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Dikeledi Character

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991 views2 pages

Dikeledi Character

Uploaded by

informaluse47
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Not So Random Ramblings

Consider

Consider Dikeledi as a tragic figure in the short story The Collector of Treasures.

How does Dikeledi feel no regret about killing her husband in The Collector of Treasures ?

In the short story The Collector of Treasures , Dikeledi, from a young age, lived a harsh and difficult
life. Her name “Dikeledi” itself means tears. Orphaned in her childhood, she was raised by her uncle, a
selfish man who treated her like a servant and refused to educate her after six years. He was the one who
asked Dikeledi to marry his friend, Garesego, after the latter proposed the union to her uncle. Dikeledi
accepted this offer so that she could “get out of my uncle’s yard” and Garesego “was the only man
who proposed for me”. The marriage quickly turned into an unhappy one. Garesego was abusive and
had a string of affairs. Eventually, he left Dikeledi and their three young sons to their own resources.
Dikeledi worked hard to raise her three sons and used her skills of sewing, thatch making, knitting, etc to
earn money and resources to sustain herself and her children.

A positive change arrived in her life with the arrival of her new neighbours, the Theobolos. Paul
Theobolo was offered the principalship of a primary school in Dikeledi’s village and as a result, he, his
wife, Kenalepe, and their children moved to a plot next to her yard. Kenalepe and Dikeledi established
“one of those deep, affectionate, sharing-everything kind of friendships that only women know how
to have”. Dikeledi made dresses and clothes for Kenalepe and her daughters and as she wouldn’t accept
any money for her services, For Dikeldi, her friendship with the Theobolos was a precious gift, “like a
nugget of gold”.

This steady rhythm of Dikeledi’s life was not to last. Soon her eldest son appeared in and passed the
primary school leaving examinations, scoring a ‘Grade A’. She wished for the continuation of her son’s
education by getting him enrolled in a secondary school. But her small savings did not permit it. She
decided to approach Garesego and remind him of his fatherly duty towards his son. But Garesego refused
to help out and accused Dikeledi of having an affair with Paul Theobolo. Garesego decided to “establish
his own claim” to Dikeledi and sent her a message that implied “he was coming home for sex”.

When Garesego arrived, Dikeledi made all arrangements. Later that night, “Garesego lay sprawled
across the bed in such a manner that indicated he only thought of himself and did not intend
sharing the bed with anyone else. Satiated with food and drink, he had fallen into a deep, heavy
sleep the moment his head touched the pillow”. Dikeledi saw him and “with the precision and skill of
her hardworking hands, she grasped hold of his genitals and cut them off with one stroke”.

The fact that Dikeledi’s struggles are not isolated and resonate with multiple women, such as her fellow
inmates, highlight how these abusive and oppressive marriages with a severely uneven balance of power
thanks to deep levels of entrenched patriarchy are a systematic issue.

Faced with systematic issues so deeply ingrained into the fabric of the society and a legal apparatus that is
at worst collaborative and at best apathetic to these systems, Dikeledi continues to maintain a positive
outlook on life, cherishing the friendships she makes and the communities she finds, “she had always
found gold amidst the ash, deep loves that had joined her heart to the hearts of others. … She was
the collector of such treasures.”

The End

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