What practices do Courtenay and Eastwood use to explore the ideas behind racism, beating the odds and people influencing those around them?
‘The Power of One’ written by Bryce Courtenay and ‘Invictus’ directed by Clint Eastwood both explore, in great depth, the pointlessness of racism, how different people in one’s life influence the way they think and behave and how small can defeat big. All three of these ideas are interconnected throughout both stories. The main characters in each story are influenced by many other characters to develop into the characters they become at the end of each story. Both stories are set in apartheid-oppressed South Africa, and the main characters in each story are passionate believers in equality between blacks and…show more content… This leads to an interesting comparison between the views white people held on their black counterparts. Whilst many white characters in ‘The Power Of One’ go out of their way to make the blacks’ lives hell, the white characters in ‘Invictus’ are not quite as nasty, although they are quite disrespectful in some cases. An example of this is when Courtenay depicts Sergeant Borman beating the black prisoners to the point of vomiting uncontrollably. Such was the hate for the black people in the time of ‘The Power of One’ that if a white person were to be seen in the same photograph as a black man it would completely tarnish their reputation. When none of the other members of the boxing club want to be in the same picture as Geel Piet, Peekay makes the following statement: “The photograph captured the exact moment when I understood with conviction that racism is a primary force of evil designed to destroy good men” (The Power Of One, 423). Peekay felt very passionately about racism, which is seen in the way he uses powerful words to describe