Point of View

Because it is a play, the entire narrative is told with an overarching third-person viewpoint. However, the individual narratives are told in a first-person point of view by Styles and Sizwe. Styles is introduced in the beginning of the play and he takes over the story with a series of first-person narratives. After Sizwe walks into Styles’s photography studio, Sizwe takes over the narrative of the play with a first-person account of his history and the events of his finding and taking the passbook of Robert Zwelinzima. The story concludes by returning to Sizwe’s presence in Styles’s studio and the events are narrated in a third-person style with a view incorporating both men.

Setting

The setting of Sizwe Bansi is Dead is the town of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The year is 1972. The opening scenes of the play take...