I Hate You Because???????????????

What does it take to hate someone or something? Is prejudice the backbone of hate? These are questions that can only be answered by you as an individual. Prejudice is all around us. It starts in school when only certain kids are picked to play games, and it continues through life when someone is not chosen for a job because of a certain attribute. No matter what race, color, gender, or religion you are, without a doubt you have encountered prejudice.

A very interesting book by Bessie Head titled Maru, is centered around prejudice. Bessie herself lived in a world of prejudice. She lived in South Africa during the time of the partied. The prejudice she had to deal with mainly revolved around the color of her skin. She was eventually pushed into exile and lived the remainder of her life in Botswana. With so much prejudice surrounding Bessie it is no wonder that her writing has to do with the problems that arise from prejudice, and the positive and negative outcomes.

The main character in the book Maru (Margaret Cademore) is a Masarwa. The Masarwa people are not seen as humans and receive the harshest form of prejudice. They are hated in every way. But Mary is a proud Masarwa, she does not hide what she is and in most respects is far more educated and sophisticated than most of the people showing prejudice to her. There is something about Mary that makes people like her despite her background. Moleka, a man that could be considered royalty in the village is in love with Mary, and is sets out to change the prejudices that surround the Masarwas. But he and the townspeople disagree about how prejudices should be handled. The townspeople say “prejudice is like the skin of a snake. It has to be removed bit by bit” (p.48). Moleka on the other hand believes that this prejudice should be resolved quickly. “Moleka, who heard that the principal and the high ups were planning trouble for the new mistress, could not make allowance for the slow removal of prejudice. He removed it all in one day” (p.48). This was how Moleka felt. I don’t know if he truly believed he could remove the prejudice in one day, but he wanted to start changing opinions and beliefs about the Masawra people.

Moleka takes steps to change the prejudices that follow the Masawra people. He gives Mary a bed when she arrives to the village, but when Maru (royalty and a sort of leader) finds out about this he demands that Moleka have the bed returned. “Moleka said: ‘come in,’ but his face was like stone and he did not look up. There was nothing to uphold her. Should she even try to claim that she was human? ‘The request for the return of the bed is so sudden,’ she said nervously. ‘Could I keep it for a day or two until I buy one from the shop?’ how her whole future depended on his reply, yet his face remained stone. ‘It is I who wanted the bed returned today,’ a voice said” (p.58). Moleka wanted to end this prejudice in one day, but it could not happen. Prejudice is a strong emotion and can’t be turned on and off like a light switch. Not only do you have to change the mind of the person that is committing the prejudice, but you have to also change the mind of everyone around that person. Moleka bounces back and forth between wanting to end the prejudices that surround the Masawra and being forced to return to his old ways. I think the townspeople are right; it is a slow process to end prejudice and can not be done all at once. I think Bessie was trying to show how hard it was to change people opinions and beliefs. Also that people need to make their own decisions and not follow the crowd.

I myself have been the victim of prejudice. I was in the Navy and before we would pull into Singapore there would be hundreds of protesters wanting not only our nuclear powered ship out of their port, but “Americans” as well. This type of prejudice did not speak for the whole city, only a few certain groups that disliked us for what we stood for. As we got off the ship and went into town we were greeted with open arms (because we had money to spend). As I said before anyone can be a victim of prejudice. I am a white male, which many think have never felt prejudice but my story shows that even I can be hated just because.