Implementación del entorno de Pruebas

The prologue of the novel opens with the line, “From this place…” (Tlholwe, 2008: 9), and the

penultimate chapter opens with the line, “To this place…“ (Tlholwe, 2008: 161). What has moved from one place to another? I would suggest that these ‘places’ are ideological positions and Ancient Rites depicts the shift or transition from suspicion and alienation to compassion and understanding.

The sense of unease, described above in relation to the heightening mystery of the story, is amplified by the suspicion sensed by characters towards each other. On meeting his fellow teacher, Maje comments: “[f]or no reason at all, at that moment, Tankie Motaung struck me as having that indefinable quality of a sneak” (Tlholwe, 2008: 43). The detective is also sensitive to the alienation between individuals in the village:

J.B.M. Tiro drew himself up and straightened his tie. We did the same. Three African men standing in the cold in a barren school yard on the edge of the new South Africa, trying to look dignified. Two short, stout middle-aged men and a tall, slim, younger one, who could barely understand one another’s worlds. Three Batswana men alienated from one another by education, status, background, age, history and a language that was not their own. (Tlholwe, 2008: 24)

Here, the narrator picks up on differing backgrounds and Tiro’s insistence on speaking English as factors which alienate these men from each other.

There is also a feeling of something more than isolation in the village; it seems to be plagued by a sense of mistrust. A leader in the village, Molefe, encourages Maje to hear the facts of their story to combat rumours from outside Marakong-a-Badimo: “Tichere Maje, listen to her and go. Otherwise you will hear lies from bad people and believe them” (Tlholwe, 2008:69). Inspector Moleko gives an

outsider’s perspective on the village’s uneasy relationship with the external world: “’Marakong-a- Badimo is a problem,’ she said as she slowed down. ‘They don’t talk a lot about their affairs. We only get information second-hand if we’re lucky. And it’s mostly inaccurate’” (Tlholwe, 2008: 104). This sense of mistrust on the part of the villagers is not only felt towards their immediate neighbours but to the

106 greater modern or urban world. Explaining the cruelty that her village had suffered, MaMolefe

exclaims: “‘Do you think that because men fly in machines in the air that people have changed?’ [...] and snorted derisively. I shook my head lest I be counted amongst the contemptible backward rabble MaMolefe was so set against” (Tlholwe, 2008: 72). The school principal, Mokoka, talks about the older children whom the school teaches despite their being far too old for the school grade:

“Age is their problem, and a fast-changing world that seems to be leaving them behind. The old inspectors turned a blind eye, and some even encouraged them to stay as long as possible in the school system, but one never knows with these new ideas people.” He shrugged. “I always wonder how they turn out after they go to the big cities. Especially the poor girls. One always hears such terrible stories…” (Tlholwe, 2008: 41-2)

The ability to protect the village children is an advantage for a marginal, rural school. However, Mogae’s unchallenged racism towards Khoesan schoolboy, Jan-Jan, is an instance where it is a great

disadvantage. Here, the suspicion is turned inwards into the village community and is based on deep- seeded prejudice: “’I don’t see the point of educating you people,’ Mogae growled at him as I closed the door behind me. ‘You should be out there chasing ostriches like all the Basarwa’” (Tlholwe, 2008: 61). This cultural suspicion and alienation has affected the Khoesan for a long time according to Thato as she tells the story of her village’s history: “[]the problem in the old days was our close relations with the Khoesan of Kgalahadi. They were feared and despised. They were said to possess great supernatural powers and secret knowledge of all kinds. Unhealthy powers that were denied honest people” (Tlholwe, 2008: 71). The above sense of suspicion does not dominate the novel, however. Maje’s response to it gradually leads him to a greater understanding of the village and its community. A turning point can be clearly seen after he learns about the village’s history from the villagers themselves.

After the detective hears the story of the hate attack on Thato and her children where the police wrote off the incident as an accidental shack fire and the villagers did not demand a proper investigation (Tlholwe, 2008: 74), an atmosphere of isolation and fear pervades the room where the detective sits with many of the village’s prominent figures. At the end of the story, Maje describes how “[a] stillness

107 that lacked the serenity of hope or peace slouched in and crouched in the cold, empty spaces between us” (Tlholwe, 2008: 73). Later that day, his frustration nearly overwhelms him: “[i]n bed that night I groaned and cursed. The fatalism of the villagers infuriated me beyond expression. This is how the land was taken and we were beaten down. I railed, wept and cursed them again” (Tlholwe, 2008: 77). The next day, when he discovers a secret meeting at the school, Maje’s frustration, suspicion and desire for knowledge propel him to interrupt it: “[a] silence fell and I took a step back and considered my position. I decided to withdraw to the deeper shadows, but my hand was reaching for the door knob. I let it. I was tired of not knowing” (Tlholwe, 2008: 111). This moment marks the end of Maje’s blind searching in a mysterious village, and the beginning of his (and our) journey towards understanding the village’s traditions and spiritual practices as well as its battle to protect itself from the outside world.

The crucial factor in Maje’s trajectory from suspicion to connection is discovering that

Mamorena is alive, and her explanation of growing up as the child of traditional healers and the impact this had on her identity. She describes to the detective how this affected her first romance: “I met Tiro at the University of Fort Hare and we clicked. He still believed in the traditions then, and supported me when I maintained that there was nothing wrong with them. I thought I had found my soul mate. An educated African who was not ashamed of his heritage” (Tlholwe, 2008: 117). Mamorena also reveals how Tiro had cast her aside in favour of his political career after she had given birth to Pono and become very ill:

What he has is fear. Fear that someday I might embarrass him. You see, he wants to be the next Provincial Minister of Education. Then, with luck, he’ll get a national position. That will lead to a fat directorship in some private company looking for a high-profile black face… My

disappearance shocked him. He wants to know for certain that I am dead and safely buried. And that nothing negative will find its way back to him. So he hires you, Thabang. (Tlholwe, 2008: 119)

Mamorena asks the detective if he would take care of her daughter, Pono, if the situation ever arose. Once he agrees, Maje feels a profound bond with the woman: “[s]he was smiling a secret smile I couldn’t read, but for the first time I really felt that we had connected” (Tlholwe, 2008: 120).

108 As Maje enters the sacred valley, the plot reflects what we have already read in the dreamscape of the prologue, although this time, at the climax of the story, the reader identifies that it is Molefe who is carrying Maje, Jan Jan carrying the torch, and it is Pono’s face on the wooden barrier. With Maje, the reader has moved from confusion and disorientation in the prologue to understanding and empathy in the closing chapters. With this understanding of what is going on around him, Maje’s compassionate insight returns:

I wondered how a baby like Pono could speak about such things. It was plain that she was exhausted by the proceedings. Then, in one stunningly clear moment I saw why Mamorena wanted her to go away for a while – to be a child a little longer. (Tlholwe, 2008: 147)

While the form of Ancient Rites moves from alienation and suspicion to understanding and connection, the greater project of the novel can be seen as a reflection on the effects of this fear and this

compassion. And most often in this novel, these attitudes are formed around knowledge.