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The short story:Ed. Ilieva & Olembo: When the sun goes down and other stories from Africa and Beyond. The community depicted in this short story is...

      

The short story:Ed. Ilieva & Olembo: When the sun goes down and other stories from Africa and Beyond.
The community depicted in this short story is a community in a cultural quagmire.Write an essay in support of this statement,with close reference to Bamboo Hut,by Grace Ogot.

  

Answers

Martin
To be in quagmire is an awkward and dangerous situation from which it is difficult to disengage.Cultural beliefs and practices once rooted are difficult to uproot because they have become part and parcel of the people.

Male chauvinism -The value placed on the male child is extremely high. In fact,it is so high that Chief Mboga,who has sixteen daughters,still feels that he is inadequate as a man because he does not have a son.The bamboo hut is a symbol of supremacy and superiority.The only woman who can live in this hut must pass the test-which is,bear the chief a son.With sixteen children - whether girls or boys - a mans virility should not be in doubt,but in his prayers,the chief laments that there is no joy of a father without a son ,an heir .There is also the belief that a woman must be subservient and submissive to a aman.That explains why the chief is shocked that young Awiti should be so daring .Owiny is also shocked that a woman should dare to order him around.

In this community,daughters are compared to birds in transit,who at some point will leave their father's homestead to be married.This belief makes it difficult for the community to invest in girls except for the purpose of collecting bride price.Chief mboga cries to the 'god of Ramongi and the god of Podho' to give him a son because a ruler cannot be mighty without a son,an heir.But what is really interesting is why a wife who has borne girls like Agiso can not live in what the daughter describes as clean ,cossy,cool and beautiful.

The fact that a woman who gives birth to a girl is regarded as inferior,poses a serious problem when such a woman gives birth to twins(a boy and a girl),like Achieng has done.The first of the twins is a girl,and Achieng 'wept bitterly'because she feels the ancestors have wronged her.Then a miracle ,she gives birth to a boy.She decides to do the unimaginable to please the community and her husband who had waited for a son for twelve years,so Achieng has to sacrifice her daughter in order to let her husband have only one child,a son ,so that he might see the fulfillment of his life's dream. Achieng has no qualms about her daughter who she abandons at the river.

The bamboo hut is an unwelcome deviation from the normal situation.Though seen in the community as a symbol of honour,in truth,it is a symbol of inhumanity and subjugation. It is so despicable it should be discarded.
marto answered the question on September 28, 2017 at 12:19

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