From proscription to prescription: marginality and postcolonial identities in Bessie Head's "A Question of Power"

Abstract

In A Question of Power Bessie Head explores metaphysical forms of knowledge and systems of belief (against a background of what is verifiable and can be called the truth) and finds them necessary but flawed because they are illogical. The experience of madness in Bessie Head's main character, Elizabeth, (which is caused by a deep fear of domination and oppression), provides an opportunity for the character to raise propositions and questions of philosophy related to race, class, heterosexuality, God, to mention but a few, and to come to the conclusion that the 'truth' claims which are implied in and suggested by these notions do not obtain in real life. In other words, there is no stable, transcendental reality. It dawns on Elizabeth (the main character) that certain realms of knowledge which society has determined as objective truth will remain forever unknowable. Thus Elizabeth, the main character in a A Question of Power, identifies and challenges all patriarchal structures and power hierarchies in society, seeing them as the real causes of her suffering. After completing this process of deeonstruction, she is able to integrate herself into society.