Genre
Social realism
Language
English
Setting and Context
The play is set in New Brighton, a township in South Africa, during the 1970s.
Narrator and Point of View
The play is told from a third-person perspective, narrated by the stage direction.
Tone and Mood
The tone of the play is humane and bitingly satirical. The mood is dark.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Sizwe is the protagonist of the play. The antagonist is the unseen white South African government.
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the play is Sizwe's struggle to avoid deportation.
Climax
The climax of the play occurs when Sizwe decides to take on the identity of a dead man.
Foreshadowing
Sizwe not being who he says he is is foreshadowed in the way he seems nervous while giving the name "Robert" to Styles.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The play makes many allusions to the political events and culture of the apartheid era of South African history. It also makes reference to Henry Ford and World War II.
Imagery
N/A
Paradox
Sizwe is still alive but because he no longer has his name he is, in a sense, dead.
Parallelism
There is parallelism between Sizwe and Robert. Both were forced to travel to find work opportunities. One is literally dead, while the other is figuratively dead, having been forced to surrender his identity to survive and not be deported. Both lose their lives, albeit in different ways.
Personification
While describing the roaches that infest his workshop, Styles personifies them, imagining that they had a meeting about how to get back at him for killing so many of them.
Use of Dramatic Devices
Both Styles and Sizwe speak directly to the audience at various points, breaking the fourth wall.
