Place of women in society and other themes in ‘The River and the Source’

Dr Margaret Atieno Ogola, the author of The River and the Source. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Marriage in the novel is another aspect that has undergone changes. In the traditional set up, marriages were arranged by parents.
  • A spy was sent to find out the antecedents and character of a suitable bride, whether she is a thief or witch, whether she is lazy and shiftless, and whether there is consanguinity between the two families. The girl was not consulted.
  • This later changes as the women choose their marriage partners and court before marriage. Akoko’s father and brothers choose for her a suitor while later we see Mark and Elizabeth court before marriage. Later, we also see Aoro and Wandia courting before marriage.

In the novel The River and the Source by Margaret Ogolla, there are various emergent issues. It is a feminist book that puts women on a pedestal and depicts them as important members of the society. The book has a range of themes: Change, loss and suffering, family relations, love and friendship, religion, education, the place of women, tradition and conflict.

The author also focuses on the values of hard work, determination and resilience. This article will focus on change and the place of women, which is the umbrella under which all the other themes fit.

Religion has undergone changes in the novel. The worship of the African god Were, the god of the eye of the rising sun, is replaced by the worship of the Christian God. The people in the traditional setting revere and worship Were. They also believe in ancestral spirits and that the spirits have influence on the living.

The people seek Were’s advise during calamities, they pour libations and give sacrifices. Akoko’s grandmother, Nyar-alego, for example, invokes Were when Akoko developed a bout of colic and screaming that went on all night.

She invokes the spirits of the departed, and when Akelo’s spirit is invoked, the child stops crying. The child acquires a third name in memory of poor childless Akelo, who did not want to be forgotten.

The people believed that Were is bountiful, a protector and the giver of life. He is also the one who creates children in a woman’s womb and in his time, as evident in Akoko’s rhetoric when she is accused of witchcraft and standing in the way of his husband and other women.

Nyabera is the pioneer in the conversion to Christianity. When she loses all her children, she turns to Christianity, which she finds consoling. She is awed by a god who would deign to be a man and who chose to be born of a woman. This god came to dwell among human beings. To her Were was benevolent but this god was loving.

When Nyabera goes for Akoko and the children, they all become absorbed in the life at the mission. Awiti becomes a sacristan, assisting the nuns, and Owuor an altar boy. Owuor later becomes a priest and then ascends to a Bishop. Awiti passes Christianity on to her children. Tony joins the priesthood, influenced by uncle Peter, while Vera becomes a non-marrying member of the Opus Dei.

MARRIAGE

Marriage in the novel is another aspect that has undergone changes. In the traditional set up, marriages were arranged by parents. A spy was sent to find out the antecedents and character of a suitable bride, whether she is a thief or witch, whether she is lazy and shiftless, and whether there is consanguinity between the two families. The girl was not consulted.

This later changes as the women choose their marriage partners and court before marriage. Akoko’s father and brothers choose for her a suitor while later we see Mark and Elizabeth court before marriage. Later, we also see Aoro and Wandia courting before marriage.

Brideprice as an important part of marriage also undergoes change. Girls were seen as a source of wealth and Akoko’s bride price is set at 30 head of cattle.

During Awiti’s betrothal, Akoko and Nyabera only ask for a token bride price, a bull, two cows and six goats, with which to furnish the requirements of chik.

In the traditional set up, marriage was polygamous. This is seen in Nyar-Alego, chief Odero Gogni’s mother, who had taken her sister Akelo as a co-wife. Otieno has four wives. Owuor Kembo is under pressure to marry another wife since a monogamous man is an unknown animal. Later, mark Sigu and Aoro adopt monogamy while Owuor, Tony and Vera choose to be celibate and dedicate their lives to serving God.

Traditionally this community practised wife inheritance, tero, where a close male relative was to inherit the deceased person’s wife. Owuor’s mother is inherited by a cousin after the death of Owang Sino. Nyabera is married to Ogoma Kwach, her husband’s second cousin. In spite of this custom of tero, Akoko does not become inherited when her husband dies.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership in the novel has undergone transformation. Initially, the society was arranged into chiefdoms. The chiefdom was inherited from father to the eldest son. At Yimbo, Chief Odero Gogni inherited the stool from his father, chief Adinda Gogni. In Sakwa, Owuor Kembo becomes chief when his father dies. When Obura dies, Owang’ Sino is the next in line to take over the chiefdom. When Owang’ Sino dies, his son, the toddler Owuor Sino, is next in line to be chief but, being a toddler, Otieno becomes a custodian of the stool.

The chiefdoms are done away with the coming of the white man. The new government consists of a D.O., D.C. and askaris. The country is colonised and the people fight for independence. When the country gains independence, all is well for a while until the people feel oppressed with one party system and fight against it, giving way to a multi-party system.

EDUCATION

Education also undergoes changes in the novel. In the traditional set up, learning was informal through story telling. Akoko narrates the history of Ramogi to the twins, Opiyo and Odongo, during the epic journey to Kisuma. Nyabera also narrates stories derived from the Bible to the children on the way to the mission.

At the mission, the children are enrolled in the catechism and reading classes. Later, Owuor joins the seminary and Awiti is enrolled in a primary school. After primary school, Awiti is invited to a teacher training college, after which she becomes a teacher.

Mark and Elizabeth enrol all their children in formal education, and the children achieve various fetes. Vera becomes an engineer, Becky an air hostess, Tony a priest, Odongo a farm manager, just to mention a few. The next generation of children are also formally educated. This is seen in Becky’s children and Wandia and Aoro’s children.

THE PLACE OF WOMEN

The place of women is an emergent issue in the novel. The traditional preference for a boy is seen at Akoko’s birth, where her father says another rock for my sling, meaning another son. The chief had already covered  himself with considerable glory, having sired seven sons, but still prefers another boy.

Owuor Kembo’s father fumes with silent fury because he only had two sons to 22 daughters. The society believes a girl, being a wanderer, will settle anywhere and marry anywhere, thus preferring a boy who is seen as a means of family continuity.

This society, being patriarchal, does not give a chance to women to voice their opinions. To them, the purpose of female existence was marriage and child bearing, and, by the same token, bring wealth to her family with the bride price.

The spy sent to check Akoko says she is an apt pupil who will not bring shame and pain to the husband by improper conduct. When Akoko gives birth at a slow rate, Owuor Kembo is under pressure to marry another woman. To this community, a woman’s role begins and ends with child birth. When Owuor Kembo dies, Otieno grabs Akoko’s wealth, taking advantage of the fact that she is a widow and without a son.

When Awiti enrolled in the primary school, in a class of 34 there are only two girls. Education is deemed superfluous for girls, the other girl drops out of school to be married, leaving Awiti alone in a class of 11.

When Awiti joins college, there are six girls to 28 boys. Awiti becomes an object of derision since the villagers could not understand that a girl could be so intelligent and wondered who could marry her.

Later, with the advent of Christianity and formal education, still discrimination against women persists. Mark is derided by friends for helping his wife with house chores. He does things for her that would never have crossed the mind of a full blooded African man with a low opinion of women bred into him. At medical school, when Wandia defeats Aoro, he admits it is the first time he had been beaten by a girl and credits her with toughness a masculine trait.

To sum up, the themes above capture the message in the novel. Learners are inspired through challenges different characters go through.

The next article will cover themes from The Caucasian Circle. Keep reading the column for more insight.

 

The writer is a teacher at Alliance Girls High School. [email protected]

 

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Marriage takes centre stage

By Edwin Oteya

The River and the Source has comprehensively tackled the theme of marriage, showing how it was, the transformations it has undergone, challenges and how they are resolved.

When Akoko is married to Owuor Kembo, there is a full picture of a traditional-customary marriage. A jawang’yo is sent to investigate if she was marriageable. Dowry is paid and Akoko is taken to Sakwa to start life as a wife.

This marriage, and others, are not beds of roses. Despite being well treated by the husband, the mother-in-law, Nyar Asembo, begins to raise issues as Akoko was not giving birth fast enough.  When Nyar Asembo claims that Akoko had bewitched Owuor not to marry another wife, she goes back to her parents in Yimbo.

Change in marriage creeps in slowly as we see no spy involved in Nyabera’s marriage. Okumu Angolo is chosen because of proximity: he would not take Nyabera far. This marriage, too, is not smooth as she loses all her children, save for Awiti. Her husband, too, dies of meningitis. She is later inherited by a second cousin of Okumu, named Ogoma Kwach. This marriage does not last long.

These two marriages represent the customary intra-tribal marriages of the gone days.

Mark Sigu and Awiti’s marriage differs; it is a blend of the old and new. Mark approaches Awiti directly, no spy is involved. They court through letter writing. Together with his uncle and brother, they go to negotiate for Awiti’s hand in marriage. Despite Nyabera’s reaction to Awiti’s not knowing Mark’s roots, Akoko calls her kinsmen and a negotiation is done. She however shocks many when she does not ask for dowry. This marriage is sealed by a church wedding.

Further variations in marriage are seen when there is Becky and John’s inter racial marriage that is viewed suspiciously.