Maru-Dissertation
...sense and natural. Identity, the inner characterisation of a person, becomes linked to external nuances as the text presents, in the form of race. Race becomes stigmatised gaining a predetermined vocabulary and attitude thus negating the variables of human identity. Thus undemanding comparisons are presented by the ‘oppressors’ specifically in the case of Margaret Jnr. The binary system of the ‘other’ is inherently linked to this idea (Collier 2005). The oppressors will subjugate the oppressed by transferring an identity, a generality, to encapsulate the oppressed by a whole. The racial hierarchy presents itself from the colonial perspective as scientific discourse. The narrator observes that the ‘Bushmen’ are treated worst than any other race. It alleges that the Bushmen are at the bottom of the scientific hierarchy of race, Europeans being at the top (Head 1971:11). This scientific discourse surely alludes to Sara Baartman and the heinous acts committed in the name of scientific research (Collier 2005:1). Racial categorisation is rendered problematic by the single most powerful statement in the text: “I am a Masarwa” (Head 1971:24). Margaret Jnr with her Eurocentric education has only the appearance of her Masarwa heritage which subverts the racial categorization. She can not be put down to be intellectually weaker than the Botswana people. The fact that she is a teacher commands a level of respect from the Botswana’. Respect from the Botswana people moves to break down the generality of racial socialisation (Head 1971:52-53). Although her missionary education and the opportunities she gained is a source of strength with which the racial hierarchy is subverted it is also a mark of marginalisation. The fact that Margaret has the name of her missionary mother marginalises her very similarly to that of racism. She lacks her own identity and is presented as a construct of European socialisation. The fact that Margaret Jnr plays the supporting role of cataclysm to the main actors within the text (Maru and Moleka), affirming her marginalisation. Margaret becomes an object in this power struggle. Maru plays benefactor to Margaret and her art and one may go as far as to say that the extent of it was dependant on Maru. For if he never pushed Margaret in that underhanded way would she have come across it as powerfully as she did when she was given the tools. Margaret thus plays a puppet role in the text and is subjected to exp...