Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Battle for Daughter's Affection
Ma’Shingayi grows a hardened, bitter heart after Nhamo’s death. Due to the only life she knows, she accepts her limitations and refuses to see past them. She is entrapped because she is a woman and will not be seen more than just a household organizer. She is bitter because she is not educated and this dwell’s on her self esteem. Ma’Shingayi is fed up with the all of the issues of colonialism and womanhood. Ma’Shingayi’s speech on pages 142-143 shows her catharsis after the issue of Lucia and Takesure. She does not like that Maiguru is educated and that others choose to listen to her. It is ignorance on Ma’Shingayi’s part because she chooses to settle in her cultural lifestyle. She treats the ‘Englishness’ of Maiguru and Tambu as if it were a spell that the ‘witch’ Maiguru is trying to cast on the ones Ma’Shingayi loves. She says that Maiguru is “not decent because first she killed my son and now she has taken my Tambudzai away from me” (143). Maiguru did not kill her son but her ignorance will not lead her to believe otherwise. She wants to scar Maiguru’s name in front of the other women by saying she is not decent. In the end, she is trying to get Tambu to see that Maiguru is the antagonist and that Maiguru has poisoned Tambu’s ways African ways with European ways. Ma’Shingayi is ultimately saying colonialism equals death and because we know she is ignorant of other ways; we almost sort of sympathize with her. Ma’Shingayi really just wants to be loved by her daughter and to have a voice within her family.
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I completely agree on Ma’Shingayi attitude. She is bitter and upset because that "witch" has stolen her children and, along with that, her pride of being a suitable mother. I think what we have to remember about Ma’Shingayi is that she is ignorant, but she is ignorant not because she is uneducated, but because she has never experienced anything other than the culture on the homestead. Tambu viewed Nyasha and Chido as stuck up, which she often said was because they could not communicate with her due to the fact that they abandoned their original culture. But as Tambu experiences the mission, and how much better life can be, she too falls into colonization. We do sympathize with Ma’Shingayi because of her ignorance, but I found myself sympathizing with her because she has no clue what else the world holds. So, to Ma’Shingayi, anything outside of the homestead would seem like witchcraft because it is taking the one thing away from her that women are suppose to always have, her family.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Ma'Shingaya's attitude. Although some of the things she said might seem hurtful, I feel that she had a reason to say many of them. I actually admired her courage to state that the only reason people listen to most of what Maiguru says is because she has received a white education and the only reason people don't listen to her (Ma'Shingaya) is because she is poor and ignorant. If anyone else had done what Maiguru had done at that point in the novel (refused to become involved in matters of the court trial) the other women would have probably ridiculed them. I found the belief that Maiguru stole Ma'Shingaya's children to be understandable. After all, a mother would definitely find it difficult to deal with a son's death and would probably try to blame anyone they can. I am not saying it is right to do that but it is understandable. And her being jealous of Maiguru for gaining her daughter's admiration is understandable as well: what person would want another their child to adore another woman more than they love their own mother?
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