The Promise

By including Desirée’s father in Astrid’s funeral scene, this section underscores the thematic concern with The Difficulty of Addressing Past Injustices, even for those with good intentions. Desirée’s father was exposed as a politician who helped carry out some of the nation’s horribly racist policies under apartheid in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigations of 1995. This commission focused on restorative justice, which emphasizes a real reckoning between victim and victimizer, rather than retributive justice, which emphasizes punishment. Different people—experts and laypeople alike—have differing opinions about which of these models is best, both for victims and for offenders.

Many Black South Africans felt that the chance to confront their oppressors granted them dignity and emotional release. At the same time, the Commission allowed human rights abusers like Desirée’s father to eventually become reabsorbed into public life enough to attend communal events. This amnesty was seen as a way to promote reconciliation, but it left many victims and their families feeling that justice was not served: Many disagreed about whether perpetrators of human rights abuses deserved such grace.

Another criticism of the TRC that resonates with the novel’s motif of broken promises is the accusation of incomplete truth-telling. Some perpetrators did not fully disclose their involvement in human rights abuses, and the TRC was unable to uncover the complete truth in many cases. This incomplete truth-telling left gaps in the historical record and denied some victims the full story of what happened to their loved ones. Along the same lines, the TRC recommended reparations for victims, but the implementation of these recommendations was slow and inadequate. Many victims and their families did not receive the financial compensation or support they were promised, leading to dissatisfaction and a sense of betrayal. This directly mirrors the many years the family delays granting Salome full ownership of her house and the bitterness that delay causes in her son. The Promise demonstrates that there are no easy answers to the problem of addressing past injustices and that some effects of past injustices may never fully fade.

A more personal concern dominates the action in this section, however: Jake’s obsession with finding the identity of the man with whom Astrid was cheating on him. His continued obsession might lead readers to believe that the section is building to him finding the answer, but he never learns the truth. His attempt to deal with the randomness of Astrid’s death by solving a puzzle demonstrates the human desire to make meaning out of chaos. Jake’s inability to do so suggests that it is not always possible to achieve closure after a loved one’s death.