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ISSN No: 2319-5614
Resisting Racial Prejudice: A Reading of Bessie Head’s Maru.
Dr. Miazi Hazam, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Abstract
Bessie Emery Head (1937-1986), considered the most influential yet the most ill-favoured of all Botswana writers, is
known for her strong voice against oppression and marginalization. As a writer of resistance, her novels like A Question of
Power (1973) and Maru (1971) are registers of her strong protest against all forms of marginalization, be they in the form
of a society oppressing and alienating an individual, one gender suppressing the other (A Question of Power), or a society/nation denying the basic human rights to a community/people, as in Maru. Maru, though fictionalized, is a record of
how an entire people can be alienated and dehumanized simply on the basis of difference in appearance. Through the experiences of Margaret, the female protagonist of the novel, Head shows how the Masarwa are marginalized by the Botswana. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that the Masarwa are treated as sub-human entities and not as human
beings of flesh and blood. As such the Botswana refuse to see Margaret as anything but a Masarwa; and for them she can
have only this identity. In doing so, the essential human identity of Margaret (and through her, the entire Masarwa community) is denied. This dehumanization of the Masarwa at the hands of the Botswana is a complex instance of apartheid,
since in this case it is not the white oppressing the black, but the blacks oppressing a race because of difference in appearance. Bessie Head herself writes that Maru “was built up in blinding flashes of insights into evil that hung like the sickness
of death over all black people in Southern Africa” [1] (2008, iv). She also acknowledges that the research that she did
among the Botswana people for this novel brought her face to face with the very roots of racial hatred, which she terms as
the lack of communication between the oppressor and the oppressed. So, she makes Margaret, the Masarwa, speak
through her paintings.
Introduction
Bessie Emery Head (1937-1986), considered the most
influential yet the most ill-favoured of all Botswana
writers, is known for her strong voice against oppression
and marginalization. As a writer of resistance, her novels
like A Question of Power (1973) and Maru (1971) are
registers of her strong protest against all forms of marginalization, be they in the form of a society oppressing
and alienating an individual, one gender suppressing the
other (A Question of Power), or a society/nation denying
the basic human rights to a community/people, as in
Maru. Maru, though fictionalized, is a record of how an
entire people can be alienated and dehumanized simply
on the basis of difference in appearance. Through the
experiences of Margaret, the female protagonist of the
novel, Head shows how the Masarwa are marginalized
by the Botswana. Perhaps it would be more appropriate
to say that the Masarwa are treated as sub-human entities
and not as human beings of flesh and blood. As such the
Botswana refuse to see Margaret as anything but a
Masarwa; and for them she can have only this identity.
In doing so, the essential human identity of Margaret
(and through her, the entire Masarwa community) is denied. This dehumanization of the Masarwa at the hands
of the Botswana is a complex instance of apartheid, since
in this case it is not the white oppressing the black, but
the blacks oppressing a race because of difference in
appearance. Bessie Head herself writes that Maru “was
built up in blinding flashes of insights into evil that hung
like the sickness of death over all black people in Southern Africa” [1] (2008, iv). She also acknowledges that
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the research that she did among the Botswana people for
this novel brought her face to face with the very roots of
racial hatred, which she terms as the lack of communication between the oppressor and the oppressed. So, she
makes Margaret, the Masarwa, speak through her paintings.
In this connection it is important to add a few lines on
how the Masarwa as a community is marginalized by the
Botswana. The Masarwa are compelled to live the life of
the outcasts and everything associated with them is taken
to be derogatory in nature – like their bush dance and the
‘mealie pap’ which is their staple diet. Thus, there is an
effort at constructing a stereotypical image of the
Masarwa in terms of difference, much in the way as described by Bhabha in ‘The Other Question: Difference,
Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism’,
where he points out how the unchanging rigidity that lies
at the root of the creation of the stereotype in colonial
discourse is the reason which denies any possibility of
change to the colonized subject. This, according to
Bhabha, projects the danger not just because of mischaracterization of the other but “because it assumes a fixity
of the image”. [2]
Regarding her own intentions in composing Maru as a
commentary on racial and cultural prejudice, Bessie
Head had explained thus:
With all my South African experience I longed to
write an enduring novel on the hideousness of racial
prejudice. But I also wanted the book to be so beautiful and so magical that I, as the writer, would long
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to read and re-read it. I achieved this ambition in an
astonishing
way
in
my
second
novel,
Maru…Basarwa people were also abhorrent to Botswana people because they hardly looked African,
but Chinese. I knew the language of racial hatred,
but it was an evil exclusively practiced by white
people. I therefore listened in amazement as Botswana people talked of the Basarwa whom they oppressed: ‘They don’t think’, they said. ‘They don’t
know anything.’
For the first time I questioned blind prejudice: ‘How do
they know that? How can they be sure that the Basarwa
are not thinking?’ [3]
Such denial of the rational and intellectual capacity of
the Masarwa is an explicit expression of their dehumanization at the hands of the Botswana. This politics of
‘creation’ of a superior/inferior dialogue lies at the heart
of colonial discourse which constitutes the colonized as
degenerate to justify conquering them and establishing
its own system of power.
In Maru, Bessie Head aims at breaking, or at least resisting, this dehumanization and stereotyping of the
Masarwa through the small yet significant steps taken by
the female protagonist, Margaret. The efforts of Margaret in maintaining her individuality in the face of all oppression and exclusion can be very well considered as
acts towards resisting a misconstrued image of the self
and the community placed at the margin by the centre. In
other words, it can be taken as an effort at resistance
towards the creation of the ‘Other’.
Stephen Gray, in the ‘Introduction’ to the 2008 imprint
of Maru notes how it is possible to read the novel as
exemplifying a situation which Bessie Head herself had
faced in South Africa as a half-caste. He writes:
…at the centre of the work is a rather brutal and obvious plot about injustice, with an object lesson in
how traditional intolerance may render whole sections of society untouchable. It is as if Head is running a test case to exemplify in detail a situation she
knew well enough herself, being a half-caste escaped from the stratifying world of post-war South
Africa. But surprisingly her Botswana enclave is
similarly hierarchical, with fixed social positions defining a person’s status [4].
Head herself had reiterated the same feeling in an interview in 1983:
I just know that I could only have produced Maru in
my Botswana setting, but not in South Africa. I
think it is possibly because the Botswana setting allowed me to put in so much of my learning and my
views on life. I could create a character like Maru,
state that he was a Motswana, but put three-quarterpart of my own stature as a human being into him.
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Create a Masarwa girl, put three-quarter-part into
her… [5].
The novel is the story of Margaret Cadmore, her job as a
teacher and her friendship with Dikeledi, who serves as
her shield against abject humiliation and encourages her
to express herself through her paintings. But the very
presence of Margaret in Dilepe, a remote village in Botswana, starts a complex process of harassment and resistance which eventually turns out into a mind-game of
outwitting each other between Maru and Moleka over
Margaret. The four major characters, Maru, Moleka,
Margaret and Dikeledi, are enmeshed in the series of
actions that take place, and throughout the narrative, the
question is put to the fore whether a society which has
practiced slavery for centuries can be transformed into a
modern, racially emancipated one? In the process, the
deviousness of human intent is brought to light.
The life of Margaret Cadmore is unfolded before the
readers from her infancy; rather, one could say that from
the very moment of her birth, and the process of her
growth can be regarded as a long calendar of exploitation based on racial discrimination. Even as a child she is
a victim of this dehumanizing practice. Very aptly does
Bessie Head put the trauma experienced by Margaret in
the following words:
…if you only knew the horror of what could pour
out of the human heart; a horror that seemed most
demented because the main perpetrators of it were
children and you were a child yourself. Children
learnt it from their parents. Their parents spat on the
ground as a member of a filthy, low nation passed
by. Children went a little further. They spat on you.
They pinched you. They danced a wild jiggle, with
the tin cans rattling: “Bushman! Low Breed! Bastard!” [6]
The above passage is an example of how deep-rooted the
hatred for the Masarwa exists among the Botswana; and
for Margaret, orphaned at birth, it was going to be more
difficult than others to survive, far less to maintain her
individuality, against a system which out-rightly refuses
to acknowledge her humanity by identifying only as one
who belongs to that community whom they have enslaved for centuries. The only justification provided by
the Botswana for such treatment for the Masarwa is given that the latter, as a race, were defeated and captured
by the former centuries ago. Perhaps it would not be
wrong to state at this point that the prolonged practice
has created a stereotype of the Masarwa in the eyes of
the Botswana on the basis of physical differences. It is
indeed interesting to note how the author refers to the
dehumanization of the Masarwa in the following manner:
In Botswana they say: Zebras, Lions, Buffalo and
Bushmen live in the Kalahari Desert. If you catch a
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Zebra, you can walk up to it, forcefully open its
mouth and examine its teeth. The Zebra is not supposed to mind because it is an animal. Scientist do
the same to Bushmen and they are not supposed to
mind, because there is no one they can still turn
round to and say ‘At least I am not a -- ’. [7]
The last unfinished sentence within inverted commas is
important because it brings to light the fact that the Botswana place the Masarwa in a sub-human category, and
more importantly, that they consider them to be the lowliest of the low.
Fortunately for Margaret, she is taken under the care of
Margaret Cadmore, a white lady who is eccentric in her
own way. In spite of the fact that the outer world sees
Margaret primarily as a Masarwa, she receives the type
of education from Mrs. Cadmore which allows her to
view the things around her in a universal manner. As she
grows, it becomes evident that she has absorbed everything from her benefactress. Her education was “hardly
African or anything but something new and universal, a
type of personality that would be unable to fit into a definition of something as narrow as tribe or race or nation”, at the same time tearing to pieces anything which
lacked grounding in good sense. The elderly lady had
tried to nurture her in such a way as to enable the child
to gain control over her mind and soul and have the capacity to survive both heaven and hell [8]. There is also a
parallel to Bessie Head’s own orphaned childhood when
she was cared of by a European lady called Margaret
Cadmore and in composing Maru she was to a great degree paying tribute to the one who had mattered so much
in her life and upbringing.
It is when the young Margaret Cadmore arrives at Dilepe
to teach at Leseding School that she encounters the real
challenge of alienation posed by her difference in physical appearance. Her conversation with Dikeledi, who
happens to be Maru’s sister and a teacher at the same
school, also refers to the marginalized treatment which
she would have to encounter if her identity as a Masarwa
becomes known to the villagers. The surprise of Dikeledi
when Margaret tells her that she is a Masarwa is visible
from the following passage:
Dikeledi drew in her breath with a sharp, hissing
sound…
“Don’t mention this to anyone else,” she said, shock
making her utter strange words. “if you keep silent
about the matter, people will simply assume you are
a Coloured. I mistook you for a Coloured until you
brought up the other matter.”…
“But I am not ashamed of being a Masarwa,” the
young girl said seriously.” (Italics mine) [9].
Margaret’s reply clearly tells of her acceptance of her
identity as a member of the marginalized section, and
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thus becomes an expression of her capacity to endure the
hardships which her identity was sure to throw in her
way. This acceptance of her racial identity also signifies
her coming to terms with her true identity as a member
of a subordinate and repressed race in a prejudiced society and her decision to hold on to her true self in spite of
all the problems which she may have to face.
The disclosure of Margaret’s racial identity as a
Masarwa has the same shocking effect on several others
besides Dikeledi. Pete, the Principal of the school, is
shocked when Margaret discloses to him that she is a
Masarwa. He is so shocked that he cannot comprehend
how Margaret and Dikeledi could be so close to each
other. This shock is probably greater because Dikeledi’s
brother, Maru, is looked upon by the villagers as a leader. He even toys with the idea of ‘warning’ Dikeledi that
she was talking to an ‘it’ and not a ‘she’ – thereby revealing the ugliness of racial hatred. Out of frustration he
plans to have Margaret cast out of school but the plan
boomerangs due to the unexpected intervention of
Dikeledi. Ironically, it is the Principal himself who
leaves the school.
Later complications which take place in the life of Margaret with the entry of Moleka and Maru have called for
further racial and colonial readings into the novel. For
Bessie Head, the problem which lay at the root of the
exploitation of the Masarwa was the lack of communication, because if proper communication is established
between the oppressor and the oppressed, it would horrify the oppressor to know that the oppressed is also a human being like him/her and in possession of thoughts
and feelings. Bessie allows Margaret to have such communication with Maru through her paintings. Her paintings seem to speak, as it were, to that part of Maru whom
the outer world sees as the Boss. The paintings of Margaret are handed over by Dikeledi to her brother who
feels an immediate identification with them. It is as if he
could communicate with Margaret via the paintings.
But it would be just half-truth to assert that it is only the
actions of Margaret and her unabashed acknowledgement of her Masarwa identity that leads to the way of her
oppression; because equally important is the role played
by Maru and Moleka in her life. According to Alan Ramon Ward, “Head realizes that racism, no matter what
its origin, is perpetuated by individuals, and individuals
can decide to reject any measure that runs counter to
what they consider right” [10]. But at the same time it
would not be completely wrong to hold that the position
which Margaret adopts in the novel does not always
make for the emancipation of herself or her people; the
change is to be seen in terms of how the other characters
in the novel see themselves as agents in the process of
that change. It is with this view that Head attempts to
project the change occurring jointly through the art and
actions of Margaret and the decision of Maru, the pro-
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spective chief of Dilepe village to marry her. Yet, because of the complexity involved in the position of Margaret, certain critics like Ibrahim hold the view that she
remains a victim of racism and sexism throughout the
novel [11].
Considering the above observations, it would be better
for the reader(s) to view Margaret as one of the agents of
change, since the change, whatever little it may be, is
ushered in by the collective effort of the three other individuals centered round her – Dikeledi, Maru and
Moleka. Head’s vision in this novel pertains to the efforts made by individuals towards a genuine humane
effort. Of course, it cannot be denied that Margaret remains the impetus for such change. Both Moleka and
Maru, inseparable friends once, vie for the love of Margaret and this turns them into rivals. The interesting
thing about the relationship between the two, as pointed
out by A.R.Ward, is that Moleka and Maru together represent the different parts of an individual; Moleka represents the individual without the heart, while Maru supplies the missing heart [12]. The fact that both Moleka
and Maru leave no stone unturned to win Margaret
brings in the angle of gender-based exploitation into
discussion. Margaret falls for Moleka who is a womanizer and has already fathered eight children from eight
different women. He has earned notoriety for changing
women like clothes and his rejection always has a devastating effect on them, as some are described as running
the streets insanely muttering. He also falls in love with
Margaret on account of her politeness and beauty, but as
a man having a social image to maintain, he cannot go
publicly with Margaret because going out with a
Masarwa would endanger his reputation. So, the first
step he takes towards emancipating his Masarwa slaves
is that he invites all of them to eat with him at the same
table. This sends a stir in the entire village since none
prior to him had committed such a daring act. He even
invites the Principal of Margaret’s school to dine with
him when the latter schemes to create troubles for Margaret and drive her away. The Principal cannot stand the
insult and finally flees the village. In spite of his strong
desire for Margaret, Moleka cannot bring himself to
openly confess his love in the society.
All this had taken place when Maru had been out of the
village. So when he comes back to find that his friend
has fallen in love with a Masarwa girl, he resents but
surprisingly finds himself harbouring a love-hate relationship for Margaret. Meanwhile, Moleka, finding himself tormented due to his inability to express his desire
for Margaret, diverts his attention towards Dikeledi.
Maru too uses Dikeledi to get the paintings of Margaret,
who tries to express the content of her dreams through
her paintings. Here, Bessie Head resorts to the use of
surrealism in the sense that both Margaret and Maru
have the same dreams, and so when Maru sees the paintings of Margaret, he is unconditionally drawn towards
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her. The man who had differed with his own friend
(Moleka) on the question of emancipation of Masarwa
slaves, is now himself inexplicably drawn towards a
Masarwa. However, the means which he applies to
whisk away Margaret has disturbed many a reader, who
feel that his action of taking away Margaret forcefully
with him does not provide a proper solution to her predicament, nor does it in any way emancipate her tribe.
For, as already mentioned in the observation by Ibrahim,
Margaret, in her predicament presents the colonization of
women in a male-dominated society. Still, after Maru
successfully whisks away Margaret, the married life of
Moleka with Dikeledi also settles down peacefully.
Moleka understands that he has been outwitted by Maru
and gently adapts himself to the role of a husband, at the
same time hoping to take over the leadership of the village of Dilepi.
Though it is true that much of the interest of the reader is
maintained in the narrative by the changes in the relationship among Maru, Moleka and Margaret, yet the
social implications of Maru’s act are wide indeed in
terms of challenging and countering the stereotype.
Through Maru’s decision of marrying a Masarwa, Bessie
Head symbolizes the change that was occurring in the
horizon, as many others seemed to silently share the idea
and belief of Maru. Referring to the shock felt by some
of the Botswana people on the unprecedented act of
Maru, the author remarks:
How were they to know that many people shared
Maru’s overall ideals, that this was not the end of
him, but a beginning [13].
Perhaps it is the uncomfortable manner in which Maru
‘abducts’ Margaret into marrying him that may have
raised the question of how much their marriage is based
on mutual love and understanding, particularly given the
information that Margaret was in love with Moleka when
Maru ‘rescues’ her and draws her back into life from
what seemed like an imminent death. Is her ‘rescue’ necessary because she is a female, the supposedly ‘weaker
sex’? Or is it necessary because as a Masarwa, the bugle
of emancipation needs to be blown by one of the oppressors? Even if the either, or at least one of the either were
true, yet a sense of ambivalence is not amiss from the
manner in which the novel reaches its conclusion.
Though it can again be argued that the beginning of the
novel is in its end, yet even the beginning gives us
glimpses of the discomfort felt by Maru. Further, if the
first question stands true, then it leads us back to the
question of gender-politics, or let us say, sexual politics
which has been hinted earlier in the paper. And if we
accept the ambivalence in the manner or mode of the
‘rescue’ then it will not fail to remind us of the type of
rescue which is present in William Golding’s Lord of the
Flies.
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However, the totality of the effect has different implications for the oppressor and the oppressed. Head puts it
this way:
When people of the Masarwa tribe heard about
Maru’s marriage to one of their own, a door silently
opened on the small, dark airless room in which
their souls had been shut for a long time. The wind
of freedom, which was blowing throughout the
world for all people, turned and flowed into the
room, as they breathed in the fresh, clear air their
humanity awakened…They started to run out into
the sunlight, then they turned and looked at the dark,
small room. They said: “We are not going back
there.” [14].
ISSN No: 2319-5614
es.washington.edu/com597j as on 27April 2015 at 11:55
a.m. (Web)
[3] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.iv.
Print.
[4] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.iii.
Print.
[5] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.vi.
Print.
[6] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.5.
Print.
Nothing could be clearer than the last sentence in which
the author refers to the awakening of their humanity,
finally presenting the process of their restoration to the
rightful position of humans from their oppressed subhuman status in an oppressive society. But the final
words of the novel are addressed to the Batswana:
[7] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.6.
Print.
People like the Batswana, who did not know that the
wind of freedom had also reached people of the
Masarwa tribe, were in for an unpleasant surprise
because it would be no longer possible to treat
Masarwa people in an inhuman way without getting
killed yourself [15].
[9] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.17.
Print.
This is indeed a very strong way of putting forth the
message that once the downtrodden refuse to be stepped
over, it is better to end the process of exploitation, for
once ignited with the desire for attaining human status,
the Masarwa will leave no stone unturned in the fulfillment of its dream.
Thus, in Maru Bessie Head creates a narrative of resistance centering round Margaret. The action in the
novel spirals outward with a centripetal force propelling
a change from the dehumanized to the humanized. Still,
Margaret alone does not author this change, it is equally
brought about by the intervention of Maru and Moleka in
her life.
References
[1] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.iv.
Print.
[2] Homi Bhabha. ‘The Other Question: Difference, Discrimination and the Discourse of Colonialism’. cours.
www.borjournals.com
[8] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.10.
Print.
[10] Alan Ramon Ward. ‘Using the Heart: The Symbolism of Individual Change in Bessie Head’s Maru.’ The
International Fictional Review. Vol.31, nos. 1&2 (2004).
Web.
[11] Huma Ibrahim. Bessie Head: Subversive Identities
in Exile. London: University of Virginia Press, 1996.
Print.
[12] Alan Ramon Ward. ‘Using the Heart: The Symbolism of Individual Change in Bessie Head’s Maru.’ The
International Fictional Review. Vol.31, nos. 1&2 (2004).
Web.
[13] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series).
p.103. Print.
[14] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series).
p.103. Print.
[15] Bessie Head. Maru (2008 reprint). Johannesberg,
South Africa: Heinemann (African Writers Series). p.17.
Print
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