Essay Questions

What is the root cause of the breakup of Doreen’s marriage to Joseph?

Although the couple start out fairly strong, it is not long before problems arise related to patriarchal domination and gender role convention. The long slow trek toward dissolution of the relationship really commences with the moment that that sex of their first child is revealed. A daughter is not what Joseph had expected nor what he wanted and his dissatisfaction with the marriage increases in intensity with each that day passes without his becoming father to a son. The desire for a son is, of course, inextricably tied to systemic patriarchy within Tanzanian culture and thus is more a reflection of what Joseph thinks he should want and have more than—perhaps—anything he might actually want and desire. The root cause of the breakup of the marriage is therefore not that Joseph wants a son which Doreen never provides, but the effect of systemic patriarchal psychological pressure on weak-willed submissive men.

What is the ironic circumstance of the sibling relationship of Doreen and Godbless?

Again, the answer has to do with patriarchal considerations and expectations, especially as they relate to other aspects of a highly ritualized society. Both children begin from a point of lowered expectations resulting from the conditions of the parents’ marriage: eruption from the illicit romance of an adulterous affair. The consequence of this accident of birth entirely beyond their control immediately situates them both into the position of being among the flood of dreamers within any population. Societal conditions have mandated that they must begin from a lower starting point than others perhaps equipped with less in the way of character and ability. The irony is introduced into this dichotomy through the fact that Godbless, as a son, can at least take advantage of the social circumstances of patriarchal for males. The irony is that thought gifted with this advantage, Godbless remains a dreamer because unlike his sister—despite being hamstrung by the codes of misogyny—is more naturally gifted with smarts, ambition, and dedication to achieving her dreams.

How does the author subtly manipulate word choice to cement the idea of female submission and subjugation to the dictates of patriarchal society?

Throughout the text, the female narrator—Doreen—uses language as implicit imagery which subconsciously works upon the mind of the reader to identify women as objects and entities to be controlled by men. For instance, in situation the home as the natural location for a woman’s place to be, she writes not only that “home is the hearth, the place where woman makes fire” but, even more suggestively, where she also “cooks herself into the husband’s heart.” One of the first observations made in the narrative that comment directly upon the idea of separation of station of male and female is the assertion that “Women nurture the earth like they do children and husbands.” While one can read this as a signification of husbands being like children and, as such, interpret it as a critique of patriarchy, it must also be interpreted that despite this, the job of taking care of men even as children still falls to women. Probably the most strikingly subtle use of language to indicate much more than is being explicitly stated is the particular peculiarity of the verb engaged in Doreen’s confessional admission “I was grazed into my place in the kitchen.”