Structure

“In Celebration of Walls” by Frank Lewinberg is an essay—a short, non-fiction text in which the sender addresses a single topic. The essay follows a typical structure: title, introduction, main body, and conclusi…

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Introduction

The essay begins with a short introduction of the topic and the context. We find out that the essay concerns walls in Johannesburg and, by extension, in South African society: “Johannesburg is a city of walls.  Walls surround virtually all homes and many of the city’s…

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Main body

The main body presents the writer’s views and arguments regarding what walls mean for South Africans.

First, the writer offers some background information about society in Johannesburg prior to the erection of walls: “Johannesburg was once a city with few walls, not unlike most European and North American cities.  Low walls or planted hedges often served to separate the private from the public…” (p. 99, ll. 8-10)

Using a personal story about his own childhood and youth in a white neighbourhood in Johannesburg, the writer introduces the concept of the invisible walls of the apartheid regime. Although there were no physical walls in his neighbourhood, society was divided (segregated) between whites and blacks: “That was the apartheid city. While there were no walls around our homes, we had an invisible wall around our lives, indeed around that massive area comprising the northern subur…

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Conclusion

In the conclusion, the writer describes what walls represent for present South African society and restates why walls should be celebrated: “Safety is no longer provided by the state at taxpayers’ expense. It is provided by private owners of any raci…