LITERARY CRITICISM
“THE BENCH BY RICHARD RIVE”
I. AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Richard Rive, in full Richard Moore Rive, (born March 1, 1931, Cape Town, S.Af.—died
June 4/5, 1989, Cape Town), South African writer, literary critic, and teacher whose short
stories, which were dominated by the ironies and oppression of apartheid and by the
degradation of slum life, have been extensively anthologized and translated into more than a
dozen languages. He was considered to be one of South Africa’s most important short-story
writers.
Rive grew up in Cape Town and with scholarship help attended high school and the
University of Cape Town (graduated 1949). He taught at Hewat Training College and at a
large Cape Town high school, where he was also athletic coach (he was himself a hurdling
champion). In 1962 he traveled widely in Africa and Europe, teaching and lecturing and
absorbing recent trends in African literature in English. Quartet: New Voices from South
Africa (1963; a selection of 16 short stories by four writers including Rive), African Songs
(1963; Rive’s own short stories), Modern African Prose (1964; an anthology edited by Rive
and designed for use by students), and Emergency (1964; a novel about the events of the
Sharpeville massacre and state of emergency in 1960) were published soon after his return to
South Africa. Rive received an M.A. (1966) from Columbia University in New York City
and a D.Phil. from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1974.
Selected Writings, a collection of essays, short stories, and plays, was published in 1977.
In 1981 he published Writing Black: An Author’s Notebook. Rive’s short stories are
characterized by great imaginative and technical power, a skillful use of leitmotifs, and
realistic dialogue.
II. PLOT, SETTING AND CHARACTERS
PLOT
The story starts with an exert from a speech that is held in Cape Town, South Africa. It is
clearly part of a demonstration against the apartheid system. A large black man with a rolling
voice says," It is up to everyone of us to challenge the right of any law which willfully
condemns any person to an inferior position." The lecture is held outdoors, most of the crowd
being coloured. The main character in the story, Karlie, a black man, follows every word the
speaker says. He doesn't quite understand the full meaning of them, but realises that they are
true words. The speaker tells Karlie that he has certain rights. The picture of himself living
like a white man frightens him, but at the same time fascinates him. All he has ever been
taught is that God made the white man white, the coloured man brown and the black man
black and that they must know their place. The people on the platform behave as if there
were no difference in colour. It makes sense, but still only in a vague way. All the time
Karlie is comparing what is happening on the platform to his own situation back home.
There, people of different colour could never offer each other a cigarette as a white woman
does to a black man, up on the stage. The idea makes him laugh, getting him noticed by a
couple of people. This shows that Karlie is not completely comfortable or at ease with all this
new information. His upbringing is strongly embedded in him. Playing with the thought of
being as good as any other man he remembers black opposers of apartheid going to prison,
smiling. It confuses him. As a white woman speaker says, " One must challenge all
discriminatory laws," Karlie grows more confident, fear and passivity are replaced with
determination to act for equality.A white woman jeopardising all her advantages to say what
she believes in. Never had he seen anything like this in his home town. A determination starts
creeping over his vagueness. Now he wants to challenge, whatever the consequences. He
wants to be in the newspaper smiling. This is a turning point in his life. After the meeting, on
the way to the station, Karlie is on the receiving end of a nasty, racialist comment from an
approaching car. " Karlie stared dazed, momentarily too stunned to speak." By reacting at all,
it shows that he now questions this kind of treatment. To " challenge" like the white woman
speaker said, he sits on a "whites only" bench at the railway station. Although this story
spans over a limited time, Karlie has gone through an extreme change in his life. He is now
determined to fight for his own freedom as a human being. He rebels against his former
upbringing imprinted in him and wants to find a new place in society for himself. This short
story was written during the apartheid system. The bench at the railway station symbolises
South African society at that time. Karlie refuses to move from the " whites only " bench and
is therefore pulled away by the police. Under apartheid even mixed marriages were not
allowed. Schools, restaurants and hotels were segregated. " Bantu education" was enforced
for black people in South Africa in 1953. The blacks were taught that they were less
intelligent than other races. Karlie`s initial confusion while listening to the speech, can be
linked to this form of brain washing. Many were opposed to this oppressive system. Karlie is
of course alone in disobeying the police, but he represents all the black opponents of
apartheid and racial discrimination. " Karlie turned to resist, to cling to the bench, to his
bench." Karlie is not only holding on to a bench, but also to his own existence as an equal
citizen of South Africa. " It was senseless fighting any longer. Now it was his turn to smile."
Although Karlie looses his grip, he is not defeated. He smiles as he`s taken away. Karlie wins
the battle with himself and is proud of showing his victory.
