1

The Quest for Identity in Buchi Emecheta`s ~The New Tribe and Bessie
Head`s ~Maru: A comparative study.
OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION

PART I: The Origins and the Impacts oI the Quest Ior Identity

A - Social Exclusion

B - Loss oI Identity

PART II: The Stream oI SelI-discovery

A- Education and Upbringing

B- Solidarity and Friendship

PART III: Achievements and Failures

A - Auto Reverse Freedoms

B- Snare oI regrets and Iears


CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY
















INTRODUCTION








Since 1960`s many novels are published Irom diIIerent authors all around
the world to display the hard conditions oI the AIrican community. Formerly,
white people relegated blacks to second class citizens. They oppressed them
over the past Iew years until now. To make an analysis on the Iield oI AIrican
literature we need to have a glance at the misadventures oI the AIrican people.
They suIIered Ior instance Irom colonisation, racial oppression, segregation,
injustice, the apartheid system in South AIrica, cross cultural clashes due to
slavery, violence, ethnic`s divisions, coup d`etat, civil wars etc.

BrieIly, we have to look beyond the panes oI AIrican atrocities caused by
the white man that have created turmoil. It pushes many AIrican writers to
highlight political, social, economical problems that AIricans were victims oI.
AIrican writers took their pens as an arm Ior war against white oppression.
These diIIiculties between AIricans and AIricans or whites and AIricans
into the AIrican and the Western soil, give writers the desire to reaIIirm and to
show that AIrica is not 'a tabula rasa`. Instead oI that, AIrica can be
assimilated to a baobab that its roots are the old people who protect its
knowledge, the middle represents the adults with its education and upbringing
and the leaves show the children representing its Iuture.
Our work deals with two Iemale`s writers that are Bessie Head (19-
1986) and Buchi Emecheta (1944).
First oI all, Bessie Head is born in South AIrica. She has lived and died in
Bostwana. She deserves to be raised at the peak oI AIrican Iemale writer`s board
because oI her work. To deal with South AIrica without naming the Apartheid
System is not a Iair work. ThereIore what is the apartheid system and was his
aim Ior?
4

Nelson MANDELA (1918) who is among the well known Iigure oI the
ANC member`s (191) and who Iight the political regime aIIirms in his
autobiographical book' A Long Walk to Freedom` that:

'Apartheid was a new term but an old idea. It
literary means "apartness" and it represented the
codification in one oppressive system of all the law
and regulations that had kept Africans in an inferior
position to white for centuries.`
1


So the basic rule oI Apartheid is that whites are superior to AIrican,
Coloured, Indians, and the Iunction oI it was to entrench white supremacy all
over the country. In Iact, with that system black people suIIer a lot because oI
white oppression.
In addition, the whole population were dispossessed Irom their own lands
and people acknowledge that lands is the Iuture oI a country .Thus by taking
their lands, their Iuture was mortgaged. To give details to the importance oI
lands, Frantz FANON aIIirms in the Wretched on Earth that:


1
Mandela, Nelson LONG WALK to FREEDOM Iirst published in Great Britain in 1994 by little brown
and company page 1


'or a colonised the most essential value, because the
most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land
which will bring them bread and above all, dignity.

Secondly, Buchi Emecheta grew up into many ethnic groups or tribes as
Fulani`s, Hausas, Yoruba`s, Ibos, etc. The main Iamous groups and the majority
oI the country are the Yorubas, Hausas and the Ibos. That diversity oI ethnics
creates a diIIerence oI belieIs and Iaith, views and ambitions Iinally many
problems result Irom it.
Colonised by the British people since 1900s the colonisers assign Nigeria.
They express their power over the citizens and at last create a separation
between them. That separation turns into another way because the colonised
discover that the power oI white must be destroyed.
Long time under the British indirect rules (188-1960) Nigeria has
known many changes politically, economically, socially, and so on and so Iorth.
The Iirst change established, was the change Irom British Protectorate into a
Federal State (194).Most oI the change through Nigerian history is
between194 up to 1960. In 1914, they divided Nigeria into two main parts: the
north and the south. They include Provinces and Lagos colonies. Most oI the
economic and the education system Ilourish more quickly in the south than the
north.

Fanon, Frantz the Wretched oI the Earth preIace by jean Paul Sartre translated by Constance Farrington
published in Paris by Francois Maspero Paris, France, under the tittle les damnes de la terre 1961 York page 44
PDF Iurther reIerences to 'The Wretched oI the Earth) are to this edition and are included in the text.

6

ThereIore that disparity between the two main communities existed many
years beIore. Politically three main parties lead the country. They were also
composed by three main ethnics groups. The National People Congress (NPC)
largely represented the Muslims and Haussas that live in the Northern region,
the National Convention oI Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) composed by the Ibo
(Christian) dominated in the eastern part oI Nigeria and at last the Action Group
(AG) were in the west controlled by the Yoruba. The Iirst government were
created Irom a coalition between the NPC and the NCNC. The AG led by the
Yorubas represented the leIt.
Since the proclamation oI Nigerian First Republic on 196 up to the
Forth Republic 1999, many diIIerences create violence because oI change Irom
military rules to civilian rules. Finally, those violence leads to civil wars attack.
The racial domination due to slavery and colonisation is the result oI violence
and coup d`etat prevails in many countries today.
At a certain extant in some countries it spread like a swarm oI bees.
ThereIore many novels published, have denounced the conditions oI black in the
same context Ior example Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys, Houseboy (196),
Ferdinand OYONO, Cruel City (1954) Eza BOTO, Nggugi WA THIONG'O,
Weep Not Child (1964), Buchi EMECHETA New Tribe (2000) and Bessie
HEAD Maru (1971).
This Iocus allows us to come back to our main subject that is the quest Ior
identity. Our work deals with the quest Ior identity within two AIrican novels
Maru (191) and The New Tribe (000).
On the one hand, among all these books written by talented and well-
known writers, my choice oI these two AIrican Iemale writers Buchi
EMECHETA and Bessie HEAD is not at random. Buchi EMECHETA (1948)
Irom Kehinde, Joys of Motherhood, the Slave Girl to In the Ditch, Second Class


Citi:en until New Tribe, Family, Double Yoke, Bride Price portrays, the social
and moral problems oI women, drawbacks oI colonisation, the role oI education,
motherhood destiny, the place oI religion, reconciliation between black and
white, home coming oI the aIrican Diaspora to their motherland AIrica, to name
but a Iew.
On the other hand Bessie HEAD (19-1986) is the author oI many
novels portraying south aIrican image and realities that reIlects AIrica like in
When rain clouds gather (1968), Serowe, a village of rain (1981),The Collector
of Treasures and other Bostwana tales(1977), A Question of power(1973)
(Maru1971) etc. All these books show almost the same topics, compared to
Buchi EMECHETA. Indeed Bessie HEAD paints the situation that prevails in
South AIrica: like racial segregation, oppression, the disappearance oI
traditional society over modern society, tribal`s problems, prejudices, pretence,
women conditions etc, are her main themes.
Bessie HEAD in Maru settles everybody into the deep ocean oI AIrican
realities. She let people`s mind wanders silently in the world oI prejudices and
tribalism. She opposes tradition and modernity. Maru the protagonists himselI is
trapped between two worlds; the good world and the bad world, the chosen or
the elites, the worst or the damn. The Bushmen called commonly 'Massarwas
people live in the northern part oI Botswana in Delepe, which according to local
people represent a law and Iilthy nation. Massarwas are deeply victims oI
prejudices, and are relegated to the second plan. In a real AIrican world where
AIrican people breathe the same Iresh air oI Ireedom, others are ill-treated or
more than that enslaved by their own people. Throughout those prejudices,
pretence, bad deeds, ill-treatment, hatred, Maru and Margaret who are the main
protagonists in Maru don`t escape. ThereIore being always pushed back, their
8

only desire is to regain back their Ireedom that causes the process to quest Ior
their identity.
Buchi Emecheta portrays Chester a young Nigerian boy who grew up in
London but her parents originate Irom Nigeria. Since her mother Catherine
MBA abandoned her with a tesco bag. He Ialls under the hands oI a passionate
and wonderIul modest white parents Ginny and Arthur.
At the beginning Chester thought Ginny was her real mother. The more
he grew up and the more he discovered that their complexions diIIer Irom one
another. In addition to that he Iinds a sister Julia who looks like their parents
more than him. The lack oI assurance comes and question starts. Why is he so
diIIerent Irom them? That question will not wait so long to be answered. There
was no trouble Iirst but in her vision Chester Iinds another Iamily. He wants to
know who he is because her mother created his own identity.
The term 'Identity cannot be treated without a Iirm meaningIul quest.
But the 'Quest Ior identity cannot be tackled also without giving an appropriate
deIinition oI it .Then what the quest Ior identity is?
DeIining the quest Ior identity is not an easy task because oI its
complexity. The quest can be deIined merely as, a long or hard process to search
Ior something, and identity as the Iact oI being whose or what a person or thing
is.
Others AIrican has written in the same topic oI the quest Ior identity like
Cheikh Ahmidou KANE in Ambiguous Adventure, Abdoulaye SADJI,
Maimouna, Amadou Hampate BA Kaidara and Amkoulel, Bessie HEAD and
Buchi EMECHETA will join that line oI writer and plunge us into the realm oI
Maru and the New Tribe`s realities.
Furthermore, the quest Ior identity means a search Ior the essence. What
essence is? Isn`t it the search oI individualism itselI? Why these people are
9

searching Ior themselves? What urge them to go and to seek Ior another
identity?
Broadly speaking, the hero and the heroine oI the two novels have lost
their Iirst identities because oI a social exclusion which creates a loss oI identity.
Their Iirst identities were created by people. They need to gain a new one.
Through the process to selI discovery, a long to walk to Ireedom is waiting Ior
them but alienation Iollows soon .To regain their new identities, they need to
work on some glowing embers as would says Cheikh Hamidou KANE like in
Ambiguous Adventure. They reverse traditions, religion, and customs and
adapted themselves into modern society.
In this analysis, we establish a comparative study so as to enlighten the
entire path to discover the quest Ior identity. The aim is to discover in the Iirst
part, the origins and the impact oI the quest Ior identity. The importance oI that
is to determine the origin oI the loss oI identity and how that loss oI identity
creates a social exclusion. Secondly in the second part iI everybody is lost and
excluded thereIore exile will Iollow and then the stream to selI discovery is the
next target. There is guideline to make easy the process. Firstly those guidelines
are education and upbringing, secondly, solidarity and Iriendship. Finally in the
last part we mean by that theme the Iailures and achievements oI the quest Ior
identity. We`ll Iocus on the loss oI identity and the new identity obtained.






10







PAR1 1:

1he Origins and the Impacts of the
Quest for Identity





11



For many years AIrican people were victims oI slavery/colonialism and
second villainies such as social exploitation, discrimination, and violence
(physically and morally) and son and so Iorth.
On the one hand, many ethnics group as Thembou, Xhosa, Zulu, and
Ponda shared each other the country beIore white man`s arrival in South AIrica.
Indeed in South AIrica black represents 80 oI the population and the rest is
composed by White, Couloured, Indians and Asian people. Beyond all those
ethnic`s diIIerences, they get on well each other. Once the coloniser set Ioot on
the AIrican soil, their unity split up and swims in a perIect division.
ThereIore, by the divide and rules tactics oI colonisers, South AIricans
Iellowship and Iriendship oI each community broke up. White man`s greediness
and hunger cannot prevent them Irom collecting all the lands and impose
missionaries, religion and education, to citizens. More they stored the apartheid
system depriving blacks Irom many rights and grant white to many Iavourites.
Thus Eurocentrism that dwells in white man conscious is transIormed into
a violence oI which black Ialls. BeIore all let us deIine what Eurocentrism is in
the Irame the world:

'Eurocentrism is the practice oI viewing the
world Irom a European perspective and with an
implied belieI, either consciously or subconsciously, in
the pre-eminence oI European culture. The term
Eurocentrism was coined during the period oI
1

decolonisation in the late 0th century and is only used
critically. The Eurocentrism prevalent in international
aIIairs in the 19th century had its historical roots in
European colonialism and imperialism Irom the Early
Modern period (16th to 18th centuries)

So, one can state the apartheid system derives Irom that eurocentrism.
But also economical reasons pushed them to colonise countries. This is a way to
pinpoint our little Iingers on how white people lead and administrated their
colonies. One oI the suitable examples is the Apartheid System.
The Apartheid System (1948-1994) established by whites to black people
has Ior the unique purpose the separation between black and white in each
domain such as health, education, cultural, political and social and economical.
It consisted in relegating black at the very low level and to show the supremacy
oI the colonisers over the colonised. Finally, the Apartheid regime was the
visible part oI the iceberg compared to what will come next.
Furthermore, demographically Nigeria is occupied as South AIrica oI
many tribes: Hausas, Fulanis, Ibos, and Yorubas. The most dominated group
was the Ibos, the Hausas, and the Yorubas. Divided into many parts between
east, west and the south oI Nigeria all those main tribes live together. AIter the
Iirst coup d`etat and the killing oI the Yorubas leaders, these latter kills in return
all the Ibos everywhere: at homes, in the market, public places etc.
Soon 1966 are known as the beginning oI the BiaIra war. It opposed those
two mains communities. One must not exclude Irom that conIlict white men
intrusion through the war politically.

The Iree dictionary by Farlex

1

ThereIore aIter that war union Ilourishes between the Ibos and the
Yorubas until the proclamation oI the Nigerian First Republic. But that unity
soon ends because oI diIIerent belongings. Neither Yorubas nor the Ibos love
each other. This diIIerence is shown by Buchi EMECHETA in The Joys of
Motherhood towards NnaiIe`s behaviour to her daughter, he Iustigates: 'My
daughter with a Yoruba husband? She is better dead and with her the Iather oI
her man! Where are they?
4

The behaviour oI NnaiIe towards her daughter`s man as he says, shows
that they didn`t get on well each other .But Nigerian people continue to live in
violence and coup detat until now.
Finally that scope oI reminding situations needed to be done on the
Ioreground to the reader. It proves that the two writers couldn`t escape Irom
their conditions oI liIe?
DiIIerent past but the same present, their majors purpose are to highlight
AIrican moral, social, political, economical problems especially women
conditions.
For beginning with the origins and the quest Ior identity one has not to
exclude the Iirst step among all that was a desire oI the black people to be Iree.
At Iirst black people stay a long time under the chains oI captivity. They
realised aIterward it was high time, they discovered themselves. Human beings
always want to nurture but do not want be nurtured. Later people require,
change. Change Ior what or to what extent that is the question? But not change
to change but change to reach something. Some wants change to breathe a new

4
Emecheta, Buchi 'Joys oI Motherhood Heinemann London p. 09, Iurther reIerences to 'Joys oI
Motherhood are to this edition and are included in the text.
14

Iresh air, other changes because they want democracy altogether they want
change because oI their daughters and sons oI AIrica.
Generally, here in this context people aspire to change Ior a selI-
discovery. Then one question needs to be asked now how that selI-discovery be
made possible? We will try to endeavour to answer to this question Iirst.
In South AIrica where was born Bessie Head the black community was
deprived Irom lands, Ireedom, respect, the right to vote etc. So it was obvious
that a revolt against the regime was looming ahead. That revolt led the citizen to
a calling into question oI their identities pushing them to regain their identities.
Firstly, the origin oI such a quest is as we said while ago a desire to be
Iree. This derives Irom the people`s desire to govern them selves and not to be
longer oppressed. South AIrican people, with a strong hold desire resisted. That
resistance brought out excessive imprisonments, detentions, bans and arrests.
In contrast, Nigeria was hit by civil war, coup d`etat up to reach
independence. Here, in Nigeria we must turn our satellites over diIIerent
horizons because the aims oI the two countries were the same but the methods
diIIer. For example, Nigeria obtained its independence in 1960.
On December 196, the ANC AIrican National Congress (191) in South
AIrica received an invitation Irom the PAFMECSA (Pan-AIrican Freedom
Movement Ior East, Central, and Southern AIrica later, AIrican Union) in Addis
Ababa. That summit was held on February 196. ThereIore to compare when
South AIrican were Iighting to be Iree, Nigerian searched to know how to
handle their aIter independence.
Secondly, while people were animated by a common source oI desire to
be Iree another one derived Irom their conscious which is to brandish a response
to the colonisers. Through a philosophical approach like the dialogue between
the slave and the master, people see a transcendental transIormation oI the
1

master`s power to the slave. ThereIore the slave will be the master oI master and
the master is obliged to stoop down to be the slave. AIter challenging the
colonised, the colonizers receive the answer. The best illustration oI that
scenario cannot be better than Maximus and the emperor in the movie The
Gladiator. The speechless tone oI Maximus when the emperor states this:

'aximus a general who became a slave, a slave who
became a gladiator and a gladiator who defied the
emperor what a flabbergasting ending"
5


Maximus the main actor got the power Irom the white or colonisers (the
roman). He also possessed a high title but Iate made him lost all his powers. He
is captured and enslaved. That doesn`t prevent Irom thinking to regain his
Ireedom. Being a gladiator is not a low state .He is able to Iace his enemy and to
avenge him selI. At the end he kills the son oI the emperor and the murderer oI
the emperor. As Maximus, it shows that the AIrican didn`t get the power on
Iavour but were ready to transIorm their situation. They do everything in silence.
Here an example when the emperor spoke, he was submerged by a desire to kill
once again but Maximus similarly wanted his Ireedom and to Iree the other
slaves. So the best answer was silence. This is what he did, and this is what the
colonised do until they obtain their Ireedom and regain their new identity they
lost.
Our work lays emphasis on the impact oI the quest Ior identity. They are
many impacts oI the quest Ior identity but a Iew oI them are chosen not to deter
to our work. The Iirst among all is the social exclusion.

Film Gladiator realised by Ridley Scott 000

16

A - Social Exclusion

The Iamily that is considered the basis oI man development can be a
process oI a social loss. Buchi Emecheta in The New Tribe portrays the issue oI
social exclusion right at the beginning. Chester, who is the main protagonist,
grew up into white community. DeIinitely, the Ioster parents oI Chester; the
Arlingtons has done everything Ior his welIare, but Chester Ielt excluded. The
exclusion is reinIorced by the image oI her sister hiding such a big secret
without sharing as they are taught at home, surprised him right at the beginning.
The Iirst step among the isolation process is launched, Buchi Emecheta aIIirms:

"It came to him forcibly that he had to leave
home. He needed to know who he really was, to find a
frame. He could fit himself into. He thought of the
generations of illers in the St Simon churchyard.
He had no ancestors there through whom he could
claim a bond with the place. He was only passing
through."
6


This attitude oI people towards oI Chester made him realised his exclusion.
Claiming about his kingdom was the only leIt over oI his single days. ThereIore,
he merges and remerges Irom his silent river and concludes the last solution is to

6
Emecheta, Buchi The New Tribe, Heinemann, London page 9, Iurther reIerences to 'New Tribe are
to this edition and are included in the text.

1

go. By contrast to Chester, Julia her sister who belong to the white community
slightly and merely overcomes her misIortunes without any harm and
diIIiculties. This is just to show diIIerence between the two god`s bits oI woods
Iate. Julia or Jules aIter her pregnancy leIt her parents and later aborted her
child. She began a new liIe. Julia is like the double side oI Chester. The one who
makes up her mind quickly and she are unIortunate.
Buchi Emecheta shows a sharp dichotomy between the two personalities
because oI their genetically belongings. That is to show how black and white
didn`t have the same destiny, the same rights, in the same world. With black
people, the same day you were born black many opportunities are blown oII:
identity Iirst, next Ireedom in all levels. Now iI all these opportunities are
missing it is obvious that this person will be in a hollow world.
Moreover in Maru, Bessie Head paints that social exclusion towards a
young girl. Margaret Cadmore the main protagonist, who was born in a black
community, Iinds herselI trapped into the Irame oI prejudices oI her community.
Those Iormer belieIs and practices prevail in that area, chasing the
'Massarwas` or 'The Bushmen` as they call them out oI the town.
The author deIines: 'Masarwa is the equivalent oI 'nigger`, a term oI
contempt which means, obliquely, a low, Iilthy nation.

Likely to the apartheid system, another system within the system existed
here. Margaret Cadmore and its community are not allowed to live in Delepe
where the population oI Setswana dwelt. Otherwise In The New Tribe, Chester

7
Head, Bessie. 'Maru Heinemann AIrican Writers Series 191 p. 1, Iurther reIerences to
'Maru are to this edition and are included in the text.

18

Ieels to be set apart through racial situation Irom white people (his Iamily).
Contrary to Margaret Cadmore who Ieels isolation Irom her own community
(black people).Bessie Head illustrates the odd attitude oI black people declares
that:
"Children learnt it from their parents. 1heir parents
spat on the ground as a member of a filthy, low
nation passed by. Children went a little further. 1hey
spat on you. 1hey pinched you. 1hey danced a wild
jiggle, with the tin cans rattling: "Bushmen! Low
breed! Bastard!`
8


In this country where Margaret Cadmore lives, the power oI language
determines beyond everything. Going Iarther through perception leads people to
the deep chores oI The New Tribe. In this book the social exclusion is promoted
by the Iamily and the neighbours. In summer, it is adults in general who promote
it, while in Maru the lowest attitude start Irom the bottom oI the bottom Ior
instance the children inclusion by the will oI their parents. Children who are
supposed to love, to be innocent, are taught to borrow the Iingerprints touch oI
prejudices and pretence oI the elders. Both authors through the two paintings
drain readers into an archetype oI man whose liIe depends on the others`
survival.
UnIortunately their own communities vomit them, although is excluded in
the darkness. ThereIore, by living in these two worlds black or white

8
Head, Bessie, MARU, London , Heinemann AIrican Writes Series,191 page 10 Iurther reIerences to
'MARU are to this edition and are included in the text.

19

environment the heroes Ielt isolated. This isolation leads straight Iorward to a
hole oI secrecy that brought inner loneliness which is going to be the next point
to be dealt with.
In our own analysis, our work Iocuses on the cause oI the social
exclusion. Moreover we will move to seek Ior the social exclusion consequences
that may be inner loneliness.
There is always a gap between the colonisers and the colonised. That gap
is Iilled, lengthened and covered by white people so as not to aIIord the
autochthons to go beyond the truth. That empty holes create an unIulIilled
person that merge into a loss world. That darkness has another signiIicance
which we may assimilate to inner loneliness that one must IulIil to reach their
quest.
Not only placing that Iorest oI loneliness in Maru, the author places it to
Margaret Cadmore and in every character. She insists more on children .She
goes until declaring:

'1here seemed to be a big hole in the child's mind
between the time that slowly became conscious of her
life in the home of the missionaries and the conscious
of herself as a person."(Maru 1)

So there is a big hole in the two states oI Margaret Cadmore in adulthood
and her childhood. Moreover Dikeledi and Moleka childhood state are unknown
to us but one may guess, they are all the same. That is to say Margaret
CADMORE is surrounded by the past until now by an inner loneliness which
creates emptiness. She inherited it Irom Margaret CADMORE (the mother) who
knows how to Iill her hole oI darkness by leaning on one side and observe the
0

world. She recreates all her experiences in her notepad. From that attitude she
escapes Irom the emptiness.
In summer, that inner loneliness dwelt in every members oI the society
but they aspire to cover it up, at every step by their own way. By trying to Iill
every bit oI darkness one may Iail to enter in a holocaust oI shadow. At last this
creates his / her lost.
The question we must is does a loss oI identity create an exile? II the
answer is yes thereIore, one may conclude that all our heroes are lost.













1

B/ 1HE LOSS O IDEA1I1Y

Heroes and heroines are demolished by their past and pull ahead by their
present. Broadly speaking, in both Buchi Emecheta and Bessie Head exile can
be read through their novels. For instance the narrator starts in Maru Irom the
end to the beginning oI the book. She portrays two young couple who swim into
a stream oI love aIIairs embarked with them three other lives separately Irom
these communities to Iind out what most commonly philosophers called the
'ataraxy` or 'the peace of the soul`.
Indeed, ataraxy brings the peace oI our heart, to reach the extreme peace
that everybody is searching Ior: the peace oI our soul. That peace allows
mankind to meditate on their destiny and to Iind out who they are. People like
'Maru, 'Chester,'Margaret Cadmore 'Julia can be seen like a backlight to
readers. The author highlights their desire to discover themselves.
Buchi Emecheta Iirstly reIers herselI to what the hostile society did to her
in her experiences. She encountered many diIIiculties, Iirst being an AIrican
woman she bears that heavy burden. Secondly transplanted into white men
society Iaces racism which is the second step and thirdly is her Iamily is her last
troubles. For instance to take care oI Iive children in London requires many
pluck and patience.
By contrast Bessie HEAD who lives in a black society is draped into the
blankets oI prejudices, pretence and shame. Being a hybrid then meeting
motherhood problem, this constitutes the beginning oI an everlasting Iight.
That`s why; she tries to bear on his back those who live the same conditions
with her. Finally the regimental levelling oI their individual souls creates by the
community regard another way oI adaptation. Both writers have adapted
themselves into these realities by Iollowing their course oI liIe.


Buchi EMECHETA is separated in two and that idea is in plain sight by
Julia who has just one desire to kill the baby, but Ray who wants to keep it
instead. In AIrica such practice is banished while in western cultures it is also
banished but people oIten do it. ThereIore swinging between traditions and laws,
custom and norms which one to adopt, which one to Iorbid the writer submits
everything to the reader`s subconscious.
In this part, we are going to see mostly what creates that loss oI identity
through the heroes`s mind that comes Irom the social exclusion.
When Chester Ielt the desire to quest about himselI he thought and
rethought the possible is exile. In western culture exile is away to ponder over
not in AIrica where we know to live in a large Iamily that is not allowed. Fanon
shares the same idea on the wretched on earth:
"Whether in the Djemaas of northern Africa or in
the meetings of the western Africa, tradition demands
that the quarrels which occur in the village should be
settled in public." (The Wretched oI the Earth Page 48)
The case oI Chester has to be seriously condemned iI it was in AIrica. In
AIrica Ior example exile will be replaced by Iamily discussion or public
discussion like the old proverb attest: 'wash one's dirty linen in private.
Civilisation builds a long wall oI separation between western customs and
the AIrican customs and laws. Black people have to discover what is beyond
those realities, are sometimes Iorced to let down their traditions, civilisation and
culture to adopt the western one.
In Bessie HEAD`s zone you need to have a 'pass as they would call in
the primitive South AIrica. In the apartheid regime 'pass was the document
that can allow you to move all around the country. In 'Delepe one needs to


have a pass to live. That pass is not a sheet oI paper but simply not to be a
'Masarwa. Does Massarwas exist? Does 'the untouchable exist? Do niggers
exist? Aren`t they names Iomented by people? So why is there any disparity,
between the written and the practice, the seen and the unseen?
Buchi EMECHETA writing New Tribe aims at clariIying the weak Iorms
that man and woman created. A world Iull oI alienated people.
All the protagonists` women/men are hidden into a double discourse.
Ginny proIits more on Chester than Arthur. The Iirst one creates a Iuture hope
Ior him. Arthur aIter the theIt oI the church declares:

'Oh, Cinny, you were so full of him. You never gave
me a chance .You remember when you used to spend
hours reading to him from the African folk-tale you
wrote and coloured for him specially ?It was
impossible to get between you. You shut me out
completely". (TNT 6)

Arthur is assimilated to an onlooker, in his own Iamily. The way that
Chester`s Iather behaviour traduces a patriarchical reaction and old Iashion
behaviour oI men to reverse the wrong when something bad happened to their
children over women .Ginny creates the paramount imaginary world oI Chester
and he lets him think that the world without knowing it. Submerge by alienation
and isolation, the selI-discovery and loss is soon the next step.
The Hero in The New Tribe is doomed to seek Ior his own identity. He is
divided into a binary position white cultures and black cultures, white dreams
and black dreams. Chester is similar to Hamlet in William Shakespeare who
didn`t know between to kill and Iorgive which one to choose. The Iinal solution
4

was to Ieign madness and to play 'a play within the play. He spends many
times soliloquizing:

'1o be, or not to be- that is the question;
Whether' is nobler in the mind to suffer
1he slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing them. 1o die, to sleep-
Ao more-and by a sleep to say we end"
9


Hamlet doubts oI two things like Chester to accept his condition within
the white community or to renounce and Iollow the whims oI liIe as iI nothing
goes on, until he discovers his new identity. For Hamlet iI he doesn`t avenge the
death oI his Iather. He is obliged to live with the murderer and the husband oI
his mother. But iI he kills him, his Iather`s soul will rest in peace and will escape
Irom the purgatory. To gain his honour, dignity and a new identity he has to
reverse the course oI liIe.
But revenge in Buchi EMECHETA means to Iace the world and accept
their hybrid notion as AIrican. Furthermore, alienation goes beyond the Iact oI
choice. Alternative ending maybe a project where Chester discovered the truth
and hate her mother because oI the creation such a Ialse path, a Ialse liIe, a Ialse
image but none oI these unhappy endings occurred. The Other oI Chester at the
end oI the novel is another image oI her Iriend Easter. In her includes everything
similar to beauty, sweet, Ieast, courage, ambitions.

9
Shakespeare William Hamlet edited by T J B Spencer introduced by Anne Barton, page 14


Otherwise, Margaret CADMORE loss oI identity is visible in many ways.
Margaret CADEMORE Jr is a typical copy oI her mother. In our analysis we try
to juxtapose the similarities between the characters in the two novels and to
show what creates that alienation is due to exile. Margaret CADEMORE is the
opposite or the hidden side oI Chester in terms oI nature and attitude. Why does
it exist this separation between Chester and Margaret CADEMORE or between
Julia and Chester or Margaret and Maru? In summer why that duality between
Men and Women? One may locate this historically.
Some historians by deIining the roles activities, tastes and behaviours
prescribed and delegated these activities to women. In the late eighteen and
nineteen century the term 'Women Sphere expressed by the Victorians and
Jacksonian vision that we have two roles: woman sphere and men sphere that
can represented in these diagrams like this X and Y.



X y

The Iirst one is Ior men and the second one is Ior women .ThereIore the
women sphere (the red one) depend on the male sphere (the blue one).So that
domination oI the male over the women is totally apparent here. To better
6

understand 'Women culture ' or 'Women writing and their perception oI men,
some historians suggest that we reIer to that predomination atmosphere iI we
want to understand why women are always tending a certain selI assertion to
win that equality. Some Ieminists or women writers accept those dualities and
that diIIerences others didn`t. Lerner doesn`t share the Iirst view and see another
complex idea which is reconciliation between women culture or men culture or
women sphere and men sphere. She argued:
"It's important to understand that "womans
culture" is not and should not be seen as a
subculture. It is hardly possible for the majority to
live in subculture...Women live their social existence
within the general culture and, whenever they are
confined by patriarchical restraint or segregation into
separateness (which always has subordination as its
purpose),they transform this restrain into
complementarities (asserting the importance of
woman's function ,even it's "superiority" ) and
redefine it. 1hus, women live a duality- as members
of the general culture and as partakers of women's
culture. (MFP, page )
10

Learners doesn`t share the view in which people says the male dominate
the Iemale we should change it. II she says we it means women that they aspire

10
ShowalLer Pelen CrlLlcal lnqulry WlnLer 1981 age 199 Ml page 32



to give another deIinition Ior those theory .They should and to remake also
women culture. This will allow having no patriarchical domination and no
segregation also. They should assert to 'superiority where women need to
overcome and to Iree themselves.
The two anthropologists oI OxIord Edwin ARDENER and Shirley
reinIorces that women cultures is not historically limited. According to them in
their two essays: by Edwin Ardener, 'I and 'the problem revisited 1975` shows
that women constitute the muted group. Instead the dominant group are male.
By muted him means the language and power itselI belong to male. So
everything that is link to develop the selI oI women is hidden in the dominant
group. To him women exist thanks to male .ThereIore women are always
tempted to escape Irom that spheres. But there is another part oI women that
men cannot control. Ardeners represents those two diIIerent circles X and Y.
But it diIIers Irom the historians view. It shows the two circles are included. But
the Iemale entered all male parts except a / oI it. That part cannot be known as
the dominant one and it is called the wild zone. The wild zone is coloured in red.

X y


II we analyse metaphorically the spheres Ior example the non dominant
sphere`s entered dominant one. The second on the dominant didn`t reach the
8

Iemale sphere or the wild zone oI women. So woman has got an advantage to
know everything about men. But the latter doesn`t know everything about them.
Pr Omar SOUGOU writing his book Writing across Culture reinIorces
that 'the wild zone as the deepest zone on women. It is in her mind and man
hasn`t the authorization to access. Let us borrow this term and made a
parallelism to compare all characters on both novels. This 'Wild Zone is
present mostly in Buchi EMECHETA`s novels through her heroine like Nnu
EGO, Aku NNA, OBEJETA, ADAH are similar in Bessie HEAD 'Maru
.They all strive Ior a selI-assessment and obtain have Ireedom like Adaku,
Mama KIOSK in Beyond The Hori:on Ama DARKO or Mama ABBY in Joys of
Motherhood etc. Apart Irom that desire to have Ireedom beyond all characters
there is a binary opposition as Pr Oumar SOUGOU says in his book 'writing a
cross culture, that area is banned Ior any type oI man.
Margaret CADMORE Jr is surrounded by that 'wild :one` that results
Irom her Iostered parents like Ginny made Ior Chester. It exposes her into an
inIinite world. But the relationship between mother and daughter are much
closer. Margaret CADMORE mother proIusely crying through a postcard
signed:
'I had to do it for the sake of your people. I didnt want to leave you
behind Margaret CADMORE.`(Maru 41)
The subjectivity displays the speech with the anaphor oI the 1
st
person 'I
Iocused on the lyrical tone oI the mother and the cult oI oneselI that European
wants always to relate and at last the hard character. ThereIore, the wild zone is
present in most these AIrican Iemale writers Buchi EMECHETA, Ama
DARKO, Bessie HEAD, etc. Exile is a way to selI-discovery and to advise also
home coming. That exile allows most oI them to stay away and to adopt a
9

critical thought against men writing Iirst. Because most oI them paints AIrican
problems like colonialism, through poetry praising mother AIrica like Leopold
Sedar SENGHOR, to highlight social and political problems like Nggugi Wa
THINGO but not really painting themes that aIIect women like rape, polygamy,
racism, excision, lack oI education etc.
As result, Bessie HEAD`s assessment is like a 'Double Yoke` what Buchi
EMECHETA calls it in her book. Margaret CADMORE knows how to Iace the
world unprepared, uncertain, incapable, but it was high time she embraced her
new liIe oI uncertainty to make it real. Trapped, between education and
upbringing in one side, villainies and racist ideal oI people in the other side,
Margaret CADMORE questions herselI more than she had ever done.
One can interpret that binary opposition through the result oI the
domination oI men over women. The Ieminist`s writers highlight the need to
reverse the patriarchical state which existed over many years. AIrican women
writers wanted to stand on their right position and impose themselves. But
regarding to that binary opposition in South AIrica Ior example where Bessie
HEAD dwells. It is also desired to break the barriers and to no longer shut
women in traps like the apartheid regime but to let them speak Ireely.
Finally dealing with the impact oI the quest Ior identity gather both
things, the Iirst was the social exclusion and the second is the lost identity. All
oI these systems are created by men and will be disclosed by women. How to
Iind a way to the quest? This way is what we seek to discover in our second
chapter that deals with the stream to a selI-discovery.




0











PAR1 II:

1he Stream of Self Discovery










1

First oI all Buchi EMECHETA and Bessie HEAD by depicting the two
main characters Margaret CADMORE and CHESTER put them into a ditch.
They are submerged by darkness and hollow oI pains and suIIerings. Their Iirst
attempt to stand above all criticism and to avoid prejudices oI AIrican and
European`s mockery is to work.
Long time, crystallised and criticised by the society, human beings Ieel
certain isolation. That social isolation creates a loss oI identity which leads to a
social alienation. II they have nowhere to go or nowhere to turn, the only path
that can give them Ireedom is their work. Work can be a way to access to
Ireedom and to rebuke alienation.
The narrator in New Tribe creates this atmosphere in the hero early in his
childhood. CHESTER is inIluenced by the Miller`s to work. The Arlingtons
belongs to higher class but weren`t boastIul, rich and proud. The Arlingtons
were richer than the Millers in every plan, but the Miller`s didn`t envy them. It
is in these conditions oI humility and reticence that both oI them worship each
other. They strengthen their relationship and hardened it with a rope oI honesty.
CHESTER made up his mind to start to work thanks to his Iriend Ray
MILLERS. The Iirst days, he heard about work and gains money. It sounds
queer to him, because he has always got a pocket money. His parents allow him
to do everything with it.
Contrary to CHESTER, Ray wouldn`t live without money. This disparity
in Iamilies and liIe`s diIIerences shakes his brain. He asked his Iriend whether,
he had it or not. That is the beginning oI endless questions and doubts in
CHESTER`s mind. Ray in his Iirst days oI work distributes and share his
money with all her Iamily member`s. He shows to CHESTER another deIinition
oI Iamily that is sharing. Firstly, the narrator laid emphasis on diIIerent ways oI
living oI the two Iamilies but later one between the two children. So CHESTER


will learn Irom it. Secondly, Buchi EMECHETA portrays through these
characters, being an AIrican meant Iirst to stand and to Iight Ior your liIe.
Furthermore she shows that work is not only crucial Ior black people but Ior all
mankind. Since then, the idea oI getting a job have stayed in CHESTERs mind.
Once he earns enough, he`ll seek Ior his identity. Buchi EMECHETA shows it
in New Tribe but is also developed in Kehinde that work`s power. For instance,
in the ditch ADAH into a discussion with her Iriend MORIAMMO declares:

"Igbo woman who no go happy until she dey work
and work and carry the burden of the whole world.
All that work, work dey give us power?"
11


For CHESTER, work means a way to discover oneselI. The money that
will pay his Iees Ior the travel is the Iruit oI his work. It opens the way to
continue his study Irom his work. ThereIore, aIter earning his own money,
wonders starting haunting him and transIormed joyIul days by sleepless nights.
The narrator voice describing his attitude aIIirms:

"CHES1ER tossed and turned all night, thinking
about the job. He had never expected to on higher
education, somehow taking it for granted that his
parent's responsibilities ended with school. But had

11
Emecheta Buchi Kehinde Heinemann educational publishers Halley Court, Jordan Hill ,OxIord
OXEJ A part oI Harcourt Education Ltd page Iurther reIerences to 'KEHINDE are to this edition and are
included in the text.



he thought about the alternatives. A job would enable
him to pay his way" (TNT page )

So CHESTER is now surrounded by the idea oI earning his living and
aIter discovers his roots. His social alienation starts because to him a work is not
something he can have easily? But his subconscious deters his mind and advises
him to be optimistic. 'Think positive and liIe will be positive.TNT p
This last thought is like the stimulator that unclenches the clock. It shows
CHESTER to take his destiny in his own hand. CHESTER starts to work when
he was 16years old .An Age in which children learnt at school, but Ior
CHESTER that doesn`t have a good importance to him. The narrator through
CHESTER`s behaviour shows that liIe is not what it is but one makes it.
Buchi EMECHETA like Bessie HEAD shows both MARU and
CHESTER are embarked into an inhuman and unprepared Iield. That they`ll
transIorm into a known area to discover their way. At the chalet surprisingly
CHESTER couldn`t imagine to meet black person, that`s why he witnesses:
"For a start, all other single parents had been women. Then, not only was he a
man, he was a black man` (TNT page ).
For CHESTER, it was unbelievable that during his rest oI liIe beIore he
goes back the source oI liIe that is AIrica, to meet a black member oI his own
society. That suggest sometimes in liIe one must Iace his Iate and not to be
aIraid oI the truth. Like ADAH, CHESTER had to work and to move Irom her
parent`s house to launch the process oI selI discovery. Buchi EMECHETA
depicts that the best way Ior CHESTER to start the process Ior selI discovery it
is to work and cut a link between his past and his present. To no longer is
CHESTER Arlingtons but to be CHESTER 'X until he discovers who is he?
How to be CHESTER 'X doesn`t mean to abandon everything. It is to put a
4

side the child`s illusions and to no longer accept to be nurtured by parents. So
that the last thing that one must do is to work, gain his money and start his new
liIe. CHESTER obliged to work and to restart to learn. Thus this is going to be
our next point education and upbringing.
























A/ EDUCA1IOA AAD UPBRIACIAC
Education and upbringing are both paths to selI assessment oI mankind in
our everyday`s liIe. For many years, writers, researchers, scholars, and religious
people base their reIlection on the way and the process oI those two distincts and
complementary elements. To separate them means to destroy the double essence
oI men. Dealing with these two words, needs a little separation Iirst, then to
deIine each oI them beIore and aIter illustrate their role in the process oI selI
discovery.

"Etymologically, the word education is derived from
educare (Latin) "bring up", which is related to
educere "bring out", "bring forth what is within",
"bring out potential" and ducere, "to lead" Education
to a large extent is a fact or experience that has a
formative effect on the mind, character or physical
ability of an individual. In its technical sense,
education is the process by which society deliberately
transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and
values from one generation to another, and
upbringing is the rearing and training received
during childhood."
1


In other words Education can be merely deIined as the learning procedure
we received Irom school, college, and university while that upbringing is the

1
The Iree dictionary by FarIlex
6

education that people gives at home. What is interesting by dealing with these
two entities is iI education means what we possess Irom school and upbringing
what we possess Irom home, there is a sparkling and clear answer that suggests
complementarities between the two. The Iirst one cannot go without the second,
so do the latter. ThereIore to attend the quest Ior identity these two golden words
are part oI the human procedure. Dismissing or dispelling one oI them Irom our
work will be awkward to us.
We will try now to sort out how the two authors manage to deal with
education and upbringing, and to highlight how education and upbringing can
constitute a bridge to make easier the selI-discovery.
At the beginning oI the book, Buchi EMECHETA compares the two
children on education`s domain .Julia who is pregnant is in a dilemma, how to
abort, and to continue her studies. While that CHESTER at the beginning was
interested in studies. He is later is absorbed by the quest oI his kingdom. He
dislikes studies at the beginning beIore getting interest about it once again. The
only CHESTER`s desire is to stop and to go London. Once in London he`d start
to learn again. Education to Buchi EMECHETA is like a round about that
AIrican may not escape. You may idle Ior years and years but you will need it
sooner or later.
Bessie HEAD is sharing the same view with EMECHETA when putting
Iirstly the central heroine oI the novel Margaret CADMORE as being a brilliant
student and then becomes a teacher to the younger generation who are
submerged by prejudices and pretence. Margaret CADMORE is alike a
redeemer because she transIorms her situation and Dikeledi`s one. The latter
Iinally becomes the headmistress oI the Delepe Primary School. So those who
didn`t give such an importance to education are deceived and change their


behaviour. She goes Iurther in the collector of treasures declares: "I longed for
more because as you know, education opens up the world for one"
1

Bessie HEAD herselI deprived oI a good education because oI the
apartheid system and many young black children oI her time just puts on screen
the disparity that the black have suIIered. Secondly to give lights on how it is
important to learn and to be well up brought. Formerly, in most AIrican Iamilies
girls were not allowed to have access to education because Ior them it was a
waste oI time and a waste oI money.
ThereIore, girls were doomed get married and to go to their husband's
house. Boy was about to learn and support the Iamily. Pr Oumar SOUGOU on
his book 'Writing a Cross Culture` illustrates the same idea as Bessie HEAD
and Buchi EMECHETA claiming that the importance oI education. He shows
how people girls` education Iormerly:

"Western education appears to be the key to succeed
in the changing Africa of the late 194s and
early195.But women and girls are excluded from it
because of the two combined factors of money and
discriminatory gender procedures. At the time it was
common for parents to send only boys to school.
Education was not free. It was prudent to western
male children, who were luckily to support them at

1
Head Bessie The collectors oI treasures AIrican Writers Series An HEB paperback Iurther reIerences
to 'The collector oI treasures are to this edition and are included in the text. page 9

8

old age, than in girls were fated to many and to join
the households.
14

Pr Oumar SOUGOU basically reinIorces what Buchi EMECHETA and
Bessie HEAD mention. First qualiIying Education as the Iounder to selI-
development oI children, It has another negative aspect that was why Iemale
was sacriIiced and prevented Irom receiving the same education .Girls were
highly painted not to need any education because they were simply girls. While
that boys were able to build their Iuture thanks to education.
In New Tribe, she both Iocuses on that education and upbringing
redundancy. CHESTER Iinds very young the opportunity to stop but he
continues hi studies. In London, he starts learning again because society is
hostile to illiterate. Through his travel in London, he discovers the need to be
educated when he sees her new Iriend ESTER, a woman who has got many
degrees. Then he believes in himselI .So Buchi EMECHETA tries to balance the
two levels and to show that boys and girls should have the same right. She
shows that education is like a bracelet Ior AIrican to gain their identities.
The 'Town` in most oI many AIrican`s novel is like a 'griot`. It is the
only area that destroys characters like Cruel City in Eza BOTO but it is also the
one who can build a character like Fama declares in The Soleil of
Independences. For example in Eza BOTO, BANDA is trapped between the two
cities: the city oI white and the city oI black. But at the end he always goes back
to his kingdom the black city because there is nothing that can oblige him to stay
there and he doesn`t have competences to compete with white men. This
situation prevailed during the colonisation .Years aIter Buchi EMECHETA
shows that education can helps people to maintain their way and not to swerve.

14
Sougou ,Oumar Writing a Cross Cultures p 41
9

As a summary, the narrator puts education and upbringing at the centre oI
the novel and a way to reach selI discovery. Thus, education and upbringing are
oIten meeting two things that tradition and customs that can be a boundary to
selI assessment.
Bessie HEAD in the Collector of Treasures and in Maru starts the novel
like an in media res that narrative style drains us into the realm oI traditions and
customs that have injured women. Dikeledi in Maru is well educated but
tradition and customs prevent her Irom reaching selI assessment. Dikeledi likely
in The Collectors of Treasures doesn`t get any education. She is also trapped in
the patriarchical domination oI male that gives them the power thanks to
traditions and customs. So as to transcend all those traditions and customs iI we
reIer to Elene SHOWALTER .One may say it must be thanks to the pure and
raw attitude that women should adopt. And then their language will sprout? That
language is seen by some people as a language to oppose to men writers. Elene
SHOWALTER in his short essay Feminist Criticism cited Monique WITTIG
Les Guerrieres that:

"1he woman say, the language that you speak poison
the glottis tongue palate lips. 1hey say, the language
that you speak is made up of words that are killing
you. 1hey say the language you speak is made up of
signs that rightly speaking designates what men have
appropriated."(Critical Inquiry190)

Women should have another attitude towards men. It is to do not bend but
secondly to be proud oI them selves. There is varied a way to reach an
40

assessment and women should know how to overcome that man patriarchical
domination.
That`s why Dikeledi in the collectors of treasures even kills her husband
to gain her Ireedom and is condemned to prison. But prison Ior DIKELEDI is a
way to gain paradise but also to help his children to attend school and to have a
good education and not to be like her. In Bessie HEAD`s novels education and
upbringing are placed at the centre oI children beIore swirling in a higher rank
oI the societies. DIKELEDI has made up her mind to Iace her husband thanks to
his Iriend and neighbour who reach the education level and is well brought up.
Her husband also well educated lives Ireely with her wiIe beyond traditions and
customs. That characterises that girls should go beyond these traditions and
customs to survive iI they are well educated.
Beyond the Iact oI sharpening the good role oI education and the eIIects
oI upbringing`s on man, Bessie HEAD in this issue highlights through these two
novels the diIIerence between an educated and an uneducated young woman,
living with their two husbands. Dikeledi in the collectors of treasures is like
Mara in Beyond the Hori:on or Nnu EGO in Joys of Motherhood or even Adah
In the ditch; they are all sanctioned and shut by traditions and customs. They
cannot even get over these realities without getting hurt.
The second step oI women diIIiculties is the Iamily that includes children.
To abandon one`s children in AIrica means committing suicide in the eyes oI the
community. The AIrican system can`t stand a mother who neglects her or his
child. So, women in general Ieel the society as their wall`s stories. Bessie HEAD
depicts here the cruelty and the harsh attitude oI men over women. Women in
these periods were not allowed to access to the threshold oI education. Two
things prevented them Irom having that source oI light Iirstly customs and
41

secondly traditions. Our question is does upbringing and education part oI
culture?
II we try to oppose Nature and Culture we would Iall into a trap. Culture
is literary what is added in Nature and Nature is what is innate in us
philosophically. Then iI Culture is what people then made like customs, laws,
rules, norms, upbringing and education etc. So, no one can disassociate
education and upbringing. So there are both two elements that are important in
man`s process to selI discovery.
In Buchi EMECHETA, those complementarities between Education and
upbringing are both portrayed in children and adults. CHESTER, ESTHER,
JULIA are all educated and well up brought. As young persons their level oI
education and their level oI upbringing diIIer Irom their historical background,
moreover their culture. When people read Buchi EMECHETA one can assert
that there is a man oI culture and a woman oI culture because the two identities
are not the same. The level oI education is not the same. Here men are not at the
top on this domain oI education while women are. The other Buchi
EMECHETA one can witness on the transIormation oI women and to the
realities like Elene CIXIOUS suggests that women should give all to women:

"I write this as a woman, toward women. When I say
"woman", I am speaking of woman in her inevitable
struggle against conventional men; and of a universal
woman subject who must bring women to their senses
and to their meaning in history."
1


1
Cixious Ellen ,Cohen Keith, Cohen Paula The Laugh oI the Medusa signs vol 1 No 4 (summer 196)
p 8 89 published by the University oI Chicago Press pdI
4


To Elene CIXIOUS women must write on women`s subjects. ThereIore the next
challenge is to produce character or Heroines that are women but also that are
able to reIer to women writing. This process allows them to attend their selI.
Some characters in Buchi EMECHETA New Tribe are unIinished and in
suspense like JULIA or RAY. Others like CHESTER or ESTER are on the
process. For example ESTHER is the other side oI CHESTER but as a girl, she
has managed to overcome him on education`s plan. She is well educated, well
protected, and well up brought. She does not need to be coached by a man but
she can be a manager oI her own liIe. That is the kind oI women that CIXIOUS
suggests to gain selI dependency. Men should have education and women
should have also education. CHESTER doesn`t end up seeking Ior his origin.
The best way to achieve his aim is the way to work and to learn.
Conscious oI what education can brought to him and inIluences by his
Iriends and colleagues. He tries to do aIternoon classes to continue his studies.
But with CHESTER the author goes up to show the possibility oI a black to
succeed in Europe. Thanks to European grants and opportunities that even
CHESTER himselI ignored. It is a way desired by the narrator to show how Iar
the European educational system is developed than the AIrican one. All the
means and the ways are oIIered to you to improve your studies. JULIAa is in
suspense because she is hesitating what to choose between that desire to have a
child and not to have it. She chose abortion which she regrets aIter doing such
an evil. JULIA discovers later that women were allowed to live in the campus
with their children and continues their studies. So she wishes she had kept her
child. She programs Iurther studies but her view is unclear because it is not
clariIied in the novel.
4

All these characters are kept by the education dream and thank to their
good upbringing and ambition, their desire to Iollow Iurther studies increase.
The point oI views oI these characters diIIer Esther doesn`t want to claim AIrica
as a loss baby in a lullaby. Her plan is to stay in London and to develop her selI.
Julia doesn`t claim AIrica but she knows that her origin is not in AIrica. HalI
British, halI London and halI AIrican Chester are torn into many Iolds which he
claims.
At Iirst the main thing is to be AIrican and the rest must complete the
process. Thus, to the writer many identities one has mustn`t prevent us Irom
emerging 'head above water. Chester himselI chose to be an AIrican. Thanks
to his education and upbringing he planned everything until the end oI the trip.
Trough Buchi EMECHETA`s novel New Tribe, both CHESTER and
JULIA aIter their long hail comes back to their motherland. Homecoming is not
excluded to gain what they are seeking Ior, which is the quest Ior their identities.
CHESTER goes to Nigeria into a hard, sunny journey but comes back desperate
tired and unsatisIied by the Iact that he doesn`t Iind his sweetest home either in
London or in AIrica. Buchi EMECHETA Heroes and heroines make their own
mistake and realized their wrong. So does Julia. Chester goes away, but they
soon realized at the end that they belong to this world.
The revolt that thumps inside each oI them (the characters), the reader is
supposed to use binoculars iI not he would condemned their attitude severely.
Since they are condemned by the society, they resort possibilities to achieve
their mission. Sometimes the society might marginalize or unaccepted them. But
haven`t we always seen prophets transcending or reversing the normal course oI
the natural liIe. The question is why shall we always Iollow traditions and
customs? To Iree oneselI and to Iree our mind, man is not obliged to Iollow
44

rules established by the society. And the society shouldn`t judge them. Only
God can judge us.
Through that clash oI civilisation between western and eastern. The two
authors show that it is possible to part them. It is possible to Iind one`s way but
also traditions and customs are similar with Ioods. At the start they can love
separately. Once in a belly, they mix up and create something else: a nature or in
another way or somebody else another creature. That creature is man. That type
oI man is a recreation. When we talk about recreation we may think oI art. What
is art? And what is the relation with quest Ior identity?
"Art is one of the forms of social consciousness, a
component of the spiritual culture of mankind, a
particular way of perceiving the world in both
physical and spiritual terms. In this sense, various
human activities are classified as art, including
painting, music, the theatre, and literature (which is
sometimes classified separately, as in the expression
"literature and art"). 1hese artistic activities are all
figurative reproductions of reality. In a broader
sense, art refers to any useful activity that is
performed skilfully not only in terms of technique but
also in terms of aesthetic expression."
16



16
English dictionary by IarIlex
4

Bessie HEAD shows in Maru that Art can be way to reach selI-
discovery. To compare between Bessie HEAD and Buchi EMECHETA there is
a double discourse as some people would say. To Bessie HEAD`s novels there
must be no distinction oI sex and race between genders (man and women). No
male domination must be compelled but also no Iemale domination should exist.
All genders are the same.
In Maru, ART is received Irom Margaret`s mother a white and
transmitted to a black person. Bessie HEAD is writing to answer negatively to
man who consider women to be brainless, not to think and are not able to do
more than giving birth and playing the mother`s role. ThereIore, she teaches all
human beings that the best way to be a man is to behave like a human being. So
you open the gate to Ireedom. Inhumanity starts by thinking that people are
superior to each other. Inhumanity starts by considering that black doesn`t
belong to this world. Inhumanity starts by considering that love cannot exist
between diIIerent social classes.
Bessie HEAD reIuses the ethnocentrism oI European people. That`s why
to readjust the black seats Margaret CADMORE paintings is an arm to deliver
the message oI people in general under the chains oI prejudices .Margaret
CADMORE Iirst being a teacher and a Massarwas has another giIt taken Irom
her mother that is paintings. Margaret CADMORE`s mother can trace back
everything by notes through his notepad. She sketches many things even odd
behaviour oI bad societies. At the beginning oI the novel she made a wonderIul
picture oI Margaret`s mother writing that 'she looks like a goddess (Maru page
1).
Margaret CADMORE inherits Irom her mother humility, wisdom,
elegance but also humanity. That giIt she kept in her mind is transIormed later
by the help oI her sister and Iriend Dikeledi into the Iields oI gold in paintings.
46

The Iirst portrayal Margaret CADMORE makes oI her Iriend Dikeledi
shows the joy that her Iriend Ieels. Dikeledi has never seen such a beauty
stunned:

'-Hey what's that?" she said eagerly. Let me see it
She snatched up the paper .1here was Dikeledi her
face untilled, exploring heaven. She was a vain
woman and highly flattered. First she said: "I am
keeping this." After a moment a moment she said:
"Please take out the picture of your mother." (MARU
page 8)

Dikeledi who was amazed could retain her pleasure and compare the two
styles. She remarks the simplicity oI the mother touch but the drawing oI the
daughter is a brain`s cliche. Dikeledi who had got a low thought as his brother
Maru who own slaves will be overwhelmed. As Helen CIXIOUS says 'beauty
will no longer be forbidden (T L M 86), thus Margaret paints the nature in
raw.
She then conIesses to Margaret: 'Your teacher must have been a good
woman to share everything with you.(Maru page 80)
Her Iriend`s amazement and awkwardness to say teacher instead oI
mother and the Iact oI sharing instead oI teaching shows that her Iriend doesn`t
believe in it. How can a white person share everything with a black that is very
queer .That is to show that Buchi EMECHETA also made that paints in Adah
when halI oI people are bad the other halI are good. So, the response oI
Margarite by delicacy is going to be like a Iresh wind that blows under the hard
autumn`s sun. Margaret answers surprised:
4

'She was not good. She was rich. She kept on throwing things away. I
used to feel myself catching them, and that is how I learned.(Maru page 88)
The second halI oI Margret CADMORE`s painting reIlects the society in
her subconscious. Margaret CADMORE trough her portrait mixes realism and
naturalism, mysticism and beauty. From the Iirst pictures, aIter his meeting with
the windscreen wiper and the Queen oI Shaba both characters oI the novel that
dwells with her and are her only Iriends. Margaret Iails not to pain them. What
is very interesting with these two creatures, it is the personiIication that the
author does to lighten our eyes and to show us what philosophers says 'DEUS
SIJE NATURA`. In Latin they assimilate everything with nature. It means 'the
nature is God. Bessie Head has done the same here and her heroine doesn`t
Iorget the nature and to make a relationship between people and animal. That is
to say all noises resound Irom God and we are all his elements. When we go
deeply beyond the painting oI the Queen oI Sheba looks it looks like 'Mbam
Dictateur` oI Cheikh Aliou NDAO 'Mbam Gonk. Cheikh Aliou NDAO as
Bessie HEAD starts in an in media res .Bessie HEAD paints that animal like
person. She is also depicted like an evil. That old black assimilation oI the black
complexion as bad that is in her subconscious appears in Margaret. People in the
society are very aIraid oI encounter their phobia, Dikeledi adds:

'I think she is a human being in disguise. Have you
heard about the witches in this country? 1hey can
turn into lions and buffalo. Sheba was once a witch
who was starving and turned herself into a goat. She
behaves like a beggar who is also a blackmailer
(Maru page111/11)

48

More than being a devil goat, it is considered is like a blackmailer by her.
Sheba is like 'Mbam Gonk. The donkey who is transIormed by the population
strength and mystical power suIIers Irom the power oI witchcraIt and sorcellery.
As a donkey he behaves like a person. He thinks acts and reacts but cannot talk.
Here in Maru the Queen oI Shaba is on the same way. For Margaret
CADMORE the essence goes beyond the simple Iact oI being a simple animal
but a creature oI God. She sees nothing else but the beauty that revolves into that
creatures. When we talk about beauty to some people it is something visible but
Margaret reinIorces the idea oI those who say that beauty is not something
apparent but it is hided. Dikeledi was gorgeous oI the work oI her Iriend. The
narrator explains how that animal Iill up the space oI Margaret she declares:

'But Sheba and the windscreen wiper had taken the
full blast of it. 1hey had been stared at with savage
intensity. 1hey had been subjected to sudden,
blinding blows if they thought a certain object on
paper was edible and had been astonished, when a
plateful of food that was not shrubs or husks, had
been thrust under their noses, yet they would not give
their regular, routine, daily visits, not for anything in
the world."(Maru page 101/10)

This witnesses the desire oI the narrator to show and to lay emphasis on
beauty. So these wild animals represent the muted: the Massarwas or the
voiceless. The picture oI Margaret makes them regain their Ireedom. Margaret
CADMORE oIIers them their liberty. In Iact, being a Masarwa signiIied death
by an endless job like slaves but the paints oI Margaret is away to salvation.
49

Margaret CADMORE helps to regain selI assessment like Dikeledi in the
Collector of Treasures who commits tragedy by killing his husband and Iinds
their ways to selI discovery.
The Massarwas will be aware oI them; each one their liberation is no
longer a personal Ireedom but a collective Ireedom. Margaret is committed to
apply and to give justice to the oppressed people. During his long process she
ponders over and she says:

"You see, it is I and my tribe who possess the true
vitality of this country. You lost it when you sat down
and let us clean your floors and rear your children
and cattle. Aow we want to be free of you and be busy
with our own affairs" (Maru page109)

Finally, through her paintings she gives everything and everyone a double
personality and these paintings are the second Margaret CADEMORE who
discovers herselI through art. Margaret CADEMORE who was unconIident,
unprepared aIter all her experiences and abilities is ready to say 'let my people
go. She can walk now and neglect those who are looking down upon her. She is
like MOSES and the people oI Egypt who were ready to go down in Egypt`s
land and to say that his people are not the worst but the chosen. The
'Massarwas are both black and human beings like everyone.




0

B/SOLIDARI1Y AAD RIEADSHIP:

Friendship and solidarity are part oI the system that we may call culture.
Some philosophers claim to say that man is naturally good like Jean Jacques
ROUSSEAU. Others say he is naturally bad 'homo homoni loupous like
Thomas HOBBES (The prince). But all these deIinitions depend on the literary
or philosophical approach oI the scholars.
Family neighbours and Iriends are part oI the process oI selI discovery.
Dealing with these with two elements need a deIinition oI each term and then to
study their complementary to work on the process to selI -discovery.
"Solidarity is the integration, and degree and type of
integration shown by a society or group with people
and their neighbours. It refers to the ties in the
society -social relations -that bind people to one
another. 1he term is generally employed in sociology
and the other social societies.
What forms the basis of solidarity varies between
societies. In simple societies it may be family based
around kinship and shared values. In based more
complex societies there are various as to what
contributes to a sense of social solidarity." And
"riendship is a form of interpersonal relationship
generally considered to be closer than association,
although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in
both friendship and associations. riendship and
association are often through of as spanning across
the same continuum. 1he study of friendship is
1

included in the field of sociology, social psychology,
anthropology, philosophy and zoology. Jarious
academic theories of friendship have been proposed,
among which are social exchange theory, equity
theory, relat ional dialectics and attachments styles.
Contrary to many people who think that the white man doesn`t participate
in black`s selI discovery. Here one can assets black or white both contribute to
the stream Ior the quest oI identity and we will illustrate it.
In these two novels characters wherever one may be in New Tribe or
Maru Irom diIIerent side they may come Irom. They may have diIIerences
according to their Iamilies, neighbours and Iriends. They Ieel selI conIident and
that selI conIidence is something that they lingered Ior a long time.
Those who participate in the Iirst social integrity oI the Hero are generally
the Iamily but those can chase or admit their social exclusion as we explained at
the beginning oI our work is also the Iamily.
Ginny takes care oI Chester the Iirst and supports him. The rest oI the
Iamily Iollows. Arthur was aIraid at the beginning that Ginny Iails to up-bring
the child. But she never doubts an inch. As parents wish, they had baby`s boys
as the Iirst child. Fate proposes Ginny to nurture a girl. The author shows her
Ielling towards miracle by Ginny`s amazement. She exclaims: 'Arthur she is a
girl` (TNT page ).
Ginny was overwhelmed by rivers oI happiness. That happiness is the
witness oI her hard work, her passion and devotion to her children. All those
qualities push the social services to propose another Iostering: a black child.
Chester`s arrival Iilled out the room with Ireeze, because he is a black child. The
social worker declares:


- 'Chesters mother is a Nigerian. You need to be
aware he is a black child. (TNT page )
But this won`t stop the devotion oI Ginny as she replied: 'I always wanted a
house full of children (TNT page ).
Chester`s Iirst integration started Irom her adoptive mother who didn`t
reject his child. The education and upbringing oI their parents teach them Iirst
solidarity, brotherhood, and Iriendship. Julia who is her sister deIends and
covers him in many ways. During their Iirst days oI school, Julia stops Iirst the
negative thought oI Miss Slatery who accused Chester oI being a little Devil.
She replied black to her: 'Chesters not the devil (TNT page11).
Buchi EMECHETA is chasing the evil and the Iormer thought oI people
to assimilate black as bad thing, black as a 'devil, black as a 'ghost black, or
as 'the worst. Buchi EMECHETA Irom Chester Ioresees that his way oI living
into this society will not be an easy one, but he will require support and
Iriendship. She spread the blankets oI reticence and honesty on the table to show
that no one could put some dirt in it. Buchi EMECHETA through Ginny shows
the Iirst days you are a kind man that you are a 'Man of the people Woley
SOYINKA. Chester Iinds his Iamily more supportive than any one else. He is
similar to Adah who relatively depends on the people who have moral values.
He accepts his condition and Iace the world courageously.
The second step, oI our work is neighbours who have a real part in the
process to selI- discovery. Indeed, representing the 'Other, they are the mirror
oI their souls .Whatever they may do, or whatever they may have, it is thanks to
people. In New Tribe many people has played a crucial role toward Chester`s
success. John and Barbara are like grand parents that Chester should have in
AIrica. They are like the rear-view mirror oI people in AIrica. John and Barbara
belong to diIIerent community like Chester but are more likely to have the same


origin. Chester learnt almost how to be a man with John. So the old man, is not
very rich, not vey poor, but his richness and his poverty result Irom his
experiences. That experiences grants patience and wisdom. These are qualities
that Chester gathers plus his parent`s one. It allows him to go into a long quest
to Iind out his past or more his identity. The old John Iinds satisIaction in his
world and transplants all to Chester orally and through practice. John tells to
Chester that: 'We are those left behind when the crowd has gone (TNT page
49).
John represents a wise man oI Nigeria who looks a library like Amkoulel
Amadou Hampate BA despite oI the white`s complexion.
The narrator portrays the similarities between the two societies. All his
upbringing and education that permit Chester to have solidarity and Iriendship in
her body is thanks to her parents especially her mother but also people. Buchi
EMECHETA issues the mother at the centre oI the novel and all Chester`s
development. It just to put back into questions to those who think the Education
and Upbringing received Irom a mother is not a good one.
Ginny is similar to Adah and all 'the ditch dwellers in the novel who Iinds
Carol as their adviser, conIident, sister, a Iriend but also their ultimate solution
to get away Irom their situation. Adah as a Iarewell message delivers this
message to Carol:

"hen I move, Ill avoid you as much as I can", she
decided. "You are a kind person, but until you stop
taking down to your fellow human beings youll find it
4

difficult to have loyal friends and your kindness will
come to nothing."
1


Chester and Julia depend on the warm climate oI the society to succeed in
their mission. So the Iamily is the basic element to selI-development. Adah is
similar to Chester and Margaret CADMORE; all oI them depend on the
Iriendship oI person`s to reach their way to selI discovery.
During all the process and the way to selI-discovery human beings are
kept between certain numbers oI things like love, Iriendship hatred, peace,
tradition customs and religions etc. that can oIten be a way to make easy the
journey Ior selI discovery, to stop or to slow down the process.
In this part as Iar as solidarity is concerned, we aspire to see how
solidarity can be the eyes oI a man.
Solidarity raises other two sub subjects at the horizon that are religion
and traditions. There are Irontiers that slow down the process to selI discovery
too. We will establish then a relationship to show in which context religion and
traditions can build limits to share between people. Now our Iirst point
illustrates how solidarity allows a human being to get 'head above water`.
In other words how can we build a solidarity council by getting away
Irom the trap oI traditions and customs?
Once in a distress, characters are in a bad mood or even lost. Society
maniIests certain solidarity and helps them to continue their journey. For
instance Julia in the New Tribe beneIits Irom his brother`s helps Iirst but more

17
LmecheLa 8uchl ln 1PL ul1CP publlshed ln CreaL 8rlLaln 1979 by Alllson and 8usby llmlLed
page 120furLher references Lo ln 1PL ul1CP" are Lo Lhls edlLlon and are lncluded ln Lhe LexL.


than that her lover and then her mother. ThereIore to Julia solidarity has settled
both climate oI happiness and harm. When Julia desired to abort she didn`t tell
anyone about her pregnancy because oI their religious background. She kept it
in her mind but her boyIriend Iells the need to tail everything to Chester. He is
Iurious at the start oI Irom being excluded He talks to his sister. Finally; he tries
to make her Ieel at ease as he used to do:

"You seem unhappy. Do you ant to talk about it? I am
your brother, remember." Chester wanted to hug her,
make her laugh she had always been able to do, but
her resistance kept him at bay. Recent events had
erected a wall between them" (TNT page 6)

Chester`s Iirst act oI solidarity means to assist morally her sister who
thinks the only possible way is to escape and not to inIorm her parents. Then the
second step as a brother is to tell her sister to bear in mind Ray Mum and Dad.
Trying to include all those people means to associate them but the main concern
is the mother. That wise advice came like a Ilash oI lightening:

'What about mum and dad? You said didn't want to
hurt them this morning by not going to church .Don't
you think if you go away without giving them the
chance to help you you'll hurt them more " (TNT
page 6)

Chester`s advice was Ielt by people but Julia is thinking oI people`s
attitude. They will judge the vicar`s girl and the vicar himselI because oI it
6

religious belieI. How can he allow his daughter to do such a thin people may
say?
Buchi EMECHETA just wants us to pay attention on how people can
split the unity between people but also one cannot avoid the snare oI religion.
Suppose that Julia was educated and upbrought into a normal Iamily like the
Millers she would be able to Iace the society but because oI his belonging he
can`t aIIord to do such a thing. ThereIore, the only way to go is to run away to
Iind another shelter. That`s why her answer is not surprising when she says:

'How can the vicar have an illegitimate grandchild?
Ao Ches, I've got to deal with this on my own. I don't
know what will happen, but it's got to be my decision"
(TNT page 6)

This shows here Chester`s, ready to help her sister. The latter needed her
assistance. She even conIesses how that pregnancy happened. It is because oI
the loneliness that she Ielt and Chester was submerged by his kingdom. She
didn`t have somebody to talk with? Then, iI Chester shares everything with her
that misadventure won`t happen.
Chester`s advice helps her to go and see her mother who recommends her
to Uncle Robert. There is another train oI solidarity here again, Robert lives Iar
Irom them but doesn`t break the relationship. He participates also in the process
as he could. All these people witness solidarity between them. Julia Iinds
satisIaction and Ireedom at the end to do what she wants. So this solidarity that
is sung Irom brotherhood to brotherhood, between sisterhood to sisterhood, Irom
mother to child is displayed by Buchi EMECHETA in raw.


Speeches show the opposite oI what Julia says to her mother not to know
anything about the real world that she is wrong when she says: 'All she says is
church and arranging flowers and bring and buy sales looking after dad` (TNT
page 64.)
For Buchi EMECHETA a mother is still a mother. She is like a broom to
her children always making the way very clean so that they will not Iall down
and Iind the road Iull oI rocks. Julia will Iind her brother thanks to her mother
but also will Iind her way too. She accepts that she was wrong about her and let
a note to Chester: 'thanks for helping me decide what to do. Look after Ginny.
You were right about her. Love you, Jules` (TNT page 6)
AIter being understood and helped by her mother, she thought positively
about Ginny. She realized that she was wrong; Ginny doesn`t know only to
nurture his children.
Chester`s religious panes constitute an iron bridge between him and the
world. Chester wants always to do good to behave correctly to be Iair and honest
because Ior him his parent`s solidarity is still dwelling in everybody`s hearts.
That`s why he will have many disappointments during the process.
Uncle Enoch is t the Iirst one to witness his gratitude toward Chester by
giving a house, paternity, and he shows how to be a Nigerian people. He shows
him the Iirst doors to be Nigerian. To integrate him means to associate him with
his children two children. He shares everything with him. He even Iorgives him
to call him Sir like a white person but Uncle Enoch in the AIrican way.
Buchi EMECHETA gives us some details about the diIIerence between
the two cultures. In the western one the Mr, Mrs, Madam are two Iormals. These
are titles and they closed the person in a hostile world. But iI you say Uncle in
AIrica the barriers are opened. You can say everything to your uncle but not
everybody to your dad Ior example. So as to open the gate oI Iriendship and
8

solidarity, Mr ENOCH preIers to called uncle. He declares to Chester in a happy
way:
'Well, call me uncle. Uncle EAOCH. In my country
that is how a young person addresses someone older
but familiar. I like uncle. As for helping, I will do my
best. Life is a struggle for the black."(TNT page 8)

With uncle ENOCH, Chester renewed a loss Iather and somebody who is
ready to help him. ThereIore ENOCH aIter being Iriendly with him is ready to
give a helping hand to him. This shows that AIrican minds a lot on these two
elements that are Iriendship and solidarity.
Chester thanks to ENOCH solidarity and Iriendship`s seems to Iorget
everything but it is still in his mind. It is shown by the accumulation oI the
words by the author. She insists and she compares the attitude oI Chester Irom
St Simon and that Chester in London: 'He never forgot the day landed at Uncle
ENOCHs garage, hurt, humiliated refected and lost. Time had dulled the pain,
but the memory stay with him.`(TNT page 8)
To Buchi EMECHETA whatever your pain it is or your situation maybe
solidarity and Iriendship oI people can avoid you to be alone and it will help you
to Iace the world. The marginalization and that isolation that Chester Ielt are
Iilled by the population support.
But ENOCH will hush Chester to go once he is aware oI the theIt. He
Shut his house and changes the key. Chester didn`t think that somebody can do
such an evil. All this misadventures happened to Chester because Ior him
Iriendship and solidarity is the key also to be in contact with people. This idea
derives Irom Chester thanks to his religious belieIs. He never thinks oI doing
bad. He is surrounded by a huge power to do well and to share. For instance
9

aIter listening to Jumoh`s story Chester is ready to help him. They exchange
their passport and Jumoh will earn his living as an irregular one. He could have
been jailed, but he thought about solidarity and that Iriendship Jumoh showed to
him.
Margaret CADMORE received the Iirst hand oI solidarity coming Irom
Moleka. Indeed aIter her meeting with Dikeledi. Margaret CADMORE is
introduced to Moleka. He Iinds accommodation to her. She is almost surprised
by the act into a town where everybody sticks to tribalism and racial prejudices.
At the beginning Moleka looks very arrogant and severe to her .At the end he
changes and Margaret CADMORE motives those two characters attest: 'a
moment ago, he had been hateful arrogant man. Now he had another face which
made him the most beautiful person on earth.` (Maru page9/0)
Bessie HEAD continues more to insist on that solidarity to shows how it
can be turned into other Ieelings like Iriendship.
Then she displays solidarity can create Iriendship between these two
souls. It creates sympathy and then love.
That Ieeling coming Irom Moleka will erase all her inner loneliness. It
made her Ieel conIident because the loneliness had disappeared like the mist
beIore the warmth oI a rising sun.
The next act is Iriendship, it goes beyond the perception. It was Dikeledi
acts, the sister oI Maru. She is more than a Iriend. At the very Iist day, she
supports Margaret CADMORE and helps her when the whole teachers were
backstabbing her. Dikeledi who runs the school at a certain time is respected by
everybody .She stands up at places where men Ialls down. Here again we assist
in high transcendental situation. Women stay where men do and they say: 'its
not the mens world but its the women world`.
60

In addition, Bessie HEAD shows that without Iriendship Margaret
CADMORE will be submerged by a castle oI loneliness. That Iriendship and
support is also present through in Moleka who goes Iarther. Moleka shares his
lunch with the Massarwas at his house. His three village dwellers Seth, MoraIi
and Peth don`t accept. Instead oI being kind and supportive with the Massarwas,
their solidarity will know another Irom .That is to make harm to Margaret
CADMORE and his community. There is another Iorm oI Iriendship contrary to
its Iirst deIinition. Dikeledi and Moleka change their situation. For them
injustice and truth can`t sprout Irom solidarity and Iriendship rooI.
Moleka heard that the principle and his Iriends were planning trouble Ior
the new mistress. He could not stand seeing such a thing because oI prejudice.
He removed it all day. He told Seth the education supervisor that there is a
good Iood on his home to attract him. When Seth arrived, he saw all the
Massarwas in the yard oI Moleka and ate. Moleka took up his Iork and placed a
mouthIul to her a Massarwas month and then eat with the same Iork.
Moleka contrary to, Maru is very supportive toward Margaret and his
community at any state because oI the love he Ieels. Moleka didn`t love any girl
Iormerly but thanks to her the situation takes another wrong way around oI the.
Moleka is helping the community oI Margaret to reach her heart.





61





PAR1 III:

Achievements and failures













6

In this part, achievements and Iailures oI the heroes are going to be
discussed on. Buchi EMECHETA and Bessie HEAD present us the whole
nation throughout many Iigures. The two characters do not look like each other:
at Iirst by their complexion, secondly by their destiny and at last by their origin.
But beyond all these diIIerences they will live the same problems in the same
country. They will live an unending travel. But as a saying goes: 'all that
glitters is not gold`. They will see success but they will Iailures too. We are at
the end oI the little stroll. We need to see where the mountain oI success stops
and where the Iailure dries up.
In general through both characters Chester and Margaret CADMORE
their liIe are similar to a day light. Sometimes it is very bright but sometimes it
is very dark. Through that darkness Margaret CADMORE merges into a clean
world but she isn`t sure and selI conIident. For Chester Irom a clear world he is,
Irom that clear world he enters into a dark one. He remerges into a bright one.
That`s why the theme homecoming is necessary in Buchi EMECHETA`s world
to get new identities.
But to Bessie HEAD instead oI homecoming she is insisting more on
Ireedom .The Ireedom in mind, the Ireedom oI all the humanity and AIrican
Ireedom are her main concern. Her characters are already in their lands. They
Ieel not to belong to that world. ThereIore Ior both writers Iighting is the last
and the only solution. Through that Iight there are two possibilities: to achieve
or to Iail.
The Iirst step oI achievements is to see the two notions oI Ireedom (Iree in
mind and Iree his community) and homecoming. There is also snare oI regrets or
and Iear or Iailures that the author creates through the heroes and the heroines.

6

A/ACHIEJEEA1S :

Colonised and dominated by men Ior long period women lived under two
colonisations .The one which is seen, the other one that is not apparent. The 1
st

domination oI men over women existed over 400 years. And that derived Irom
slavery. It is seen in many AIrican novels Bessie HEAD and Buchi
EMECHETA progress to depict the distress and the harm that women Iell
hitherto. And to put on the light that distress they bear. That domination oI men
over is not something that one can`t see or touch but it is in their mind .It is
unseen .The only possible way it is through book and by denouncing g such a
practice.
Bessie HEAD presents Margaret CADMORE in a world dominated by
men and where women must Iight to get out oI these situations. During her liIe
Margaret CADEMORE isn`t helped by a single man except Moleka. And this
latter receives Maru`s authority. Margaret CADEMORE senior has done
everything Ior her daughter Irom the childhood up the adult state. But Margaret
CADEMORE was alone in his Iight.
Such an environment could be interpreted simply in Bessie HEAD
environment or in women writers most oI the time men do not intervene. There
are isolations that men created in them beIore on purpose. Margaret
CADEMORE is Iound at the beginning oI the book and she is preaching deeply
at the side oI her mother than to her Iather. Her mother is dead but the
inIormation coming Irom her Iather is unknown to people. Maybe he has made
the girl pregnant and disappears, maybe she abandoned her because or he could
not care about the child, and maybe they didn`t belong to the social classes. All
these inIormation are unknown to us .That`s why one may think that this is a
desire oI the writer to condemned such evils practices done by men to women.
64

Then Margaret CADEMORE never comes to talk about her Iather or her
Iamily`s Iather during all the process to selI discovery. She doesn`t consider
Margaret CADEMORE`s husband like a Iather. He is cited by the narrator to be
dull and stupid:
"1here is a little to say about the man because he was
naturally dull and stupid, only people never noticed
because he was a priest and mercifully remained
silent for hours on end. He had a long, mournful
face. His mouth was wet with saliva and he frequently
blinked his eyes, slowly like a cow."(Maru page 1)

The narrator described harshly and in hatred manner Margaret
CADEMORE`s husband to be just unimportant at the eyes oI Margaret
CADEMORE the daughter and at the eyes oI the people. This is the clear prooI
that Margaret CADEMORE Iather in law doesn`t interIere in her liIe and her
mother`s. The roundabout oI everything is the mother. In her environment man
do not react but they are just like acting like reIeree. They just exist thanks to the
players or in other words women. The narrator gives a crucial detail when she
says: 'It was the wife who was to live forever in the memory of the child` (Maru
Page 1)
Whereas in many AIrican countries man has got a big power thanks to
traditionalism and then women have just got the silence to be covered up.
Margaret CADEMORE Iells that practice during all her travel to quest Ior
identity. But she uses that silence to men uses over women as an arm to solve
her problem and to make revenge. She will use silence and answer to men by
silence. Soon his opponent Moleka and Maru Iall into her arm through the hands
oI love.
6

The Iriendship oI these brothers in arms will be parted because oI her.
Even she Ialls into the trap but the danger is higher between the two people.
They were about to kill each other beIore the end oI the novel.
In Buchi EMECHETA`s novel, Chester doesn`t Ieel that male domination
because he is a man. It`s doesn`t exist very well. But that male domination is
replaced by another Iorm Irequent in most Buchi EMECHETA`s writing that is
homecoming. That desire which haunts our everyday`s heroes and people.
Indeed, Chester ARLINGTON born into Ioreigners and grew into another
environment. That the point oI his own to quest about his identity because oI
one the desire: unbelongings. To Chester`s or too many people homecoming
whenever it may not be a key to Iailure is a key to a success. So iI Chester didn`t
intend that travel he would not discovered his parents at the ends oI the novel.
And then he won`t meet Ester, her uncle Enoch JUMOH or Mariamu etc.
All these people contribute to the selI assessment oI Chester. It shows to
Chester who is. Buchi EMECHETA shows plus the homecoming theme our own
community are also necessary to be who we are.
Julia leIt home but she returns also the Arlington`s. Chester can be treated
like traitor Ior some people because oI all the Arlington did to him. He deserts
them. But those who think in such a way won`t understand. Unless they go
beyond the mentality oI Chester, they would understand. Chester is more than a
person but a sear. Thanks to him, a gathering oI many people is done. He is like
a Iaded light, thanks to him that a light oI people gets together and united.
Buchi EMECHETA did on purpose to open the book by two adults and
both with white people. They are diIIerent Irom their sex. She also ends up with
two young people Julia and Chester both a white woman and a black man. It is
not the hazard. Buchi EMECHETA depicts on the last chapter two persons
diIIerent Irom their origin diIIerent Irom their destiny; diIIerent Irom the
66

complexion .She put these two people into one table to have breakIast .This is
just to show a mathematical ending. In this world this shows, we all go back to
where we come Irom. This dialogue oI cultures should always exist between
people.
The two cultures white people and black people through the theme oI
homecoming could avoid many things. She displays that; the young generation
must be united whenever we are Irom diIIerent belongings or diIIerent origins. It
is the most important thing to be one and to be united so as to lead the leader oI
the world. Like Martin LUTHER KING said 'he has been to the mountain top
beIore he died in his last speech. That mountain top is the summit oI cultures
and civilisation here. Every young people should aspire as adult to be at that
mountain top. So without a certain character and way oI being, one cannot be at
that mountain top.
II we proceed to elimination to the characters or iI we return back
character through character Ior example, Chester and Julia to where they come
Irom and erased their travel and erased the people they met and erased the
problems they encounter. All possibly goes back to Ginny and Arthur. And
Arthur and Ginny leads directly to Chester.
Buchi EMECHETA made a parallelism between these Iour characters.
She shows that they are the chosen. They must show the people that no violence,
no domination over men to women or women to men dominations should exist.
It must not existed, any hatred but love between people .We are all the same, in
one country and in one world that is called earth.
Buchi EMECHETA in painting Chester slides him into a wrong kingdom.
She tries also to Iind a new home Ior him. That new home his called identity. A
new house, a new Iuture is Iound Ior him. The Iirst aim oI Buchi EMECHETA
is to Iree Chester`s mind Irom unbelongings social isolation and the loss
6

identity. She shows the hero that he has to assume his blackness. And then he
must be proud oI it. At last he belongs to AIrica.
To quote Helene CIXIOUS The Laugh of Medusa translated by Paula
COHEN and Keith COHEN that: 'Women should break out the snare of
silence.`(TLM page 881)
Instead oI the snare oI silence which is always in characters like Chester
Julia who Ieels to have a word to say .Buchi EMECHETA gives a pen and a
sheet oI paper and tell them that you have to word to say.
Although she will be their spokesperson but she suggests that the
initiative must start Irom them. Writing which was Iormerly considered to be a
man`s activity by some scholars. Helene CIXIOUS will stand up and gives
power to women and encourage them to open their heart. As Walt Whitman says
in the leaves oI grass:
'I celebrate myselI and I sing myselI .What I shall assume you shall
assume cause every atom that belongs to belongs me, it belongs to you.
18

In other words writers must be the sheen oI the society. What they Ieel,
what they want to say, what they want to do, altogether must be shown by the
writers themselves.
The Iirst attempt oI Buchi EMECHETA is to Iree Chester`s mind against
all sort oI domination: male or Iemale domination. Buchi EMECHETA didn`t
Iail to paint like Helene CIXIOUS and Walt Whitman the same idea. Chester
chosen as a boy could be a girl but to Buchi EMECHETA, it ionised when she
chose boy. He claims identity just to show that also men and women all can be
lost. Finally they try to Iind themselves.

18
Whitman Walt leaves oI grass
68

That diIIerence oI women over the dominant group that are male is more
signiIicant in the Kehinde. Buchi EMECHETA in Kehinde can shout listen and
copy Helen CIXIOUS advices. She shows that woman mustn`t be aIraid. She
must know how to take his Iate in their hand. And more than that she describes
women to be selI made up women .And they does not need a man. Elsewhere iI
they have them also it is Iine.
To woman, man must not create a bridge to their selI assessment. This
will lead to Margaret CADEMORE in Bessie HEAD`s Maru.
Bessie HEAD separates the novel and makes it like a Iilm on which you
have the Iirst part and the second part. Through the 1ts part page 1 to 96
Margaret CADEMORE had no words .She and her community are the muted
and she has nothing to show. On the contrary she is designed to be pinpointed at.
But in the
nd
part 9- up to 16 she is the leader; the unmuted and at last the
saviour oI his people. Dikeledi has also two positions sometimes she is a spy
sent by Maru to question her Iriend and sister. But sometimes she acts like a
Iriend who is also amazed by the work that she did and is ready to help.
Margaret CADEMORE discovered her kingdom in the second part oI the novel.
Margaret CADEMORE and Dikeledi have merged into their personalities
because oI their Iriendship. The Narrator witnesses it by declaring: 'dignity and
Dikeledi were the same names.`(Maru page 9)
AIter the discovery oI Margaret CADEMORE, she will Iree her mind
Irom the domination oI people. In their subconscious maybe they are preventing
people like SaliI KEITA Song`s tomorrow. In the song tomorrow seems so Iar
.And that tomorrow is not. It is just at the end oI the novel. Everything will
change. Bessie HEAD suggest that women mustn`t hurry. They must be patient
and to be courageous because tomorrow is near not Iar. Sooner oI later the truth
will always come. Dikeledi gets a high social position and be respected
69

Margaret`s CADEMORE tomorrow`s is marked by a wedding. It is lighten
thanks to her Iriend and Maru.
"One picture was of a house, everything around it
and the house itself was black, but out the windows
shone a queer light; it did not look like the lamplight
and it revolved gently. While I concentrated on this
picture, it slowly faced and another took its place.
1here was a wide open sky and field. I saw the pitch
black clouds envelop the sky, but when I looked at
my feet the whole field was filled with yellow daises"
(Maru Page 10)
She Irees her mind aIter telling her day dream to her Iriend who will complete
the process. Her vision was not clear but it is Maru who will complete the
process. Contrary to Chester who thought Iree his mind need to go and discover
what is beyond his dream alone. Margaret CADEMORE daydream is like a link
between her and her identity because iI she discovers her halI or what she
consider as the contrary oI black. The process will soon hand because the
philosophers says love is a lack and when we love we are searching Ior our halI.
Bessie Head will end up the process by giving unclear ideas to Margaret
CADEMORE. She let the Heroine into doubts and gives the response to Maru.
Thus Buchi EMECHETA shows once again dependency between these two
souls. She displays that equilibrium must exist iI not one among the two will
sink. This can be illustrated by Maru`s last words: 'We used to dream the same
dreams .That was how I knew you would love me in the end.` (Maru page 14)
0

The
nd
achievement is the Ireedom oI their communities. Margaret
CADEMORE who is a victim oI established laws and rules oI the society escape
and scored goals. She Irees his community but also Margaret CADEMORE and
Dikeledi, in Maru breaks the Irontiers. They allow the Massarwas to be Iree. In
Maru both men and women participate in the Massarwas liberation. They Iree
people Irom the captivity oI traditions and the chains oI prejudices. For example
Moleka breaks the setting laws by eating with the Massarwas in the same boll:
"oleka, who heard that the principal and the high-
ups were planning trouble for the new mistress, could
not make allowance for the slow removal of prejudice
. He removed it all in one day. He told Seth, the
educational supervisor, that there was good food in
the house on Sunday. When Seth arrived he found all
the assarwas in the yard of oleka also seated at
the table. oleka took up his fork and placed a
mouthful of food in the mouth of a asarwa, then
with the same fork fed himself. " (Maru Page )

Maru use many techniques the Iirst one is patience, the second one brain
and the last one Iorce. In many step he overcomes and he allows his opponents
to be Iar away behind him. Maru aIter Ireeing himselI, will Iree the circle oI
which his brother was include unIortunately they didn`t escape. One can state
that: 'we ripe out what we saw`. Margaret CADEMORE realizes sometimes
that one has ever been done. They merge into one person. The arrogance and the
Iorce oI Maru are not at Margaret CADEMORE but Margaret CADEMORE
1

patience and courage is not at Maru either .ThereIore their two personalities will
be one like Margaret and Dikeledi.
In Chester his dream allow him to go deeper in the darkness. He`ll think
that these realities are the best. But will remark soon that he is wrong .He need
to go back to London that will allow him to know his past. But it doesn`t mean
the travel up to Nigeria was insigniIicant but it was to show that there is a link
between his past and his Iuture.
Chester achieves to realise himselI through tricky ways. He succeeds in
Iinding her mother and his Iather at the end. Her mother who abandoned him
reappears? He eIIectively went over and chose to meet his Iate. Chester will be
able to Iree himselI Irom doubts and illusions and to regain identities? The
narrator painted Nigeria as 'one of the dreadful African counties where soldiers
kept overthrowing the democratic government and chaos, poverty and violence
reigned` (TNT Page 8).
ThereIore Chester identiIies himselI in the Nigerian identities. During his
quest Ior identity makes he discovers that Nigeria is not like Ginny predicted
him Iormerly. He changes his visions tough his discovery and he knows another
Nigeria or another AIrica. An AIrica which is diIIerent poor yes! It is Iull with
dignity solidarity and Iriendship.
The most signiIicant and noticeable mark is that love also makes us who
we are. It permits to break the law oI nature. In Maru Ior instance, through love
Margaret CADEMORE wins another identity. She marries the one whom girls
should crimples behind him and she also Iree his people. Not only being a
Massarwas, she shows that she has a brain and talented. She has got yes a heart
like everybody because and that Ireedom starts Irom her heart up his people:


"1he wind of freedom, which was blowing
throughout the world for all people, turned and
flowed into the room .As they breathed in the fresh,
clear air their humanity awakened. (Maru page 1)
Margaret CADEMORE means that her people are no longer going to bow down.
They will not get ashamed because through her union with Maru and her hard
work. She made her people a 'self made people.`
Margaret CADEMORE inherits a castle oI prejudices and pessimism in
Delepe but will build a castle oI happiness and love. II you are a 'Masarwa or
iI you are an inhabitant oI Delepe it is not noticeable at the end oI the novel. To
be born Irom a chieI or Irom a simple citizen, it is no longer seen at the end oI
the novel.
Maru changes the courses oI his liIe thanks to her love to Margaret
CADEMORE. He also renounces to his title to Margaret CADEMORE. Thanks
to Margaret CADEMORE, he is ready to sacriIice his liIe. At the end oI the
book, Maru is blinded by yellow daisies which Iill out his heart. He is
submerged by the bloodstream oI the love and happiness due to her treasures.
All his liIe Maru Iollows Margaret CADEMORE and better Iall in love with her
the rest oI his liIe. He is ready to kill whoever does approach her and he even
warned Moleka during their arguing: 'But dont underestimate me. I am not
afraid when fighting for what is my own.`(Maru page 8)
Moleka stop being a Don JUAN and swear to do everything Ior Margaret
CADEMORE even iI he has Ieeling Ior Dikeledi. So Bessie HEAD shows that
love can build a bridge to erase hatred and many bad deeds that people suIIered
Irom.


She oIIers people the opportunity to get just out their shadow or what it
looks like. All this characters like, Dikeledi, Maru, and Moleka are all united
into a triangle oI love. Their love between them another gather all oI them. Let
we remember both Margaret CADEMORE and Dikeledi are teachers but Maru
and Moleka are working in the local administration. Without all their
proIessionals diIIerences, it is not seen because oI love. In Buchi EMECHETA
novel`s New Tribe Chester regain a lost identity and didn`t expect such an
ending but will encounter that.
Homecoming is among the Second priority that Buchi EMECHETA is
claiming at. It can be among the positive actions. In all that is positivism there is
a little bit contradiction .Chester is not thinking during all the process and that
when he arrives at Nigeria. He may be in a dark room where he couldn`t
imagine to light with candle.
His meeting with Jumoh Ior example and Jumohs Iamily made him soon
aIterwards conIident. UnIortunately he saw that greediness is the 1
st
thing he
discover an AIrican people due to poverty .Second they are many charlatans and
third AIrican like to consider 'been to a rich man.
Finally homecoming that is prone by William DUBOIS since the Harlem
Renaissance period is reclaim by Buchi EMECHETA. That homecoming can
allow lead into a Iailure in another context.




4

B/SAARES O RECRE1 AAD EARS:
When we hear that song oI James BROWN who says: 'it`s the men
world. It makes us think the opposite here. In all Buchi EMECHETA`s writing,
women answer no, they say 'it is the women`s world. Here in New Tribe,
women take their Iuture into in their own hands. The same in Kehinde, Mariamu
is like threatening her husband to have another child. She goes until accuse him
oI impotency. She suggests ambiguous thoughts toward him. Men are all places
as second class citizen in Buchi EMECHETA`s writing. This is sometimes an
opportunity seized by some people to criticize her.
The Iirst Buchi EMECHETA`s Iailures are almost giving too much power
to women going until legalizing abortion. But sometimes it seems that she
disagrees with it. She gives ambiguous situation to the reader. Julia by doing
that regrets at the end oI novel because Ior her she thought to commit such
abomination will help her to build a Iuture.
On the other hand Kehinde who did by the help oI her husband also the
regrets the same act at the end oI the novel. She sees the result oI doing such an
evil. Her husband will Iind another wiIe and have children with her second wiIe
in Nigeria. This shows that liIe is something which is crucial. One mustn`t
gamble with it. And as a woman his pleasure or his dream must be to have
children but not to kill them. So that when your husband drops you down. You
turn to your children not to Iell an eternal distress and loneliness.
Buchi EMECHETA doesn`t Iail to show the contrast when men also harm
women. Moreover they order them to do abortion. For example Albert in
Kehinde suggests abortion. Once in AIrica he took a second wiIe and has other
children. Buchi EMECHETA compares the two realities oI AIrica and European


culture harshly. She shows that brutality and the alienation it makes in women.
She is amused when her sister in law said to her:

"ew men would say no to such an educated woman,
once she'd had a man child for them. His sisters
would not have allowed it, and you yourself wouldn't
let 1oshua's father throw away a man- child would
you? 1hen before we could bat a eyelid, she was
carrying another one" (KEHINDE 1)

Buchi EMECHETA shows that sometimes men are really wrong and are old
Iashioned. They nag behind without realising that the world moves. To shows
that Albert is among those kinds oI husbands. She even continues and conIronts
him with Prabbu into a discussion. She succeeds to Iace traditionalism and
modernism.

-"Isn't your wife going with you? Asked Albert
-Oh no laughed Albert .1hat would be disastrous
-We have to go back in the order in which we came
to London.
-Ah laughed Prabbu, but your wife came to London
before your children were born, so she should go
home before them.
-You know your trouble Prabbu you are too
meticulous. You and Leila will you come to the party
won't you." (KEHINDE page 6)

6

Albert is ridicule at his Iriend`s Iigure. This shows he is thinking old
Iashionably. Moreover he thinks that women are still at the slavery periods.
They shouldn`t have Ireedom and selI awareness. To the narrator men are aIraid
oI selI educated women because Albert argues: 'the trouble starts when women
get educated and now its too late to change everything again.`Kehinde page 6
Mary ELEKWU has chosen to be Iree, when her husband starts beating
her. She gets divorced. For Kehinde Mary doesn`t have to adopt such an
attitude. She thought that: 'Mary Elekwu looked ridiculous in her plain white
mark and Spencers blouse and no longer fashionable George lappa.` Kehinde
page 9
In Buchi EMECHETA`s novel men transIorm women. They made them
like toys. So Buchi EMECHETA is Iull in all her novel. It seems she has got a
desire to answer to men or to revenge all her colleagues animates her.
Sometimes men are depicted in such way that you may not imagine.

Whereas, in Maru Bessie HEAD Iails to paint herselI. She relates all her
liIe story to the public. In her trilogy Maru, A Question of power, When rain
clouds gather, are said to be autobiographic. And many writers and researchers
are always criticizing these writers to be Ieminist. And they are said to be very
negative against men. But this can be understood due to his historical
backgrounds.
Bessie HEAD doesn`t give inIormation related to her date oI birth and
place oI birth etc. but what related to her parents no Iurther details is sometimes
given. Through Margaret CADEMORE, Bessie HEAD Iails to paints one halI oI
all her story to the public.


Since her arrival on Botswana 1964,when she was requiring inIormation
about her past that she will be told that by the Pietermaritzburg Child WelIare
Society:

"You were born out of the wedlock; your father's
particulars are unknown. Your mother was European
woman, Bessie Amelia Emery, who died on 13
September 1943 .It is possible from the file that she
was a South African citizen".
19


In Freudian interpretation Iictional characters are seen as split oII
Iragments oI their author`s ego. In other view they appear as versions oI
identities or alienated parts oI their writer`s identities.
So Margaret CADEMORE is seen as a Iictional character and at the same
time an autobiographical character because Bessie HEAD as Freud cannot
escape Irom their past.
It is anyway coming through. ThereIore Bessie HEAD hatred and passion
demoralize men and hatred towards men is automatically depicted in Maru.
Maru is similar to Chester who Iails to Iind out what he expected: AIrica to be
a homecoming place.
Chester like 'KEHINDE which means 'the one who come the second
Iinds a second trap into due to his naivety.
Long time blurred up by the London environment they thought AIrica has
still change but it has worsened. She declares in 'KEHINDE:

19
ATHIMS, SUE Chapter one oI P D THESIS On Bessie head Writing as an autobiography page
1..1964 HMM BHP)
8


"She took hold of herself. Surely was foolish to pine
for a country where she would always be made to feel
unwelcome. But then her homecoming had been
nothing like the way she had dreamed of it .She now
knew how naive she had been thrusting Albert
implicitly" (KEHINDE page 96)

Buchi EMECHETA`s writing`s style compare to New Tribe is purely
mixed. She uses the local dialects and English. While that in New Tribe she goes
beyond that writing perIect English as iI he is sending a letter to oIIicials. She
attests talk to her Iriend: 'Oh my God Moriammo you are murdering, the
English language.` (KEHINDE page )
She is reproaching her Iriend to kill the English language while that she
speaks. She uses an AIrican, Nigerian, and English tone while that in New Tribe
everything is perIect. The novel starts Irom a parishioner or the young curate
perIect english and it goes up to Iall down in AIrica where the English is
spoiled, mixed with the pidgins and then at the end take another step so as iI to
say 'Lets give to Caesar what belong to Caesar.` comes back in London.
Buchi EMECHETA succeeds to Iind Chester`s New Tribe that`s London.
She also shows him to do not Iorget his past .She has succeeded in painting our
two heroes by Ireeing their minds but also to Iree their communities.



9








CONCLUSION:







80

Long time oppressed, long time humiliated, black Irom all over the world
lives under the stress oI racism, colonialism, decolonisation, and globalisation.
To black people the word 'give up doesn`t exist in their vocabulary. They stand
ready to give their lives Ior AIrican`s Ireedom.
Today what is the legacy oI all these AIrican writers like Leopold S
SENGHOR, Aime CESAIRE, David DIOP, Leon G. DAMAS, Langston
HUGHES, Bessie HEAD, KRUMAH, Mariama BA, Wangari MASSAI, Ama
DARKO etc? Or shall we think that they were Iighting in vain?
No! The answer will be. Their only desires were one day AIrican people
will be united and will raise their heads up so as to not bend and to be proud oI
themselves. That`s why all oI them continued to Iight until their last breath.
They knew that the world wouldn`t stop at their Ieet. So it was a way to renew a
link between a mother and a son. They didn`t want to cut the embryos. They let
the blood Ilows in them and continue to dwell in their two bodies. What are we
supposed to do then? The young generation must seek Ior the truth and always
seek Ior the truth and continue their work.
That`s the reason why in the Iirst part oI the quest Ior identity, our work
Iocuses on the origins and the impacts oI the quest Ior identity in our heroes and
heroines. And the question is what motivates them to quest Ior their identity?
In the origins oI that quest Ior identity we Iind two main reasons that are
Iirst the desire to be Iree: Iree Irom slavery, Iree Irom colonisation, Iree Irom
white domination, Iree at every steps. Apart that desire to be Iree the second one
is a desire to answer the white man. AIrican people wanted to show that black is
not like its meaning but like the opposite.
81

ThereIore these two desires animate them so as to claim their identity. The
impacts also are many but we chose two mains just to reduce our level oI study:
the social exclusion and the lost oI identity. In the social exclusion we Iocus to
see aIter obtaining their Ireedom what will happen to our heroes Chester and
Margaret CADEMORE, will they be accepted by the society? Thus it`s the
society who rejects them and creates their Iirst isolation that leads to social
exclusion.
They won`t know where to go or what to do so, the next step is to quest
Ior their identity and that is how we tackle our second part the stream to selI
discovery. In that stream to selI discovery we have tried to see all the paramount
that allow them to see their way to discover their real nature.
In that stream to selI discovery we have two mains themes also that
mostly Iacilitate the way to Chester and Margaret to know who they are that is
education and upbringing but also solidarity and Iriendship. These are Iour
columns that can be like ID card oI these two characters. Education cannot go
without Upbringing but Solidarity cannot go also without Friendship. They are
all exchanging. Guided and supported by people, they Ieel conIident. They start
to discover who they are. ThereIore our last point displays the achievements and
the Iailures we mean by that the new identity they have, the Ireedom they win
but also their regrets and their Iears that creates Iailures in all oI them.
From Maru and New Tribe, to avoid coup d`etat like in Nigeria, Cote
d`Ivoire, Cameroun, Liberia etc. or avoid wars, violence don`t need a lot oI
materials and don`t depend on adults. But it is the young generation to Iorgive
and Iorget sometimes. That`s why these books are still actualities.
8

Children are the Iuture and both Buchi EMECHETA and Bessie HEAD
lay emphasis on children and their education. Every thing turn on these two
'god`s bit oI wood like Ousmane SEMBENE would say.
II we educate and upbrought one child it is a whole nation we educate and
up brought. Educating and upbringing children will allow them to avoid
greediness oI presidency Ior example and to stay in power until they creates
turmoil within the population. Today the two books New Tribe and Maru are
only calling into homecoming Iirst at every step. They call to come back to
tradition, customs in our country to develop them. We must to come back
because AIrica is ours, but also to be Iree like Bob MARLEY says 'Irom mental
slavery and also to be Iree in our inner selI. Only iI the Ireedom oI our minds
is set that will able us to Iree our community.
Freedom is asked at every domain economically, politically, physically,
and mentally. It means to make a clear consciousness and to know that to be
AIrican doesn`t mean you are bad or back but you have valours. You have
civilisation and you have culture. AIrican should cover everything and protect it
so that it won`t Ieatherbrained in one day.
Civilisation must be revisited and revalorised. In Maru or in New Tribe
both authors want to depicts that also their is a green light which can be
assimilated to the green light in Great Gatsby that constitutes the American
dream. Here also AIrican should think oI the AIrican dream, to be united in one
nation that is going to be mother AIrica.
How can we protect the legacy oI Buchi EMECHETA and Bessie HEAD?
These two authors give us the simplest remarks through children or the young
generation, but also through teachers and writers. They suggest that these people
8

are like grandparents that used to tail stories but here they won`t tail under the
palaver tries but at school constitutes. It constitutes 0 per cent oI their liIe.
They conIessed and sent to people to renew or to actualise or Bluetooth so that
our AIricanity will not disappear.
In Bessie HEAD and Buchi EMECHETA the valour oI culture and
equilibrium oI genre must be taught to people. So that people will avoid
violence and use democracy.
Nowadays that instability which reigns in all the countries could be
avoided thanks to peace. Certain values like solidarity, Iriendship, justice,
tolerance, patience that used to be the amulets oI AIrican people are tempted to
disappear. Buchi EMECHETA says no to people let`s open the past`s book and
rewrite the present. Bessie HEAD exactly says yes let`s Iight the bad deeds and
open the eyes oI justice and Iair world to blind the people.
ThereIore in the quest Ior identity they all know aIter knowing themselves
in which way they have to stand, what to deIend, what to renounce, what to
keep. Because iI you give all and receive nothing you will lose everything. But
the problem is, are AIrican ready to Iace the world and to call out their voices to
all to the nations?





84

8ib/ioqrophy
Novels under study
EMECHETA, Buchi New Tribe, London, Heinemann, 000
Head Bessie Maru, London, Heinemann, 191
Other novels by the same authors
Emecheta, Buchi Joys oI Motherhood Heinemann
Emecheta, Buchi Double Yoke Heinemann
Head, Bessie, The Question of Power, London, Heinemann, 19
Head, Bessie, When Rain Clouds Gather, London, Heinemann, 1969
Other novel
Boto, Eza, Jille Cruelle, Editions Presence AIricaine, 194 Head, Bessie The
collectors oI treasures
Emecheta, Buchi Joys oI Motherhood Heinemann
Emecheta, Buchi Kehinde, Heinemann London
Sougou, Oumar, Writing a Cross Cultures
Emecheta, Buchi, In The Ditch published in Great Britain by Allison and
Busby199.
Emecheta, Buchi Family
8

Whitman, Walt leaves oI grass.
Mandela, Nelson LONG WALK to FREEDOM Iirst published in Great Britain
in 1994 by little brown and company
Ba, Hampate Amadou Amkoulel
Essays
Fanon Frantz the Wretched oI the Earth preIace by jean Paul Sartre translated
by Constance Farrington published in Canada printed in the united states oI
America group press new York PDF
Showalter, Helen Irom critical inquiry MFP page 1981
Other works
Rhys Jean, Wide Sargasso Sea
Oyono, Ferdinand Houseboy (196)
Boto Eza, Cruel City (194)
Wa Thiong'o Nggugi, Weep Not Child (1964),
Emecheta, Buchi the Slave Girl
Emecheta, Buchi Second Class Citizen
Head Bessie, Serowe, a village oI rain (1981),
Emecheta, Buchi the Bride Price
86

Kane, Cheikh Ahmidou, Ambiguous Adventure
Sadji, Abdoulaye Maimouna
Amadou Hampate Ba Kaidara
Shakespeare, William Hamlet by T J B Spencer introduced by Anne Barton
ebliography
The Iree dictionary by Farlex
WWW.wikiepdia.com
ilm
Ridley, Scott Gladiator realised in 000