The Antheap

A detailed Summary of The Antheap

The Antheap by Doris Lessing is a story of the struggles between two boys who are growing up in Africa and learn to deal with the racism in their lives. I like Lessing's use of words, especially the way in which she describes the pit. This is a great story that she tells and it is wonderful and exciting to be able to watch Tommy and Dirk grow up and about the path that their friendship travels. Lessing teaches us of the importance of friendship and about its meaning.

The story is set in the African country Zimbabwe. A rich white man, Mr. Macintosh, runs a gold digging operation that consists of a pit being dug by hundreds of Africans who work in a horribly dangerous environment. This pit grows ever deeper as gold and dirt are withdrawn at the cost of human suffering. Mr. Macintosh hires Mr. Clarke to be his engineer. The only white people living near the pit are Mr. Macintosh, Mr. And Mrs. Clark, and their son Tommy. Tommy grows up playing with the young black children. When Tommy is seven, his mother forbids him to play with them. When he asks her why she doesn't answer him truthfully and he is lonely. In his loneliness he makes clay figures of several of the children he is friends with including a boy

named Dirk. One day Dirk comes to Tommy's house with a duiker to sell to Tommy for a shilling. Tommy responds with "damned cheek, too much." Ironically Tommy's mother is embarrassed although it was her that was trying to teach Tommy to be racist. The Duiker dies the next day and after it dies Tommy asks his parents "why is Dirk yellow and dark brown like the kaffirs?" His parents tell him that he will understand when he grows older. We see here that there is an atmosphere of silence on certain topics in their house, things which are understood but never spoken. After reflecting on the question, Tommy comes to the realization that Mr. Macintosh is Dirk's father. When Tommy reveals this information to his parents they tell him that he must never say this again, that they could lose their jobs. After this Tommy goes to school and doesn't see Dirk, but upon returning from school at the end of the year, Tommy meets with Dirk. Upon meeting the two boys got in a fist fight over Dirk's perception of Tommy's condescending attitude. After fighting the boys were best of friends and

In this novel, Mr. Macintosh is portrayed as a complex character. We see his obvious bad side, his greed, racism, and sense of superiority, but we also see his love for Tommy. Although Mr. Ma

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 865
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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