Under Construction @ Keele 2016 Volume 2 Issue 1 | Page 49

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white colonisers, and functions as ‘objective evidence that expresses reality’,
camouflaged racism.36
Nonetheless, referring to animal images used for discrimination, Fanon writes
that the black subject:
laughs to himself every time he spots an allusion to the animal world in
the other's words. For he knows that he is not an animal; and it is
precisely at the moment he realizes his humanity that he begins to
sharpen the weapons with which he will secure its victory.37
Securing a victory on these terms, Styles subverts Bradley’s humiliation by being his
translator. Styles translates Bradley’s request to ‘[t]ell the boys in your language,
that this is a very big day in their lives’,as ‘[g]entlemen, this old fool says this is a hell
of a big day in our lives.’38 Styles’ ploy – the transformation of ‘boys’ into ‘gentlemen’
and Bradley into an ‘old fool’ – is an indication of black workers’ animosity towards
their boss and fantasy of shedding their subjugation. For instance, Styles creates
humour when he mimics their boss: it resonates with Styles’ idea that the
photograph, both taking it and being the subject of it, is ‘[a] dream’.39
This is an ‘important weapon of survival and resistance’ in the factory,
because it relieves them from their hard work, labour exploitation and social
ostracism, while adding humour to their lives.40 Moreover, in his dramatisation of the
factory event, Styles acts all four roles himself, Bradley, factory workers and Henry
Ford, using their languages: Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. In doing so, he not only
enhances victory, but also subverts the white oppressors’ prejudices. The play’s
political intervention against racism implies that there is no difference between native
South Africans and white rulers. The difference is a phenomenon constructed by the
oppressors for the control of black citizens.
Unlike normal days (on which the black workers were always under strict
surveillance), Styles narrativises the role-reversal on the day of Ford’s visit: ‘[w]e
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