Question 2: Njabulo Ndebele’s The Cry of Winnie Mandela
“In the novel, the historical Winnie Mandela is imaginatively re-inscribed. She is removed from the public arena to a woman who is just one among many, a descendent of Penelope.”
The road to self-realisation is a lonely road. Caught between self-exploration and social expectance, one cannot determine their highest height until they have experienced their underground low. Set in an era of apartheid regime, societal roles and government laws contributed greatly to the opinions surrounding gender and masculinity, as well as equality among individuals and inevitable change, in the novel, The Cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo Ndebele.
The foregoing statement proves valid when one considers …show more content…
The husbands of the four women were away for employment purposes and created a sense of ‘never-ending’ longing when some willingly settled into new lives and others received compulsory fates, leaving behind the wives that remained faithful and anticipated their returns. Much like the relationship of Winnie Mandela and her husband which burnt to ash shortly before his release. In isolation of perhaps one of the most notable differences between Penelope and her descendants, we note that her relationship was the primary success story of the bunch and that her period of longing was justified by her husband’s …show more content…
This perhaps lends to the idea that those who knew the whereabouts of their partners found it challenging to communicate with them and as a result of failed communication processes, lost their partners in the process. The unknown in Penelope’s case allowed for the surprise she experienced when Odysseus returned.
In conclusion, Winnie Mandela was re-inscribed in the novel by means of added fiction and creative writing. She was viewed as a real-life person, rather than a public symbol and was taken from her perch and put amongst those in her similar situation, the four South African women. She was one of many, and this brought about showing her inner self, as well as the normality of her situation. She was a descendant of Penelope in situational context, emotional longing and unexpected outcome, thus proving the validity of the foregoing
“In the novel, the historical Winnie Mandela is imaginatively re-inscribed. She is removed from the public arena to a woman who is just one among many, a descendent of Penelope.”
The road to self-realisation is a lonely road. Caught between self-exploration and social expectance, one cannot determine their highest height until they have experienced their underground low. Set in an era of apartheid regime, societal roles and government laws contributed greatly to the opinions surrounding gender and masculinity, as well as equality among individuals and inevitable change, in the novel, The Cry of Winnie Mandela by Njabulo Ndebele.
The foregoing statement proves valid when one considers …show more content…
The husbands of the four women were away for employment purposes and created a sense of ‘never-ending’ longing when some willingly settled into new lives and others received compulsory fates, leaving behind the wives that remained faithful and anticipated their returns. Much like the relationship of Winnie Mandela and her husband which burnt to ash shortly before his release. In isolation of perhaps one of the most notable differences between Penelope and her descendants, we note that her relationship was the primary success story of the bunch and that her period of longing was justified by her husband’s …show more content…
This perhaps lends to the idea that those who knew the whereabouts of their partners found it challenging to communicate with them and as a result of failed communication processes, lost their partners in the process. The unknown in Penelope’s case allowed for the surprise she experienced when Odysseus returned.
In conclusion, Winnie Mandela was re-inscribed in the novel by means of added fiction and creative writing. She was viewed as a real-life person, rather than a public symbol and was taken from her perch and put amongst those in her similar situation, the four South African women. She was one of many, and this brought about showing her inner self, as well as the normality of her situation. She was a descendant of Penelope in situational context, emotional longing and unexpected outcome, thus proving the validity of the foregoing