The role of society in the woman's subordination in selected works of Bessie Head

Abstract

This study examines Bessie Head's presentation of the woman in the selected works studied here. The study proceeds from a feminist perspective to interrogate the patriarchal dictates which influence social expectations and roles of the woman. Using library research as-its methodology, the study examines Head's presentation of the woman as subordinated to the control of patriarchal dictates in her social relationships. The study also analyses the woman's rejection of social expectations in an attempt to redefine her self. It further examines the alienating effects of patriarchal expectations on the woman. These are looked at in the way the alienation is projected onto the woman's psyche. The conclusion reveals that in Head's fiction under study, the woman is viewed and views herself as the 'other' in the society. This results in her exclusion from societal main stream - an experience that she now seeks to subvert. The study proposes an examination of the social facets that can aid the woman's readmission into the societal main stream as an equal participant, not a subordinate "other."