A feminist analysis of the dilemmas of women in relationships : a study of Reneilwe Malatji's love interrupted

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to analyse and investigate the dilemmas of women in relationships in the literary text Love Interrupted by Reneilwe Malatji published in 2012, using the feminist framework. The study explores how women are negatively affected by their relationships with their partners/husbands. Furthermore, the study focuses on how they are disadvantaged by cultural and societal expectations and how difficult it is for them to live with their in-laws. The primary text, Love Interrupted, is analysed to answer the three research questions that this study raises. The three research questions are: (1) Does the influence of culture and society affect the women in the short stories? (2) Do the perceptions that extended family members have of women undermine and diminish their sense of self-worth in the short stories? (3) In what ways are the children in the short stories used by the women in adulterous and abusive relationships? Because the short stories are written by a woman writer, the anthology gives first-hand experience on the dilemmas that the women in the short stories find themselves in as far as relationships, cultural and societal expectations are concerned. This study employed a qualitative framework which applied critical content analysis in interpreting the short stories. The analysis focused on four short stories in the anthology: “Love Interrupted”, “The Things We Do for Love”, “Lebo’s story 1: A Young Girl’s Dream Interrupted” and “My Perfect Husband” set in the Bapedi culture of the Limpopo province The findings of the study are that women, especially those in the rural areas of South Africa, are expected to be submissive and subordinate to their spouses. As a result of this, cultural and societal expectations have disadvantaged them greatly. They find excuses to put up with their abusive and adulterous husbands in the name of raising their children with the male figure around, and mostly they stay in these relationships in order to earn respect from community members. The study also found other reasons why women in the short stories are forced to stay in the abusive and adulterous relationships with their spouses: financial instability, stigmatization of unmarried and divorced women, and cultural and societal expectations to be strong women. This study employed feminist theory in the analysis of the dilemmas of the women in the selected short stories. Feminist theory provided a lens through which to understand the women’s dilemmas. Through feminist theory, it becomes apparent that the women are subjected to male dominance and societal expectations which prescribe submissive roles for women. Thus, they are not in a position to question or challenge the cultural practices which denigrate them. Their opinion in matters is never sought; they are simply expected to comply with the interests of men. The feminist analysis of the short stories suggests that there is still a great need to continue the fight against gender inequality in South Africa.