Blossoms of the Savannah as a reflection of the modern day woman

A literary look at the modern day woman as portrayed in H.R Kulet book.

Blossoms of the Savannah is a book written by the late H.R Kulet in the early 2000s. The story in the book is set in the mid-90s- a period marked with inflation in Kenya which prompted massive layoffs of civil servants called retrenchment and privatization of key government institutions. This was also a period of political change in Kenya with the birth of multiparty politics and also the onset of gender equality debate in the country. With vocal female leaders like the Late Wangari Maathai, Charity Kaluki Ngilu among others joining politics, there was a lot of enthusiasm in Kenya about the impending change.

Kulet chose to dwell on the social cultural change brought about with education of the girl child and how this was effecting change in communities that were consertive. Key among the issues he sought to address were the retrogressive cultural practices that targeted a specific gender and how greed and lust was fueling such norms. In the quest to address these negative issues, Kulet points out that not all of the traditional practices were bad, the bad practices thrived at the expense of the good. This bad practices were being nurtured and cultivated by selfish leaders but ad reached their time to be wiped out.

Pundits may postulate that Kulet was just bringing home a gender war that had been fought before. This can be observed in the Kenyan curriculum that juxtaposed the study of Blossoms of the Savannah with the 16^thC play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. As much as the two books tend to address the issue of gender balance, they are distinctive for they approach the question in two different cultural ecosystems. Whereas Henrik presents the male antagonist as a caring overdomineering husband who uses societal pressure to manipulate the female protagonist, Kulet presents a greedy father who uses culture as a crutch to advance his own agenda. In both though, the female protagonist is left on her own to get her own footing.

This essay looks at how the Blossoms of the Savannah is a reflection of modern day woman. Kulet has divided his female characters into the traditional conservative, submissive conservative, radicals and liberals.

The traditional conservative woman is presented to be the proponent of the status quo. She is the enkamuratani (female circumciser) and those who support her agenda. She is fierce and blind to the suffering of a majority of young women. In fact she is proud of her trade is always ready to dispense what she believes to be a cultural right. A reflection of the enkamuratani is shown in modern day religious and cultural women leaders who define their roles as being in the shadow of their husbands. Such women are the deputies of their husband’s businesses and practices. As seen, they promote the male agenda with little regard to what their own beliefs. These women are wives the modern day religious leaders and politicians. Despite the murky deeds of their husbands, they are ready to overlook all that and display the banner of a model wife.

The submissive conservative woman is represented by Simiren’s wives and Kaelo’s wife. Such women do not take the frontline in the battle but agree with their husband’s decision. In politics and other significant decisions, they let the man lead. More often they are the voters who made bad decisions then live to regret their choices. They have suppressed their dreams and desires for the sake of their men. We have such women in politics as well but they will never take the leadership position in a field where men dominate.

Kulet presents the liberal woman in the character of Nabaru. She is diligent and loyal to the proponents of change. She is also resourceful and full of courage when needed. It is this courage that makes Nabaru risk her life to help Resian out of the claws of Olarinkoi. In modern day society, we see such women join worthy causes in order to advance worthy causes thus drive the discussion around inclusivity. They support agenda drivers with the hope that they will be present to see change.

The leaders of change in Blossoms of the Savannah are Resian and Minik ene Nkoitoi. Such women are fearless and have a sense of purpose. They are self-driven and nothing can stop them in the quest to achieve their personal dreams besides their societal goals. In numerous occasion they take the lead and are founders of their own causes. Some lose track and focus but others always ensure they achieve their set goals.

In order to understand the modern woman. This essay will focus on Kaelo girls- Taiyo and Resian. The two girls present a contrasting image of a responsible modern day girl. It is this image that can be seen in some of the young up and coming career women. The Kaelo girls had a burning desire to join university and achieve their dreams as successful career women. In the quest to do this, they each took different path.

To begin with, Resian had a deep desire to remain in Nakuru and enroll at the Egerton University. At the age of 18, where many girls have started dating, including her sister Taiyo who was involved with Lenjir, Resian was still single. She did not have eyes for boys but education.

Her steel determination will see her survive early marriage to Oloisudori. She confronts her father over the issue and runs away from home. She is determined not to marry until she achieves her academic goals. Resian also survives a near-rape incident and recovers from comma to continue to chase her dreams. She earns admiration from Nabaru and Minik because she would not let others define her destiny