Power of One :: essays research papers

â€Å"Inclusion, not exclusion, is the key to survival.† What does this mean? To say the least, the definition is clearly stated in The Power of One. Initially, Peekay in The Power of One was isolated by members of his family, and as a result of that he was excluded by society because of his background. Ultimately, he was excluded within his own race because of his actions throughout this story. â€Å"One thing got to all of them more than everything else. They couldn’t make me cry.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Peekay was isolated by his family and suffered through deaths and losses. Peekay’s father died early in his life and from there on out he had to learn to live with the idea of death. The next deaths came from Granpa Chook, his mother, and Nanny. Losses continued when Doc went back to Germany, and a camp guard killed Piet. Even when he picked up all his strength as a young man, his losses continued when Maria, his love, was also killed. It just kept on adding up, and Peekay kept taking blow by blow. â€Å"Don’t cry, Peekay. Sister’ll know I told you if you cry.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, Peekay suffered exclusion, and for him it wasn’t much different. He was English, and the Afrikaners in his society hated him. The English took over and governed their territory. â€Å"I was a rooinek and a pisskop. I spoke the wrong language. And now I was obviously made differently.† Therefore, Peekay was discriminated against because of his background. For example Peekay was even whipped while hanging upside down. It’s amazing that something such as that occurred. Lastly, Peekay went through exclusion because of the way he acted. Peekay was a friend to the blacks, which was very uncommon. He even started a Saturday school in which to teach blacks to read throughout their tribes.