Kaffir Boy: The Amazing Cover

Ronald’s Kaffir Boy cover seems to be the best cover on the market! He has incorporated symbolism and colors into the cover giving it an attractive look with items making the reader ask “Why?” when they look at the cover. Everything on the cover was mentioned in the book and can be proven.

The two characters appearing on the cover is the protagonist, Johannes Mathabane and a black police officer. The police officer represents the black people that were manipulated by the white people of South Africa to help them enforce the laws. That evening the neighborhood was gripped by the rumors that the Peri-Urban police were going to launch another raid soon…searching for people whose pass books were not in order, gangsters, prostitutes, black families living illegally in the township, shebeen owners and those persons deemed ‘undesirables’ under the Influx Control Law. (16)”

In Johannes Mathabane’s hands two items. Each item represents an important idea in the story which leads to the ending. The tennis racket is what gets Mathabane his scholarship in America to finally leave for a new education which is symbolized by the paper with the A+ grade on it. It can be found in the book when Johannes receives a letter from Limestone College. The letter read Dear Mark, … I’m offering you a full tennis scholarship, which includes tuition, room, and board, and books. (342)”

Then the backgrounds in the cover show the two worlds that are present but where the black and the white people segregated into. The wasteland with two shacks is Johannes’ home which is Alexandria. Then the nice big house on the right is the white people’s homes which have green grass. The Black people had to go over there to work. In this case the cover depicts Johannes trying to get to the white peoples’ side showing that Johannes is trying to be equal and be on the same side and have everything they have. Then the police officer holds him back with the rope around his neck. The rope in this case represents the Apartheid which can tell the setting of the story. The Apartheid was the policy in South Africa in which all races were segregated. This happened during the 1970’s.This cover suggests all the important ideas of the story all in the cover. It would make a great cover for the book and is appealing to the eye because of its uniqueness, its details and its color.

Tom Phillips: Explicating A Humument

Page 119

On page 119 of Tom Phillips’ A Humument, Phillips suggests that sin, however deep or complex should be confessed vocally as soon as possible and words of the mouth, the notes of the human instrument have the ability of manipulating time. Phillips uses smooth, erratic lines to create melody, sound, and complexity. He paints with cool but different colors to fabricate depth, and to add to the sophistication of the image. He also reveals specific terms to create or just start the reader to his hidden idea within the picture.

At first glance, attention is drawn to the text in the picture because it lacks color. This text is where Phillips describes his point. Phillips uses the word “slowly” to create a sense of time. When he uses “slowly” to modify the action, it creates suspense along with thoughts of what is going to happen next. Then Philips manipulates the words “open his mouth” to mark the beginning of a time frame. This is so because when a person opens his or her mouth, it is generally the initiation of the vocal expression of some thought or idea. Then a white bold line finds its way down to the next set of highlighted words where Phillips uses the words sing to create melody. Then Phillips uses the word “last” to create a sense of quantity and ending. When anything is described as the last of, it means that there were things before this one which conjures up the thought of quantity and of course the meaning of last is being the only one remaining which conjures up the idea of an end. Next Phillips mentions the “book of surprises.” Phillips uses the word “book” to create a number or quantity because if there are enough to surprises to make a book out of it, there must be quite a number of them.

Phillips makes a second text box not connected to the first one to convey another idea. Phillips uses “One of these days” to create a time frame of around when the viewer is analyzing this picture. Around this phrase, the box of text has sharp edges opposed to rounded edges of the other text boxes and Phillips does this to draw attention of the viewer which highlights this phrase making it more obvious to the importance of this phrase. Then the text box tunnels its way down to another set of words which Phillips does to connect specific ideas. Phillips then uses the words “time on his lips” to describe how the human mouth can manipulate time. Confessions or surprises all happen at a point in time and can manipulate time in a person’s mind when though about or recalled. It can take a person back in time to recall, to the future to fantasize, or connect to other thoughts to ponder about.

Phillips uses a cool blue color to fill in the background. He does this to create the idea of water. As the viewer shifts his eyes lower and lower from the top of the picture, the water changes from a dull sky blue to more of a deep sea blue. This creates altitude and depth. With this Phillips is suggesting that as time goes on and a secret is hidden, it sinks where it will get deeper and become more difficult to resurface and confess. Phillips wants the viewer to realize that he or she should not withhold secrets too long and just bring to light what may be hidden.

Various thick lines of color flow freely through the Phillip’s piece in the back ground of the image. He colors them in various shades of brown from mahogany brown to dirt brown, light yellow green and light rose pink. He uses dull and blunt shades of these colors to make the colors noticeable but not too piercing to the eyes. These colors flow freely in the background in various streams that wiggle and swirl around. Phillips puts them in such a way to convey the idea of music and melody. Thoughts and such in the mind flow freely about and connect with many ideas and other thoughts in the mind. In this case, Phillips connects all the streams to the text boxes of words that chose. This is to show that many items get connected with such surprises people hide. Then when the streams of color on the bottom of the page are compared with the streams of color on the top of the page, the ones on the bottom are more erratic and swirl and wiggle to a heavier degree than the top. Phillips does this to show that as you hold in a secret too long, it will affect the other happenings in your life. These streams as a whole are space close together and with the wiggle, they cause the piece to look very complicated but at the same time, the smoothness of the wiggle of the steams creates a very melodic flow.

Phillips uses the combination of the diction, color, and random lines to describe how important it is to come out with secrets and not to withhold them. He uses the diction to express the idea, the colors and lines to create complexity and flow of time, and a fading background to show the effects of time without confessing.