She No Longer Weeps: Characterization Part 2

Freddy

He is an important character. He is important not because he is like-able to many readers, but because he is one of the main antagonist of the play.
He stands on the way of Martha’s success in the novel. He propels one of the most important dimensions to the play’s conflict
He is one of the characters a student should know by heart.
I was telling to my class it’s not enough to know what Freddy said and did in the text. We call that narrating.
An Advanced level learner should go a step forward and critically analyse Freddy’s or any other character’s behaviour, actions and words in the play. This is what we call practical criticism. I thought this is necessary to talk about before I go on to give a brief on this character.
As I said earlier Freddy is one of the play’s main characters.
He is Martha’s boyfriend and father to her daughter.
During their temporal stay together with Martha, he was abusive giving no respect to Martha as a person and wife.
For instance, during their earlier exchanges on page 8 he called Martha a bitch.
He is intimidated by Martha’s success as a bright women, student and lawyer. He is representative of a patriarchal society failing to cope up with an empowered woman. Hear these insults informed by the gender prejudices the community or people like Freddy had towards women:

Only a bitch can do that (drinking beer). You are a bitch, Martha. Never forget that. No man will want you. Even if I hadn’t spoilt you (reference to her pregnancy). You wear trousers like man, you drink like a man, you argue and challenge men as though you were not a woman yourself. What you don’t know is that that education of is good for only one thing … It lets you earn money. Thats the only reason why men like women like you, otherwise you are useless. But even that education of yours is gone now. You are finished. Women like you have no place in Zimbabwe (p.9).

The quotation depicts a misinformed man who is not comfortable with the success of his wife. He even thinks pregnancy is the end of the world to a woman.
In our analysis of Martha we discussed how Freddy’s friend (Joe) felt of Martha. He thinks she is an interesting woman.
Freddy responds to Joe’s claim saying ‘They (these interesting woman) tell you things you don’t want to hear. It’s too bad most of it is true’
Freddy chased Martha away from his home.
He is violent and brutal to Martha.
He later popped up on Martha’s life when she was an able and proud mother and lawyer to disturb and harass her.
This is what he said to her in his arrogance:

I want everything from you, everything. I had your virginity and your love but you tried to prove that you could manage without me, so now I must teach you a lesson. You are not a good woman. You don’t know your place in this world, which is underneath. You thought you should be on top … a woman will never be as good as a man. Whatever the law says, society will remain on my side. Do you think any court will give a child to a loose woman like you? p.53

In the end Freddy’s penis is chopped away by Martha.

Like what I said earlier, I want us to think what Freddy’s negligence, irresponsibility, chauvinism, carelessness say about the society Dangarembga is writing about. I want us to think of Freddy in the broader contexts of abuse of women and children, the laws in relation to maternity, paternity and domestic violence, the society and it’s say on gender relations and roles among other issues.
Time and chance permitting we will discuss these on themes or issues coming out of the play.