Die Dramas Van Adam Small as Sosio-Politieke Kommentaar

Abstract

In Kanna hy k6 hystoe Adam Small brings to light the misfortunes of a family of the so-called "coloureds" which adopts a "welfare-son" by the name of Kanna. The host family does not flinch from any sacrifice so as to empower him educationally and at the same time pinning its hopes on this little mushrooming boy. After becoming a fully-fledged engineer overseas, the family expects him to return home - his motherland, South Africa, to perform a sacrificial function by "liberating'' his family i.e. community from the bondage of apartheid. This "messianic hope", however, eventually ends in an anti-climax of despair and disillusionment. The Mosaic saviour betrays his own people, despite all the individual and concerted efforts to get him educated, by not even endeavouring once to fulfil the expected Mosaic task, but by· leaving his "roots" - the South African soil - once and for all for greener pastures overseas.