Thursday, February 11, 2010
Maiguru vs. Lucia
I would like to touch on something we briefly discussed on Wednesday and that is how Maiguru and Lucia are different. Maiguru realizes the role that she is supposed to live out. She is supposed to be a family person, stay at home, and obey her husband. She has no intentions of interfering with Lucia's affairs or her husband's family problems. She seems, in the kitchen scene, to be a passive character; one the will not take charge. Compared to her, Lucia is a character that will stand up for herself and make others seem below her. When she marches into the living room, where the dare is taking place, she grabs hold of Takesure and makes him weak and helpless. Lucia shows her dominance. She will not allow any man to walk all over her. Lucia realizes that the power to be a woman is in her own hands, opposed to the other women in the novel who do not allow themselves to determine their own fate.
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I completely agree with your characterization of Lucia. Lucia, being unmarried can turn to her identity as a "loose women" to a good affirmation. It's not like she has any reputation left to lose. Lucia even has the audacity to remind Babamukru, "maybe when you marry a woman, she is obliged to obey you. But some of us aren't married, so we don't know how to do it." This seems devious, yet so bold of this character, since Lucia has always known "how to do it."
ReplyDeleteMales have always proclaimed that they hold the potential to turn their wives into what they feel is fit. Female obedience is owed to all males, as Nhamo's little sisters demonstrate when they totter proudly off to carry their brother's luggage. Another example would be the relationship between Babamukuru and Maiguru. She eventually runs away to her son and back to her husband. Nyasha proclaims that she always runs to "men," ultimately men who are the reason why the suffer as they do.
But as a 'loose woman', Lucia has refused her adult insertion into the patriarchal structure: she has control of her own sexuality, regarding it as her own property as much as she feels she owns her own labour. Thus, in this case, loose ridicules confinement!
I think this dramatic difference is very important. Not only does Lucia influence Maiguru to rebel, wether she is aware of it or not, but she offers the other side of the dynamic. I mean, realistically, in this culture Maiguru is a married woman and cannot do or say the things that Lucia says or does. I think it is the opposite end of the spectrum- the end that married women cant come to. And I think that is important because as both of you have touched on, it seems to say that freedom for a woman and the right to speak your mind comes only with being unmarried. Yet, we also have this other example, Maiguru. She sits on the other side of the spectrum and fulfills her role in society. Tied with Lucia is a sense of failure to fulfill her role as a mother and wife. Lucia has to deal with repercussions too.
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