Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"
    A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"
    A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"
    Ebook31 pages1 hour

    A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"

    By Gale and Cengage

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateJul 6, 2016
    ISBN9781535827362
    A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"

    Read more from Gale

    Related to A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"

    Related ebooks

    Teaching Methods & Materials For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Feminism for the Ages: How My Great Grandmother Became a Character in My Novel

      Sep 3, 2021

      Estimated reading time: 11 minutes — In 1892, when my great-grandmother Mary Davies was 20 years old, she took a trip from Topeka, Kansas, to Pontardulais, the village in Wales where her immigrant father had grown up. In 1976, when I was 21, I trave

      7 min read

    • Article

      She Lit Up The Room

      Sep 3, 2021

      JUST a few weeks ago her older brother and his wife fell ill with Covid-19. Babita Deokaran didn’t think twice when she invited them to isolate at the home she shared with her teenage daughter. There was nobody else to care for Sunil and his wife, Ba

      4 min read

    • Article

      Kodo’s Calling

      Aug 4, 2022

      Kodo’s Calling
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Sex Worker Next Door

      Jun 25, 2019

      A writer learns of her grandmother's secret past, inspiring a novel's worth of research about the working women of contemporary China. The post The Sex Worker Next Door appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Wilson Leads the Feminist Press

      Oct 11, 2017

      In July writer, activist, and media commentator Jamia Wilson was named the new executive director and publisher of the Feminist Press (FP), a forty-seven-year-old nonprofit known for highlighting feminist perspectives and prose. Located at the City U

      2 min read

    • Article

      Hilton ALS

      Jun 15, 2018

      Hilton ALS
      29 min read

    • Article

      Balancing Act: In 'Mrs. Everything,' Jennifer Weiner Explores Her Mom's Sexuality, Evolving Gender Roles And Donald Trump's America. Is It A Beach Read? Maybe!

      Jun 17, 2019

      Jennifer Weiner, New York Times bestselling author of 16 juicy, layered, courageous books, always knew she wanted to write a novel that followed her characters from birth to death. She knew she wanted that book to be loosely based on her own life and

      4 min read

    • Article

      Influential Indigenous

      Apr 18, 2023

      Influential Indigenous
      6 min read

    • Article

      Queer in Afghanistan

      Feb 25, 2022

      Queer in Afghanistan
      3 min read

    • Article

      Charlayne Hunter-Gault: ‘I Want To Tell The Truth About Our People’

      Oct 7, 2022

      In January 1961, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the first Black students to attend the University of Georgia. After graduation, Ms. Hunter-Gault pursued a career in journalism writing for, among others, The New Yorker and The New York Ti

      4 min read

    • Article

      Wilson Leads the Feminist Press

      Oct 11, 2017

      In July writer, activist, and media commentator Jamia Wilson was named the new executive director and publisher of the Feminist Press (FP), a forty-seven-year-old nonprofit known for highlighting feminist perspectives and prose. Located at the City U

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jianan Qian

      Dec 4, 2021

      Representation in today’s media is questionable in many ways. But Othello does provide us with a rule of thumb: we have to speak of others as they are. The post A Year in Reading: Jianan Qian appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Between The lines

      Mar 4, 2022

      Between The lines
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Truth

      Sep 16, 2019

      The Truth
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life" - Gale

      1

      Life

      Bessie Head

      1977

      Introduction

      During her career, Bessie Head produced a body of work that focused on essential African concerns, such as village and tribal life, the effects of colonization, mythology and witchcraft, and the oral storytelling tradition. Her stories also delve into more universal issues, particularly the intermingling of traditional and contemporary culture and the roles of women. In Life (1977), Head examines the story of a young woman who has spent most of her life in Johannesburg, South Africa, but is forced to return to her native village in Botswana in the 1960s. Two very different worlds come in conflict when Life enters the village.

      Life flouts convention when she becomes the village’s first prostitute, but more than that she asserts a woman’s right to be responsible for her own finances and own decisions. Despite her background, she marries the conservative, traditional Lesego. Both Life and Lesego believe that she can become a woman, but when Life cannot give up her independence, Lesego kills her. The story explores how and why women seek to emancipate themselves, as well as the roles that both men and women play in keeping women at a subservient level. At its most fundamental level, perhaps, the story questions what it means to be a modern

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1