A comparative analysis of the depiction of Socialisation of the girl child in the Ndebele plays

Due to various political and economic factors, the Ndebele family institution has undergone tremendous changes. These changes have impacted the socialisation of the girl child within the family set-up. The girl child still faces socialisation problems due to the nature of the present-day family set up. Guided by the Social Learning Theory, the paper examines the family’s role in the girl child’s upbringing as depicted in Makhalisa and Ndlovu’s plays. It is found that the environment in which a girl child grows up influences their behaviour. The study adopted a textual analysis method, and its primary aim was to carry out a comparative analysis of the depiction of the socialisation of the girl child in the Ndebele plays Umhlaba lo! (B.Makhalisa) and Lakanye Wangenza (T.P Ndlovu). The analysis revealed that both plays depict the Ndebele family set-up. Colonisation, Industrialisation and Urbanisation are presented in the plays as the factors contributing to the decline of the traditional Ndebele extended family whilst giving rise to the nuclear family set-up. Both plays present the socialisation of a girl child, with Makhalisa portraying the advantages of extended family in the upbringing of a girl child whilst bringing out the social and economic aspects encountered by a girl child. Ndlovu on the other hand is successful in capturing the contemporary urban family, characterised as the nuclear family and how it has a negatively impacted in the upbringing of a girl child. The study, therefore, concluded that the family stands out to be the core of every girl child’s upbringing, and it determines an individual’s future. Both playwrights successfully depict the girl child’s socialisation in the family whilst bringing out the Ndebele people’s lived experiences during the colonial era and post-colonial.