ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

RACIAL PREJUDICE AND LONELINESS IN BESSIE HAED’S MARU

A proposal submitted to the Department of English

Language and Literature
as a requirement to the course Senior Essay I

BY
HUSSEN KEDIRO HUSSEN

SUPERVISOR
V.K. VELU

DATE
20 JANUARY, 2009

ARBA MINCH
 CAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Despite the ignorance of most so called “literati” to the domain of African
literature, it in fact is one of the main currents of world literature, stretching
continuously and directly back to ancient history. The beginning of African
literature goes back to ancient civilization of Egypt, where writing flourished
and Papyrus, from which we originate our word paper invented. In contrast,
Sub-Saharan Africa had a vibrant and varied oral culture. The earliest written
Sub-Saharan literature (1920) influenced by Islamic literature is The History
of the Sudan, written by Abd-al Rahman al-Sadi in Arabic style. (Literary
Background, African Literature)

With the period of colonization, African oral literature came under serious
outside threat. European, justifying themselves with the Christian ethics,
tried to destroy the “pagan” and “primitive” culture of the Africans to make
them more pliable slaves. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oluandh
Equiano (1789) was the first slave narrative to be published. The Story of an
African Farm (1883) by Oliver Schreiner is considered as the first African
classic analysis of racial and sexual issues. Franz Fanon, Algerian
psychiatrist, became famous in 1967 through the powerful analysis of racism
from African view point in Black Skin, White Masks. Camara Laye explored
the deep psychological ramification of being African in his master piece, The
Dark Child (1953). Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is the most widely
read and typical example of native African literary work. (Literary
Background, African Literature)

According to Thomas Thale, Southern Africa, particularly the single nation

South Africa, had a rich history of literary output. Until recently Realism
dominated the production of fiction in South Africa. Perhaps authors felt an
overriding concern to capture the countries turbulent history and the
experiences of its people.

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Fiction has been written in all of South Africa’s eleven languages with a large
body of work in Afrikaans, in particular, but this overview focuses primarily
on English fiction, though it also touches on major poetic developments. The
first fiction works to emerge from South Africans were produced by
immigrants who often alienated from the South African landscape as the
same time as they were fascinated by its often harsh beauty. These colonial
writers were unsettled and intrigued by what they perceived to be exotic
elements of indigenous cultures. (Thomas Thale, The Beginning of Flowering
of Literature)

The 1940’s saw the beginning of a flowering of literature by black South

Africans as a generation of Mission-Educated Africans came of age. Among
the writers of this period, Peter Abrahams, Herman Charles Bosman and Alan
Paton were the prominent. (Thomas Thale, South African Literature, the
Forties and Fifties)

Another significant era in South African literature was ‘The Drum Decade’ in
which the Freedom Charter and the central document of the Anti-Racist
Movement were written. There were satirical stories ridiculing the
discriminatory and repressive policies of the state while others provided
harrowing details of the effect of Apartheids legislation on people’s lives. The
popular Drum Magazine was the common forum of the writers of this period.
Es’kia Mphahlele, South African writer later described the style of the Drum
writers as “racy, agitated, impressionistic, it quivered with a nervous energy,
a caustic wit.’’ The Drum writers were exiled to different countries because
of their discontent with the Apartheid policy (Thomas Thale, The Drum
Decade). The New York Times, in its edition of July 24, 2002, had written:
… For decades, black writers were persecuted and oppressed by the
white regime. Literary magazines and publication houses refused to
print their work. Writers were forced into exile and their writings were
banned. Many felt invisible, neglected and forgotten, but they did not
stop writing. (Rachel L. Swarns)

Many of exiled South African writers displayed the severe situations of their
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country’s racial policy. Among these writers Bessie Head is recognized as one
of the most important literary figures. Much of Head’s fictions are based on
her experiences as a refugee and her observations of village life in
Botswana.

Among the works of Head, the researcher found Maru interesting and
touching. The novel primarily concerned with two themes: that of love and
prejudice set in the village of Dilepe. Regarding this novel Head said:

‘With all my South African experience, I longed to write an

enduring novel on the hideousness of racial prejudice. But I also
wanted the novel to be so beautiful and magical that I, as the
writer, would long to read and re-read it.' The novel that resulted
was Maru. (Head)

As Bessie portrayed in the novel, Masarwa people among the Botswana

community, are not regarded as humans. They are made to be outcasts and
servants of their masters. In this piece of investigation the researcher is
motivated to study and produce an analysis of the thematic aspect of the
fiction. The researcher believes that an interpretation of such a novel can
create a broader perspective in understanding the effect of prejudice and
loneliness of the individuals.
1.9 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bessie Amelia Head was born on July 6, 1937, in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, at
Fort Napier Mental Hospital. Because of racist attitudes in South Africa,
Head’s Scottish mother Bessie Amelia Emery was judged insane and
committed to an asylum when she became pregnant by black man. She
insisted that her daughter should be named after her. She died in the
hospital leaving her daughter Head who was six then.

Bessie was then brought up in a foster family of Catholic couples, where she
was educated and shaped her later life by spending much of her time
reading. Bessie’s real life began in 1956 when she began teaching at Clair

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wood Colored School. She left the teaching post in 1958 and became the
only woman freelance reporter for Golden City Post newspaper in Cape Town.
In 1959 she moved to Johannesburg to work for the weekend magazine
Home Post.

Following the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, she was arrested for her PAC
activities. She returned to Cape again and began to write for Golden City
Post, but became very depressed and she was invisible for months. She re-
emerged and started her own homemade newspaper The Citizen. She began
to be very angry and alienated from her marriage and her country. Apartheid
grew crueler every day. She experimented with poetry and fiction.. She wrote
her short novel, The Cardinals, at that time. After she had spent almost 6
years in the turmoil of South Africa’s biggest cities, she felt defeated and
dreamed of leaving South Africa.
In March 1964, she was exiled to Serowe (Botswana) with her son. There she
wrote the novels that brought her international acclaim, When Rain Clouds
Gather (1966) Maru (1971) and A Question of Power (1973). In the first year
of her life in Serowe she become enthusiastic about village life and wrote a
number of stories about it. In 1977 she assembled her short stories and
published as The Collector of Treasures. She was granted Botswana
citizenship in 1979. She wrote one more book in her lifetime- The Bewitched
Crossroad in 1984.

After her traumatic life, Bessie died on April 17, 1986 in Serowe. The Order of
Ikamanga, South Africa’s highest award was bestowed on Bessie Head in
2001 (Tom Holzinger).

Head drew upon her own experience to explore the themes of racial and
sexual discrimination and poverty. While her writings often tell of brutality,
they also express faith in the power of love and the belief that justice
ultimately triumphs. However, Head had difficulty achieving recognition for
her works because of prejudice and discrimination towards her gender and

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racial heritage (Glencoe, American Literature, p. 487).

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

As a critical researcher and reader, the realistic reflection of racial
discrimination in Head’s Maru created a sense of sympathy and motivation
in the researcher’s mind. The novel, in spite of its popularity for the African
literary scene, has not completely been researched and introduced to the
students of literature and to the Arba Minch University community.

The researcher believes that his analysis would pave a way for society in
general and the student of literature in particular to develop a clear insight of
the issue of racial prejudice that results in disregard of society and loneliness
of individuals. Therefore; the researcher would analyze and address the
racial aspect of the novel’s theme with help of the following fundamental
inquiries.
♥ How does Head reflect on the issue of racial prejudice in Maru?
♥ How does the San people in Southern Africa are treated in Botswana as
portrayed in Maru?
♥ How did the writer drew the characters to represent the prejudiced
Botswana village community?

1.3OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

Depending on the above questions, the researcher would like to scrutinize
the book with the objectives:
♥ To have complete understanding of the impact of prejudice in the novel
Maru.
♥ To let the people concerned realize the result of the prejudiced and lonely
life of weak and innocent.
♥ To offer a sense of hope and moral strength to the innocent and
oppressed
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study in general has the following lists of significances:
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♥ It provides additional knowledge about racial prejudice and its
psychological and social adverse outcome implied in the novel, Maru.
♥ It directs the society towards a sympathetic and balanced view of the
nature of human dignity and values.
♥ It also serves as a reference for further investigation conducted on this
issue.

1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The researcher believes that the study would have been more reliable and
authentic to reveal the actual state of racial prejudice in the book had there
been enough time, reference materials, and adequate budget.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study largely focuses on the racial prejudice and sense of loneliness
prevailed in a characters in the novel Maru. Moreover; it looks at a glance,
qualities of some characters in the novel and gives a brief description of the
San culture which has not been given coverage in the novel.

1.7 METHODOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION

The researcher will apply document analysis method in this study. The
primary source of the researcher for the analysis and arguments is the novel
itself. Excerpts and quotes are taken from the novel to be analyzed,
discussed and evidenced. The paper has four chapters: The first chapter is
an introduction of the general nature of the study which comprises:
background of the study, statement of the problem, objective, scope,
limitation, methodology, and description of the story: chapter two provides a
discussion about related concepts about prejudice, forms of prejudice such
as racial and cultural prejudice, racism and psychological foundation of racial
prejudice. The chapter highlights available related literature regarding the
subject. Chapter three deals with the analysis of the book in line with the
common beliefs about prejudice and ethical foundation of interpretation as
revealed in the novel. The fourth and the final chapter is the conclusion of
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the paper.

1.8 SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY

Margaret Cadmore, an orphaned Masarwa girl, goes to Dilepe (Botswana) to
teach only to discover that in this remote village her own people are kept as
outcasts. Her presence divides the community who does not see Masarwa
people as humans and condemns her to the lonely life of outcast

The story begins at the end of the novel where readers are introduced to the
main characters, Maru and Margaret, his new wife. There after the story
moves back in time examining all the past events those have led up to this
point. Finally starting at the “real beginning”, readers are first exposed to the
harsh prejudice s of the Botswana tribe against the Masarwa people.

A dead Masarwa woman and her live child are found, yet no Botswana
person wishes to bury her, and an English Missionaries are called upon to
perform the task. Margaret Cadmore arrives and she utterly feels disgusted
by the discriminative attitude of the Botswana nurses who have been forced
to help prepare the body for burial.

Moved by the true plight of Masarwa people, Margaret Cadmore decides to

adopt the baby and names the baby after herself. She gives the child the gift
of education and upbringing to defy the prejudiced minds that surround her.
Margaret Cadmore returns to England leaving the newly graduated Margaret
behind encouraging her to help her community.

Margaret nervously travels to Dilepe to teach in Leseding School. There she

meets and befriended another teacher-the beautiful and confident Dikeldi,
who is surprised by Margaret candidness when she tells that she, is Masarwa
woman. Having no where to stay , Dikeldi arranges for Moleka, a tribal
superior, the man whom she in fact loves, to provide Margaret with
accommodation. Moleka shares her feelings despite her origins.

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The school administration however, is racist towards Margaret. Dikeldi
protects Margaret from the plot arranged to throw her out. Later Dikeldi`s
highly admired brother, Maru returns from business trip and learns from his
spy that his great friend and rival, Moleka, has fallen for the love of Masarwa
woman-Margaret .Maru plots to make Margaret for himself. Margaret would
have a profound impact on his vision for the world of freedom and equality.
Maru proceeds to marry her by pretending against the idea of the equal
treatment of Masarwa woman. Maru cleverly fools Moleka into portraying
himself to Margaret as one of the same weak, prejudiced followers of the
Batswana mindset. Moleka turns to Dikeldi. Margaret begins to share Maru`s
dreams. Dikeldi becomes pregnant for Moleka`s child. Maru succeeds marries
Margaret and rejects his chieftainship. He defiantly leaves the village to start
a new life with Margaret. This leaves the Bastwana feeling bitterly defeated
and the Masarwa triumphant as they now believe that the power of freedom
lies closely before them in the new world that Maru and Margaret have laying
the foundation for (Kathryn Clare).

1.10 BUDGET

S.NOITEMS QUANTITY AMOUNT

Paper 1 dozen 52 Birr
1 Stationery Notebook1 10 Birr

Pen 1 dozen 75 Birr

2 RW-CD 2 36 Birr

3 Writing and printing the 120 Birr

thesis
Total 293 Birr

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1.11 TIME LINE

S.NO TASKS DURATION LAST DATE

1 Chapter-1 proposal 1 Month January 15, 2009

Chapter-2 Review of related
2 literature 2 Months March 15, 2009

3 The final thesis ( chapter 4 and 25)Months & 6 DaysJune 21, 2009

REFERENCES
BOOK SOURCES
1. Glencoe, American Literature, 2002, The McGraw-Hill Companies,
California
2.Head. Bessie, Maru, 1971, Heinemann, London
WEB SO. URCES
1. Swarns Rachel L, New York Times, Beyond Black and White,South Africa’s
Black Writers Explore a Fee Society’s Tension, June 24, 2002(Dec.31,
2008, 11:02PM)
<www.exiledwriters.co.ak /project sa html>
2. Thale Thomas ,South African Literature, (Dec, 12, 2008)
http://www.southafrica.info/about/arts/literature.htm
3. Holzinger Tom, Brief Sketch of the Life of Bessie Head, 21 July, 2006: (12
Dec, 2008, 11:
11:02)
www.bessiehead.org/biography, brief-biography.html
4 Clare Kathryn, Maru: book review, 16 Feb, 2006 (18 Dec, 2008, 11:15)
<www.africanbookscollective.com>
5. Literary Background, African Literature, (Dec 12, 2008, 10:23 PM)
<www.africanlit.com>

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