Mother to Mother

Life changing experiences for mxolisi

Chapter 12

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Mandisa writes the murder from Amy's perspective. Although she writes from Mxolisi's point of view before and after the incident, it is only through Amy's eyes that we can watch her die. This could be for a few different reasons. Mxolisi at the time of the murder was so tuned in to the mob mentality, so frenzied, that to write a coherent narrative from his perspective could be impossible. Another explanation has to do with Mandisa's intention: perhaps the narrator could not bear to imagine the event through her son, the murderer's, eyes. Perhaps it has to do with the narrator's intention in the novel, as Mandisa knows that the moment of the murder is a moment the victim's mother could only—should only have to—read about through the eyes of her daughter.