Looking for a Rain God: Bessie Head

 

2. Story: Looking for a Rain God by Bessie Head

About the Story Writer

       Bessie Head, who died in 1986, was one of the greatest South African novelists of the twentieth century. She was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1937 and died in Botswana, where she had been living as an exile after having fled from South Africa during Apartheid. After fleeing from South Africa, Bessie Head lived in Botswana, Tanzania, and Zambia until she died in 1986 at the age of 49.

Characters of the Story:

a.       Mokgobja – Over seventy years old, Head of Family

b.      Ramadi – Son of Mokgobja

c.       Tiro – Ramadis’ Wife

d.      Nesta – Tiro’s Unmarried Sister

e.       Neo & Boseyoung – Tiro’s & Ramadi’s Daughters

The setting of the Story:

The story is based on rural Botswana, Africa, where the people farm off the vast bushland. The year is 1958.

Main Theme of the Story

frican Rain God

The story has many themes, like people’s struggle against nature, hope in life, and the human survival instinct. The central character, Mokgobja, does everything to survive for his family. His intention is pure and natural. He has hope that he will fight against natural disasters like drought by hook or crook. He is ready to sacrifice his son’s daughters to make rain. So, the story presents the theme of the human survival instinct. In the same way, the story also presents the struggle of rural farmers who still practice traditional farming to survive. The whole cultivating local area is reliant upon nature. At the point when the dry spell comes, the ranchers become defenseless. At the point when nature becomes heartless to man, man also becomes cruel, and there is a deficiency in mankind. The dread of death and enduring draws out a sort of endurance in man that rises above the restrictions of mental stability and levelheadedness. Therefore, what is considered unnatural becomes regular and adequate.

Summary of the Story

The story is set in an African village where the villagers are mostly farmers. A seven-year drought swept the land and brought severe hardships to the People who depended on the land for survival. The people became desperate (sad), and some committed suicide. Others became superstitious and turned to witch doctors for help. Towards the end of the seventh year, in early November, the rain came for two weeks, and the villagers rushed to plow their lands. Mokgobja and his family were among the first groups to move to their field to start plowing. The family consists of Ramadi, his son Tiro, his daughter-in-law Neo, Boseyong, her two daughters, and Nesta, an unmarried sister of Tiro. In mid-November, the rain stopped suddenly, and the family who had prepared the land for farming became desperate. Only the two girls, Neo and Boseyong, were happy in their world, playing house and imitating their mother. The women broke down and became hysterical (panic-struck) when they realized that they could not face another year of drought and starvation. The men, too, were beginning to lose their self-control. Then, Mokgobja remembers a rain-making ceremony he witnessed as a young child, where children were sacrificed to a Rain God to bring rain and make the crops grow.

Moreover, Mokgobja tells the women and the children that they were sacrificed to the rain god. But the rain did not fall, and they became so terrified. The family returns to the village, and the people notice that the children are missing. When villagers saw the frightened looks on their (family) faces, they called the police to investigate. When Tiro broke down and confessed everything, Mokgobja and Ramadi were sentenced to death for the ritual murder of the two girls. The story has many themes. It presents the struggle of an African family against a drought and their hope for human survival. It gives us the idea that nature can be a friend or an enemy. Man cannot control nature, but nature can control man’s destiny. We must be tough and strong to survive under harsh living conditions.

Similarly, we must have hope in times of despair. Superstitions make us lose rational thought. The main character, Mokgobja, does everything to survive for the family. He has hope that he will fight against natural disasters like drought by hook or crook. He is ready to sacrifice his son’s daughters to make rain. So the story presents the theme of human survival instinct (desire).

Analysis of the Story

The story begins in the lonely yet tranquil lands outside the village of Serowe, where people journey to grow crops each year. The Edenic setting suggests mythic lushness and abundance. In 1958, however, a seven-year drought began, and the once-idyllic land grew dry and barren. Initially, the people respond with humor, but during the seventh year, after two years of starvation, many succumb to despair. Some of the men hang themselves. The only people who prosper are those “charlatans, enchanters, and witch-doctors” who make their fortunes off of others’ misery and desperation.

The seventh year brings an early, meager rain that promises an end to the drought, and the season for plowing and preparing the land to grow crops is officially announced at the kglota, or village center. In earnest anticipation, the family of the old man, Mokgobja, which includes a father, mother, unmarried sister, and two small girls, journeys to the lands outside the village and clears the field of thornbush, creates hedges around it, digs their well, and plows the field with oxen.

The earth comes alive and sings with insects. Without warning, the rain clouds depart, leaving the sun to soak up the last bits of moisture in the air. The earth dries, and the only remaining goat stops giving milk; the family waits in despair, unable to plant the seeds that will nourish them. Only the two small girls, Neo and Boseyong, are content as they play together with dolls, imitating their mother’s chastisements and hitting their dolls as she might them.

Mindful only of their plight, the adults take no notice of the girls’ activities. At their breaking point, Tiro, the girls’ mother, and Nesta, the unmarried sister, commence a nightly wailing that begins as a “low, mournful note” and ends as a “frenzy” while stamping their feet and shouting. As a result, the men find it impossible to maintain their equilibrium. The old man, Mokgobja, remembers an ancient tribal ritual, buried beneath years of Christian training, of sacrificing children to a rain god to ensure that crops will grow, and he consults Ramadi, the father of the girls, about it. Gradually, Mokgobja becomes more and more convinced of the authenticity of his recollection, and the idea is communicated to the women and then executed by the men.

Soon, the bodies of the two small girls are spread on the fields. The act, however, is ineffective in bringing about rain, instead bringing terror to the remaining family members, who flee back to the village. The villagers notice the two girls are gone and ask the family questions, which they fail to answer satisfactorily. The police are brought in, and when asked to show the girls’ graves, the mother confesses and tells what has happened. Mokgobja and Ramadi are sentenced to death for ritual murder, even though their actions are well understood by the villagers, who might have done the same in their place.

Understanding

1.      Why is it significant that the events in this brief story occurred over seven years? What are the progressive effects of the drought during this period?

The drought that occurred for seven years is very significant in the story. Due to a long drought, land and watering places become dry. The leaves of the tree withered. Earth sand changed into white and black powder. Due to excessive heat and lack of grain, people killed themselves by hanging in the trees. Hypocrites, talismans, and witch doctors giving fake instructions to the villagers earned money. The serious thing caused by drought is that Mokgobja and his son sacrificed their little kids in the hope of making them happy to the rain god.

2.      When the options and talismans were brought as offerings for the gods in exchange for rain and fall, why is it significant that some of the men in the village hang themselves? What insight does this give you into the depths of desperation and despair that have befallen everyone in the village?

The options and talismans were brought as offerings to the gods in exchange for rain. They took many things from innocent and poor villagers to offer to the rain god. They did what they said, but all their effort and investment went in vain. Later, they had the problem of hand-to-mouth. However, they offered them what they had for the rain. The rain did not fall, but the extreme heat reached to highest peak. Later on, many farmers killed themselves by hanging from a tree.

3.      Why is starvation predicted for the coming year in the story Looking for a Rain God?

Starvation is predicted for the coming year because as farmers plowed the land, the rain flew away and left the sky bare. The extreme sun's heat was in the sky. Each day, the land was covered in a haze of mist. Due to the heat, it was impossible to plant corn, maize, pumpkin, and water seeds on the dry earth. Goats also stopped producing milk.

4.      Do you think the ritual sacrifice is similar to putting faith in charlatans, sorcerers, and witch doctors?

In some cases, the ritual sacrifice is similar to putting faith in charlatans, sorcerers, and witch doctors because, in the name of making God happy, they encourage innocent people to follow the ritual sacrifice. All of them are similar because they are based on superstition. On the other hand, all charlatans, sorcerers, and witch doctors may not enforce the ritual of murder to make the god happy. They just may say that they are the representative of the gods, so if they follow their instructions, they may get rid of the problem. In the story, they have given herbs to rob the land so that the rain might fall. Ritual sacrifice is illegal. Humans should have strong bonds and ties with each other.

In ritual sacrifice, they love to kill family members for their benefit. In the story, too, elder family members, in the name of surviving on the earth, murder their innocent baby girls.

5.      How does the story “Looking for a Rain God” involve a conflict between the two opposite value systems of latent tribal beliefs and a superficial adherence to Christian religious practices?

Latent tribal beliefs are related to ancient African tribes and cultures that believed in sacrificing small kids to make them happy with to rain God. In the story, all of the African farmers did not believe it; only the old man, Mokgobja, kept his faith in it. The Christian religion’s practices teach people to follow and believe in canters, witch doctors, and charlatans to get rid of the problem. Such a belief is so hypocritical because their mantras, talismans, and tricks do not work in real life. By cheating people in the name of God, they earn a pile of money.

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