Tufty as a character and how Leon perceives him

Referring to Tufty as “Wasp Man”

• Contradicts with “Zebra”  

• Superhero  

• See’s tufty as a projection of himself to an extent – he doesn’t feel this with anyone else 

• Leon admires Tufty’s physicality (that they share) 

• Idealised masculinity 

• Leon’s 1^st male role model 

 

Adjusting Leon’s bike 

• Enhances Leon’s freedom further (bike is a symbol of freedom and Tufty is enhancing its features) 

• Tufty inhabits the same world as Leon and increases Leon’s benefits of his childhood – replenishing childhood: adult engages with Leon and doesn’t patronise him (like the social workers do) 

Tufty’s interaction with Mr Devlin 

• Lot’s of focus on the blade – menacing and threatening 

• Leon witnesses a black male role model who is navigating conflict: Tufty speaks to Mr Devlin as a friend, despite the fact that he is pointing a knife at Tufty and Leon 

• Tufty has composure and engages with Mr Devlin intellectually  

• Tufty is modelling a way for Leon as to how to react when in a situation of racial tension (knife is being pointed at Leon) 

 

Tufty’s shed 

• Dominoes – popular in Carribean, therefore the dominoes are a window into Leon’s heritage (“Leon’s dad used to have a set of dominoes”) 

• Leon has never got to experience rights of passage (with his dad) - “Big man's game” - Tufty is informing Leon that this is part of their community and one day when he’s old enough he will be involved with these games --> Tufty is reminding Leon that he is a child – this contradicts all of the previous themes of adultifying Leon by previous characters 

Tufty teaches Leon how to plant seeds 

• Plants = a symbol of growth and purity 

• Male nurturing presence – previously Leon was governed by female role models who can’t relate to him – but Tufty can do this 

• Tufty gives Leon something that can always be grown to resemble Leon’s love for Jake - “like the veins on Jakes hands” 

• Enforcing and imparting knowledge and education in Leon when he tells him the names of the plants 

• Offering Leon to SHARE. Drink cream soda) - sense of acceptance and reflects how Leon and Tufty share things in common – Leon hasn’t properly experienced this before 

• Leon is acknowledging that Tufty’s father taught him things and Tufty benefitted from it, and now he can pass on that knowledge to Leon – this is the first time that Leon is experiencing a strong male role model in his life 

• Tufty makes Leon feel worthy, contradicts the nature of a social worker who is paid to be nice, however Tufty is a pure reflection of the kindness of strangers 

“How does De Waal present the character Tufty in My Name is Leon?” (plan)

• Used to provide Leon with a stable paternal figure 

• --> contradicts with Byron 

• --> this explores the impact of having stable connections amongst communities 

• Introduces Leon to plants: - gives him a sense of security and grounding  

• Leon refers to Tufty as “Wasp man” - ongoing motif of ref=erring to people as animals --> symbol of a wasp vs zebra 

• Tufty is the person who ‘guides’ Leon to the allotment which embodies a sense of family bond and community --> can mention the bike symbolising freedom. 

 

“How does De Waal present the character Tufty in My Name is Leon?” (thesis)

• De Waal presents Tufty as a paternal figure towards Leon, who is provided by the fatalistic interaction between Leon himself and a stranger, which juxtaposes with the forced mechanism of social care system, who dictate to Leon who must be his guardian, however Leon made a decision himself to follow Tufty to the allotment. De Waal uses Tufty to expose that child discovery of their identity, is part of their development cycle and it is cruel that the social care system cannot enable that, therefore leaving children to find it by themselves.

• A crucial example of this can be when Leon recognises Tufty and follows him to the allotment which provides him with a community who have similar heritages to him, another example could be the fact that when Leon first sees Tufty, he refers to him as “wasp man”, therefore juxtaposing with the previous comparisons of social workers to other, more vulnerable animals. Another crucial example of Tufty acting as a paternal figure towards Leon, can be the fact that he introduces Leon to plants and the idea of growing nature, a symbol of purity and hope. 

When Leon is gifted his BMX bike, “he tries to remember the way Wasp Man went”

• Leon refers to Tufty as “Wasp Man” because he admires his stealth and physicality, which he believes they both have in common, hence why he sees Tufty as a projection of himself.

• The ongoing motif of referring to humans as animals is previously used when Leon refers to his social worker as “Zebra” to reflect the idea that Leon does not see his social workers as humans, but instead he sees them as vulnerable objects of which he does not respect, however De Waal uses Tufty (“Wasp Man”) to juxtapose with the previous animalistic analogies of the social workers to highlight the fact that children discovering the kindness of strangers, will always be more powerful and nurturing compared to the forced mechanism of the social care system in the 1980’s, who dictated to children what would be best for them, before having a prior interaction with them.

• The stark physical differences between the nouns “zebra” and “wasp” present the idea that even though a “zebra” is much larger, it will always be vulnerable in helpless in external situations, and in Leons perception he views the social workers as prey of which he wants to cause physical violence towards later on in the novel.

• —> “earring” vs “wasp”: A wasp is alive and moving and can take actions that make a difference, whereas an “earring” can connote with incomplete (link to earrings half-hearted responses to Leon when he asks to see Jake)

• However, a “wasp” is much smaller and therefore embodies the stealth and power of (in Leon’s perception) a superhero, this therefore exposes the idea that Leon admires Tufty to such a large extent, that he embodies all of his positive qualities in Tufty – this juxtaposes with the fact that Leon captures his negative qualities within his social workers (such as Earring)

• De Waal therefore may be intending to outline the start of a paternal relationship between Leon and the kindness of a stranger who he happened to meet, to be one that will guide Leon through difficult moments, and teach him lessons that he would have learnt earlier in his life, had his domestic situation not have been so twisted and complicated