Motif of Internal Conflict
In the novel, all the narrators of the stories get conflicted on the issues that they are facing in the society. In the story of The Test, the narrator has an internal conflict on whether he should run in the rain like his friends even though his mother had warned him against doing that for he would inevitably fall sick. In the second story, The prophetess, the narrator is conflicted on whether it was true to believe in superstition rather than facts. In the story of, Uncle, the narrator is conflicted between spending time with his uncle who would teach him new things on music and education or spend time with his friends playing in the streets of town.
The narrators are young boys in all of the stories in the book. Therefore the internal conflict aims to show the reader how the mind of young boys grow.
Allegory of the horses
The narrator in the story, The Test admires how horses are unbothered by the rain since they keep eating grass even when it was raining hard whereas he and his friends took shelter. It is allegorical because it is a representation of a person being unbothered by the external activities that surround them. This is what the narrator is trying to achieve for himself, the feeling of being grounded in his decisions.
Symbolism of Brother Mandela leaving Johannesburg
Brother Mandela said that whence he was living in Johannesburg with all the fame that was associated with his success as an artist, he one day just left and came back to the small village. This is symbolic of all people who seek to find fulfillment in the cities. They leave their villages and go into the city to try and make it there but when they arrive, they lack a sense of self - fulfillment and go back to their homes.
Motif of folklore
The stories in the book are punctuated with stories from a previous time. For example in the story of the prophetess, the story that is told is about a man who had gone to steal some fruit from the vine for the prophetess and was held onto the tree by invisible glue till the next morning. In the story of Uncle, a story of how King Moshoeshoe defeated the Boers who had guns with only stones is narrated. Theses stories are used to strengthen the plot by offering some background information on the culture or beliefs of the people.
