Heaven is not Closed

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Heaven is not Closed

• By Bessie Head

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Setting (Where the story takes place)

• A rural village in Botswana

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Bessie Head

• She was born in Botswana
• She uses Botswana in her stories

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Characters

• Galethebege
• Ralokae
• Ralokaes brother Modise
• The Missionary

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Galethebege

• She is a devoted Christian
• She goes to church every day to pray
• She falls passionately in love with Ralokae
• She wants to get married according to Christian
  custom
• She goes to the missionary for advice
• Galethebege loves the church and the rituals
  surrounding the services.
• She was never absent from church.

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Galethebege

• She was shocked about the way the missionary
  treated her.
• When she could not go to church she continued
  praying at home every day.
• Throughout her married life she prayed every day.

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Ralokae

• He is a widower
• He courts Galethebege because he recognizes the
  goodness in her.
• He is not a Christian
• He wants to get married according to Setswana
  custom
• He does not trust missionaries
• He blames missionaries for destroying their
  customs and tribal lives.

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The Missionary

• Short, anonymous looking man, wearing glasses.
• He was the resident missionary for some time.
• He did not like the Africans that he worked with.
• He thought the Africans were beggars and rather
  stupid.

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The Missionary

• He liked marriages because he got paid doing
  them.
• He got angry when Galethebege said she wanted to
  marry a non-Christian in Setswana custom.
• He said the marriage could not be allowed.
• The missionary said that heaven is closed to the
  unbeliever.
• The missionary excommunicated Galthebege from
  church. She could no longer enter the village
  church.

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Modise

• He is Ralokaes brother
• He is the narrator of the story
• He tells the story of the marriage to make the
  village think about Christianity versus customs.
• He is not an unbeliever.

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The Plot

• Modise tells the story of his brothers wife.
• His brother is Ralokae and he was married to
  GalethebegeThe story begins with a description of
  Galethebeges death.
• When Galethebege was young she embraced the
  gospel.

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Plot (continues)

• Galethebege was a good person, whether she
  adhered to Setswana custom or Christian customs.
• She always went to church.
• Ralokae was married for almost a year when his
  wife died in childbirth.
• Ralokae went through the Setswana customs
  boswagadi or mourning period.

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Plot (continues)

• A year later Ralokae finished the cleansing
  ceremony demanded by Setswana custom.
• Ralokae took note of Galethebege because she was
  also devoted, although not to the customs but to
  religion.
• He began courting Galethebege

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Plot (continues)

• Galethebege was hesitant to marry because Ralokae
  was not a Christian.
• Galethebege placed God before Ralokae.
• Galethebege was passionately in love with
  Ralokae.
• Ralokae wanted to get married according to the
  old customs.

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Plot (continues)

• Galethebege wanted to get married according to
  Christian customs
• Ralokae explained that missionaries were not to
  be trusted. They destroyed Setswana customs and
  treated the Setswana people like servants. They
  were full of tricks.
• Galethebege wanted to get advice from the
  missionary

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Plot (continues)

• The missionary forbid the marriage with Ralokae.
• The missionary excommunicated Galethebege from
  church.
• Galethebege married Ralokae in the traditional
  way.
• Galethebege never stopped praying although she
  could not go to church.

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Plot (continues)

• Ralokae never became a Christian.
• Many people left the church because of the way
  the missionary treated Galethebege.

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Setswana Custom (Marriage)

• The cow was holy to the Setswana because they got
  their food and clothes from it.
• At the wedding a cow was slaughtered.
• The intestinal bag of the cow was draped around
  the neck of Galethebege and Ralokae to symbolize
  wealth and the good luck they would have in
  married life.

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Setswana Custom (Marriage)

• The porridge and meat were served in ogopo bowls
  which had been used since old times.
• There was a lot of dancing (capering) and
  ululating on the day.

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Intention (Why the story was written?)

• The writer wants to comment on missionary work
  done universally.
• She wants to show that missionaries destroyed
  Setswana custom by not allowing it. They enforced
  Christian (Western) customs on the people
• Ralokae represents the traditional customs of the
  Setswana people.

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Intention (Why the story was written?)

• Missionaries misused their message to destroy
  traditional communities.
• Missionaries should have been more considerate
  towards strange customs.
• All missionaries were not good, the one in the
  story is a bad missionary.
• The missionary used the word of God to control
  the people, not help them.

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Intention (Why the story was written?)

• In this story the missionary decides who will go
  to heaven and who not.
• The writer wants to say that if there had been
  more tolerance from missionaries, the Setswana
  people would not have been divided.
• Missionaries did not understand the Setswana
  people and their customs.

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Intention (Why the story was written?)

• Even without a church Galethebege remained a good
  Christian and succeeded in making Ralokae a good
  husband although he was not a Christian.
• The Bible says that a Christian who married a
  non-believer sanctifies the non-believer.
• 1Co 714 For the unbelieving husband is
  sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife
  is sanctified in the brother else were your
  children unclean but now are they holy.
• The missionary was wrong when he said heaven is
  closed to the unbeliever. Heaven will always be
  open to everybody