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“Blossoms of the savannah is a novel about patriarchy.” Write an essay to validate this statement using the character Oloisudori and Olarinkoi.

Answer Text:
Patriarchy is a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. Ole
Kulet portrays the Nasila society which is from the Maa community as a patriarchal society. We can see this right from the smallest unit of government, the family.He achieves this by building the characters, Oloisudori and Olarinkoi, giving us a clear revelation of patriarchy in the novel.

Oloisudori’s patriarchial mind set is evident when Resian refuses his marriage offer. He tells her “You can never escape Resian…Whether you scream your heart out, or jump into the deep sea…you are mine. You are my wife from now henceforth” (p.204). He arrogantly tells her: No one plays games with Oloisudori. Ask your father, he will tell you” (p.204). This portrays that according to him, men have the final say in matters marriage. We are therefore able to see how he feels powerful over Resian, a woman.

Oloisudori also plans to abduct Resian to forcibly marry her and circumcise her. A woman is not supposed to resist a man who wants to marry her as per Nasilian tradition whether she loves him or not. This gives us enough reasons as to why Oloisudori has six wives. He uses his wealth to lure women he marries. Mama Milano also realizes the role in shaping their material lives, she admits that she would not have helped to separate Ole Kaelo from such a man because it “…Was the man who made decisions as to which direction their lives took” (p.114). This shows that Oloisudori has power over Mama Milanoi’s decision concerning her own children.

During Olarinko’s visits to the Kaelos,he sits and wait impatiently as the girls prepares the food. This irritates Resian so much that he burst out even in the presence of yeiyo botorr…It is the like of Olarinkoi I am mad at, and all those males who come here ordering to do that or the other for them, simply because they are males. When women visit us, they give us the leeway to respond to their requests. But as we burn our fingers here, Mr. Olarinkoi is dozing off comfortably in our living room and waiting for his lunch and possibly a little angry and impatient with us for delaying it.” (p.77).This portrays how Nasila is a patriarchal society where men will order women because they are male.

Olarinkoi’s attitude towards Resian when he kidnaps her and takes her to his house far from Nasila reveals how patriarchal he is . He tells her, “You woman…You can either cook or keep standing stupidly or die of hunger…and Resian stared “…at the man who seemed to have suddenly turned from a person she had known for quite some time, to a beast” (p.218). The circumstances surrounding Resian gives him power to command her around. Resian is very helpless since she is in a strange house and do not have any option but to experience the cruel treatment.

In conclusion, the novel Blossom of the Savannah is a novel about Patriarchy as illustrated by the above points expounding on the characters, Oloisudori and Ole Kaelo.