However, it also signifies Kauna’s realization that she must part ways with the remnants of her old life in order to build a new one. Kauna’s departure from Oshaantu is bittersweet as it represents her failure to triumph over the unjust will of her in-laws and the loss of her friendship with Ali. Her disobedience has consequences in that her husband’s relatives buy Shange’s property, which she cannot afford, and evict her and her children. When her in-laws arrive to conduct Shange’s funeral, they are dismayed by her refusal to cooperate with the expected mourning traditions.
Unfortunately, not everyone holds Kauna in such high regard. Ali is in awe of the outpouring of support shown for Kauna and what the women have accomplished as a group, “As we parted, I looked at them and thought, Yes, girls, you have done it again.” There was a wonderful spirit, a spirit of sisterhood.” In a single day, the women of the village are able to complete work which would have burdened Kauna and her children for weeks beyond the ideal season for planting. The most inspirational example of female collaboration takes place when Ali helps Kauna organize an okakungungu upon realizing that her friend needs help tilling her land. Mukwankala is an elderly woman who challenges Shange in public about his treatment of Kauna after learning that she has been hospitalized. Sustera is a nurse who sends Kauna to the hospital after a particularly bad beating by Shange and helps her obtain contraception when she wishes to stop having children. Kauna’s aunt Mee Fennie is a role model in that she divorced her husband and successfully raised three children on her own. The theme of female supportiveness is expanded in the novel as other characters are introduced who embody different forms of strength. Ali admires Kauna’s strength in being able to raise her children without the help of a stable partner, whereas Kauna is impressed by Ali’s ability to negotiate her marriage on her own terms with a man who is committed to her.
The mutual respect that Ali and Kauna have for one another mirrors the admiration Ramatoulaye expresses for Aissatou in her letter to her friend, recollecting how she left her husband when he took a second wife. Friendship between women is a powerful force in each novel, providing a counterpoint to the marital bond. Furthermore, this reflection takes place in the aftermath of the death of a spouse. Both novels analyze marriage from the female perspective. The Purple Violet of Oshaantu bears many similarities to Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter.
“Rumours that Kauna was not crying or showing any emotion towards the sudden death of her husband spread like wild fire.” Ali struggles to support Kauna while contemplating the history of her friend’s marriage in which she was victimized by her abusive husband. When Shange dies unexpectedly, Kauna accepts his passing with a stoicism that is deemed scandalous throughout the village. Kauna’s husband is Shange, a man who beats her and carries on an indiscreet affair with another woman. As a new bride, she befriends Kauna, for whom her only daughter is named. Though Ali became pregnant with his child before they were married, Michael voluntarily proposed to her and she relocated to his family’s village, where she gave birth to several more children.
Ali, the narrator of the novel, has a warm and loving relationship with her husband Michael, who lives away from home much of the year working as a miner. In The Purple Violet of Oshaantu, Neshani Andreas uses sensitive and inspiring prose to explore the marriages of two women in Namibia. The concept of marriage is virtually universal, and yet what it is meant to signify from a religious, cultural, social, or economic perspective is so fluid that it transcends any single, standard definition.
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