• Summary
• Title
• Themes
• How is the story told?
• Activity 9
• Activity 10

The Coffee-cart Girlby Es’kia Mphahlele

Es’kia Mphahlele (1919 – 2008) was born in the slums of Pretoria and went on to become a world famous writer, educationist, artist and activist.
He only began attending school regularly when he was 15 and went on to finish high school by private study. In 1945 he taught at Orlando High School in Soweto. As a result of his protests against Bantu Education he was fired from his teaching post. He eventually joined Drum magazine in 1955, where he made a name for himself as a serious writer.
In 1957 Mphahlele went into exile, at first in Nigeria. Here he completed his first autobiography, Down Second Avenue (1959), which was banned in South Africa.
Mphahlele went on to get his doctorate from the University of Denver, USA, in 1968 and was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
He finally returned home from exile in 1977, where he went on to found the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Literature Department - the first department of African Literature in the country - in 1983. He is widely celebrated as being the Father of African Humanism. 

1. Summary

The story takes place in the industrial part of a city during apartheid, where a young woman called Zodwa works at a coffee-cart. She sells coffee and pancakes to the workers who pass by. One day there is a strike at the nearby Metropolitan Steel Windows Ltd factory. The striking workers march in the street where Zodwa’s coffee-cart stands. She is so absorbed in the strike that she doesn’t realise that the marching crowd is getting bigger and more restless. There is conflict between the apartheid police and the black people who are striking.
One of the strikers, a young man named Ruben (whose nickname is China), helps to move Zodwa’s coffee-cart away from danger of the crowd. Zodwa is very grateful to him and offers him coffee and food. This is the start of the friendship between Zodwa and Ruben. After the strike China loses his job. As their relationship develops, China gives Zodwa the nickname Pinkie, because her skin is peach-coloured. China finds another job at a shoe factory. When he gets paid by his new employer China takes Pinkie to choose a gift from a cheapjack’s shop. The cheapjack is a man named Naidoo. Naidoo clearly likes Pinkie and he starts coming to her cart for coffee. One day when he cannot pay he gives Pinkie a ring in exchange for coffee and cakes. When China sees the ring on Pinkie’s finger he gets very jealous and accuses Pinkie of being in love with Naidoo.
China pulls out a knife and points it at Pinkie’s throat. She thinks he is going to kill her. But then China realises that he is frightening Pinkie. He apologises to her and leaves. He never sees Pinkie again, as three days after this, Pinkie and all the coffee sellers are chased away from the area by the police. When China comes back to visit her she is gone. All he can do is hope that one day they will meet again.

Note: 

• Cheapjack - a seller of cheap goods.

2. Title

The story is focused on Pinkie, the coffee-cart girl in the title of the story. Although the title is about Pinkie, everything that happens to her is caused by the realities of the apartheid system. For example, she is caught up in the conflict between the apartheid police and the oppressed black workers, and it is only because of China that she is not hurt. Later in the story she is forced by apartheid laws to move to another place to sell her coffee and pancakes.

3. Themes

The main themes are:

• Life affected by apartheid: The strike takes place because of the political situation where white-owned businesses and apartheid laws work together to oppress and impoverish black people. It is because of the strike that the two young people meet. If it had not been for the difficult working conditions China would not have met Pinkie. At the end of the story the political situation interferes again in their lives by forcing Pinkie to work elsewhere, preventing them from meeting again.
• Violence against women/women’s powerlessness: Pinkie is the only female character. The story shows her to be very vulnerable both to the general violence of the strike and to personal violence from China. She has no control over her own life and is pushed around by individuals like China, and by the apartheid state.
• Love: A young man meets a young woman and a bond is established between them.
• Jealousy: When another man, Naidoo, shows an interest in Pinkie, China becomes violently jealous. China’s uncontrolled emotion becomes an obstacle in his relationship with Pinkie.
• Loss: China loses his job and he loses Pinkie. We lose Pinkie at the end of the story, because she is chased away by the police. Like China, we don’t know what happens to her.

4. How is the story told?

4.1 Setting

The story is set in an industrial area in a city during apartheid. Throughout the story the harshness of apartheid shapes the lives of the characters. We are constantly aware of the poverty in the city and the fact that the lives of the people are worth little. Pinkie tells China that unless he accepts her coffee and buns he will “starve to death in this cruel city”.

4.2 Structure and plot development

The story starts with the strikers marching. The writer’s description of the march already gives a sense of tension. In the middle of the chaos is Zodwa, who seems calm as she watches the marchers from her coffee- cart. It is only when one of the coffee-carts gets knocked over that she reacts. “She climbed down from her cart, looking like a bird frightened out of its nest.” China helps to move Pinkie’s coffee-cart before it gets damaged.
Against the background of the strike and unrest China and Pinkie start a quiet friendship. When China finds another job he promises to buy Pinkie a gift. They go to a cheapjack’s shop to choose the gift. Naidoo, the cheapjack, takes a liking to Pinkie and starts to visit her to buy coffee. The complication in the story is that Pinkie has two admirers: China and Naidoo. China is shy and is not able openly to tell Pinkie that he loves her. Naidoo is more direct and able to chat and joke with Pinkie more easily.
China’s jealousy of Naidoo creates the rising tension in the story. One day China notices that Pinkie is wearing a ring. She says Naidoo gave it to her to pay for three days’ worth of coffee and cake. China’s jealousy becomes so great that he accuses Pinkie of being in love with Naidoo and threatens her with a knife. This is the climax or crisis point in the story.
China then realises that he is scaring Pinkie, and he apologises to her. He leaves.
The story does not have a clear resolution as Pinkie is forced by apartheid laws to leave the area three days later. When China comes back some days later she is gone and he is left with his dreams of how things might have been.

4.3 Characterisation

The main characters in the story are Pinkie, China and Naidoo.
Pinkie is the main character or protagonist in the story. She is called “Pinkie” by China because she has a “peach-coloured face”. This is ironic, because apartheid oppressed black people on the basis of the colour of their skin, and yet here is a black woman with light-coloured skin. It points to how unworkable the system of racial oppression really was.
Pinkie is a shy and gentle woman and seems to accept the harshness of her life. She is small and seems fragile. The writer uses descriptions of small creatures when describing her:

looking like a bird frightened out of its nest
She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat.

China is the antagonist in the story. He too has had a hard life. In the past he was in jail. He is not able to express his emotions well with words. Instead, he is quick to get angry and use violence. He seems to feel that he ‘owns’ Pinkie and is jealous of her having any other friends. His jealousy causes him to threaten Pinkie.

However, China is able to show some remorse for the way he treats Pinkie.
He is sorry for frightening her and says to her:
“I pray you never in your life to think about this day.”

Both Pinkie and China have difficulty letting each other know how they feel about each other. This is mainly because of the cruelty and hardships of the apartheid city in which they live. It makes gentle emotions like love seem dangerous and they both “panicked at the thought of a love affair”.
From the start, Pinkie is a bit afraid of China – he attracts and repels (drives her away) her at the same time:

She felt “a repelling admiration”.
She felt he was the kind of man who could be attractive as long as he remained more than a touch away from the contemplator;

China also carried on “a dumb show”, by not telling Pinkie that he loved her:

Pinkie and China panicked at the thought of a love affair and remained dumb.

The seriousness of China and Pinkie’s relationship is contrasted with Naidoo’s ability to chat easily and joke with Pinkie. His anecdotes “sent Pinkie off into peals of laughter”. Naidoo’s relationship is a source of jealousy for China. He suspects that Naidoo likes Pinkie and thinks that Pinkie is in love with Naidoo.
Naidoo also gives some comic relief to the story, as he mispronounces words for comic effect.

4.4 Style

The relationship between Pinkie and China is explored through the use of dialogue and descriptions.
Dialogue works to give us an immediate idea of the characters’ thoughts, feelings and attitudes. Another technique that the writer makes use of is contrasts. For example, the love of China and Pinkie contrasts with the harshness of their world.
In addition, the writer also contrasts aspects of their personalities. For example, at first China seems frightening to Pinkie:

There was something sly in those soft, moist, slit eyes, but the modest stoop at the shoulders gave him a benign appearance; otherwise he would have looked twisted and rather fiendish.
There was something she felt in his presence: a repelling admiration.

The violence of China as opposed to the sweetness of Pinkie is shown right at the beginning of the story when, even though he helps Pinkie, China is seen as one of the violent strikers:

Almost rudely he pushed her into the street, took the cart by the stump of a shaft and wheeled it across the street,

When China first looks carefully at Pinkie he notices her fragility:

His eyes travelled from her small tender fingers as she washed a few things, to her man’s jersey which was a faded green and too big for her, her thin frock, and then to her peach-coloured face, not well fed, but well framed and compelling

Another contrast between China and Pinkie is when China takes her to choose a gift for herself. It is typical of her character that she would buy something pretty such as “a beautiful long bodkin, a brooch, and a pair of bangles”. It is also in character for China to buy something harsher for himself such as “a knife, dangling from a fashionable chain”.
Note the contrasting images and personification in the description which follows, which shows the many emotions China and Pinkie feel for each other:

Within, heaven and earth thundered and rocked, striving to meet; sunshine and rain mingled; milk and gall pretended friendship; fire and water went hand in hand; tears and laughter hugged each other in a fit of hysterics; the screeching of the hang-bird started off with the descant of a dove’s cooing; devils waved torches before a chorus of angels.

At the end of the story the writer uses ellipsis twice to emphasise the incompleteness of the story:

• “I’ll tell her all about myself, all about my wicked past; she’ll get used to me, not be afraid of me any more …” Here the ellipsis indicates that we will never know whether this wish of China comes
• “And still he sat in the coffee-cart which was once Pinkie’s all through the lunch hour …” Here the ellipsis emphasises that we, like China, do not know whether they will ever see each other

4.5 Narrator and point of view

The writer uses a third person point of view to tell the story. This approach allows the reader to learn about the characters from what they say and do. It also allows us to appreciate how the political setting explains so much about them.

4.6 Diction and figurative language

The way the writer uses words and descriptions helps to convey meaning in the story. For example, the writer uses many figures of speech and sound devices in the story:

• Similes and metaphors
  In the first line of the story the writer uses two similes to describe the striking marchers: “The crowd moved like one mighty being, and swayed and swung like the sea.”
  Pinkie is described as having “a peach-coloured face” (a metaphor is used to compare her face to a peach).
  Later, Pinkie realises that China is angry:
  “She sensed a gathering storm” (in this metaphor, China’s anger is compared to a coming storm).
  When China threatens Pinkie with a knife a simile is used to compare Pinkie to a frightened mouse being hunted by a cat:
  “She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat.”
• Personification
  One example of personification used in the story is “the law was brandishing batons”. This image of the law being armed shows that apartheid laws were not about justice or equality, but about violence and oppression.
• Oxymoron
  The writer uses oxymorons for effect in the writing, especially when writing about the confused feelings that China and Pinkie have for each other. Pinkie is described as having “a repelling admiration” for China. ‘Repelling’ means something that is distasteful or repulsive, while ‘admiration’ means something to respect and approve of.

4.7 Tone and mood

Right from the beginning of the story we are made aware of the harshness of life.
The tone created by the strike is one of confusion and danger:

The crowd moved like one mighty being, and swayed and swung like the sea.
Grimy, oily, greasy, sweating black bodies squeezed and chafed and grated.

We are constantly aware of the poverty and grime in this part of the city. The tone of the words the writer uses to describe the area and the people is despairing:

A dreary smoky mist lingered in suspension, or clung to the walls; black sooty chimneys shot up malignantly

The old shopkeepers are described as having:

a vague grimace on their faces, seeming to sneer at the world in general

Later in the story the tone of fear is emphasised by the writer’s description of China threatening Pinkie with a knife:

At that very moment she realised fully the ghastliness of a man’s jealousy, which gleamed and glanced on the blade and seemed to have raised a film which steadied the slit eyes.

At the end of the story the coffee-carts are empty and deserted. Their emptiness emphasises China’s loss of Pinkie. Yet the story ends on a hopeful tone as we read that China hopes that one day he will see Pinkie again:

We’ll meet in town some day, China thought. I’ll tell her all about myself, all about my wicked past; she’ll get used to me, not be afraid of me any more …

Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? What are the reasons it makes you feel this way?

Summary
The Coffee-cart Girl by Es’kia Mphahlele

1. Title
   • Focuses the story on Pinkie, the coffee-cart girl, surviving in apartheid South Africa
2. Themes
   • Life affected by apartheid
   • Violence against women/women’s powerlessness
   • Love
   • Jealousy
   • Loss
3. How is the story told?
   3.1 Setting
   • An industrial area in a city during apartheid
     3.2 Structure and plot development
   • Complication: Pinkie has two admirers
   • Rising tension: China’s jealousy of Naidoo
   • Climax/crisis point: China threatening Pinkie with a knife
   • Resolution: None; the reader is left wondering what happens to the characters next.
     3.3 Characterisation
   • Protagonist: Pinkie is the main character
   • Antagonist: China opposes her
   • Naidoo: A source of tension (China’s jealousy) and comic relief
     3.4 Style
   • Dialogue and descriptions: Used to explore Pinkie and China’s relationship
   • Contrasts: The love of Pinkie and China compared to their harsh world; China’s violence compared to Pinkie’s sweetness; China choosing a knife compared to the pretty things that Pinkie chooses from Naidoo’s shop
   • Ellipsis: Emphasises the incompleteness of the story
     3.5 Narrator and point of view
   • Third person
     3.6 Diction and figurative language
   • “peach-coloured face”
     Metaphor
   • “She sensed the gathering storm”
     Metaphor
   • “The crowd moved like one mighty being, and swayed and swung like the sea.”
     Two similes
   • “She panted like a timid little mouse cornered by a cat.”
     Simile
   • “repelling admiration”
     Oxymoron
   • “the law was brandishing batons”
     Personification
   • “fire and water went hand in hand”
     Personification
     3.7 Tone and mood
   • Tone: Begins with a tone of despair and danger in the strike; tone of fear increases at the point of Pinkie being threatened by China; ends on a hopeful note as China imagines meeting up with Pinkie again
   • Mood: How does this story make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Give reasons for your answer.

Activity 9

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract A

[China and Pinky meet again after the violent strike.]

1. Describe the events that lead to China saving Pinkie’s cart
   Give THREE points.                                                                       (3)
2. Why does Pinkie refer to China as “uncle” in line 2 of extract A? (1)
3. Choose the correct answer to complete the following In line 3, China says: “Don’t uncle me, please.” His tone in this line is one of:
   1. happiness.
   2. satisfaction.
   3. annoyance.
   4. sadness.                                                                                     (1)
4. Refer to lines 6-9 of extract A (“His eyes travelled ... soiled black beret”). What do these lines show you about Pinkie’s circumstances?  (1)
5. In lines 11–14 of extract A (“There was something .. a repelling admiration”), Pinkie has mixed feelings about China. What are these feelings? (2)
6. Refer to lines 17 of extract A (“just like those ... chamber of horrors”).
   1. Identify the figure of speech in these (1)
   2. In what way does China remind Pinkie of the wax figures? (1)
7. How is China affected by the strike? (1)
8. How are Pinkie and China victims of apartheid prejudice? (2)
9. Later, Pinkie gives China coffee and pancakes. What does this behaviour tell us about the kind of person Pinkie is? State TWO points(2)
10. At the end of the story Pinkie disappears because the police no longer allow her to operate her coffee-cart on the street. In your opinion, is the action of the police justified? Discuss your view (2)  [17]

Activity 10

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

Extract B

[China attacks Pinky in her coffee-cart.]

1. Complete the following sentences by using the words in the list below;

   jersey; guilty; ring; happy; compassionate; jealous; aggressive

   China sees Pinkie wearing a (a) .... He is (b) ... because Naidoo gave it to her. China becomes (c) ... towards Pinkie. Later, he feels (d) ... about this behaviour.                       (4)
2. How does Naidoo make a living? (1)
3. Is the following statement TRUE or FALSE? Write “true” or “false” and give a reason for your answer.
   Pinkie accepted the gift from Naidoo as a token of his love.        (2)
4. Refer to line 6 of extract B (“She panted like ... by a cat”).
   Why does the writer compare Pinkie to a mouse and China to  a cat?            (2)
5. Refer to lines 7-8 of extract B (“He had sent ... a knife before”).
   What does this line show you about China’s past behaviour?       (1)
6. Refer to line 12 of extract B (“She looked at him, mystified”). Explain why Pinkie feels this way.      (2)
7. Refer to the last paragraph of extract B (“The following day ... him any more”).
   1. Why does China’s behaviour change at this stage in the story? (1)
   2. In your opinion, is China being realistic when he hopes that Pinkie will not be afraid of him anymore?    (2)
8. Does Pinkie really forgive China? Give a reason for your answer (1)
9. Pinkie and China do not meet Is this an effective conclusion to this story? Discuss your view.    (2) [18]

Words to know