Character Analysis Of Bryce Courtey's 'Peekay'

Life does not always take the easy path for all of us. Bryce Courtey writes about Peekay, who is a English boy, that does not have the easiest life although it may seem like it. Peekay goes through a lot of heart breaks, in the form of death, but ends up coming out on top. With Peekay traveling around and forming new relationship he grasps the traits everyone would love to have. Peekays independence could not have come from nowhere, with him being alone most of his life he had to take care of himself. Most of the time when Peekay got picked on he had to stand up for himself because no one was always going to be there for him. “I was a fairly quiet sort of a guy and had no trouble getting on with things” (333). In this he is saying how he

He was well taught by the people he looked up to most which lead him to be the best in his class every year. “No class existed for my age, and so I had been placed with the seven-year-old kids, all of whom were still learning to read. I had been reading in English for at least a year so that the switch to reading Afrikaans wasn’t difficult, and I was soon the best in the class” (Courtenay 29). Peekay was the youngest in his boarding school and still was at a higher level of education. Peekay continued to be the the smartest kid in all his schools he was in throughout his life. He would learn through various people some being, Nanny, Doc, Mrs, Boxall, and Miss Bornstein. Peekay was not only educated in school but he was also very intelligent when it came to boxing. “First with your heart and then with your heart… Remember you are the next contender” (102-103). Hoppie gave Peekay the reason to start his boxing career and he had taught him how he could push through and become the next welterweight champion. Well rounded Peekay could also play the piano and from that he learned to conduct. “Because Doc would be at the piano, he decided I should conduct. This I would do in the simplest way possible sense, signaling the piano breaks and the pianissimo as well as the fortissimo” (282). From all this time Peekay spends alone he makes many friends which all

His first show of strength is when he was the youngest at his boarding school yet out of everything he went through he would never cry. “One thing got to all of them more than anything else. They could not make me cry” (45). As a little kid Peekay was beaten and made fun of but nothing was worth making the Judge and his posse happy so he held in all his pain. As Peekay gets older he learns to stand up to what he feels is right. “Then you are trespassing and I must ask you to leave at once… It isn’t nine o’clock yet, Lieutenant. No one’s broken curfew” (450-451). Peekay finds out that the police does not have the right reason to be there because the ticket has the wrong school on it, therefore Peekay stands up for what is right and tells the police what he knows is right. The police tried to mess up Morrie and Peekay’s black people school but the police was wrong wrong the whole time. Peekay is also very strong when it comes to boxing. “Lemme tell you, I never have seen an amateur throw a perfect thirteen-punch combination before” (433). Strength from Peekay's boxing comes from the countless hours he has put in to win all the fights he has been in. Geel Piet has raised him right and taught him how to stick through every fight. Peekay’s strength came from various people that came into his life. He was raised to be strong when it came to boxing and stick up for what he knew was