In Bessie Head’s novel Maru, the nature references serve to reinforce the personalities of Margaret’s two principal love interests, Maru and Moleka.

Moleka’s elusive, mercurial character is illustrated by the “heavy thunder-cloud” that surrounds his eyes. As with a cloudy sky, his actions aren’t always clear or transparent. As with thunder (“heavy” thunder, specifically), Moleka can be prone to outbursts.

Later, Head doubles down on Moleka’s energetic, tempestuous style by comparing him to a sun. She describes Moleka as a “sun around which spun a billion satellites.” Even when there is no sun, Head finds a way to relate Moleka to something like the sun. At one point, Moleka is walking around at night. He’s supposed to pay a call to one of his girlfriends. There’s not a sun in the sky, but there is a moon—and that moon is yellow (like the sun).

When Moleka is around the moon, it’s like he subverts the moon. However, when Maru is put in a relationship with the moon, it’s like Head is speaking about the moon proper—the moon as it’s supposed to be. Indeed, Maru’s nature reference (i.e., a non-yellow moon) helps illustrate his solemn and quiet traits. Unlike Moleka, he doesn’t want to oversee a bright, frantic kingdom: Moleka seeks an environment centered on moderation and circumspection.