Literary Card: Cry Freedom

John Briley

• Book: Cry Freedom

• Editor: Tricia Hedge

• Editorial: Oxford Bookworms 6

• Author: John Richard Briley

• Biography:

He was born the 25th of June of 1925 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is an American journalist and writer. He worked in England for the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s. John is best known for writing the screenplay for "Gandhi", the 1982 epic which earned him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. In 1955 was sent to England for five years as director of orientation at a base there that he took up writing full-time. He write movies and two novels. The most important movie he made was Gandhi in 1982. At present he lives in Spain.

• Characters:

Main:

Bantu Stephen Biko: He was a black political leader who wanted to bring together the black and white people of South Africa. He is married with Ntsiki and has two children. He is a banned person which means that he can only be in his banning area and he is able to speak only with one person except his family. He is a dramatic (seen in action when avoiding the law), round (now everything what he do), static (live and died witn the same idea of black and whithe people) and he was the protagonist (change Donald´s mind to help him fightinf for black freedom) character.

Donald Woods: He was married with Wendy and has five children. Woods was forty-two years old. He weared glasses. He was the editor of the Daily Dispatch in South Africa. He was then named Father David Curren. He is a dramatic (seen in action when escaping), round (now everything), developing (first he thought in no black concious and then he decided helping Biko -a black man) and he is the protagonist (hero of the story when he is escaping) character.

Secondary:

Ken Robertson: He was one of the journalists on the Daily Dispatch, he was the photographer.

Mamphela Ramphele: She was a black girl of 20 years old that worked in the newspaper (Daily Dispatch)

Ntsiki: Biko´s wife

Nkosinathi: Biko´s son.

Security policeman: Biko´s minders.

Duncan: Donald´s son

Dillon: Donald´s son

Gavin: Donald´s son

Mary: Donald´s daughter

Charlie: Donald´s dog.

Wendy: Donald´s wife

Jane: Donald´s daughter

Evalina: Donald´s black servant

Mapetla Mohapi: He was the man who took Donald to the football match.

Dyani: He was the man who gave the dirty hat to Donald in the car going to the football match.

John Qumza:He is the man who was driving to the football match.

Tenjy Mtintso: She was a tiny young girl who works as a nurse at the clinic in Zanempilo.

Tenjy´s father:

Tenjy´s mother

Tenjy´s son

Tenjy´s aunt

Tenjy´s uncle

Three children

Four cousins

Mzimbi: He was a blck leader who was wanted by the security police because he openly called for violent revolution.

Captain de Wet: Police that showed Biko the witness box in his office.

Judge Regter: Man who tested Biko´s intelligence in Pretoria.

State Prosecutor: Man tested Biko´s intelligence in Pretoria.

Nelson Mandela: True for Biko.

Robert Sobukwe: True for Biko.

Govan Mbeki: True for Biko.

Dilima: He was the elderly man who was the night guard on the old church in King William´s town.

Father Kani: He was an elderly black priest who was one of Biko´s enthusistics supporters.

Kruger: He was the Minister of police and wanted to fight the police illegality.

Johan: Kruger´s son. He was fifteen years old.

Fred Lemick: One of the men standing outside Donald´s house when he said he had a witness for the church.

Samora: Biko´s younger son.

Harold Levy: He was Donald´s lawyer.

Doreen: She was the prettiest typist in the office.

Wilfred Cooper: He was the represenatnt of Mapetla´s family.

Captain Schoeman: He was the security officer of the court.

Lawyer: He was in the court representing the law.

Peter Jones: One of Biko´s closest friends.

Policeman: The man who asked for keys and papers of the car to Peter when he was with Biko.

Dr. Hersch: He was the doctor that said that Biko must be taken to a hospital when he was lying in the prision floor.

Officials: Mens who were representing the British, American and Swedish goverments in Biko´s funeral.

Helen Suzman: Woman that Donald recognice in Biko´s funeral.

Bishop Tutu: Church official in Boko´s funeral.

Students: Young children in Biko´s funeral.

Bruce McCullough: He was an Australian man and one of Wood´s oldest friends.

Lieutenant Beukes: He was a security officer.

Major Boshoff: He was one of the officer who told Donald that he was banned.

Policeman: Man who followed Donald everwhere.

Dr. James: Man who called Wendy when Duncan and Mary were hurt with the T-shirts.

Tami Vundla: Black man who helped Donald to go out of the river.

Vorster: Prime Minister.

Moses: Black man that helped Woods to cross the fronteer.

Lesotho official: Man who saw Donald jumping and dancing after crossing the fronteer.

Receptionist: Woman that told Donal that the High commissioner was not there but another man.

Wendy´s mother

Wendy´s father

James Moffat: He was the acting High commissioner man.

Chief Jhonatan: He acted independently of south Africa.

Prime Minister of Lesotho: He acted independently of south Africa.

John Monyane: He was one man who would be sympathetic to a liberal white South African.

Mr. McElrea: He was a Canadian, boss of the three planes that flew out of Lesotho.

Richie de Montauk: A Newzelander man that agreed to make the flight to England.

Two mechanics: Man who prepared the plane to fly with Richie.

Maseru: Man who was waiting for the plane to fly.

• Setting in place:

The story take place in South Africa in the following towns:

• East London

• Cape town

• Crossroads

• King´s William´s town

• Zanempilo

• Pretoria

• Robben Island

• Queenstown

• Lesotho

• River Telle

• Botswana

• England

• Setting in time:

The story take place between 1975 and 1977.

• Subject matter:

This story is about one men fighting non violence for equal races and withe men helping black ones.

• Theme:

The theme of this story is the resistance for the injust system and the fight for freedom.

• Point of View:

Omniscient-editorial: we now everything. We know what happened to every character without being with the main characters of the action.

• Atmosphere: The atmosphere of the book is a violent, tense (in the end) and relaxing (with the relashionship between Woods and Biko).

• Plot:

Preliminary Situation:

• Woods was told that black people were attacked and bad treated by white people and published in the Daily Dispatch.

• Maphela went to the newspaper to talk with the editor about Biko

• Biko was interesed in Wood, because he could publidh his ideas in the newspaper.

Inciting event:

• Woods went to visit Biko to his house because he was banned cause of starting a revolution and couldn´t be with more than one person at the time.

• They went to a clinic for black people in Zanempilo and a black town to show Wood how black people lived.

Rising action:

• In the stadium, Biko was saying his ideas: be the rulers of South Africa, equal laws and no violence and discrimination. There Biko was arrested.

• The policemen attacked the church, and was published in the newspaper, but it was a risk.

• Dilima accused the police and Woods was banned, for not telling the witness name.

• Mapleta and Tenjy were kidnapped and killed.

• Biko was taked prisioner and was killed.

• One day in Donald's house Duncan and Mary were given T- shirts with an acid.

Climax:

• Woods decided to escape from his country and had to went to England to edit the manuscript he had written.

• Woods met his family in Lesotho after escaping and crossing the fronteer.

Resolution:

• Woods and his family were in the airport ready to leave South Africa.

Type of ending: open because perhaps he could not publish the manuscript and could be captured when landing in England:

• The police asked the pilot who were in the airplane, and he said there were seven passengers with United Nations pasports.

• Wood could escape from the South African system.

• Personal opinion:

We like it because we like adventure stories like this one. We like novels where people fights for themselves. We also like when people like Biko fight for a town's freedom. We like stories when one man could change the mind of another just telling him the true. We would like to now the end of the story (when Wood's family escape to England) by written, not in the film.

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