When Rain Clouds Gather

When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head depicts the clash of cultures and values in rural Botswana as the fledgling nation develops its own identity after decades of colonialism. The novel was...

Makhaya is a young Zulu rebel who was imprisoned by the apartheid South African government for sabotage. He is a freedom fighter who struggled to end the brutal apartheid government system. When...

Chief Matenge's primary goal as chief is to obstruct the plans of Gilbert, a British agriculturalist. Gilbert hopes to introduce western practices of industrial farming and fencing land, calling...

In the novel When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head, the protagonist is a man named Makhaya. Despite the protagonist being a man, the novel makes the reader very aware of the oppression that women...

This novel depicts a clear divergence from racial conflict due to the relationship between Dinorego and Gilbert, who is a British agricultural specialist. Gilbert has truly made himself part of the...

The attitudes of these two men in Bessie Head’s novel differ in part because of the racial, national, social, and educational differences between them, although both are foreigners living in...

Bessie Head was a refugee from apartheid in South Africa. As a black African, she was denied basic rights by the white minority government, which had, for decades, pursued a policy of systemic...

The primary opposition that Bessie Head presents in the novel is between foreign, imposed innovations and native traditions. These conflicts are primarily set in Golema Mmidi, a rural village in...

Initially, Makhaya is not in love with Paulina. In contrast, she is attracted to Makhaya from the start due to his good looks. Being as assertive and self-confident as she is, Paulina sends...

I would argue that this great Southern African novel explores the good that power can accomplish by showing, in an almost exaggerated way, how poor leadership can stymie progress. The powerful...

Makhaya represents—or epitomizes—positive human actions because of his departure from South Africa. Remember, in South Africa, Makhaya was subject to brutal racism. He was in jail and he...

Bessie Head explores the attitude of the English agricultural expert, Gilbert, toward the subject of cattle grazing as one element of his fundamental misunderstanding of the local social system...

Power is presented in When Rain Clouds Gather as emancipatory. It is a force for good, something that frees people, broadens their horizons, gives them wings. It is power that is the ultimate prize...

This novel by Bessie Head explores two contrasting ideas of power. The first is authoritarian, associated with hereditary power. This version is exemplified by Chief Matenge. The second is shared,...