Introduction & Overview of Snapshots of a Wedding by Bessie Head

Snapshots of a Wedding Introduction

"Snapshots of a Wedding" was published in 1977 in The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales, Bessie Head's first collection of short fiction. Though this particular story has not received a great deal of critical attention, Head's short stories are well known for their portrayal of African village life and its traditions and customs. Head presents in her stories a world that is as rich in conflict and oppression, however, as it is in tradition.

"Snapshots of a Wedding" focuses on the wedding of Neo, a young educated woman living in an African village, and Kegoletile, a young man "rich in cattle." Kegoletile has impregnated both Neo and another woman, but can marry only one of them. The second woman, Mathata, is old-fashioned in her lack of education and contentment with village life. Neo, by contrast, is a "new" woman: well-educated and anxious to embark on a...
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