Analysis of the character of

 - thickset man, ginger beard, ginger hair, bullish neck  - always talks in short sentences, from time to time speaks afrikaans  - living on a farm, often talks to his animals, has a hedgery of bantams  - married, has well-trained dogs  - former head of police in Smitsrivier (during the era of Apartheid)  - interrogator, torturer, murderer of Steve Sizela  - his wife says he is a good man, very caring

 - surrounded by an aura of might  - fears „the ghosts of the past“  - fears that Dirk Hendricks might talk about his past and incriminate Pieter  - shows no regret for having killed Steve Sizela  - worried about Mary  - even in his death he wants to support his wife  - provokes James Sizela to shoot him and have his wife paid-out his life-assurance  - he does not want to appear in front of the TRC, rather would commit suicide

 Would you call him a cold-blooded sadist?  - Pieter Muller is a cold manipulator. He tried to get himself out of affair by  corrupting Hendricks  - doesn‘t believe he has done something bad, doesn`t show regret  - racist who has no respect for human dignity  - he sticks to his ideals, would rather die than admitt that he was wrong and beg for mercy  -> It is difficult to decide on whether he is cold-blooded or not, because he has ideals, that  aren‘t comparable with ours. He did his job. But still from any modern point of view he  definetly is a cold-blooded sadist.

 - dislikes the TRC because he doesn‘t want the truth to be revealed  - does not want to reconcile with his victims  - is not ashamed of what he has done  - he will never beg for mercy   Muller is not interested in applying for amnesty   He definetly knows, that he won‘t be send to prison. You can already guess, that he is rather going to die.

 - When Pieter Muller comes after some hearings of Hendricks to his working place he sees a notice written by somebody saying: “WHY PAY A MURDERER TO KEEP YOU SAFE”  - Three of his workers didn’t want to renew their contract with his security company  - “…white community had decided to ditch him rather than be tarred by his brush. He was now the target. Without allies. …” (169)  - Pieter Muller is worried that the friends of him and his wife are going to leave Marie alone.

 - Pieter Muller has a live insurance and wants his wife Marie to have the money. If he committed suicide the insurance would not be paid-out, so he provokes James Sizela to kill him.  - He doesn’t want to appear in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This is why his dead is the last possibility for him to escape.  - Provokes Sizela by saying that his son was worthless and that he is going to talk about the torture in public, also in front of Steve’s mother  - (page ) “…such a worthless son…”, “I´ll tell them everything just as I have told you but with more detail. I´ll describe your son and the pain he underwent. I´ll tell them what he told me about you as well. I´ll make you listen, not only you, but his mother as well…”

Thanks for your attention!