CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

1. Who is the protagonist of the short story “The Collector of Treasures”? Where
she is being taken?

South Africa might be a vibrant multiracial democratic republic today, but black and
white polarization, apartheid characterized its politics as well as narrative once. Bessie Head
in her writings consciously resists the homogenizing and marginalizing rhetoric of the period
and through an alternative narrative accommodated her dissident identity as an anti-apartheid
writer and activist – not male, not black and not white.
In “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) Head focused on the tragic human experience
of oppression, and exploitation of rural woman in particular. The short is set in post-colonial
Botswana and deals with the life of Dikeledi Mokopi, the protagonist and her estranged
husband Garesego Mokopi.
The story begins with a monotonous droning sound of the police truck that is travelling
all day long from far away village – Puleng to the long-term central state prison in the south
with convict Dikeledi Mokopi who has been sentenced for “life”, in the charge of “man-
slaughter” for killing her own husband Garesego Mokopi in an attempt to put an end to his evil
promiscuity and safeguard her family honour.

2. Why Dikeledi is convicted?

Where black and white polarization destroyed the vibrant multiracial South Africa,
Bessie Head consciously resisted marginalization with her anti-apartheid activities. Her “The
Collector of Treasures” (1977) is a vivid document of a powerful woman who could fight
against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and dignity.
The story began with a grim monotonous droning of the police track travelling from far
Puleng village to the long-term central state prison in the south. And there inside the track the
lonely prisoner was Dikeledi Mokopi, the collector of treasures, who has been sentenced for
“life”, in the charge of “man-slaughter.” She has killed her own husband Garesego Mokopi in
an attempt to put an end to his evil promiscuity and safeguard her family honour.
Dikeledi is not unhappy or have no remorse for the crime. She has “cut off all his special
parts with a knife” as Garesego lay sprawled across the bed naked.

3. What was the breakfast like? OR Describe the first day of Dikeledi’s prison life.

“The Collector of Treasures” (1977) by Bessie Head is a vivid document of a powerful

woman who could fight against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and
dignity.
At the very beginning of the story, we see Dikeledi Mokopi, is imprisoned for killing
her own husband Garesego Mokopi. Her first day in the prison is described in details by Bessie
Head.
She wrote that as the breakfast gong is sounded at 6 am in the morning, the prison
inmates stirred themselves for their daily routine; shook out their blankets and roll them up into
neat bundles; and then goes to the small concrete courtyard for their morning toilet. With loud
clatter of pails and plates, two male prisoners came breakfast – a plate of porridge and a mug
of black tea, which Dikeledi and her inmates settled on the concrete floor to eat. Since the tea
has no sugar in it, they scooped the sugar off the porridge and put it into the tea.
Later they washed their cups and plates in the washroom and then as the wardress
produced some pails and a broom, they flushed their sleeping quarters with water as per prison
routine. Later as the director of the prison pay his visit for the inspection, they stood up straight,
hands at their sides to avoid curses.

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CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

4. Why her name is Dikeledi Mokopi?

“The Collector of Treasures” (1977) by Bessie Head is a vivid document of a powerful

woman who could fight against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and
dignity. But here Head portrayed her protagonist Dekeledi, the meaning of her name is “tears”.
The story begins with a grim monotonous droning of the police track, the imprisonment
of Dikeledi Mokopi, who has been sentenced for life for killing her own husband Garesego
Mokopi. At prison, her inmate Kebonye asked why her name is so tragic? To which Dikeledi
answered that her father passed away at the time of her birth and so she is named after her
mother's tears. She is named Dikeledi meaning “tears”. To add more significance to her name,
her mother passed away too when she was only six years old. And more, she was brought up
by her hard and selfish uncle as slave.
However, Bessie Head portrayed her in paradox. Dikeledi in true sense is a “beautiful
mind”. And whether in prison or at home alone with her children, she is the collector of
treasurers in true sense.

5. What is the story of Kebonye?

“The Collector of Treasures” (1977) by Bessie Head is a vivid document of a powerful

woman who could fight against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and
dignity. Apart from portraying Dikeledi, who is the collector of treasures in the story by virtue
of her skill, good nature and love, Bessie Head also portrayed the other most strong character
of the story – Kebonye, who too have killed her husband for ill-treating her at home and for
being an unethical teacher – impregnating several of his school students in spite being warned.
Kebonye disgusted that men do not think that women does need “tenderness and care.”
She is been ill treated at her home. Instead of showing love during their intimate moments, her
husband used to kick her between the legs. She has aborted a child due to such inhuman
treatment. He never cared for her even if she felt ill, she even proposed him to marry another
woman if he thinks that she could never satisfy him. But being an education officer, while each
year he used to suspend about 17 male teachers for making schoolgirls pregnant, he himself
used to impregnate his schoolgirls too. Once the parents of a girl reported the matter to her,
unable to tolerate any more, she eventually killed her husband by cutting off his “special parts”
(genital) with a razor.
Kebonye’s story is one common story of almost all South African women. Domestic
violence, physical torture and sadism is shown with great care here. What is most surprising is
such evil is prevalent among educated male teachers in particular. But one thing that is
satisfying here is that woman like Dikeledi, Kebonye could fight back as a true feminist and
stand against such antagonistic patriarchal supremacy.

6. What skills Dikeledi has shown in the prison?

Where black and white polarization destroyed the vibrant multiracial South Africa,
Bessie Head consciously resisted marginalization with her anti-apartheid activities. Her “The
Collector of Treasures” (1977) is a vivid document of a powerful woman who could fight
against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and dignity.
The story began with a grim reality of imprisonment of Dikeledi Mokopi, the collector
of treasures, who has been sentenced for “life”, in the charge of “man-slaughter.” She has killed
her own husband Garesego Mokopi in an attempt to put an end to his evil promiscuity and
safeguard her family honour.
Since the prison was a rehabilitation center where the prisoner produces goods which
were sold in the prison store; the female prison inmates produce garments, while the men did
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CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

carpentry, shoe-making, brick-making and vegetable production. Dikeledi could knit, sew, and
weave baskets.
As all the women were busy knitting woolen garments; most of them looked at Dikeledi
with interest as she took a ball of wool and a pair of knitting needle and rapidly cast on stitches.
Her soft, caressing, almost boneless hands completed the front part of a jersey with beautiful
design by mid-morning, and every inmate stopped to admire the pattern she had invented in
our own head.

7. What treasure Dikeledi collected on the first day of her prison life?

Where black and white polarization destroyed the vibrant multiracial South Africa,
Bessie Head consciously resisted marginalization with her anti-apartheid activities. Her “The
Collector of Treasures” (1977) is a vivid document of a powerful woman who could fight
against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and dignity.
The story began with a grim reality of imprisonment of Dikeledi Mokopi, the collector
of treasures, who has been sentenced for “life”, in the charge of “man-slaughter” for killing her
husband Garesego Mokopi. But on the first day of her imprisonment, she because of her skills,
knitted a jersey with beautiful design by mid-morning. Her inmates stood by her admiring the
pattern of her design in wander.
Kebonye remarked her to be a “gifted person,” while she with all confidence revealed
that she is the “woman whose thatch does not leak.” And she was always “busy and employed”
because it was with these hands, she “fed” and “reared” her children. Her husband left her after
four years of marriage, but she managed well enough to feed those mounts.
It is a “terrible world,” and only “misery” is here. Dikeledi thus began her third phase
of her that has been “ashen in its loneliness and unhappiness.” Yet, she had always found gold
amidst the ash, deep love joined her heart to the hearts of others. Being far away from home
and freedom, she still could smile as she could collect love and admiration from all inmates as
treasures.

8. How many kinds of men are there in the society?

Where black and white polarization destroyed the vibrant multiracial South Africa,
Bessie Head consciously resisted marginalization with her anti-apartheid activities. Her “The
Collector of Treasures” (1977) is not only a vivid document of a powerful woman who could
fight against oppression and exploitation of rural woman with courage and dignity, but also a
critical analysis of male nature, characteristics and their attitudes during post-colonial Africa.
Bessie Head begins her second part of the story, with the claim that “there were really
only two kinds of men in the society.” One like Dikeledi’s husband Garesego Mokopi, that
create “misery and chaos” and may be broadly “damned as evil,” while the other would be like
Paul Thebolo, husband of Kenalepe, a man who has the “power to create himself anew.”
Bessie Head used certain unusual metaphor to describe those evil men like Garesego
Mokopi. She has equated him to “village dogs chasing a bitch on heat.” Head remarked that
these kind of man “lived near the animal level and behave just the same.” And like dogs and
bulls and donkeys, he also accepts no responsibility for the young he procreated, rather make
females to abort. Whereas, man like Paul Thebolo turn all his resources, both emotional and
material, towards his family life and goes on and on with his own quite rhythm like a river. He
is a “poem of tenderness.”

9. What are the three time-spans Bessie Head has described in the story?

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CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

Where black and white polarization destroyed the vibrant multiracial South Africa,
Bessie Head consciously resisted marginalization with her anti-apartheid activities. Her “The
Collector of Treasures” (1977) is a postcolonial document where history is been revisited often
into pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial fragments.
In section two of the story, Bessie Head remarked that an African can be analyzed over
“three times-spans.” In the old days of pre-colonial period, man lived by the “traditions and
taboos outlined for all the people by the forefathers of the tribe.” He had “little individual
freedom” to access whether these traditions were compassionate or not. He had to comply and
obey the rules without much thought.
However, Bessie Head criticized that though such laws appear on the whole to have
been “vast, external disciplines for the good of the society as a whole”, but little attention was
given to the “individual preferences and needs.” It relegated to men a “superior position in the
tribe, while women were regarded, in a congenital sense, as being an inferior form of human
life.” To this day women still “suffered from all the calamities that befall an inferior form of
human life.”
The colonial era and the period of migratory mining labor to South Africa was
a farther affliction visited on this man. It broke the hold of the ancestors. It broke the old,
traditional form of family life and for long periods a man was separated from his family while
he worked for a pittance in another land in order to raise the money to pay his British
colonial poll-tax. To Head, British colonialism scarcely enriched his life. He didn't become the
boy of the white man and the machine tools of the South African mines.
South African independence seemed merely one more affliction to this man's life.
Independence suddenly and dramatically changed the pattern of colonial subservience, more
jobs became available under the new government's localization program; salaries skyrocketed;
and men could have “family life of a new order, above the childlike discipline of custom, the
degradation of colonialism.” Head observed that men and women, in order to survive, had to
turn inwards to their own resources. It was the man who arrived at this turning point, a “broken
wreck with no inner resources at all,” as though he was “hideous to himself and in an effort to
flee his own inner emptiness, he spun away from himself in a dizzy kind of death dance of wild
destruction and dissipation.”
Thus, Bessie Head as a postcolonial writer not only wrote back of the pre-colonial,
colonial and post-colonial history, she is critical of the ages too. She criticized apartheid,
exploitation of resources, colonial rule and male idiosyncrasies and weaknesses.

10. What kind of friendship developed between Dikeledi and Kenalepe?

Where black and white polarization destroyed the vibrant multiracial South Africa,
Bessie Head consciously resisted marginalization with her anti-apartheid activities. Her “The
Collector of Treasures” (1977) is a vivid document of a powerful women, their skills,
friendship and struggle against the oppression and exploitation inflicted by male society.
The neighbors are the center of the universe to each other. They help each other at all
times and mutually loan each other’s goods. As Paul Thebolo, the new principal of a primary
school in the village, was allocated an empty field for his new home beside the yard of Dikeledi,
she offered her help to build the house in a week. As the house thatch was complete in two
weeks, Dikeledi moved into one of the most prosperous and happy periods of her life. Her life
took a big, wide upward curve. Her relationship with the Thebolo family was more than the
usual friendly exchange, rather, it was rich and creative, a treasure to collect too.
The two friends Dikeledi and Kenalepe went into deep, affectionate, sharing-everything
kind of friendships that only women know how to have. Dikeledi being left alone by her
husband and relatives, Kenalepe tried her best so that Dikeledi may have “endless”

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CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

employment in the form of making dress, baskets or thatch. Paul assured her basic household
needs – the full bag of corn, sugar, tea, powdered milk and cooking oil.
The two women did everything together – they were forever together at weddings,
funerals, and parties in the village. In their leisure hours they freely discussed all their
intimate affairs with each other, so that each knew thoroughly the details of other’s life. They
were so intimate between them that Kenalepe even offered to “loan” Paul, her own husband,
at least for once, so that she (Dikeledi) might enjoy love and sex in her long lonely life. And
Kenalepe would do it because she has “never had a friend” like her before, whom she could
“trust” so much.
Their friendship attained climax when Kenalepe had a miscarriage and had to be
admitted to hospital and it is Dikeledi who kept her promise and washed and cooked for her
friend. She ran both their homes, fed the children and kept everything in order. As people often
complained about poor hospital diet, Dikeledi would scour the village for eggs and chicken,
cook them and take them to Kenalepe everyday at the lunch-hour.
At the end of the story, Dikeledi happen to kill her own husband Garesego Mokopi not
only to stop his evil promiscuity and his negligence towards his own family and children in
particular; she killed him as she sensed that her husband is going to insult her friendship with
Thebolo family for nothing.
Her friendship with Kenalepe not only brought her prosperity, it helped her collect
certain priceless treasures like love, friendship, sex and of course the social as well as
educational security of her children.

11. What kind of treatment Dikeledi used to get from her relatives?

Bessie Head in her “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) shown a vivid picture of love,
friendship and struggles of women against the oppression and exploitation inflicted by male
society.
More than the neighbours, it is the relatives and family members who are supposed to
be the center of the universe for a woman in particular. But in “The Collector of Treasures,”
we find that while Dikeledi’s neighbour, Thebolo family helped her with all she needs, none
of her own relatives never even call her for the fear that she would become dependent on them
for many things since her husband had left her. Only those people had called her who did
business with her. They wanted her to make dresses for their children or knit jerseys for the
winter time. During off time she would make baskets to sale to support herself and the three
children.
Through Dikeledi, Bessie Head has not only shown the cruelty of the male flock, but at
the same time has shown the treatment of society at large toward women. However, Dikeledi
came out to be a true fighter, a true collector of treasures because of her own skills and beautiful
mind.

12. Why Dikeledi had to marry Garesego Mokopi?

Bessie Head in her “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) not only has shown a vivid
picture of love, friendship and struggles of women against the oppression and exploitation
inflicted by male society, but also of the compulsions and sufferings, a woman has to go
through.
Kenalepe could appropriately define Garesego Mokopi as “butterfly”. Yet, Dikeledi at
her prime consented to marry Garesego as she always wanted to get out of her uncle's yard.
She confessed that she never liked her uncle as he was rich but selfish. And orphan Dikeledi
was simply a “servant” there. It was not a happy life. Her uncle paid for her education for six
years, then refused to pay it any more. But Dikeledi longed for more as education opens up the
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CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

world for one. At that moment, Garesego, a friend of the uncle, proposed her. And she accepted
that proposal as she din not want to hang around her uncle “like a chain” and to get away from
that “terrible man.”
Though Garesego later started running about other women, Dikeledi never chased after
him, she always remained satisfied with her children, who are “blessings” for her.

13. What was Kenalepe’s proposal to Dikeledi?

Bessie Head in her “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) has shown a vivid picture of
love, friendship and trust along with struggles of women against the oppression and
exploitation of patriarchal society.
Though Kenalepe with all her friendship helped Dikeledi to overlook the barrenness of
her own life, yet Dikeledi’s lonely life without a husband and love was a “nagging ache” to
Kenalepe. Thus, she proposed to “loan” her husband Paul to her as a partner and share his love.
Though Dikeledi thinks that being with a sexual partner would only bring “trouble” into
her life that is now mostly in “order” – her eldest son at school and she could manage to pay
the school fees. But to Kenalepe, Dikeledi’s apathy towards love and sexual partner is due to
her vilest experiences in life with Garesego, which, she described most like “cock hopping”;
but Paul always has new “trick” to surprise.
Kenalepe’s proposal to share her own husband is an expression of the trust they both
shared with each other.

14. How Dikeledi kept her promise as Kenalepe had a miscarriage?

Bessie Head in her “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) has shown a vivid picture of
love, friendship and trust along with struggles of women against the oppression and
exploitation of patriarchal society.
Though Kenalepe with all her friendship helped Dikeledi to overlook the barrenness of
her own life, yet Dikeledi’s lonely life without a husband and love was a “nagging ache” to
Kenalepe. She even proposed to “loan” her husband Paul to her as a partner and share his love.
But Dikeledi overwhelmed with emotion, with tears in her eyes said “‘I cannot accept such a
gift from you,’ … ‘But if you are ill, I will wash for you and cook for you.’”
Shortly after this Kenalepe had a miscarriage and had to be admitted to hospital for a
minor operation. Dikeledi, kept her promise; she washed and cooked for her friend. She ran
both their homes, fed the children and kept everything in order. As people often complained
about the poorness of the hospital diet, Dikeledi would scour the village for eggs and chicken,
cook them and took them to Kenalepe every day at the lunch hour.
In turn Kenalepe’s wish too got fulfilled at this time too. One evening Paul Thebolo
offer her the “gift” of sexuality like a “nugget of gold,” which, she took and stored in her heart
like “another treasure.”

15. What was a crisis that Dikeledi had to face after eight years of friendship and
work?

Bessie Head in her “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) has shown a vivid picture of
love, friendship and trust along with struggles of women against the oppression and
exploitation of patriarchal society.
For eight years Dikeledi could forget her loneliness and lovelessness at the kind nursery
of Kenalepe’s friendship. But her crisis began as her eldest son Banabothe passed his primary
school with ‘Grade A’ and Dikeledi needed money for his admission in secondary education.

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CC14::Short Story::The Collector of Treasures by Bessie Head::Short Questions

Every night Dikeledi sewed on buttons and fixed hems while Banabothe prepared for
the exam. She has also opened a savings account at the post office in order to have some
standby money to pay the fees for his secondary education which amounts to be as high as
R85.00. But in spite of all her hoarding of odd cents, towards the end of the year, she was short
on R20.00 to cover the fees. Moreover, there are two other sons who had already started their
primary school too.
So, amidst happiness, crisis started to loom large in her life.

16. How Garesego reacted to Dikeledi’s request for money for his children? OR What
happened to Garesego at the end of the story?

Bessie Head in her “The Collector of Treasures” (1977) has shown a vivid picture of
love, friendship and trust along with struggles of women against the oppression and
exploitation of patriarchal society.
Dikeledi’s eight years of merriment eventually creeped into crisis as her eldest son
Banabothe passed his primary school with ‘Grade A’ and Dikeledi needed money for his
admission in secondary education. Though she has saved money at the post office, yet R20.00
came short towards stipulated R85.00. so, Dikeledi went straight to Garesego Mokopi’s office,
who at present was settled with a married woman who had a “brood of children of her own.”
Garesego met her at the back of his office block. As Dikeledi requested him for R20.00
for their own son, Garesego insulted her saying “why don't you ask Paul Thebolo for the
money? … “everyone knows he’s keeping two homes and that you are his spare.”
As Dikeledi walked away from him and shared her experience with Kenalepe, Paul
went to Garesego, who was at his concubine’s home, and punched him soundly in one grinning
eye and walked away.
Later when the villagers scolded Garesego for not taking care of his own children, and
for leaving his own wife for so long a time, Garesego sent a note to Dikeledi through Banabothe
that he is coming back home again so that they may settle their “differences”.
But by the end of the story, we find that Garesego showed no interest in Banabothe’s
result or admission, rather he thought only of himself and his own comfort. He spent the whole
day trying to break the “mettle” of Paul Thebolo by forcing Paul into any angry abuses. Thus,
as planned earlier, Dikeledi killed him by cutting off his genitals with one stroke.
Dekiledi’s such inhuman act might be termed as a cruel and barbarous act, and a
cowardly one, by attacking her husband while he was asleep, yet, her deed is “a wonderful
demonstration of the darkness, irrationality and turbulence of sex relations and the inadequacy
of the normal victimization rhetoric of feminism”. There is a lack of understanding the
complex, psychological relationships between the sexes, something which the Feminist
movement does not want to admit and that is why Camille Paglia in her book Vamps and
Tramps calls it “a love-hate relationship of ambivalence”.

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