The Power of One

"First with the head, then with the heart."

The Power of One (1989) is a novel by Bryce Courtenay set in South Africa just before and during World War II. It follows the life of an English boy known only as Peekay after his mother suffers a nervous breakdown and he gets sent to an Afrikaner Boarding School of Horrors. After leaving the school, Peekay gets on a train for Barberton and meets Hoppie Groenwald, the train guard and a welterweight boxer. After witnessing Hoppie's match, the young boy is entranced by the sport and encouraged by Hoppie to become the welterweight champion of the world.

A film adaption was released in 1992. It scores a 2 ("Recognizable Adaptation") on the Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification. It should not be confused with the second Pokémon movie, which in English bears the same title.


 * The Alcoholic: Doc.
 * All Germans Are Nazis: Subverted hard with Doc, and becomes a major plot point when he is sent to prison.
 * All Jews Are Cheapskates
 * The Apartheid Era
 * A Protagonist Shall Lead Them
 * Badass Bookworm: Peekay.
 * The Bully: The Judge.
 * Combat Pragmatist: When Peekay's boxing opponent drinks water, he focuses on punching him in the gut. Ouch.
 * Cool Old Guy: Doc.
 * Distinguishing Mark: The Judge's crude Swastika.
 * During the War: One of the earliest events in the novel is The Judge mentioning Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland. Hoppie is later drafted to fight the Nazis.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: Pisskop (Afrikaans for "Pisshead"), from which "Peekay" is derived. Also Rooinek ("Red Neck"), a disparaging term for Englishman.
 * Everything's Better with Chickens: Granpa Chook.
 * Friendless Background
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: As the cover might suggest, boxing is central to the novel
 * Hands-Off Parenting: Peekay's mother is rather uninvolved with her son's rearing, even after she returns for him.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hot for Teacher
 * Intelligence Equals Isolation: Peekay is ridiculously intelligent (both naturally and from being tutored by Doc) and as such has no friends outside the boxing squad until he goes to The Prince of Wales School halfway through the book.
 * Iron Woobie: Peekay takes massive amounts of abuse at the hands of The Judge and his crew, but refuses to cry, infuriating them further.
 * Jewish and Nerdy
 * Kid Hero
 * Kids Are Cruel
 * Laser-Guided Karma:
 * Mood Whiplash: The first few chapters of the book are a nightmarish Boarding School of Horrors story. After that Peekay gets on a train back to home and suddenly the mood and events of the story turn more upbeat.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown
 * The Obi-Wan: Doc
 * Parental Abandonment
 * The Reveal: Jaapie Botha is actually
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: In the second half of the book Peekay is red to Hymie's blue.
 * Second Boer War
 * Weak but Skilled: Hoppie's strategy to take down the heavyweight Jackhammer Smit is to effectively blind him with punches to the eye. Peekay is entranced by this sort of tactic and uses it when he takes up boxing.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Jackhammer Smit and Jaapie Botha. The "unskilled" part is their undoing.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Jackhammer Smit and Jaapie Botha. The "unskilled" part is their undoing.