The journey through hell and back

In Bessie Head’s novel, A Question of Power the main character, Elizabeth is sent through a journey out of hell.  Through repair, recovery, and reframing Elizabeth overcomes the suffering in her life.  Elizabeth is constantly battling inner demons and visions that soon bring her into a state of insanity. Throughout the novel, she is constantly visited by a vision named Dan.  Dan is a hallucinatory character, the somewhat represents evil.  On one level, Dan may have acted as the moral censor or as one of the greatest teachers she has ever learned from, although she says he “taught by default.”  “He taught iron and steel self-control through sheer, wild, abandoned debauchery; he taught the extremes of love and tenderness through the extremes of hate; he taught an alertness for falsehoods within, because he had used any mean at his disposal to destroy Sello”(202) (her other hallucinatory vision, that appeared somewhat as God).

Yet, the personal demon, Dan is only there to cause her despair, but instead we see that he is only there to help her rise above the suffering that she has experienced throughout her life.  Dan helps her overcome her personal demons, pain, and visions so that she can destroy her “old self” and learn to create a “new one.” She had to face her demons and overcome the anger in her life to change.  Elizabeth states, “I have been through the valley of the shadow of death, but I fear no evil.  I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (202).  She treasured the encounter with Dan.  The suffering she had endured had sealed her Achille’s heel” (202).  She started defining herself by the negative of what she was, and because she rejected Dan, she found who she wanted to be. The suffering that Dan inflicted on her, only lead her to happiness.

I believe we all need to undergo soul suffering to become stronger and enlightened.  Just like Elizabeth, we too are faced with personal demons such as, alcohol, drugs, and violence.  We see it everyday around us, either on television shows, movies, or on the streets in our communities.  When we realize that we have been affected with these things, we try to change the person that we have become, and for all of us that can not overcome our demons, we become so overwhelmed in the substances or thoughts. Sometimes, it makes us feel better about ourselves when we know that others are going through the same experiences as us.  An example could be Alcohol Anonymous courses.  Having a program such as AA, gives people the opportunity to change the person that they are, and also allows them to feel not so alone.  In addition, Elizabeth overcame her personal demons with the help of Dan, just like in society now a day’s people can overcome their personal demons with the help of organizations. 

I would say that Bessie Head’s novel can give insight to a lot of people in the world.  It makes society feel as if they aren’t alone to know that the character Elizabeth went though the journey through hell and came out a changed woman.  The journey allowed her to overcome her pain and suffering with the help of vision, or as we could say prophecies, because they were all messages from God.  Bessie writes at the end of the novel, “There is only one God and he name is Man.   And Elizabeth is his prophet” (206).