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 I: 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 AIrican community. Formerly white
people relegated black as second class citizens. They oppressed them over the
past Iew years until now. To make an analysis oI this Iield we need have a
glance oI the misadventures that AIrican suIIered Ior instance colonisation,
racial oppression, segregation, injustice, the apartheid system in South AIrica,
cross cultural clashes due to slavery, violence, ethnic`s, division, coup d`etat,
civil wars etc. One the whole, to look beyond the panes oI AIrican atrocities
caused by the white man that creates a turmoil pushing many AIrican writers to
highlight the problems that AIricans were victims oI. AIrican writers take their
pens as an arm Ior war against white oppression.
These diIIiculties between AIricans themselves and Whites and AIricans
into AIrican soil or Western one spark oII into writers minds that gives them the
desire to reaIIirm and to show that AIrica is not 'a tabula rasa` but a baobab
which the roots are the old people who protect its knowledge the middle is the
adults with it`s education and upbringing and the leaves are the children
representing the Iuture.
Among many AIrican Writers our work deals with these two Iemales
writers: Buchi Emecheta (1 July 1944.) and Bessie Head (19-1986).
Bessie Head born in South AIrica lives and dies in her native land
deserves to be raised at the peak oI AIrican Female writers boards because oI
her work .ThereIore, our Iirst aim is revisit South AIrican corridors Irom that
period until now. To display South AIrica without naming the Apartheid System
is not a Iair work.
4

What is the apartheid system and was his aim Ior? Nelson Mandela (1918)
who is among the most well known Ireedom Iighter oI South AIrican Political
regime aIIirms in his autobiographical book 'A Long Work to Freedom` that:
'Apartheid was a new term but an old idea. It
literary means 'apartness, and it represented the
codiIication in one oppressive system oI all the law and
regulations that had kept AIricans in an inIerior
position to white Ior centuries.`
1

So the basic rule oI Apartheid is that whites are superior to, Coloured
people, Indians, and the Iunction oI it was to entrench white supremacy all over
the country. In Iact with that system oI Apartheid, black people suIIer more
than they live, because oI white oppression.
In addition, populations were dispossessed oI their own lands and we do
all know that land is the Iuture oI a country. ThereIore, taking their land is
mortgaging their Iuture. Frantz Fanon says in this context writing the Wretched
on Earth that:
'For a colonised the most essential value, because the
most concrete, is the Iirst and Ioremost the land: the land
which will bring them bread and above all dignity.

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

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


Buchi Emecheta, an outstanding writer born in Nigeria is developing the
same issues like Bessie Head who is a South AIrican writer. Nigeria has many
ethnic groups or tribes as Fulani`s, Hausas, Yoruba`s, Ibos, etc.
The main Iamous are ethnic groups Yoruba, Hausa and the Ibo. That diversity oI
ethnics unclenches a diIIerence oI belieIs and Iaith, views and ambitions Iinally
many problems result Irom it.
Colonised by the British people since (1900s) the Iirst thing the colonizers
attempt to do is to assign protectorate and to express their power, and to spread
their blankets oI mystery so that blacks dare not approach. But that separation
between the colonizers and the colonised will not last long because soon the
colonized discover that the hegemony oI white has to shake oII.
Their revolt brought hither and thither wave oI independences but our
work will deal with the quest Ior identity oI two AIrican novels Maru (191) and
(The New Tribe 191), but beIore all we should save a little review oI the events
that occurred Irom the independence era until now related to our subject.
Long time under the British indirect rules (188-1960) Nigeria has known
many changes politically, economically, socially, etc. The Iirst change occurs
Irom British protectorate state into a Iederal state (194).Most oI the history oI
Nigeria is Irom the 1960 up to now. In 1914, Divided into two majors parts the
northern and the southern which includes Provinces and Lagos colonies, most oI
the educational system and the economic one Ilourishes rapidly in the south.
ThereIore, that disparity between the two northern and the southern existed Ior
many years beIore. Politically three main parties remain by three main ethnics
groups the National People Congress (NPC) representing largely by Muslims
Hausa that are in the Northern region, the National Convention oI Nigerian
6

Citizens (NCNC) dominated by the Ibo (Christian) dominated in the Eastern part
oI Nigeria and the rest action group AG were in the west controlled by the
Yoruba. The Iirst government rebirth Irom a coalition between the NPC with
NCNC and the AG lead by the Yoruba were the opposition. In 196 since the
proclamation oI Nigerian First Republic up to the Forth Republic (1999)
diIIerences start because oI military rules and change to civilian rules creating
violence and coup d`etat that result oI BiaIra civil war that killed many people.
The racial domination due to slavery and colonisation is the result oI
violence and Coup d`etat that prevails in many countries today. At a certain
extent in some countries it spread like a swarm oI bees. ThereIore, many novels
published since the 1960`s denounce 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).
In the one hand among all these books written by talented and well-known
writers my choice to these two AIrican Female writers Buchi Emecheta New
Tribe (000) and Bessie Head Maru 191 is not at random. Buchi Emecheta
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 real motherland AIrica,
gender issues in general to name but a Iew. The duality and the double
personality presents in her mind are translated in his writings.


On the other hand Bessie Head (19-1986) is the author oI many novels
portraying South AIrican image and realities that reIlects AIrica like 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)
(Maru191) etc. are just the same oI product compared to Buchi Emecheta.
Bessie Head indeed 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 condition gender issues
etc, are their main themes.
Bessie Head in Maru sets us into the deep ocean oI AIrican realities by
letting our mind wandered silently in the world oI prejudices and tribalism
conIronting tradition and modernity. Maru itselI shows a great dichotomy
between two worlds the good world and the bad one, the chosen or the elites and
the worst or the damn. The Bushmen called commonly Massarwas people live in
one part oI Botswana in Delepe, which according to them represent the law and
Iilthy nation. Massarwas are deeply victims oI prejudices, and are relegated. In a
real AIrican world where AIrican people breathe the same Iresh air oI Ireedom
others are ill-treated or better enslaved by their own people. Throughout those
prejudices, pretence, bad deeds, ill-treatment, hatred Maru and Margaret do not
escape their destiny.
ThereIore, that term Identity cannot be treated without a Iirm meaningIul
quest. But that 'Quest Ior identity cannot be tackled without also giving an
appropriate deIinition oI it. What is 'The Quest Ior Identity then?
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
8

search Ior something, and identity as the Iact oI being whom or what a person or
thing is.
Many AIrican writers witness in the same issue 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 join the line writers plunge us into the realm oI Maru and the
New Tribe.
Furthermore, the quest Ior identity means a search Ior the essence. What
essence is then? Isn`t it the search oI individualism itselI? Why these people are
searching Ior themselves? What urge us to go and to seek Ior another identity?
Broadly speaking, the hero and the heroine oI the two novels have lost
their Iirst identity because oI a social exclusion which creates a loss oI identity.
Their Iirst identities being created by people or uncertain oI their identities they
need to gain a new one. ThereIore, through that process, a long to walk to
Ireedom is waiting Ior them but alienation will Iollow soon. To regain their new
identities they`ll need to work on some glowing embers as Cheikh Hamidou
would say Kane in Ambiguous Adventure that traditions, religion and customs
adapt themselves to modernity.
As an analysis we will establish a comparative study between Maru and
the New Tribe so as to enlighten the entire path to discover the quest Ior identity
which is our main concern. Our process is to discover Iirstly the origins and the
impacts oI the quest Ior identity, we mean by that to determine the origin oI the
loss oI identity and how that loss oI identity creates a social exclusion secondly
iI all our people are lost and excluded thereIore, exile will Iollow and a stream to
selI discovery is our next target. How the selI discovery is made possible, there
9

are guidelines to make easy the process. First oI all, the guidelines are education
and upbringing and the second is solidarity and Iriendship. Through that
upbringing and education we want to have assessment but the result oI education
creates alienation by work and at last the result we mean the Iailures and
achievements oI that quest Ior identity in that point we will see the identity and
the new gained identity.










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
villainies such as social exploitation, discrimination, and physical and moral
violence, etc.
In the one hand many ethnic groups as Thembou, Xhosa, Zulu, and Ponda
lived in peace beIore white men`s arrival in South AIrica. Indeed South AIrica
which 80 oI the population is black and the rest is white, couloured people,
Indians and Asian people. Beyond all those ethnic`s diIIerences in the past they
coped with each other. Once the colonizer set Ioot on the AIrican soil, their
unity split up swim into a perIect division.
ThereIore, with the divide and rules tactics oI colonizers, South AIrican
people are victims oI. Fellowship and Iriendship oI each community broke up.
White men`s greediness and hunger cannot prevent them Irom collecting all the
lands and imposing missionaries, religion and education system to the citizens.
More they stored the Apartheid system depriving black Irom many rights and
granting white many Iavorites.
Thus Euro centrism that dwells in white man conscious is transIormed
into violence through which black Ialls.
'Euro centrism 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 Euro
centrism was coined during the period oI
decolonisation in the late 0th century and is only used
critically. The Euro centrism prevalent in international
aIIairs in the 19th century had its historical roots in
1

European colonialism and imperialism Irom the Early
Modern period (16th to 18th centuries)

So one can state, the apartheid system derives Irom that euro centrism.
This is a way to pinpoint our little Iingers on how white people leading and
administrating their colonies. One oI the suitable examples is the Apartheid
System.
The Apartheid System (1948-1994) established by whites Ior the non-
whites. The unique purpose was the separation between black and white on 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.
On the other hand, Demographically Nigeria is as occupied as South
AIrica. There were many tribes: the Hausas, Fulani, Ibos, and Yoruba. Among
all oI them the most dominated were the Ibos the Hausas and the Yoruba.
Divided into many parts between East the West and the south oI Nigeria are the
main tribes, in addition to the other minority tribes hither and thither. By the end
oI the Second World War and the beginning oI 1940`s the Biafra war opposed
the two mains communities. One must not exclude Irom that the white men
intrusion through the war politically.
ThereIore, aIter that war union Ilourishes between the Ibo and the Yoruba
until the proclamation oI Nigerian First Republic. That unity soon ends because

The Iree dictionary by Farlex

1

diIIerences oI belongings. Neither Yoruba nor the Ibo 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 cope with well between them due to historical problems .Then
Nigerian people continue to live in violence and coup detat .
Finally that scope oI reminding situations needed to be done on the
Ioreground to the reader to expose those two writers couldn`t escape at their
conditions oI liIe?
DiIIerent pasts but the same present, their major purpose are to highlight
AIrican moral, social, political, economical problems especially women
conditions.
To Iocus on 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
aIterwards it was high time they discovered themselves. Human beings always
want to nurture but do not want be nurtured. Later we require, change. We want
change to breathe a new Iresh air, change because we want democracy, because

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

we want our daughters and sons to live in Ireely, in summer change Ior many
reasons.
Generally here in this context we aspire to change Ior a selI-discovery.
Then one question needs to be asked now how can hat selI-discovery be made
possible? We will try to endeavour to answer to this question Iirst.
In South AIrica where Bessie Head was born the black community was
deprived oI: lands, Ireedoms, love, respect, the right to vote etc. So it was
obvious that a revolt against the regime was looming ahead. And it led the
citizen to manage to regain their identities.
The Iirst 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 themselves and to no longer be
oppressed. South AIrican people, with a strong hold desire resisted but that
resistance brought about excessive imprisonments, detentions, bans and arrests.
In contrast Nigeria was hit by violence, civil war, coup d`etat up until to
reach the independence. Here in Nigeria we should turn our satellites through
diIIerent horizons because the aims oI the two countries were the same but the
methods diIIer. For example, Nigeria obtained their independence in 1960 but
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 on
that should be held on February. ThereIore, when South AIrican were Iighting
to be Iree, Nigerian searched to know how to handle their aIter independence.
Secondly while we were animated by a common source oI desire to be
Iree another one derived Irom their conscious which is to brand a response Irom
1

the colonized to the colonizers. Through a philosophical approach like the
dialogue between the slave and the master, here we assist in a transcendent
transIormation oI the master power towards the slave. ThereIore the slave will
be the master oI master and the master is obliged to stoop Ior the slave. AIter
challenging the colonized, the colonizers receive the answer. It is like a hard
slap Irom the colonizers. The best illustration oI that cannot be better than
Maximus and the emperor in The Gladiator. The speechless tone oI Maximus
when the emperor states this:
'Maximus a general who became a slave, a slave who
became a gladiator and a gladiator who deIied the
emperor what a Ilabbergasting end

can be compared to the main AIrican desire by all means necessary to answer to
the challenge oI white but also suggest that the colonizers are getting ready Ior
their battle oI liIe. Finally the two origins oI the quest Ior identity can be deIined
like a desire to be Iree but also an answer to the oppressor.
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
our work. The Iirst among all is the social exclusion.
A - Social Exclusion
Family which is considered to be the basis oI men development can be a
process to a social lost. In Buchi Emecheta The New Tribe that social exclusion

Film Gladiator realised by Ridley Scott 000

16

is right at the beginning portrays by the writer herselI. Chester being black grew
up into white community. DeIinitely, the Ioster parents oI Chester; the
Arlingtons has done everything Ior his welIare, but Chester Ielt excluded. 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 through Chester`s that:
'It came to him Iorcibly that he had to leave
home. He needed to know who he really was, to Iind a
Irame. He could Iit himselI into. He thought oI the
generations oI Millers 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.(TNT 9)
This attitude oI people vis a vis oI Chester made him realized his
exclusion. Claiming about his kingdom was the only remains oI his single days.
ThereIore he merges and remerges into his silent river. By contrast to Chester,
Julia her sister who belongs to the white community slightly and merely
overcomes Irom his misIortunes without any harm and diIIiculties. This is just
to show the jealousy oI Iate between the two god`s bits oI woods beats once
again. Julia/Jules aIter her pregnancy leIt her parents and soon aborted the child
she`s supposed to have. A new liIe, Ior her begun and that`s over no more
problems turn up. Julia is the double side oI Chester the one who made up his
mind quickly and she is not the 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
1

born black many opportunities are blown oII: identity Iirst, next Ireedom at all
levels. Now iI all oI these are taken Irom you what will remain to you? Nothing
certainly some will say.
In addition to that social exclusion in Maru, Bessie Head paints through
historical context Margaret Cadmore who is born in a black community, but
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 'Bushmen`. 'Masarwa is the equivalent oI
'nigger`, a term oI contempt which means, obliquely, a low, Iilthy nation.
6

Likely to the apartheid system, another system within the system exists
here. Margaret Cadmore community didn`t have to live in Delepe where the
population oI Setswana dwelt. In contrast In Buchi Emecheta The New Tribe
Chester Iells to be set apart through racial situation Irom white people (his
Iamily) but contrary to Margaret Cadmore she Ieels isolation Irom her own
community (black people). Bessie Head illustrates the odd attitude oI black
people declares that:
'Children learnt it Irom their parents. Their parents
spat on the ground as a member oI a Iilthy, low nation

6
Head, Bessie. 'Maru Heinemann AIrican Writers Series p. 1, Iurther
reIerences to 'Maru are to this edition and are included in the text.

18

passed by. Children went a little Iurther. They spat on
you. They pinched you. They danced a wild jiggle,
with the tin cans rattling: 'Bushmen! Low breed!
Bastard!` (Maru 10)
In this country the power oI language determines over everything. Going
Iarther through perception lead us to the deep chores oI The New Tribe where
the social exclusion is promoted by the Iamily and the neighbours; in summer
adults in general, while that in Maru the lowest attitude start s Irom the bottom
oI the bottom and goes lower and lower Ior instance Irom 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 pretense oI the
elders. Both authors through the two paintings drain us along in an archetype oI
man whose liIe depends on the others to survive.
UnIortunately their own communities vomit them, albeit this are
excluded in the darkness. ThereIore by living in these two worlds black or white
environment, black people do not escape. Soon isolation is the best solution Ior
all oI them. This latter leads straight Iorward to create secrecy that brought inner
loneliness which is going to be the next point to be dealt with.
In our own analysis, we Iocused on the cause oI the social exclusion
moreover we will move to seek Ior the social exclusion consequences that may
be inner loneness. What has created that inner loneliness, that is among the
impacts oI the Quest Ior Identity?
There is always a gap between the colonizers and the colonized. That gap
is Iilled, lengthened and covered by white people not to aIIord the autochthons
to go beyond the truth. That empty holes creates an unIulIilled person that merge
19

into a lost world. That darkness has another signiIication which we may
assimilate to inner loneliness that one must IulIills to attend their quest.
In Maru, the writer places that Iorest oI loneliness not only in the Heroes
and the Heroines but in all the characters insisting more on children. She goes
until declaring:
'There seemed to be a big hole in the child`s mind
between the time that slowly became conscious oI her
liIe in the home oI the missionaries and the conscious
oI herselI as a person.(Maru 1)
There is a big hole in the two sides oI Margaret Cadmore adult and child
state, Dikeledi, Moleka child`s state are unknown to us. That is to say Margaret
Cadmore dwells Irom 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 nation. She
reviews all her experiences in her notepad. From that attitude she escapes Irom
the emptiness. Although that inner loneliness dwelt in every member oI the
society that 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 that
creates his / her lost.
The question we must ask is does a lost oI identity created by exile? II the
answer is yes thereIore we may conclude that all our heroes are lost.


0













B/ 1HE LOS1 OF IDEA1I1Y
Heroes and heroines are pulled behind by their past and pushed
ahead by their present. Broadly speaking in both Buchi Emecheta and
Bessie Head exile is present since the beginning by their style oI writing.
1

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 what most commonly philosophers called the
'ataraxy` or 'the peace of the soul`.
Indeed ataraxy brings each one us the peace oI our soul, to attend
the extreme peace that all people are searching Ior: the peace oI heart.
That peace allows us to meditate on our destiny and to Iind out who we
are. People like 'Maru, 'Chester'Margaret Cadmore 'Julia can be
seen like a backlight to the reader by the author to highlight their desire to
discover the selI.
Buchi Emecheta elsewhere 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 but transplanted into
white men society and to take care oI children requires many pluck and
patience.
By contrast Bessie Head lives in a black society who is draped into
the blankets oI prejudices, pretence and sham. Being a mixed child then
encountering motherhood problem this will constitute the beginning oI an
everlasting night. That`s why she tries to bear side by side to those who
live the same conditions. Finally the regimental leveling oI their
individual souls creates by the community regard another way oI
adaptation. Both oI the two writers have adapted to these realities by
Iollowing their course oI liIe.


Buchi Emecheta is parted into two and that bipartition is in plain
sight by Julia who has just one desire to kill the baby and Ray who wants
to keep it instead. In AIrica such practice is banished while in western
cultures it is allowed. ThereIore swinging between traditions and laws,
custom and norms which one to take, which one to banish the writer
submits everything to our own subconscious.
In this part we are going to see mostly what creates that lost oI
identities through our heroes mind coming Irom their social exclusion.
When Chester Ielt the desire to quest about him he thought and
rethought the only way it is possible is exile. To western culture exile is
not banished but in AIrica where we know to live in a large Iamily that is
not allowed. The case oI Chester has to be seriously condemned iI it was
in AIrica. In AIrica Ior example it is not exile but Iamily discussion like
the old proverb attest it will be like to: 'wash one's dirty linen in private.
Civilization builds a long wall oI separation between the
metropolitan and the AIrican customs and laws. Black people to discover
what is beyond those realities, are sometimes Iorced to let their traditions,
civilization and culture to adopt western one.
In Bessie Head`s landscape you need to have a 'pass as they
would call in the primitive South AIrica. In the apartheid regime 'pass
was the key element. Theoretically in 'Delepe one needs to have a pass
to live. That pass is not a shit 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 to clariIy the reader in the weak Iorms
that man and woman created. A world Iull oI alienated people. What has
created that alienation?
DeIinitely all the protagonists women/men hide in 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, Ginny, you were so Iull oI him. You never gave
me a chance .You remember when you used to spend
hours reading to him Irom the AIrican Iolk-tale you
wrote and coloured Ior 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 behave traduces a patriarchic reaction and old Iashion behaviour
oI men to reverse the wrong when something bad happened to their children to
women .Ginny creates the paramount imaginary world oI Chester and he let him
sank that world also without not knowing it. Submerge by alienation and
isolation, the selI-discovery and lost is soon the next challenge.
The Hero in The New Tribe is doomed to seek Ior is own identity divided
into a binary opposition white culture and black culture, white dream and black
AIrican dream. Chester is similar to Hamlet in William Shakespeare who didn`t
know between to kill or to Iorgive which one to choose. The Iinal solution was
to Ieign madness and to play 'a play within the play. He spends many times
soliloquizing: 'to be or not to be that is the question.
4

Hamlet is divided into two thoughts like Chester to accept and renounce
the whims oI liIe as iI nothing goes on. II he doesn`t revenge he kills his soul
and his dignity that led to his lost. That revenge in Buchi Emecheta is to Iace the
world and accept their hybrid notion. On the other hand alienation goes beyond
the Iact oI choice. Alternative ending maybe a project where Chester discovered
the truth and hate her mother because oI creating such a Ialse path, a Ialse liIe, a
Ialse image but none oI those unhappy endings occurred. The Other oI Chester
at the end oI the novel is another image oI her mother Easter. In her includes
everything similar to beauty, sweet, Ieast, courage, ambitions.
While that In Bessie Head`s novel Maru the loss oI identity is visible in
many ways. Margaret Cadmore 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 due to exile. Margaret Cadmore
is the opposite or the hide side oI Chester in terms oI nature and attitude.
In the book oI Pr Oumar Sougou Writing Across Culture, Pr Omar
Sougou reIers to 'the wild zone as the deepest zone on women on her mind
where men hasn`t the authorization to access in Buchi Emecheta`s characters.
Let us borrow this term and made a parallelism to compare all characters on
both novels. This 'Wild Zone is present most oI the time in Buchi Emecheta`s
novels through heroine like Nnu Ego, Aku Nna, Obejeta, Adah is similar in
Bessie Head 'Maru .They are all striving Ior a selI-assessment or tempting to
have their Ireedom like Adaku, Mama Kiosk in Beyond The Hori:on Ama
Darko or Mama Abby in Joys of Motherhood etc. Apart that desire to have
Ireedom beyond all characters there is a binary opposition as Pr Oumar Sougou
says in his book writing a cross cultural that area is banned Ior both white men
and black men.


Margaret Cadmore Jr is surrounded by that 'wild :one` that result Irom
her Ioster parents like Ginny made Ior Chester beIore exposing her into an
inIinite world. But mother to daughter relationship are much closed. For the
mother it was the right moment to send her daughter to discover the true nature
oI human being. Margaret Cadmore mother proIusely crying through a postcard
signed:
'I had to do it Ior the sake oI your people. I didn`t want to leave you
behind Margaret Cadmore.(Maru 41)
The subjectivity displays the speech with the anaphor oI the 1
st
person 'I
Iocus on the lyrical tone oI the mother and the cult oI selI that European wants
always to relate and at last the hard character. ThereIore the wild zone is present
in most these AIrican Female Writers Buchi Emecheta, Ama Darko, Bessie
Head, etc. Exile was a way to selI-discovery and to advise also home coming.
That exile allows most oI them to stay away and to adopt a critical thought
against men writing Iirst, because most oI them were paintings AIrican problems
like colonialism, through poetry praising mother AIrica like Leopold Sedar
Senghor, or highlighting Social and Political problems like Nggugi Wa Thing O
but not really painting themes that aIIect women like rape, polygamy, racism,
excision, lack oI education etc.
ThereIore Bessie Head assessment is like a 'Double Yoke` as Buchi
Emecheta call it in her book. Margaret Cadmore knows how to Iace the world
unprepared, uncertain, uncapable, 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.
6

We can interpret that binary opposition through the result oI over
domination oI men over women. The Ieminist`s writers highlight the need to
reverse patriarchic state which existed over many years. AIrican women writers
wanted to stand at their right position and impose themselves. But regarded to
that binary opposition in South AIrica Ior example where Bessie Head dwelt it is
also desire to break barriers 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 two
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 in our second chapter that deals
with the stream to a selI-discovery.

















PAR1 II:

1he Stream of Self Discovery


A/ EDUCA1IOA AAD UPBRIACIAC:
Long time, crystallized and criticize by the society human beings
Ieels a certain isolation thereIore that social isolation creates a loss oI
identity which lead to a social alienation. Having nowhere to go or
nowhere to turn their only path or Iighting Iield that can give them a little
8

Ireedom is there work. Work can be a way to access to Ireedom and to
rebuke alienation.
First oI all Buchi Emecheta and Bessie head by depicting two main
characters put them into a ditch which they are submerged by darkness
and hollow oI pains and suIIerings. Their Iirst attempt to stand above all
critics and to avoid prejudices oI AIrican and European`s mockery is to
work.
The narrator in New Tribe creates that atmosphere in the reader`s
mind and in the hero early in his childhood. Chester is inIluenced by the
Millers Iamily to work. The Arlingtons was all except boastIul, rich and
proud. Richer than the Millers in every plan but that doesn`t justiIy why
the Millers should envy them. ThereIore it is in these conditions oI
humility and reticence that the millers and the Arlingtons worship each
other, knotting their relationship and hardened it. Chester made up his
mind to start working Irom his Iriend attitude Ray millers who earns his
living. The very Iirst days he heard about work and gain money sounds
queer to him because he always has a pocket money, and his parents allow
him to do whatever he wants with it and wherever he wants.

Contrary to Ray who without his money he won`t live, this disparity in Iamilies
and liIe shook his brain. He asked his Iriend whether he gets a pocket money.
The answer is no. That is the beginning oI endless questions and doubts. Ray in
his Iirst days oI work distributes and share his money with all the members oI
his Iamily, he shows to Chester another deIinition oI Iamily: sharing. The
narrator Iirst laid emphasis on diIIerent ways oI living oI the two Iamilies and
9

one oI the two children will learn Irom it. In another context Buchi Emecheta
portrays Iirst through these characters being an AIrican meant Iirst to stand and
to Iight Ior your liIe. And that work is not only Ior black people but Ior all
mankind. Since then the idea oI getting a work stays in Chesters mind and once
he earns enough to seek Ior his identity. That idea and that power that work has
Buchi Emecheta more in New Tribe develop the same Idea in Kehinde where
into a discussion with her Iriend she declares:
'Igbo woman who no do happy until she dey work and
work and carry the burden oI the whole world. All that
work, work dey give us power?

ThereIore to Chester work means a way to discover himselI. The money
that will pay his Iees Ior the travel is the Iruit oI his work. The money he earns
open the way to continue his study is 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:
'Chester tossed and turned all night, thinking about
the job. He had never expected to on higher education,
somehow taking it Ior granted that his parent`s
responsibilities are set in; he had never thought oI the
alternative to have a work. But Ior him 'A job will
enable him to pay his way (TNT page )

Emecheta Buchi Kehinde Heinemann educational publishers Halley Court, Jordan Hill ,OxIord OXEJ
A part oI Harcourt Education Ltd
0

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 end. Chester starts to work at the age oI 16
years old .An Age in which children learnt at school, but Ior Chester that doesn`t
make a good importance to him. The narrator through Chester behaviour show
that liIe is not what it is but you make it.
Buchi Emecheta like Bessie Head shows both Maru and Chester
embarked into an inhuman and unprepared Iield that they`ll transIorm into a
known one to discover their way. At the chalet surprisingly Chester couldn`t
imagine by his thought: 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 going
back the source that is Nigeria 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 Emechata depicted 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 at least to try to think and to rethink about his present. To no longer
be Chester Arlingtons But to be Chester 'X until to discover who it is. How to
be Chester 'X doesn`t mean abandoning everything, but to put a side the
illusions like a child and to no longer accept to be nurtured by parents. So that
the last thing that one must do it is to work, gain his money and start his new
1

liIe. That is the best way to a man a real man. Chester oblige to work but that
means also to have a good job as an AIrican is very diIIicult, so the best way it
to restart to learn. Thus this is going to be our next point education and
upbringing.
Education and upbringing are both paths to selI assessment oI mankind in
our everyday`s liIe. For many years, writers, researchers, scholars, and religious
based their reIlection on the way and the process oI those two distinct 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 Irom
educare (Latin) "bring up", which is related to educere
"bring out", "bring Iorth what is within", "bring out
potential" and ducere, "to lead Education to a large
extent is a Iact or experience that has a Iormative eIIect
on the mind, character or physical ability oI an
individual. In its technical sense, education is the
process by which society deliberately transmits its
accumulated knowledge, skills and values Irom one
generation to another, and upbringing is the rearing and
training received during childhood.
8


8
The Iree dictionary by FarIlex


In other words Education can be merely deIined as the learning procedure
we received Irom school, college, and university while that upbringing is the
education that we have Irom 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 Ior our
work will be awkward Irom us.
We shall 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.
Right at the beginning oI the book Buchi Emecheta compare the two
children through the real oI education .Julia who is pregnant is in a dilemma,
how to abort to continue her studies while that Chester at the beginning was
interest in studies but later is absorbed by the quest oI his kingdom. He dislikes
studies at the beginning beIore getting interest about it once again. The only
desire oI Chester 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, you will need it sooner or later.
Bessie Head is sharing the same view with Emecheta putting the central
heroine oI the novel Margaret Cadmore Iirst as being a student a brilliant one
and then become a teacher to transmit his knowledge to the younger generation
who are submerged by bad habits which is prejudices and pretence. Margaret
Cadmore is alike a savior because she transIorms her situation both with her


Iriend Dikeledi who 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 Ior more because as you know, education opens up the world
Ior one (TCT page 9)
9

Bessie Head herselI deprived Irom 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 are suIIered Irom but 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 aloud to have access to education because Ior them it was
a waste oI time and a waste oI money.
ThereIore girls were due to marry 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` illustrate the same idea as Bessie Head and Buchi
Emecheta claiming at the importance oI education to show how people received
education to girls Iormerly:
'Western education appears to be the key to success in
the changing AIrica oI the late 1940s and
early190.But women and girls are excluded Irom it
because oI the two combined Iactors oI money and
discriminatory gender procedures. At the time it was
common Ior parents to send only boys to school.
Education was not Iree. It was prudent to western male

9
Head Bessie The collectors oI treasures
4

children, who were luckily to support them at old age,
than in girls were Iated to many and to join the
households.
10

Pr Oumar Sougou basically reinIorces as Buchi Emechata and Bessie
Head view on Maru placing the Education`s importance at the top oI elements.
First qualiIying Education as the Iounder to selI- development oI children, it has
another negative aspect that was to sacriIice the Iemale gender Irom not
receiving the same right to be educated .Girl was highly painted to do not need
any education because they were simply girls while boys are able to build their
Iuture. In Buchi Emecheta New Tribe, she Iocuses on that education and
upbringing both at the same time. Chester very young Iinds the opportunity to
stop but continues soon. In London, he starts learning again because the climate
is hostile to illiterate. Through also his travel in London he discovers the need to
be educated when he sees her new Iriend Ester as women who as many degrees.
Then he believes in himselI .So Buchi Emecheta tries to balance the level and to
show that boys and girls should have the same level oI education. To be white
like Julia oI black like Easter everybody should learn. But most oI the time it is
like a bracelet Ior AIrican.
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 Mongo Beti but also is the
one who can build a character like Fama declares in The Soleil of
Independences. 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

10
Sougou Oumar Writing a Cross Cultures p 41


the black city because there is nothing that can oblige him to stay there and he
doesn`t have the level enough to compete with white man. This situation was
during the colonization .Years aIter Buchi Emecheta shows that education can
helps our to maintain the way and to do not swerve.
To resume the narrator establishes education and upbringing at the center
oI the novel and a way to selI discovery. Thus education and upbringing are
oIten crosses 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 'un noud de vipere that narrative style drains us into the realm oI tradition
and customs that have injured women. Dikeledi in Maru is well educated but
tradition and customs prevent her Irom selI assessment. Dikeledi likely in The
Collectors of Treasures doesn`t get any education and also trapped in the
patriarchic domination oI male but also traditions and customs. So she
transcends all those traditions and customs iI we reIer to Elene Showalter one
might say it is thanks to the pure and raw attitude that women should have that
language can be assimilate to a that women writers use to oppose to men
writing. Elene in his short essay Feminist Criticism cited Monique Wittig
witting Les Guerrieres that:
'The woman say, the language that you speak poison
the glottis tongue palate lips. They say, the language
that you speak is made up oI words that are killing you.
They say, the language you speak is made up oI signs
that rightly speaking designate what men have
appropriated.
6

ThereIore women should have another attitude towards man, Iirst to do
not bend but secondly to be proud oI themselves. There is a way to reach
assessment and women should know how to overcome that man patriarchic
domination.
ThereIore Dikeledi in the collectors of treasures even kills her husband to
gain her Ireedom and is condemned to prison. But prison to Ior Dikeledi is a
way to gain paradise but also to help his children to attend school and to have a
good education to do be like her. In Bessie Head`s novels education and
upbringing are placed at the center oI children beIore swirling in higher member
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
laws. That characterize that one should go beyond these traditions and customs
to survive iI we are well educated.
Beyond the Iact oI sharpening the good education role`s and upbringing`s
eIIect on man ,Bessie Head in this context highlight 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 into themselves by traditions and customs
oI the AIrican culture which is Iilled up into their blood. 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 all the eyes oI
the community. The AIrican system does not bear a mother who neglects her or


his child. So women in general Ieel the society as their wall`s stories. Bessie
head depicted 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 customs
Iirst and then traditions. Our question now turns a little bit iI upbringing is part
oI culture?
II we try to oppose Nature and Culture we would Iail 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.
On Buchi Emecheta that complementarities between Education and
upbringing is portrayed in children and adults both. 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. Reading Buchi Emecheta one can attest that there is a man culture and a
woman culture because the two identities are not the same. The level oI
education are not the same. Here men are not at the top on the domain oI
education while women are. The other Buchi Emecheta one can assist on the
transIormation oI women other to the realities like Elene Cixious suggest that
women should give all to women:
'I write this as a woman, toward women. When I say
'woman, I am speaking oI woman in her inevitable
struggle against conventional men; and oI a universal
8

woman subject who must bring women to their senses
and to their meaning in history.
11

To Elene Cixious women must write women 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 allow them to attend their selI. Some characters in
Buchi Emecheta New Tribe are unIinished and in suspense like Julia/Ray other
like is on the process Chester/Chester. 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 thereIore well protected, and well up brought so. She does not
need to be coached by a man but she can be a manager oI his own liIe. That is
the kind oI women that Cixious suggest to attend selI -dependency men should
have women should have education and men in general. Chester is unIinished
seeking Ior his origin the best way to achieve his aim is the way to work and to
learn. How to learn it is to work and through that work he succeeds.
ThereIore 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 until to show the possibly oI a black to
succeed in Europe thanks to European grants and opportunities that even
Chester ignored. It is a way desired by the narrator to show how Iar that Europe
is Irom the educational system compared to AIrica. All the means and the ways
are oIIered to you to improve your study. Julia is in suspense because closed
between that desire to have a child and to do not have it, at last regrets aIter

11
The Laugh oI the Medusa Elene Cixious Keith Cohen Paula Cohen signs vol 1 No 4 (summer 196)p
8 89 published by the University oI Chicago Press pdI
9

doing such an evil. Julia discovers that later women were allowed to live in the
campus with their children and continues their studies. So she wishes she had
kept his child. She programs Iurther studies but her view is unclear because it is
not clariIy in the novel.
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 lost baby in a lullaby. Her plan is to stay in London and to develop her selI.
Julia is not claiming AIrica but she is aware that her origin is not in AIrica
either. HalI British, halI 'Londonian and halI AIrican Chester is torn into many
Iolds which he has to claim. At Iirst the main thing is to be AIrican and the rest
must complete the process. ThereIore many identities one must have mustn`t
prevent us Irom getting 'head above water. Chester himselI chose to be an
AIrican. Thanks to his education and upbringing he planed 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 exclude to
gain what they are seeking Ior which is the quest Ior their identities. Chester
goes to Nigeria into a long journey hard, sunny but comes back desperate tired
and unsatisIied by the Iact oI not Iinding what his nest is, neither in London nor
in AIrica. Buchi Emecheta Heroes and heroines commit their own mistake and
realized their wrong. So does Julia went away, Chester also, but they soon
realized at the end that they belong to this world.
The revolt that boils inside each oI them (the characters) the reader is
supposed to use binoculars iI not to condemn severely their attitude is the next
40

solution. Condemned by the society sometimes Iirs they use all the means to
succeed to their mission. Sometimes the society repress their mode marginalized
or accepted they Iollow their pilgrimage. But haven`t we always seen prophets
transcending or reversing the normal course oI the natural liIe. The question is
why shan`t we always Iollow traditions and customs course oI liIe and stick to
them. To Iree oneselI and to Iree our mind human being is not oblige to Iollow
rules establishes by the society and the society shouldn`t judge them only God
can judge. Through that clash oI civilization between western and eastern the
two authors show that it is possible to part them and to Iind one`s way but also
they are like Ioods one`s in a belly they will mixed up and create something else
a nature or in another way another mixture which create another man. That type
oI man is a creation oI man that is Art.
Bessie Head paints in Maru that Art can be way to selI- discovery. To
make comparison between Bessie Head and Buchi Emecheta there is a double
discourse as some Ieminist would say between the two writers. Bessie Head
portrays that there must be no distinction oI sex and race between genders. 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 mother a
white and transmitted to a black person. Let us remember many years ago white
people like Reverend Tempels was claiming that there is no philosophy oI 'Art
AIricaine but philosophers like Paulin Auntoundji demonstrates that theory is
wrong and give exact demonstration that oI philosophy 'art AIricaine still
exist.
That philosophy oI 'Art AIricaine existed beIore with the Bantou
philosophy. Here again it is in another context that Bessie Head is writing to
answer negatively to man who consider women to be brainless ,to do no think
41

and are not able to do more than giving birth and playing the mother role.
ThereIore she teaches all mankind that the best way to be a man and is to behave
like a human thereIore you open the gate to Ireedom. Inhumanity start 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 superior classes between the rich and the poor, the
bad and the good. Bessie Head reIuses the ethnocentrism oI European people.
ThereIore to readjust the black seats Margaret Cadmore paintings is an
arm to deliver his people and black 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 mother can
retrace everything by notes through his note pad. 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 in heritage oI her mother is humility,
wisdom, elegance but also humanity. That giIt kept in her mind is transIormed
later by the help oI her sister and Iriend Dikeledi into the Iields oI gold in
paintings.
The Iirst painting oI Margaret Cadmore oI her Iriend Dikeledi castigates
the pain that her Iriend lives with any eIIort that amazed her Iriend. Dikeledi has
never seen such a beauty stunned:
'Hey what`s that she snatched up the paper .There
was Dikeledi her Iace untilled, exploring heaven. She
was a vain woman and highly Ilattered, said: 'I am
keeping this, aIter a moment a moment she said:
4

'please take out the picture oI your mother. (MARU
page 8)
Dikeledi amazed could retain her pleasure and compare the styles
identically. 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 says 'beauty is no
longer Iorbidden T L M, thus to paint beauty is like a beauty.
She then conIesses to Margaret: 'Your teacher must have been a good
woman to share everything with you. (Maru p80)
The amazement and awkwardness oI her Iriend 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 as Buchi Emecheta also made also 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:
'She was not good. She was rich. She kept on throwing things away. I
used to Ieel myselI catching them, and that is how I learned.(Maru page 88)
The second halI oI Margret Cadmore paintings, reIlects the society in his
subconscious. Margaret Cadmore trough painting 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
dwell with her and are her only Iriends .Margaret Iails to do not pain them.
What is very interesting in these two creatures is the personiIication that the
4

author does to lighten our eyes and to show us what philosophers says 'DEUS
SIJE NATURA` in Latin assimilating everything with nature and the nature is
God. Bessie has done the same here and her heroine doesn`t not Iorget the
nature and to make a relationship between people and animal. That is to say all
resounds Irom God and we all are 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 his in
media res (narrative hook) Bessie Head paints that animal like person. She is
depicted like an evil again also that old assimilation black to everything that is
bad appears again. People in the society are very aIraid to encounter their
phobias.
Margaret Cadmore gives another image oI the painting. Sometimes when
we Iree our memory Irom prejudices we let our mind Iree also and other
people`s personality Dikeledi adds:
'I think she is a human being in disguise. Have you
heard about the witches in this country? They can turn
into lions and buIIalo. Sheba was one a witch who was
starving and turned herselI into a goat. She behaves
like a beggar who is also a blackmailer
More than being a devil black is like a blackmailer oI course 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 are on the way. To Margaret Cadmore the essence go
beyond the simple Iact oI being a simple animal but a creature oI God. She sees
44

nothing else but the beauty that revolves into that creatures. When we talk about
beauty to some people it is something apparent but Margaret reinIorce the idea
oI those who say that beauty is not something apparent but it is relative.
Dikeledi was gorgeous oI the work oI her Iriend. The narrator explains how
those animals Iill up the space here states:
'Her Iriend still moved around in her quiet,
insigniIicant way .the big dark patches under her eyes
Irom all those sleepless nights and Ioodless days were
rapidly receding. But Sheba and the windscreen wiper
had taken all the Iull blast oI it. They had been stared at
with savage intensity. They had been subjected;
blinding blows iI they thought a certain object on paper
was edible and had nee astonished, when a plateIul oI
Iood that was not shrubs or husks, had been thrust
under their noses, yet they would not give their regular,
routine, daily visits, not Ior anything in the word.
(Maru p101)
This witnesses the desire oI the narrator to show and to lay emphasis that
sometimes beauty is not Iar Irom us but near. So these wild animals represent
the muted: the Massarwas or the voiceless. The picture oI Margaret makes them
regain their Ireedom that Margaret Cadmore oIIers them. In Iact being a
Masarwa signiIied death by an endless job like slaves but the paint oI Margaret
is away to salvation. Margaret Cadmore to regain selI assessment like Dikeledi
in the Collector of Treasures who commit tragedy by killing his husband Iinds
their ways to selI discovery.
4

First conscious that their Ireedoms are no longer subjective Ireedom but
collective are engaged near to people to show and give justice to the oppressed
people. During his long pondering over she says:
'You see, it is I and my tribe who possess the true
vitally oI the country. You lost it when you sat down
and let us clean your Iloor and rear your children and
cattle. Now we want to be Iree oI you and be busy with
our own aIIairs Maru p109
Finally, through her paintings she gives everything and everyone a double
personality and these paintings are the second Margaret Cadmore that thanks to
'art discovers herselI. Margaret Cadmore who was uncertain 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 ready to go down in Egypt`s land and to say that his people
are not the worst but the chosen. They are 'Massarwas Iirst secondly black
people and Iinally human being like everyone.

B/SOLIDARI1Y AAD FRIEADSHIP:
Friendship and solidarity are part oI the system that we call culture. Some
people claims to say that human beings is naturally good other saying he
naturally bad 'homo ni loupous. But all these deIinitions depend on the literary
or philosophical approach oI the scholars. Family neighbours and Iriends are
part oI the process to selI discovery. Dealing with these with elements need a
46

deIinition oI each term and then to study their complementary to work on the
process to selI -discovery.
Contrary to, as many as people may think that white doesn`t participate to
the selI discovery oI black, here we attest black or white both as contribute to
the stream Ior the quest oI identity and we will illustrated it.
In these two novels Characters wherever they may be in New Tribe
or Maru Irom diIIerent side they may come Irom or diIIerence they may have
according to Iamily, 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 the social exclusion to Hero as we
explained at the beginning oI our work is also the Iamily. To take care oI
Chester his Iamily was the Iirst t support him especially his mother and the rest
oI the Iamily Iollows. We mean sisters and Iriends. His Iather was aIraid at the
beginning that her wiIe Iails to upbrought the child but to her side Ginny never
doubt an inch. As to some parents wish to have a baby boy as the Iirst child, Iate
propose Ginny to nurture a girl. Seeing the baby at her amazement she exclaims:
'Arthur she is a girl (TNT p ).
Ginny was overwhelmed by rivers oI happiness and that happiness is the
witness oI her hard work passion and devotion to her children. All those
qualities push the social services to propose another adoption but a black child.
Chester`s arrival Iilled out the room with Ireeze, because he is a black. The
social worker declares:
4

- 'Chester`s mother is a Nigerian. You need to be aware he is a black
child. (TNT p ) but this won`t stop the devotion oI Ginny as she said at the
beginning 'I always wanted a house Iull oI children (TNT p).
The Iirst integration oI Chester started Irom her mother who doesn`t reject
her child especially his young baby black boy. The rest oI the Iamily then
Iollows his Iather and next the sister.
Their education and upbringing oI their parents teaches them Iirst
solidarity, brotherhood, and Iriendship. Julia who is her sister deIends and
covers him many ways. During their Iirst day oI school Julia stops Iirst the
negative thought oI Miss Slatery who treated Chester to be a little Devil:
'Chester`s not the devil(TNT p11). Buchi Emecheta is chasing the bad and
Iormer thought oI people to assimilate black as bad thing black as a 'devil
black as a 'ghost black 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. She spread the blankets oI reticence and honesty on the table to show
that no one could put some dirt. Buchi Emecheta trough Ginny shows the Iirst
day you are a human being you no longer belong to one people but to the
society. Chester Iinds his Iamily more supporting than any one else. He is
similar to Adah who relatively depend on the people to have moral support to
accept his condition and to Iace the world courageously.
The second step oI our work is our neighbours who have a real part in the
process to selI- discovery. Indeed representing the 'Other, they are the mirror
oI our soul .Whatever we may do, or whatever we may have it is thanks to
people. In the New Tribe many has played a crucial role toward Chester`s
success. John and Barbara are like grand parents that Chester should have in
48

AIrica. GrandIather or grandmother is like the rearview mirror oI people there
are the aItermath oI an upbringing process. John and Barbara belong to diIIerent
community like Chester but are more like Irom the same origin. Chester learnt
almost how to be a man with John. So he is not very rich, not vey poor, but his
richness and his poorness result Irom his experiences and patience granting
him wisdom. These are qualities that Chester gathers plus the one Irom his
parents that allows him to go into a long quest to Iind out his past or better his
identity. The old John Iinds satisIaction in world and transplants all to Chester
orally and by practice. John tells to Chester that: 'We are those leIt behind when
the crowd has gone (TNT page 49).
John represents an old black people oI Nigeria looks a library like Am
koulel Amadou Hampate Ba despite oI having the white complexion.
The narrator portrays the similarities between the two societies. All his
upbringing and education that permits Chester to have solidarity and Iriendship
in her body is thanks to her parents especially her mother. Buchi Emecheta
classed the mother at the center oI the novel and all the development oI the
Chester. Just as to give an answer to those who think the Education and
Upbringing received Irom a mother is not a good education.
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:
'When I move, I`ll avoid you as much as I can, 'You
are a kind person, but until you stop taking down to
your Iellows human beings you`ll Iinds it diIIicult to
49

have loyal Iriends and your kindness will come to
nothing.
1

Chester and Julia depend on the warm climate oI the society to succeed
their mission. So Iamily is the basic element to selI-development. Adah is
similar to Chester and Margaret Cadmore; all oI them depend on the social
company oI person 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
solidarity is concern 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.
We will establish then a relationship to show in that 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 or in a bad mood or even when they are lost the society
maniIest certain solidarity and help them to continue their journey. For instance

1
Emecheta Buchi IN THE DITCH published in Great Britain 199 by
Allison and Busby limited page 10 Iurther reIerences to 'IN THE DITCH are to this edition and
are included in the text.
0

Julia in the New Tribe beneIits Irom his brother`s helps Iirst but more than that
her lover and then her mother. ThereIore to Julia solidarity has settled both
climate oI happiness and harm. When Julia desire to abort she didn`t tell to
anyone even her pregnancy because oI their religious background. She keeps 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 but talk to his sister Iinally even he
tries to make her Ieel at ease like 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 s he had always been able to do, but
her resistance kept him at bay. Recent events had
erected a wall between them (TNT p )
Chester Iirst act oI solidarity means to assist morally her sister who thinks the
only possible way is to escape and to do not 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 iI you go away without giving them the
chance to help you you`ll hurt them TNT p 6
The advice oI Chester resounds well but Julia is thinking oI people attitude
judging not the vicar`s girl but the vicar himselI because oI it religious belieI.
How can he allow his daughter to do such a thin? Buchi Emecheta wants just us
to pay attention on how people can split the unity between people but also one
1

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? No
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
decisionTNTp6
There this show there a Iull desire oI Chester ready to help her sister and the
latter needed her assistance she even conIess how that pregnancy arrived in part
it is thanks to loneliness that she Iells because Chester was submerged by his
kingdom and she didn`t have somebody to talk with.?ThereIore iI Chester shares
everything with her this misadventure didn`t happen.
Chester`s advice helps her to go and see her mother who recommends her
uncle Robert. There is another train oI solidarity here again Robert who is
living Iar Irom them but doesn`t end the link. He participates himselI also in the
process as he could. To all these person Iamily means solidarity and inside there
are certain rules and norms to Iollow. Julia Iinds satisIaction and Ireedom at the
end to do what she wants. So this solidarity that is sung Irom brotherhood to
sisterhood and Irom sisterhood to sisterhood Irom mother to child is put
displayed by Buchi Emecheta in raw speeches shows the opposite oI what Julia
to her mother to do not know anything about the real world that she is wrong
when she says: 'All she says is church and arranging Ilowers and bring and buy
sales looking aIter dad TNT p64.


For Buchi Emecheta a mother is still a mother and she is like a broom to
her children always making way very clean so that they will not Iall down and
Iind the road Iull oI rocks. Julia thanks to her brother and her mother will Iind
her way:thanks Ior helping me decide what to do. Look aIter Ginny. You were
right about her. Love you Jules AIter being listened and help by her mother and
she thought negatively about her mother but realized that she is wrong Ginny
know how to nurture his children.
Chester religious panes oI 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 the solidarity that his parents thought still remained in
everybody`s heart. That`s why he will have many deception during the process
Uncle Enoch Iirst the Iirst one to witness his gratitude toward Chester by giving
house paternity etc giving the Iirst linen oI how to an Nigerian people.