Asian Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies

Abstract

Literature mirrors society and the two cannot be disconnected. Mine Boy and A Walk in the Night are two tools used by South African writers cum literary critics from other parts of the globe to depict and mirror South African society during Apartheid. This study pinpoints the interface between two protagonists in two fictional prose writings in South African Literature. It is a literary analysis which throws light on Xuma in Peter Abrahams’ novel Mine Boy majored to Michael Adonis in Alex la Guma’s novella A Walk in the Night. Comparative approach was used to explore common and different traits of the two central characters in tandem and to answer two questions such as why one becomes violent and why one engages in a fight for light and against human right. It was found that Adonis is a more violent and bottled with anger character unlike Xuma who is engaged in a struggle for freedom along his stay in the south from the north.