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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Power of One, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Self-Determination
Bigotry
Survival and Winning
Critical Thinking
Kindness
Summary
Analysis
After a little while, Peekay is startled from his sad thoughts by someone calling out to him. A very tall, very thin old man with a camera and a cactus stuffed into his backpack is hailing him. The man introduces himself as Professor von Vollensteen. He asks Peekay’s forgiveness for photographing him without permission, but says that the saddened boy cut such a striking figure on the rock that he couldn’t help himself. Peekay introduces himself and asks about the cactus. It’s a Euphorbia grandicornis, the Professor—an expert on succulents—says. Peekay quickly impresses the Professor with his quick and curious mind. But when the sun starts to set, the Professor (who insists that Peekay call him by the familiar nickname “Doc”) sends the boy home for the night, promising they’ll meet again soon.
Peekay has just emancipated himself (emotionally, at least) from his mother and declared his childhood over. But no sooner has he done so than life gives him the father figure and mentor that he needs. In contrast to his mother, who ignored Peekay’s grief in her own self-righteous belief that she’s doing the right thing for his soul, Doc easily recognizes his sadness. His kindness is a balm for the young boy’s tender broken heart.
Active
Themes
Peekay goes back to the house, where Dee and Dum inform him that his mother wants to see him. He’s prepared for a beating after what he’d said earlier about God. To his surprise, his mother only sends him to his room without dinner, although she’s clearly very upset. Fortunately, Dee and Dum saw this coming, so they snuck some food in for him beforehand.
Dee and Dum show kindness and sensitivity toward Peekay’s needs when they anticipate and mitigate his punishment. The book clearly sides with Peekay rather than his mother, thus underlining its belief that his critical thinking is far better than her blind faith.
Active
Themes
A few days later, Peekay is watching a convoy of army trucks going down the road (the government is setting up a camp in Barberton) when Doc shows up at the house, bearing a potted succulent and asking to meet Peekay’s mother. Peekay is not certain that she will welcome a German into her house—wartime feelings are running high, and the British citizens fear German spies among them—but she’s too well-bred to be rude. This gives Doc an opening to make his offer. He wants Peekay to help him collect succulent specimens, and in exchange he offers to give the boy piano lessons. Non-hymn music is borderline against her faith as Mother understands it, but she’s also anxious to make friends among the classier ranks of Barberton and perceives the lessons as a way to impress them.
Peekay spends the summer with Doc, rambling around the hills and collecting specimens. Doc teaches Peekay the Latin names of all the plants they encounter and shows him how to take the careful and detailed notes of the true naturalist. He shares his sense of wonder with Peekay and encourages the boy to seek knowledge and to think for himself. He brings Peekay with him to the Barberton library, where Peekay also befriends Mrs. Boxall, the librarian.
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Under Doc’s tutelage, Peekay becomes a great lover of music and a passable pianist. Although he will never be truly great, his skills are more than enough to please his mother and impress the crowd at annual Barberton community concerts. These would have been much more pleasant affairs if they weren’t marred by the mutual animosity between British and Afrikaner communities. But neither side is willing to forget the atrocities they accuse the other of perpetrating during the two Boer Wars.
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Themes
