Summary

Styles recalls his decision to seek out freedom and independence after working a long time for the Ford Motor Company. He also compares himself to a monkey, doing his tricks for the white man because he needed the job desperately. He says, “Out of every twenty-four hours I could only properly call mine the six when I was sleeping” (9). Styles decides to become his own man, to reclaim his own destiny and be his own boss. He has a talent for photography, so he decides that he will own his own photographic studio. Although Styles’s father is unable to understand his son’s desire to be his own man rather than the “fool” of any white man, he perseveres.

After months swamped in the bureaucracy of the South African government, months of forms, applications, and delayed responses, Styles finally receives permission to own a small...