John's Analysis

Thesis- Alan Paton uses this scene to show how John's lust for power has taken such a strong hold of him that he's willing to ignore and insult his culture, past, and family's beliefs.
"I do not say we are free here...But at least I am free of the chief.  At least I am free of an old and ignorant man, who is nothing but a white man's dog.  He is a trick"(35).
"Every factory, every theatre, every beautiful house, they are all built by us.  And what does a chief know about that?  But us here in Johannesburg know"(37).
"'And you wife?  Why did she leave?' 'Well, well', said John Kumalo with his knowing smile. 'She did not understand my experience.'  'You mean', said Msimangu said coldly, 'that she believed in fidelity?'"(37).

This house represents the fact that John is consciously destroying his previous beliefs and past, thereby destroying all remnants of his culture in order to have more power and fit in with the white men.