It may seem weird to look to a dictionary for the definition of hope. We have all felt hope, or have felt a lack of it at some point in our lives. It is a word, a feeling we learn at a very young age and we continue to feel it until the day we die. It is a basic concept of life, and yet when I was asked to find the hope in Bessie Head's novel "The Question of Power, " I had a hard time deciding just what that meant.
Life seems completely hopeless for the main character Elizabeth. She is fighting mental sickness, hallucinations, depression and exhaustion. This book takes us so deep into the illness, as a reader I had a hard time believing that there was a light at then end of the tunnel. It was unbelievable that anyone or anything would be able to pull Elizabeth from her despair.
But I was wrong about this. Bessie Head gives us hope. She does this in the way of a metaphor of a garden. Elizabeth has been working hard to cultivate indigenous and non indigenous plants. There are messages of growth, possibility, and perseverance in all the steps taking to grow these plants. From the irrigation to the fertilization we can see the authors idea of putting work into your situation to make yourself happy. But in particular we can see a direct relation to Elizabeth Situation and the Cape Gooseberry.
"The work had a melody like that- a complete stranger like the Cape Gooseberry settled down and became part of the village life of Montabeng."
Gooseberry is not a native plant to Botswana, but it becomes a favorite of the locals there. This is only possible through hard work and perseverance on the part of the farmer. That work is mentioned at the beginning of the above quote and it coincides with the work Elizabeth has had to do in order to feel like she belongs in Montabeng. She too was a complete stranger to that land, and consequently she suffered and almost died. Luckily she found a place there where she could be of help and have a purpose, and become a part of life there.
This plant not only represents Elizabeth journey into becoming a part of something, it also is the tool that allows her to do so. She is lost in a dark place, and the Gooseberry is the light at the end that she can see and walk toward, finding her way back to sanity and safety.
3 comments on It's like Jelly Baby.
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I lke how you tied in the concept of hope as children
Nice article. You described the story in a good way. life without hope is dark. Our hopes is the energy which push us to as you said ( It is the basic concept of life ). I also liked the picture. It is so expressive. Godd job.