The child who was shot

dead by soldiers in Nyanga

By
Ingrid Jonker
Ingrid Jonker (1933 – 1965)
 Jonker, a South African poet, wrote most of her poems in Afrikaans.
 Her father served as a member of parliament for the National Party
during the apartheid era yet Jonker affiliated herself with Cape
Town’s racially mixed and denounced the National Party’s racial
policies.
 She had a traumatic childhood and adulthood. Her poetry often
expresses her personal traumas, as well as the societal and familial
injustices she perceived around her.
 She was a member of “Die Sestigers”, a group of anti-establishment
poets and writers who challenged the conservative literary norms and
censorship of the 1950s and 60s in South Africa.
 She posthumously received the Order of Ikhamanga for her
contribution to literature and commitment to the struggle for human
rights. She committed suicide by drowning at the age of 31.
 Jonker inspired Nelson Mandela to quote her poem in his speech at
the 1st meeting of parliament of democratic South Africa, May 1994.
 Historical Context

 The Sharpville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the
township of Sharpville.
 A crowd of about 7000 people, protesting against the pass laws of apartheid South
Africa, marched to the police station.
 The South African Police opened fire on the crowd when they started advancing
toward the fence around the police station, and tear-gas had proved ineffectual.
There were 249 victims in total, including 29 children, with 69 people killed and
many injured.
 In the aftermath of the Sharpville massacre, Jonker witnessed a black child shot, by
a white soldier, in Nganya and died in his mother’s arms. She visited the Philippi
police station to see the body of child. This shattering event made her write the
poem Die kind (wat doodgeskiet is deur soldate by Nyanga) also known as “The
child (who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga)”.
Structure/ Form

 Written in free verse – no specific rhyme scheme or

rhythm.
 Written in the 3rd person.
 Divided into 5 stanzas; the last is a single, isolated final
line referred to as ‘coda’ – emphasises the poet’s
message.
 The repetitions, anaphoras and refrains are used as
poetic/rhetorical devices.
 refrain – line
repeated in L11. The child who was shot dead at Nyanga symbol: of
Immediate resistance &
Symbol: innocence, hope, resistance; Represents
contrast to the revolution
represents all innocent victims
title of the poem the
The child is not dead generation 1
gap
Diction conveys his the child raises his fists against his mother
distress & anger
directed at his who screams Africa screams the smell
mother & father (L6)
Alliteration: His screams echo the sense of freedom in everyone’s
for their passive of freedom and heather heart. His voice resonates with those who reside in the veld
resistance; the (represented by heather that grows in abundance+ smell =freedom)
younger generation
is now rebelling in the locations of the heart under siege 5

Under attack by the

Pun: black townships + Those being apartheid government
where something is located oppressed
The younger
generation rebels
against both the The younger generation were prepared to
system and the The child raises his fists against his father become militant and violent as opposed to the
older generation passive resistance of the older generation.
in the march of the generations
space implies the generation gap
The younger who scream Africa scream the smell
generation is Anaphora emphasises his anger & the
of justice and blood desperate cries of the oppressed people.
prepared to spill
blood; sacrifice in the streets of his armed pride 10
their own lives for
their freedom. Tone: passionate, inspiring.
They are willing to fight to
restore their dignity ‘pride’
 Anaphora: emphasises that the child is
physically/medically dead but spiritually and
metaphorically alive

The child is not dead Black townships in the Cape

neither at Langa nor at Nyanga Sites of violent

protests- alludes to
nor at Orlando nor at Sharpeville Sharpeville massacre

nor at the police station in Philippi Black townships in the

Gauteng
Refers to the Cape
where he lies with a bullet in his head 15
Flats - township
where Jonker saw
the body of the Tone: the violence
child implied serves to
shock the reader
Paradox: the child died physically but
is still alive in the hearts of the people –
he has become a symbol of
innocence, hope & resistence.
 Metaphor: child is compared to the Alliteration: the repetition of
soldiers’ shadows - he is unnoticed the ‘s’ emphasises the stealth
but following their every move and silence at which the
soldiers are being watched

spiritually/ The child is the shadow of the soldiers

metaphorically soldiers are heavily armed; would not hesitate to
present as the on guard with guns saracens and batons use force to uphold the law of the apartheid
memory of all the government
victims of apartheid the child is present at all meetings and legislations
-
the child peeps through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers
the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere 20

Anaphora: the the child who became a man treks through all of Africa
spirit of the child is the child who became a giant travels through the whole world
everywhere –
follows soldiers, at The child was deprived of being a child – but
meetings, in the Without a pass became a ‘man’ & a ‘giant’ - emphasises how
homes & hearts of the freedom movement has grown and the fight
the oppressed. CODA
for the freedom of the oppressed has spread
Irony: In his death the
internationally.
child no longer needs a
pass; his spirit is free to
roam the world
Themes & Tone:
Themes:
 Freedom from apartheid and its brutal laws.
 Freedom of movement, speech and in all human rightd.
 Protest and resistance.

Tone:
 Defiance and determination
 Outrage and loss
 Angry
 Questions
 1. Comment on the reference to ‘the child’ in the title of the poem. (2)
 2. The title refers to the ‘dead’ child, yet in line 1 ‘the child is not dead’.
Discuss the contradiction by referring to the rest of the poem. (3)

 3. What does the altered repetition of “The child lifts his fists against his mother / father” reveal about
the generation gap that is reflected in responding to the laws of apartheid? (2)
4. How does the diction in stanzas 1 and 2 highlight the difference between mothers and fathers? (3)
 5. Comment on the effect of the denials in the third stanza. (2)
 6. Critically comment how the imagery used in lines 20-23 contributes to the mood. (3)
 7. Discuss the effectiveness of the last, short line of the poem. (2)
 8. During the Parliamentary address, Nelson Mandela commented that “in the midst of despair,
Jonker celebrated hope.” Does this poem celebrate hope? Discuss your answer briefly. (3)
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