3. Petrus
a. Petrus is a hard worker At the beginning the narrator portrays Petrus as a gardener and the
dog man
2
p. 64, he is nothing more than an assistant of Lucy. He is the hard labor looking after the dogs and working in the garden. Because of his
hard work he already owned a small of Lucy’s land particularly when he got a Land Affairs grant to buy a hectare. And if he goes to be hard worker
he got grant to put a house and then he can move out of the stable. Petrus is described as a hard worker; ‘a linked and has weather face’
p. 64; he has characteristics of ‘a man of patience, energy and resilience’ p. 117. Throughout the novel Petrus became not any more than the dog
man. b. Petrus is a loyal to his family
Petrus indeed has two wives but he is loyal enough to them. Even though his wife lives in Adelaide, while Petrus lives in Eastern Cape, he
usually goes off to Adelaide and spends times there. ‘He and his wife have the old stable. I’ve put in electricity. It’s quite
comfortable. He has another wife in Adelaide, and children, some of them grown up. He goes off and spends time there occasionally.’p.
64.
When David knows that the attacker who made Lucy pregnant is Pollux, brother of first Petrus’ wife, David wants to bring the attacker to the
jail and wants him to go away. Because the attacker is related to Petrus’ wives, Petrus sees that he has obligation toward him, to his family
obligation. Petrus says that the boy is too young to go to the jail and has
2
The dog man here means a man that has a duty to guard and protect hisher master from any threatment
26
innocent thought. Petrus realized that the boy is too young to marry Lucy and as exchange Petrus offers Lucy to marrying her, to protect her. Petrus
may not be a big man but he is big enough for Lucy. Petrus may not be a big man but he is big enough for someone small
like me. And at least I know Petrus. I have no illusion about him. I know what I would be letting myself in for’. p. 204.
c. Petrus is a good neighbor As a neighbor Petrus is a good man, he helps Lucy to sell the
plantation products to the market every Saturday morning. Petrus is working hard to get the market garden going for Lucy. According to Bev
Shaw statement ‘without Petrus Lucy would not be where she is now. I am not saying she owes him everything, but she owes him a lot. Petrus is a
good old chap and you can depend on him’ p. 140. When Lucy finds herself pregnant by one of the attacker, Petrus offers to marry her in order
to keep her safe. ‘I will marry Lucy’.
He cannot believe his ears. So this is it, that is what all the shadow- boxing was for this bid, this blow And here stands Petrus
foursquare, puffing on the empty pipe, waiting for a response’. p.202
What Petrus does by marrying Lucy is to protect Lucy from any dangerous thing that could happen to a woman who is not married.
‘Yes, I know,’ says Petrus. And perhaps he does indeed know. He would be a fool to underestimate Petrus. ‘But here’, says Petrus, ‘it
is dangerous, too dangerous. A woman must be marry’. p. 202
27
C. Theme
Kategori