“Okay, she says, the secret, Come I’ll tell you, she says, playing for time, the secret to good skin and hair is – and here she pauses – is plain cold water. Listen, once you get that water in the kettle and you heat it up, then all the goodness flies out.” (Wicomb, 24)

Though this part wasn’t significant or special, I really liked reading this line. From what I was getting in the beginning was that Grace was getting a little annoyed as Fiona would persistently ask “what her secret was”. She wanted to know Grace’s secret to looking so young at her age of 74. After a few times of Fiona asking and Grace repeatedly saying she has no secret, she decided to switch up her response. Grace seems to “cave in” (in reality she isn’t) and says the secret is “plain cold water”. I enjoyed this line because I felt this is exactly what I would do in the same situation. However, after reading a bit more we see it is actually the truth. Grace’s choice (really the authors choice) to respond the way she did and then say “all the goodness flies out” once the water is hot is definitely something I would do to be sarcastic if someone is constantly annoying me about something I genuinely have no answer to or something I just don’t care to think about . Using dialogue like this in the text is what interests me the most when reading but relating to characters and making them seem realistic is what attaches me to a reading. It is also fun how I jumped into conclusions when in reality the author even states she was being truthful.

“Grace’s head stops shaking. Her story has the advantage of
being the truth, but who would have thought that her cold-water
wash, the thing of necessity, could pass for a cosmetic secret?”(Wicomb 25)

I find this quote interesting, as it shows that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Instead of all these complex treatments, just using cold water helps improve the skin. When you use it, cold water shocks your face with great pain and numbness in the short run but makes you feel refreshed and energetic in the long run. This cold water treatment is a symbol of how to deal with Apartheid. The best way to deal with Apartheid is painful yet straightforward confrontation. It will sting in the short run, but it will lead to a more peaceful nation in the long run. However, women like Fiona will continue to use these complex skin-care rituals to keep their skin healthier, believing them to be more effective than the simple solutions making the skin feel good in the short run but keeping the skin poor in the long run. This complicated treatment method is a symbol of how South Africa acts today, with its confrontation of Apartheid being relatively limited and entangled in bureaucracy. Many of its social and cultural problems are still bubbling beneath the surface, making what was supposed to be a rainbow nation an unstable place today.

-Zachary Rosman

“As if the woman would. As if she, Grace, would fall for the fake talk. She can tell from those sweet smelling bottles and silver jars that these fancy women are addicted to their expensive potions…why did the woman ask? And why did she give into the woman’s nosiness and talk about such foolish things?” (page 25)

Grace says this after revealing her hair secret to Fiona and Fiona saying that she would try it out. I found Grace’s reaction to this very interesting as she calls Fiona’s conversation start-up as “fake talk.” I believe that this reaction reveals layers to Grace’s personality and it could be due to the results of the apartheid. Fiona comes from a place of privilege compared to Grace and therefore talks about “foolish things” such as hair care tips, whereas Grace has other important things to worry about such as taking care of the kids and house. This power dynamic can show Grace’s deeply rooted frustration towards white privilege as she has always had to work for everything in her life. I truly feel for Grace as she has to get used to someone who does not want to acknowledge their privilege as Fiona denies not being English but rather “Scottish”, even though they come with similar privilege which could be annoying to work with.

“Children must mos look after their parents; Grace took care of her own mother, herself a geitjie at the best of times, until the day she died in her very own arms, but not Tracy-Anne, oh no, she has not a cent left over to pass Grace’s way.

This quote stood out to me because it reminded of this book I am currently reading about the affects of American racism on immigrants. The book discusses this idea that immigrants have this mentality where they feel they are obligated to help their parents since they feel indebted to them for raising them with all the advantages that they were able to have by growing in the United States. There is a dependency on the youth by elders because in a way it’s their turn to care of them since they are all grown up. This places a burden mentally, financially and physically on youth who are still figuring out their life. The child may be faced with decision to defer their dream in terms of career and life goals because similar to how parents defer their dreams for preparing their child they are expected to do the same.

This connects to the earlier question that Fiona asked Grace of what her secret to looking so young was, which reminded of the stereotype that “black don’t crack.” This stereotype of older black people looking youthful is not really a compliment because it categorizes race as it’s own beauty standard where it feels like they are telling you that you are beautiful for a person of this race. This generalization doesn’t take into consideration that black comes into different shades. Because of this it doesn’t take in consideration that lighter people will crack sooner, but that doesn’t make them less black or less beautiful, which creates insecurities and separation among our own race.

“Although she goes quite ugly with anger when Grace says, You English people from overseas… I’m Scottish, Miss McAllister snarls, actually baring her teeth. Now what kind of putting on is that, she said to Tracy-Anne, when everybody knows it’s the same place, same people.”

When Fiona gets mad, and even offended, for being mistaken as English rather than Scottish, I was reminded of the Gloria/Nina name change in Black Psychiatrist, as both women want to change other’s perceptions of the historical context of their identity. I think Fiona wants to distance herself from the ‘clipped white world of middle England’, seen in her criticism of Grant and his ‘irrational hatred of Glasgow’. She tries to distance herself from the image of being an oppressor by claiming Scottish identity, maybe since Scotland too wanted independence from England and many Scottish people came to SA as missionaries. However, to Grace, this distinction does not actually mean anything, possibly due to the way race was designated under apartheid. As Grace’s thoughts are juxtaposed with Fiona’s, we may interpret Fiona’s activism as a white savior, where Grace is simply a passive recipient of Fiona’s white benevolence. Grace, however, is clearly her own person with her own experiences and thoughts on her interactions with Fiona. 

“Kerry: Mrs. Gresham, are you sure you’re not committing an error?
Woman: Why should I commit an error?
Kerry: Because I don’t think I’ve ever set eyes on you before … In fact, I’m (he hesitates) I’m almost certain it’s all a mistake.”

“Woman: How can I know that? I don’t know the limits of your talents, do I? Of your capabilities, I mean. (Pause) I can’t simply say straight off, can 1, whether or not you can help? All I can say is, I’m prepared to try you. (Pause) There are so many quacks in Harley street these days, one has to be careful about whom one can trust. (Pause) Oh, I don’t mean you, of course! So far as I can tell, your qualifications are of the highest standards. (Pause) Your qualifications are impeccable. Beyond any question or doubt. All your patients testify to your tremendous skill, to your personal warmth. They say you have a certain touch. (She laughs sexily.) The touch of the sun, I suppose. There must be many women, Dr. Kerry, white, middle-class women like myself, who find the idea of a personal encounter with you positively overpowering. (Pause) Do you know, my sister has been going to one psychoanalyst now for twenty years without any appreciable improvement in her condition. She must have paid a fortune by now. I’ve told her she ought to try someone else for a change. Someone like you, Dr. Kerry: someone from a different background who’s not afraid to show a little personal warmth!”

The play Nkosi wrote is one that is extremely intriguing. There’s so much going on, from the obvious to underlying tones. There’s definite tones of sexual and racial tension between Dr. Kerry and Mrs. Gresham. Some are definitely noted in the above quotes. The way Grasham interacts with Kerry, how she ends up finding out she is related to him, and how much denial there is truly interests me. She’s got white privilege, just like any other white person. However, she also displays traits seen in those who believe in white supremacy. Another thing I found interesting is why she was so keen on making him remember their intimacy. Is it done so she feels superior in a way ? What was her true motive. It’s something that circles around my head that I haven’t fully grasped on yet.

“Woman: I’m warning you, Kerry! I don’t care if you’re black and South African and have been oppressed for as long as anyone can remember. This is not South Africa. Here you’re just another psychiatrist, a professional man, like anybody else. No favors. You’re supposed to perform your duties like anyone else without fear or favor.”

In the above quote, you can tell the tone Grasham has is negative and very passive aggressive- if not already aggressive. It’s hard to tell sometimes. She’s belittling him, only saying this as a way to threaten him. Hell, later on she ends up threatening to call the cops and says only he will get arrested due to his skin colour. She’s being racist, she’s threatening him, and she sure as hell doesn’t seem to care what happens to him. What she wants is to play whatever sick game she wants, and to win it.

“Woman: He’s a chemist. An Adulterous Chemist, Dr. Kerry. He thinks I don’t know he’s sleeping with that Wilkins woman. Some common tart he picked up in the midlands to work as his assistant in the laboratory. God, what a joke!”

This quote makes me a smidge confused and yet very interested. I may be reading into it wrong, but she sounds jealous. Why would a racist woman who has belittled the very man she slept with feel jealous ? Is she actually jealous ? Is she just upset, disgusted, embarrassed ? Trying to get into the mind of Mrs. Gresham and understand her words and actions makes my head spin. Plot twists, tone shifts, Mrs. Gresham’s entire mood shifts, and all are so confusing and yet very interesting. It makes sense and yet it doesn’t. One thing I want to be certain of is that she may have issues like how Kerry presumed so as well. There’s no way a sane, aware, human being does whatever the hell Gresham did right ? Surely not. I wouldn’t do that, I doubt anyone else here would either.

“Woman: He’s a chemist. An Adulterous Chemist, Dr. Kerry. He thinks I don’t know he’s sleeping with that Wilkins woman. Some common tart he picked up in the midlands to work as his assistant in the laboratory. God, what a joke!” Page 10

This quote stood out to me a lot after reading the text and seeing the plot twist that unfolds at the end of the story between Kerry and Gloria. In the end, Gloria finds out that she is actually related to Dr. Kerry through blood after his mother was raped by her father while working for him as a housemaid, making Gloria (the person Kerry once had an intimate relationship with) his half-sister. This is important to acknowledge when referencing this quote because there is a morbid juxtaposition between the information Gloria knows and doesn’t know when she’s pressing Kerry for information earlier in the story. Gloria was well aware that her husband was cheating on her, leading to her having a distaste for him and ultimately wanting a divorce. What she hadn’t known by this point however was that her father was doing the exact same thing to her mother. The same hypocrisy she held her husband accountable for was something she wasn’t able to accept when she came to the brutal reality that her father wasn’t the person she thought he was, going as for as feeling weak at the knees and sitting heavily on the couch when she learns the truth about her family tree.

Kerry: Oh, I see. Who was being so brave a moment ago and asking me to accept my history. How about you trying just a wee little bit to accept some of your history. Why don’t you seize the

opportunity with both hands. Grasp at the chance.

As though her legs fail her, she sits heavily on the couch.

Woman: It’s all lies! You’re a damned liar, Dan Kerry! (Page 22)

Nkosi’s play highlights the relationship between whites and blacks in South Africa during Apartheid and after it ended. In that period tensions between those races were extremely high. Both sides had an intertwined past that they didn’t want to fully acknowledge or accept. In the play, Gloria consistently tries to persuade Kerry to address and accept his past. Kerry finds a rebuttal for all of Gloria’s statements. For most of the play he refuses to discuss his traumatic past and desires to live only in the present. Eventually Kerry agrees to disclose information on his family’s history of oppression. Additionally, he emphasizes that Gloria’s past is not perfect, but is tainted and dirty. Gloria refuses to accept the facts about her father’s evil acts and his motives as seen in the quote above. I believe Nkosi emphasizes this point to give a message to South Africans during that time. Nkosi most likely wants his people to acknowledge the past and its resulting damage in order for South Africa to move in.

Nkosi uses the concepts of law and social order brilliantly throughout the play. In particular, Dr. Kerry’s relationship with women and the law intrigues me. Firstly, Dr. Kerry’s dependency on the law is fascinating. He is part of several socialist organizations (which are presumably illegal at the time) and has even attended seminars and parties in Moscow and China. As a character, he seems intent on disrupting social order and creating societal upheaval (given the “guerilla tactics” he learned at the socialist gatherings). At the same time, however, Dr. Kerry uses Western laws to protect and restrict his actions. When he feels threatened, he tries to call the police and threatens to sue the woman for defamation. As someone who seems discontent with the law, it’s interesting how often he uses it to justify himself. This leads to my second point, which is Dr. Kerry’s relationship with women. 

Despite his outward calm and professional demeanor, Dr. Kerry is quite aggressive and impulsive. During his trip to Moscow, he sexually assaulted a woman in an area where he could not be seen by other people. He had to be escorted out of the party by security guards, and the incident was covered up. Although Dr. Kerry preaches about equitable opportunities and relationships between men and women (p.20), Nkosi illustrates that to some degree, men might exist above the law. In both Dr. Kerry’s assault of Madam Voronsky and Joubert’s rape of Dr. Kerry’s mother, both take advantage of the social conditions and their power over women. The relationships between points one and two help formulate a complex power dynamic within the play.

-Chris

“Next time you’ll know better than to come budging in here, turning
up a lot of stones! (He laughs scornfully) I wanted to re-live the past. There are usually scorpions under rocks.”

This end to the dialogue is incredibly interesting and really elucidates the somewhat confusing air of the entire conversation. The woman, Gloria, seems to be attempting to play mind games with him and this comes out in the structure of the dialogue and in their interactions which also confuses the reader, however, this end shows that the doctor did realize who she was and that he might have even suspected it from the beginning. There are clear racial and sexual tensions within this text where the characters’ connection and societal influence lead them to say and do questionable things. The sharp turn in the dialogue where the positions of Gloria and Dr. Kerry are switched and she is now suddenly put on the defensive is interesting and their responses are also interesting to compare. Dr. Kerry acts more collected and expertly denies her accusations, painting himself as the victim of a racist, goading white woman reminiscent of Emmet Till, whereas she is utterly discomposed by his revelation and, this ending where he gains power over her in the end highlights the power structure that even in a society heavily prejudiced against black men, still, the power of men to women is incommensurate.

Woman: I’m warning you, Kerry! I don’t care if you’re black and South African and have been oppressed for as long as anyone can remember. This is not South Africa. Here you’re just another psychiatrist, a professional man, like anybody else. No favors. You’re supposed to perform your duties like anyone else without fear or favor.

This was a really interesting read for me as the interaction between Kerry and Mrs. Gresham as there was a reference to the deeply rooted white supremacy. This quote really bothered me as so many others in today’s world also speak in this manner (sometimes even worse unfortunately) and it is so disheartening. While I was still trying to figure out the relationship between both of them, I was upset by the mention of Kerry’s background as she used it in such a belittling and degrading manner and tone. She even threatens him later on to call the police as she said the police would take him instead of her due to her white supremacy. This part honestly disturbed me as well as Kerry was being very patient with her and did not have any bad intention towards her.

 “I’ll tell you what I mean. (He goes and stands at the window, his back turned on her) Your father, Gloria, is also my father. For a long time Old Joubert was sleeping with his black maid in the backyard. I am the result of that squalid union.” (Nkosi,21)

     This whole text was overall a bit of an annoying read, just because of how repetitive the dialogue is. Throughout the text, a women is trying to convince the doctor that they have met before, but begins to play mind games with him. She first suggests they have met before, then suggests they haven’t and continuously changes the story line. The doctor is in complete denial that they have ever met and sooner or later gets annoyed and the woman. Throughout the text, despite their being banter and moments where one or the other was annoyed, there seem to have been a bit of flirting going back and forth between the two. The two end up kissing. However, it is later revealed that they share the same father. It really disturbs me that the doctor knew this information, he knew that Gloria and himself had the same father, and still allowed a kiss between the two to happen. It is bad enough knowing that it was something that happened in the past, but to let himself do it again after having the knowledge that he did, really bothers me. This line being towards the end of the story, made me reflect on all that happened before hand, all the knowledge that was in this man’s head as he argued with this woman or as he flirted with her, regardless of which it was, knowing what I do now, it is all so wrong.

There were a couple of things that stood out to me upon reading this play. The first was the overt dynamic between black men and white woman. The roles in which we stereotypically regard man and woman are completely reversed. And that has everything to do with the character’s skin color. Black men are not exactly treated well in media. But in this story, the black man is a doctor whose job is to work out others’ mental issues. He’s not very pushy and listens intently. When a stranger walks into his office, he sits down and listens. The woman takes on the role of the white colonizer. She walks in uninvited, pushing boundaries, looking to trip up the innocent. Essentially looking for a reason to punish. She plays strange mind games and tells stories the reader can’t confirm or deny. It is revealed later on that they did indeed know each other and that this power imbalance had existed since the beginning of their relationship. The second thing was a specific habit that is seen amongst white-skinned people and their treatment of non-whites. When Gloria enters the office she talks about how she has read all about Dr. Kerry and asks how it feels “to be the first eminent psychiatrist of your race”. He responds by saying that’s not necessarily true and then she makes a point that his race will imbue his practice with personal warmth. We’ve seen this so many times. Putting non-whites on a pedestal and then using racist assumptions in a ‘positive’ way.

Kerry: “It wasn’t your mother Old Joubert was betraying, you cow! It was my mother he betrayed! (Calming down) It was my mother he exploited. A poor ignorant girl out of the bush, she came to work for your damned family a young woman unaccustomed to the ways of white men, full of goodwill and trust and your damed father (softly) our father used her.”

This particular quotation was verbally very powerful and thought provoking. The way Kerry flips between the use of your father and our father is very powerful as it makes the rift and shame of his existence clear. Kerry outlines this terrible act of their father that was unknown to Gloria; She did not even know that they are siblings. He acknowledges how his mother was mistreated and raped, and the shame he feels for his father; that his existence was created from his mothers abuse. It is obvious in his diction that this internal conflict is a weight on his conscience, as he says, “your damned father” but follows it softly with “our father”. In response to Gloria’s statement, “my father was betraying my mother with a house maid?”, Kerry yelps back to Gloria that her mother was not the one betrayed. It is clear in her statement where race divides point of view and societal expectations. She, being a white woman, views the situation as the unbelievable notion that her white father was betraying her mother with a house maid, generalizing Kerry’s mother and frowning upon her as less than, making it as though it was the “house maid’s” choice. When in reality, their father assaulted Kerry’s mother against her will, betraying both of their families. This example is a representation of how acceptable behaviors in apartheid states and areas of slavery are segregated by race: those in power can dust off the outrageous acts committed against minorities and minority women especially. The newspaper title says it all: “Coloured South African Achieves International Fame: First Eminent Black Psychiatrist to Practice in London’s Harley Street”. Kerry immediately denies the truth of this title. It is shameful to him that this is an achievement, when this should be a commonality. It is a representation of how limited black south africans are with opportunities and rights in general.

-Hannah Khanshali

Next time you’ll know better than to come budging in here, turning up a lot of stones! (He laughs scornfully) I wanted to relive the past. There are usually scorpions under rocks

Ending The Black Psychiatrist with this line really stood out to me for a multitude of reasons. For one, this line truly highlights the stark contrast in behavior of Kerry and Gloria from the beginning to the end of the play. Initially, Gloria is a character that exemplifies control and narcissism. She is constantly acting entitled and brushing off rational statements and questions posed by Kerry, whether it be her persistent attempts to make him acknowledge her sexually or unquestionable attitude regarding their history together. I believe her narcissism and manipulation is extremely deliberate and calculating to trap Kerry into behaving or saying just one statement that crosses her delusional boundary. She takes this inch of leeway and converts it into a mile, completely blowing up the situation and enabling her to continue whatever narrative she wishes to spin. Yet, in my opinion, the end of this piece shows Kerry gaining the upper hand and methodically breaking her down- either with their twisted history or his own spun narrative. In the broader context, I believe Nkosi utilizes the last line to convey how history is often seen in multiple perspectives, and two sides often have difficulty completely understanding each other. This story may serve as an example to represent people of colored and white individuals during apartheid who couldn’t grasp the other side’s story due to misunderstandings. When Kerry reveled in uncovering the past to Gloria, it was his own twisted victory from finally making her understand his perspective. 

There’s a clear reference to Romeo and Juliet in Lewis Nkosi’s “The Black Psychiatrist” towards the end of the play:
Woman: What’s in a name? Anyone can change a name
Moreover, the scene continues with Kerry explaining that he couldn’t be with the woman because her father found out about the affair. We know that Woman subscribes to Juliet’s famous questions “What’s in a name?” as the character herself is merely called “Woman,” implying that there is no significance to her name. Moreover, she introduces herself by a different name than she had when Kerry knew her. Kerry, however, does not subscribe to this view: His character has a name. Juliet’s question also continues: “That which we call a rose \ By any other name would smell as sweet.” Interestingly though, when Woman attempts to seduce Kerry early in the scene, she argues that “the sight of a woman’s nether-garments would be no more disturbing to you than the glimpse of a rose-bush would be to an experienced gardener.” In response though, Kerry argues, “Mrs. Gresham, this is not exactly a rose-bush, is it?” showing that, while a rose would smell just as sweet under a different name, Kerry knows that the situation is not a rose at all.

Dr.Kerry, you must learn to face up to facts. Only through accpetance of one’s life and history lies the path to health and happiness.

– Woman, pg.22

In Lewis Nkosi’s play The Black Psychiaritrist, we read about the horrendous history and consequences of Apartheid. Both Kerry and Gloria are the living embodiment of the ugly legacy of apartheid. Despite the fact that Kerry is the psychiatrist, Gloria acts as the examiner at the beginning of the play. She seeks to be Kerry’s psychiatrist and uncovers his hidden past that he tries to cover. She tells him that only by learning to face the truth can he begin to move on. Ironically, she herself is in no position to give that advice and be the psychiatrist when Kerry reveals the truth of their lineage to her. At the end of the book, Gloria herself was unable to accept the history and consequences of Apartheid. She could not believe that her father would commit such a crime and that her former lover is her half-brother.

The book ends with Gloria who can not face up the facts and Kerry wishes that Gloria as well as all memories of the best do not come back again. He does not want old stones to be turned because he knows there are scorpions under those stones. (pg. 22) Hence, Kerry does not wish to revisit his past because he wants to avoid the pain that comes with his memory of South Africa. I think Nkosi ends the play this way to reflect how that might have been how white women and black men reacted to Apartheid- with avoidance and denial. Yet, Nkosi might have believed and urged that South Africans and the world should come to terms with what happened in Apartheid. Only when South Africans acknowledge the history and consequences of Apartheid can they move on as a nation.

“The room must have a feeling of narrow confinement; the windows are permanently closed and set high up as though in a prison cell. There is a door leading out to the waiting room. This door is kept shut…Do you always keep the window shut like this? …Even your door is locked… you’re locked in your own mental prison.”

I thought this short introduction and quotations were interesting additions to the play as they all led up to and contributed to this reoccurring theme of prison. The inclusion of this, to me, represented the thought that the psychiatrist, Dr. Dan Kerry was in a figurative prison of his own, even after being born into a work of servitude which can be considered as literal prison. Within the text, it was mentioned that the doctor had himself, chosen to put minimal decorations up in his “office”, and after reading the end led me to believe he chose to put himself in a physical prison or one that represented his mental state. This physical prison was his office, displayed by the bareness and always shut windows/door, then there was the mental prison. He shut himself out to the probability of ever seeing anyone from his “past life”, when he was a servant and did not even think of the possibility that the woman he was speaking to was the girl from then. It was the fact that Dr. Kerry had escaped somehow from servitude, a physical prison to become a prominent African American psychiatrist only to wind up putting himself into another prison, only this time of his choosing which was an interesting reoccurring theme to me.

I believe that the author is resurfacing the idea of slavery and white supremacy. At first, a white woman marches into the office of a black successful man, she intends to use his past against him. She then states when Kerry threatens to call the police that they will take him before they take her. Thus, she uses her whiteness over his blackness, and she does this again when she traps him in the room with no escape. Thus, making it transparent that she is in control, and he is under her control. Slavery and white supremacy also develop again when Kerry speaks on his real father, Johannes Joubert, who is also his former lover’s father. He states how he took advantage of his mother who believed she was safe at the hands of a white man, but she was not, she was used, again whiteness was used to take advantage of those who did not share the same whiteness. 

“Kerry: Look at the curve of my chin. Look at the dip of my nose. I don’t say the evidence is irrefutable. Not by any means. But even you can see in the offspring the traces of your father’s-our father’s-diabolical seed. Here, feel those arms. I’m nerved with sinews. Of steel of black mortar mixed with the blood of Dutch immigrants. My mother was a poor ignorant girl out of the bush when she came to work for your corrupt, rotting family. She never knew what she had let herself in for. The midnight knocks in the servant’s quarters. The demands for late-night cocoas and hot-water bottles. (Softly) Your damned father. Our father used her, old Johannes Joubert. Do you understand that? He took advantage of his position as an employer. That was rape. The result was me. I’m your past! Why don’t you accept me!”

This passage was the perfect outlet for the anxiety that I had built up while reading the play. I was left with terror and empathy when I read this part. The author’s careful and impactful word choice was probably the most important in bringing up these feelings. Dr. Kerry seems to accept the responsibility that Gloria was pushing onto him, the good and bad parts altogether. Using adjectives such as “diabolical” and “corrupt”, the author drives home the point about the inhumane nature of Dr. Kerry’s father and how neglected he must have felt. I also noticed how Dr. Kerry’s mother was painted in a much more vulnerable image that makes the viewer of the play instantly side with her plight. The final sentences of the passage are “I’m your past! Why don’t you accept me!”. This complete shift in attitude suddenly puts Dr. Kerry in power, overshadowing the mysterious Gloria and her impressive bank of knowledge about his past. I interpreted Gloria as a figment of the doctor’s conscience and this switch of the power dynamic further reaffirmed my beliefs because she had been probing him to remember things throughout the entire play. By admitting his past, he is free of his guilt and her hold on him, even if it leaves him emotionally damaged.

At parts in the play, I thought Mrs. Gersham was crazy in that she was saying that she and Dr. Kerry had a relationship in the past and that they were romantic with each other–yet Dr. Kerry had no memory of those moments; she kept saying how she knew who he was on a personal level–yet Dr. Kerry couldn’t recall ever meeting her. And despite the various conspiracies that Mrs. Gersham was bringing up, Dr. Kerry still played along to an extent, or at least seemed to entertain her theories. I thought maybe this was his way of knowing her and that he decided that though she had no appointment, he would still see her anyway (and even intrigued to do so because of his attraction to her). But it was a plot twist to know that after all, they did know parts about each other in that Mrs. Gersham knew Dr. Kerry was a socialist and that Dr. Kerry knew that Mrs. Gersham was his sister– despite Dr. Kerry denying to have ever known who Mrs. Gersham was in the very beginning. Also, on another note, despite the time (though I do not know about race-relations in England in the 1900s), race wasn’t really brought up save a few moments that weren’t dwelt upon (besides the ending). And so, in this way, maybe Nkosi was trying to highlight other things such as character mentality while not so much giving the stage to the topic of race, despite the apartheid in South Africa and hostility to blacks in America (which we know about) of his time. Overall, the play was full of twists and turns and was intriguing to read.

“Next time you’ll know better than to come budging in here, turning up a lot of stones! (He laughs scornfully) I wanted to re-live the past. There are usually scorpions under rocks.”

I found these lines to be powerful because not only do they convey why it was so difficult for Dr. Kerry to reveal the truth to Gloria, but because they represent the unexpected turn of events that happened. At first, it felt as though Gloria was the one questioning and studying Dr. Kerry in his own consulting room instead of being the other way around. She continuously requested Henry to recount his past, and she tried to find answers regarding their previous relationship. By doing so, she obtained answers, but not the ones she wanted to hear. She was struck with the crude reality that Dr. Henry was her half-sibling. Discovering that her father sexually abused a black woman, especially during a time of constant discrimination towards blacks in South Africa, was so unexpected that she refused to accept it. Therefore, when Dr. Kerry uses the expression, “There are usually scorpions under rocks,” he suggests that dismantling the past can often sting us. At the same time, he refers to some of the harsh realities that black people endured under a system dominated by empowered white people and numerous segregation laws.

“Woman: (She laughs scornfully) If you mean because of the apartheid laws? Save your breath.
Kerry: By any other laws it was completely unacceptable.”

hese lines in the work “Black Psychiatrist” by Lewis Nkosi were very disturbing. These lines reveal that the torrid affair between Kerry and Gloria Gresham was illegal in any society, even one with everyone being equal, as the relationship was incestuous. I find the relationship was fascinating because one does not see a White person and a black person conventionally related to each other in most literature or throughout most of the historical narrative, even though it happens all too often. For example, in America, Thomas Jefferson’s wife, Martha Wayles Skelton, a white woman, and his black slave Sally Hemings were half-sisters due to their dad fooling around with an enslaved African-American. This kind of messed-up relationship was present in the book, with the author playing with the idea to show that Kerry’s family were held in near-slavery positions by Old Joubert, resulting in sexual abuse and the existence of Kerry. At the same time, the South African state and colonial authorities enabled him and too many others to do it, showing the worst excesses of the South African regime and how the domination over the Africans was like slavery in America.

-Zachary Rosman

“It wasn’t your mother Old Joubert was betraying, you cow! It was my mother he betrayed! (Calming down) It was my mother he exploited. A poor ignorant girl out of the bush, she came to work for your damned family a young woman unaccustomed to the ways of white men, full of goodwill and trust-and your damned father (Softly) our father-used her.”

The fact how the woman was more concerned about the betrayal that her mother experienced from her father than the abuse Dr. Kerry’s mother faced tells you a lot about how in reality she was the one who was indoctrinated to believe these unjust laws that society had created for women. She, herself did not acknowledge the harassment she faced when at the sea. She would tell her herself that she was basically “asking for it” because of her figure. She justified these actions because she thought that these were compliments which boosted her confidence, so they were purely harmless.

This quote also reminded of the idea of the sympathy that my English class discussed last semester. We discussed that people don’t feel bad for others unless they put themselves in the shoes of that person, which is kind of selfish. The woman did not feel bad for Dr. Kerry’s mother because accepting this fact would look poorly on her since she accused Dr. Kerry of doing the same to her. This would mean that he inherited that from their father who she loved dearly. This truth would shatter the oblivious bliss that she was sheltered in, where she was not as innocent as she claimed to be.

“But even you can see in the offspring the traces of your father’s-our father’s-diabolical seed. Here, feel those arms. I’m nerved with sinews. Of steel of black mortar mixed with the blood of Dutch immigrants…It was my mother he exploited. A poor ignorant girl out of the bush, she came to work for your damned family a young woman unaccustomed to the ways of white men, full of goodwill and trust-and your damned father (Softly) our father-used her.”

When Nkosi revealed to us that Dr. Kerry and Gloria are in fact half-siblings by their father, I thought back to Deleuze and Guattari’s brief mentions of the Oedipal complex in our earlier reading. They bring up the idea that every individual concern (including an Oedipal complex) in minor literature is inherently a social concern. Case in point, the climax of Dr. Kerry’s revelation about his relationship to Gloria is not about the implication of incest so much as it is about the effects of oppression and colonization running through his blood, the “steel of black mortar mixed with the blood of Dutch immigrants.” In one of Deleuze and Guattari’s footnotes, they include Kafka’s notion that the father figure is a representation of other political figures. Applying this idea to Nkosi, Joubert may be a representation of the white colonizers in South Africa. Despite leaving the country, the effects of colonization are inescapable in Dr. Kerry’s very existence.

–Jane Ekhtman.