Depictions of violence on women and girls in contemporary Zimbabwean literature. An analysis of Mwanaka’s ’Keys in The River’ (2018) and Ndabambi’s ’Seasons’(2022) - Stella Sibanda

The book analysed the representation of violence on women and girls and causes of violence. The major objectives of the book were to portray the continued existence of violence against women that has lived through pre-colonial, colonial into contemporary Zimbabwe. The effects of modernisation have not brought significant improvement in this respect. An analysis of Mwanaka's 'Keys in The River' and an Anthology of the Zimbabwean women 'Seasons' by Ndabambi helped to explain the role played by the family and environment on the condition of women in society. Explicitly shown in this research, is that, in as much as the authors narrate how they view the position of women in society, they, in the process, revealed the effects of violence against women and the quest to protect them. A textual analysis of the two texts was done and an eclectic approach using feminism (and other gender awareness approaches), feminist, modernist as well as postmodernist approaches were used to analyse the texts.