The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses

Brille’s glasses symbolize his perceptiveness, especially regarding Hannetjie’s behavior and discrimination. Although Hannetjie pinpoints Brille’s shortsightedness as a weakness, Head uses Brille’s glasses to signify special insight that sets him apart from the rest of Span One.

Head focuses on Brille’s glasses at key points in the story. When Hannetjie beats Brille, Span One is shocked by how Brille anticipates the blows and removes his glasses so that they will not be “smashed to pieces on the ground” (Paragraph 19). Brille’s removal of his glasses signifies his ability to perceive and anticipate Hannetjie’s actions, and it reveals how important the preservation of Brille’s perceptiveness is to him. The symbol of Brille’s glasses also furthers the theme of The Duality of Indoctrination and Dehumanization because Brille’s caution around preserving his glasses shows how he wants to preserve his dignity and humanity. Brille may be imprisoned and degraded, but he is desperate to hold onto anything that preserves his individuality, such as his glasses.

The motif of nature is connected to Brille and his fanciful personality, highlighted by the contrasting imagery of the enclosed prison yard with the sweeping sky.