A Dance in the Sun: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Dance in the Sun: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complex dynamics and relationships among several characters set against a backdrop of racial tension in South Africa. The story is narrated by a university student who, along with his friend Frank, finds themselves staying at the home of the Fletchers in a remote village. The narrator, reflective and compassionate toward African individuals, grapples with ingrained societal biases despite his humane intentions. Frank, a medical student characterized by his wit and observant nature, provides a counterbalance to the overt racism displayed by Fletcher, a boisterous and arrogant British South African. Fletcher's extreme views on race and civilization reveal deep-seated paranoia about losing his status and property.
Mrs. Fletcher, of Afrikaner descent, embodies a quieter form of racism while struggling with her pride and familial legacy. Ignatius "Nasie" Louw, Mrs. Fletcher's brother, showcases the inner conflict of a man burdened by guilt after abandoning his partner and child, while Joseph, an African laborer, symbolizes resilience and determination in the face of adversity, seeking to reclaim his family's future. Together, these characters illustrate various responses to societal pressures, personal dilemmas, and the complexities of race relations in their time. This nuanced character analysis invites readers to reflect on the intricate themes of identity, guilt, and loyalty within a fraught historical context.
A Dance in the Sun: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Dan Jacobson
First published: 1956
Genre: Novel
Locale: A farm in the Karroo, South Africa
Plot: Domestic realism
Time: The early 1950's
The narrator, a university student who hitchhikes with his friend Frank from Lyndhurst (probably modeled on Kimberley) to Cape Town. Marooned in a small, isolated Karroo village, he finds lodging for the night at Fletcher's home. A student of literature, he is humane in his attitude toward Africans, in part because of his fond memories of his family's African servants; he cannot, however, entirely escape the attitudes that are inevitable in a member of a socially superior caste. Essentially innocent when they arrive at the Fletcher residence, he and Frank feel as if they have grown up after spending the night there.
Frank, the narrator's friend, a medical student. A tall and rather awkward boy who dresses carelessly, he is shy and even timid, but he is a careful observer of people with a lively and almost clinical interest in human behavior. Described by the narrator as a clever boy in school, he is quite witty. Because he is not a racist, he makes fun of Fletcher's racism and his grandiose ideas of “world order” with sardonic remarks that are too subtle for Fletcher to understand. In the novel's plot, he is a more important character than the narrator because he is present in the confrontation between Fletcher and Ignatius Louw.
Fletcher, a British South African. Rather animal-like in bearing and movement, with a large head and bright, staring eyes, he seems younger than he is. He is verbose and jovial, but he tends to shout at everyone and is the sort of person who insists that everyone agree with him. He is arrogant in his assumptions about his own cleverness, and he is above all a raging racist who rants to the narrator and Frank his apocalyptic predictions that civilization is being destroyed by the “inferior” races and their liberal supporters. In fact, he is the victim of paranoia, exaggerated in his case by his fear that he will lose the estate that he acquired by marriage.
Mrs. Fletcher, his wife, an Afrikaner. Thin and faded, she is the proud daughter of a Boer pioneer whose accomplishments were formidable; she therefore believes that she lowered herself by marrying Fletcher. More quietly racist than her husband, she committed a crime against Joseph's sister and her child because of pride and a desperate concern for the reputation of her family.
Ignatius “Nasie” Louw (NAH-see), Mrs. Fletcher's young brother. Essentially weak-willed and morally bankrupt, he is nevertheless likable. During the night that the narrator and Frank stay with the Fletchers, he returns. He seems to have committed miscegenation with Joseph's sister as an act of defiance against his society, his family, and his Boer father. Now he is consumed with guilt for abandoning her and their child and is enraged at Fletcher for encouraging him to do so. In the end, he runs away.
Joseph, an old African laborer, the brother of Louw's mistress. A tall, well-muscled man, physically scarred by his hard life, he was not willing to remain a servant of the Fletchers and left to see the world. Now, because his sister has disappeared and her “yellow” baby is missing, he asks help from the narrator and Frank. His sense of family loyalty is as great as Mrs. Fletcher's, and he wants desperately to find the child that is his family's only link to the future. On the other hand, he is quite capable of using his painful situation to his own advantage, and at the end of the novel he has blackmailed Fletcher into giving him a job.