Road to Mecca Themes

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May/June 2013 Exam question 3 Helen Martin’s creation of her ‘Road to Mecca’ is made of different cement and glass structures such as the owls, wise men and camels that have significant symbolic meanings in terms of Helen’s life attached to them. Helen is an elderly women who follows the ideas and philosophies of the Islam religion even though she lives in a village where Christianity exists as the dominant religion. The main predominant feature in Helen’ Mecca are statues of Owls. To Helen, owls symbolise intuitive feelings. Helen’s creation of her Mecca would not be possible without these feelings. This idea is evident in Helen’s words to Marius: “The picture had come to me in here the night before. I just had to go work immediately while it was still fresh in my mind. They don’t last long, Marius.” The many owls that Helen created was probably done because they would serve as a reminder to Helen not to procrastinate when a sudden image of an idea would appear in her head – If she did, she would lose the image of the idea and therefore not be able to include the creation in her Mecca. Another important feature in Helen’s Mecca was the creation of Camels. They symbolised the pilgrimage to the actual city of Mecca………. Camels are synonymous with the idea of living tough, lonely lives in desserts where it is very dry and hot and thus, also symbolises Helen’s lonely life living in the town of Nieu Bethesda living as a widow and recluse. Helen began living in isolation from the village when she began assembling her mecca. This behaviour of Helen’s was not accepted by the village’s minister, Marius Byleveld and his followers in the village. This is evident in Elsa’s statement: “Stoning her house and statues at night is not leaving her alone” Children from the village were stoning Helen’s house and statues as an attempt to illustrate their fear and hatred
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