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The Image Of African Women In A Patriarchal Society
[A CASE STUDY OF BUCHI EMECHETA’S THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD AND AMMA DARKO’S BEYOND THE HORIZON]
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 5]
Page 2 of 5
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The narrator of Nervous Condition is an integral participant of the
story, and a seemingly reliable one since the reading of the story and
its commentary affords the reader the opportunity to accept it as an
authoritative account of non-fictional truth(p.87).
Flora Nwapa, the
first Nigerian female novelist has projected the control of men in
patriarchal society in a number of novels including Efuru. It has female
empowerment, sisterhood and gender equality as its hallmark. Her
seriousness in dealing with the marginalisation of women in a
patriarchal society has made people refer to her as been a feminist but
she debunks this idea in an interview conducted by Umeh (1993) when she
emphatically rejoinders: “I don’t accept that I am a feminist, I accept
that I am an ordinary woman who is writing about what she knows. I try
to project the image of women positively†(p.27).Nwapa is a novelist who
dedicates her energy into discussing and fighting for women to gain
independence and success in their native patriarchal Ibo society.
In
Efuru, Nwapa illustrates women who are accomplished, well behaved and
relatively healthy but as accomplished as they are these women have
marriages that are faced with problems due to barrenness. These women
are brought down by their traditions. Therefore, Nwapa presents to the
readers that barrenness is both a curse and a failure on the part of
women in a patriarchal society.
Nwapa’s compatriot, Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie has written Purple Hibiscus which also dissects the issue
of patriarchy. This novel which is set in post-colonial Nigeria is about
Eugene, the head of a family who is very domineering which leads to him
constantly abusing and controlling his wife, Beatrice and two children,
Kambili and Jaja. This novel addresses some of the important issues
that post-colonial critics are seeking to fight against such as violence
against women. The violent acts that are perpetuated by Eugene against
his family underscore the issue of patriarchal power because in this
tale Eugene is very oppressive and violent thereby forcing his family to
live in perpetual fear and indifference.However, Beatrice exercises
control in the domestic front by poisoning Eugene slowly through putting
poison in his meals and tea every night. Though, Beatrice is docile and
typically traditional, in this novel she wields considerable power that
makes her fight against the authoritarian rule of a husband in a
patriarchal society. To propagate patriarchal rule in Eugene’s
household, he employs silence as a means to make Beatrice succumb to his
dominating nature. It is therefore not surprising that some writers
are of the opinion that the greatest weapon that some men use in
extending patriarchy is silence. Thus, Nwakweh (1995) agrees that
silence is:
All imposed restrictions on women’s social being,
thinking and expressions that are religious or culturally sanctioned. As
a patriarchal weapon of control it is used by the dominant male
structure on the subordinate or muted female structure (p.75).
In
shedding light on the patriarchal nature of the society created by
Adichie in Purple Hibiscus, Mabura (2008) avows that Adichie’s
novelspresentpatriarchy in African society and she likens her novels to
that of the Gothic fiction in which female characters are often
terrified, oppressed and driven to make psychologically imbalanced by
powerful tyrannical male(s).In her recent work, Half of a Yellow Sun,
Adichie again presents how women characters struggle to keep their
families in the midst of a popular civil war. Women in this text are
grappled with men infidelity and this is symbolised by the way Mrs
Ozobia becomes a victim of her husband’s unfaithfulness. In the society
of Half a Yellow Sun, motherhood which is defined in a patriarchal
society as the ability of a woman to give birth to a child comes into
sharp focus. Arinze, one of the major characters in this novel has her
mother-in-law demanding to know how many abortions she has committed
before marriage and becoming worried when Arinze does not become
pregnant within the three years of marrying the son. These experiences
are oppressive and put women under severe and unnecessary pressure
thereby reducing them to the level of slaves.
Chimamanda Ngozie
Adichie has chosen to use this book, Half of a Yellow Sun to articulate
the place of African women in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria. This
book which is set during and after the Biafran War in Nigeria which
started between 1967 and 1970 is a love story. In this book, the British
colonisers have left Nigeria and the rulership of this country is in
the hands of male politicians and businessmen. Olanna, one of the
principal characters in this novel has a father who hosts high-level
dignitaries in his home. These businessmen who want to give this man a
tender ask of sexual favours from his beautiful daughter, Olanna. Olanna
is convinced and pressurised by her father to engage in prostitution.
Chief
Okonji, a wealthy cabinet minister wants to contract Olanna’s father in
exchange for Olanna. This makes Olanna an ‘object of sex’ to help the
father get wealth and contracts. Even though Olanna has a fiancée who is
a lecturer, her parents disliked him because according to the family,
he had nothing to show except his books and hot-headedness. This an
instance of public patriarchy which Walby cited by Kandiyoti (1993)
explains has two forms:
Private patriarchy is based on the relative
exclusion of women from arenas of social life other than the household
and the appropriation of their services by individual patriarchs within
the confines of the home. Public patriarchy is based on employment and
the state; women no longer are excluded from the public arena but
subordinated within it. More collective forms of appropriation of their
services supersede the individual mode of private patriarchy… the
twentieth century has witnessed a major shift from private to public
patriarchy (p.377).
Patriarchy is in control in this novel, even
though both Olanna and the fiancée have Bachelor and Master’s degrees
from universities in United Kingdom her father insists on her marrying
from a rich family so her father imposes a man on her by going out with
her and displaying her for men to see so that they come for her in order
to get money and tenders.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 5]
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