Critical Analysis of Bessie Head's "the Collector of Treasures"

Critical Analysis of Bessie Head's "The Collector of Treasures"

The Collector of Treasures is a short story about a woman who goes to jail for life for manslaughter. The main character Dikeledi Mokopi says she used a knife to cut off all his 'special parts' while he was a sleep. The other women in jail are all charged with the crime of killing their husbands like Dikeledi. In this story Bessie Head explores the position of women in a society that, she feels, has never valued women. Dikeledi's story is introduced by the generalization that there are two types of men. She has encountered both. The first type exploits women sexually and refuses to assume responsibility for any children they might produce. Dikeledi's Garesego is of that kind. After Garesego gets Dikeledi pregnant three times, he abandons her and their three sons, whom are four, three, and one. He left her for his latest string of sexual conquests. However, Dikeledi was fortunate enough to meet the second type of man, Paul Thebolo, the husband of her neighbor and friend, Kenalepe. He is described as "another kind of man with the society with the power to create himself anew. He turned all his resources, both emotional and material, towards his family life and he went on and on with his own quiet rhythm, like a river. He was a poem of tenderness."

Eight years after Dikeledi husband has left he comes back into her life. Dikeledi is forced to appeal to him for help in paying for their son's education. Garesego refuses, telling his wife to seek support from Paul, saying "Everyone knows he's keeping two homes and that you are his spare." Garesego also confronts Paul on the street, accusing him of having sexual relations with Dikeledi, whom he supplies with food, saying to Paul, "Men only do that for women they fuck!" Paul replies, "You defile life, Garesego Mokopi," for, as Dikeledi noted earlier that Garesego "thinks every man is like himself." To assert his "rights," Garesego moves into Dikeledi's home after refusing to pay for his son's education, and she puts to use the knife she has been sharpening for his return. After Dikeledi has killed Garesego she passes her children on to Paul's care, and for him to become their "real" father. The killing of Dikeledi's husband has placed in a select