Looking for a Rain God

 Looking for a Rain God

            Bessie Head(1937- 1986)

ü progressive effectiveness of drought

ü desperation and despair that have befallen everywhere in the village

ü ritual sacrifice, power of customs, and ideas passed down from ancestors.

ü it also reflects the enduring power of ancient tribal rituals and their conflicts with contemporary codes of behavior in African life.

ü ritual of human sacrifice to please the rain god

Characters:

Mokgobja: over seventy years old man at home

Ramadi: son of Mokgobja, a supporter of the family

Tiro: Ramadi's wife

Nesta: an unmarried sister

Neo and Boseyong: two daughters who were sacrificed in the field to please rain god and for rainfall.

point of view: third-person narration

Setting: Rural village of Botswana

Time: 1958 AD

Theme: people struggle against nature, hope in life, and human survival instinct. it also reflects the enduring power of ancient tribal rituals and their conflicts with contemporary codes of behaviour in African life.

Synopsis

               Looking for a Rain God is a story. It reveals the terrifying situation of people in the absence of rainfall. According to the story, it was the time of 1958. There were 7 years-long droughts.,the watering places began to look as dismal as the dry open thorn bush and the leaves of the trees curled up and withered. The moss became dry and hard. The ground turned a powdery black and white because there was no rainfall. People said rather humorously that if you tried to catch the rain in a cup it would only fill a teaspoon. Each night they started a weird(suggesting sth supernatural)high pitched wailing that began on a low, mournful note, the man sat quiet and self-controlled. The majority of the people had lived off crops. only the charlatans, incanters, and witch doctors made a pile of money during this time because people were always turning to them in desperation for little tailsmans and herbs to rub on the plough for the crops to grow and the rain to fall.

           Mokgobja who was the hero in the story was 70 years old. He believed in tradition and rituals. He started ploughing his land. Family members supported plucking thorny bush and made a hedge of it in their field. They were optimistic about the rainfall and they could plant the crops. But the situation went against their expectation.There was no sign of rainfall. They have the fear of upcoming starvation. Mokgobja made a plan to start an ancient rain-making ceremony that he had noticed by his ancestors. He whispered secretly to his son Romadi about the way of rain-making ceremony. He had been witness to a rain-making ceremony, a certain rain god who accepted only the sacrifice of the bodies of children. Then the rain would fall; then the crops would grow.

           It was believed that such rituals would please the rain god. The rain would fall and they would have good crops. Ramadi agreed to his father's idea to sacrifice his two daughters for rain god. Even after the rituals, the rain did not fall. The villagers were curious about the missing children of Ramadi. The police came to investigate the case. The children's mother confesses everything. As a result, Mokgobja and Ramadi were arrested and sentenced to death for ritual murder. The ritual murder was against the law and must be stamped out (stopped) with the death penalty. The subtle story of strain and starvation and breakdown was inadmissible evidence at court, but all the people who lived off crops knew in their hearts that only a hair's breadth had saved them from sharing a fate similar to that of the Mokgobja family. They could have killed something to make the rainfall.

Questions for practice

1.     Why is it significant that the events in this story occurred over for seven years? What are the progressive effects of the drought over this period?

2.     In century past, human sacrifices were universally characteristic of cults of worship in many societies. But ritual murder is against the law in the story. Diss the power of law versus the power of customs and ideas passed down from ancestors regarding such rituals.

3.     To what extent does this story give insight into the lives of people who live in colonized nations where Western values are superimposed on tribal customs and beliefs?