Hello Beautiful People,
This blog is 206 (African Literature ) assignment writing on assigned by Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Head of the English Department of Maharaja Krishnkumarsinhji Bhavsinhji Bhavnagar University (MKBU).
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Sem 4
Roll No. 15
PG year 2020-2022
PG Enrollment No. 3069206420200004
Paper Name 206 (African Literature)
Topic Name An African Woman's "Joys of Motherhood": A Mirage?
Submitted to Smt. S.B.Gardi Department of English
A Mirage?
Abstract:
The quest for identity is a postcolonial phenomenon that has led to the rise of women authors who represent indigenous women in their country who have been denied the prose style in a male-dominated society. Africa African woman literature is always extensively debated not just among 'White' but also with fellow African women authors and critics worldwide. Emecheta was however one writer who work was critiqued for being written after settling in the western country of the United Kingdom (the colonizer). Readers from third-world countries may agree with Emecheta's appeal for the importance of redefining women's identities within the context of African identity. Buchi Emecheta, to that esteem, has always expressed the status of African women & their constraints in social life via her powerful female characters. Emecheta has consistently documented her heroines' struggle for justice in a patriarchal environment. An attempt is made via the study of her work The Joys of Motherhood to analyse her concept of Motherhood and explain how she depicts it to the African environment where customs and communal bonds are strongly established in the Nigerian culture.
Introduction :
This novel The Joys of Motherhood takes its title from Flora Nwapa's groundbreaking work Efuru (1966). The final lines of Nwapa's book pose a dilemma."She has never experienced anything," says Uhamiri, that a much childless river goddess:the delight of motherhood "How come the women worshipped her?" (Efuru, 221) The Pleasures Emecheta's eerily satirical elaboration on those revered, so-called "Mothers" joys.Despite Nwapa's homage to women's freedom, the storey has a blind spot when it comes to parenting philosophy. Although the narrative progresses toward a celebration of Efuru's independence, economic success, and decency, there remains a persistent undertone of uncertainty about a childless woman's potential to be happy. Nwapa demonstrates, via the life of a single woman, how natural inclinations are sublimated and also how early pre-colonial African civilization utilises religion to reconcile her to which she is unable to fulfil the conventional one. In one research Susan Andrade, a literary critic, interprets "Emecheta's explicit connection between the books as an attempt to construct and join a canon of Nigerian - and, more generally, African-women authors" (JM 6).
The novel "The Joys of Motherhood" depicts not only how women existed and lived in the past and present, but also the hardships women experienced in post-colonial Africa and Nigeria. The novel cannot be read simply as a storey about Nnu Ego's, the protagonist's, struggle in an African patriarchal society; it must be read in conjunction with the colonial context introduced by the colonisers in order to understand 'How' women are treated and to what large extend they are given importance in African society. As one reads "Joys of Motherhood," one realises that the protagonist Nnu Ego's hardships are caused not just by the local patriarchal culture, but also by the resentful colonial system imposed by coloniser power, under which she lives.According to Marie A. Umeh, “The Joys of Motherhood is a study of victimization and enslavement of traditional Ibo women to the dictates of traditional Ibo Culture.”
Motherhood in the Novel “The Joys of Motherhood” :
Nnu Ego, the protogonist of The Joys of Motherhood, is a stereotypical African woman whose experiences and answers are viewed as perfect portrayals of African women.The existence of African women, as well as a condemnation of a culture for which women have even less power command of their lives Polygamy and bride price are deplorable African customs.Women are reduced to the status of chattel, and husbands rule their wives and fathers domineering over their daughters The arrangement insures women's continuous enslavement, and not provide women the same possibilities as males since they are only respected for their looks money that they bring to their dads as bridal price The females had no other option because dads sell their daughters to the highest bidder Emecheta discusses the the matter of women's double colonization here in a conversation with her neighbor Cordelia.
Nnu Ego and Cordelia's talk affirms the situation of African women facing double oppression. The whites and the blacks dominate over their men.Men have authority over their wives. Emecheta exemplifies the tribal condition, demonstrating the level to which Women participate in and support their own servitude, as well as the captivity and exploitation of others the dominance that arrives in their lives as a cruel continuation of white slave from different eras of history.
In The Joys of Motherhood, Buchi Emecheta demonstrates that the love that links a mother to her kid is a type of bondage from which the mother cannot free until her death, and that bond will keep her in a state that precludes any freedom or self-development. The reader will read dialogues throughout the novel in which women discuss "The Joys of Motherhood," and the word motherhood appears frequently in the novel since motherhood is viewed as the most significant item in their societal beliefs and practises. While reading, the reader might undoubtedly form an idea of Nigerian Ibo women that in Nigeria,A woman who does not have children is incomplete in some sense, and the only way for a woman to assert her personality is to have children and experience the "Motherhood." Though the reader learns from the start of the storey that the heroine, Nnu Ego, is terribly reliant and determined, Emecheta contradicts that notion throughout the narrative by contrasting it with her total belief that in Africa, a woman absent children is incomplete. Emecheta even shakes the foundations of our conception of such protagonist by telling us about her battles as a mother and her challenges in the capital after marriage.
The title is ironic because the ultimate marker for women continues to be achieving "motherhood" then instead of enjoying motherhood. In reality, the irony in the novel's narration is unquestionably necessary for comprehending the novel and the effect of "Joys of Motherhood." The novel's last sentences eventually reveal the irony contained in the title:
“She died quietly there, with no child to hold her hand and no friend to talk to her.She had never really made many friends, so busy had she been building her joys as a mother. (224)”
According to the belief, Nnu Ego's motherhood might as well have brought her happiness, but in reality, her motherhood, which was supposed to bring her "Joy," did not ripen, and only at the end of her death did the protagonist receive some'recognition,' "She [was given] the noisiest and most expensive second burial" (224). "In Joys of Motherhood, Emecheta seeks to sensitise the audience to the exploitation of mothers," adds Semenya. She recounts the humiliation and tiny delights of a poor, underappreciated Ibo mother with improved command of structure and humour. Emecheta investigates the mental states of women who are appreciated for their genetics rather than their personality."
Nnu Ego "enjoyed" and felt a connection to her maternal patronage while living with her parents. She was actually shielded by her culture, had the safety of her family, and was granted the right to her father's protection and patronage. The term "brothers" is commonly used in traditional rural life, where everyone feels protected by the patriarchal system. While traditional patriarchal enslaves women in some form or another, it also gives security and privilege. Nnu Ego's migration to the city after her marriage dissolves these relationships and patronage; the marriage and transfer to the city have abstracted her whole existence rather than uniting her to just a democrat public spotlight.Prior to marriage, the protagonist had not come into touch with any males who worked for the "White," which caused her to adjust her opinions of her spouse who worked for the "White." When she learns that her husband, Nnaife, works for a 'White,' he appears to be less than a man to her. The text clearly demonstrates the native people's hatred for the colonisers and those who work for them:
“If you had dared come to my father’s compound to ask for me, my brothers would have thrown you out. My people only let me come to you here because they thought you were like your brother [a man], not like this.... I would have not left the house of Amatokwu to come and live with a man who washes women’s underwear” (49)
This remark is critical in comprehending the significant influence of colonisation and the formation of colonial identities in the Ibo culture as a whole."Nnu Ego sees that all these guys labouring in the white man's metropolis were not truly men anymore, but rather something strange, something twisted by their captivity," Raja writes. [8] From the narrative, it is clear that the colonists' environment is not safe for any worker. The lords lack the ethics to care for their servants and their families. Workers cannot expect their masters to impose any obligations on them in order to raise their families. Nnu Ego, the protagonist, had to work hard to live and educate her children because her husband's salary was insufficient.The work is unmistakably a criticism of colonial and indigenous Ibo culture. It vividly depicts the lives of women in both native and colonial settings. Women never feel free, not in African patriarchal society nor in "democratic" colonial societies society. The storey depicts a woman's allegiance to her ancestral patronage, which she rejects after her marriage.Buchi has perfected the art of expressing the plight of African women who have no access to their own community the colonizer's "security".
Female characters in the storey are repeatedly harmed by repressive forces of race, gender, and class, however they cannot be referred to as a cohesive group. According to Mohanty, Western feminists in their faulty talks of Third World women, neglecting gender variation, see all local women as a monolithic bunch.However, women have different identity, history, struggle and everyday lives. In fact, “women are not as a singular monolithic subject. Even when they share the same culture, they are still different”. (Emecheta, 2011, p. 17)
Adankwo represents those ladies who have accept their situation. She participates in the subjugation of Nnu Ego and Hope that this article by internalising patriarchal attitudes and traditions. As a result, as Mohanty (2003) says, seeing women as a category of study or, in other words, as a homogenous group "results in an understanding of women as an always previously constituted group, one that has been branded helpless, exploited, physically abused, and so on" (p. 23).
Emecheta clearly illustrates how the colonial discourse brings about change such as religious ones in Lagos through institutions in the novel: "the employees are resolved to be off just half a day that is and that is on Sundays in order to visit the church." The marriage must take place in a church; otherwise, it is considered an unlawful marriage. When Nnu Ego became newly pregnant, Nnaif is concerned that he may keep his position because we did not marry in church. Furthermore, Nnu Ego is instructed in court to swear by the holy Scriptures rather than her chi." (Emecheta et al., 2011, p. 217) As a result, Emecheta emphasises how methodically the West creates its culture and regulations.
Despite the fact that the women keep working and face numerous challenges in raising their children, their children's achievement does not provide them with any sense of accomplishment. In Nnu Ego's situation, despite the fact that two of her daughters have prosperous lives after establishing in overseas, they are facing her in her final days by refusing to console her. In native societies, it is considered that the mother would get some type of consolation during her final days of rearing her children, but since the arrival of colonists, the custom of caring for the elderly parents has faded.. The protagonist Nnu Ego's children in the novel "Joys of Motherhood" fail to return the love and care that she expects in her lonely environment. The narrative of Nnu Egos might be interpreted as a portrayal of local peoples' lives. In reality, the natives are unaware that if the lady does not get consolation during her final days, the departed ghost cannot be deemed a happy spirit.
Conclusion :
Buchi Emecheta, rather than depicting women just as mothers living in safe Africa, showed women who are either overlooked or unreachable to African male authors. According to Marie, "Male authors lack empathy, sympathy, and understanding." They are aware of their feminine psyche. They have no concept of what it is like to be an African lady in African society". TheWhen Nnu Ego, the heroine, was denied motherhood by her first husband, the reader can feel her need for parenthood.She didn't conceive afterwards, and after having seven children, she doesn't experience the "motherhood" she craved in her final days.Buchi highlights the difficulties of parenthood as well as the protagonist's heartbreaking demise. Nnu Ego is subjected to a variety of challenges adversity in every step of her life,She was adamant about one thing: the joy of motherhood is giving all to the children so that in her old age, the children will offer her joy and affection. In contrast, Buchi shows the darker side, or the terrible truth; despite all of the difficulties the protagonist suffers, she is abandoned by her husband, children, and society. Katherine Frank "beautifully" characterises her children's actions as "millstones around the mother's neck, or ravenous insects sucking out and draining her life's blood."
Buchi Emecheta portrayed the storey from a female perspective, which clearly complements the topic and makes the reader aware of the status of African women. She vividly depicts the dishonoured position of women in patriarchal African society, and she succeeds in doing so via characterisation. "The Joys of Motherhood is not just a sardonic reflection on the fates of African femininity, but is also a fable on the mistaken ideals of life in general, in Africa as elsewhere," writes Ernest N. Emenyonu.Buchi Emecheta's novel Joys of Motherhood teaches us a lot about the precarious lives of native people in a colonial environment, and the novel Joys of Motherhood informs readers about such African women's experiences.
Work Cited :
- Barfi, Zahra & Kohzadi, Hamedreza & Azizmohammadi, Fatemeh. (2015). A Study of Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood in the Light of Chandra Talpade Mohanty: A Postcolonial Feminist Theory. 4. 26-38.
- Emecheta, Buchi, The Joys of Motherhood, New York, George Braziller, Inc, 1979.
- Frank,Katherine, The death of the slave girl: African womanhood in the novels of Buchi Emecheta, World Literature Written in English,1982, 21:3, 476-497, DOI: 10.1080/17449858208588746.
- Motherhood.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, vol. 23, no. 1, Mar. 1988, pp. 130–141, doi:10.1177/002198948802300112.
- Raja Masood, https://postcolonial.net/2019/07/the-joys-of-motherhood-reading-notes/
- Umeh, Marie. “African Women in Transition in The Novels of Buchi Emecheta.” Présence Africaine, no. 116, 1980,pp.190–201. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24350026.
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