er prowess in a roomful of men. She even gets the best of Joe in a fistfight when he threatens to abuse Simon physically. Although Simon brings out Kerewin's maternal instinct she nevertheless remains a lusty woman: "Kerewin has a strange vast knowledge of pornography, and a hitherto unrevealed sense of ribaldry" (Hulme, 1983, p. 225).
Joe typifies the male point of view about independent women when he theorizes that Kerewin's reclusive lifestyle may have been the result of a failed romantic relationship. Kerewin admits that she disdains physical contact, but that men have nothing to do with it: "I haven't been raped or jilted or abused in any fashion. There's nothing in my background to explain the way I am" (Hulme, 1983, p. 265). Kerewin has remained a virgin simply because it is a facet of her personal individuality. Had she not been financially independent, Kerewin may have been forced to marry to survive, like many women in modern society.
Kerewin maintains her independence even in the face of death. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, she refuses the help of a kindly doctor, preferring instead to make her own arrangements for her demise. As Kerewin states, "I function best by myself" (Hulme, 1983, p. 416).
Although Kerewin's lifestyle appeared lonely and isolated, she lived a dream that many women fantasize about. She lived in a patriarchal society, but she definitely was not an oppressed woman. She maintained control over her life and her destiny, even to the end.
Hulme, K. (1983). The bone people. New York: Penguin Books.
The life histories of the women in Three Swahili Women demonstrate that females in African society are still very much dependent on men. Each of the three women leaves their fathers' households and subjects themselves to the rules of their husbands' households. If a first marriage ends, Swahili women generally have little choice but to remarry because their economic surviv...