City Johannesburg: Reflections and Questions In this essay I will discuss how Johannesburg has shaped me; with respect to the theme of danger and opportunity. Johannesburg put me on high alert, because I don't feel safe walking around Johannesburg. I also feel vulnerable to crime. It also made me not trust people because Johannesburg is a place where people look for opportunity and success. They come to town with the mentality that they will do anything to get to the top or succeed. This made me perceive Johannesburg as an unforgiving and scary space. I will demonstrate this by comparing my experiences with the following texts, Welcome to our Hillbrow, City Johannesburg and Yesterday. I chose to use these texts because they describe danger and opportunity in Johannesburg. City Johannesburg is about a man who goes to Johannesburg and leaves his loved ones during the apartheid era. He shares his experiences in Johannesburg and how black people were treated. In the poem City Johannesburg “My hand throbs…” (Serote line 2), the word throbs in this context shows that Serote is nervous and feels vulnerable to something. Here Johannesburg is seen as an unsafe space. Furthermore, he also uses words like “falling darkness” (line 27 of Serote) to express violence and danger. In the first line Serote greets Johannesburg which shows that he has respect for the city but later shapes it in a negative way, this is shown in line 41 “ Jo'burg city, you are dry as death..” (Serote line 41) . He sees Johannesburg as a space that offers opportunities but at the same time is numb and lifeless. In line 21 it is shown that there are opportunities in Johannesburg; because they wake up in the morning and...... middle of paper ......or Johannesburg looking for opportunities, they tell themselves that they are willing to do anything to succeed. They end up robbing, assaulting and stealing, committing all kinds of crimes. This is also shown in Welcome to our Hillbrow, City Johannesburg and Yesterday. The theme of danger and opportunity best describes my experience in Johannesburg and how I have been shaped by the city. If you are willing to fight for your dreams, crime should not be your claim to fame, you should be able to sell shoe laces and still be able to make it in life. You have to be ambitious enough to go the extra mile. If you have desire, will and faith, there is nothing that is impossible, a situation is how you perceive it. We should not let the negative aspects of Johannesburg shape us. We must use experiences to grow and improve ourselves. No obstacle is bigger than ambition.