Creativity Can Sometimes Get in the Way

It is hard to imagine where creativity comes from. It seems to come from different places in different people. Sometimes creativity comes from simple brilliance. Creativity can come from people who have never had anything tragic happen to them who just seem to have intelligent, imaginative thoughts. Some creativity explodes from sorrow and pain. This kind of creativity is a release from sadness and has been the cause of many great works of art throughout history.

It is hard to pin point what causes the creative process. It can come in the form of purpose or reason of one person’s life that is realized and put into writing or into a painting. Creativity is this person’s driving force, it keeps them going. It can also be inspired by destruction of oneself.

Depression or hatred of yourself can create beautiful works of art. Van Gogh’s self portrait with his ear cut off is a priceless piece of art. Its sadness and raw portrayal of his sorrow makes the picture beautiful and vulnerable. Drugs, alcohol, death and pain are all factors that cause artist to drain there emotions into their portraits, they have created some of the most amazing things ever viewed by the human eye. In the novel “Maru” by Bessie Head the main character Margaret Cadmore has demonstrated this through her art work.

In the novel Margaret Cadmore has a breakdown. When I think of a breakdown I think of someone shutting down and losing their mind, however in this case it can almost be seen to one as a breakthrough. When Margaret has her breakdown she lets her emotions come out through her paintings that no one had ever known before. It was as if she was exposing her soul for all to see, and perhaps for her to see as well. “Something inside her was more powerful than her body could endure. It had to be brought under control, put on a leash and then be allowed to live a manageable form” (pp 98) this part of the novel leads me to believe that this was not only a breakdown, but a breakthrough. She has found something inside her that she never knew existed, and now can come to terms with her whole self. To me this shows her breaking down her barriers and seeing one’s self clearly for the first time.

Margaret’s thirty paintings are what make Maru fall in love with her. He sees the same hopes and dreams in her he has for himself. Before her paintings it was almost as if he was only trying to beat Moleka, and marry Margaret first. I never felt he had any real strong feeling for her until he realizes they have the same dreams. Although he tells Dikeledi that she will be his wife one day he never truly shows any true love until these paintings. The paintings also make me believe that Maru is changing. He has opened his heart up to a woman who is Masarwa, and is giving hope to other Masarwa people that the prejudice is ending and one day everyone will be equal.


Creativity is something that all people in the world possess. It is up to the individual whether they use it, or let it become dormant inside them. Margaret let her creativity become dormant until one day it exploded like a fire inside her. Many artists have this kind of explosion inside them and never control it, this is why many result in killing them self. Margaret is fortunate she tamed her explosion before it came to death. In the end her breakdown resulted in an enormous breakthrough.