Finders keepers ch5-8

• Lufuno


  Prefers living in the past because she felt safer there. She had Dudu and her grandmother to support her and guide her.
• Lufuno and Tshilidzi


  1. Lie in bed together

  2. Make up fantastic stories

  3. The stories were told as if they were taking place on a movie screen

  4. They were the two directors directing comedies and tragedies or romances, depending on their moods

  5. The movies normally had happy endings
• Mandla


  • Handsome
  • Talented
  • Soccer star
  • Heart throb
  • Petal's boyfriend
  • Included by Lufuno because she is love struck
• Literary devices used


  • Simile
  • Metaphor
  • Rhetorical question
  • Onomatopoeia
• Bracelet


  • Represents Lufuno's love of her culture and family
  • Sharing it with Dudu shows a lot of trust
• Lufuno's mother listens to gospel music


  Lufuno listens to music and plays with her bracelet as way of escaping reality
• They watched television soaps together, read horoscopes and dreamt about boyfriends
• Lufuno accidentally uses "my" when Mandla touches the main character's hair while narrating a movie
• Lufuno's childhood


  • Represents the innocence of childhood
  • A time when she was happy and her grandmother was still alive
  • Represents the love that her parents have for one another
• • Parents must allow teenagers to express their opinions
  • There must be an honest relationship between teens and parents
  • If both sides communicate well, then feelings of resentment are prevented
• Mandla greeted his father uncomfortably


  He leaves directly after the meal, and does not want to sit around, talking with his father
• Mandla's aunt says that Mandla should not resent his father or be angry – the reason for this is unclear
• Simile - Lufuno's name


  • Compared to smooth beads
  • Her name rolls gently off his tongue
• Alliteration of the s-sound

  Emphasises the smoothness of the beads that describe the gentle sound of her name
• Mandla's father


  • A small man with a demanding presence
  • Everyone always serves him and laughs at his jokes
  • A wise leader (chief)
  • Respected by everyone
• • Mandla's uncle is in control of union which is controlling the strike, and his aunt works at the bakery as a receptionist
  • The general feeling is that things are going to become bad as management is refusing to give the union what they demand
  • Workers that are not on strike are seen as betraying the striking workers
• Mandla's father shows that he is in control


  • By insisting that Mandla obey him
  • Stays with the aunt, and demands that Mandla skip his afternoon soccer practice
• • People are often angry
  • They feel betrayed by workers who don't participate in the strike
  • The strikers are also often joined by unemployed people, who have bad intentions
  • Alcohol can also fuel violence
• Lufuno's move to Cape Town


  • She had to leave her home and school in Johannesburg and move to Cape Town
  • She also moved away from her best friend, Dudu
• Lufuno's dream


  • Being lost in the forest represents the fact that she feels lost, alone and afraid in her new surrounding (Cape Town)
  • The running and tripping in the dream links with her running away from her troubles and making mistakes in her new environment
  • She hears Dudu's voice because she misses her but Dudu keeps evading Lufuno because they are apart
• Lufuno feels afraid and insecure


  Because her parents are still working despite the strike
• • Rocks had been thrown onto Noki's roof as a warning
  • Group are forming that could become a protest mob
  • Looting may begin as people are drinking and may become violent later in the day
• Sindi's accusation of Lufuno

  • Sindi falsely accuses Lufuno of spying and wanting to trap Mandla
  • Lufuno compares her to a venomous snake wanting to inject venom into the prey's veins
• The unemployed men in the township are drinking to work up courage to plunder and steal later in the day when the strike reaches its climax
• People in a crowd

  • Feel that they are no longer accountable for their actions
  • They lose their identity and responsibility when they get carried away by the crowd
• Lufuno accompanying Mandla


  • Shows that she is willing to follow her heart, in spite of her strict parents
  • She is obviously in love with Mandla
• The park


  • An open plot of land, with a wooden bench, a broken swing, and patch of grass
  • Despite these surroundings, they experience something intimate and emotional
  • Setting is unimportant if people are interest in each other
• Lufuno as a character

  • She is a realistic character because she decides to rebel and follow her heart
  • This makes her a more believable character because she is not only dutiful all the time
  • She chooses to go against her mother's wishes – instead of going home, she goes to the park with Mandla
• Sindi's desire to get Mandla


  • Lufuno is jokingly referring to the fact that Sindi would like to get her father to buy her a boyfriend, specifically Mandla, who is a chief's son
  • This would be expensive if he were to pay Mandla's lobola
  • It is called reverse lobola as it is usual for the man's family to pay lobola, not the woman's family
• Lufuno's drink spills over, and this breaks the tension
• The strike makes it dangerous for them to be on the streets


  Lufuno is also thinking about the fact that her mother has always warned her against boys
• Lufuno and Mandla's relationship

  • Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two people in love from rival families
  • Lufuno is Tshivenda and Mandla is Xhosa
  • They have different cultures and traditions
  • Their families are also on opposing sides regarding the strike which is also a point of conflict
• Lufuno is the narrator. It is a first person narrator.
• It is a tone of dread/ anxiety/ disappointment/ fear.
• It is set a week before the fires. It is set in a township in Cape Town/ South Africa.
• It used to create interest in readers by showing them the most interesting or action-filled part of the novel.
• You would lose friends or grow apart. You wouldn't be able to participate with the other children.
• Dudu made it easier for her to fit in, like paving a rough terrain makes it easier to cross. Dudu supported her and drew attention away from Lufuno's shy personality.
• Dudu was her best friend since she moved to Johannesburg at six. Dudu played a large role in helping her cope and fit in to a new environment.
• Lufuno is worried that she won't fit in and that she will not make any friends like Dudu. This would leave her to face challenges alone.