Therapeutic Insanity: The Transformative Vision of Bessie Head’s A Question of Power

Bessie Head’s largely autobiographical novel A Question of Power (1974) describes Elizabeth’s psychological derangement resulting from her abuse, neglect, and exile as a half-black, half-white woman in apartheid South Africa. The novel examines the human cost of oppressive power systems, but more important, Elizabeth’s ability to extricate herself and live affirmatively. The yawning chasm of evil that had engulfed her is negated as she finds a cooperative living situation characterized by simple human acts of compassion, acceptance, and selflessness that powerfully nurture her. Even more significant are Elizabeth’s painstaking internal realizations regarding the psychic scaffolding required to overcome exploitation and pursue a “fuller humanity” (Freire 141). This article explores the nature of these realizations, grounded in inclusive mental structures that counteract the former divisiveness based in self versus other, male versus female, good versus evil, white versus black formulations.