Butterflies

Throughout the narrative, red butterflies symbolize the lives lost to government violence and oppression in Jidada. Midway through the novel, a storm of red butterflies surrounds the Old Horse; here, the butterflies gesture towards the ways in which the Old Horse’s genocidal crimes haunt him. Later, as Destiny speaks with her deceased ancestors, she observes a “baptismal red rain of a thousand fluttering butterflies” (347). The butterflies act as a physical, semi-mystical representation of her family (many of whom were killed during the Gukurahundi). Much of the novel’s climax revolves around Destiny’s death, after which Golden Maseko paints a mural of red butterflies in her honor. As citizens continue to add to the mural to commemorate their own lost loved ones, the overwhelming number of butterflies helps to clarify the deadly toll of Jidada’s corrupt and vicious government.

The Crocodile

The Crocodile serves...