Answer to Question #285699 in English for Sabelo Xulu

Question

Small Things by Nthikeng Mohlele

This question requires you to write an essay of no more than 600 words. In answering the question, ensure that your essay includes the following: 

• An introductory paragraph that introduces the topic and explains how the rest of your essay will be structured.

• A body of 3-5 paragraphs, in which you develop your argument. 

• A concluding paragraph, in which you sum up your argument. 

In Nthikeng Mohlele’s Small Things, one of the most significant relationships is that between the narrator and Desiree. Write an essay in which you critically discuss the relationship between the narrator and Desiree. Pay particular attention to the narrative perspective and how the narrator describes Desiree’s character in relation to love. You should refer to relevant sections of the novel throughout your essay.

Answer 1

The main character has a number of relationships with other characters that give us some insight into this figures. In other words, it is through the dipiction of this relationship in the narration that we as readers can come to understand various espect of the characters and their personalities. One of the most important relationships in the novel is between the main character and Desiree. It is this relationship that we can often trace elements of one of the major themes in the novel :love.

internal conflict rises from the

beginning of the novel in chapter one, the narrator speaks of being in love .(mohlele,2018:10). He battles

with his internal feeling of loving the postmaster daughter Desiree as he has never exchanged any words

with her. (mohlele,2018:10)he says “we never exchanged much ,Desiree and I “.yet he felt hopeless in

love with her from the day he laid his eyes on her.(mohlele,2018:10)he says “ I caught her roving eyes on

one morning during mass. hearing nothing of the sermon ,I saw only this eye ,a beaming light bulb that

warmed me from the third row, a good twenty meters from

where I knelt praying .my knees molten with

love” and from ever since the narrator was in love with Desiree regardless yet Desiree hasn’t given him a

promising answer(mohlele,2018:11). Even if after he had confessed his love to Desiree, she does not

assure the narrator love but promise him external love only when the time is right. The theme of love is

further explored in chapter one as we see the narrator is being devastated by the fact that school terms

are closing for two weeks, meaning he would not have time to adore his Desiree. (Mohlele, 2018:11) “It

never made sense to me why we had to endures two weeks breaks between school terms-during which I

almost turned red with longing.my Desiree would”