July's People: Analysis of Major Characters
"July's People" is a novel that explores the dynamics between characters from different racial backgrounds against the backdrop of a South African revolution. The story centers on Bamford (Bam) Smales, a white architect, who finds himself reliant on July, his black houseboy, after fleeing to July's village for safety. As Bam grapples with his diminishing authority and the changing dynamics of race, his wife, Maureen, confronts her own misconceptions about their relationship with July. July, or Mwawate, navigates a complex position in the village, being both a protector of the Smales family and a member of a community that resents their presence. Supporting characters like Daniel, July's assistant, and Martha, July’s wife, further complicate these themes by expressing their discontent with the Smaleses' disruption of village life. The Smales children, including Gina and Victor, adapt more seamlessly to their new environment, reflecting the shifting identities in the face of societal upheaval. Central to the narrative is the chief, who embodies the tensions between traditional power structures and the changing socio-political landscape. Through these characters, the novel interrogates themes of power, dependency, and cultural dislocation.
July's People: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Nadine Gordimer
First published: 1981
Genre: Novel
Locale: A small settlement in rural South Africa
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The 1980's
Bamford (Bam) Smales, a white South African architect, married with three children. A social and political liberal, Bam must confront his own buried fears of a true shift in the balance of black and white power when he finds himself dependent on his black houseboy, July, after the Smaleses take refuge in July's village. Cut adrift from white society, Bam sees his wife's respect for him eroding and his children assimilating easily into village life, while he himself flounders like a fish out of water in his new surroundings.
Maureen Hetherington Smales, Bam's wife, also a political liberal. It is Maureen who has dealt most closely with July during his years in their employ, yet her stay in the village brings her to an awareness of how little she has truly known July and how paternalistic is the nature of the family's relationship to him. Worn down by the strain of their situation and growing ever more resentful of Bam's helplessness, Maureen is forced to reassess the most basic assumptions of her life and is willing, by the book's conclusion, to abandon her husband and children for a chance to escape from the village.
July, also called Mwawate (mwah-WAH-tay), a black man who is the houseboy for the Smaleses. July has worked for many years in Johannesburg, making yearly visits to his family and his village. When a full-scale revolution breaks out in South Africa, it is July who takes charge of “his” white family, offering them sanctuary in his village. After their arrival, however, he discovers that their presence is resented by his own family and that he is trapped uncomfortably between his position of authority in the village and his long-standing position of subservience with regard to the Smaleses.
Daniel, July's assistant, a young man sympathetic to the revolution. Daniel also has worked in town, where he learned to drive, a skill that he teaches to July in the Smaleses' small truck. Daniel eventually leaves the village to join the fighting, and it seems likely that he has taken the Smaleses' only gun with him.
Martha, July's wife. Martha is resentful of the appearance of her husband's employers in their village and of the disruption that the Smaleses cause in her family's life. Martha has grown accustomed to July's long absences from the village and finds it difficult to adjust to his continual presence at home.
Gina Smales, Bam and Maureen's young daughter. Unlike her parents, Gina adjusts quickly to life in the village, falling easily into a close friendship with a young village girl.
Victor Smales, the elder of the Smaleses' two sons. Like his sister, Victor quickly adapts to village life and customs, although he displays a few initial assumptions of superiority.
Royce Smales, the family's youngest child. Along with his brother and sister, Royce is easily absorbed into village life. Both he and Victor soon begin turning quite naturally to July as a figure of almost paternal authority.
Mhani (MAH-nee), July's mother, an old village woman. Mhani (meaning “mother”) is forced to surrender her hut to the Smaleses, who are the first white people with whom she has had prolonged contact. Mhani serves within the novel as a symbol of black village life that has little or no contact with white society.
The chief, the black leader in July's homeland. It is the chief who has the final say over the Smaleses' continued presence in the village. For the chief, Bam's gun is the family's primary attraction; he has been told by the white government that the black revolutionaries will usurp his power, and he hopes to defend his homeland against them.