Marcus: a First-person Perspective and Naive Narrator

Introduction

In the novel The Smell of Apples, written by Mark Behr, Behr uses a first-person perspective through the main character Marnus, an eleven-year-old boy. The book employs a first-person narration, through Marnus, to convey both the events of when he is older and fighting as a soldier in the war and the current events of his life in 1973 as an eleven-year-old boy. As he narrates his life as an eleven-year-old, he exemplifies what Daniel Lehman calls a ‘naive narrator’ (Lehman, 1997).

Understanding the Naive Narrator

A ‘naive narrator’ is characterized by a child or young adult who is immature in their thinking and relaying of events. The narrator is often easily influenced by those around them, and their narration often reflects the opinions and influences of other characters. Marnus is a naive narrator because he is often influenced by his parents’ views on race, a controversial topic in South Africa at the time. Behr uses Marnus’ narration to both reveal and criticize racial stereotyping in the novel.

Influence of Parental Views on Marnus

Both Marnus’ mother, Leonore, and father, Johan, are racist, viewing Coloureds and Blacks as inferior and projecting these views onto Marnus and his sister, Ilse. Consequently, these racial stereotypes permeate Marnus’ narration. Behr reveals Marnus’ views on race by illustrating that Marnus holds generalized views of Coloured people and their actions and morals. “All the Coloureds live on the Cape Flats and at weekends they get drunk and then they murder and rape each other” (Behr, 1995, p. 32). Marnus also generalizes the Coloureds as “hooligans” who create “savage going-ons” (Behr, 1995, p. 32). These stereotypes are untrue and demeaning to most Coloureds, as only a select few commit such crimes, which have no connection to their race. Behr uses these generalizations to highlight and criticize how such stereotypes were widely spoken of and taught, contributing to the racist stereotypes that existed at the time. It shows how society used the actions of some to justify their generalizations and racist views.

Criminalization of Non-Whites

These stereotypes paint non-whites in a bad light, portraying them as criminals. “More often they’re criminals who won’t ever get to see heaven” (Behr, 1995, p. 19), and they are often blamed for crimes they didn’t commit due to their race. “Because Chrisjan liked fishing, Mum knew immediately that he must have stolen our stuff. Mum says that’s exactly the way the Coloureds are. You can never ever trust them” (Behr, 1995, p. 19). This criticizes how an entire race was generalized, revealing that because they were deemed inferior to whites, they were automatically perceived as poor and compelled to commit crimes and live immoral lifestyles.

Rationalizing Irrational Stereotypes

Behr criticizes racial stereotypes by highlighting their irrationality. Marnus tells Frikkie that the General is half-Spaniard and half-Indian, to which Frikkie replies that if he is Indian, it makes him a Coloured. “I wonder if he is some sort of Spaniard because his skin is so dark and his hair and moustache are almost pitch black” (Behr, 1995, p. 37). Marnus believes that one must have ‘real Black blood’ to be a Coloured. Even though Mr. Smith visually has dark skin, Marnus doesn’t think he is a Coloured because he is not a typical South African Coloured. He is not half black; therefore, he is not deemed inferior like the other South African Coloureds. Marnus genuinely believes that the differences between races are not only skin color but basic physiology, imagining that Coloureds and Blacks are a different species altogether (Perry, 1998). The only reason he sees Mr. Smith as an equal, despite his skin tone, is that he is a respected General from another country. Therefore, Marnus and his family are incorrect in seeing all other Coloureds as inferior, purely based on their skin tone. The fact that Marnus doesn’t regard him as inferior purely because his parents do not see him as inferior demonstrates the extent of his parents’ influence on his own opinions.

The Impact of Indoctrination

Through Marnus as a naïve narrator, we can see how racism was indoctrinated in the minds of white people, especially how easily Marnus could be almost brainwashed into believing what parents and authority tell them about race, even if it was unrealistic. One of the best examples of this is Marnus' statement that blacks have different blood from whites, a notion we know to be biologically untrue (Perry, 1998). It is also unrealistic for Marnus to believe that America took all the smart Black people as slaves and left the dumb Black people behind. “The blood that was left in Africa was the blood of the dumber blacks – that’s why you won’t find an educated black anywhere” (Behr, 1995, p. 66).

Stereotypes and Intelligence

Throughout the novel, Black and Coloured people are constantly depicted as dumb and uneducated, as we can see through various quotes such as “Of all the nations in the world, those with black skins across their butts also have the smallest brains” (Behr, 1995, p. 38) and “It’s just like the Coloureds to act all stupid when it suits them” (Behr, 1995, p. 164). Behr also uses statements such as “The Bantus are even dumber than the Coloureds” (Behr, 1995, p. 39) to criticize how they even differentiated the level of a person’s intelligence based on skin color rather than actual intellectual capacity.

Racial Bias and Justification of Violence

When Little Neville gets beaten up by white men, Marnus’ mom refuses to believe they were in the wrong, blaming his beating on the fact that it was wrong of him to steal in the first place. She justifies the actions of the white men by saying that they weren’t Christians and were of a lower class and uneducated. She refuses to acknowledge that the beating probably happened because Neville was a Coloured and the men were racist (Behr, 1995, p. 139). She tries to force Marnus to agree with her opinion, and when he questions whether it was a racially based crime, she refuses to let him think that any normal white man would do that. Behr uses this example to criticize how racism was not always violent actions against non-whites, but the mere indoctrination that white people were better than non-whites and that non-whites deserved such violent crimes if they occurred.

Exposure to Stereotypes About Whites

Marnus has also been exposed to racial stereotypes about white people, especially the English. The English are depicted as hypocritical and having killed many people before leaving. Marnus has been taught that the Afrikaners are superior, not only to Blacks and Coloureds but also to white English-speaking people, and he must be proud of his Afrikaans heritage (Behr, 1995, p. 163). Marnus is also taught to think that it is up to the Afrikaans people to keep the country safe from the Blacks who will destroy it. “They’re trying to take over everything we built up over the years, just to destroy it as they destroy everything they lay their hands on” (Behr, 1995, p. 164).

Conclusion

It is clear through the way Marnus speaks that his language is replete with stereotypes and racially prejudiced views against Blacks and Coloured people. It is also evident that Marnus has absorbed these racial stereotypes from his parents, as their opinions and views have been reflected onto him. Therefore, Marnus is a naïve narrator, and through his narration, the stereotypes are revealed and criticized.

References

Behr, M. (1995). The Smell of Apples. Abacus.

Lehman, D. (1997). Matters of Fact: Reading Nonfiction over the Edge. Ohio State University Press.

Perry, J. (1998). Racial Theories in South Africa. Cambridge University Press.