Abstract:
This study analysed the politicising and commercialising of death and pain in The Uncertainty of Hope by Valerie Tagwira, We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo and Kwezi-The Remarkable Story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo by Redi Tlhabi, through the lens of the trauma and resilience theories. The study was a desktop qualitative research, and it used content analysis to interpret and analyse the chosen texts. The purpose of the study was to explore and interpret the myriad interrelations that exist between death, pain, politics and commercialisation as presented through the three selected texts.
The study found that death and pain as presented in the selected novels are closely intertwined with politics and commercialisation. The politicisation of death and pain in the three selected texts is portrayed through character deaths and pain amidst the political and economic turmoil in the three selected texts. Death and pain are subsumed in the larger political and economic environments and they are also commercialised through the female body in particular. The three texts outline that death and pain are transformed to satisfy political and monetary needs. Whereas people’s emotions and feelings are not considered and death is used as a form of generating income for businesses, the focus is rather on politics and death. The texts reflect the death of loved ones and the pain that they endure because of the political decisions by those in power. In addition, the texts depict the manipulation and ‘overuse’ of power for political reasons viewed through the empowered against the marginalised which as a result has essentially evolved the meaning of death and pain. The three texts portray the betrayal of the marginalised by the black leaders. The irony in all the three selected texts is that the systems that replaced the colonial rule continue to recommend repressive and brutal tactics on the common people. Henceforth, the marginalised masses feel betrayed by the black leaders because they hoped for better living conditions after independence, rather than a life of deprivation and poverty. Therefore, the study revealed how death and pain are subsumed in the political and economic turmoil environments in South Africa and Zimbabwe as represented in the three texts. However, despite all the challenges that characters in these texts undergo, they employ various survival techniques in order to be resilient from their adversities.
