Maru

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1971

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction

Part One

Part Two

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Racial Prejudice

Head indicates that parents and elders teach children prejudice, such as that against the San or Masarwa people. In the novel, adults perpetrate grievous acts of prejudice, such as when the nurses refuse to bathe the dead body of Margaret’s mother, leaving her body dumped on the floor in a room within the hospital. Margaret faces constant harassment for her ethnicity as a child, with the other children calling her names, such as “bastard” or “Bushman” (10).

Racial prejudice appears in every stratum of Botswana society, and is openly practiced through the enslavement of the Masarwa people in the village of Dilepe. For example, both Maru and Moleka own substantial numbers of Masarwa slaves, who tend their cattle and provide service within their households.

Only Dikeledi takes practical steps to free some of the Masarwa, while Maru tends the farm he lives on with Margaret himself, and using the labor of his friends, not Masarwa slaves.

Love and Hate

The complex and intertwined love stories of the four main characters—Maru, Moleka, Margaret, and Dikeledi—become threatened by the hatred that arises between Maru and Moleka when they compete for Margaret’s love. For example, Moleka has loved Maru his whole life, admiring him and placing Maru’s needs before his own. In every way, he smoothed the path of life for Maru, out of a belief in his superiority.

However, Maru displays despicable behaviors, such as standing in the way of Moleka’s love for Margaret and even lying to his own sister so that she will believe in Moleka’s goodness and selflessness, and therefore, be more attracted to him. Maru does not reciprocate supporting or loving behaviors for Moleka; in fact, he undermines and manipulates Moleka to achieve superiority over him by marrying Margaret and by forcing Moleka to marry his sister, Dikeledi.

Power of Myth and Tradition

Traditional roles and hierarchies mark the society of Dilepe. The people look to the Totems, the high-ranked, wealthy, slave-holding men in the society who form the traditional governing structure of the tribe. They are generally the sons of chiefs, or chiefs in their own rights. For example, Moleka, Maru, and his brother Morafi are all Totems. The opinions, desires, and actions of the Totems and chiefs establish the guidelines and the laws within their society.

In addition to the hereditary roles of the Totems and chiefs, the people have a rich tradition of belief in the ability of the spirit world to affect the day-to-day lives of people in the real world. For example, Tladi is a demon that once walked as a man and can occupy the body of a living man at will:

It was different if you said God and conscience. God the abstract had never lived, but every African demon had once been a man with a reign of terror. Many things had distinguished Tladi from every other demon or god. He was indiscriminate about who was good and who was evil. He terrorized all. Children grew up on those tales, old people still had Tladi as a living memory. (66)

As a Totem and a hereditary paramount chief, Maru is also widely believed to be a reincarnation of Tladi. Everyone in the village fears Maru for this reason. Inside himself, Maru listens to what he calls the gods of his heart. They guide his behavior, and their messages lead Maru to perform cruel and heinous acts, whether terrorizing Pete, Seth, and Morafi to drive them out of town, or causing Margaret to receive a broken neck, then healing her.

A preoccupation with gossip about the lives of the Totems, chiefs, gods, and demons marks the lives of the ordinary people in the village of Dilepe. Myth and tradition, therefore, affect the majority of peoples’ behavior and reactions. Accordingly, when Dikeledi becomes pregnant, the village assumes that she will marry the father of the baby. Similarly, when Maru violates one of the most serious taboos of his people, by marrying a Masarwa wife, he is considered dead to the people of Dilepe.