Introduction:

Bessie Head was born in South Africa, she had a traumatic life and drew heavily upon
her experiences for her novels. She wrote A question of power in 1974. It's an
autobiographical story developed when the author was under a lot of stress and had just
recovered from a psychotic breakdown.

About the novel:

The novel investigates the wildness of colonial Britain and the hatred they had for the
blacks as well as the countless years of rebellion and unkindness. The novel also questioned
Africans over acceptance to be devalued, to be maltreated and to be subservient. The book
holds African responsible for the predicament the people experience. The protagonist
highlights detailed issues for mixed-race migrants in Southern Africa in 1960 and 1970. In
particular, which is the era of apartheid (how people were categorized into groups with
restrictions imposed on specific groups). At that time, the union between black and white was
illegal and the coming together of Elizabeth's parents was a criminal process making the child
personifies as a dilemma in the society. When Elizabeth interacts with black she feels
superior and when she interacts with the white she feels inferior because of the blackness in
her. It is bit difficult to figure out when Elizabeth is hallucinating and when she is in the
community life. Elizabeth as a traumatic person lives in two worlds. One is the everyday real
life in Motabeng; the other is the horrible life of her nightmares related to colonial apartheid
system of South Africa. Her decision to leave South Africa represents her desire not to
continue living a racially discriminated region while in Bostwana she experienced a lot of
hallucinations from Medusa, Sello and Dan. She experienced racism and alienation in
Bostwana as well as she doesn't have the same cultural backgrounds, the language, the way of
life and the activities as of Botswana people. Therefore, she was treated as an outsider there
and could never be part of them.
Why Novel is divided into two parts?
A Question of Power, which is divided into two halves, representing the two powerful
male Sello and Dan, in specific externalize the sickness of the male who becomes the mad
destroyer in his lust for power and his appetite for sexual deviancy. Not only that it also
depicts superiority of white over black. Superiority of one ideology over the other. The
conflict is actually between superior and inferior, courage and fear. The fears that held
Elizabeth in isolation and prevented her from advancement and power. This division also
depicts that how apartheid and racial discrimination turns to be the most disastrous and
destructive events and lastly the double consciousness, Elizabeth was unable to accept herself
as a part of African or British. E.g. she opposed tom’s views on American peace work as well
as she punched Mrs. Jones who was a white.

Characters:
Sello: Sello, a Motabeng farmer and cattle breeder. He repeatedly appears in Elizabeth’s
delusions. A self-proclaimed prophet and citizen of the world, a man of seemingly profound
love and compassion, he assumes the image of a benevolent white-robed monk. Beneath this
immaculate mask is a moral predator who stirs the dweller of hell to harass the soul of an
innocent woman.
Dan: Dan is a wealthy cattle farmer and a millionaire. He also appears in Elizabeth's
hallucinations though not very frequently than Sello. He is a demonic sadist (Satan) and a
debauchee. He reveals his great celebrations with sexually active women. He is a self-
proclaimed prophet of evil which make all efforts to frustrate Elizabeth.
(Sello and Dan are symbols of male-dominated community. They represent different voices in
Elizabeth's head as she tries to come in terms with the previous experiences. Their different
views represent problems she encounter which are racial issues and gender discrimination.)
Elizabeth: Elizabeth is the protagonist of the novel. Her struggle to integrate into Motabeng
society and to conquer her mental illness gives the novel its central drama. Elizabeth was
conceived out of wedlock between a white woman and a black stable boy, a union that was
not allowed in South Africa. Her mother suffered from mental illness and died in a mental
home. Elizabeth attended a mission school, married to a gangster, and had a child. No longer
able to withstand being black in South Africa, Elizabeth moves with her son to Botswana
which was a country which had escaped a lot of colonial dominations. In this region, she
experiences a lot of challenges in a male-dominated community. Her mystical experience
with Sello and Dan only reaffirms her strangeness in the region.
Tom: Tom, a twenty-two-year-old white Peace Corps volunteer from America, a close
personal friend of Elizabeth. He has a philosophical bent of mind, is affable, and possesses an
uncommon capacity to relate to people. With a degree in agriculture, he is a leading force
behind the success of the Motabeng Farmers’ Youth-Development project. A pacifist, he is a
conscientious objector, a believer in civil and human rights, and a promoter of rapid
economic development for poorer nations of the world.
Kenosi: Kenosi, Elizabeth’s close companion, approximately her age, a member of the wool-
spinning and weaving group. Despite her austere personality, she remains at bottom a
generous and selfless person, one in whose presence Elizabeth’s personality comes alive. As
a meticulous record keeper and a workhorse, she works with Elizabeth to make a perfect
team, always dependent on each other.

Summary:
This section, titled “Dan,” opens with a hypothetical warrior who lives by the moral codes of
war. The narrative says that Elizabeth, too, lives by this code of respect for honor and
nobility. With the disappearance of Sello, Elizabeth encounters a new figure, Dan. He walks
into the room in a “spectacular display of soul-power”. After watching Medusa dominate
Sello, Elizabeth is attracted to his “extreme masculinity”. Dan kisses her firmly, calls the
poor “stupid and cruel”. He said: ‘I don’t like them. They’re so stupid and cruel.’ And
crowns himself with a “plain steel crown of a dull hue”. He tells her: “‘God is people.
There’s nothing up there. It’s all down here.’”
Two days after Christmas, Elizabeth emerges from her stupor to answer Kenosi at the door.
Kenosi points out a new Peace Corps volunteer from America, named Tom. He is muscular,
hardworking, and roughly 22 years old. Elizabeth invites him. Elizabeth discusses political
concerns in Africa and globally. When Tom says he supports Black Power, Elizabeth
responds that the Africans might reject him because he is white.
Meanwhile, Dan persistently points out Elizabeth’s flaws and berates Africa as a whole for
“the African’s man’s loose, carefree sexuality” and its belief in witchcraft. Dan’s
perversion and depravity have begun to infect Elizabeth, who sees male homosexuality
everywhere. Elizabeth stops sleeping. When she finally passes out, Dan and Sello appear for
the first time in the same nightmare together. Elizabeth debates whether she believes that
Dan’s insinuations that Sello molested his daughter. On Sunday, Elizabeth collapses when
she finally accepts that Sello is evil. Nothing seems coherent to Elizabeth that day. Although
Elizabeth tries to focus on “normal human decencies” and her work in the garden, her
internal demons are more powerful.
Themes:
1- A desire to be loved:
Her hallucination of garden of eden in which two lovers were embracing each other, two
grape trees entwined with their roots and the river coming down with great speed which is the
symbol of poweful, blind love shows that she was in desperate need of a true love, a soulmate
in her real life.
2- Role of Sanity in self identification:
Its a concept that nothing is as good as it appears and as evil as it is portrayed. Selo being
described as monk like depicts goodness that Elizabeth clings to for a long time bit later is
shattered by the concept of deceit from him. Dan masks his deliver behind the charm of
generosity and gaudy attire. Tom being a white is a supporter of black community. It all
depends on the sanity of a person to decide based on reasoning and that is the sanity that
Elizabeth lacked.
3- Question of madness:
The question of madness presented in the novel symbolises the medical condition, social
status, spiritual condition and the psychological conditions presented during the time the
book was written. These conditions are exolored in the effects they caused in the human
mind. The hallucinations of Elizabeth of Dan and Sello may be the cause of isolation and
rejection she has been facing since she was born.
4- Psychological distress due to society:
She experienced the same illness as her mother in the mode of recurrying nervous
hallucinations and terrifying confusions making her the prisoner of mind.She has not
inherited this disease of hallucination from her mother. She was not born this way but the
constant isolation, rejection and gender discrimination she has faced throughout her life has
shaped her into the person she is today. She falls prey to the norms and rules of South Africa
where colored child is considered as inferior and is not accepted as a part of society .

Symbolism and Important points:

Significance of Garden:
Among the vegetables Elizabeth grows in the community garden are tomatoes, cabbages,
peppers and cauliflower. Elizabeth is attempting to combat her mental illness by
demonstrating her sanity, in part by working in the garden. However, the garden serves as an
allegory for her mind, and her efforts to care for it and keep it thriving in an orderly way,
with healthy vegetables replacing the wilted and rotting imports (akin to her illness) that the
town was used to. Elizabeth is still separated from other people, just as the garden is fenced
off; her existence is not like that of anyone around her, just as the garden is a very specific
and, in a way, unnatural arrangement. (IT ALSO SIGNIFIES HOW SHE ON THE BASIS
OF HER OWN SANITY OF SOUL WILL FIND HER TRUE IDENTITY. (A person is not
the appearance he keeps).
Birds Imagery:
Head uses bird imagery, including a dead owl on Elizabeth’s doorstep, hawks, and songbirds,
to indicate Elizabeth’s shifts from melancholy to normality.