Wading into the streams of Mungoshi’s world

CHARLES Mungoshi’s “Branching Streams Flow in the Dark” (2013) poignantly pokes at the tragic nature of individualism on the family unit, which sadly reflects on the national discourse.

The novel ventures into the stigmatisation and stereotyping associated with HIV and AIDS.

When the book was published by Mungoshi’s family at the behest of his wife (now his widow), Jesesi of the Neria fame, it established its mettle on the literary scene by winning a NAMA Award barely a year after its publication.

It is in the metaphorical titling of the novel, which of course is Mungoshi’s signature in most of his works like “Waiting for the Rain” (1975), “Coming of the Dry Season” (1972) and “Walking Still” (1997) that we revel in at the Bookstore.

Metaphors in the hands of a seasoned writer of Mungoshi’s calibre are powerful tornadoes that can sweep the reader off his or her feet and catapult her or him into the dizzy heights of literary Nirvana, albeit in one swift swish.

Mungoshi’s forte are metaphors, which he meritoriously uses to take aim at individual inflections as opposed to collective foraging for the benefit of the entire family, community and nation.

The metaphor of the streams evokes both connotative and denotative associations. Naturally, a stream symbolises life, abundance, hope and fruition as long as its flow is smooth and calm. When it feeds into a bigger one then the better it is for the community.

However, Mungoshi’s metaphorical streams in “Branching Streams Flow in the Dark” are branching from the main source and precariously flow into the unknown.

They flow in the dark, which is symbolic of blind hope, death and desolation.

It is this nature of events, that leaves the reader aghast, and yet thrillingly engulfed as different episodes are stitched into one national blanket of consciousness.

The Maseko family central in the novel, is fraught with malaise and paralysis as a result of the different streams that emanate from its centre. The protagonist, Serina’s parents are steeped in marital woes because of lack of compromise, intolerance and materialism which is rooted in their backgrounds.

The circumstances surrounding the protagonist’s parents’ marriage place a burden on its forward thrust, thus, robbing the family of a shared identity. With the wife to be, being a reverend’s daughter and the husband in waiting, a musician, then the match is likely to have its flipside.

Serina’s mother is intolerant of failure, which she clearly sees in her husband, Samuel, as she juxtaposes her circumstances with those of her neighbours, workmates and her dreams.

The husband’s occupation as a garbage collector exacerbates the situation which deteriorates by the day. Samuel feels inadequate as his wife steals the show with her implacable and garrulous nature, which makes the matrimonial home claustrophobic to him. As a consequence, he seeks the elixir in alcoholic beverages; even potent ones like kachasu.

The constant reminder of his inadequacy, even in the presence of the children, humiliates the former musician, who is also said to have trained as a teacher, upgraded to degree level; and yet remains a garbage collector.

Samuel feels stripped of his manhood. The ensuing cracks in their marriage begin to fill up in streams which flow out into the unknown.

The fact that Serina falls pregnant at 15 and aborts at such a tender age at the instigation of her mother is an indication of the tragic nature of individualism and a collapsing familial base.

Given the fact that Amos, who deflowers and impregnates her, was introduced to her by Samuel, who encourages the relationship, and that the mother prefers someone else not a pauper musician, exonerates the innocent child from the carnal blame which stigmatises her.

As the heroine’s stream flows out blindly in search of an identity through sex and intimacy, discord falls upon the music of her brother, Haba’s soul. Haba’s loss of marbles is also a form of escapism from the reality of his existence in the nuclear family.

When Samuel finally decides to call it quits and seek solace in the arms of his first wife, Stella, a former musician, events begin to take a head in the Maseko family.

An ideal family unit functions as a trivet like the African tripartite tripod in the kitchen; the absence of one leg renders it unusable. The family is made up of the father, mother and the children, who should always be there for each other, not only physically, but emotionally. Thus, escapism in all its forms in the Maseko family exposes individual members to societal caprices.

Stereotyping and stigmatisation start at the family level and not at community and national levels. An individual who enjoys support and encouragement from family members is always cushioned against societal impulses. Samuel cannot project or conjure a responsible father image to a society that is always reminded of his faults by his wife and children.

Similarly, Haba cannot be taken seriously by a community that is privy to the family’s notion that something chuckles in his head. Serina cannot be accommodated in a community that is told by her own mother that her affliction is a result of her own designs.

A pet that is well fed and protected is forever the envy of the community.

By deserting the family, notwithstanding the circumstances, Samuel betrays his family, especially Serina, who is close to him. It is the absence of a fatherly figure, given her brother’s condition that robs the protagonist of morale support, which exposes her to their mother’s schemes.

Serina’s marriage to Michael, a man of means, is designed by her mother, who sees in her daughter a chance to atone for her failure to lure the man in her fairy tales. However, when disaster strikes as she learns that she is HIV positive, loses her son and her husband packs his bags, her mother is the first to call her a prostitute. Yet she has only known two men intimately in her entire life, both of them introduced to her by her parents; Amos when she was 15 and Michael when she was 20.

So who then should shoulder the blame if society stigmatises Serina, alienates her and condemns her to death if her family is also caught up in the scheme of events.

Being the focal point, betrayal is central to stigma. The letter that Serina writes to a long-time friend and schoolmate serves as an outlet from her woes as she does not have anyone to share them with within the confines of the family unit. There is no hope that the letter will be responded to because she is not sure whether Fungisai Bare will receive it.

It may be hope in futility. Samuel and Stella also betray Saidi by concealing his parentage. The bond that exists between Saidi and Serina could have gone a long way had they been introduced earlier on as siblings.

Saidi grew up without a fatherly figure to emulate, yet Samuel, whom he has always known as a friend, and MaDube’s man, is his biological father. His stream flows in filial blindness and death devoid of an ideal family because of selfishness. It is rather malicious for Stella (MaDube) to confide in Serina and implore her not to divulge the secret to Saidi.

Saidi’s attempt to bring the family together through his, ironically, farewell party, is suggestive of his idea of the need for a shared identity in the face of adversity. The family is the most powerful weapon in the fight against stigma and stereotyping.

Saidi’s family of entertainers and fans also kindles his hope as they cheerfully encourage him to blow on the horn, the instrument that gave him fame.

Saidi is aware that he is dying; that there is hope in another world where everybody tolerates everybody else regardless of their afflictions or weaknesses. He knows that in that world there would be no pain, emotional or physical.

He is aware that there would be a Big Conference waiting; that there is so much hope in death, not as the end, but the beginning of a better life.

He is happy to catch a flight to that world, having played his part in finding a common gush for the different streams that flow in the darkness of neglect, betrayal, ignorance, frustration and whimsicality.

Saidi prophetically tells his exuberant fans: “Today I am wearing blue, tomorrow I will be in white, and you will be in black.”