the novel is not $lot led. There are no twists and turns# no com$lications
which sur$rise us. ,e are invited into a consciousness )John&s* whose critical
observations and whose level of develo$ment are fascinatin. Althouh he is a youn
adolescent his level of so$histication belies his ae. The novel is %uite difficult and
intensely intellectual a result $erha$s of the difficulty of the sub-ect matter. the
develo$ment of a youn intellectual mind in a society hostile to intellectual life.
/enre
This is a novel focusin intensely on the e0$erience of the boy John. +t tells its tale in the
third $erson and this lends a certain detachment to the events and characters described.
,e do not see com$lications or other structurin devices in the te0t. The action oes on
relentlessly filtered as it is by the critical and dee$ly sensitive mind of the boy.
/eneral 1ision or 1iew$oint
The vision is rather blea". 2o relationshi$s seem to flourish either within the boy&s family
or without in the larer dysfunctional society. The novel seems to suest that the best
we can do is to try to "ee$ ourselves sane by continuous reflection and the %uest to
understand reality. 2o ho$e is offered. ,e do not observe an im$rovement in John&s
relationshi$ with his father or his mother - he maintains a cold detachment throuhout. A
similar coldness is revealed in his attitudes to racism and reliious biotry. !e does not
rail aainst the in-ustice rather he acce$ts it as $art of the baae of e0istence
Cultural Conte0t
(ace and reliion feature stronly as you would e0$ect. There are many reliious
cateories# Christian )i.e. (eformed Churches*# Catholic# and Jews. They do not live in
harmony. See es$ecially Cha$ter 3 $s 44-45. 6That is how Jews o$erate# says 2orman#
you must never trust a Jew.7 See also )4+* durinn assembly# Jews and Catholics are
isolated and sub-ect to the ire of Christians.7 )48* 9ven John&s mother who mostly
a$$ears intellient and sensitive has racist utterances. ,hen he as"s her why she calls
in blac"s off the street to fi0 thins in her house# she insensitively re$lies 6Because they
have not one to school# because they have no boo"-learnin.7 Power is easily
e0ercised by whites in this un-ust society ):;* 6+f his mother were to call out 6Boy<7 and
wave# this boy )any boy* would have to sto$ in his trac"s and do whatever she miht tell
him )carry her sho$$in for instance*.
Themes and issues
=oneliness and +solation
+t seems that this is a condition of every character in the novel. John# in $articular suffers
from reat loneliness because he is a thin"er and en%uirer in a dee$ly conservative and
stuc" society. John evinces fear in allowin himself any avenue of self-e0$ression. !is
natural se0ual rowth is $erceived by him to be sinful and retarded by feelins of uilt.
This is ironic because when we read his actual descri$tions of se0ual beauty they are
the $roduct of a $ure imaination. !is father and mother and even societal rou$s such
as Afri"aans etc also suffer in a similar desert of isolation.
Conflict>(acism>Biotry
+nner conflict in John himself is very stron - he cannot e0$ress the richness of his mind
and so is damaed by self-loathin.
There is conflict everywhere in the society. Christians students are hated by Catholics#
Jews are hated by everyone. Africaans hate 9nlish s$ea"ers and both of these rou$s
treat the blac" $o$ulation li"e dirt.
There is emotional conflict within -ohn&s family. !is father and mother barely et on. he
hates his father and can barely deal with his feelins of resentment towards his mother
for havin borne and nursed him.