Simone Forsberg Greve Gymnasium 22/10-2012
The Man from the Board
”The Man from the Board” tells the story of Mr. Isaac Jacobs who is a coloured teacher. He lives in a white neighbourhood which is forbidden and therefore Mr. Jacobs is forced to move by the white man from the Board. However, the confrontation between the white and coloured men is very uncommon as Mr. Johannes Bredenkamp doesn’t quite perform his job to what he was actually supposed to.
The conversation takes place a Saturday afternoon in late January in Isaac Jacobs’ flat. Jacobs lives in a white area which isn’t the norm for a coloured man and that is why the white man from the Board knocks in his door. Mr. Bredenkamp has been given the task to make Jacobs move to another proper area than what he lives in. Jacobs expected a defensive confrontation because of the 1980’s, which he found himself in. At the time the rules were restricted of where you could live. But it turns out another way and what Jacobs expected of the conversation wasn’t what he experienced. Bredenkamp greets Jacobs and even though Mr. Johannes Bredenkamp is a man from the Board he seems to be very polite towards Mr. Isaac Jacobs. E.g. p. 67, l. 21: “Excuse me?” (…) He extracted one and ran his fingers down a column. ‘Jacobs, Isaac Vernon?” His manners are expressed in his choice of words and “excuse me” is a polite saying. Bredenkamp shows an interest in his hobbies and enjoys hearing about Jacobs’ life phiosophy and job as a teacher. Already from the beginning Jacobs notices a change in the conversation from what he expected to be full of hatred. E.g. p. 68, l. 6: “His annoyance had changed to curiosity. Who was this man?”. Bredenkamp begins to ask Jacobs all of these personal questions about his life instead of a straight confrontation to force Jacobs to move. Jacobs begins to become more and more confused and can’t seem to find an end to the conversation. It gets really tricky as Bredenkamp changes the subject and going in circles for example where he starts to talk about Jacobs’ SONY. Near the end Jacobs is convinced that Bredenkamp is trying to threaten him to move. E.g. p. 74, l. 4: “He gave no indication whether this was a threat or not.” But all he seems to do is making a last statement on how Jacobs’ should stick to SONY and punches him in the ribs. Bredenkamp never really gets to the point and Jacobs is only waiting for the bomb to explode but Bredenkamp just seems to want a chat.
Isaac Jacobs is a coloured man who is affected by the segregation that is still happening in the ‘80s and the turning point in his life was when the Man from the Board knocked on his door. He seems to be a man with a rather boring life as all he does is sitting by his desk wondering what other people are doing in their weekends. He is a man full of thoughts and speculations of people, e.g. p. 66, l. 12: “Why? Where? Where do people always drive to on Saturday afternoons in the heat?”. He describes a family going on vacation and it very much resembles his desire of someone to share his life with. This is also due to his boredom and how he doesn’t know what to do. Isaac is very defensive as he meets Mr Bredenkamp because he knows that he is going to be kicked out of the white area because of his skin colour. Isaac keeps his guards up even though Mr Bredenkamp is asking him questions nicely with some jokes aside. He definitely feels as the weak link because he senses that Mr Bredenkamp is kind of making fun of him instead of getting right to the point. His thoughts are very aggressive, “Now what the hell did that mean?” and it indicates that Isaac can’t seem to think that Mr. Bredenkamp actually is just a nice man. The racial segregation has definitely marked Isaac and how he is reacting towards white people and in this situation, Mr. Bredenkamp.
Mr. Bredenkamp is a man from the Board whose job is to make people move to other areas that are more appropriate to their surroundings. Bredenkamp is very humorous by nature and it seems like he isn’t doing his job seriously because of his never-ending jokes. As he is interviewing Isaac he keeps on changing his subjects and he never writes anything down. At the end he gets the feeling of him and Isaac being friends, e.g. “We must have a long chat one day. Next time I come I’ll bring my philosophy books with me.” Mr. Bredenkamp is therefore not remarked by the segregation and a clear example of how white and black people can live together in equality.
The text contains themes as racial segregation and apartheid and this is due to the association between the white and black people. You could clearly see the difference in behaviour between Isaac and Mr. Bredenkamp. The society is still affected by apartheid and how it is not allowed to associate with the different races. Isaac definitely feels attacked by the white man and he feels the need to defend himself in every way that’s possible. Being pushed away from your own home because of your skin colour is definitely something that made Isaac doubt the friendliness of Mr Bredenkamp. Apartheid had a major influence on how it affected the black and white peoples way of living.
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