The Heart Of Redness

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Foreign Versus Indigenous People in South Africa

At times, classifying someone or something as foreign is straight forward, but at other times it is more nuanced. The first John Dalton who came with the British invaders in the mid-1800’s was clearly foreign. But now that five generations of Daltons have made their home in Qolorha, the foreignness of the John Dalton of post-apartheid South Africa is less clear-cut. At a party of British emigrants who are planning to leave the country now that the country is run by a “black-dominated government” (140), Dalton challenges their connection to the land: “Whenever there is any problem in this country you threaten to leave. You are only here for what you can get out of this country” (140). In turn, the emigrants call out Dalton’s own sense of belonging: “You are not a native, John. You may think you are, but you are not” (140). To Dalton, the 150 years his family spent in the country grants him the status of belonging: “I am staying here […] I am not joining your chicken run. This is my land. I belong here. It is the land of my forefathers” (139). The issue that Dalton tries to avoid is how it became “his” land, and he does not want to address the measures his forefathers took to secure the land nor whomever they displaced.

Camagu’s “foreignness” is even more nuanced. He is of the amaMpondomise clan and spent most of his formative years in Johannesburg before leaving for the United States. While he has been shaped by his life in exile, he retains enough of his formative education to realize that he is a foreigner in Qolorha-by-Sea. Unlike Dalton, he makes an effort to be collaborative and take the lead from his fellow villagers. While Dalton has a patronizing attitude towards the others, Camagu is open to learning from others and adapting to their ways. Camagu has spent his whole like adapting, whereas Dalton has never had to make adjustments for others.

Qukezwa realizes the danger of what is foreign. Qukezwa is brought before the elders for destroying wattle and lantana trees. When she explains that it is a foreign tree, Bhonco asks her:

‘Are you going to cut down trees just because they are foreign trees? [...] Are you going to go out to the forest of Nogqoloza and destroy all the trees there just because they were imported from the land of the white man in the days of our fathers?’ (216).

Qukezwa explains the difference between the two types of foreign plants:

‘The trees in Nogqoloza don’t harm anybody, as long as they stay there […] They are bluegum trees. The trees that I destroyed are as harmful as the inkberry. They are the lantana and wattle trees. They come from other countries […] from Central America, from Australia […] to suffocate our trees. They are dangerous trees that need to be destroyed’ (216).

It is not necessarily the foreignness of the plants that makes them dangerous, but it’s their effects on the indigenous plants. While Camagu’s foreignness seems to allow for peaceful coexistence, the foreignness of John Dalton and his ancestors does not.

Conservation Versus Development

The village of Qolorha-by-Sea is divided into two camps, those that support the development of the area into a gambling and water-sports tourist destination and those who want to preserve the integrity of Qolorha-by-Sea by conserving the land and honoring Xhosa culture. The breakdown on who supports development and who does not has a lot to do with how each individual views the past.

Bhonco associates the past with pain and misery, and so he is eager to see the landscape change:

‘We want to get rid of this bush which is a sign of our uncivilized state. We want developers to come and build the gambling city that will bring money to this community. That will bring modernity to our lives, and will rid us of our redness’ (92).

Xoliswa Ximiya not only wants to bring modernity to the village, she wants to destroy the fledging tourist trade that revolves around kwaXhosa’s history and the narrative of Nongqawuse:

Xoliswa Ximiya is not happy that her people are made to act like buffoons for these white tourists. She is miffed that the trails glorify primitive practices. Her people are like monkeys in a zoo, observed with amusement by white foreigners with John Dalton’s assistance. But, worst of all, she will never forgive Dalton for taking them to Nongquawuse’s Pool, where they drop coins for good luck. She hates Nongqawuse. The mere mention of her name makes her cringe in embarrassment. That episode of the story of her people is a shame and a disgrace (96).

However, Zim and Qukezwa revere the past, and they model their behavior after the Believers of the Middle Generations. Like the other Believers, Zim and Qukezwa take a stand against the planned development. Qukezwa is particularly aware that the “gambling city” (92) will not benefit the villagers, i.e., themselves. The developers will bring in employees from elsewhere, and very little of the money made will be used to benefit the people of Qolorha-by-Sea. The issue not only causes division between Believers and Unbelievers, but also between husband and wife. Now that NoPetticoat has joined the cooperative, she has changed her feelings regarding development: “To Bhonco this is the ultimate betrayal” (234).

Even for the outsiders, their stance toward development is colored by their attitudes toward the past. Camagu feels robbed of his history because his family’s move from their ancestral land, and then from South Africa altogether. He longs for a past and is anxious to make roots. His respect for Xhosa history and culture, as well as Nongqawuse and the prophesies, leads him to oppose the development of the village. Because of his work in development communication, he also understands that the money made in Qolorha-by-Sea will not stay in the village. Dalton, on the other hand, has a more complicated relationship with history. He wants to exploit the past, but only the past that benefits him. While he has built his own tourist business around the cattle-killing prophesies of the 1850’s he leaves out his own family’s part in bringing death and destruction to kwaXhosa.

Withholding Access as a Means of Attaining Power

Whether or not Mhlakaza and the Prophetess Nongqawuse believe in the prophesies, they are able to sustain their followers’ belief by making themselves crucial to the realization of the prophesies. Nongqawuse tells the chief, “The new people will come only when you have killed all of your cattle […] You cannot talk with them now. Only I can talk with them” (80). Mhlakaza, Nongqawuse, and the other prophetesses serve as intermediaries between the new people and their followers:

The fact that only Nongqawuse, Nombanda, and Mhlakaza could see or speak to the new people enhanced the prestige of the prophets. Many of those who were tempted not to believe were converted by this fact (107).

This also allows Mhlakaza and the prophetesses to instruct their followers with the unquestionable authority of the new people. But when the prophesies repeatedly fail, Mhlakaza finds a way to inoculate himself from blame: “King Sarhili summoned Mhlakaza, who denied he was the source of the prophesies. He put all the blame on Nongqawuse. ‘She is the one who talks with the new people,’ he said. ‘I am merely her mouth’” (131).

Another way that Mhlakaza is able to deflect criticism when the prophesies fail is by continually moving the goal post. When his followers do all that is asked of them and the prophesies fail to materialize, he blames the non-believers. By scapegoating those who do not believe in the prophesies, he turns his followers’ attention away from his own failings, and those of the prophetesses, and on to those who had rejected him. In essence, he causes a civil war fueled by his followers’ disappointment:

[Twin and Qukezwa] were angry. But not with the prophets. The Great Disappointment was the fault of Nxito and his spies, who had insulted the new people. It was the fault of all Unbelievers, who had refused to slaughter their cattle and continues to cultivate their lands (211).