“Sponono” by Alan Paton

The short story Sponono by Alan Paton is about troubled young man that lives in a reformatory. He can be very manipulating at times especially when he convinces the principal to keep Johannes to stay at the reformatory. “Some of us think, said Sponono, that you are being too severe. Johannes admitted that he had stolen the watch, and he did not lie about it. This makes us think that he is not a bad fellow, and he himself does not wish to go to prison, but say he is willing to spend some extra time in the reformatory to atone for what he has done” (52). Eventually Sponono convinced the principal to let Johannes stay. Sponono also quotes the bible a lot, though he is not a Christian. “Jesus said that we must forgive those who offend against us, even unto seventy times seven. Are you a Christian? I asked. I am not, he said, I am not good enough, but I like to obey the commandments” (61).

I think that Sponono should not be trusted because of the choices he has made in the past and the present. And because he bends the rules of the commandments in his favor, it shows that he does not care about the bible at all, but instead wants to look good for the principal. All Sponono really cares about is leaving the reformatory to renew his criminal life. That is way Sponono quotes the bible. Because even though the principal does not teach the bible, the way Sponono tries too, the principal is a Christian. Sponono just wants to show the principal that he can be a better person by quoting the bible and sounding serous about what he is saying. Sponono will never understand what it is like to be a true and honest person. If he were, he would have never talked about the bible like he truly believed in it.