Brink reaches for that unexpected potent strand of Afrikaner thought: an almost religious repugnance toward governmental corruption. And by using a very ordinary Afrikaner as victim, Brink proclaims that no one is South Africa is any longer safe (Redman 5). Andre Brinks powerful novel, A Dry White Season, was made into a film directed by Euzhan Palcy about ten years after it was written. Euzhan Palcy did an excellent job directing her film, which was intended to open the worlds eyes to the injustices being committed in South Africa as a result of the apartheid, and it is successful in doing so. However, it fails to reach out to the reader, as does Andre Brinks novel on which it was based. The movie omits many characters and actions that take place in the book in its attempt to expose the political struggle in South Africa. But what it lacks is the personal struggle that is the main focus of the novel. The novel uses this strategy of personalizing the main characters situation to involve the reader further than the film does- to the point that it leaves the horrible situation in the readers hands- both literally and figuratively. The reader must decide what to do with what has fallen into his or her lap.The plot of A Dry White Season follows the life of Ben Du Toit for about a year and a half. Ben is a white history teacher living in South Africa during its apartheid, whose eyes are opened through the struggle of his gardeners family. His gardener, a black man named Gordon Ngubene, comes to him after his son is beaten and Ben half-heartedly tries to help as Gordons son Jonathan is taken into custody by the Special Police, tortured, killed and buried. Bens concern and genuine want to help increase as more crimes are committed: Gordon is also taken into police custody, tortured, and killed. When Gordons wife, Emily, comes to Ben wanting to have justice be done for what happened to her husband and son, Ben sends her to a lawy...
