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I believe that Tengo seems more like he is shining more than Frikkie. Tengo really wants to go to school and learn things new things he never known would be answered. Frikkie doesn’t care about school and his education; he really just wants to stay here at the farm like Tengo. I think that Tengo is shining because is wanting to learn something new.

The two main characters in “Waiting for the Rain” are Tengo, the black boy, and Frikkie, the white boy. They have many things in common, like playing with sticks or racing each other. However, they also have many differences. For example, Frikkie hates school but is forced to, and Tengo loves learning but his parents can’t afford the education. I think I would like to be friends with Tengo, because he is caring, and friendly, and he doesn’t care what “colour” you are. I think he would be a good friend because he would by my side when I’m sad, and support me well. I think Frikkie seems more “alive” than the others because he is always full of action and also moving a lot.

I felt that the life in the city where Joseph comes from is terrible because all black people have to carry a pass all the time and if they do not do it, they are put in jail, black people have to use buses designated for them, which is discrimination and only white people are rich enough money to buy cars, which shows a gap in wealth between blacks and whites.

My favorite part is that Tengo and Frikkie are friends, even though they belong to different races, and least favorite part is that Tengo can not go to school despite that he is curious about many things.

The author made me feel sorrowful by describing how cruelly white people treat black people.

Two main characters are Tengo, a black boy and Frikkie, a white boy. They are both ten years old and live in same place. The difference between them are that Frikkie has money to go to school and he thinks that school is boring, but Tengo doesn’t have time and money to go to school and he thinks that studying is really fun.

In the story, Waiting For the Rain, there are two specific characters in the story named Frikkie and Tengo who are best friends on the farm. Both of them share interests in activities such as racing, but they also have differences. To Frikkie, school is boring, stupid, and a waste of his precious time playing games with Tengo, but Tengo thinks the other way about school. Tengo asks many questions, because he is curious to know what there is to know outside of the farm. He thinks that learning at school would be great, and he would learn a great deal of things. The problem is that his parents do not have enough money to give him an education.
To me, Frikkie seems to be much more active and ‘alive’ than other people because he always wants to play around and have fun. If I were to choose either of these two characters to be my friend, I think I would choose Tengo because like Uttara said, Tengo does not really care what color skin you have, and he is very friendly and supportive.

I think that the author wrote this book to show about the apartheid because he focuses on the lives of a white person and a black person. I think that the author does this to show the difference between the two lives. The author shows the different thought that Tengo and Frikkie about the same things. For example Frikkie thinks that school is boring and Tengo wants to go to school to learn. The book even has a part where Tengo’s cousin tells Tengo about the law of apartheid on page 26.

I think this story takes place in South Africa in the year 1970’s. In the book Joseph talks about the aparthied laws that had been imposed in their country to seperate the blacks as servant and the whites as bosses (page 26). We know its in the 1970’s because there are schools for both races and the Dutch seem to have been settled for a long time.

Tengo and Frikkie remind of two characters in The Little Princess. Their behaviors and roles in the story are very similar, though in a different situation. The main character in The Little Princess, Sara Crew, has to serve and wait upon a spoiled little brat. Whether she wants to or not, Sara has to treat her ‘baas’ with unconditional politeness. Like in WFR, Tengo has to follow every request of Frikkie’s. On page 13, ” ‘ I am the monster and I willgobble you up if you don’t quickly finish your tea and come play cricket with me, ” he roared.’ ” In The Little Princess, every time that Sara Crew’s ‘baas’ rings her bell, she has to quickly come up and do as her ‘baas’ pleases. The only difference in this situation, is that Sara’s story takes place in New York and Tengo’s story takes place in South Africa.

In the story ‘Waiting for the Rain’ the two main characters are Frikkie (short for Frederick) and Tengo. Frikkie is a white Afrikaner who is very fond of being in his uncle’s farm. As said on page 5, Frikkie said that he loved the farm and he wished he didn’t have to go to school. He would rather be at the farm than anywhere else in the world. Frikkie is quit simple, all he wants is to play with his friend and spend the rest of his life on Oom Koos’s farm.
Tengo, on the other hand, is very curious. He wants to learn many things and wants to witness things that are beyond his horizons, which was introduced at the beginning of chapter 3. Also, he is very smart. He had read schoolbooks out of interest and was able to memorize it and tell it all by heart. On page 10 Tengo makes a cow figure out of clay, his granny greatly admires his artwork showing that Tengo indeed is very creative.

The main characters in this book are Frikkie and Tengo. Frikkie is a Boer and Frikkie is probably a Zulu but he knows Afrikaans. Frikkie and Tengo are friends because in the book there was a part that they were racing each other to a tree, they wouldn’t be racing each other if they weren’t friends. Tengo doesn’t care about the difference that he and Frikkie has but later on in the book I think Tengo will have a problem with Frikkie or Frikkie will have a problem with Tengo. Frikkie doesn’t like school if someone asked him he would probably say it’s boring or something like that but if you would ask Tengo he would say I would love to go to school, its fun to learn. They both have different perceptions in things right now, but there personality seems the same. Frikkie is a person who demands Tengo to do stuff even though they are friends, which is probably because he is someone with higher class than Tengo. Tengo doesn’t demand Frikkie because he isn’t supposed to it is like respect you elders but in South Africa it is respect the white South Africans.

From my point of view I can predict that in the end Frikkie and Tengo will be enemy because of their identity of who they are and the difference between races. Even though they are friends now and they have lots of similar trait like how they are friends, live in the same place and they like to race with each other. But there is still a gap between them, black and white people shouldn’t be friends that is what most people think. Their views to school is different too. Frikkie who can afford to go to school thinks that school is boring, but Tengo who never go to school thinks that it is very interesting.

The two main characters in this story are Tengo and Frikkie. Frikkie’s uncle, Oom Koos, is the owner of the farm that Tengo and Tengo’s mother and father work. I think there are some different traits about these two characters such as the way they think. Frikkie comes to the farm every time he has break from school and he complains to Tengo about the work at school and how it’s extremely boring for him while Tengo wishes he had a chance to go to school and learn about subjects that he has no knowledge for.

What I felt that was important in the beginning chapters about this book is that when Tengo learnt the truth about the world beyond the fences of the farm. Tengo has the mind and heart about positives things in life. He is still young and wants to learn about his surroundings. I thought it was funny how someone could have such positive minds toward the world at the time during the apartheid. But of coarse he didn’t know about it. It was hurtful when Joseph told Tengo about troubles within the city. It probably gave Tengo the image of chaotic city and not want to open up beyond the fences to go to school and learn within the city. I think he must have been afraid of survival and mistakes he may cause, from the stories of tsotis, pass, and of legal rights. I was glad that Tengo learnt about the cities but I was also scared that it might have harmed his perceptions and not want to step into the city and go to school for his sake. For example in chapter 3, where Tengo quoted “ ‘I wouldn’t want to live in the city Joseph’, he felt lucky, now, that his family worked for the oubaas.”

The two main characters in this book are Tengo and Frikkie. Tengo is like a black farm boy. Frikkie is more like a born town kid. These two kids have several things in common. They are both competitive, like showing off their skills , also adventures and they are both 10 years old. Unlike Tengo, Frikkie dislikes school. He doesnt care about it. The point he mises out, is that he actually gets a better education than Tengo because he goes to a school full of white kids.White kids get beter education. Tengo goes to a black school with many students squized into one room. During the period of aphartied the blacks dint get the greatest education. For the white man, black man was supposed to work for them. To some of them blacks were nothing but servants. They would call them “bloody kaffir” (quoted from the colour of friendship). This two children have a different way of veiwing their lives. Tengo likes going to school to make the best out of himself. Frikkie, he would drop out of school if he could and come live in the farm. For Frikkie the farm is like heaven. I dont think Tengo enjoys working there, because he is just a child and instead of milking cows maybe he has his own dream.

Tengo reminds me of Peekay from The Power of One. Though Peekay was an Afrikaner and though the books are set in slightly different times both characters show an eagerness to obtain knowledge and both are in a way secluded from everyone else. In the power of one Peekay and his best friend grew apart because Peekay pursued a career in boxing, whilst his best friend went into business in hopes of running his family business one day. Tengo has made a choice to pursue his education in Johannesburg whilst Tengo’s best friend Frikkie has decided to go into the family business and become a farmer. The main difference between these two characters is the fact that Tengo is often degraded and feels oppressed by his white masters, and though Peekay was white he showed kindness to the black prisoners at the prison where he attended a boxing league.
Though as I said they are both eager to learn and are both smart, however what really inclined me to think of Peekay is that they both question things they do not understand. Peekay soon became notorious for questioning certain laws or rules at his school. Though Tengo isn’t exactly notorious for questioning things he has began to think about laws he never really understood, for example why do white people get free education and natives must pay? Why must natives carry a pass around when whites may come and go as they please?

Number (:P) d. Setting
1.This story take place in South Africa in 1948 I know this because apartheid started. The guy in the book talks about apartheid happing. I can tell it is in South Africa because it says it on the front cover.
2.The part of the story that best describes the settings is on chapter one. This describes the sunny days, the cows grazing. The smell of staked bale and much more. Sheila Gordon makes the place like its right in front of you. That’s a good technique to have.
3.I have a place like this. It’s in my house. It’s the place I can do what I want to do. It has a mammoth living room. It’s with 4 bath rooms, way to big for any of us. I could live in my bath room, that’s how much space there is! My room is dark red (just the way I like it) I have a computer and two beds. That’s a minute description about my house.
4.The author crates a setting by using words that have powerful meanings. For example you can see this on the first page of chapter one. I feel it is crucial to have words that mean allot to describe a place.

Tengo and Frikkie are the two main characters in “Waiting for the Rain”. Though the color of their skin and the path they are to take for their future separates them apart, there are a few interest they have in common that forge them together during their friendship years. Some of these interests include playing on the farm and enjoying each other’s company while swimming near the dam. However, I have to wonder if their friendship will last past the apartheid, if not torn between their different opinions of school first. This can be proved on page 20, ‘“Frikkie has gone back to school,” Tengo said to his grandmother. “He didn’t want to go. He says school is boring. But I think it’s boring not to be able to read and learn.”’ Frikkie is naïve while Tengo is curious.

Frikkie has a better chance of a brighter future yet he chooses to stay on the farm and follow traditions instead of start an innovation. This is said from page 5, ‘“I love the farm,” Frikkie told her. “…I’d rather be at the farm than anywhere else in the world.”’ Tengo barely has a chance for a future or food yet his mind’s always open, wondering, questioning – said from page 24, ‘“…You go to school and learn about everything. I’m always asking myself questions, and I have no way of finding the answers.”’. In my opinion, one who has an open mind has more freedom and power than those of a closed. Their contrasts are as strong as black and white, but will they learn to overcome this and alter the law to create grey? Or stay black and white?

The main characters in this story, are Frikkie and Tengo. These characters have similarities between them but in some ways they are distinct. They enjoy spending time together by playing, teasing and racing with each other. This quote on page 1, ” The second thing Frikkie always did when he arrived at his uncle’s farm for the school holidays was look for Tengo.”, shows that they are very close friends and they like seeing each other. Their perceptions towards learning are diverse. On page 13, “He liked being busy, felt cramped and restless at the scarred inky wooden desk in a classroom smelling of chalk and pencils and the lunches packed in the pupil’s schoolbags.” Frikkie gets to go to school but he thinks school is tedious. I think the reason he has this attitude towards school is because he loves the farm and it is the place he would want to be at than anywhere else in the world. On the other hand, Tengo is keen to learn. He wants to learn how to read and be knowledgeable about the other side of the world. An evidence from the book is on page 17, “…but Tengo wanted to know many things that puzzled him, and he knew that if he could go to school he would be able to find out about them.” Even though there are similarities and differences between these two characters, they like each other and for them that is probably all that matters.

I think the author wrote this book because she wanted to show how in the midst of an apartheid, blacks and whites can still be friends. Tengo and Frikkie became friends before they were old eneough to know about the politics behind the racism in the apartheid. But when the boys turned 13 Tengo was starting to question the friendship because he had been learning about all the race problems that had happened in South Africa. As on pg. 51 when Frikkie asked Tengo for the small clay bull that he had made, Tengo was very hesitant to give up “ part of his life that he wanted to keep separate from the white boy “.

The two main characters in the novel Waiting for the Rain are named Frikkie and Tengo. Frikkie is a white boy that lives away from the farm where he gets a proper education. Tengo is a black boy that lives on the farm where he helps with the chores. Despite all of the differences between Tengo and Frikkie they are best friends and enjoy each other’s company while Frikkie visits the farm. Although Frikkie and Tengo enjoy a lot of things they have very different ideas on school and their education.

“Frikkie has gone back to school,” Tengo said to his grandmother. “He didn’t want to go. He says school is boring. But I think it’s boring not to be able to read and learn.”’
Page 20

From this quote we can tell that Frikkie doesn’t like school, he finds it boring and a waste of time. Frikkie states several times that he would much rather be working on the farm and when he grows up, he hopes to own it one day. Tengo longs to go to school, he wants to learn new and interesting facts, but he has no opportunity to go. I think that Tengo wants to go to school because he wants to experience something new in life rather than having to do the monotonous work to do on the farm. I also think Tango is thinking of his future and how he will be able to use the education he gets to his advantage.

I think that by writing this book, the author is trying to tell us about the kind of things that happened in Africa that people may or may not know about. The main idea the author is trying to get across is probably apartheid. The author is informing the readers that in this part of the world, some people are discriminated and are treated worse than the others just because of how they look. In order to write the book, Waiting for the Rain, the author have to know the information about apartheid in Africa and also the life of local people there and how they feel. One of the questions I would ask the author if she were here would be: What inspired you to write a book about apartheid? I think the hook that the author used was the idea of having two kids, one black one white being friend in a place where there is apartheid because it makes the reader wonder what will happen to their friendship as they grow older and become more aware of the environment they live in and the authority that they are under. Will they be able to keep their friendship? Would their friendship influence their decisions and behavior?

The main characters that are focused on in the story Waiting for the Rain are, Frikkie and Tengo. Frikkie is a rich caucasian boy that likes visiting his uncles farm on the holidays. Tengo a black poor boy who’s mother and farther work for Frikkie’s uncle the oubas. Frikke doesn’t like school at all and just wants to be on the farm. On the other hand Tengo wants to explore beyond the farm not stay there his whole life. I would think these characters a complex. They have the same interest but that’s because their 10 year old boys. Tengo and Frikkie have totally different dreams. Frikkie wants to become an extraordinary farmer and become the manager. Then Tengo on the other hand living on the farm all his life has gotten boring so he rather explore beyond his boundaries. Find out what makes the sea have salt and answer his questions. I would like to further continue this story to find out which path the boys will take.

While the story, in only four chapters, has introduced well over ten characters, the two main entities of the story seem to be a young black farm hand named Tengo and a white student named Frikkie. While what drives the story is the comraderie of the two, there are a multitude of differences that establish the characters in their own right.

The largest and most important difference between the two is undoubtedly the vast contrast in self-motivation and drive. Tengo is extremely motivated and takes any opportunity he can to learn and answer questions. Unfortunately, he is a victim of financial and racial circumstances and cannot go to school. Frikkie, on the other hand, wants nothing but to relax at the farm and not go to school. He views it as a waste of time and dislikes it immensely.

A shallow difference between the two is obviously racial. Tengo is a native South African (referred to in slang as a “kaffer”) while Frikkie is a descendent of the prior Dutch settlers. (referred to as “Afrikaners”).

Combined, those two differences are what drive the story to be what it is and, in my mind, what ended apartheid.

While the whites were content to lean back and let the blacks do all their menial labor, they underestimated the ambition of their supposedly “lesser” counterparts and watched as the discriminated rule of apartheid came to an end.

Anyone could have written about anything in the world but Sheila Gordon decided to write about apartheid. This was a great decision to me since our world is going through events that like this in everyday life. Sometimes we separate ourselves by our race and this isn’t always a good thing. We can learn more from others and can get new ideas from others too. Apartheid in South Africa started when the whites were afraid of the blacks since most of the populations were blacks. This isn’t afar decision since there the different races got different amount of freedom.

The main characters for “Waiting for the rain” are Frekkie and Tengo. Tengo is a ten year old black boy who is friend with Frekkie the white boy. They both have many things in common such as love being in Oom Koo’s farm, playing with stick and chasing each other around. How ever they both have many differences. Example is the point of view Tengo and Frekkie has toward school. Tengo doesn’t even know what school is but on the other side Frekkie he will say what normal school kid. I would like to be friend with Tengo because he is kind, caring and not racist. The character that I think is more alive is Frekkie he is always being mention in most part of the story. There aren’t any changes that you can see or occur in the first few chapter of the story right now but I think that they will be changes occurring with Tengo a lot.

The author doesn’t keep me interested in the book because she doesn’t use very good vocabulary for describing. Her vocab insn’t intense and it doesn’t motivate me to read the book. For example on page 3 the author writes, ‘He would first go to the barn where bales of hay were stacked, yellow and sweet-smelling, to the roof.’ For me the author doesn’t draw me in with the word choices she uses. It kind of makes the book boring.

The two main characters of this book are Frikkie and Tengo. Frikkie was a white person and Tengo was a black person. Their lives are not the same because of the color of their skin. Where Tengo lives is in a basic hut that’s truly poor. Where Frikkie lives was in a town but occasionally he goes to his uncle’s farmhouse where it is clean and smells good. Joseph, Frikkie’s cousin said that the town always has a terrible smell, smoke and petrol fumes, dirty toilets, garbage everywhere. The houses are exceedingly close together you can hear people talking, fighting, babies crying and a lot of other noises. Also, there are bad people like the kids who don’t go to school and they steal, fight, smoke, drink and mug people in town. Sometimes when they show off they carry knives. Plus, if the police catch them they go right into jail. When your sixteen years old, and black, like Tengo they were required to carry a pass with their whole life history. Joseph told Tengo if you don’t have a pass in the town then you will get put in jail, because that once Joseph’s dad got put in jail because he didn’t bring his pass with him. Tengo is surprised and concerned by Joseph’s news. Joseph told Tengo that “you don’t know anything about apartheid.” I like both of the characters because whether their black or white they are still friends. The most differences between black and white people are their skin color, so they should both be treated the same. I don’t think that any characters change in the first four chapters because it’s only just the beginning. I think later on the story Frikkie and Tengo will probably be against each other since their parents may not agree that black and white people have no difference. Some books that I have read are similar characters of what I have read in this book, but I don’t remember what the book is called. These characters can also happen in real life.

I think the author wrote this book to show kids around the world in simply words how apartheid worked, and how unfair it was, because Joseph explains to Tengo how horrible it is in the city and how he wouldn’t want to live there. When Joseph is describing this he really says it as if it were something really bad, showing that the author is trying to get it through that apartheid was an extremely dreadful thing.
I think I am very much like Tengo because he is a curious boy that wants to go further and know and understand more, as through chapter 1-4 he is always wondering how things work, what is on the other side, why stars fall etc. I think the protagonist is a bit like everyone to make this book relate to the reader. I believe he has a bit of everyone’s personality. This is not something I can say what page it is on because everyone will probably have something different that they have in common with Tengo.

The two main characters are Frikkie and Tengo. They both are ten years old. Frikkie is a Boer and Tengo is an African. Even though their skin colors are different, they call each other as friends. I think it’s because they are still young and they’ve been friends for a long time. That would be why Frikkie doesn’t have a bad perception about Tengo and other Africans. Tengo and his family work for Frikkie’s uncle’s farm. That’s how Frikkie and Tengo know each other. You can see on page 3, ‘The second thing Frikkie always did when he arrived at his uncle’s farm for the school holidays was look for Tengo.’ So we can know how much Frikkie likes Tengo as a friend. Frikkie goes to school in the city and he is really bored of it, but Tengo is very inspired of learning because he never went to school but he wants to know so many things.

If the author was here i would ask the question where did you find the idea for the book. The subject of apartied is a very strong thing to write about. The way the author writes the book, it makes it seem as if she had some sort insight into what she is writing about.

I think that the author should know about the history of Africa and what was happening back than. For example was when the British were starting to take over South Africa. Example from the book is when Joseph was telling Tengo about the Passbooks, “Man, you know that all black people have to carry a pass.” On page 25.

In the story ‘Waiting for the Rain’ the main characters are Frikkie and Tengo. Tengo, one of the main characters is very open-minded towards learning, and going to school. Tengos actions in page 10, when he creates a cow miniature with clay. After his granny observing the way Tengo acts, she admits that Tengo is very creative. Parts of the book, introduce and describe Tengo as smart because he enjoys reading books when he has time.
Tengos friend Frikkie is another main character in the book, but can be described as the opposite of Tengo. Frikkie is a white Afrikaner who enjoys hanging out on his uncle’s farm (Oom Koos’s farm) instead of enjoying learning new things, which was spoken about on page 5. Instead Tengo wants to witness things that are beyond his horizons.

I rewrite the above:

Why do you think the author wrote this book?
I think the author wrote this book to show kids around the world in simply words how apartheid worked, and how unfair it was, because Joseph explains to Tengo how horrible it is in the city and how he wouldn’t want to live there. When Joseph is describing this he really says it as if it were something really bad, showing that the author is trying to get it through that apartheid was an extremely dreadful thing.

Which character are you most similar to?
I think I am very much like Tengo because he is a curious boy that wants to go further and know and understand more, as through chapter 1-4 he is always wondering how things work, what is on the other side, why stars fall etc. I think the protagonist is a bit like everyone to make this book relate to the reader. I believe he has a bit of everyone’s personality. This is not something I can say what page it is on because everyone will probably have something different that they have in common with Tengo. I believe Tengo is a very unaffected person, because when Tengo finds out he has got new books for him to study, he was extremely happy but he acted very mature and decided to wait and open them at home. He worked as he would any other day and didn’t let the book stop him from focusing on his work.

I think the author wrote this book because maybe she wants to tell kids that there are not only nice people in the world but there are mean people too. And maybe she wants kids to have wider ideas about the aparthied and learn some rules, lifestyle and the opinion of both white and black people.

The part I like the most in this book is that Tengo and Frikkie has different opinion about school. So i get to learn two different opinions.
I felt so sorry for Tengo because he is really a curious man and he wants to learn so much but he can’t go to the school.
“I wish I didn’t have to go to school.” (p.5, Frikkie is saying this.
“Frikkis always complained about having to go back to puzzled him, and he knew that if he could go to school he would be able to find out about them.” (p.17, Tengo)

I didn’t feel good when I read the part Joseph was talking about how the police treat black people.
“Man, you know that all black people have to carry a pass.” (p.24-25)
“You have to carry it with you always, and you have to show it to a policeman any time he asks to see it” (p.25)
“But what if you don’t have your pass on you- if you left it at home by mistake?”
“Jail. They take you straight to jail” (p.25)

I felt that it is not fair that way. Why only black people have to carry the pass?
And why do policemen put black people STRAIGHT to jail only because they forgot it at home?
They put black people to jail even they didn’t do anything wrong?
I didn’t understand that.
But I think later on, I will get more information by reading this book.

Frekkie and Tengo seems to be good friends, but on the cover of the book, they don’t look they like each other. So I predict that later on, as Tengo learn more, he will learn about Aparthied and his perception will change and I think their friendship is not going to last long.

I haven’t even finished the story yet, and I feel there is a hidden message that the author wants to get to the readers. I believe the author uses symbolism to give her view of apartheid. Even in the plot description on the back of the book, Sheila Gordon describes the differences of the two characters Tengo, a black south African, and Frikkie, a white South African, and how they have to ‘cross the line’ of apartheid. The whole book has Tengo trying to pursue and education that apartheid will not let some one of his race have, and Frikkie trying to quit school and go work on the farm.

As well as having her characters go through apartheid, she also uses symbolism in certain places in the plot. For example the barking dog is symbolic of human rights, because the dog barking and nobody caring was like apartheid making blacks the minority an not “hearing” them.
I think the author wrote this book because she wanted to right a story about apartheid and share her views with the reader.

The main characters in this story are Frikkie and Tengo. The difference between them is that Tengo is black and Frikkie is white. They are both 15 years old and liked to do alot of the same things when they were young. Frikkie hated school. He knew he had to go to school everyday and sit inside a classroom thinking and learning. He would rather be on his Uncles farm, helping out. On the other hand Tengo would do anything he could to go to school. He wanted to be able to have the chancce of going to school, learning about new things, and wanting to be able to go out and see the world. Tengo was always asking Frikkie about the world. Tengo wanted to know what the sea was like. When tengo said ”i want to see the sea”, it symbolizes that Tengo wants to see the world. He wants to vist places he has never seen before, he wants to experience adventures, good and bad. Frikkie and Tengo dont care about there colour, they only care about their friendship.

The author of Waiting for the Rain is Sheila Gordan. I really don’t know why she decided to write this kind of book. From what i think is she might have experience something like this in her life before. We don’t know wether she’s black or white? Maybe she wrote this book to make us understand more about aparthied and what people had to go through in Africa. If the author was here right now in our classroom, I would ask her where is was from? Why she wrote this book? Has she ever had a black/white (depends wether she’s black/white) friend before? How does she knows about aparthied in Africa? I think she had a way to hook the readers by writing something base on a real events and making it sounds like it’s a real story.

The main characters of WFR are Tengo and Frikkie. There is quite a distinguishment between and maybe that’s a clever way why the author has written this fabulous book. Tengo seems to be clever and enthusiastic about things. The proof is that he is motivated and determined to go to school meanwhile he doesn’t have enough money. It’s quite depressing because he is a very clever student as described by one of the millers. Comparing to Frikkie, Frikkie tends to be very stubborn. He wants things on his way. Frikkie thinks that school bores him to death and will do anything to avoid school. Although Frikkie is stubborn, he has some positive character traits too you know. Frikkie is brave and is independent. He’s never scared no matter what condition he is in and is independent because he’s mature enough as his parents.

How did you feel while reading the book? Why did you feel that way?

As an educated person on the apartheid in South Africa, I instantly picked up what the book was based on; the deep prejudice of the white people towards the blacks. As soon as I began reading the story I could tell that the story would be about Tengo and Frikkie’s friendship while living in the time of apartheid. Tengo does not know about apartheid until his cousin comes to visit him on the farm where Tengo’s family works for Frikkie’s family who evidentially are white. Because Tengo is not completely aware of what is happening to the black people living at this time, I felt a hint of sadness. The way Tengo and his family are treated is cruel but Tengo is not even aware of the injustice because he thinks that it is appropriate to be treated the way he is. It makes me sick to think about how the white people believed that they were superior to the black race and how horribly they treated the blacks. If racism isn’t as much of a problem now in South Africa as it was before I do not understand why it didn’t end a long time ago, or why it began in the first place. While reading about Tengo’s daily lifestyle compared to Frikkie’s, there is an obvious difference and it is completely unfair that Tengo cannot do what he wants to do for example, learn in school. Throughout the book I read about more and more heartbreaking situations where blacks are treated inferior to whites, and when Joseph, Tengo’s cousin comes to town and teaches Tengo about apartheid it is really hard to hear that Tengo wasn’t even aware of what was going on. I feel this way because I know that what happened in the time of apartheid was not fair and not right and reading about it makes me sad to think that these events really did take place.

The first main character in the story is Frikkie. He is a white boy who lives in the town, however he doesn’t like where he lives. He doesn’t enjoy going to school, and would prefer to live on the farm, that is owned by his uncle, where he can play all day instead of go to school. When it’s the holiday from school, he does visit the farm, and enjoys doing stuff with Tengo. Tengo on the other hand, is a black boy who is a worker on the farm and lives there. He is pretty poor, and sometimes doesn’t have enough to eat. He is the opposite of Tengo and hopes for a future, hopes to one day go to school. At the moment though, he has no eductation. He wants books to read from and ponders many things; questions that he hopes someday will be answered. He does not know much about apartheid. Lastly, he has a positive attitude toward most things.

Middle Section Of WFR
At this point of the book, the book takes place at various areas. I know this because in the book the narrator and the main characters actually say it. At the beginning of the middle section, Tengo is still in the farm with his family and Frikkie is in the farm too preparing for his uncles birthday party. Frikkie’s uncle was having a birthday party for turning 50 years old; there was everyone from Frikkie’s family who came. His little sister (Sissie) was rude and did not want to talk to Tengo directly for some reason. After that party Frikkie went back to Johannesburg for school and Tengo stayed in the farm. (Tengo did not say goodbye to Frikkie). Tengo was talking to his parents about going to school in Johannesburg since he really wanted to learn about the world. His father did not mind but his mother was scared to send Tengo to school in Johannesburg. Later on Tengo’s parents ended up sending Tengo to school in Johannesburg. When Tengo achieved to be in Johannesburg he went to look for his aunt where she was working, then he would go with her to the townships where Tengo would attempt school. (Pg 88 Tengo arrives in Johannesburg) The book then stays in the townships of Johannesburg for a long time. Frikkie goes to visit the farm and he is told that Tengo had left to go to school in Johannesburg. (Pg 120 Frikkie finds out Tengo went to Johannesburg).

End of WFR
The author of this book Waiting for the Rain was written by Sheila Gordon, she was born in South Africa. To me the author could have written this book with a lot of different reasons. At different parts of this book it seems like the point of view of the author changes. Since I am focusing at the last part of this book I would say that the author was someone like a member of Dr Miller’s family. I think this because the author does not seem like a person who was happy with what was happening in the past. She wanted to tell the people who read this book that South Africa was not a good place even though she is a South African. After a few chapters at the beginning of the book she starts calling Frikkie a white boy then towards the end she becomes more descriptive to the things she says. If this is how the book was put I think that the author wanted to tell the reader that what was happening in South Africa was not decreasing or staying the same. What was happening in South Africa was increasing but today it is not the same as before. All the racism and fighting has decreased by a lot.

WFR Middle
The middle section had a different mood than the first section of the story. I think one of the reasons for this was that Tengo started growing up and he began to see the different point of views of people. On page 63 when the freckled girl called Ezekiel a boy, Tengo started to shout at the freckled girl. When Tengo became smarter, he realized that certain actions of people were unacceptable and it was time that he stood up to that; therefore I think the middle part has a serious mood. In this section, Tengo was determined to learn and get smarter, thus he left for Johannesburg. When Tengo reached Johannesburg, he went to live in the township and he met the family that his auntie was working for, the Millers. He soon recognized that the children in this family think differently than Frikkie, his aunt and uncle.

Overall, there are many different moods going on in this section depending which part you read.

The Middle

- Do some character seem more “alive” then others?

I believe that Tengo seems to be more alive than Frikkie. Tengo is filled with dreams and ambition, Tengo wishes to attend school and pass his matriculation exams. Whilst Frikkie is living out Tengo’s dream and doesn’t care, Frikkie only wants to work on the farm. He doesn’t care about school or his matriculation exams. Not only is Tengo filled with dreams but he even goes as far as to hope to have the opportunity of further pursuing his education overseas. Though Tengo is far beyond the age that Frikkie began school Tengo is smart. Once he receives books from his cousin Joseph’s master he begins to read in all his free time on the farm. Whilst Tengo attempts to begin an education in Johannesburg, Frikkie only wishes to leave his current life behind and begin one on the farm as a worker and possibly future Oom Koos.
“… I wish I didn’t have to go to school. I’d rather be at the farm than anywhere else in the world.” This is said by Frikkie on page 5, not only does this quote show Frikkie’s affection for the farm but it also shows how ignorant Frikkie is of how lucky he is to be receiving the education he is.
“Tengo wanted to read all the books at once. Deciding which one to begin with filled him with pleasure…” This is a quote from page 38, I really believe this is a great representation of how Tengo views learning as a whole, while Frikkie would be repulsed at the idea of receiving books as a present.

Tengo is right now facing decisions which will definitely change his life forever. If he chooses to fight against the police or go back to the farm he will have to give up his dream of going to college. But if he decides to go with Joseph and become a freedom fighter of some sort he will get a chance to help his country to work against apartheid and most of all he might get to go oversea which is his biggest dream. As The Freedom Charter of African National Company states that South Africa belongs to all who live in it whether black or white, but Tengo realizes that there is a long way to go to get to reach this goal. Whatever his decision is one thing for sure is that he will never have a chance of living an easy life.

As Nalyn wrote the beginning of the book, Tengo was still young, he didn’t know much about the situation at hand, therefore the beginning the mood was more settled, until Tengo arrived Johannesburg where he grew to the state with the understanding that something is wrong and must be changed. When he met the Millers, it seemed Tengo met someone that had the same question, on page 94. What Tengo might have learnt was that he wasn’t the only one that wanted corrections. The middle of the book had a serious mood that conflicts were happening and that Tengo didn’t always seem so happy like he was on the farm. He seemed so busy with school that he couldn’t perform art which was his best interests. But Tengo wasn’t the only one unhappy. When Frikkie arrived for his holidays, Tengo wasn’t there. Frikkie was upset and couldn’t understand why Tengo cared so much for education, for he didn’t care much. I then realize that maybe the fact that Frikkie wants to own the farm might be because he wants to be with his friend Tengo.

WFR – The Middle

When I was reading the book, I felt sorry. I felt this way because of the descriptions of violence and poor living conditions in Johannesburg, and for the friendship that is being lost between Tengo and Frikkie. My favorite part of this section of the book was when Joseph tells Tengo about the incident in Soweto (P.112-113). Joseph talks about how the black children opposed being taught by the Boer language and how Bantu education was supposed to make the blacks ‘better slaves’ on the farm. I liked this part because it was clear that the black children knew what kind of pressure was really being put on them (such as Joseph), and this gave me a better understanding and hope for them to be able to change the education system (related to outcome 3). My least favorite part of the story was when Ezekiel, the elder in Tengo’s family, passed away. He was a nice, gentle man that was always friendly and encouraged Tengo. This made me sad because it must have felt terrible for Tengo to lose one of the few good people in his life. The author, Sheila Gordon, made me feel this way because she created such a desperate picture of Tengo’s life, but showed him to be caring and a good person. I did not want Tengo to lose someone so close to him because there were so few good things in his life to lose.
From the beginning of the book, the mood of the story has changed from pleasant to lonely. It was pleasant at the beginning when Tengo was still friends with Frikkie; when they raced each other and played sports together. Later on in the story, when Tengo wants an education, he leaves Frikkie at the farm and now they both hardly remember each other anymore.

Tengo had been in the city for three years. He seems to be learning a great deal, but there are some other problems which kept on bothering him. The school children started to boycott schools. Many children caught killed for starting this boycott or sent to jail. Many of Tengo’s friends and cousins were sent to jail. His friends and cousins ask to join them but he just wants to study. He is hurting now and I would want to know how he would survive this boycott. Also, what would his future be?

When I read the book, I felt sorry for black people, like Tengo. In chapter 6, in the middle of the party, one of Sissie’s friend told Ezekiel to clean up the floor, but that made Tengo mad, because Ezekiel is the elder in his relates (Page 62-63). This kind of situation never happened to me, but I understood his feeling, because if I was Tengo, I think I did the same way as him.

bLOG cOMMENT – mIDDLE sECTION
After reading up to chapter 15, I felt sympathetic for Tengo, because so many terrible things happened in his youth when he was in Johannesburg. For example, we all know that Tengo loved learning and going to school. But since the rally of the black children (p.127), all the schools had been closed and Tengo’s cousins were forcing him to boycott classes (p.127, 140). On top of all this commotion, Tengo’s other cousin, Miriam, a fifteen year old, was pregnant (p155). So now the whole family was worried about their kids. A little while later, Joseph visited Tengo and told him about the ANC (P.162).
Joseph said (p.162), “So now we have young people crossing over the border into Zambia and going to join the ANC in Lusaka in order to train as freedom fighters.”
Tengo was delighted to be in the ANC, but Joseph mentioned that the supporters might get hurt or confused. Now Tengo is really puzzled, because there are two choices; he can stay here and watch the rally, or he could go to Zambia and fight for blacks’ rights. Either way, he had to risk his life. If I was in Tengo’s situation, I would be very miserable. Therefore, these are the reasons that I feel sorry for Tengo.

Years have passed by quickly. Tengo was one of the top students in his class. Frikkie now became a full grown man serving his time in the army. But the conflict between the blacks and the whites had only progressed to become worse due to the violence. The school closed down for a couple of weeks because of protesting. Tengo felt bored and tired without the motivation he once had. He soon became scared of doing his school work because his comrades may have thought he was spy for the police. The township soon filled up with police activities and black activists are getting caught. Reverend Gilbert tried to keep Tengo motivated for school. He gave Tengo books to read and tell him to meet him soon. I think this is the turning point where apartheid will finally be shattered. So black and whites will soon live in harmony. This is the turning point in the story because Tengo is forced to make his choice. Take his education further and become a middle class person like whites or low class like black African in the middle of a revolution.

I think that the author is trying to inform us readers about the status of native South African people. In townships the African people had to live in tin house only separate from each other by the thin sheets of corrugated metal. I know this because on page 86 when Tandi spoke about the tsotsis and the horrible living condition in which native people lived. My point is that he author is trying to tell all of us that African people in South Africa, because of the apartheid are not treated equally and the education in comparison to the whites is held at a much lower standard.

Throughout the beginning to the middle of the book, many emotions surfaced within me when I read about the events that occurred in the book. Moods swiftly shifting from pity, sympathy, wonder to anger which resolved back to pity and hope; small embers fanned into a flame then washed away by the rain. The events showed the views from blacks, how they were treated, and how unjust it was for them. Even though I know about apartheid and how there weren’t justice for the blacks, the treatment the blacks received from the whites still appalled me. From pages 92-97 are about the first few days of Tengo’s life away from the farm. The Miller’s family were kind to black people, treated them better, had a conscious to feel for them. Dr. Miller paid for Tengo’s education and supplies. Claire gave Tengo her old art history books. They had polished cages for the black people, but they were cages nonetheless. The black people didn’t want their charity; they wanted their own chance at life to support themselves. On page 112 and 113 Tengo grew up. When he learned about Soweto from Joseph. He understood no matter how hard he tried, how hard he studied and learned he wouldn’t be able to escape from his terrible future. The path his ancestors have followed, the path the whites have set up for them, is becoming a struggle for freedom. I felt angered by this. I felt how it was unfair how the blacks had to fight for what was rightfully theirs, what was taken away from them. Grief overcame me when I realized Tengo’s dreams were mashed because of these events and of how many lives were wasted, killed, all for the comfort of the whites. I just wish that someday the whites would realize what wrong they were causing. I hope tomorrow will be a better day for Tengo.

While reading this book I feel very sad for Tengo because how he is treated poorly. I feel this way because of how Frikkie’s cousins treated Tengo and the way Tengo was being forced into school by two police. The whites in this story were very racist toward the black, there is proof to support my thoughts about this. Tant Sannie was irritated when Frikkie told her about Tengo leaving the farm to be educated, she said education wasn’t important for a kaffir and then she compared a ten-rand note to Tengo this part shocked me. Tant Sannie compared a human being to money. My favorite part was when the black students were protesting and how Tengo wasn’t permitted to be out of school area and was thrown back into school by the two police and a solider that used a rifle to push Tengo back into the school area. After that paragraph the author wrote about how the police came out of a truck armed with batons, smash kid’s heads and backs. This is my favorite part because it clearly expresses how blacks were treated and handled with violence. I don’t know how the author make me feel this way. My moods toward the story haven’t changed yet I think it will change in the next few chapters of the story.

WFR middle.
At this point Tengo is living in town. Where life is harder to deal with. Everyday in Johannesburg different black people go through tough situations. i feel sorry about the fact that a black man has to have a pass. These pases they carry along with them everywhere determine their whole lives. if they don’t carry them, then the white police men arrest them. Since black people don’t make as much money as the white people. they can be locked in jail for years.Tengo is undergoing lots of pressure. Just recently students decided to hold a boycott inside the school yard.” we are commemoration the death of Betty Mikwena” Elijah’s sister told Tengo on pg.140. Even though Alice was telling Tengo not to go to school. Deep down he had strong urge of wanting to do what he wanted.If he did then go to school. all the students would call him a traitor. i really felt sorry for Tengo when the police men said to him “Are you on your way to school kaffir?” and both of them took his arms and frog marched him across the street.pg141. He felt a strong rush of rage shale him. Things start to get harder now with his matric just around the corner.All these things are interfering with his school mind. Students boycotting classes and police men treating him badly. i feel really sorry for what he has to go through.

I think the most important part of the story is when Tengo left the farm to study in Johannesburg. Since the day Tengo arrived at Johannesburg, he views the world differently. He saw what was happening in the world, outside his farm that is located in the side of the big world. Tengo learned that the white aren’t giving the same education to the black. Most of the black teachers hadn’t completed high school themselves, also in the white school; there were about twenty people in the class while at the black school there were over forty people (page 127). Since Tengo left his home, he met Joseph for many times. Joseph also told him that the white wasn’t educating the black after the Soweto, instead they they’re giving them inferior education (page 113). After Tengo had the conversation with Joseph, it opens the door inside him that had been shut and locked for a long time.

In chapters 6 through 14, Tengo goes to school like he has always wanted. But living in the city has tought him more about the apartheid and how unfairly the blacks are treated. The day he and Joseph are in the park, Joseph tells Tengo about the Bantu Education Act and the protest because of it. Right after telling tengo about the protest, Joseph says “That is why I haven’t wanted to talk to you of these things. You are still young. You have a lot to learn yet, especially because you’ve started school so late. Keep on with your studies, Tengo; I hear you are very smart. But I think that in time what is happening all around you will teach you-in its own way. And when the time comes, you will have to decide what is best for you.” (pg. 114). Joseph tells tengo about these events because he knows Tengo wont take these and become discouraged about school.

WFR (the middle part):

The story began to change direction on page 62. It started at Oom Koos’ birthday party. Oom Koos’ family and cousins came to congratulate him. Later, the two young Boers (Sissie and the other one) bumped into Frikkie and the foods fall and made a big mess. The white girl said, “Oh, it doesn’t matter…The boy can clean it up.” (Page 62) She meant the old black man who was one of the elders in the tribe. The girl was very rude to the old black man because she had a perception that it’s okay to treat black people like that since all of her family does and all other white people do like that. Tengo saw how she was acting toward the old black man and he got really mad at her. That white girl didn’t really understood why Tengo got mad at her and she might think, “How dare a black boy go against me?” Frikkie was worrying about Tengo because he knew that Sissie would go up to her parents and tell what happened. On page 66, Frikkie said, “Sissie, don’t say anything to Ma. Or Tant Sannie…” Also, he told her that she could have anything she wants him. By reading that part, I could see how much Frikkie cares about Tengo and didn’t want him to get in trouble. On page 83, Tengo left to Johannesburg to attend the school but I really didn’t like that part because Tengo didn’t even tell Frikkie that he’s leaving. Few months later, then Frikkie realized that Tengo had left the farm. On page 103, Frikkie thought, “I wanted everything unchanged, continuing the way it always had been. And now Tengo had gone, without even telling me…I was so used to Tengo…” I could see how much Frikkie felt so empty without Tengo. I also knew that Frikkie and Tengo’s friendship won’t’ remain the same like before. I could see how Tengo was very strict toward Frikkie and I wondered why. Then, I found the answer. On page 113, Joseph told Tengo about how Boers act toward the Afrikaners. Soweto happened and many black children died from it. The Boers forced the Afrikaners to not to learn English but only the Boer language. Tengo knew the truth between the Boers and Afrikaners. That was why he had given up to be friends with Frikkie. I thought Frikkie really tried t understand Tengo in a friendship way but he could never understand him like the Boers can’t understand the Afrikaners. They were so different. Frikkie didn’t know how Tengo’s feeling got hurt when the white people talk about the Afrikaners when they don’t even really know anything about them. On page 121, Frikkie talked with Oom Koos and Oom Koos told Frikkie that the black people were getting out of the control. He also said that if the black people try to rule over the Boers, he’s going to fight with the black people with all of his blood. Frikkie didn’t disagree about what his uncle was saying which showed me that he’s still a white boy and he can’t change his attitude and perceptions toward the Afrikaners.

In part one of ‘Waiting for the Rain’ when Tengo moves to Johannesburg to study, he experiences a number of things that are new to him. In the city, with many tall buildings, black and white people travel seperately (p. 89) and the white family, The Millers, where his aunt works seem to disagree with apartheid.(p. 94) Tengo learns about painting and sculptures from artbooks which make him think about his own figures he made out of clay.(p. 96) He learns to study in the noisy township and he does well at school. He also learns from Joseph about the shooting at the protesting schoolchildren in Soweto. (p 112-p113)
Tengo feels like many more questions had been answered by studiying in Johannesburg.

In the book, Waiting for the Rain, there are two main characters, Frikkie and Tengo. They are both very alike, yet couldn’t be more different. Frikkie and Tengo both like to play soccer, cricket, and work on the farm. Although they like playing the same games, they are separated by a huge difference; Frikke dislikes school, but has the privilege to, and Tengo cannot receive a good education because of his ‘status’. Both of the main characters are separated by ‘race’ in a country divided by apartheid.
If I had met the characters in real life today, I think I would be friends with Tengo, just because I think I would have a connection with him. We both are creative and eager to learn, such as on page 10 when Frikkie looks down a catches sight of the cow Tengo made, and on page 24, where Tengo answers to Joseph that he is lucky to attend a school.
As I read the book, I noticed how Tengo was changing. He started off as a quiet farm-worker, and eventually turns into a bold man who stands up for Ezekiel (page 63), and eventually becomes independent and leaves for Johannesburg by himself (page 84).

After Tengo went to study in school for three years, and success in being the top ten in class. The events when he was in school were that the students were boycott the school, but Tengo was forced to boycott.(P.127,140) His cousin,Miriam, a fifteen year old, was pregnant (P. 155) so her parent is worried about the kids. Tengo was bore and aware of the police that he’s a spy. From the beggining to the middle part of the story the atmosphere of the story has change more trouble and conflicts between characters. Blacks are teached to speak their common langauge so they can be a better slave for the whites.

“Waiting for the rain” Middle Part-

I think the mood in the story has changed over time. At the beginning part of the book, the mood was happy, lots of good communication, good friend ship and lots of fun activities.
But as Tengo learned something new, his atitudes changed and it made other people to become more serious. As he read the books, he learned about the past history between black people and white people.

“Hey boy-Jim, what’s your-name, come over here and wipe this mess up off the floor” (p.62)

Tengo couldn’t stand how this lady treated Old Ezekiel. Old Ezekiel is older than the oubass and from chief’s family, but this lady called him ” a boy” so Tengo was really angry because she didn’t show any respect to him and I think he though this lady look-down Old Ezekiel.

If I were Tengo, I will get angry too. I am not going to let other races people to look-down people from my races. And it is unfair to treat people differently only by the races.

And I agree with Daniel. He said “When I was reading the book, I felt sorry. I felt this way because of the descriptions of violence and poor living conditions in Johannesburg, and for the friendship that is being lost between Tengo and Frikkie. ”

On page 121, it says “The only language they understand is a strong arm.” I didn’t like the way Oom Koos said that sentence. To me, it seems like that he is saying that black people are animals and can’t even understand the language, they don’t listen to white people and only thing they understand is the pain on their body. I don’t know if anyone think I exaggerated my opinion, but that is what I think. And I got really upset when I read that sentence. Why can’t Oubaas say something about black people in nicer way? Why does he always put white people in higher lank? If Oubass were black people, all the thing he said about black people in the middle part of the book are going to hurt his feeling a lot.

I felt what white people did to black people was cruel and beyond imagination. For example, in jail, the police whipped with the sjambok, electrocuted and shot some black people. (P.157)

My least favorite part is when Sissie tells Ezekiel, the oldest man in the kraal, to clean up a mess on the floor unrespectfully (P.62) because even though she is young, she looks down on him because of his skin color, and this is when Tengo notices apartheid.

The author made me feel so sad by describing how white people treated black people. For example, the government tried to force black students to use only the Boer language. It caused a mass protest called Soweto. The police killed people who were protesting and the confusion spread to the whole country. (P.113) This is really sorrowful because people in authority treated black people as if they were worthless.

I always wonder…

Are Frikkie and Tengo truly friends?
Can you be friends with such a power difference, especially when one exploits that difference as does Frikkie?

Author
I would guess the reason why the author wrote this book is because she wanted to show how tough it was for a native African. Shelia Gordon wanted to show how it would be unjust life is for a normal native kid, for example on page 141 when Tengo gets pushed by the police officer, he gets furious he didn’t do anything wrong, and for that he gets pushed!

Middle section
How do the characters change in the story?
In this part of the book, we can see the obvious change in Tengo. He started seeing things and behaving differently. The turning point was probably during the Oom Koos’ birthday party (page 62-63) when the rude girl called one of the elders of Tengo’s tribe boy. Tengo got very angry at her and was upset with how things work. Thus, started to get moody all the time and not enjoying his work around the farm anymore. Tengo wanted change. He also felt differently towards Frikkie and tried to avoid him. In page 71, Tengo admitted that “Usually, he missed Frikkie when he went back to school, but now, even if Frikkie were still here, Tengo knew he would avoid him. He hadn’t wanted to see him after the night of the party and had gone away on purpose.” Noticing that their friendship is beginning to fall apart, Frikkie worried. Opposed to Tengo, he did not want things to change, he wanted everything to stay the way they did.

In chapter 8 the author mentioned that, on Sunday morning he had breakfast early with his auntie. She prepared food for the family’s lunch and supper, and after she had served them their breakfast, she changed out of her overall and apron into her Sunday clothes, and the two of them set out for the township, this was the last paragraph of chapter 8. If I were the author of the book I would let Tengo stay at Johannesburg for a few days and not go back to the township because if Tengo stays at Johannesburg then he will have more time with his aunt and his friends and he can also no more about the black peoples living, but if he left for the township then he won’t have more time to know more about the black peoples living and also won’t have more time to stay with his aunt and his friends. I want him to stay at Johannesburg because he can learn more about the living there and also know more about the blacks and the whites. I want him to understand that blacks and whites are the same; the only thing that is different is their skin color. So everyone should be treated the same.

I think that since Tengo has started school and doesnt spent anytime at the farm like he used to, he is changing. I also think that the frienship between Tengo and Frikkie is also changing. They dont spend that much time together now and i think the more time they spend apart the less stronger there relationship is. Frikkie is becoming to realize how black and whites are different, and Tengo is realizing why the black and white cannot be equal and Tengo is also finding out more about soweto. Soweto is changing Tengos mind about alot of things.

I think that the author is trying to inform us readers about the status of native South African people. In townships the African people had to live in tin house only separate from each other by the thin sheets of corrugated metal. I know this because on page 86 when Tandi spoke about the tsotsis and the horrible living condition in which native people lived. My point is that he author is trying to tell all of us that African people in South Africa, because of the apartheid are not treated equally and the education in comparison to the whites is held at a much lower standard

The mood of the story has swayed considerably since the start of the book. In the beginning chapters, the story was rather uninteresting and the lack of inherant conflict I’m sure was boring to most . However, as the plot progressed, this started to change. Slowly, minor conflict was added, starting from Tengo getting upset when Frikkie asked him to get his pocket knife. While this was a small deal, it set the stage for bigger events, which eventually escalated to Tengo fighting soldiers in the township.

(reposted from WFR blog)

Ms. McKeown, I will try to answer your question to the best of my ability.

Are Frikkie and Tengo truly friends?
Can you be friends with such a power difference, especially when one exploits that difference as does Frikkie?

As Mr. Romary has explained to us before, the Boers just believe that their servant is their best friend, but in reality, their servants are forced to work for them.

Frikkie probably believes that Tengo is still his friend, even though they are miles apart. Tengo himself probably believed this when he was living on the farm. But drastic changes occurred in Tengo, most of them in his mind. The way he thinks and what he believes in is different from before. His eyes have opened up to see the situation he’s in and how his people are being treated. On page 136, Tengo realized that he had never been able to accept how the oubaas treated his family and that ’someone like him must just accept what was thrown to him because he was black’.

Now that Frikkie is a soldier and is trained to think that blacks have become a nuisance and must be under control (on pg 121, Frikkie says, “They’ll still make plenty of trouble for us.” His uncle also agrees and says, “You can’t reason with the black mind. Force is the only way we’re going to keep them under control”), there is no way that they can be friends, thinking the way they do. Frikkie has been taught to think that the blacks need to never be on the same level as him and Tengo has learned that the blacks cannot accept the way they are treated any longer.

In this situation, they cannot possibly be friends, as their beliefs, attitudes, and thinking is different.

When Tengo decides to stop help farming and goes to study in Johannesburg Tengo meets Joseph his cousin. Joseph is the recruiter of the ANC and he asks Tengo to join the ANC. This section in the book is important because it puts Tengo in a ‘trial’ because he has to decide to either go for the military training or study abroad.

I agree with Charles that the mood of the book had changed from the beginning of the book. At first I felt really sorry for Tengo because people don’t understand him and they don’t understand how they have been hurting them. For example in chapter 6 page 63. Tengo said “Don’t you call that old man boy” I understood exactly how he feels and I have experience it before.
One of the kid in my old school used to say bad things about my parents so I said what Tengo so that he is not suppose to say that to adults and especially my parents. He had no respect for anyone just like the girl who called Ezekiel boy.
Afterwards i felt really happy for Tengo because he gets a chance to go to school. But later on I felt sorry for him again because of the aparthied.

Sheila Gordon may have written the book Waiting For The Rain, for several reasons. According to her biography, she lived in South Africa during the time of apartheid and writing the book may have been a way to tell others about her experience.

Also, it seemed that Sheila Gordon wrote the book to educate and inform young people about apartheid and the events that went on leading up to it. Apartheid was not commonly known by people around the world. By weaving facts such as requiring passbooks for all black men to carry after the age of 16 (as noted on page 25), we learn history through the story. You get a sense of what black people endured during this time. On page 63, Ms. Gordon writes about the white girl of only twelve disrespecting the older black man, Ezekiel saying “Hey, boy—Jim—what’s-your-name, come over here and wipe this mess up off the floor.” Tengo becomes very angry. This tells me she wants to let people know that the way blacks were treated was wrong. This kind of talk seems very similar to what blacks experienced in the south prior to the US Civil War.

WFR (middle)
While reading chapters twelve to fourteen, I found that Tengo was conflicted between two very important decisions in his life. He was conflicted about wanting to join the boycott, but at the same time thriving to excel in his studies. Tengo becomes very displeased when the boycotts are held affecting the school. Due to this action Tengo is faced with a very strong internal conflict. As said on page 147, “So I know- even though I don’t want to, I know I’m going to have to join the struggle. But all along I have been hoping …… that I could just …… first finish my matric, you see….”

This quote shows that Tengo’s mind is set on trying to get a proper education, because that is his devotion. From the section in the quote, “even though I don’t want to,” you can tell that Tengo doesn’t want to join the struggle, he sounds very unwilling and leaning towards getting his matric. The problem is if he focuses on his studies he will look suspicious to the rebellious students. On page 153, when Tengo talks about his chance at the matric exam. “They were not even sure that they would be allowed by the comrades to sit the matriculation examination at the end of the year.”

I feel that it is wrong that Tengo should have to choose to rebel against the source which promises him a good education. If Tengo does in fact choose to go to school, he risks loosing the trust of his comrades and the fight for black equality. I think that Tengo will get a lot more out of attending school than joining his comrades, because it will be helpful in the future when he is looking for a job, or even using his education towards the banishing of Apartheid. I know that Tengo will make the right decision which ever path he takes, there will be good and bad with both choices.

I think the author; Sheila Gordon wrote this book, “Waiting for the Rain” because i think she was afrikan who grew along teh times around the apartheid. Since the apartheid was occuring, there were many things changing and that was all on South African society such as the Bantu Education Ac, Pass Laws, Sanctions, boycotts, etc. Sheila Gordon decided to transfer all her vision of her present she was living in into this wonderful historifcal ficiton story of “Waiting for the Rain” There are eventss in this story that connect smoothly to the things of the apartheid. The author also wants to address apartheid using characters. The characters in the book would be Tengo and all his other African relatives.

Tengo and his other african relatives like Joseph has gone through alot of things. Sheila Gordon wants to educate and to have people consider apartheid and the threshold of it. For example, there is an inequality between the blacks and the whites on education due to apartheid. So they call this thing the Bantu Education Act. The thing that the blacks learn is that they are no better than the whites. Joseph considers this inferior education and it makes the black better slaves. Because of this, the blacks boycott classes and every black who goes to school is gathering up for this boycott. Tengo decides to join too.

I re-wrote my end of WFR.
Waiting for the Rain was written by Sheila Gordon, an Afrikaner from South Africa. To me the author could have written this book with a great deal of reasons. At different parts of this book it seems like the point of view of the author changes. Since I am focusing at the last part of this book I would say that the author was someone like a member of Dr Miller’s family. I think this because the author does not seem like a person who was happy with what was happening in the past. On page 37 Tengo saw a box with books inside it. The books were for Tengo from his aunt’s madam (Dr.Miller’s wife). I said this because if Dr Miller’s wife was happy with the apartheid that was happening, she would not send books to Tengo because then he would know about what was happening in Johannesburg. How Dr.Miller’s wife sent those books it shows that she cares about what is happening and she would love to let Tengo learn about the world and South Africa. This tells us that the author wanted to let people know that what was happening in South Africa was exactly the same as when Dr. Miller’s wife sent those books to Tengo. A few chapters at the beginning of the book Sheila Gordon starts calling Frikkie a white boy (page 51) then towards the end she becomes more descriptive to the things she says. If this is how the book was put I think that the author wanted to tell the reader that what was happening in South Africa was not decreasing or staying the same. What was happening in South Africa was increasing but today it is not the same as before. All the racism and fighting has decreased by a lot but some people in South Africa still have the apartheid life in their minds.

WFR (End)

What is the author trying to tell us/why’d she write the book?

A problem or issue all depends on how one’s perspective on the matter. In the middle of a desert it’s only a problem when one sees the water bottle half empty. On page 63-64 when Tengo shouted, “Don’t you call that man boy…You have no respect!” Selina came to intervene by saying, “Quiet children. You mustn’t quarrel. Don’t make a fuss. It’s nothing.” The older generation sees no wrong with this injustice while the later generation is already seeking for change. As an author, she sends this message out through her books. She writes of the experiences and events that have happened or was currently happening, to the world to try and spread the awareness and make a difference. Mostly these changes fall into the hands of our generation. “Here I’ve been accusing him and his relatives of accepting things the way they are, he thought, yet my own parents were unquestioning too. They accepted the hardship, the poverty, the unfairness. They didn’t think there were other possibilities. When it troubled me, they told me not to ask such questions, to leave things as they were and just to try to do the best we could inside the limit…” – pg. 197. “It had all gone wrong. The grownups – whites and blacks, they had let it all go wrong. And now – the children – it is up to us-and it is very hard.” – page 212. The author is clearly sending out the message that our ancestors weren’t perfect, they made mistakes; they let apartheid happen. Now it’s our turn to make a difference, to make the change.

How do the characters change in the story?

His whole life Tengo has lived and worked on a farm for a white family. He grows up without an education but with an inquisitive personality that is yearning to learn. Tengo is treated as inferior to his white friend Frikkie; although he is accustomed to being treated inferior to white people, he is yet to understand why this is so.
Tengo describes his passion for education on pages 17-20 but as time passes; his hunger for knowledge only grows stronger and stronger. If Tengo was granted one wish, it would be for his endless questions to finally be answered. But while Tengo is striving to learn the best way he can, Frikkie is taking advantage of his great education which he has for free. Frikkie imagines the perfect life living on a farm, while Tengo envisions living in the city and having a proper education as the perfect life. The boy’s ideas of perfection are the lifestyle that the other lives. Although the Tengo and Frikkie have contrasting ideas of perfection, the two set their differences behind and have created strong friendship over time.
Frikkie lives in Johannesburg but visits the farm every school holiday to see his uncle and auntie, and of course to see Tengo. The two boys would always enjoy kicking a soccer ball around or drinking raw milk just as they had always loved since they were young children. But over time, the tight bond between the two boys began to break until they were not friends anymore.
The division between Frikkie and Tengo was obviously rooted in apartheid and the racist communities in which they were being brought up. At first, Tengo was merely a naïve farmer boy who had almost no knowledge of the world outside of the kraal. But as Tengo grew, he became more observant of his surroundings. The core event that led Tengo to realize the injustice between races was at Oom Koos’ birthday party when Frikkie’s cousin dropped a plate and told the respected old Ezekiel to pick it up. The worst part was that she called the only man ‘boy’ which infuriated Tengo because of the way she had severely disrespected an elder and did not take any notice of it (page 62). All Tengo could do though was wonder about why life was so unfair for black people and it wasn’t until after Tengo started school that he understood exactly why. Because of the continuous incidences that Tengo was witnessing at the kraal, he started to view Frikkie differently and act differently towards him. Over time, Tengo didn’t even want to talk or play with Frikkie as much and when Tengo left for school in the city on page 84, Frikkie didn’t even know he had left.
The longer Tengo stays in the city, he more he grows until he becomes a very educated young man and has learned right from wrong. He has gained strength in courage and confidence, which is why he followed his dream to get a proper education. Tengo has learned about racism and apartheid taking place in his time and I believe that Tengo may have the power to make a big change in the political system. Although he has still yet to grow completely to his full potential, I know that one day he will. As for Frikkie, his auntie and uncle have an enormous influence on him, especially since Frikkie is going to inherit the farm from his uncle one day. He listens to what they believe in because they are his role models; he thinks that they know what is right and what is wrong. His auntie and uncle have a deep prejudice against the black race and they lead Frikkie to believe that all black people are lazy, thieves, dangerous, and worse. The example on page 121, when Oom Koos and Tant Sannie are talking to Frikkie about the black school students protesting and how it is getting out of hand. Tant Sannie says, “Don’t fret, Koos. With fine young men like Frikkie to defend us, the kaffirs will stay in their place,” on page 121 which shows that Frikkie’s aunt and uncle are putting an influence on him to fight the blacks and are pressuring him to change his beliefs to match theirs. I am being led to believe that it is only a matter of time until Frikkie will follow in his auntie and uncle’s footsteps and discriminate against black people, even if it means betraying his childhood friend Tengo.

Tengo is now in Johannesburg studying and living in the township. Frikkie was very unhappy when he found out Tengo had left the farm. “What good is education to a Kaffir?” Tant Sannie said. “Here your uncle is spending time training him to be a skilled farm worker.” (pg. 102)
Tengo asked Joseph that he was so close to getting his matriculate and go to college. Joseph didn’t want to tell him, he doesn’t want Tengo to put off his studies. Tengo won’t give up asking. “What happened? Soweto happened.” Tengo didn’t know what he meant by Soweto. “The first time all the schoolchildren went on the strike. The first time they brought police into the township. To fire on children and kill them just for protesting.” Joseph said. Tengo wanted to know what the protest was about. He found out that the government wanted Afrikaans official language in black schools. They forced black schools to give up their English textbooks and do all their learning in Boers language, because its better for the white if the black remain they’re own language which the world doesn’t know. The white think they can control the black by cutting of English so that they won’t be able to contact with the outside world. The whites were wrong. Twenty thousands kids joined the march. Police tried to stopped them; they began opened fire and shot down a 13 years old boy. The police kept on shooting until hundreds of people lay dead and thousands were injured. The children didn’t give in and they WON. After Soweto, young people began to feel their own power. Tengo wondered why Joseph didn’t finished school. Joseph says “after Soweto, I began to grow up and I began to understand that instead of educating us, they are throwing us a bone. In black schools and universities they’re giving us inferior education. Bantu education is designed to make us slaves.” As Joseph was talking and explaining to him, Tengo felt a hold of trouble take over him. It makes him think whether the education he’s getting is inferior or not. “No matter what Joseph said about it, to him it was more value than anything else.” Tengo was worried about it, Joseph didn’t wanted to tell him about it, He wanted Tengo to keep on going with his education. “I think that in time what is happening all around you will teach you—in it own way, and when the time comes, you will decide what is best for you.”(pg. 114) “Better not to ask question cousin, less you know, the less you’re in trouble.”

After reading the last chapter I’m certain that Tengo will join the A.N.C. He would rather choose to go overseas than to become a freedom fighter. He doesn’t believe in violence plus he is not fit for it. Violence was not for him. He could see its necessity for the struggle that was taking place, that was making normal life impossible. (p.212) There are already a lot of freedom fighters and he knows that his country will benefit more if he continues his education. There are not that many Tengos, Reverend Gilbert once mentioned. But the sad thing is that millions of lives are sacrificed before they reach can their goal. The blacks were treated with injustice for many years.

WFR-END

What happened in the story? What was sequence of the events?

-It was during the war. On page 185, Tengo thought he had killed a white soldier; however, he was still alive with bad injury. When the white soldier said his name “Frikkie”, Tengo noticed that the soldier who he had almost killed was his best ex-friend, Frikkie. Frikkie could not believe that they were together again.

-Tengo talked to Frikkie about the discrimination as if he were mad at him. For example, Tengo said “everything was there for you because you’re white and nothing for me because I’m black.” When Tengo told Frikkie about how white people treated black people, Frikkie said he did not mean anything, he would rather be on the farm and it was the law that he joined the army. (P.192-193)

-Tengo spoke like he was blaming Frikkie when Frikkie said “Blame these agitators who come into the townships to stir up trouble”, and Tengo said “Agitators don’t make trouble; - It’s another one of those lies the whites use-to blame agitators for the trouble in the township.” (P. 193)

-Tengo talked to Frikkie about when Sissie could read better than him even though she was younger than him, and when Tengo got some tea, bread and leftovers for lunch and Frikkie’s aunt could eat a nice lunch cooked by Tengo’s mother. He blamed Frikkie for not knowing and not wanting to know. (P. 194)

- Frikkie said Tengo could not blame him just for being born white; however, Tengo was still indignant with him for not noticing anything was wrong. (P. 196)

From these events, we can know that Tengo was no longer like when Frikkie and Tengo were best friends and played together on the farm and these were all because of apartheid, and segregation between blacks and whites.

-Tengo and Frikkie started to argue about which one the farm belonged to. Tengo said Frikkie’s ancestors killed his ancestors and Frikkie said the farm is theirs because his family owned it and worked on it for generations. (P199) Finally, Tengo said black people were going to take over South Africa. (P.200)

- When Frikkie was going to leave from Tengo, Tengo had him make a promise not to send anyone back after him and not to tell anything. (P. 206) Frikkie did not break the promise. When a white soldier asked him to tell about a black who took the Frikkie’s gun, Frikkie said “I couldn’t see. It was in the dark. I was knocked out. When I came around, I was lying there, and my gun was gone.”(P.209)

So even during apartheid, a remnant of their friendship still remained.

In chapters 6-14, Tengo realized what was going on in the world beyond the farm. Some of the questions he asked at the beginning of the book when he was very young have been answered. When Joseph and Tengo were sitting in the park talking about why Joseph dropped out of school and didn’t take his matriculation like he was supposed to, everything that Joseph said to Tengo, Tengo took in. When he said that he dropped out of school becuase of Soweto (p.112), thats when Tengo’s believes about school started to change. He started to think if he should drop out of school to become a freedom fighter. He started to think whatr others would think of him if he stayed in school.

The end.

As the racial tension in South Africa continues to escalate, it becomes increasingly harder for the whites to retain their power and civil peace.

The chapters signify a dramic change in Tengo, who is growing increasingly dissatisfied with his current surroundings. This is evidenced very well in his conversation with Emma, who seems to no longer appreciate and enjoy Tengo’s company. In short, Tengo is outgrowing his surroundings and is ready to move on to bigger things.

Another theme here is the further development of Tengo. This is very much evidenced by what Tengo says on page 177 in reference to Joseph.

“He saw him now as a leader rather than the beloved cousin he had taught to swim all those years ago in the river on the farm of the oubaas.”

An absolutely crucial point in the story is when Tengo breaks and starts attacking the soldiers, the anger that had been lying dormant in him for all his life finally lashing out in one chaotic crescendo. To many, including me, this marks the beginning of the end. While previously he had fought to retain control of himself, he now just lets himself go and retaliates freely. Before this, the question always was “When will Tengo break?”, but now that this is answered, the question becomes “When, if ever, will Tengo become in control of himself again?”

This question is answered when Frikkie comes strolling into a house which Tengo happened to be occupying. Armed with a steel pipe, Tengo takes a liberal swing at Frikkie’s head and sends his former friend sprawling across the ground. Seizing his rifle, Tengo holds Frikkie at gun point and has a long converation with him. He finally comes to his senses and let’s his old friend go with nothing but a bit of a headache and some blood loss.

I haven’t heard much discussion about symbolism, but in my mind, the red clay bull that is mentioned several times in the book is not only symbolic of their relationship, but of the power struggle between the two. Because he had to ask for the bull from Tengo, Frikkie is not ready to handle the power bestown upon him. On a larger scale, this represents the whites. On the whole blissfully aware that the blacks would fight back, they were not ready to deal with the uprising resistance fighters in an orderly fashion. As we all know, the rule of apartheid eventually fell. I believe if the whites took the blacks a little more seriously and treated them with a little more respect, they would still be in control even today.

In the chapter fifthteen Tengo decides that he wants to be a freedom fighter instead of going to college overseas. As much as he wants to go to college he is scared of being alone and not knowing how to speak the language like the boy he heard Joseph and Elijah talking about. The had said that ‘He had difficutly learning to speak the language.’ The also said that ‘The worst thing was the cold and short days. He thought he would go mad if he didn’t see the sun.’ (p.172) Tengo didn’t want that to happen to him. he said ‘When he got there he would chose to undergo the military training that the American National Congress offer…’ (p. 175)

My favorite part of this book is when Tengo gets angry at the little girl for calling old Ezekiel “boy”. “The boy can clean it up.” She turned told Ezekiel. “Hey, boy-Jim-what’s your name, come over here and wipe this mess up off the floor”. Page 62, While I read this passage, I felt angry like Tengo did because I have a lot of respect for people I care about . If someone called my grand parents, (who are elderly like Ezekiel) something disrespectful, I would feel protective towards them and defend them. What I like the best is how Tengo responded to the girl’s behavior. “Don’t you call the old man a boy… Can’t you see! He is one of the elders of our tribe-he is older than the oubaas…. Don’t you ever call an old man boy again”. page 63, I could imagine being Tengo because I, too, would certainly do something about the problem. I chose this as my favorite part of the book because I can relate to Tengo’s strong feelings of love, caring the most because of what I said before.

Throughout the book, I felt as if I am rooting for Tengo and want to see him succeed. In fact, I even feel bad for Tengo when events in the book do not go his way. For example, when students started to boycott classes, they also began using violence. On page 142, Tengo’s friend, Elijah’s sister, Alice, said to Tengo, “Good work Tengo! We started throwing stones to help you. Come and join us now comrade. Marcus has been hurt. You can take over his placard.” At this point, with Tengo in a tough situation, I felt myself saying, “You can do it Tengo. Do whatever you’re comfortable with.” I think I felt this way because the author has described Tengo as such a likeable, innocent character who is a good person. Also, Tengo has a dream of being able to one day go to school and finish his education and to be treated as equally as anyone else. Throughout the book, he starts to become more and more angry at the events going on within his life and around him. Later on page 142, after being pushed down by the police, the story quotes, “He felt something he desperately wanted slipping away from him, felt powerless to hold onto. His rage turned into loss, to grief, and great dry sobs shook his chest.” Since the author does such a good job of making the reader feel for Tengo and the way he’s feeling; it makes me want his dream to turn into a reality so that someday, he can be truly happy.

Sheila Gordon had possibly written ‘Waiting for the Rain’ for the following reasons. Acknowledged in her biography, she had lived in South Africa during the events of Apartheid. As a white South African woman, she might of have been interested and confused about her environment and what is happening inside it. Possibly these events has influenced Sheila Gordon to research and write a story on what is happening in her home country. This can be proven because she intertwines facts that happened in real life, in the story. As seen on page 25, she stated that all blacks are required to carry passbooks with identification and information in them after the age of 16. Also on page 112-113 Ms. Gordon has one of the characters in the story tell about the actual happenings on Soweto. She explains how it started and how it ended. This is told through a black teenager’s eyes. Both of these examples inform the reader history throughout the story.

Also, you get a sense of what black people experienced through the years of Apartheid. For example on page 63 the twelve-year-old girl illustrates a lack of respect towards Ezekiel, one of the elders in the kraal. She said: “Hey, boy—Jim—what’s-your-name, come over here and wipe this mess up off the floor.” Immediately Tengo was infuriated. (This is giving a feeling for black people; she is explaining how they feel about all of the things that are happening to them.) Tengo responds to this by saying on page 63, “Don’t you call the old man a boy… Can’t you see! He is one of the elders of our tribe; he is older than the oubaas…. Don’t you ever call an old man boy again!” When Sheila Gordon wrote this, she must have had in mind how the blacks felt about the ‘whites’ looking down on them because of Apartheid. In all, she has succeeded in informing the reader how the two racial groups felt about each other through a story which has numerous amounts of evidence about what has happened over the years.

At the end of the book, my prediction was wrong about the ending. I predicted that Tengo would go overseas or either join the A.N.C. with Joseph, but instead it ended like this, “He opened the door of the shed and stepped into the night. Walking swiftly, he made his way back to his aunt’s house.” It doesn’t even say what is going to happened with Frikkie, Tengo, or Joseph. The story just ended stuffing mystery on my head that wants to know what is going to happened after Tengo had his conversation with Frikkie at the empty house. I think that the story could end up with Tengo in the A.N.C. and become the fighter. After a couple months of training, they’re going to do a huge demonstration with the A.N.C. fighters protecting the black people from the white. The white police will start shooting as usual, and in that moment, Tengo will face off with Frikkie one on one. They will have to shoot each other or try to team up and make the crowd of black and white people to calm down and sort things out in a non violence way.

The war had started. At the part where Tengo and Frikkie met again, I felt really sad. Because they were friends before, but they started arguing about their relationships.
After I read the last chapter, it is certain the Tengo would join the A.N.C., he would like to be a freedom fighter. He doesn’t like violence, so freedom fighter would fit more to him.

WFR End
The end of the story was the shortest section in the book. In this section, Tengo was chased by an Afrikaans soldier; he soon found out that the soldier was Frikkie, his old friend on the farm. He found out that it was Frikkie after he whacked him on the head with a broken crowbar. While Frikkie was resting against a sack in a shed they were in, Tengo finally released the burden that was in his heart for many years. Frikkie listened but kept saying that it wasn’t his fault. At first, Tengo kept Frikkie at gun point, but as they kept talking and explaining the unsaid, Tengo started to feel more relaxed. In the end, Tengo didn’t kill Frikkie and he let him return to his base with a cracked head. After fighting alongside the black people, Tengo realized that violence wasn’t meant for him. He decided that he was going to cross the border into Lusaka with Joseph, but he was not going to become a freedom fighter, he was going to learn and write his matriculation exam.

Waiting for the Rain (The Ending)

In the last two chapters, the story had a climax. Tengo listened to Joseph and he decided to work with Joseph and the others. He heard that Emma would move to Richmond and go to college. Next day, Tengo was with Joseph and other black people and later on, the war between the white and black finally has begun. Tengo was running away to live. When he finally got to the place where he could hide himself, he fought with one of the white soldiers. When Tengo and the white soldier were about to kill each other, Tengo then realized that that soldier was Frikkie. Tengo finally got really mad and shouted at Frikkie about how black people had to treat unfairly. Frikkie couldn’t really understood Tengo because Frikkie could never have thought like Tengo because no one treated Frikkie like Tengo or other black people. So, on page 207, Tengo let Frikkie to leave with his soldiers. On page 209, one of the Frikkie’s soldier asked him to stole his gun, and Frikkie lied to him and said he couldn’t see the face. Frikkie lied to the solider just like when he was young and told Sissie to not to tell to her mom. At last, Tengo decided to be non-violence and be himself. And so, he returns to his aunt’s house.

WFR - The Ending
What happened in the story, and what was the sequence of the events?

-It was before the war started, when Tengo decides that he wanted to join Joseph as a freedom fighter. ‘There was no escape from what the system had prepared for him. He could only join in now with the others.’ (P.175)

-The battle starts and then Tengo ran and hid in an abandoned car repair shop. He grabbed a crowbar and he smashed a soldier over the head with it. Tengo thought he had killed the soldier, but he was still alive, but had a very serious injury. The soldier turns out to be Frikkie, who was excited to be with Tengo again. (P.183-189)

-Tengo talked to Frikkie about the discrimination of the black people. Tengo said, “There we were – two boys, the same age – and everything was there for you because you’re white, and nothing for me because I’m black. How do you think that feels? How do you think that feels?” Tengo goes on, saying: “And when we measured ourselves next to that tree, you were bigger than me. And you told me – you told me that I should eat some more mieliepap.” Frikkie said that he did not mean it; he just wanted to be on the farm with Tengo. (P.191)

-Tengo blamed Frikkie that the problem in the townships is not caused by the black ‘agitators’, but it was caused by the whites making up lies. “What you call agitators are only people who show us that we already know: that our education system is planned to keep us inferior, that black kids are dying of hunger, and our parents are treated like dirt. Agitators don’t make trouble – our trouble is already there. They show us that we don’t have to put up with it that we can try to change it.” (P.193)

-Tengo explains to Frikkie how it is his fault for not knowing that the blacks always were given everything that was left over by the whites. Frikkie said that what was happening was not his fault, and it wasn’t his fault being born white either. (P. 194-196)

-Tengo and Frikkie argue about who the farm truly belonged to. Tengo believed that Frikkies’ ancestors killed his ancestors because they were black and they were not human. Frikkie said that his ancestors were very religious; he said they believed it was God’s Will to trek north and settle in the Promised Land. (P. 199)

-Near the end of the book, the sergeant asks Frikkie where his gun went and how he got hurt. Frikkie says, “I couldn’t see. I was in the dark. I was knocked out. When I came round, I was lying there, and my gun was gone.” This quote, to me, makes me believe that Frikkie and Tengo will always be friends, no matter what happens. (P. 209)

All of these events in the last two chapters tell me that at some point Tengo was no longer like himself when he was playing with Frikkie on the farm when they were younger. He had grown up since then, and he had realized what the conflict was really about. At the end of the story, I found that Frikkie and Tengo still had faith in each other, even after their arguments.

Are Frikkie and Tengo truly friends?
Can you be friends with such a power difference, especially when one exploits that difference as does Frikkie?

Once in class, Mr.Romary mentioned about how the Boers see their servants. They consider them as their best friends for the fact that the servants do what they were being told without any questions. This brings us back to the movie, The Color of Friendship. The white girl who lived in South Africa had a servant working for her family. She considered the black woman, her best friend since she would talk to her about her problems and things she had kept away from her parents secretly.

Frikkie and Tengo had been friends since they were young; childhood friends. In a way, they could be seen as friends because they like to spend time together working at the farm, playing sports and talking. Frikkie still sees Tengo as his friend even though they are living in two separate worlds. Tengo does not see things the same way as before since he is starting to realize more about how things are going around him. His attitudes and perceptions have started to change when he got to Johannesburg. He reflected back to what had happened during his days at the farm. On page136, Tengo realized about how the oubass had treated his family and that people like him should accept it since they were black. He had never been able to accept this as the way things should be but his family seemed to have.
On the other hand, while Tengo was studying in Johannesburg, Frikkie had been in the army, training. He believed that black people are trouble and they should be under control. On page 120, “…these blacks are really getting out of hand…they’ve given them ideas that make them believe they can become our equals. It’s getting more and more difficult to keep them in their place…” This shows that Oom Koos believes that the black people have to live under them with control and Frikkie agrees with him. On page 121, Frikkie mentioned about how the black people would still be plenty of trouble for them even if they were disciplined. If these are the beliefs and attitudes Frikkie lives on with, then the friendship between him and Tengo would be more distant; Frikkie perceiving that black people should never be at the same level as he and Tengo sensing that black people cannot be treated the way they have been. Having different perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and living in two different worlds, Tengo and Frikkie’s friendship may not last.

I think the author wrote this book because she wanted the public to be familiar with the history of South Africa. She wanted people to know what it felt like during the time of apartheid. I think the author was trying to tell us not to judge people by their colour, or what they look like on the outside. On page 194, Tengo talked about how life is extremely unfair to his kind.
“It would have been better if my father was paid a man’s wage for a hard day’s work. Then he could have bought those things for himself. What do you think it felt like when we out in the yard playing soccer, and your aunt would call you inside to eat a nice lunch, with meat and potatoes, cooked by my mother – and I’d get some tea and bread and maybe a few scraps, leftovers, out at the back.”
I think the author herself was a native South African and she was writing from the view of them. In order to write this book, the author has to know what was going on during apartheid, how it started, how it ended, etc. To “hook” the reader, the author put in plenty of action and dialogues, which kept you engaged. For example, on page 181: “Here where the ground was littered with broken bricks and masonry and lumps of rubble, with a sensation as if his rage were taking wing, he picked up and started to fling at the soldiers whatever he could lay his hands on.”
And also on page 185: “With a swift, sudden movement Tengo kicked the door shut and stepped forward wielding the bar and striking wildly in the dark. Startled, the soldier yelled, and with a nasty thud the bar made contact; there was a groan and the soldier fell to the floor.”
If the author was here I would like to ask her: 1) What inspired you to write the book?
2) Were there any incidents in your life which can relate to the book?

Many would ask why Sheila Gordon has written this book, there are many interpretations on how the book is looked at. However, my interpretation may seem very different from most. During chapter sixteen when Tengo and Frikkie meet up in the abandoned shed. The author seems to be using Tengo as a way of expressing her feelings about the apartheid laws and the unequally between blacks and whites. There are many powerful quotes throughout this chapter, but one that I found truly powerful was when Tengo was in the tin shack with Frikkie. They were talking about how he was treated differently from Frikkie on the farm.
“I’m not blaming you for that,” Tengo said, feeling suddenly weary. “I’m blaming you for not knowing. For not wanting to know.” (Page 195)
This quote shows that Tengo knows Frikkie can’t stop the apartheid but he can at least try to stop believing in it. Tengo has put up with Frikkie’s superior behavior for a long time but in the shed everything was switched around. As Tengo has the gun he becomes more superior then Frikkie, Tengo feels the power and he starts to finally talk to Frikkie about all of the things he feels is wrong.

Rather then just stating facts, the author uses the characters to express her feelings on apartheid. Tengo has so much passion and energy towards change, and all of that passion is reflected off of Sheila Gordon. She has done a great job to show the times of apartheid in the eyes of a black person.

I think the way the book ended was interesting. It was surprising the way Frikkie and Tengo met up. I wasn’t predictable. A more predictable ending would be something like Tengo goes back to the farm or Tengo and Frikkie don’t even meet up again. Tengo meeting up with Frikkie during a riot wasn’t expected.

Towards the end of the story Tengo had changed completely, now Tengo is a lot more serious and frustrated person. He is really confused about his own life and needed someone to help him, because everyone is picking their own sides. “Oh Tengo, it’s hard for you. I know how hard it is. What a terrible wrong it is that a boy like you should find himself trapped this way. A terrible wrong ……” Reverend Gilbert told Tengo. He had no one to talk about his thoughts to so he told Reverend Gilbert.
I feel bad for Tengo because his parents are telling him to finish the matriculation but his friends are telling him to boycott it because people will think he is on the white side. I think Tengo will do what his parents tell him to do because if I were him I would do what my parents suggest me to do, because I believe that family needs to come before friends and if he doesn’t do the matriculation I think he would have a bad future, it would be hard for him to find jobs.

The event that happened in the story that creates some creates some feeling that makes me feel that Tengo and Frikkie is still is Tengo got mad about Frikkie on page 201. Frikkie said that why did Tengo hate him he never did any harm to him. They are still friends even though they didn’t talk to each other for a long time, but Frikkie stills keep the clay bull that he asked Tengo for. After Frikkie mentioned the clay bull, Tengo memory came up to him about the good things they did together, running around, and playing cricket. After their talk about their relationship he changed the atmosphere of their conversation they started talking about the farm and how is he doing. This shows that they are still cared for each other.

At the beginning of the story I guessed that Tengo and Frikkie will not be friend in the end, but I was wrong. At the middle of the story I believed that I would be correct on this guess but after the conversation I mentioned above. I decided that my guessed on what will happen at the end of the story will surely cured and be friend. Their friendship connected because of their memory that they were playing togeth

Waiting For The Rain- End

I think the author keep me interested in theh story by making me wonder what is going to happen next in the book. The author wants us to make some questions about the book so that we keep reading the book and try to find the answer.

It was surprise for me at the end of the book, because Tengo and Frikkie met during the fight between blacks and whites. They didn’t recognize each other at the beginning.
Last week, we did the socratic seminar for the middle part. On that day, Grant said “it would be really cool if Tengo and Frikkie meet at the end of the book.” And they actually did meet each other.

I think their friendship will last forever in their heart, because they didn’t meet for such a long time, but when they met, they talked about the past, and also on page 209,
“I couldn’t see. It was in the dark. I was knocked out. When I came round, I was lying there, and my gun was gone.”
Frikkie lied for Tengo; tried to save Tengo from army. And it shows that Frikkie cares about Tengo no matter what he have done to him. (smack him on his head)

Although this book has a lot of events that build on to each other, but I think the most important section in the book is when Tengo and Frikkie meet as grown ups. I think this is the most important segment of the book because it shows how the two characters chose different paths, ending up having different jobs and completely different lives. This part o