‘I will not apologise!

’
(Maire Fisher)
Below I will speak about the story’s plot that revolves in the conflict between Bonita and her
grandmother. It will focus on the way their characters are exposed, the relationships in the
story, Internal and external of conflict, climax and resolution, the story’s setting and the type of
narration used in the story.

1. Characterization.
The characters of Bonita and her grandmother influences the story by showing us how many
families live with tension. The story’s meaning is conflict. Bonita is portrayed as stubborn,
strong-willed and loyal. Her grandmother is shown to be insensitive and rude. The author uses
their clashing personalities to build tension in the story. Bonita’s grandmother was a control
freak we learnt from the story that when she came everything had changed in the way they
lived from the food, their habits and every other thing in the household she changed. The
grandmother was evil and greedy and wanted to make sure that they suffered at her expense
especially Bonita and her mother whom the grandmother has no respect for in that household.
Bonita sees her grandmother as horrible person who is capable of being normal but will not be
because she doesn’t want to, because of the dislike Bonita’s grand mother has for Bonita’s
mother she sees Bonita more like her mother she even says to Bonita “ a bad apple doesn’t fall
far from the tree”. The way these two characters see each other is the testimony of the story’s
meaning.

2. Relationships in the story.

The relationship between Bonita and her grandmother is unhealthy and sad. It has got no love
and care because of the way the grandmother carry’s herself towards Bonita and her mother,
she even told Bonita that she’s a bad apple like her mother. Everything Bonita does for granny
is forced because of how granny teats her. Between Bonita and her parents there is love, care,
communication, compassion and compromise. We see this in the story where the mother and
daughter must live up to granny’s level and accommodate her because of the love they have for
the father they suffer in the hands of the grandmother. These relationships differ in that the
one between the grandmother and granddaughter is heart breaking and full of sorrows
whereas the relationship between the parents and their daughter is loving, caring open and
honest conversations she has had with them. The relationship between Bonita and her
grandmother is central to understanding the story’s theme, she cannot tolerate the insensitive
things her grandmother says about her mother. She wants to be patient with her grandmother
but finds it difficult to do so. Initially, she keeps quiet when her grandmother insults her
mother, but at the end, she defends her mother.

3. Internal and external of conflict, climax and resolution.

The story has an inter-generational conflict. Bonita feels that just because her grandmother is
old it should not be accepted as an excuse for her rudeness and insensitivity. There is an
internal conflict between Bonita and her grandmother that is seen by how grandmothers
feelings and thoughts are described For example, Bonita describes her grandmother’s eyes as
‘cold as iron’, her mouth as ‘pincer-lipped’, and her words as ‘poison gas’ (Fisher, 2002: 83). The
external conflict is where Bonita’s grandmother insults her mother saying she trapped her
father in marriage by becoming pregnant, she retaliates by shouting at her grandmother who is
so shocked that she spits out her dentures the confrontation which occurs at the story’s climax
where Bonita cuts these dentures into pieces and flushes them down the toilet, preventing her
grandmother from continuing with her insults. This is the climax of the story as it is the point at
which Bonita decides to stand up for herself and her mother. The story concludes with her
being confined to her room until she apologises to her grandmother which is the resolution but
Bonita doesn’t want to do as the author even uses an exclamation mark on the title of the story
say “ I will not apologise!”.

4. Story’s setting.
The story happened at one location and time. The action takes place in a house we are not
given much information on what it looks like. It was a Sunday morning when the action took
place and the story happened in nowadays because in the olden day the parents were afraid to
speak to children about what happens when they have reached puberty because they thought
it would be sending them off to do those things. The story has a limited number of characters. It
is Bonita and her grandmother as main characters and Bonita’s mother, father, Tom and Sean
as supporting characters this makes it very fast for the story to reach its climate and it takes
place in one day. The situation between Bonita and her grandmother is tough because from the
beginning of the story we can see that they are not in good terms this is because Bonita’s
grandmother treats them in an inappropriate matter this escalates till the breaking point where
the confrontation takes place.

5. Type of narration.
The first-person persons narration is used in this story. The story is told from Bonita’s
perspective. She uses the words ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’, and ‘mine’. Bonita is the first-person narrator in
‘I will not apologise!’. The title of this story gives us an indication as to Bonita’s involvement in
the plot as it is a strong statement and suggests that she actively participates in the way in
which events unfold. This proves to be true throughout the story as she not only tells the story
but is also the agent driving the narrative forward. This can be seen most clearly when she
confronts her grandmother and destroys the old lady’s dentures. Furthermore, Bonita is not a
neutral narrator. This can be seen in the author’s use of diction in describing her thoughts and
feelings. For example, Bonita describes her grandmother’s eyes as ‘cold as iron’, her mouth as
‘pincer-lipped’, and her words as ‘poison gas’ (Fisher, 2002: 83). These words all carry negative
connotations and thus serve to reinforce Bonita’s negative opinion of the old lady.

In closing, the story revolves in the plot which is the conflict between Bonita and her
grandmother which is not solved till the story reaches the end.

References
Maire Fisher. ‘I will not apologise!’. 2006
Study guide (page 41-56)
 DECLARATION REGARDING PLAGIARISM DECLARATION

Assignment topic: ENG 1501 Assignment 2

I declare that this assignment is my own original work. Where secondary material has been
used (either from a printed source or from the Internet), this has been carefully acknowledged
and referenced in accordance with departmental requirements. I understand what plagiarism is
and am aware of the department’s policy in this regard. I have not allowed anyone else to
borrow or copy my work.

Signature: N RADEBE Date: 5 JUNE 2022