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THE NOVELS of BESSIE HEAD Mel CHOO AILEEN BONG-TOH

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THE NOVELS of BESSIE HEAD Mel CHOO AILEEN BONG-TOH i FICTIONS OF POWER: THE NOVELS OF BESSIE HEAD MEl CHOO AILEEN BONG-TOH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL JULY 1990 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTE~ OF ARTS ~ Mei Choa Aileen Bong-Toh, 1990 . ABSTRACT Bessie Head's fiction reflects the author's consciousness of power as the definitive force in the South African context. By consider ing Head as a social real ist, the thesis relates sociological eVldence to authorial inter~st and demonstrates Head's treatment of the power issue in her three novels, When Rain Clouds Gather, ~, and ~Question of Power. Biographical data, lJarticularly Head' s unique, though socially marginal position as a political exile, a Coloured, and a woman are also applied. The thesis covers three areas politics, race, and gender. The first explores the nature of power in South African politics within the time-frame of the present, past, and future. The second which focuses on the institution of apartheid examines racial relations between the blacks and whites and also among the blacks, with attention given to the dilemma of the Coloured. The third section discusses sexual politics, looking at rnale-female relationships in bOLh tradltional and contemporary societiee. RESUME Les romans de Bessie Head reflètent d'une façon tres profonde la conception que l'auteur se fait du pouvoir comme la force motrice décisive dans le contexte sud-africain. En considerant Head comme un écrivain du réalismG social, cette the se met en evidence les faits sociologiques et l'intérêt de l'auteur et démontre sa faç0n de traiter la question du pouvoir dans ses trois romans, When Rain Clouds Gather, Maru, et ~~estion of Power. Les donnees biographiques tiennent compte particuliérement de la position socialement marginale de Head comme exilee politique, de plus d'être metisse comme d'être une femme. La thèse engloJe trois domaines - la politique, la race, et le sexe. La p"p.mière partie examine la nature du pouvoir dans la politi'iue sud-africaine dans la limite du présent, passe et futur. La deuxieme qui met l'emphase précisément sur le raci'.>me, etudie les relations raciales, entre les noirs et les blancs, et les noirs par~i eux-memes. Le dilemme du problème du métissage est également considére. La troisième section traite la politique sexuelle, en ce qui concerne les rapports homme-femme dans les sociétés traditionelles et contemporaines. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I will always be grateful to Professor Peter Ohlin and Professor Michael Brist01, both of whom hdve shown me that the academia can have a human face. 1 thank Benny for allowing me this opportunity to disc(~'.,er and develop myself. 1 also thank my friends in Singapore lnd Montreal for their prayers and support. f - TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..•........................... 1 CHAPTER TWO: POLITICS ................................. 37 CHAPTER THREE: RACE .•••.•...•.••......••..••.......... 69 CHAPT ER FOUR: GENDER .................................. 99 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............••......•............... c-. 126 b 1 CHAPT ER ONE: INTRODUCTION An interesting, if relatively unknown, episode marks the recent literary history of South Africa. In the sixties, the Sestigprs, a literary organisation cornprising young and talented Afrikaans like Andre Brink and Etiénne Leroux, was created and commissioned by the state in a massive propaganda campaign t.o promote South African literature. The group' s main objective was, in the words of Brink, to "broaden the hitherto parochial limits of Afrikaar.s fiction" (Gordimer in Heywood 1976:111). Hailed as the avant garde of South African literature, the Sestigers chose to write about existentialist issues; their works explored thernes such as man's relationship with Gad or the purpose and meaning of human existence. What it did not do, however, was ta address the immediate realities of South African life. In other words, their literature neglected the ugliness, brutality, inequality, and oppression which consti tute the social real i ty of their country. In terrns of literary forro, the influence of William Burroughs was evident in the writers 1 modes of expression. Surrealistic techniques such as discontinuous prose, broken narrative structures, and unconventional symbols or images were widely used to extract meaning from what was perceived as the horror and absurdity of life. 1 It may be noted that until 1974 not one writer from this 2 elite circle faced censorship or was bal"'ned. Yet, despite official encouragement from the government, within a short span of time, the popularity of the artists waned and the group eventuaIIy died a naturai death. With the exception of Brink, whose '.[riting began to take on a more sociailstic slant, the Sestigers with their abstract pieces of writings faded into relative obscurity. what is worth noting is that the group's ardent avowal to the aesthetic notion of "art for art's sake" and its simuJataneous avoidance of confrontation with social issues made its literary efforts appear contrived, affected, and even prete nt ious. The fo110w ing comment by Nadine Gordimer on Etienne Leroux, one the most prominent among the prose writers, is telling: Etienne Leroux is Gad, an infinitely detached Olympian observer amusing himself by recorùing all those ab su rd and dirty flamboyant little battles and copulations way, way down on earth (Gordimer in Heywood 1976:112). In contrast ta the swift ùemise of the aestheticism of the Sestigers is the durable survival of the more conventionally realistic literary works of Nadine Gordimer, Alex La Guma, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Dennis Brutus, and Bessie Head. In fact, the works by these literary artists have not merely survived; the y are flourishing in an appeal to a readership that extends far beyond the borders of South Africa. And this is 50, in spite of the many legal 3 restrictions imposed on the authors. An explanation to this paradoxical situation may be found in the differences that immediately distinguish the tNO categories of writers. The oppositlon set up here is one that exists between two styles of artistic expressions - surrealisrn dnd social realism. While the Sestlgers fervently upheld an aesthetic concept of art, the second group of writers focused on a more realistic interpretation of life or the proclamatlon of "the primal value of Life over the Idea" (Nkosi 1965: 107). If the work of the Sestigers perished before its time, it i9 largely because its aims were not directed at, and its efforts not born out of, the consciousness of the African people. Existentialism, philosophical contemplations and other metaphysical abstractions bear little relevance when the deep realities of the society are mass starvation and poverty, persecution and death. As a South African author, Bessie Head has chosen ta write in the tradition of social realism. Drawing her artistic inspiration from the social circumstances surrounding her own life, she addresses the central issue which prevails in South Africa - the question of power and oppression. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that power is a fundamental concept in Head's works. Using the sociological orientation of Raymond l Williams , the thesis will examine the use or abuse of power at three levels of social relationships applicable ta the l South African context - politics, race, and gender. 4 In his essay, "Li terature and Society", Raymond Will iams establishes the nature of the relationship between these two separate categories, defining their correlation ln terms of "mental structures" which "simultaneously organise the emplrical consci0usness of a particular social group and the imaginative world created by the writer" (Williams 1980:21). In this respect, literature represents the consciousness of a people and evolves out of the group's cultural and historical heritage and experience. The writer's role, then, is to transcribe the consciousness of his social group in writing. Williams refers to the creative act as a "specifie literary phenomenon". He elaborates: (it is) the dramatisation of a process, the making of a fiction, in which the constituting elements, of real social life and bellefs, were simultaneously actu~lised and in an important w~y differently experienced, the difference residing in the irnaginacive act ... (Williams 1980: 25) • The act of creative writing is, thus, a two-fold process. Firstly, by using his imaginative faculty, the writer encapsulates in fiction the various elements which constitute real social life. Secondly, while he faithfully records the ordinary facts of history, social development, and culture, the writer, through his artistic imagination, is also communicating these commonplace human experiences in a way 5 that renders th~m strange and unfamiliar. cecil Abrahams shares the theoretical understanding that a writer's vision is unavoidably shaped by the various social forces impinging u~on his consciousness: Literature does not qrow or develop in a vacuum: it is given impetus, shape, direction and even area of concern by social, political and economic forces in a particular society. Literature, in both its interpretative and prophetic segments, grows out of the confrontation that the artist experiences in relation to the experienees of his society (Abrahams 1979:13). The literary exper3ence i5, thus, not an isolated one. What shapes a writer's world vie~ are not only his private beliefs, values or experiences, but also his personal encounters with the society he lives in. Moreover, sinee every society is distinct in its historical, pol i tical, and cultural background, variations in themes and stylistic approaches ar~ likely ta occur in its literary expression. The sociological perspective is particularly useful when applied to P,frican literature and its literary evolution. European authors writing in the tradition of Haggard, Conrad, and Cary have long projected an image of Africa that is valid only as i t exists in the mind of the ethnocentric white conqueror.
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