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 16thC 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.
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