Review of Bessie Head's The Woman from America

Feared by her Innocence The woman from America, that moved to Africa to live with her husband, seemed to be a strong and independent woman even though “She descended on us like an avalanche.”(109) “People are divided into two camps: those who feel a fascinated love and those who fear a new thing.”(109) Most people wished that she would go away someday but as time passed she grew on the hearts of the people in Africa. The woman from America had an impact on the lives of the people in America and they admired her for many reasons. One reason why I feel that people admired her would be because the author says “this woman from the West is the most oddly beautiful person I have ever seen”(109) and this gave me the feeling that she admired her so other people in the village may have felt the exact same way. Another reason why I feel that she is admired by the people of the village in Africa is because she came from a whole different world in America. She went from T.V.’s, hamburgers, chicken, escalators, etc., to a village mud hut where life is so tough that the most you will afford to eat is the ground millet or boiled meat. Some days you would not get nothing to eat at all. Also you would have to carry buckets of water for miles on your head back to your hut in the village. I also feel that she is admired because she went to Africa with her husband out of love and concern for him and the people of the village. I think that she could be feared by the villagers because she came from a completely different world that the people in that village in Africa have never seen and maybe even envied. They may have envied her because of all the luxuries that she had in America and thought that she was coming here to take over. The woman from America may be considered an outcast in Africa because she came from a completely different lifestyle then any of the people in the village that she was going too. She would have to change some things in her lifestyle as well as