Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Children! My Africa!, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Protest, Dissent, and Violence
Apartheid, Race, and Human Connection
Education
The Future of Africa
Summary
Analysis
Alone onstage, Isabel announces that she feels close to Mr. M. She’s at the top of Wapadsberg Pass, and she knows that Mr. M is somewhere north, beyond the horizon. To pay her last respects to him, she makes a promise rather than bringing flowers. She remembers Mr. M telling her how many people waste their lives, and she promises that she will do everything she can to make her life useful, like Mr. M’s. She remembers Mr. M saying that she was “one of [his] children,” and she tells him that “the future is still ours.”
At Wapadsberg Pass, the place that represented Africa’s vast beauty and great promise to Mr. M, Isabel vows to follow in Mr. M’s footsteps and strive to fulfill his vision for the future. This shows how, despite his tragic death, Mr. M truly did inspire his “children” and thereby leave a lasting impact on South Africa. Isabel’s vow is also a model for how white South Africans can become allies in the nation’s fight for racial justice. Finally, her closing line, “the future is still ours,” represents the sense of cautious optimism and collective responsibility that young South Africans must adopt in order to help their country successfully transition to democracy.
Themes
