The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses Summary & Analysis

Nicknames in prison are common, but Brille’s also shows the extent to which the prison system attempts to rob inmates of their humanity by taking away their real names and instead reducing them to one-dimensional defining characteristics, like the fact that Brille wears glasses in this case. Brille’s carelessness with the cabbage demonstrates the freedom he and other members have achieved for themselves, since he doesn’t even feel the need to hide the fact that he was breaking prison rules by eating the farm’s produce. In punishing all of Span One for Brille’s offense, Hannetjie essentially proves that Brille was right in his perceptive assessment of the guard’s underlying brutality.

Hannetjie’s inhumanity is further shown when he responds to Brille’s logical questioning of the punishment by degrading him with the use of “kaffir,” an offensive racial slur. He further asserts his dominance and demands that Brille show his inferior status by addressing him as “Baas.” When Brille refuses and insinuates that he is in fact the guard’s superior because of age, Hannetjie again proves his brutality with violent physical punishment. Brille’s swift removal of his glasses, by contrast, shows his quick-wittedness, which stands in opposition to Hannetjie’s reliance on brute force, rather than intellectual tactics, to subdue the prisoners.

Span One shows their strong sense of unity in their response to Brille’s apology. Moreover, the story shows their solidarity by always having them speak as a group, not as individual prisoners. In a flashback, it is revealed that Brille’s life before prison had been affected by the inequality of the apartheid system. Lack of education about contraception combined with his low-paying employment led his children to the violent savagery expected of black people in the racist society of the time. Brille concocted a plan to keep the children in check, containing their violent tendencies. This detail reveals Brille’s keen ability to quell the violence of others, which foreshadows the fact that he, as the only prisoner the narrative singles out from the rest of Span One, maybe be able to put a stop to Hannetjie’s violence as well.

Away from the chaos created by Brille’s children, politics for him were orderly, clear, idealistic, and largely theoretical in comparison. However, being beaten himself for the first time causes Brille to develop empathy for his children’s behavior and begins to change his view of politics. His physical pain connects him imaginatively with the experience of his children suffering under the injustice of white supremacy, since their outbursts suggest that they were hungry, under-stimulated, or otherwise suffering and thus acted out. Further, Brille develops some self-awareness, imagining that if Hannetjie hadn’t beaten him, he would have sent the children a message to obey and “cooperate” with their circumstances rather than to rise up, since resistance is what led to his imprisonment. He realizes that his view of politics has been too theoretical and idealistic, metaphorically “in the clouds,” and thus landed him in his current situation where he is unable to take action as an activist or as a father.

Emboldened by his successful repression of Brille’s defiance, Hannetjie continues his harsh rule, enacting cruel treatment that parallels the white-on-black oppression and violence happening outside the prison walls in the South African apartheid. Though the prisoners of Span One have been able to resist and gain meager doses of freedom, Hannetjie’s surveillance strips them entirely of their agency. To describe the prisoners going without cabbages and tobacco for two weeks as “acute misery” might seem overstated. However, this description shows how important seemingly small things can be to inmates, both to their physical comfort and sense of humanity in having some say over their existence.

The story reveals the results of Brille’s manipulation of Hannetjie before explaining how he obtained this perk from the guard. Ironically, given his poor sight, Brille is the one to see Hannetjie stealing and subsequently blackmail him. However, Brille then betrays the guard, going back on the deal. He justifies the betrayal by saying that the overall situation of prison is “evil,” and that this pervasive immorality is what made him go back on his word. Moreover, the betrayal is justified because it will benefit Span One by turning Hannetjie into a good warder. In this sense, it’s clear that the end justifies the means from the prisoners’ point of view, even if that means stooping to dishonesty and manipulation.

Hannetjie again tries his earlier strategy of degrading Brille with racially charged language in order to put him back in his place. However, Brille has become emboldened by his successful blackmail and betrayal of the guard. Brille’s response to Hannetjie shows his growing political consciousness. He is taking a long view of political change in South Africa, predicting that one day the black majority will be in power and the white minority will lose its privileged status. He also thinks of the future in referring to his son. This section shows that Brille has begun to marry his abstract political principles with real-world applications. He sees that his defiance of Hannetjie, a white man, is a small-scale act of resistance, but is part of the larger trajectory of South African historical progress toward racial equality.

Brille’s cunning manipulation of Hannetjie deepens when he informs on Hannetjie again. Moreover, his possession of tobacco—the contraband the guard had tried to use to bribe him into compliance—is the very thing that gets Hannetjie in trouble. The guard loses all his authority both in his response to being disciplined and in his plea to do anything Brille wants him to do.  Brille finally reveals his ultimate goal to the guard: not just personal gain, but benefit to the entire work group, again highlighting the importance of unity and solidarity for oppressed groups like the political prisoners of Span One.

With Hannetjie finally disempowered, Brille’s heart softens to him. Calling the guard “a child” connects him figuratively to Brille’s own children. He seems to realize now that both sides have been brutalized by the apartheid system, made violent and immoral through immersion in its injustice: Brille’s children because of poverty, Hannetjie because of his attempt to embody white supremacy. In this sense, Head is commenting more broadly on the nature of discrimination, as racist systems like the South African apartheid hurt not only the oppressed, but also the oppressors. Despite his unjust circumstances, Brille is shown taking a practical and forward-thinking view of prison life in order to survive. Having Hannetjie as an ally rather than adversary will help Span One endure the rest of their incarceration, just as a unified effort will be necessary to overcome apartheid.