# The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses

The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses (1973) by Bessie Head is a short story about political activists incarcerated during the South African apartheid. Inspired by her childhood in South Africa as a biracial child when interracial union was illegal, Head’s work deals primarily with racism and its psychological and emotional impact. “The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses” discusses themes of The Duality of Indoctrination and Dehumanization, Community Versus Individualism, and The Tension of Apartheid and Racial Discrimination.

## Quotes

* Be good comrades, my children. Cooperate, then life will run smoothly”
** (Paragraph 28).
* Hannetjie is just a child and stupidly truthful”
** (Paragraph 41).
* hollowed-out chest and comic knobbly knees”
** (Paragraph 2)
* the man really [is] a child”
** (Paragraph 55).
* Perhaps they want me to send a message to the children,’ he thought tenderly, noting that the clouds were drifting in the direction of his home some hundred miles away. But before he could frame the message, the warder in charge of his work span shouted:‘Hey, what you tink you’re doing, Brille?’”
** (Paragraphs 3-4)
* The prisoner swung round, blinking rapidly, yet at the same time sizing up the enemy. He was a new warder, named Jacobus Stephanus Hannetjie. His eyes were the color of the sky but they were frightening. A simple, primitive, brutal soul gazed out of them.”
** (Paragraph 5)
* They were grouped together for convenience, as it was one of the prison regulations that no black warder should be in charge of a political prisoner lest this prisoner convert him to his views. It never seemed to occur to the authorities that this very reasoning was the strength of Span One and a clue to the strange terror they aroused in the warders.”
** (Paragraph 9)
* Scarcely a breath of wind disturbed the stillness of the day, and the long rows of cabbages were bright green in the sunlight. Large white clouds drifted slowly across the deep blue sky. Now and then they obscured the sun and caused a chill on the backs of the prisoners who had to work all day long in the cabbage field.This trick the clouds were playing with the sun eventually caused one of the prisoners who wore glasses to stop work, straighten up and peer shortsightedly at them. He was a thin little fellow with a hollowed-out chest and comic knobbly knees. He also had a lot of fanciful ideas because he smiled at the clouds.
* The prisoner swung round, blinking rapidly, yet at the same time sizing up the enemy. He was a new warder, named Jacobus Stephanus Hannetjie. His eyes were the color of the sky but they were frightening. A simple, primitive, brutal soul gazed out of them
* Up until the arrival of Warder Hannetjie, no warder had dared beat any member of Span One and no warder had lasted more than a week with them. The battle was entirely psychological. Span One was assertive and it was beyond the scope of white warders to handle assertive black men. Thus, Span One had got out of control. They were the best thieves and liars in the camp. They chatted and smoked tobacco. And since they moved, thought and acted as one, they had perfected every technique of group concealment.
* he said, “I don’t take orders from a kaffir. I don’t know what kind of kaffir you tink you are. Why don’t you say Baas. I’m your Baas. Why don’t you say Baas, hey?” Brille blinked his eyes rapidly but by contrast his voice was strangely calm.“I’m twenty years older than you,” he said. It was the first thing that came to mind, but the comrades seemed to think it a huge joke. A titter swept up the line. The next thing Warder Hannetjie whipped out a knobkerrie and gave Brille several blows about the head
* You know, comrades,” he said, “I’ve got Hannetjie. I’ll betray him tomorrow.”

## External links

* super summary
* litcharts