The eyeglasses that Brille wears in the story take on several layers of symbolic significance. Initially, Brille’s glasses symbolize his weakness and vulnerability as a prisoner. He is described as “a thin little fellow with a hollowed-out chest and comic knobbly knees,” and having poor eyesight adds another layer of physical debility to his character. In fact, Brille is described as squinting and blinking several times. His poor eyesight causes him to drop some cabbages, an offense that leads to the prison guard, Hannetjie, savagely beating him.
As the story unfolds, Brille’s glasses come to symbolize his unique ability to perceive people and situations and to look beyond the surface. Despite being “shortsighted,” Brille is able to “see” Hannetjie’s true nature more clearly than other prisoners, immediately appraising him as “brutal” and “not human.” Right before Hannetjie beats him, Brille removes his glasses so they don’t get shattered, symbolically preserving his ability to see beyond the superficial and think for himself in spite of Hannetjie’s attempt to subdue him. While recovering from his injuries alone, Brille turns his sight inward and experiences an epiphany regarding his view of politics, realizing that he had used politics as an escape. He then sees clearly how to handle Hannetjie; as he tells his comrades, “I saw today that Hannetjie is just a child […] I’m going to punish him severely because we need a good warder.” While carrying out his plan, Brille literally sees Hannetjie stealing, and this observation leads him to perceive a way to manipulate the guard. Again, despite his literally poor eyesight, Brille is singled out from the rest of the prisoners as “their good old comrade who w[ears] the glasses” and the only one who “sees” a way to deal with life in prison and forge a lasting beneficial relationship with the Hannetjie. In this sense, Brille’s literal improved sight with his glasses parallels his exceptional symbolic sight and ability to see the true nature of others, which leads to an improved situation for Span One.
However, in the end, Brille’s glasses symbolize the story’s ironic outcome. His ability to perceive clearly, despite literal poor eyesight, leads to a beneficial alliance with Hannetjie. On another level, though, like Brille himself, this alliance is still “shortsighted.” It does not make incarceration any better for the rest of the prisoners and Span One’s improved behavior just reestablishes the status quo at the prison, as these once-defiant political dissidents end up supporting the system that led to their incarceration in the first place.
Glasses Quotes in The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses
Scarcely a breath of wind disturbed the stillness of the day, and the long rows of cabbages were bright green in the sunlight. Large white clouds drifted slowly across the deep blue sky. Now and then they obscured the sun and caused a chill on the backs of the prisoners who had to work all day long in the cabbage field.
This trick the clouds were playing with the sun eventually caused one of the prisoners who wore glasses to stop work, straighten up and peer shortsightedly at them. He was a thin little fellow with a hollowed-out chest and comic knobbly knees. He also had a lot of fanciful ideas because he smiled at the clouds.
Glasses Symbol Timeline in The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses
