Africans

Africans Summary | Detailed Summary

Africans is set in South Africa during the 1940's. It tells the story of a white family who grows up with Zulu servants and focuses on the bond formed between two sisters and one servant, named John. As the narrator and her sister Katie grow older, Katie develops a strong connection with John, but is ultimately betrayed by him in her adulthood.

In the opening of the story, the narrator says her mother prefers to have Zulu servants, because they are disciplined warriors. She finds them to be obedient, loyal workers. The Zulu society is built on loyalty. They have suffered through several bloody wars under autocratic rulers. The narrator's mother believes that they work harder then other servants. They don't get sick and never hesitate to perform what is asked of them. Zulus wake before dawn to clean the carpets, scrub the floor and polish the silver. When they serve meals, the servants are dressed in starched white jackets and pants. They wear red sashes across the chest and white gloves.

The narrator's sister, Katie, loves John Mazaboko more than any of the other Zulu servants. John and Katie share a special bond. He chuckles when he is around her as though they share a secret joke. The narrator and her sister follow John around the house. They watch him polish floors, furniture and shoes. John is tall, strong and gentle.

Sensitive John couldn't bear to hear the two girls cry, when they were babies. As they got older, John taught the girls how to ride bikes and told them stories about Tokolosh, an evil spirit who lived in the fish pond at the bottom of the garden. When Katie was young, she had a parrot, which she accidentally stepped on and broke its wing. When this happened, she called John, who broke the bird's neck to end its pain. In the mornings, John brought the girls freshly squeezed orange juice and a newspaper for their Scottish nanny. He drew the curtains to let the sun in and said 'good morning' in his native language.

After the girls' father dies, their mother starts to withdraw. She closes up many of the rooms in the house and drapes the furniture with sheets. She gradually fires all the servants except for John, even though she says that John is a bit of a snob. The mother starts to drink too much, and the girls often have to find John to take her to bed. Shortly after, the mother sends her two daughters to boarding school. The girls only see John when they are home for holidays. At boarding school, Katie has a dream that she sees John and doesn't recognize him. The two sisters keep busy with classes and sports. Katie is tall and athletic. She has an ambition that is considered to be inappropriate for a Christian girl.

When the girls are older, Katie tells her sister, the narrator, about her plans to get married. The narrator has been living abroad with her husband and is home for a visit. The two sisters are in the dimly lit kitchen, which is filled with familiar smells of wet coal from John's fire in the courtyard. John is busy polishing silver with a toothbrush. He whistles softly as he works. He lifts and tilts his head to listen to the girl's conversation. The narrator asks her sister about the man she is soon to marry. Katie says he is a heart surgeon. She says he is an Afrikaner. Katie paces back and forth. She says their mother is dead set against the marriage, because she believes that Katie's fiancy is from a family that is common. Also, one of her fiancy's exes called Katie and begged her not to marry him. Katie says that her fiancy is frank and brutal, in a refreshing way, and also handsome and clever. He studied on a scholarship.

Katie's wears a white dress at her wedding. Her handsome groom stands beside her, and bridesmaids stand on the other side of her on the church steps. John is not with them. Katie tells her sister that her mother is letting her take John. She says she hasn't asked him to work for her yet, but she can't imagine starting a new life in a new house without him. Her mother will move to the cottage, while Katie and her husband take over the main house.

The next time the narrator visits, it is December. The climate is warm, and flowers are blooming. The family wears swimsuits and sips lemonade. When the narrator arrives, John greets her in the driveway. He says 'hello' to the narrator's daughter. Katie tells her sister that something has happened. Katie explains that she had thrown a party for her husband's family. In the middle of the party, she noticed that her husband wasn't there and went to look for him. Her husband seemed short tempered earlier that night, which is not unusual for him. She attributed this to long hours in the operating room, or her own careless housekeeping. He often complained that there was not enough discipline in the house. During the party, Katie burst into the study and found her husband on the floor, embracing another man. She was in shock and couldn't do anything while his parent's were there. The narrator tells her that she should have screamed, kicked her husband out of the house and caused a scandal. She's also noticed that her husband stares at his son's young friends and sometimes touches them. The son has become sullen and silent.

When Katie's sister returns in the spring, she tells her that sorrow grows in the garden where they sit and drink their tea. Katie now keeps the window shutters down most of the time and sleeps all afternoon. The narrator, Katie and John take a walk in the garden together. They sit down in the place where John had taught the girls how to ride bikes. John has grown thinner over the years. His face is gaunt, as if he had polished himself into oblivion. His spirit seems to have vanished, and his eyes have lost the glimmer of humor that he used to have when he looked at Katie. John sits with the narrator and tells her that Katie isn't eating enough. Katie says that she can't eat. She tells her sister about the night that she found her husband digging up roses in the garden outside her mother's cottage to plant cabbage. That night, he threw a glass at Katie and cut her lip.

Shortly after this incident, Katie leaves to travel in Rome and Istanbul. She writes letters to her sister, telling her that she met someone there, at the airport. When Katie comes back home, her husband finds a letter from Katie's lover, the one whom she met abroad. Her husband slits his wrists and sits at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding. He calls John and the children to come watch him die. John shakes his head at his boss and only does what he is asked to do. Katie finds them and rushes her husband to the clinic. Her husband recuperates. However, when he returns home, he rages if anyone mentions 'Turkish delight.' He beats the children with his belt. He is especially hard on the son. He broke the son's bones and beat the eldest girl unconscious. Katie doesn't submit to him beating her children without trying to fight back. When she is angry, she is stronger than her husband. She grabs his hair, bites him and kicks him in the shins. During one fight in their bedroom, the husband is at Katie's mercy. He yells for John, and John appears swiftly and silently. He looms in the doorway, watching Kate pin down her husband. The husband asks for help, but John doesn't move. Then, the husband tells John to put Katie on the bed. John grasps Katie and holds her down. Katie struggles at first and yells, "what are you doing?" John doesn't' respond, and Katie eventually gives up. The narrator imagines her sister lying on the bed with her face swollen and bruised, while she can hear the cries of children. Katie's hair blows across her forehead. Her cheeks are flushed and the scar on her lower lip is visible. Her round eyes are stained by thick lashes and tears. Katie looks up and sees the faces of John and her husband standing over her, in a blur of black and white. Her husband, the white boss, takes off his belt and beats it across her legs breasts, and face.