The Smell of Apples

Because 11-year-old Marnus Erasmus tells the story, any assessment of his character hinges on irony. Marnus sees far more than he understands; his views and perceptions reflect his upbringing. Without thought or questioning, Marnus parrots the paranoia and bigotry of his environment: his parents, his neighbors, his church, his teachers. He is immersed in a culture of hate. Indeed, the character of Marnus Erasmus is a psychological profile of the impact on children of the toxic logic of discrimination and prejudice.

Marnus is remarkably unremarkable. He is likable kid. He likes playing with his friends; he loves the ocean; he is modestly gifted in school. He is curious, loves history, goes to church, and frets over the implications of sin. He has a typical love/hate relationship with his older sister. He loves his mother—her gentleness, her religious convictions; he wants the approval of his father. The more he tells us, however, the more we see his parents’ rabid racism and chilling hypocrisy.

Marnus very much believes in the world of his family, and that world, with its lack of moral awareness of the humanity and dignity of his nation’s majority black population, is critical in assessing Marnus’s character.