What are the motifs in Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor?

Race is a recurring idea. Bitter Fruit takes place in post-apartheid South Africa, where a nation struggles to come to terms with its racist past and to reconcile different races to each other. The TRC is collecting testimony on racially and politically based crimes which occurred under the old regime. The characters in the book represent a smaller microcosm of the issues and emotions that the nation as a whole faces. Du Boise, in many ways, is the face of the racist, apartheid system. He is white and he committed violent acts, including rape, against blacks.