Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

John Steptoe is an award winning children’s book author; his works often portray aspects of the African American experience through fantasy and mysticism. “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” by: John Steptoe is a modern fairy tale. Written in 1987, this story features fantastical characters and supernatural forces inspired from African culture. The main story follows two young daughters, Manyara and Nyasha, of a man named Mufaro. One day their village gets word that the king in a nearby city is looking for a “worthy girl” to be his queen. Mufaro believes that either of his daughters would make an excellent queen, and they decide they will journey to the city in hopes of a royal marriage. Manyara, who is selfish, sneaks off into the night to reach

In the short story, the two daughters are classified differently. While one daughter is kind-hearted and gentle, the other is cruel. As both characters are introduced, we learn that “Nyasha was gentle and good-natured, and Manyara, well, she was the kind who saw the ugly in everything.” (John Steptoe, 1987) This demonstrates how different their views on life are, and foreshadows how their outcome will be arranged at the end of the story. Both daughters journey to the city where the king lives, but Manyara is “greedy” for power and she leaves the night before to get ahead of Nyasha. This shows that she is selfish and only cares for the outcome of her life. Any chance Manyara had, “She did her best to wipe the smile off of Nyasha 's face whenever she could, and one of her favorite things to say was, ‘Someday, Nyasha, I will be queen, and you will be a servant in my household.’" (John Steptoe, 1987) With this statement Manyara proves that she disrespects her sister; thinking that she is better than Nyasha, she will attempt to discredit anything Nyasha says or does. Consequently, the king sets out many trials to see how each sister will treat him in his different shape shifting forms. Manyara disrespects the shape shifting king while Nyasha has a very different reaction. On When Nyasha sets out, “… a small boy appeared in the pathway in front of Nyasha. He was so thin and forlorn that she

Another interesting view of the story is through modern feminism. Liberal feminism states that women maintain equality due to their choices and actions in their lives. Nyasha’s good actions towards others versus Manyara’s evil actions towards others led completely different outcomes for each daughter. On the other hand, socialist feminism maintains that women empower themselves or cause their own destruction. Socialist feminist theories hold that women are oppressed by cultural and societal pressures brought upon by the capitalist system. Nyasha relies on both liberal and social feminist views to improve her life. By making kind decisions, Nyasha pulls herself up from poverty while Manyara’s actions ensures that she will be a servant forever. Similarly, the message sent to the village read “The most Worthy and Beautiful Daughters in the Land are invited to appear before the king, and he will choose one to become queen!" (John Steptoe, 1987) This may seem like a “dream come true” for the daughters, but who gives context to a girl’s “worthiness.” With this opportunity in mind, “Manyara tried to convince their father that Nyasha was too frail for the journey.” (John Steptoe, 1987) Manyara attempts hurt Nyasha’s status by attributing gender based stereotypes onto her sister. Saying that Nyasha would be frail or fragile is a typical bias against women and is clearly gender discrimination. Furthermore, if Nyasha was not considered beautiful to the king the marriage may have never