Читать книгу African-Language Literatures - Innocentia Jabulisile Mhlambi - Страница 17

Cultural values can also be strategically employed with the intention of directing the reading of the narrative towards the lesson contained in the proverb. In Aphelile this cultural value relates to the observance of a customary practice of inhlawulo (loosely translated as: paying for the damages), which may be interpreted as a legitimate claim to fatherhood by a father who has children out of wedlock. In the narrative, Makhaya did not show respect to Nomvula’s family by observing this practice, not even after learning of his son’s existence, therefore, culturally, he does not have a right to the child. With complete disregard for custom (Radebe: 65) he unilaterally decides to reclaim his child, abducting him from school and taking him back with him to Bhizana in the Eastern Cape, with stern directives that if Nomvula wants her child back she must come to the Eastern Cape. His actions are fuelled not only by his knowledge of his son’s existence but also by the information he has received regarding Nomvula’s impending marriage to another man (Radebe: 59). Makhaya is opposed to another man raising his child (Radebe: 71). Through the abduction of the child from its mother, the narrative directs attention away from this cultural expectation and focuses on the relationship between the parents and the child and on the lovers’ estrangement. Makhaya’s seven years of estrangement is equated with Nomvula’s several hours of estrangement from her son. By shifting locality from Gauteng to Bhizana Radebe symbolically recreates an island without cultural bounds for the estranged lovers to reconfigure their relationship away from the binding traditions represented by families. Radebe attempts to show that the causes of this estrangement are superficial and that it has been unnecessary because underlying the partners’ views on why their relationship failed is their undying love for each other which constantly re-surfaces and overwhelms them. Thus their interaction whenever they are alone veers towards rekindling their love. This is captured by a proverb, ‘lapho amanzi ake ema khona aphinde eme’ (a pool of water recurs where it once stood), cited by Makhaya’s lover in desperation at seeing the natural attraction between Nomvula and Makhaya (Radebe: 50).

This focus on the relationships emphasises Makhaya’s biological right to the child as opposed to a social or cultural right that could have been occasioned by his observance of inhlawulo (Radebe: 65). This reading is deduced from his retort, ‘Anginamsebenzi nomthetho […] Ungowami, uyindodana nendlalifa yami ngokwemvelo. Akukho mthetho ongangiphuca ilungelo lami lemvelo’ (I do not care about the law […] He is mine and naturally he is the one to take on my inheritance. There is no law that can deny me my natural right) (Radebe: 65). Although the cultural observance of inhlawulo is key in such cases as the narrative intimates, there is a reading that suggests that Radebe emphasises the biological claim above customary laws. Makhaya’s views regarding which claim is weightier reveal the underlying ambiguity of the narrative, where patriarchal views are allowed to be selectively applied and observed by the male members of the society. Makhaya, who espouses the patriarchal values of the author, is given greater scope in his interpretation of the social or cultural values that strengthen his case as he attempts to reclaim his son. The fact that inhlawulo, which is a necessary cultural bridge between parties and families, is downplayed is indicative of the room given to patriarchal members of the society.

The centrality of the patriarchal head in Radebe’s conception of a family unit goes against emerging truths concerning the success of single mothers. Radebe seems to imply that Nomvula’s pregnancy and the untraditional manner in which it has been handled occurs as a result of the absence of the father figure who would have ensured that proper traditional practices were followed. For Radebe the presence of the father would have been instrumental in extracting inhlawulo (payment for the damages) from the man who impregnated Nomvula. Her mother has not questioned Nomvula’s pregnancy because, it seems, she understands and knows about the probability of success in single parenting. However, single parenting as a contemporary reality in many African societies is not fully explored in the narrative because the depiction of this reality would have questioned all the proverbs on display that allude to the fact that it takes two parents to raise a child. The narrative underplays the fact that material acquisitions are equally important in raising children and instead focuses on questioning the character and intelligence, particularly of Nomvula, in her determination to be a single mother.