![]() For this reason, Moleka’s love for Margaret is suppressed. Being associated with Masarwa would infer that one stoops down to their level. They have thus been pushed to the margin of society, “owned as slaves” (page 19), by the authoritative and affluent chiefs of the community. Masarwas are considered as, “a low and filthy nation” (page 8), because they have decided to sustain their ancestral ways of life and customs. The nurses are reluctant to wash the dead woman’s body because she was Masarwa. However, Bessie Head displays tribal prejudice through, “the expressions of disgust on the faces of the Batswana nurses as they wash the dead woman’s body for burial” (page 9-10). Initially one may assume that prejudice is only between different races. Prejudice affects love and promotes loneliness. Love contradicts loneliness, which diminishes as the plot progresses. Prejudice spreads as one discriminates against another and creates false images. In Maru she reflects upon her own experiences of love, loneliness and prejudice. ![]() Born from a white mother and a black father, Bessie Head grew up in the early stages of Apartheid South Africa. ![]()
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