The mass-appearance of female heroes in popular culture in recent decades may encourage the opinion that the female hero has achieved the same credibility as her male counterpart.

A psychoanalytic approach will be taken in exploring the monster, the decay of the psyche and the descent into primordial chaos and madness that occurs within the story. Koert symbolises the dying country rife with corruption, HIV/Aids, moral decay, starvation and total social disintegration.

Even his language, usually symbolic of order, is incoherent as he communicates in a bizarre mixture of nonsensical German, English and Afrikaans. He is grotesquely fat, dying and has gangrene in his leg. Koert (Kurtz) disappears into the chaos that South Africa has become and Marlouw goes on a treacherous journey to find Koert. Hence, Horrelpoot is an Afrikaans Heart of Darkness. The title of the novel refers to Marlouw's clubfoot, indicating not only his physical deformity, but also his deformity of spirit. His sister asks him to find her son, Koert, with whom she has lost contact, in South Africa. Venter explores this South Africa of chaos and mayhem from the point of view of Martin Jasper Louw (Marlouw) who lives in Melbourne. South African author Eben Venter explores an apocalyptic, post-apartheid South Africa in his novel, Horrelpoot (Club Foot).

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