51 pages • 1 hour read
Bessie HeadA Question of Power
Fiction | Novel | AdultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Pages 11-59Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Sello”
Part 1, Pages 11-29 Summary
Elizabeth lives in Motabeng, a village in Botswana (a country that borders South Africa). She recalls how she and two men, Sello and Dan, journeyed into their “inner hells.” She remembers Dan showing off his penis and Sello telling her that love isn’t predatory, but positive, for all parties involved. Dan pushed Sello aside and tortured her. He made several “prophecies”—she’d lose her legs or die by suicide. She almost died by suicide, but then her son asked her to buy him a football (a soccer ball). In Elizabeth’s mind, the “normal” and the “abnormal” mix, and she thinks it has to do with her mom. The story flashes back, and Elizabeth explains her life up to the present day.
Elizabeth was born to a white mother and Black father, which isn’t permissible in racist South Africa. Seemingly in response to this violation of apartheid, authorities claim Elizabeth’s mom is “insane,” and they admit her to a psychiatric hospital named the Red House due to its red roof. Elizabeth’s mom dies by suicide.
A Boer (descendants of the Dutch and French Protestant people who settled in South Africa during the 1600s) couple begins to take care of Elizabeth. While she is with the couple, Elizabeth’s uncle wants to “forget” Elizabeth, though her grandma still brings her toys. This couple eventually sends her back. The government pays another couple to care for Elizabeth, and she loves the woman like “her mother.” After the husband dies, however, the woman falls on hard times and sends Elizabeth to a mission school. There, the principal warns her that she could become “insane” like her mother. Despite giving this distressing news to Elizabeth, he also tells her that her mom was good and saved money for her education. At school, the staff treats Elizabeth differently. The other kids could fight, bite, and scratch, but when Elizabeth does, they isolate her for a week.
As a young adult, Elizabeth becomes a primary school teacher. She lives with families from India, and she lives with a German woman who tells her about Adolf Hitler, World War II, and what happened to European Jews. She joins a political party, but the government bans it. A “gangster” who got out of jail shares her interest in Buddhism, and she marries him. They have a son, but she soon finds out her husband had predatory sex with other women and has a boyfriend. With an “exit permit” (a permit indicating she can’t return to South Africa), Elizabeth leaves her husband, and she and her son move to Botswana, where she works as a teacher.
Elizabeth lives in Motabeng, which means the “place of sand.” Elizabeth renames it the Village of the Rain-Wind. The people smell the wind and determine if it’s going to rain. However, despite this superstition, it doesn’t always rain when expected. There’s a poem she likes called “the Village of the Rain-Wind.” The villagers move at a “slow pace” and criticize Elizabeth for hurrying. Aside from “bewitching” one another, the people are mostly kind.
The dark makes her uncomfortable, and she lights a candle at night, blowing it out before she falls asleep. She starts to like the dark, and one night after she blows out the light, she senses someone is in the room with her. He wears a white robe and has the air of a monk. Elizabeth doesn’t think he’s a threat. Sitting in her chair by the bed, he asks if she’ll be around for a while. Elizabeth says she’s going to die soon. Elizabeth thinks of the man as a God whom everyone adores.
As part of Elizabeth’s day-to-day in Motabeng, the man comments on the people who visit Elizabeth, and if he feels left out, he makes a “ting” sound that no one else seems to hear—though Tom, an American Peace Corps volunteer who will play a crucial role in Elizabeth’s battles, thinks he hears something. Elizabeth calls the man Sello, and, as her face always looks at Sello, it loses its identity.
In the village, there’s a man called Sello, and Elizabeth wonders about the relationship between the Sello in her chair and the Sello in Motabeng. An older woman asks Elizabeth if she plans to marry Sello (the man in Motabeng), and she acts like she can’t hear the question. A younger woman asks Elizabeth if she wants to be important, and Elizabeth says she’s fine as she is.
Sello, the man in her house, claims he has killed women. He slept with a married woman and then killed her. As for the actual Sello in Motabeng, Elizabeth knows he drives a green truck, and a nurse tells her he’s a great family man.
Part 1, Pages 29-51 Summary
Sello, the man in her chair, stresses the importance of Elizabeth’s “mental identity”: She has an analytical brain and mustn’t stop analyzing. He recognizes that Elizabeth suffered in apartheid South Africa, but she shouldn’t hate white people—countless Gods come from white people.
Sello has a switchboard, and he pulls one of the plugs. A burly man appears and sits on Elizabeth’s bed. Sello calls him “the Father,” and the man labels himself “king of the Underworld” and “Wonder There.” Sello puts on torn, unclean clothes and explains that Dan is still messing around with his name. Elizabeth doesn’t know who Dan is and doesn’t follow Sello’s commentary.
The Father exits, and pulling all the plugs simultaneously, a crowd arrives. Their faces are sad and intense, and they look like they’ve died several times to free humankind. The suffering unites the people and gives Elizabeth hope for the future.
Another night, a man from India enters Elizabeth’s room and claims she doesn’t have an authentic link with the downtrodden and meek, but she will soon. The “poor of Africa” (31) arrive and ask Elizabeth for help. She nods her head and senses something horrible is on the horizon. The people dislike Sello and tell Elizabeth there’s “evil” in him.
She talks to the man from India about Buddha. Then, a slender woman comes out of a “monstrous” woman and walks into Elizabeth. The crowd watches and tells Sello to surrender control over Elizabeth. Sello asks Elizabeth to help him, and she agrees. In his soul, Sello completed 2 billion cycles, and he will die within five years. He says evil was everywhere until he cried and found some good.
Sello sends a tiny stream of light at Elizabeth, and she becomes full of forceful energy for a month. During this time, Sello puts a curtain between her and horrible screams. He says he’s the cause of human suffering and declares that seeing everything corrupts a person. He makes another version of himself, and the second Sello wears a brown suit.
Sello introduces Elizabeth to his wife. His wife is only present briefly and fades away. A strong woman, Medusa, appears in her place and screams at Elizabeth. Medusa tells Elizabeth that Elizabeth shouldn’t be here—this is Medusa’s land, and the people belong to her. She sends a thunderbolt into Elizabeth’s heart. Elizabeth thinks Medusa represents Sello’s evils.
Medusa scares Sello, and she tells him she’s in charge—she’s “wearing the pants” (43). Sello claims he must stay attached to her: If he cuts ties, she’ll destroy the African continent just like they spoiled countless civilizations together. Smiling, Medusa puts her long Black legs in the air. Using her vagina, she covers Elizabeth in a “sensuous bomb.” She mocks Elizabeth for not having such an alluring vagina. Medusa calls Africa “troubled waters”: She can swim, but Elizabeth will drown.
Elizabeth thinks about apartheid South Africa. The racist system deprives a person of a personality and reduces people to skin color. Elizabeth lived in a part of South Africa where it was common for men to be gay. An African man told Elizabeth a man couldn’t be a man due to South Africa’s racist structure. Elizabeth identifies with the gay men. Then, Elizabeth starts to hear a “record” in her head: It calls her a “filthy dog” and claims Africans will eat her to death.
Elizabeth remembers a story from the German woman she lived with in South Africa: At the German woman’s office, a young Black man was serving tea when a white man kicked the tray, spilling the milk, sugar, and teacups. The white people in the office laughed, and the Black man cringed and laughed along with them. The German connects the behavior to the Jews and Nazi Germany. The Jewish people acted like the Black man—some were convinced that they were “inferior,” but once the hateful propaganda stopped, their feeling of inferiority vanished.
On a Sunday evening, a tired Elizabeth thinks Sello is a fool and looks “like a monkey” (48). Medusa hears Elizabeth’s thoughts and says them aloud. The Sello in the brown suit says he’s not a monkey but a wise owl. Then, Elizabeth finds a dead owl on her doorstep.
At breakfast, Elizabeth fights with her son. She tells him he’s at “death’s door,” and he mimics her. She cries, and the boy dresses himself and eats. Elizabeth thinks that soul journeys are for tough men, not mothers. She goes to buy a radio and hears a voice telling her that she hates Africans. Elizabeth screams, confusing her delusions for reality. An ambulance comes and takes her to a hospital.
Part 1, Pages 51-59 Summary
Elizabeth wakes up in the Motabeng hospital. A doctor asks her what’s the matter, and Elizabeth says she doesn’t like people. The doctor tells her she can stay at the hospital until she feels better.
The principal of the Motabeng Secondary School, Eugene, is waiting to speak to her. He helped her get to the hospital and has been watching her son while she was unconscious. Eugene tells her that he and his wife will look after her son until she’s better. He’s an Afrikaner (a white descendant of the Dutch settlers in South Africa), and he tells her many refugees battle “nervous breakdowns.” Elizabeth tells him something is torturing her, and the principal avoids eye contact while her son says he knew something was upsetting her this morning. Eugene is sympathetic with her mental health conditions but also doesn’t want to know any specific details.
A nurse gives her a shot, and she momentarily relaxes. Then, however, Sello returns. He shows her a cesspit of excrement, and he pushes her head near it. Sello claims it was Elizabeth’s, and he must clean it up. He then turns into a bird, and Elizabeth thinks about a heaven rooted in people’s hearts and a God built on people’s souls.
Feeling better, Elizabeth tells the nurse bringing her tea that she wants to leave. The nurse fails to stop her, and Elizabeth goes to the Motabeng Secondary School, admiring the uncultivated land that surrounds it. She wants to live around here someday. She likes the school: It encourages Black students—the system in South Africa only reinforces racist stereotypes.
At the principal’s house, she has tea. Eugene notes that she doesn’t get along with the locals, and Elizabeth says they’re “absorbed” with each other, and she doesn’t care if people like her—she’s accustomed to isolation. Eugene counters: Excessive isolation is harmful. Elizabeth wants to tell Eugene about Sello and his “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” personality. She wants to confide in him about Medusa and the images that beset her, but she can tell him only that she’s lost and scared. Eugene promises to help.
Elizabeth’s son returns with the principal’s son, Jimmy. Elizabeth’s son calls Jimmy his best friend, and Jimmy rudely tells his mom to hurry the lunch. He then tells Elizabeth he’s “sorry to hear” about her time in the hospital, and Jimmy’s diction makes his dad laugh.
Part 1, Pages 11-59 Analysis
Head doesn’t start the narrative at the beginning—instead, she foreshadows what will occur in the story by introducing the reader to Sello, Dan, and the sex workers employed by Dan. The foreshadowing throws the reader into the middle of Elizabeth’s drama and puts the reader in Elizabeth’s position. Like her, they might feel bewildered. At the same time, the previews ground the reader. The reader becomes familiar with Dan, Sello, and the “strange journey into hell” (12), so when the reader confronts the tumultuous scenes, they’re somewhat prepared.
The emphasis on Elizabeth’s journey supports the theme of Mental Health Versus Self-Discovery. The mission school principal tells young Elizabeth, “If you’re not careful you’ll get insane just like your mother” (16), and Elizabeth wonders if her mom wants to share her imputed “insanity” with her. In this story, mental health conditions are problematically weaponized against members of society that people in power do not want to “deal” with. It is an easy task to admit Elizabeth’s mother to a hospital simply on the word that she has a mental health condition. Elizabeth continues to fear inheriting this “insanity.” While Elizabeth seems to face a mental health condition, unlike the language she uses to discuss her mother, she does not refer to it as such and prefers the avenue of self-discovery as a means of feeling better. Elizabeth mainly presents her inner torment as a grueling process for self-discovery. She doesn’t consider herself to be battling a mental health condition; instead, she’s going on “a nightmare soul-journey” (35). As the Indian man tells her, “You have never really made an identification with the poor and humble. This time you’re going to really learn how. They are going to teach you” (35). Elizabeth is on a quest for knowledge about God and Evil—a critical motif in the text.
The shift in focus from mental health to a self-discovery quest puts the novel in conversation with other literary works about people who battle harsh experiences to gain spiritual insight. In Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Inferno (1307), Dante, feeling lost, undertakes a graphic tour of hell to push him in the right direction. In John Bunyan’s Christian parable, The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), the main character, Christian, also feels lost, and he confronts an array of hardships. While Elizabeth doesn’t believe in the Christian God, she believes in the concept of God, and she feels displaced. As a child, she battles racism and trauma and, like Dante and Christian, she goes on a fraught journey to uncover complex truths. As the narrator states, “There seemed to be a mutual agreement in the beginning that an examination of inner hells was meant to end all hells forever” (112).
The racism and trauma present in Elizabeth’s past supports the theme of Power and Helplessness throughout the narrative. Elizabeth’s background makes her appear helpless—she was a victim of a brutal racist system. Yet, Elizabeth retains her agency. In South Africa, she engages with Indian families, and she learns about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust from a German woman. She has the power to leave her toxic husband and start over in Botswana. Elizabeth is self-reliant, with Sello encouraging her to preserve her “mental independence” and “analytical mind” (29).
Medusa’s character builds upon the theme of Power and Helplessness as she leaves Elizabeth and Sello feeling powerless, declaring, “Who’s running the show around here? I am. Who knows everything around here? I do. Who’s wearing the pants in this house? I am” (43). She tortures Elizabeth with thunderbolts and taunts her with her vagina. Thus, sex becomes a symbol of harm and is only associated with negativity throughout the story.
The motif of Gender and Sexuality also supports the theme of Power and Helplessness. South Africa’s degrading apartheid system makes South African men feel helpless and as though they must be gay. The formula perpetuates anti-gay stereotypes. Yet, Head subverts the power of masculinity by frequently displaying men, regardless of their sexuality, as out of control. Her husband has a white boyfriend, but he also has predatory sex with women. With Medusa, Head upends the historical dynamics of gender power, as Medusa becomes the aggressor with Sello as her passive victim.
To take the reader into Elizabeth’s nightmarish world, Head uses imagery or vivid language to create pictures of Elizabeth’s excruciating world. Sello is described vividly in his white robe, and his double is depicted in his brown suit. Medusa spreads her “long black legs in the air” (44), and words like “sensuous” give layers to her character and her abusive behaviors. As Elizabeth’s journey produces an array of scenes and people, it is easy for the reader to feel disoriented and experience a lack of narrative clarity—Elizabeth likely feels similar.
A key theme is The Internal World Versus the External World, with the former representing Head’s intense journey, and the latter representing the relatively calm Motabeng life. About the village, the narrator states, “The rhythm of its life was slow-paced, like the quiet stirring of cattle” (20). The stoic Eugene furthers the stability of the external world and makes Elizabeth’s hectic inner world harsh in comparison. Thus, Head juxtaposes the two words––she puts the internal next to the external world so that the reader can experience their stark differences.
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