Dukwane's Deliverance

Dukwane is a gifted young man with a dream of doing great things in life. His future looks as bright as ever when he receives the letter that confirms his admittance into Cambridge University. That dream is shattered when he comes face to face with a bunch of bullies trying to murder an innocent boy. He manages to protect the boy though not without consequence. He manages to get stabbed in the process, and is maybe not able to walk ever again, he still perseveres though his ordeals from that moment on is going to be many. His legs may not be working anymore, but he sure is not going to let that get him down. Dukwane is desperate to get in to Cambridge University, and he is fixed on becoming as great a man as his role model Barack Obama. He knows that there is a big chance that he will stand out among all the white and rich people that the university usually composes of. His ethnicity doesn't get him down usually, but when he look at his parents and how they choose or ended up living their life, he gets sad because he thinks that is how he will end up if he doesn't do his best at everything. It is not unusual for kids with unsuccessful parents to want to be better than the previous generation, especially children with another ethnic background. Their parents may not have been rich and had a hard time finding work, so they ended up living in a poor area and are now unable to leave because of the lack of education. Dukwane wants to leave this area because he feels like he does not belong. With a low wage job and a lazy father who dresses poorly and is glued to the television screen, it is not strange that he wishes to escape to a place such as Cambridge University, where he can unfold his skills completely.
Dukwane's parents are also devout christians, and when he gets stabbed they pray that he will regain his consciousness. It is not mentioned if Dukwane himself is a believer though he is most likely not, he himself do not mention anything about believing and he dismisses the presence later as a hallucination or a real happening. The mysterious man who appears before Dukwane when he wakes later on, is described as wearing a suit and with an unmistakable voice. He mentions his forebears in this quote “One of my forebears said that a house divided in itself cannot stand”1 which is said by Abraham Lincoln one of the presidents of the United States. This quote suggests that the mysterious man is also of the presidential line, and according to how Dukwane reacts and how he “wants to be more like him” points to an earlier quote about him saying that “if Barack can do it so can I.”. So, according these few quotes and the description of the man or the hallucination, who we are dealing with here is most likely Barack Obama, conjured up by our main character in his sickbed while doubting he will ever become successful. He is being told by the president not to let this major downfall get him to quit his dream, and that people like him are those who rise above other men. He makes him choose between revenge and morality, and he chooses the latter choice. He still wants to remain the same, even when he has the chance for revenge offered by his friend and colleague Jermaine. Instead of resorting to violence he choose the path of wisdom. Maybe in the future when he himself is as successful politician as Obama, he will get his revenge by changing the way street crime is handled and he will stop this violence that he himself has been victim to from happening. The story is set in York Way, Camden near the center of London, around the area where famous places like King's Cross and Big Ben lies. The main character Dukwane most likely lives in one of the poorer areas. Though the image of a rich and famous London often springs to mind when popular locations are mentioned, that is not always the truth. Every big city has a facade to make the city a more welcome place for visitors and the rich. In this part of town where the lower class lives, the police doesn't care about the gang violence or the black youths who are exposed to these dangers. In the story a boy is getting chased by a harsh group of delinquents calling themselves Phoenix Court, who stabs and beat people for fun. The people who wander the streets are vulnerable to these crooks if they get a hold of them, and Dukwane's parents know. They tell him not to be out after 10pm, and are worried about him going to work his late shifts at the fast food restaurant. The short story is written in third person with the character Dukwane in mind, as we follow him through segmented parts of a story. It is written as any other novel up until the part were he becomes unconscious, and where the narration and certainty of happenings get blurred considerably as the morphine takes hold of the main character. Anything from that point on, or especially the part where Obama appears on his bedside, can be considered a figment of Dukwane's imagination. A kind of good versus bad, morality versus revenge situation unfolds and leads to the them or the morale of the story, which is the question Dukwane has to ask himself: Will he succumb to his injuries and stop working his way up the ladder, or will he fight for his dreams?

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