Summary Of The Power Of One

In the book, The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, there are many life lessons. But the one that really stood out to me was this: When facing a dangerous situation, you need to cover up what you know in order to survive. Camouflage for survival is one of the main ideas this book is centered around. The main character, six year-old Peekay, was sent to a boarding school where he was different than all the other kids, and because of that, he was treated very unfairly. The boarding school was in the Northern Transvaal in South Africa, but Peekay was British. While everyone else could speak Afrikaans, Peekay spoke English. He was tortured, teased, and threatened, and over time, he learned that he had to help himself cover up, because he realized that nobody was going to do it for him.
Although Peekay was a very bright student, he decided it would be best if he didn’t act like a know-it-all in front of the other students and teachers. This almost convinced the other people that he was beginning to fit in, until his teacher found out that he was hiding his knowledge, and, without thinking, hit him with a ruler. Then, a few chapters later, a judgemental 12 year-old boy threatened to kill him, but Peekay, who knew that the Judge was struggling with his math classes, decided to help the Judge, keeping him safe for the remainder of his time at the school. Finally, in the middle of chapter 4, Peekay is walking with Mevrou, the headmistress of the boarding school, to the train he will ride to meet his Grandpa. Even she isn’t very fond of Peekay, and pulls him by the ear to get him to move faster. Peekay doesn’t like this at all, and tells Mevrou that the ear she is pulling is the ear that he had hurt while at