Christian P.

Welcome to Our Hillbrow 

Reading Response:

        Welcome to Our Hillbrow is a gritty, vulgar portrayal of life in a ghetto where the protagonist, Refentse, had decided was unfitting to continue living in. Phaswane Mpe's hard-hitting novel begins with the unveiling of Refentse as a peaceful soul who has found salvation: "But at least now, you would experience no hardships walking to your flat through the streets of Hillbrow-..." (1). This quote serves multiple purposes, it sets the tone of the story and also how perspective is vital in its delivery of events (reader = Refentse). The narrator is the all-seeing eye that depicts the state of life everywhere in Hillbrow, Johannesburg and how despair plagues its streets. Initially, Mpe's utilization of perspectives allowed readers to delve not only into the main character's mind but also his fellow residents. 

        The several perspectives throughout the novel paints a greater overall picture that involved post-apartheid life and the many taboo topics associated with it. The heaven perspective in particular caught my attention as it essentially reviewed Refentse's life in hindsight. One of heavens' quotes that demonstrated Mpe's extraordinary narrative vision: 

The first time someone took out a knife on you, it was at Hyde Park Village, near Sandton, where you accidentally disturbed thieves stripping cars of their radio sets in the parking lot; Hyde Park, with its lily-white reputation for safety and serenity. You were not stabbed, but only because you made it just in time into the courtyard of your aunt's employer's house, and the butcher knife pursuing you hit the door to the courtyard just as you turned the key to unlock it.

I believe this quote held the theme or essence of what made life in Hillbrow so unforgiving. This can attest to the reasoning behind Refentse committing suicide since violence and disorder had no end in sight. Furthermore, it fairly represents the paths people are willing to take when the racial divide oppressed them for so long. More specifically, when people are put down by masquerading tyrants, it is only a matter of time before they try to gain power without the help of money.