General
• Full name - A Dry White Season.
• Writer - André Brink. André Brink was a South African teacher, writer and social activist of
Afrikaner descent. Although he was born into a privileged family, his time at a French university
proved a formative experience, and convinced him of the inherent injustice of the apartheid
system which was in place in South Africa at that time. He was one of the rst Afrikaans-
language writers to openly challenge the apartheid regime through his work, which resulted in
many of his novels being banned by the government. He died in 2015 on a ight from the
Netherlands to Cape Town after receiving an honorary doctorate from a Belgian university.
• Pages - 316.
• Type of book - Novel.
• Genre - Political thriller.
• Narrator & Point of view - The writer is the narrator; 3rd person.
• Use of Language - The writer writes in English. In the book, some people speak English too.
However, the writer mixes in typical Afrikaans words too, such as “Baba”.
• Languages Spoken - English and Afrikaans.
• Tense - Past tense.
• Where - Johannesburg, South Africa ; Soweto, South Africa.
• When - 1976.
• Theme I - Identity Crisis
• Theme II - Struggle to Maintain Faith
• Theme III - Knowledge versus Ignorance
• Theme IV - Power, Corruption and Injustice
• Symbol I - Hammer and Sickle on Ben’s Door.
• Symbol II - Soweto. —> Black resistance against Apartheid
• Title Explanation - The title refers to the dry white season when Ben was a child. His father lost
all his sheep during that season, forcing them to sell their farm and move. The dry white season
took everything from them, leaving them alone and scorched among the white skeletons of the
dead sheep.
2
fifl
• Full name - A Dry White Season.
• Writer - André Brink. André Brink was a South African teacher, writer and social activist of
Afrikaner descent. Although he was born into a privileged family, his time at a French university
proved a formative experience, and convinced him of the inherent injustice of the apartheid
system which was in place in South Africa at that time. He was one of the rst Afrikaans-
language writers to openly challenge the apartheid regime through his work, which resulted in
many of his novels being banned by the government. He died in 2015 on a ight from the
Netherlands to Cape Town after receiving an honorary doctorate from a Belgian university.
• Pages - 316.
• Type of book - Novel.
• Genre - Political thriller.
• Narrator & Point of view - The writer is the narrator; 3rd person.
• Use of Language - The writer writes in English. In the book, some people speak English too.
However, the writer mixes in typical Afrikaans words too, such as “Baba”.
• Languages Spoken - English and Afrikaans.
• Tense - Past tense.
• Where - Johannesburg, South Africa ; Soweto, South Africa.
• When - 1976.
• Theme I - Identity Crisis
• Theme II - Struggle to Maintain Faith
• Theme III - Knowledge versus Ignorance
• Theme IV - Power, Corruption and Injustice
• Symbol I - Hammer and Sickle on Ben’s Door.
• Symbol II - Soweto. —> Black resistance against Apartheid
• Title Explanation - The title refers to the dry white season when Ben was a child. His father lost
all his sheep during that season, forcing them to sell their farm and move. The dry white season
took everything from them, leaving them alone and scorched among the white skeletons of the
dead sheep.
2
fifl
