In: Staffrider (Johannesburg) Vol. 9. No. 4 October/November 1991, p.143-146    Bessie Head: Tales of Tenderness and Power As the title indicates, a tension runs through this posthumous collection of tales by Bessie Head, which contains three unpublished stories, the rest having appeared in literary journals, magazines and anthologies before: On the one hand Head depicts the moments of tenderness within a rural African community, although it is bound by strict laws and customs, while on the other hand she reveals the power struggle under the calm surface of rural life, which threatens its very existence. These concerns also mark the stories which are set in South African townships and in African cities, although the power relations operate on a far larger scale here. In both cases power is an effect of a hierarchical system which structures even the most intimate personal relations. It creates the positions of authority and of subservience which people assume. The inequality between men and women is perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this authoritarian system. Yet why is it so difficult to resist? Is it because women appear to benefit from it? As Bessie Head knows, authority relies equally on the force of the dominant as on the consent of the dominated.   In the story „Property", a young woman insists on her role of the subservient wife, because it is safe and predictable. There is a split in her husband´s perception between her social self, as defined by custom, and what he loves as her „untamed" self, which he compares to „the tall cool grasses that swayed in the summer wind" .(p. 65) This ability to glimpse people´s other selves lends a magic dimension to everyday life: „People were all kinds of things to him: nothing like the dull pretentious clothes of custom which they all wore; but in flashes, and at moments of crisis they revealed their real selves: some were giant icy mountains, some were wide wind-swept plains in breadth of thought and depth of suffering; some were stark bare twigs perpetually bent before the storms and winters of life and some, like his mother were the evening sunsets." (p. 65) This secret knowledge finds no expression except in his strange gaze and half-smile, which almost drive the woman mad.   She has no relation to her real self and her husband´s awareness of it threatens her identity. Partly in response to this threat and partly because she perceives her husband´s tenderness as a sign of weakness, she assumes the dominant role in the household. Her natural self has been crushed by the law. This subjugation to the law is a symptom of such a harsh repression that it renders any resistance impossible. Through her strict adherence to the law she forces her husband to use his authority over her. As soon as the man adopts this authority though, he loses his sense of magic. Tenderness and magic seem to be incompatible with the clearly defined duties of the marriage contract, which is compared to a slave contract. (p. 66) The narrator´s wry comment, that theirs was a normal marriage at last, seems to reinforce the defeat of the individual by society.   The son, however, completes the process that started with the father. He forsakes his inheritance and tradition for an education in the city. He becomes involved in the political struggle for liberation, which leads to his imprisonment, banning order and exile. The circular movement of the narrative, which encompasses two generations, suggests both historical continuity and change. The son´s name, Mbuya, which means he-has-come-back, reflects this. His name not only refers to his uncanny resemblance to his father but also to the return of Africa to its disinherited people. This could be seen as a secular version of Christ´s second coming. It is a recurrent theme of this collection, most notably in the story, „The Coming of the Christ-Child" .Underlying this myth is the belief that history will redress the imbalance between good and evil. Yet this faith is constantly undermined by an equally pervasive sense of the horrors of power. This ambivalence between optimism and pessimism seems to characterise Bessie Head´s attitude to African history.   In the story „The lovers", which is based on a South Botswanan legend of „The Hill of the Lovers", Bessie Head explores the relationship between the individual and society in a mythical African context. Individual passion clashes with the very foundation of tribal society, the arranged marriage, which binds together different families through an exchange of women for goods. The lovers´ refusal to acknowledge society´s claim on their desires forces them into a hostile environment. The hills, which they seek as a refuge, allegedly swallow them. Yet their death, which is seen as the punishment for their defiance of social norms, has its repercussions on the tribe. It begins to associate the hills with sinister forces and moves to a safer area. The hills aquire a legendary status with the next tribe too, bearing testimony to the disruptive force of love in a tightly-knit community.   The thought of love evokes both fear and fascination in Tselane, as Keaja presents it to her while they are sheltering from the rain in a cave. She is thrown out of her usual way of thinking in more than one way by Keaja. (p. 87) His open criticism of his mother takes her aback, because it breaks the taboo of talking about one´s elders. Yet she feels completely at ease with him and quite unexpectedly she reflects on tensions in her household. When Keaja leads her to question the arranged marriage as the cause for these tensions, Tselane is speechless. This question occupies her mind even after her encounter with Keaja. She gets no help from her second mother, Mma-Monosi, in whose eyes social laws and customs are synonymous to the laws of nature and questioning them is tantamount to inviting disaster.   While Keaja and Tselane meet in secret, the negotiations about Keaja´s marriage are under way. He suggests to his father that he choose his own wife, although he knows that he does not stand a chance against his society „because the individual was completely smothered by communal and social demands" .(p. 92) These demands differ among men and women. Failure to comply with them will bring misfortunes upon their families and on the community. If the man „broke the taboos at a personal and private level, death, sickness and great misfortune would fall upon his family. If he broke the taboos at a social level, death and disaster would fall upon the community." (p. 93) The woman, however, is seen as the greater potential threat to the community because of her child-bearing role, which is associated with fertility, animals and crops. If she does not take special precautions during menstruation, childbirth and accidental miscarriages, she could bring harm to animal life, crops and the community. While these laws emphasise the close relation between the individual and society, they also provide an explanation for possible disasters, such as death, drought and war, which affect both the individual and society. The individual depends on others for his/her survival and therefore has to accept the laws which bind them together, but the law relies equally on the individual´s desire and energy in order to exist. Bessie Head seems to postulate a dialectical relation between the individual and the law.   This does not imply that equilibrium restores itself automatically, as it were. In this story the lovers are isolated and the law remains intact. Tselane experiences her love as an incurable disease, brought on for no apparent reason. But she begins to understand the cause of her state. She explains to Keaja: „I was fighting my training. My training has told me that people are not important in themselves but you suddenly became important to me, as a person." (p. 96) Keaja is aware of the dilemna he is letting himself in for: „He knew that, in terms of his own society, he was starting a terrible mess; but then his society only calculated along the lines of human helplessness in the face of overwhelming odds. It did not calculate for human inventiveness and initiative." (p. 96) Keaja and Tselane know that if they continue their love affair they will have to decide between separation or expulsion from their community. They opt for the latter and disappear into the hills. When Tselane´s mother visits the hills and, overcome by grief, dies shortly afterwards, the hills begin to be associated with „sinister forces which destroyed life", fulfilling Mma-Monosi´s dark prophecy. (p. 100)   In the stories „A Power Struggle", „A Period of Darkness" and „The General" Bessie Head examines the role of leaders in a pre-colonial and post-colonial context. She sees pre-colonial history as a dialogue between the chiefs and their people, which is based upon a choice between good and evil. (p. 77) This dialogue has been cut off by colonialism and replaced by a system of slavery and exploitation. (p. 77) Yet even in pre-colonial times there was a capacity for the abuse of power, which destroyed the dream of the universe, „the power to make evil irrelevant" (p. 72). In the story „The Power Struggle" Bessie Head describes the rivalry between two brothers for their father´s throne as one of the causes of the horror, which engulfed the community at regular intervals. Davhana is not only the rightful heir to the throne but also has a rich personality, „always reaching towards love and friendship" (p. 74), while Baeli, whose personality „turned inwards into a whirlpool of darkness" (p. 74), is jealous of his brother´s popularity and imminent power. He conspires with allies in the inner circle of power, which consists of relatives and councillors, to usurp Davhana´s position. At this stage the power dispute does not affect the people, although the danger signals are already visible. Davhana is unable to follow the advice of one of tbe elders to „kill or be killed" .(p. 76) He narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Baeli´s supporters and seeks refuge with the powerful Pedi clan. There he is reunited with his former clan, which has abandoned Baeli in small groups at a time. Thus order is restored after a period of upheaval.   Order is not merely guaranteed by the good fortune of having a good chief, however, but also by making use of the democratic institutions built into the tribal system. This becomes particularly evident in „A Period of Darkness" .Chief Motswasele reverses the order, whereby a chief „had to put all matters of government before the people" .(p. 78) Although it is admitted that every chieftainship has been tainted by some measure of corruption, Chief Motswasele makes no attempt to cover it up. He takes anything he wishes from his tribe and stifles any opposition by the free use of the death penalty. Leungo´s and his wife´s suicide is the first sign of revolt. This unheard of action so shocks the people that they consider breaking the most sacred law, the sanctity of the chief´s life. His execution takes the form of a court case. When the chief gathers his warriors for another war, the praise singer lists all the crimes he has committed, instead of reciting the usual praises. The warriors merely carry out the sentence passed by the praise singer, who is a voice of the tribe.   In the post-colonial era the dialogue between good and evil is resumed, although it is still marred by tyranny. In the story „The General" Bessie Head depicts a president of a „socialist" African state as a megalomaniac, who sees himself as the saviour of the people and incarcerates anyone who doubts his greatness. One of the first dissenting voices is that of M. M. Makhudo, who publishes a critical assessment of the government´s first Five Year Plan, which he helped draw up, in a daily paper. As a consequence, he is dismissed from his job on the government planning group. The president also fears a coup d´état from his general Aksan who combines an aloofness with a sense of belonging to the people, which the president sees as a sign of opportunism. The general meets regularly with another potential enemy of the state, the unconventional Professor Okola, at whose lectures there are peals of laughter and debates rather than „serious study" .(p. 106) On the advice of his soothsayers, the president has the professor imprisoned, while the general is placed under house-arrest. The militiary stages a coup d´état and appoint the general as head of state. He releases Okola and Makhudo and puts them onto his economic planning group in order to weaken their potential opposition. He reintroduces private enterprise to his country in order to revitalise the economy, which has been left bankrupt by his predecessor.   In the post-colonial situation an unchecked individualism seems to take over from the communal structures of the pre-colonial era. This is a legacy of colonialism which deepened the rift between the rulers and the ruled by concentrating the means of production in the hands of a few. Instead of a truly democratic system, the majority of the people are now confronted with a neocolonial elite. Although pre-colonial African „democracy" was not an ideal state, it did however contain checks and balances which limited the chief´s power. This was largely the result of the control the people had over their chiefs in a tightly-knit community, where everyone was accountable to the other. Colonialism has amalgamated these small communities into a centralised state and taken away the checks and balances on the rulers. Yet there cannot be a simple return to the pre-colonial society. A new synthesis has to be found, which draws together the best qualities of both an individualist and a communal culture. In the story „The General" there is an utopian vision of the professor and the general abdicating from power and tilling the earth together, which negates individualist values. (p. 115)   Bessie Head seems to take a humanist rather than a structuralist view of power. Within this framework the position of authority remains unchanging, whereas the character of the person who fills it is all-important. Yet in traditional society, where authority is determined by lineage, this is pure coincidence. If the incumbent chief happens to be ruthless, his people will suffer for the rest of his life, unless they leave his tribe or kill him. On the other hand, Bessie Head is also aware of the corruption which unlimited power lends itself to. While she criticises individual abuses of power, she does not contest the positions of authority themselves. Perhaps that is left to the reader.   Anette Horn