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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that contrasts and compares two short stories. While the legacy of patriarchy has receded in Western industrialized countries, it remains entrenched in cultures. Bessie Head in "The Collector of Treasures" (writing from an African perspective) and Mahasweta Devi in "Dhowli" (writing about Indian culture) each show the devastation that patriarchal custom can have in the lives of two women. A theme that is prominent in both works is that women are forced to take extreme measures in their lives because society offers them no viable alternatives. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khdevhed.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
African perspective) and Mahasweta Devi in "Dhowli" (writing about Indian culture) each show the devastation that patriarchal custom can have in the lives of two women. A theme that is
prominent in both works is that women are forced to take extreme measures in their lives because society offers them no viable alternatives. Heads protagonist is an extremely capable,
intelligent woman who is talented with her hands and able to earn a living for herself and her three sons when her husband deserts her for a life of womanizing.
Dikeledi is proud of her talent, "I am the woman whose thatch does not leak" (Head 57). Whenever anyone in the village needed a new roof, they turned to her
and this enabled her to survive as if she was not paid in money, she was paid in food (Head 57). Dikeledis story is told in flashbacks, as the reader
finds out why Dikeledi is in prison and why she murdered her husband. After being deserted by her husband, left to raise three children completely on her own, Dikeledi forms
a close friendship with the Thebolo family. Eventually her husband hears of the relationship and assumes that Dikeledi is sleeping with Paul Thebolo. He believed that "another man had
a stake in his hen-pen and like any cock, his hair was up about it" (Head 70). He returns home to reestablish his "claim" on his "property." This says
a great deal about the patriarchy under which African women live. For one thing, it is a double standard, as males sleep with multiple partners, but a woman is expected
to remain faithful. Dikeledis husband returns and expecting everything to be as it was, for Dikeledi to wait on him. He never looks at Dikeledi, never notices his children.
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