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In the development of her short-story "The
Noose" the author Beverley Naidoo conveys several examples of
Apartheid, influencing the characters profoundly but in different
ways.
Especially the lttle boy called
Jacob has to face
the brutality of the white government when his family is to be
resettled in a special area for coloured people and his father is
classified as African. Until 1955, the year he turns ten, Jacob
never took notice of Apartheid ( cf. p. 15 ).
 Living in an ordinary
neighbourhood his whole world consisted of playing with his friends
Omar and Billy and his action hero The Lone Ranger (cf.p.32 ). When
he is told that his father has decided to move to Coronationville
one day before his tenth birthday, Jacob is really upset. The
perspective of not being able to celebrate this important event with
his friends and family the way he has imagined to, seems to be
the worst thing in the world to him.
Jacob's world and view
change, however, when he has
to face the destruction of his family after his father has been
classified as African by the population registration office. Now,
Jacob gets to know what the effects of Apartheid mean to his life
since he is personally affected this time. This knowledge leads to a
development of Jakob's which comes clear in the end of the
story: Sitting around his birthday table, all his excitement about
this special day has vanished and especially after having been given
the Lone Ranger's outfit he ever wanted, Jacob feels that "everything
is wrong about this birthday" ( cf.p.40). He eventually
understands what his Uncle Richard meant when saying the government
had a noose around their necks.
But Jacob is not the only one to recognize this
statement as true. Betty Peters, Jacob's mother, for example, finally
has to change her mind after having backed up the government's
behaviour for so long. Not wanting to get into any trouble, she
has adapted to the white man's thinking and avoids political
arguments as often as possible. In the development of the story,
however, Mrs Peters often gets into trouble with her husband's
brother Richard as she doesn´t agree with his fight against
Apartheid. She is prejudiced talking about African people as 'natives' and she
doesn't like his African friends.
 For the more she wants to protect her
son since she doesn't want him to get confused by "this politics" ( cf.
p. 23). Uncle Richard, being the only one to talk about these matters
freely, is therefore the only one to inform his nephew from a different
point of view. In the end, however, even Jacob's mother has to
recognize that she has been wrong, believing that the white
government won't do them any harm. When her husband is classified
as African she gets to know what it means to get separated by law
and not being able to live together any more.
As to Mr Peters, he too
eventually has to recognize that an attitude of expectancy never
protects one of being affected by the effects of apartheid.
After having been optimistic and quiet- tempered with regard to
apartheid for so long ( cf. p.20), he now has to fear the loss of
his job since an African would never be allowed to supervise
Coloureds (cf. p. 39). Furthermore, he wouldn't be allowed to live
with his family anymore- he would be forced to move into another
township, especially erected for Africans (cf. p. 37).
In the end, the African
friends of Uncle Richard's are the only hope left for Jacob's family. So, at long last, it is Uncle Richard
who is proved
right- apartheid has been a noose around their necks.
Ramona
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