Mr M

One irony of My Children! My Africa! is that teachers are not always wiser than students. At one point in the play, Isabel chides Mr. M for being so traditional that he must ask her how Thami is doing emotionally rather than asking the student himself. She urges him to give up the strict and limiting role of teacher who demands things of students rather than asking, and keeps them at arms length emotionally. Perhaps, she suggests, this is why Mr. M cannot convince Thami to stay in school when the boycott begins.

Mr. M tells Isabel early in the play that it is his goal to have one particular student truly learn from him and succeed in life. Mr. M wants this student to be Thami, who he feels has the intelligence and leadership qualities to go far. Mr. M feels that his goal is never reached by his death, since he dies after Thami has dropped out of school to join the boycott. However, Isabel talks to Mr. M in her final monologue, promising him that she will fulfill his goal by working hard in life. There is irony in Mr. M's special student turning out to be Isabel, and in the fact that he will never know if his goal is achieved, since he dies thinking it will not be.