Summary
Maru is set in a remote African village and depicts its title character as a man who is both an insider and outsider in his community.
Head’s novel explores the inherent prejudices within African society. “Bushmen,” or Masarwa, are looked upon as the lowest class of human beings in the world, as they are seen as uncivilized, primitive humans; Head even remarks that outsiders regard them like animals. To flesh out this prejudice, Head includes the narrative of white missionary Margaret Cadmore, a peculiar woman bent on dismantling the hatred toward Masarwa, who adopts an orphaned infant girl after someone discovers the baby’s mother dead on the side of a remote road. Cadmore raises the child with an explicit purpose: she tells the child that one day she will “help [her] people.”
Cadmore names the child after herself, and when the younger Margaret finishes school under her adopted mother’s guidance as a teacher, she goes to college to become a teacher as well. After finishing her upper schooling, Margaret goes to the village of Dilepe, where she will be a teacher alongside Dikeledi, an upper-class young woman who is astonished to learn that Margaret is a Masarwa. Dikeledi advises Margaret not to reveal her heritage, as many in Dilepe will treat her poorly because of it. Dikeledi takes Margaret to Moleka, a son of a chief, to find the new teacher some accommodation. Upon first speaking to each other, Margaret and Moleka become instantly smitten.
This meeting is what sets the central plot of the novel in motion. Maru and Moleka have been inseparable friends since birth, and Maru predicts that their relationship will end over a woman. Both men are notorious for their love affairs, for different reasons. The woman that both Maru and Moleka fall in love with in equal measure is Margaret.
On her first day of school, Margaret ignites a local scandal by proudly telling her principal that she is a Masarwa. Horrified, Pete—the principal—goes to the school administration office to let his supervisor and friend, Seth, know about Margaret’s tribal identity. Seth insists that he will investigate the opinion of the Totems—a term referring to the upper-class people of the village—before dismissing Margaret from her position.
Maru and his cattle-thieving brother Morafi are members of this Totem class, as well as Dikeledi and Moleka.
Once the news spreads that Margaret is a Masarwa, her pupils at Leseding school mock her. Dikeledi rushes to Margaret’s defense, and Moleka saves Margaret’s job by making a mockery of Seth at a private dinner where Moleka invites the Masarwa people he enslaves to dine at the same table as everyone else. Ranko, another of Maru’s closest friends, reports all of this to Maru one evening.
To quiet the uproar in the village, Maru makes Moleka retrieve the bed that he had loaned to Margaret after finding her a room. Margaret travels to Moleka’s office to convince him to let her keep the bed until she can buy a new one, but she is embarrassed to find Maru there. Maru is Dikeledi’s brother, and Margaret is stunned that he has personally requested the bed be confiscated. She leaves without the bed.
When Maru returns home, he tells Dikeledi that he made sure the loaned bed was brought back to the office. Dikeledi is outraged at this news, as she does not bear the same prejudice as her brother. Maru shockingly reveals, however, that he has plans to marry Margaret regardless of her status. Maru keeps secret the fact that he instinctively knows Moleka has been changed by his love for...
(This entire section contains 1182 words.)
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Margaret, since Maru also knows that Dikeledi is in love with Moleka. Maru instead tells Dikeledi that he never intended to assume the role of chieftain, and he asks her to be a spy on any man who piques Margaret’s interest while he plans how to win her affections.
Ranko intercepts Moleka as the latter climbs the hill to Margaret’s lodging, delivering a cryptic message from Maru. Moleka interprets this message to mean that Maru wants Margaret for himself. Believing he is no match for Maru, Moleka turns around and heads to Dikeledi’s house. He lies to her, saying he has always loved her. The next morning, Ranko tells Maru about seeing Moleka spend the night with Dikeledi; Moleka reveals to Maru that he did so only to anger Maru. Moleka declares that he will not marry Dikeledi, and Maru challenges his now enemy to try and defy him.
When Seth, Morafi, and Pete hear the news that Maru had Margaret’s bed taken away from her, they are intrigued to see someone who carries himself with superiority behaving in such a manner. The three men believe Maru will drive Margaret out of Dilepe. On his way home one evening, Pete hears an ominous whisper warning him that a demon will punish him for his evil deeds. Pete believes that being on Maru’s bad side has aroused an evil vengeance against him, and he flees town. Soon after, Seth and Morafi also leave town.
At the beginning of part 2 of the text, a mischievous pair of goats follow Margaret home and force themselves inside. The mother goat sleeps patiently, while her week-old kid defecates throughout the room and dances around. Margaret is most intrigued with the goats, but Dikeledi is disgusted when she bursts in to ask Margaret for another portrait of her. The mother goat awakes from her slumber and charges at Dikeledi, making Margaret laugh. The women bond over the commotion before Margaret sketches Dikeledi.
As the new principal, Dikeledi must go to a conference out of town over the fifteen-day break between school terms. Before her departure, she gives Margaret a parcel of expensive art supplies and tells Margaret to experiment during her time off. By this time, Margaret has accepted that Moleka will never approach her because of her ethnicity, and Dikeledi is in despair after Moleka moved on to other women. Over time, Dikeledi takes all of Margaret’s drawings to Maru.
During the last days of the school year, Margaret finishes a massive canvas of Dilepe, which Dikeledi keeps after Maru rejects it. Then, Dikeledi reveals that she is marrying Moleka because she is pregnant with his child. Stunned and heartbroken, Margaret takes to her bed. On the night of the wedding, Maru sneaks off to see Margaret. He confesses his love to her, and he packs all her things into his white van. Margaret agrees to go away from Dilepe with Maru and marry him.
Moleka is surprised that Maru was able to pull off such a proposal, and he and Dikeledi live together peacefully in marriage.
When the villagers find out that Maru has left town to marry a Masarwa, they gossip about the distasteful affair. The novel ends with a message of hope for Masarwa people, who through Margaret’s marriage to a Batswana realize that they do not have to accept their oppression any longer.
