The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales

by Bessie Head

Book Overview

A collection of short stories based on life in a Botswanan village, including the story of a woman who murders the husband who deserted her years before. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0435909819
• ISBN13: 9780435909819
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
• Length: 109 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Bessie Head's "The Collector of Treasures" raises awareness to womens civil rights or lack thereof.

On the level of moral philosophy, Bessie Head's tales examine the development of a civilization and the ethical views established throughout their expansion. Her accounts institute lessons about love and romance, rituals, new religion, law, and material wealth. Bessie brilliantly sets the foundation of her collection with an extraordinary account of the origin of the Botswana village. The advancement of Christianity within the rural community sets the stage for divided beliefs and practices. Wealth and materialism create stratification and the villagers strive to reach and maintain the status quo. Ethical relativism and the problems associated with the majority rule theory come into play throughout the progression of this civilization. With the group's morality being determined by the majority male population, the women are left to decide for themselves, whether the morals are merely professed values established to accommodate and maintain the dominant male role or actual ethical values instituted for the good of all the inhabitants of the village. There are many heroines throughout Head's sagas that determine that the rules are unjust. These female protagonists bravely stand their ground refusing to be mistreated and abused any longer.