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Bessie Head was born and reared in from South Africa.She is the author of “The Collector of Treasures.” Many points that she depicted in her story were about the oppressive attitudes some men had about women and children and how society outcast certain women based upon what happened in their lives or upon what they could or could not do.
In this story, “The Collector of Treasures,” Dikeledi, a strong and resilient characteris married to a man named Garesego who is a womanizer.
Garesego believed that everything had to be about sex. He did not take care of his responsibilities as a man. Head described him as the type of man who had sex with women like dogs, out of canal lust. Out of the four years that they were together, Garesego got Dikeledi pregnant 3 times and left her. He did not leave and go to another village, he stayed in the same village and did not take care of the sons he helped bring in the world.
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On the contrary, Paul is completely different from Garesego. Paul is portrayed as the man who cares about his woman and treats her like a person. He is there for his wife, Kenalepe, and their children. Seeing Paul treat his wife like a person was something new for Dikeledi and seeing that type of action from a man to his wife led Dikeledi to try to talk to Garesego.
Garesego is your typical male, so when Dikeledi asked him for money to take care of their children, he expected sex in return.
Dikeledi had another plan in mind. Her mindset in this scenario was that Garesego penis is the only thing that makes him different from her and he used to control women. Therefore, when she castrated him, not only did she kill him, she made him her equal.Garesego was a man who did not have any respect for women. He used them as sex objects and threw them away when he was done. In Dikeledi’s experience, he used her one too many times. Without his penis, Dikeledi felt he could not hurt anyone anymore, especially her. She had watched him treat her wronglongenough as well as other women. Dikeledi felt that without his penis, Garesego and she would be on the same level.
This story is entitled, “A Collector of Treasures” and Dikeledi was definitely a collector of treasures. Even though throughout the entire story, she had nothing but heartbreak after heartbreak and bad things done to her, nevertheless, she did not let that affect who she was destined to be. Dikeledi was not the ordinary lady, she was stronger than the average woman and knew how to do everything the average woman and man could. That is one thing she treasured. Dikeledi also treasured the fact that she could do what she needed to do to make sure her and her family was taken care of. Dikeledi treasured the fact that she was a strong, independent woman.
Dikeledi’s name meant “Tears.” Throughout the entire story, Dikeledi never shed a tear whether it was happiness or sadness. She valued her strong willed mind and her determination to do the unbelievable. Due to the fact that she was a strong woman probably meant that she caused someone else tears, but not herself. There are some ironic points in this story. One is that the protagonist’s name was Dikeledi and you pronounce the beginning of her name as “Dick” which is a slang name for penis. Also, the author of this story name is Bessie Head and Dikeledi had a good “head” on her shoulder. Dikeledi was a collector of many treasures and she added her husband’s penis to the collection. Throughout Dikeledi’s hard life, she has looked beneath the surface and collected small treasures, and these gave her the strength to go on.
The construction of Paul in Bessie Head's, " The Collector of Treasures"
The masculinity reconstruction in the post-colonial setting of Bessie Head's adopted home is among the major elements of her writings. Moreover, the issue regarding the restructuring of models of the African masculinity is obviously, not precise to the short fiction of Bessie Head. This work presents two features of the new masculinity development. Firstly, Head stresses on the phallocentricity connected to this masculinity construction. This feature focusses on the conscious or mental concern regarding the phallus marking the men as the inappropriate recipients of Western male sexuality notions. Based on the western and modern context, the phallus symbolises a power tool. In this context, the phallus becomes a defence with the makings for violating the powerless. The next attribute may pose more threats. Besides, these men have been decentralised to a point of threatening their children.
Paul Thebolo represents the new African masculinity model. Also, he is a different type of man in the community with the ability to construct himself anew. Paul in the short story is shown to have turned his material and emotional resources towards his loved ones, maintaining his quiet rhythm , thus maintaining a healthy family and occupation life. Furthermore, Paul is the representative of a neighbour and friend to Dikeledi and the caring spouse to Kenalepe.
Dikeledi Mokopi was able to put food on her table because she was skilled at weaving and knitting but her business was inconsistent because at times she would receive numerous orders and somedays none at all . She often knit dresses for the Thebolo's but never accepted any money in return, so Paul thought it right to provide her with the basic household goods. The caring and selfless attitude of Paul is also reflected when he accepts the duty of raising Dikeledi's three children and providing for them after she has been arrested for man-slaughter. The relationship between the Thebolo's and Dikeledi in the text has been described as being "rich" and "creative" which means they had an extraordinary connection and truly loved each other's company.
Head emphasises on the need for her nation to turn to the masculinity ideal linked to Paul. Bessie Head presents this feature in the way she creates Paul as almost perfect. He represents all the qualities of what a man is ought to be . Following this further, Garesego and his character match the characteristics of the "current" man in any state. Thus, the author ensures that the readers can accept Garesego's "reality" and may be hesitant in believing in the goodness of Paul (Goodhead 31). While she is addressing his commendable element by referring to him as the "goodness oasis", for instance, Enzenwa-Ohaeto may conclude too ideal to be real (Goodhead 31). MacKenzie assumes that Head suggests a solution, rather than being based on social reality. MacKenzie might be unwise in ignoring the detail he has levied a requirement on Head's role of developing a "saviour" from males in the society (Head 90). The important feature finally is that Bessie Head has a dream of how to reconstruct masculinity.
Critics such as MacKenzie who criticised the author for providing a different African man in Paul has fewer problems believing in Head's femininity construction linked to Paul's counterpart and wife, Kenalepe. Head's key benefits to the postcolonial literature account revolves around her emphasis on marriage as a basis of fruitful constructions of masculinity and femininity. Little importance has been associated with the modest, but rather a supporting proposal by Kenalepe to her friend as well as to her husband. Paul's idealisation in here is in the idealisation of Kenalepe and in her marriage celebration as a union robust that many readers are set to face (Davis 494).
Kenalepe approaches the topic of sexuality in a way in which she tries to balance her own sexual views with that of her friend Dikeledi. According to Dikeledi, Garesego's sexual practices are problematic and not sophisticated because she describes them as "jump on and jump off" (Davis 494). In contrary to the views of Dikeledi concerning sexual sophistication, Paul asserts that a man is accountable for sophistication during sexual encounter. According to an analysis carried out by D.H Lawrence concerning male sexual reminiscence, a lady is viewed as an obvious lover while male sexual techniques are natural (Gale 114). The research describes a man's sexual capabilities as inborn and has to be tender and caring to a woman. Kebonye killed her husband for failing to treat her with care and tenderness. In this context Kenalepe has been fortunate to have Paul as a husband and even confesses she has not been disappointed in that particular part of life.
Dikeledi loves to collect treasures, love, tenderness and gestures. Nonetheless, the last proposal by Kenalepe is so precious that she declines to accept it. When Kenalepe reveals to Paul that she offered to loan him to her friend Dikeledi, Paul laughs off the confession perhaps as a sign of humility for the trust she has on his manhood (Moshenberg 118). Paul's silence is only understood by Dikeledi who observes that Paul experiences conceit because he is a good man. Dikeledi proceeds to explain that when a person is so in love with someone else, it is difficult to refer to things as immodest. Paul is more than an idealised male because he applauds and values Kenalepe for taking part in the building of his own masculinity (Moshenberg 118). Paul is a good man and he knows it because he is aware that sexual gratification is all about true commitment and tenderness, not nerves excitement as Garesego claimed.
Dikeledi is powerless to stop Garesego from going to bed with her because they are tied by the institution of marriage. Paul's masculinity renders him susceptible such that Dikeledi finds it easy to miss her fear. As many readers observe, the castration of Garesego was a clear indication that she had planned to take his life . The readers are only subjected to empathy because the wife appears to be abused. However, readers have failed to pay sufficient attention for the investigations carried out by Head in regards to Paul's figure. For instance, the readers fail to notice that Garesego deliberately refuses to help Dikeledi with paying fees for her son because he wants Dikeledi to ask Paul for his money. He feels that Paul has two homes and Dikeledi is reserved as a spare. Garesego intends to expose Paul for being less of an idealised male. Just like all other fictional and virtuous figures Paul faces a difficult situation. Garesego lays accusations on Paul claiming that Paul has turned out to be the lover of an estranged wife because she supplies her with food. According to Garesego, men can only supply women with food if they want to sleep with them.
Garesego's perception of masculinity is old fashioned because he is determined to destroy the reputation of Paul in the community because he is jealous of him. However, he faces a lot of challenges as he tries to convince some elderly men in the community that Paul is indeed how he describes him to be. He rules out any possibility of Paul being a good man to discredit the community's views. However, the reputation of Paul is assumed to be that of a good spouse to some and some people really believe in what Garesego has to offer. During the somewhat later parts Paul becomes the prey of gossip because of Garesego but the readers are always aware of his kind and gentle characteristics.
“The Collector of Treasures” by Bessie Head. (2017, Jan 22). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-collector-of-treasures-by-bessie-head-essay
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