Ari Brown
ENG 102, 80448
Prof. Zaleski
Essay 2B
Authors tend to focus their short stories on female protagonists with strong
personalities. The author can either choose to characterize these figures directly, through
the narrative context, or indirectly, which is through the character’s actions, thoughts, and
speech. In the stories “Procelain” by Henrietta Rose-Innes, “My Mother, The Crazy
African” by Chimamanda Ngozi, and “Growing My Hair Again” by Chika Unigwe, the
authors focus their writings on female protagonists with strong personalities who are each
characterized differently whether they’re characterized indirectly or directly
characterized, and are developing characters or static characters.
In the first short story, “Growing My Hair Again” by Chika Unigwe; the story
focuses on Nneka. Three months after the death of Nneka’s husband, Okpala; Nneka is
forced to go through Nigerian widow traditions for a year. Nneka is reluctant of going
thru with the traditions because of her abusive marriage with Okpala and because her hair
is to be shaven. Despite her opposition, Nneka chooses to go thru with the traditions only
because she knows after the funeral is over with, she’s free to do whatever she wants
without Okpala’s family having reason to pester her. After all, she is the mother to
Okpala’s son, the only heir to the business, and is even loaded with plenty of money left
by her late husband. In the story, Nneka’s independence and strength are depicted
through her actions and speech. Throughout the story she shows a lack of respect or care
towards her spiteful mother-in-law, the funeral, and the Nigerian widow traditions. For
example, on page 76 and 77, Nneka states “Bored and hungry and sick of sitting on the
bedroom floor to be besieged by crying relatives, I had gone to raid the pantry.”
According to the traditions, she’s not allowed to enjoy food during the one year mourning
period and is not allowed to eat meals with salt or pepper. When Nneka’s mother-in-law
catches her eating the brandy soaked raisins, Nneka simply ignores her mother-in-laws
lecture. Another action that characterizes Nneka as a strong, independent woman is when
she finally decides to take revenge on Okpala by having her tubes tied on page 80. After
another one of Okpala abusive acts caused Nneka to have a miscarriage, she was
determined to never give Okpala another child. At this point in the story’s timeline, her
character begins to develop into the strong and independent person we see in the story’s
present timeline. Before she would always try to appease Okpala’s every desire to avoid
abuse from him; but now, she finally decided to take action against him. The week
Okpala was away on a business trip, Nneka went to Riverside Private Hospital and had
her tubes tied. From then on, when Okpala would call Nneka to bed and attempt to
impregnate her, she wanted to laugh at his futile efforts. As he was trying desperately to
impregnate her with another son to carry on the business and raise his status among his
peers, Okpala never knew his efforts were in vain. Thus we can see from these examples
that Chika Unigwe used indirect characterization for Nneka’s character and that Nneka is
a dynamic character in the story.
Henrietta Rose-Innes, the author of the short story “Porcelain,” used a different
approach in developing the character of Marion than Chika Unigwe did with her
character Nneka. Henrietta Rose-Innes uses direct characterization, which characterizes
the characters in a story through a narrator’s statements or explanation. Marion is also a
dynamic character similar to Nneka, while her aunts, Belle and Amelia are static
characters like Okpala’s mother was in the previous story. The story is told in a third
person perspective, and constantly switches from flashbacks of Marion’s mother; the
events which lead to Marion being taken in by her aunts, to the present day timeline.
These three female protagonists also display a sense independence and strength through
their bonds with each other. For example, throughout the story, there is no mention of a
male figure currently involved with Belle and Amelia in anyway. This fact implies that
the aunts do a fine job of taking care of themselves and Marion with just each other for
support. Another example of these character traits can be seen in the last few paragraphs
starting on the bottom of page 45. When Marion decides to return home in the city after
being in her aunts’ care for some time, she is given a present from Aunt Belle and Amelia
before her departure. Upon arriving home and opening the package, she discovers it is not
just a vase, but one of the partially reassembled vases Amelia was working on. Upon
thanking Aunt Amelia for the vase, Marion asks, “But what if you find more pieces to fit
in?” Aunt Amelia then responds “Then you’ll just have to come back and get them, won’t
you?”
This context shows the strength of the bond between Marion and her aunts’. To
reassure Marion would be back to visit them, the aunts’ gave Marion the partially
reassembled vase; an activity that connected them back at the beach house. Also, Marion
sees the vase as a symbol of her life. In earlier narration, Marion expressed confusion in
who she was and if she was to suffer a fate similar to her mother and forced to continue
to living under the constant watch of her aunts; who fear her following her mother’s
footsteps. After receiving the vase she seems to have established a new sense of her life.
There would always be parts missing (her relationship with her mother), however; there
were new parts that were whole again (her relationship with her aunts).
In the final short story, “My Mother, The Crazy African” by Chimamanda Ngozi,
the author uses direct with a mix of indirect characterization. The strong female
protagonist in this story, Chika, is a static character similar to the aunts in Henrietta RoseInnes‘s story, “Porcelain.” The story takes place in Philadelphia, where Chika and her
daughter Ralindu are at conflict with each other’s choice of living styles after moving to
America with the father. Ralindu, (the narrator of the story), wants to fit in with the
Americans, and tries to do so by hiding her Igbo heritage from her peers. Ralindu feels
that her mother is hindering her efforts to fit in with the Americans though and tries her
best to avoid her in public or persuade her to do things more like the Americans. The
mother on the other hand, takes pride in the family’s Igbo background and doesn’t
understand why her husband and daughter are trying to change who they are just to fit in.
The mother proves to have an unbreakable character through the story and
because she doesn’t lie to herself (and appears to be very stubborn); she manages to keep
the Igbo traditions alive in the household. An example of this can be seen on page 54;
when Chika’s husband tries to convince her to speak English around the guests and
change her behavior when they’re around. Chika retaliates by stating, “So now I cannot
speak my language in my own house? Tell me, do they change their behavior when you
go to their house?” In another example, Ralindu describes an event where she tried to
persuade her mother to let her friend Cathy address Chika by her first name because
Cathy’s mother allowed Ralindu to do so for her. In response Chika explodes in Igbo
words stating, “Do you want me to slap the teeth out of your mouth? Since when have
little children called elders by their first name?” and bans Ralindu from going to Cathy’s
house for a month, though she would still let Cathy come over. Though it is harsh and a
bit extreme, it shows Chika’s strong personality and dedication to Igbo tradition. It’s also
because of Chika’s stubborn desire to keep Igbo traditions alive in the house and
unwavering resolve to do so that she is a static character in the story.
As you can see, the authors depict similar protagonists in each of their stories.
Nneka, Marion as well as her aunts, Amelia and Belle, and Chika each display a strong
personality. Nneka from “Growing My Hair Again” finds strength to take action against
Okpala’s abuse by vowing to never give him another child and has her tubes tied without
him knowing, and finds independence in his death. Marion and her aunts show strength
and independence through the bonds they share with each other and are able to repair
what was broken in the family by Celia’s sudden change after moving to the city and
death. And last but not least, Chika’s unyielding resolve to keep tradition going in her
family no matter how many times her husband and Ralindu would try to persuade her to
do otherwise or try to hide their Igbo background from their peers. What separates these
characters from one another is how the authors use indirect, direct, or a mix of both to
characterize them within the story. There is noticeable lack of action in the story
“Porcelain” by Henrietta Rose-Innes as compared to “My Mother, The Crazy African” by
Chimamanda Ngozi, and “Growing My Hair Again” by Chika Unigwe; so the Henrietta’s
best choice to describe these characters may have been through direct characterization.
Unigwe uses indirect characterization to characterize Nneka since there is a lot more
action within the story. Chimamanda on the other hand uses Ralindu’s narration and
character dialogue and action to characterize Chika, a mix between the two styles.
In conclusion, many authors write about characters with strong personalities.
These authors can be unique about the way they present their characters through the style
they use characterize them. The way the authors use characterization can also shape the
story differently from one another. In the stories “My Mother, The Crazy African” by
Chimamanda Ngozi, “Growing My Hair Again” by Chika Unigwe, and “Porcelain” by
Henrietta Rose-Innes, is a prime example of the statement as the authors choose different
styles to characterize a strong female figure in their story. For example, the way Chika
Unigwe uses indirect characterization to characterize Nneka, while Henrietta Rose-Innes
uses direct characterization to describe Marion, and Chimamanda Ngozi uses a mix of
both styles to characterize Chika. Though the characters share the same strong and
independent attitude, they’re characterized differently by their respected authors.