UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Human Sciences — Department of English Studies
⋄
Assignment 03: The Novel
Small Things by Nthikeng Mohlele
Foundations in English Literary Studies — 2026
⋄
Module Code: ENG1501
Module Name: Foundations in English Literary Studies
Assignment No.: 03
Due Date: 17 July 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for ENG1501
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | ENG1501 Assignment 03 — Small Things
Essay Question
In the novel, Small Things, the narrator forms relationships with various characters that he en-
counters. Some make a lasting impact on his life, while others have little to no effect on him.
Using the two extracts below as starting points, this essay discusses how the narrator’s rela-
tionship with Bra Todd is similar to, or different from, his relationship with Gabriel Sanchez.
Extract 1
Like a stray dog. In search of not food, but meaning. I hung out with Bra Todd, a
respected newsman, with a taste for American swing. ‘Everyone is a politician,’ he
growled, with his infectious laughter. We listened to records, while I polished his shoes,
helped with the dishes, and learnt sophisticated ways to woo a lady. I was terrified to
let my feelings be known, so although Bra Todd looked out for me, I refrained from
burdening him with my Desiree misfortunes. He was her uncle and, as such, had full
command of her attention. How I envied him! I, at fifteen, between bouts of pleading
with Desiree (silent, helpless despair), spent many late nights with Bra Todd in news-
rooms, as a willing apprentice. (Mohlele,
2013:11–12)
Extract 2
Gabriel Sanchez’s tale (for that is my friend’s name) begins in Cuba. Third in the line
of thirteen siblings, he is the only journalist in an otherwise musical family. Many mae-
stros, he says, countless musicians, from streetcorner nobodies to musical saints of the
Buena Vista Social Club, learnt their skills at his father’s feet. That was when Gabriel
wrote articles, cutting opinion pieces for the Cuban Times, illuminating the Kennedy-
Kruschev stalemate, often working through the night. A migraine prematurely ended
one of his midnight liaisons with his typewriter. (Mohlele, 2013:53–54)
Page 1 of 6
,UNISA | ENG1501 Assignment 03 — Small Things
Contents
Essay Question 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Bra Todd: Apprenticeship and Concealment 3
3 Gabriel Sanchez: Lineage and Equality 4
4 A Shared Search for Meaning 4
5 Conclusion 5
Reference List 6
Page 2 of 6
, UNISA | ENG1501 Assignment 03 — Small Things
Introduction
In Nthikeng Mohlele’s Small Things, the unnamed narrator’s sense of self is shaped as much
by the men he attaches himself to as by his own restless temperament. Two such figures, Bra
Todd, the Sophiatown newsman who takes him in as an apprentice, and Gabriel Sanchez, the
Cuban-born journalist he later befriends, both mediate the narrator’s understanding of vo-
cation, belonging and loss. This essay argues that while the two relationships share a com-
mon function, each supplies the narrator with a substitute father figure rooted in journalism,
they differ sharply in feeling. Close attention to diction shows that Bra Todd is characterised
through direct speech and domestic service strained by concealment and envy, while Gabriel
Sanchez is rendered through expansive biographical narration that produces an open, equal
companionship. The essay first examines the language of apprenticeship and restraint in Ex-
tract 1, then turns to the language of lineage and admiration in Extract 2, before considering,
in a final section, what the two portraits together reveal about the narrator’s recurring search
for meaning.
Bra Todd: Apprenticeship and Concealment
Extract 1 opens with a simile that frames the entire relationship before Bra Todd is even
named: the narrator describes himself as being “like a stray dog. In search of not food, but
meaning” (Mohlele, 2013:11). The animal image strips the narrator of dignity and agency,
casting him as a dependant who must be taken in, and this dependency is confirmed by the
verbs that follow: he “polished,” “helped,” and served as a “willing apprentice” (Mohlele, 2013:12).
Direct speech, ‘Everyone is a politician,’ together with the description of Bra Todd’s “infec-
tious laughter,” characterises the older man directly as worldly, wry and warm. Yet the do-
mestic chores place the boy beneath him in a household hierarchy rather than beside him as
an equal. Crucially, the narrator admits he was “terrified to let his feelings be known” and “re-
frained from burdening him,” diction of restraint that exposes a deeper wound: Bra Todd’s
kinship to Desiree grants him “full command of her attention,” an intimacy the narrator craves
and cannot claim. The exclamation “How I envied him!” confirms that admiration and jeal-
ousy exist here in the same breath, so that mentorship is never entirely comfortable.
Page 3 of 6
College of Human Sciences — Department of English Studies
⋄
Assignment 03: The Novel
Small Things by Nthikeng Mohlele
Foundations in English Literary Studies — 2026
⋄
Module Code: ENG1501
Module Name: Foundations in English Literary Studies
Assignment No.: 03
Due Date: 17 July 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for ENG1501
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | ENG1501 Assignment 03 — Small Things
Essay Question
In the novel, Small Things, the narrator forms relationships with various characters that he en-
counters. Some make a lasting impact on his life, while others have little to no effect on him.
Using the two extracts below as starting points, this essay discusses how the narrator’s rela-
tionship with Bra Todd is similar to, or different from, his relationship with Gabriel Sanchez.
Extract 1
Like a stray dog. In search of not food, but meaning. I hung out with Bra Todd, a
respected newsman, with a taste for American swing. ‘Everyone is a politician,’ he
growled, with his infectious laughter. We listened to records, while I polished his shoes,
helped with the dishes, and learnt sophisticated ways to woo a lady. I was terrified to
let my feelings be known, so although Bra Todd looked out for me, I refrained from
burdening him with my Desiree misfortunes. He was her uncle and, as such, had full
command of her attention. How I envied him! I, at fifteen, between bouts of pleading
with Desiree (silent, helpless despair), spent many late nights with Bra Todd in news-
rooms, as a willing apprentice. (Mohlele,
2013:11–12)
Extract 2
Gabriel Sanchez’s tale (for that is my friend’s name) begins in Cuba. Third in the line
of thirteen siblings, he is the only journalist in an otherwise musical family. Many mae-
stros, he says, countless musicians, from streetcorner nobodies to musical saints of the
Buena Vista Social Club, learnt their skills at his father’s feet. That was when Gabriel
wrote articles, cutting opinion pieces for the Cuban Times, illuminating the Kennedy-
Kruschev stalemate, often working through the night. A migraine prematurely ended
one of his midnight liaisons with his typewriter. (Mohlele, 2013:53–54)
Page 1 of 6
,UNISA | ENG1501 Assignment 03 — Small Things
Contents
Essay Question 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Bra Todd: Apprenticeship and Concealment 3
3 Gabriel Sanchez: Lineage and Equality 4
4 A Shared Search for Meaning 4
5 Conclusion 5
Reference List 6
Page 2 of 6
, UNISA | ENG1501 Assignment 03 — Small Things
Introduction
In Nthikeng Mohlele’s Small Things, the unnamed narrator’s sense of self is shaped as much
by the men he attaches himself to as by his own restless temperament. Two such figures, Bra
Todd, the Sophiatown newsman who takes him in as an apprentice, and Gabriel Sanchez, the
Cuban-born journalist he later befriends, both mediate the narrator’s understanding of vo-
cation, belonging and loss. This essay argues that while the two relationships share a com-
mon function, each supplies the narrator with a substitute father figure rooted in journalism,
they differ sharply in feeling. Close attention to diction shows that Bra Todd is characterised
through direct speech and domestic service strained by concealment and envy, while Gabriel
Sanchez is rendered through expansive biographical narration that produces an open, equal
companionship. The essay first examines the language of apprenticeship and restraint in Ex-
tract 1, then turns to the language of lineage and admiration in Extract 2, before considering,
in a final section, what the two portraits together reveal about the narrator’s recurring search
for meaning.
Bra Todd: Apprenticeship and Concealment
Extract 1 opens with a simile that frames the entire relationship before Bra Todd is even
named: the narrator describes himself as being “like a stray dog. In search of not food, but
meaning” (Mohlele, 2013:11). The animal image strips the narrator of dignity and agency,
casting him as a dependant who must be taken in, and this dependency is confirmed by the
verbs that follow: he “polished,” “helped,” and served as a “willing apprentice” (Mohlele, 2013:12).
Direct speech, ‘Everyone is a politician,’ together with the description of Bra Todd’s “infec-
tious laughter,” characterises the older man directly as worldly, wry and warm. Yet the do-
mestic chores place the boy beneath him in a household hierarchy rather than beside him as
an equal. Crucially, the narrator admits he was “terrified to let his feelings be known” and “re-
frained from burdening him,” diction of restraint that exposes a deeper wound: Bra Todd’s
kinship to Desiree grants him “full command of her attention,” an intimacy the narrator craves
and cannot claim. The exclamation “How I envied him!” confirms that admiration and jeal-
ousy exist here in the same breath, so that mentorship is never entirely comfortable.
Page 3 of 6
