Original Research

Dikeledi’s revenge: A reading of Bessie Head’s ‘The collector of treasures’

M. Crous
Literator | Vol 17, No 1 | a588 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/lit.v17i1.588 | © 1996 M. Crous | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 30 April 1996 | Published: 30 April 1996

About the author(s)

M. Crous, Department of Germanic & Romance Languages, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

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Abstract

This essay focuses on the title story of Bessie Head's collection The collector of treasures and pays particular attention to the role of the phallus in the text. The female protagonist's cutting off of her husband's genitals is seen as a de(con)struction of phallocratic society. The subsequent incarceration of Dikeledi is an attempt by patriarchy to reaffirm its control over her.

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