Describe a key relationship between two or more characters or individuals in the text. Explain how this relationship helped you to understand at least one of these characters or individuals.
The Power of One is a novel written by Bryce Courtenay, about a young English speaking South-African boy who shares his journey with us through his childhood, from going from a nobody to a welterweight champion. In this novel, Peekay and Doc are closer than anything, which helps me to understand the novel because it gives me more detail about what kind of people the characters are. From the day they met this relationship showed us what they were like together and what they taught each other.
One of the key relationships in the Power of One is Doc and Peekay. Doc is an old German Pianist who loves plants and his whiskey. Peekay is a young boy who is very smart and loves boxing he also wants to be the welterweight champion of the world. Peekay and Doc met up in the hills in Barberton. This place is a significant place in the book because it is Doc’s safe place where he walks through the hills and looks at all the different plants. This place up in the hills soon becomes Peekays’ special place as well. ‘he wore a battered old bush hat and his snowy hair hung down to the top of his shoulders’ ‘his eyes were an intense blue and seemed too young for his face’ this is Peekay’s first description of Doc and it shows Peekay is a very attentive person.
Peekay and Doc were best friends, everything they did, they did together. Even when Doc was in Jail, Peeaky still came and visited him as often as he could. They were inseparable. When Peekay is with Doc he lets his child side of himself show.“That was the magic of the cactus garden. Door succulents can play dumb, a common blue chalk stick can turn from a Cinderella into a princess in front of your very eyes.” this quote about Doc’s cactus garden shows some of Peekay’s child-like innocence that Doc brings out of him.
Peekay and Doc teach each other lots of thing and this helped them to grow as characters. Every adventure they went on they learned something new. Doc teaches Peekay many things throughout the book and this helps Peekay to grow as a character. It also helps us to understand what kind of person Doc is. Doc teaches Peekay a lot about the real world and what it is like. “Nature is a chain reaction. One thing follows the other, everything is dependent on something else. The smallest is as important as the largest.” this quote is one of my favorites because it shows us that without the little things in life we can’t get somewhere big, and it helps Peekay to understand he can’t always do things for himself and there is no shame in asking for help.
In conclusion, Bryce Courtney portrays the relationship between Peekay and Doc throughout the book. Their relationship shows the reader what Peekay and Doc were like together and what they taught each other. Over time whilst Peekay and Doc are together, we get to see how the characters change and it helps us to understand them better as individuals.
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