Pain In Bessie Head's The Collector Of Treasure

592 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Feminism in African literature

In Bessie Head’s story, The Collector of Treasures, the main tone of the author is very ironic. The story took place in the long-term central state prison, where a group of women were jailed because of one common reason: they had murdered their husbands. At first, the readers may think that these women must be extremely sinful and barbaric. However, as we keep on reading, we can find out that the situation was the exact opposite. These female prisoners possessed many precious virtues. They were caring, altruistic, responsible, capable, intelligent, hardworking, brave, humble, generous, and honest. They were also very eager to learn and become more educated. In fact, with these virtues, they seemed to be the last people in the world who would murder others and get jailed. The author used this paradox in order to show us the extreme gender inequality and its consequences of the post-independent societies in Africa. …show more content…

We can already feel her anguish at the beginning of the story. “The prisoner seemed to strike at some ultimate source of pain and loneliness within her being and, over come by it, she slowly crumpled forward in a wasted heap, oblivious to everything but her pain. ” The tone of this sentence is very serious and tragic. It shows us that the prisoner was probably suffering extreme pain both physically and psychologically. In addition, she was also lonely and helpless, and, instead of walking like normal people, she had to “slowly crumple forward in a wasted heap”. This sets the mood of the whole story to be very sad and pathetic, and makes the reader wonders what exactly caused Dikeledi this much

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Susanne Beacker's Monster Culture

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious

    Read More

  • Mary Jane Androne Ramatoulaye's Analysis

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    And readers are thus exposed to the exploitation and extortion that goes on in this cycle of sympathizers. While the gathering of the women is supposed to be a period of preparing the widows for their confinement, it turns to a period of financial exploitation of the widows. Ramatoulaye succinctly expresses her displeasure,

    Read More

  • Stifled Women in Yellow Wallpaper, Rappaccini's Daughter, and Beloved

    2746 Words  | 6 Pages

    A connection can be drawn among the stories listed above regarding women who live as prisoners. Beatrice, of Rappaccini's Daughter, is confined to a garden because of her father's love of science, and she becomes the pawn to several men's egos. The woman of The Yellow Wallpaper is trapped by her own family's idea of how she should conduct herself, because her mood and habit of writing are not "normal" to them. Sethe, of Beloved, carries the burden of her past and also the past of all slaves. She is unwelcome in her community and a prisoner in her own home, where she is forced to confront these memories of slavery. All three of these women are viewed by society as crazy, evil, or both. The "prisons" in which these women live are constructed by their family, their history, or even themselves.

    Read More

  • S The Courtier And Christine De Pizan's How To Be A Proper Woman

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unlike The Treasure of the City of Ladies, this book is not interested in the women of lower birth or how they conduct their daily lives. It is focused more simply on the elite woman and how she should conduct herself in Court. From the start it is clear that only those of a nobler birth will be viewed with automatic respect, and therefore why even focus on those of a lower status.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    Even though this meant that she would not be able to see or interact with her children for all that time. The pain that she feels is evident when she says, “ At last I heard the merry laugh of children, and presently two sweet little faces were looking up at me, as though they knew I were there, and were conscious of the joy that imparted. How I longed to tell them I was there”(97). She tolerated being locked away in an enclosed dark space for 7 long years in order to free her children from the current master that owned them as slaves, showing how having someone to put ahead of yourself makes you stronger and more resilient as a

    Read More

  • Women's Issues in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Souls Belated by Edith Wharton

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...

    Read More

  • Social Criticism in The Yellow-Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the beginning of this work, the woman is shown to have gone mad. We are given no insight into the past, and we do not know why she has been driven to the brink of insanity. The “beautiful…English place” that the woman sees in her minds eye is the way men have traditionally wanted women to see their role in society. As the woman says, “It is quite alone standing well back from the road…It makes me think of English places…for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people. There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden—large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them.” This lovely English countryside picture that this woman paints to the reader is a shallow view at the real likeness of her prison. The reality of things is that this lovely place is her small living space, and in it she is to function as every other good housewife should. The description of her cell, versus the reality of it, is a very good example of the restriction women had in those days. They were free to see things as they wanted, but there was no real chance at a woman changing her roles and place in society. This is mostly attributed to the small amount of freedom women had, and therefore they could not bring about a drastic change, because men were happy with the position women filled.

    Read More

  • Edna

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concept how woman are treated in modern times have changed drastically compared to woman who lived in the conservative period. That period was the time where the perception of individuals in general dealt with countless restraints. The women were the ones who were affected the most because these values had strongly influenced them. Woman behaved in a way how their husband’s wanted because they were living their lives by the controlled ways of the man. The story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the story of “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin are two stories that show accurately the way how women were treated at that time; exactly Edna and the other women. I want to discuss that the main characters of these two stories; Edna and the other women’s liberty were interdicted by their husbands. Finally, the way how both stories end; Edna’s suicide, and the other women’s insanity; demonstrates their inability to escape from the unhappy reality. None of them found the real strength, to outdo the restriction and effects of society, to attain their independence and freedom that they continuously wanted to achieve.

    Read More

  • West African Kingdoms

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Their existence proves that Africans were capable of managing their own affairs and creating noteworthy civilizations long before Europeans appeared on that continent. They left a legacy that continues to influence the lives of Blacks in Africa and abroad today. BIBLIOGRAPHY Koslow, Philip.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In 'A Doll House And Simply Maria'

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have been given by society certain set of duties, which although change through time, tend to stay relatively along the same lines of stereotypical women activities. In “A Doll House” and “Simply Maria” we see the perpetuation of these forms of behavior as an initial way of life for the two protagonists. Nonetheless we see a progression towards liberation and self discovery towards the development as a human being by breaking the rules of society. Such attitudes soon find opposing forces. those forces will put to the test the tenacity of these women and yield freedom and ownership for their lives which are owned by others at the start of their stories.

    Read More

  • Restricted Freedom of Women in Cisneros', The House on Mango Street

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    As Rafaela, Mamacita, and Sally’s examples show, the men living in the Mango Street neighborhood persecute their women. The men force their women to stay home. They also restrict their women’s rights by making them speak a new language, and in the extreme case, they beat their women. Although many negative aspects of gender may have lessened over the past few decades, the society should still work toward lessening more of these negative aspects around the world, and especially in the Middle East and North Africa, because extreme gender inequalities still exist today. Treating women inhumanely should be considered as extremely immoral, since we’re all human beings and born to be equal.

    Read More

  • Women 's Virtue And Vices

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, women’ status was very low at the ancient society because they must stay at home and took after their husband, father and sons. They must build the virtue figure and did well jobs at home and couldn’t charge the family affairs. For increasing the women’s status, they must accept the education and don’t rely on others. In the future, I hope many women accept the education and make themselves become stronger than before.

    Read More

  • Women in Ancient Civilizations

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    The role of women in different civilizations, even though on different spectrums of the world, had many similarities and only a few differences. Women in these four civilizations: Greece, Egypt, China, and India faced many of the same hardships, struggles, and prejudices. Some of this treatment of women didn’t even end until present day (1920’s). In some of these civilizations women were able to rise up somewhat in their communities but it didn’t come without some kind of interference.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Mariama Bâ's So Long A Letter

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, there have been constant power struggles between men and women, placing the male population at a higher position than the female. Therefore, in this patriarchal system women have always been discriminated against simply due to the fact that they are women. Their rights to vote, to be educated and essentially being treated equally with men was taken away from them and they were viewed as weak members of society whose successes depend on men. However, this has not prevented them from fighting for what they believe in and the rights they are entitled to. On the contrary, it has motivated them to try even harder and gain these basic societal rights through determination and unity. In Mariama Bâ’s book, “So Long a Letter”, the

    Read More

  • Women's role throughout history

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women’s roles have changed drastically. As times changed so did the opportunities and demands. Women adapted significantly well to these new changes, and so they were able to influence and help shape these periods, as well as benefit from them. Women suffered from much discrimination, and were not allowed to attend universities, vote, speak in public or own any property. Also, they did not have a choice but to fight for their place in society. Regardless of all these difficulties, women gathered strength and succeeded in establishing permanent social changes.

    Read More

More about Pain In Bessie Head's The Collector Of Treasure

Open Document