The Hidden Power of The Female Presence

Text and Sign Part Two: Camelia Elias
The hidden power of the female presence

Christopher Humphrey, CPR-nr.: 260582-4245
Text and Sign Part Two: Camelia Elias

Chris Humphrey Page 1 14/11/2008
The majority of women are often portrayed in literature as completely

accepting of their subservient position to men within a patriarchal social
structure, and most feminist theory casts its focus on women who question
this relation of power between the genders and seek to break free from the
social casts that enslave them and establish a new order in which power and
opportunity is shared equally among men and women.
In Bessie Head’s short story Heaven Is Not Closed a new dimension of the
power ratio between sexes is explored on a spiritual level. Is it possible that
this new dimension can showcase a blatant, yet sidelined, essence of female
power? Could this perspective open the doors to a new dimension from which
to study female protagonists from a feminist perspective?
Heaven Is Not Closed is a short story written in the late 1970, by South African
author Bessie Head. The story takes its start on the funeral day of the
protagonist Galethebege, a healthy, dignified woman in her nineties. A third
person narrator recounts the events of the day as well as the story of
Galethebege’s life as told by her brother-in-law Modise. After summoning her
entire family in her final hours she adopts a mysterious prayer-position before
taking her last breath, instead of the customary death position of arms crossed
on the chest. This mystifies the family present, as they expected her to adopt a
more suitable position as she knew her hour had come. Modise tries to explain
the mystery of her final prayer to the grandchildren of the family by telling
them the story of Galethebege’s courtship with her husband Ralokae, who died
five years earlier, and how it could have perhaps played an important role in
leading to her final position of rest. In this process the conventional

relationship of power is obvious in its presence, but reveals a generally
obscured dimension of female power that has been present in literature
throughout the ages.
Feminist literary theory as a critical school was established in the 1960’s but
existed before this in the cultural political context. Rita Felski defines feminism
as “forms and practises of theory that seek, no matter on what grounds and by
what means, to end the subordination of women.”( Felski, 1989:13) In the first
wave of criticism that was present in the Nineteenth Century focus was mainly
on the material conditions of woman in literature and how it compared to
those of men. The second wave of feminism in the late 1960’s shifted the focus
from this material comparison to a sexual comparison in terms of such things
as experience, biology, discourse and social and economic conditions. All
though sexual as well as material power have both gained plenty of attention
no wave of criticism makes any particular notion of a comparison of spiritual
power though, and only feminist theory with a background in Freudian theory
where consciousness and unconsciousness are explored or second wave
feminism focusing on the sexual difference based on experience even come
close.
The female protagonist in our story, Galethebege, is disclosed as a healthy,

proud, dignified, faithful character with almost holy and mystical properties.
She predicts the hour of her death, which is regarded as a holy moment. Those
present are described as “utterly convinced that they had watched a profound
and holy event.” This is contrasted with the initial introduction of her husband
Ralokae as “an unbeliever to the day of his death...”
The chief symbols present in the story are those of tribal tradition and old
custom which Ralokae represents and those of the new and civilised customs
of Western Christianity which Galethebege represents. It is also within these
realms of custom in which the story’s conflict occurs. No distinction is made
between male and female in any physical sense.
Ralokae is presented as a hero to his tradition, and his tribe reacts in

celebration because “Ralokae had honoured the old customs...” . As these old
ways are believed too heathenistic though, Ralokae is presented as being un-
pure. He has also previously been married under traditional law, adding to his
impurity. He is determined to get remarried but no mention is made of his love
for Galethebege. He simply tells her “I am pleased by all your ways.”
Galethebege on the other hand is portrayed as a young woman greatly

dedicated to her faith in the Christian God. This faith in God is her “whole life.”
She represents purity. She is pure in her love as well as we are informed that
when she was courted by Ralokae “It was the first time love had come her
way.”
Galethebege agrees to marry Ralokae, knowing that she would have to give up
her desire to be married in the Christian custom. She is excommunicated from
her church for partaking in the traditional wedding ceremony, thus sacrificing
her “whole life” in order to pursue her love, and life with Ralokae. In doing this
she takes up her traditional subservient role in the patriarchal society in which
she lives. “She would do all that Ralokae commanded as a good wife should.
But her former life was like a drug.”
The only difference brought into play in the story is that of the spiritual
affiliations of Galethebege and Ralokae. They are both “much respected in the
community” and now mention is made of any physical difference or separation
between them. Galethebege’s inherent good nature and spiritual integrity is
what gives her the power to be subservient. When Ralokae passes away she
carries on with her former life and resumes her glorification of God.
She is presented in the final line of the story as using her last breaths to pray
for heaven to be opened to her non-believer husband, thus emphasising her
spiritual strength. She uses her strength and good nature in service of her dead
husband. She is the one with the spiritual power to save his soul, and is thus
represented as the one with the final power, almost a holy deity as such.
This representation of subservience as due to woman’s great strength in spirit

and commitment could lead the way to study women previously regarded as
Chris Humphrey 5 14/11/2008

powerless in their traditional subservient roles in literature as empowered in a
new dimension of spirituality and inherent nature. In this dimension women
are presented as the heroines of litariture, the good natured modest warriors
of dignity that triumph in the end.
Chris Humphrey 14/11/2008

Reference list:
Head, Bessie (1977) “Heaven Is Not Closed”. MacKenzie, Graig, ed. (1999)
Transitions: Half a Cetury of South African Short Stories. Cape Town: Francolin
Publishers, pp52-57.
Felski, Rita (1989) Beyond Feminine Aesthetics. Cambridge USA: Harvard

University Press.
Elias, Camelia. (2008) Course Slides. Lecture 3

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Text and Sign Part Two: Camelia Elias

The hidden power of the female presence

Text and Sign Part Two: Camelia Elias

The majority of women are often portrayed in literature as completely

leading to her final position of rest. In this process the conventional

The female protagonist in our story, Galethebege, is disclosed as a healthy,

Ralokae is presented as a hero to his tradition, and his tribe reacts in

Galethebege on the other hand is portrayed as a young woman greatly

This representation of subservience as due to woman’s great strength in spirit

Chris Humphrey 5 14/11/2008

Chris Humphrey 14/11/2008

Felski, Rita (1989) Beyond Feminine Aesthetics. Cambridge USA: Harvard

Elias, Camelia. (2008) Course Slides. Lecture 3

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