When Rain Clouds Gather

WHEN RAIN CLOUDS GATHER
THEMES
* TRIBALISM
* APARTHEID
* RACISM
* DESCRIMINATION
* PROGRESSION – DEVELOPMENT
* BLACK/BLACK – WHITE/BLACK – MALE/FEMALE
* SOCIAL INJUSTICEWhen rain clouds gather written by Bessie Head is set in Botswana. The protagonist, Makhaya Maseko is escaping from South Africa as he does not want to be part of the apartheid system, he just wantspeace and equality. The aims of the author are to show the horrible living conditions due to the same problem of tribalism as chiefs only thought about themselves and prevented local people todevelop.
We can clearly see how harsh the living conditions were as it is mentioned ‘all those eighty cattle lay scattered about, quite still, quite dead’ this happened because of the dry season, not asingle living thing could be seen as the passed by. When they finally got to the cattle post ‘vultures began swooping down in a straight column on the already decomposing carcasses’ this made it evenclearer as there were only dead bodies and vultures were ready to eat them. These quotes anticipate us about the death of the child.
This was such an important moment because it shows us the lovebetween these two characters, Paulina is hurt as her son has died but Makhaya is there to support her. Also, it shows us how the child lived away from the family and so he had no support from them andas a result, he dies ‘The boy is dead; why do you want to go in?’ After this question, Paulina says it’s a custom; Makhaya answers ‘All these rotten customs are killing us! Can’t you see I’m here tobear all your burdens?’ This phrase demonstrates how Makhaya is determined, decided to change things, he wants to progress, he wanted equality and for these things to be achieved, first of all customshad to be forgotten, he does not care if seeing the dead body is custom because that would hurt even more to Paulina, he tries to protect her.
In conclusion, I can say that this section everything...