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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 3 of 5
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Despite these pressures Olanna eventually
marries her fiancée, Odenigbo and for the first time a woman in
patriarchal Nigerian society chooses her own partner irrespective of
stiff opposition from the parents. Odenigbo and Olanna gets married but
Olanna remains childless and because in a patriarchal society a woman is
considered worthy when she has a child, her in-law constantly becomes
furious and calls her a witch and that she should go back and tell those
who sent her that she did not find the son. In this novel the educated
woman is seen as spoilt and that education was seen as the preserve of
men so the people in this patriarchal society are made to believe that a
woman should not be of the same level with men in terms of education.
Comparatively,
another Nigerian national, Elechi Amadi has aptly described the image
of African women in a patriarchal society in his work,The
Concubine.Women in this novel are made to live based on the precepts of
men in their society. Women in Omokachi, the setting of this novel
cannot go contrary to the straight- jacket role that they have been made
to play as women. Therefore, any attempt made by a woman to side-step
the traditions of this society is seen as a serious aberration.
Accordingly, women are not given the freedom of expression and when
Ihuoma, a woman for instance, decides to harvest plantains on a disputed
land, she is confronted by Madume who rudely orders her to surrender
these plantains.The chauvinistic manner in which Madume orders Ihuoma to
give out the plantains makes her run away and this is presented to the
readers as “Ihuoma puts down the basket quietly, removed the plantain
and began to move away. Only a very foolish woman would try to struggle
with a man†(p.68).
Bessie Head, a South African writer cannot be
left in the way African writers have exhibited patriarchy in their
novels. Bassie Head for instance has highlighted the issue of patriarchy
in her novel A Question of Power. She exploits the effects of both
patriarchy and racism on women in South African society.Patriarchy
manifests in this text when Bassie paints male characters in this novel
as sexual predators who rape young females in order to satisfy and
empower themselves. This act of sexual escapade is made known when the
raconteur speaks: “it was the nightmare of the slums she had grown in
South Africa, but it never dominated her life. Usually small girls are
raped, but the men were known†(p.117).
The male characters in A
Question of Power use sex as a weapon to oppress their female
counterparts and that a man is glorified depending on the number of
women he has systematically bedded. Effectively, women do not enjoy
sexual intercourse because sex is viewed as beneficial to men only. Dan,
one of the male characters restates this scenario as he tells Elizabeth
“my whole body is on fire…it’s you. You are not supposed to think of me
with any desire or else I shall fall down†(p.26). In the end, in order
to eradicate the sexual role and the subjugating role as women, the
female characters decide to destroy the source of their problem- the
penis.
Therefore, Dikeledi cuts off the manhood of Gareseso. By
severing the manhood of this man the women have succeeded in reversing
the gender roles of women and are considered liberated which is a
representation of the feminists’ ideals of victory over the
men.Elizabeth, the central character of the novel brings out the way the
women in this fictionalised world have been oppressed in the
patriarchal society by likening one of the male characters, Dan toAdolf
Hitler who was a German political and military dictator in the twentieth
century by addressing him as “He had not yet told the whole of mankind
about his ambitions like Hitler and Napoleon to rule the world†(p. 14).
On
the other hand, Ama Ata Aidoo, a Ghanaian novelist and playwright has
highlighted patriarchy in a number of novels such as Changes: a love
storyand The Girl Who Can andOther Stories.Changes: a love story,for
example,brings to the fore a situation where Ogyaanowa, the daughter of
Esi and Oko listens to the noise that her parents are making due a feud
that is between them which results in a fight between them. This fight
emanates from the fact that Esi has refused to have another child and
that she spends so much time at work. Oko becomes angry, grabs Esi and
forcefully have sex with her and instead of apologising for his actions
he goes outside the bedroom with the bed sheet.
Being ambitious, this
female protagonist, Esi goes contrary to the dictates of her tradition
and divorces Oko and later becoming the second wife of another man.
Throughout Esi’s tussle for self- respect in a patriarchal society,
Aidoo scans pertinent issues like career choices, marital rape,
monogamy, polygamy and compromises in marriage. It is therefore not
surprising when one looks at the mode of treatment that Esi has received
at the hands of Oko and agree with Bohemer (1991) who cries: “Mother
Africa may have been declared free, but mothers of Africa remained
manifestly oppressedâ€(p.7).
By the same token, The Girl Who Can and
Other Stories revolves around a young female protagonist who goes
through a lot in her resolve to define herself in a patriarchal African
society. Among some of the short stories in this novel such as She-Who-
Would- Be- King and Male-ing Names in the Sun Aidoo topples the
traditional portrayal of adolescent African females and as a result she
creates characters who question and challenge the role of the African
women in the twenty- first century.
The works of the Nigerian writer,
Buchi Emecheta namely The Bride Price, The Joys of Motherhood,
Destination Biafra, Double Yoke, Gwendolen, The Rape of Shavi,
Second-Class Citizen andKehindepresent patriarchal issues in Nigerian
society.The Bride Price and The Joys of Motherhood represent the pre-
colonial and colonial era whereas Destination Biafra and Double Yoke
portray Emecheta’s feminist phase as far as her authorial career is
concerned thereby using them to exhort the virtues of the African
womanhood.
Gwendolen and Kehinde presents a scenario where the
African woman struggles to acquire an identity for herself so as to find
her feet in a patriarchal society. The Bride Price gives a different
picture of oppression of people in a patriarchal society. Aku-nna, the
central figure of this novel approaches womanhood but her uncle’s
ambition is to marry her off to a rich man, Okoboshi to get a very
high bride price but Aku-nna falls in love with another man that she is
forbidden to marry. Aku-nna is kidnaped and about to be married to
Okoboshi but she is determined to kill herself if such marriage comes
on. She fights so hard to protect her dignity as a woman so that she is
treated cruelly by patriarchal conditions in her society. Finally,
Aku-nna marries this gentleman and this marriage is seen as the
beginning of her rebellion against the entrenched social norms of
patriarchy which does not allow any woman to make a choice of a husband.
In
The Rape of Shavi, Emecheta represents both patriarchy and colonialism
as twin forces that collaborate to oppress African women. She shows that
both the African culture and colonialism are at fault when it comes to
the marginalisation of African womenand that patriarchy is deeply
entrenched in the social consciousness that there is nothing that could
be done except there is cultural revolution so as to give fair treatment
to women.
Destination Biafra on the other hand, talks about the
hegemonic nature of men in a patriarchal society. This is captured in
the way Debbie is wickedly raped by black soldiers. Though she is one
woman, her experience epitomises the way women have been subjected to
atrocities because of colonialism and patriarchy. The real condition
that women underwent during the Biafra War which is fictionalised by
Emecheta in this book provides a horrifying condition that women undergo
under war and patriarch. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is
said that war becomes a theatre not for male heroics, but for female
endurance. Even though the males in this novel leave their various
countries during war Debbie for example stays and fights for her nation
and in the end she tells Alan Grey:
I see now that Abosi and his like
are still colonised. They need to be decolonised. I am not like him, a
black white man; I am a woman and a woman of Africa. I am a daughter of
Africa, and if she is in shame, I still stay and mourn her in her shame
(p.245).
In similar fashion, Double Yoke brings into sharp focus the
problems that Nko, a central character faces. She faces the problem of
identity in marriage in a patriarchal society which makes her get torn
between marrying and becoming a good wife as expected of her
traditionally or get a degree and be branded as a feminist, rebellious
and a bad woman. She finally becomes victorious in life as compare to
her colleague woman, Dr.Madume Edet who tries frantically to pattern her
life to suit the patriarchal patterns of her society. Nko is able to
extricate herself from patriarchal yoke when she defies all odds and
gets education.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 5]
Page 3 of 5
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