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The ending scene represents how white South Africans and the new government have attempted to make reparations to the black community by offering minuscule “solutions” but have ultimately failed to do so. They are expectant of black South Africans to be happy with what they are given and grateful for being seen as equals.

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The message could be referring to the empty promises of the government since apartheid ended. Also how they expect south Africans to be content when they give an inch when we asked for a mile, for example giving us water (a human right) while we have loadshedding

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Do not wait on your promises, it will have consequences

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if something isn't what it makes itself to be, don't paint over it with fake kindness and charity work just to feel better about yourself

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To change one’s thinking. The book provides a honest and often unseen perspective of whiteness through language. Ignorance, privilege and supremacy rules white thinking and through the book we see how harrowing that can be for oneself, others and society. The whole book is a reminder of this perspective and the anticlimactic ending emphasizes this.

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Changes in SA are very minimal due to those in charge continuously passing responsibility onto the next leaders/ generation until the issues have caused too much damage to be easily fixed. The house represents SA and how the issues which have been left and passed down have caused damage to the country to the point where it’s not worth much but still has meaning.

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It is that the promises of the past cannot be fulfilled in some vain attempt to make people feel better. They must be fulfilled when there is still value left within the promises.

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Galgut uses the promise as a metaphor for the farm as SA. “My mother was supposed to get this house a long time back. Thirty years ago! Instead she got lies and promises. And you did nothing”. The message he is communicating is a prompt to South Africans to contemplate whether apartheid is truly in the past and how much has actually changed. The promises in modern politics echo the decay and the emptiness of the farm of SA, promises distracting people from the decay but always empty.

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South African government has failed to make reparations regarding land/failed to adequately correct the injustices made during apartheid.

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The message I got from the ending was that the 2 paths of whiteness as represented in the novel are not viable mindsets if we want to heal the misgivings of the past. Firstly, holding on to power, status and land at all costs only leads to the souring of the potential of an equal society and united nation as it wastes time and breeds further hate. Alternatively the other mindset grounded in burying one’s head in the sand as a from of white ignorance is also a cause of spoiling a changed future as not actively being prejudiced while still standing by and doing nothing makes you equally responsible.

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the past will continue to shape the future

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the past will continue to shape the future

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This is seen in the final parts of the novel when Lukas confronts Amor.

“Your leftovers”

(Responses from Lukas)

Apart from exploitation that black South Africans have experienced during the Apartheid era, they have always been marginalised. Galgut comments on the dehumanising acts of the Swart family, Salome has been given nothing but empty promises. This unfulfilled promise serves as a reminder of the family’s guilt, the unresolved issue greatly haunts Amor.

Galgut refers to the governments empty promises to South Africa through Salome’s abandoned promise

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The message of the book revolves around the unfulfilled promises and the legacy of apartheid in South Africa

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The message of the book revolves around the unfulfilled promises and the legacy of apartheid in South Africa

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The broken promise in the novel, both literal (the swart family not upholding there promise to salome and rachel) and metaphorical (representing the larger societal failure to address the legacy of apartheid and to create a truly just and equitable society), reflects the broader failure of South African society to address past injustices and the enduring effects of racism.