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MOTHER TO MOTHER
‘My son killed your daughter. People look at me as though I did it. The generous ones
as though I made him do it, as though I could make this child do anything. Starting
from when he was less than six years old, even before he lost his first tooth or went to
school. Starting, if truth be known, from before he was conceived; when he, with total
lack of consideration if not downright malice, seeded himself inside my womb. But
now, people look at me as if I’m the one who woke up one shushu day and said,
Boyboy, run out and see whether, somewhere out there, you can find a white girl with
nothing better to do than run around Gugulethu, where she does not belong.’
‘AmaBhulu, azizinja!’
The author 2 Chapter 1 19
Title 2 Chapter 2 20
Genre 2 Chapter 3 22
Introduction 3 Chapter 4 26
Context 4 Chapter 5 27
Style 5 Chapter 6 32
Tone 5 Chapter 7 33
Themes 6 Chapter 8 35
Symbols 10 Chapter 9 45
Characters 11 Chapter 10 46
Vocabulary 16 Chapter 11 48
Chapter 12 49
God, you know my heart. I am not saying my child shouldn’t be punished for his sin.
But I am a mother, with a mother’s heart. The cup You have given me is too bitter to
swallow. The shame. The hurt of the other mother.
1
Mother to Mother NOTES
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The author Title
Sindiwe Magona is a South African Mother to Mother is an poignant title for
writer, born in 1943. Initially working as this novel, as it implies an
a domestic worker, she studied part- understanding between mothers;
time, eventually graduating from something only mothers will know and
the University of South Africa. She also appreciate. The one mother (Mandisa)
holds a master’s degree from Columbia tells her story to the Mother of the Girl.
University in New York, USA. She has They have never met each other and is
written books, collections of short from vastly different backgrounds; the
stories, novellas, autobiographical black narrator comes from a politically
works, an anthology of poetry and unstable and violent society in
more than 150 children’s books. Her apartheid South Africa, the other is a
works mostly focus on her experiences privileged white mother from the United
as an African woman influenced by States of America. Yet, there are
poverty, apartheid and South Africa’s similarities between them, as they grief
racially defined social, cultural and for their children, albeit for different
economic circumstances. She was a reasons. The African mother writes
founding member of the Women’s letters to the white Mother of the Girl as
Peace Movement. She has won to explain how her and her son’s lives
numerous awards and is honoured for and volatile world cultivated a society
using her pen as a weapon in the of violence, resulting in the terrible
struggle for peace, social change and death of her daughter.
freedom.
Genre
Psychological fiction
Psychological fiction or psychological stream of consciousness (depicting the
realism. This genre examines the thoughts and feelings of the narrator) is
motivation and behaviour of utilised to explore and explain the
characters, which drives the plot and mental state and inner lives of the
explains the story. Flashbacks and a characters.
2
Mother to Mother NOTES
MOMSAYS Educational Services
,MOM SAYS EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel (from the Greek e-mails and even TV or radio
‘epistle’ which means ‘a letter’) consists broadcasts. Epistolaries add realism to
of letters written by fictional characters a story as the letters can be seen as
as part of the narrative. Other authentic and a truthful witness of
documents may also be included, such events. This type of fiction is also known
as diary entries, newspaper clippings, by the German term Briefroman.
Introduction
Mother to Mother is fictional, but based Mandisa recalls her childhood and the
on the real life events when Amy Biehl, an brutal relocation of her entire community
American Fulbright scholar was to Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town.
murdered in Gugulethu in August 1993. She accidentally falls pregnant at 15,
which only adds to her strive and
The non-linear narrative takes the form of
interrupts her life, especially her
a letter written to the murdered girl’s
education. Her relationship with her
mother. Mandisa, the mother of the
parents suffers greatly and she blames
murderer (Mxolisi), clarifies that the girl’s
her son for disrupting her life. Life with her
mother deserves an explanation for the
now husband, China and his family is
death of her daughter, in the hopes that
unbearable. After she is abandoned by
it might lessen the suffering and sorrow
China, she takes on menial jobs to look
that she is experiencing.
after her son. Mandisa then meets Lunga
Mandisa, (first-person narrator) attempts and has another son Lungile. After he left
to clarify her son’s involvement in this act to become a freedom fighter, she
of violence by recalling her own life and marries Dwadwa and has a daughter,
the hardships she and consequently, her Siziwe.
son endured under the unforgiving and
Mxolisi is becoming more political active
brutal system of apartheid, and the
and radicalised. Mandisa explains his
embedded legacy of colonialism.
motivation through stories like, as a young
The narrative switches between the day
child, witnessing the murder of two
of the murder and flashbacks from
teenage boys and being exposed to a
Mandisa’s life, leading up to the murder.
3
Mother to Mother NOTES
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life of violence, a life of poverty and a life
with no hope. Her experience on the day
of the murder highlights this, as violence
Non-linear: not in chronological order
became normalised in her community.
First-person: from the storyteller’s perspective
Mandisa also alludes to the fact that
Township: underdeveloped, racially separated
Mxolisi is a force she has no control over.
urban area for black, coloured or Indian people
Her anxiety is highlighted by Mxolisi’s Apartheid: policy of separating people based
on race or ethnic criteria
disappearance, the police coming to
Coloured: in South Africa, a multiracial ethnic
look for him and a clergyman’s
group (white, black and Asian).
clandestine directions to meet her son.
Colloquial: language used in informal and
familiar conversation
Language is important as it emphasises
Xhosa: African Nguni language with click
easy and difficult communication
sounds.
between parents and children, between
Colonialism: control by one power over an
oppressors and the subjugated, and
area or people, enforcing dominance,
between Mandisa and the Mother. imposing religion, culture, language and
economic practices.
Community and family structures,
traditions, expectations and obligations
are addressed.
Context
The setting of the novel is mainly in coloured people were forced to
Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town, relocate.
South Africa, in the 1990s. Black citizens
Colloquial language is used, relying on
were forcibly relocated to townships
Xhosa words and phrases to create a
under the apartheid government to
sense of realism. The novel explores the
segregate the population. From 1960 to
trauma caused by colonialism and
1983 about 3.5 million black and
apartheid and its devastating impact.
4
Mother to Mother NOTES
MOMSAYS Educational Services
MOTHER TO MOTHER
‘My son killed your daughter. People look at me as though I did it. The generous ones
as though I made him do it, as though I could make this child do anything. Starting
from when he was less than six years old, even before he lost his first tooth or went to
school. Starting, if truth be known, from before he was conceived; when he, with total
lack of consideration if not downright malice, seeded himself inside my womb. But
now, people look at me as if I’m the one who woke up one shushu day and said,
Boyboy, run out and see whether, somewhere out there, you can find a white girl with
nothing better to do than run around Gugulethu, where she does not belong.’
‘AmaBhulu, azizinja!’
The author 2 Chapter 1 19
Title 2 Chapter 2 20
Genre 2 Chapter 3 22
Introduction 3 Chapter 4 26
Context 4 Chapter 5 27
Style 5 Chapter 6 32
Tone 5 Chapter 7 33
Themes 6 Chapter 8 35
Symbols 10 Chapter 9 45
Characters 11 Chapter 10 46
Vocabulary 16 Chapter 11 48
Chapter 12 49
God, you know my heart. I am not saying my child shouldn’t be punished for his sin.
But I am a mother, with a mother’s heart. The cup You have given me is too bitter to
swallow. The shame. The hurt of the other mother.
1
Mother to Mother NOTES
MOMSAYS Educational Services
,MOM SAYS EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
The author Title
Sindiwe Magona is a South African Mother to Mother is an poignant title for
writer, born in 1943. Initially working as this novel, as it implies an
a domestic worker, she studied part- understanding between mothers;
time, eventually graduating from something only mothers will know and
the University of South Africa. She also appreciate. The one mother (Mandisa)
holds a master’s degree from Columbia tells her story to the Mother of the Girl.
University in New York, USA. She has They have never met each other and is
written books, collections of short from vastly different backgrounds; the
stories, novellas, autobiographical black narrator comes from a politically
works, an anthology of poetry and unstable and violent society in
more than 150 children’s books. Her apartheid South Africa, the other is a
works mostly focus on her experiences privileged white mother from the United
as an African woman influenced by States of America. Yet, there are
poverty, apartheid and South Africa’s similarities between them, as they grief
racially defined social, cultural and for their children, albeit for different
economic circumstances. She was a reasons. The African mother writes
founding member of the Women’s letters to the white Mother of the Girl as
Peace Movement. She has won to explain how her and her son’s lives
numerous awards and is honoured for and volatile world cultivated a society
using her pen as a weapon in the of violence, resulting in the terrible
struggle for peace, social change and death of her daughter.
freedom.
Genre
Psychological fiction
Psychological fiction or psychological stream of consciousness (depicting the
realism. This genre examines the thoughts and feelings of the narrator) is
motivation and behaviour of utilised to explore and explain the
characters, which drives the plot and mental state and inner lives of the
explains the story. Flashbacks and a characters.
2
Mother to Mother NOTES
MOMSAYS Educational Services
,MOM SAYS EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel (from the Greek e-mails and even TV or radio
‘epistle’ which means ‘a letter’) consists broadcasts. Epistolaries add realism to
of letters written by fictional characters a story as the letters can be seen as
as part of the narrative. Other authentic and a truthful witness of
documents may also be included, such events. This type of fiction is also known
as diary entries, newspaper clippings, by the German term Briefroman.
Introduction
Mother to Mother is fictional, but based Mandisa recalls her childhood and the
on the real life events when Amy Biehl, an brutal relocation of her entire community
American Fulbright scholar was to Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town.
murdered in Gugulethu in August 1993. She accidentally falls pregnant at 15,
which only adds to her strive and
The non-linear narrative takes the form of
interrupts her life, especially her
a letter written to the murdered girl’s
education. Her relationship with her
mother. Mandisa, the mother of the
parents suffers greatly and she blames
murderer (Mxolisi), clarifies that the girl’s
her son for disrupting her life. Life with her
mother deserves an explanation for the
now husband, China and his family is
death of her daughter, in the hopes that
unbearable. After she is abandoned by
it might lessen the suffering and sorrow
China, she takes on menial jobs to look
that she is experiencing.
after her son. Mandisa then meets Lunga
Mandisa, (first-person narrator) attempts and has another son Lungile. After he left
to clarify her son’s involvement in this act to become a freedom fighter, she
of violence by recalling her own life and marries Dwadwa and has a daughter,
the hardships she and consequently, her Siziwe.
son endured under the unforgiving and
Mxolisi is becoming more political active
brutal system of apartheid, and the
and radicalised. Mandisa explains his
embedded legacy of colonialism.
motivation through stories like, as a young
The narrative switches between the day
child, witnessing the murder of two
of the murder and flashbacks from
teenage boys and being exposed to a
Mandisa’s life, leading up to the murder.
3
Mother to Mother NOTES
MOMSAYS Educational Services
, MOM SAYS EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
life of violence, a life of poverty and a life
with no hope. Her experience on the day
of the murder highlights this, as violence
Non-linear: not in chronological order
became normalised in her community.
First-person: from the storyteller’s perspective
Mandisa also alludes to the fact that
Township: underdeveloped, racially separated
Mxolisi is a force she has no control over.
urban area for black, coloured or Indian people
Her anxiety is highlighted by Mxolisi’s Apartheid: policy of separating people based
on race or ethnic criteria
disappearance, the police coming to
Coloured: in South Africa, a multiracial ethnic
look for him and a clergyman’s
group (white, black and Asian).
clandestine directions to meet her son.
Colloquial: language used in informal and
familiar conversation
Language is important as it emphasises
Xhosa: African Nguni language with click
easy and difficult communication
sounds.
between parents and children, between
Colonialism: control by one power over an
oppressors and the subjugated, and
area or people, enforcing dominance,
between Mandisa and the Mother. imposing religion, culture, language and
economic practices.
Community and family structures,
traditions, expectations and obligations
are addressed.
Context
The setting of the novel is mainly in coloured people were forced to
Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town, relocate.
South Africa, in the 1990s. Black citizens
Colloquial language is used, relying on
were forcibly relocated to townships
Xhosa words and phrases to create a
under the apartheid government to
sense of realism. The novel explores the
segregate the population. From 1960 to
trauma caused by colonialism and
1983 about 3.5 million black and
apartheid and its devastating impact.
4
Mother to Mother NOTES
MOMSAYS Educational Services
