Korb has a master's degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she discusses the clash between the village world and the city world and explores the ultimate victory of the villagers.

Kenneth W. Harrow writes in Callaloo of Bessie Head's short stories, "The subject . . . is change itself, and specifically the threshold where change takes place." The story "Life," collected in The Collector of Treasures, begins with a period of great change, moves into a depiction of society in which change is little valued, and then asserts the victory of traditional values at its end. "Life" takes place in Botswana in 1963. Borders have recently been set up between that country and South Africa in anticipation of Botswana's upcoming independence. All Botswana nationals must leave South Africa and return home. Before this time, according to...