From a biographical perspective, it can be said that the religious aspects of the places where Bessie lived influenced what she shows in the story. According to Craig Mackenzie of the Sunday Times in the article A woman of extremes, "Bessie grew up foster care until the age of 13, at which point the walfare authorities placed her ain an Anglican mission orphanage in Durban" (www.suntimes.co.za, par. 7). She was born in South Africa, but when her marriage fell apart, she accepted a teaching job in Botswana (www.suntimes.co.za, par. 15). These facts of Bessie's life are related in "Looking for a Rain God", as the religious practices and events in the story reflect those of South Africa and Botswana. In a historic perspective it can be seen that in Botswana, according to lonelyplanet.com, the "early tribal religions were primarly cults in which ancestors directed family matters from their underworld domain. Religious rites included male and female initiation ceremonies and rain-making rituals." (par. 1) Here it can be seen that in Botswana there were rain-making ceremonies, and Bessie used this fact of Botswana religious background, because what caused the sacrifices of the girls was a rain-making ritual. From the other hand in South Africa, and according to South Africa: A Country Study, the earliest southern religions included the Kfoisan religious group (countrystudies.us, par. 5). "Many Khoisan peoples believe in a supreme being who presides over daily and controls elements of the environment. In some Khoisan belief systems, this god is worshiped through rituals or small sacrifices." (countrystudies.us, par. 5). Like in the story, the people from South Africa (Khoisan) practiced rituals and sacrifices too, here it can be senn how South African religions influenced the story. Also, it can be said that the South African people resorted to extreme religious practices in moments of need and desperation, an example is that in 1850, the Xhosa (a religious group) were enraged by the British presence. A leading Xhosa healer and diviner Mlangeni, organized an army to confront the British and promised supernatural assistance in this effort, as long as the Xhosa people sacrificed all of their yellow and dun-colored cattle to counteract the evil spell that had engulfed them." (countrystudies.us, par. 22). Like in the story, here the Xhosa resorted to sacrifices as a religious solution to their problem.
The religious of Botswana and South Africa are not the only element consider in context that is present in the story that resemble the actions of the characters in desperate moments, yet and according to Dan Rebossin of the University of Florida, "Head's work is filled with references to the Bible" (www.uflib.ufl.edu, par. 4) There are elements that Bessie uses from the Bible in "Looking for a Rain God". For example, when God liberated the Israelites from Egypt and when they were in the dessert they had desperate moments and resorted to false faiths to try to seek their will. Examples of this are the following lines from the Bible, "And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Where is thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our cattle with thirst?" (EXO 17:3). Like in the story, the Israelites did not have water and were passing through stressful moments. The Israelites resorted to a false faith as it says in the Bible, "And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you" (DEU 9:16). The Israelites resorted to a "molten calf"; they made a false God in the image of a calf, which is the young of the domestic cow. These references reflect what is showed in "Looking for a Rain God", people resort to extreme religious practices to solve their problems; it is like a psychological solution.
Psychological Criticism |
