The project of African literature since its inception, has been to re-present African
society in response to colonialist depictions. Though these counter-discourses seek to
displace the Manichean allegorical framework inherent in the imperialist view of the
‘other’, many African male-authored texts, such as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart,
work to reinforce dichotomous imagery of subjective men against an objectified image of
women in pre-colonial and colonial African society. With the emergence of an African
female literary tradition in the 1970s, female-authored texts such as Buchi Emecheta's
The Joys of Motherhood collectively served a dual purpose of refuting imperialist
portrayals of Africans, and of responding to the objectification and marginalization of
women in anti-colonial texts written by African men.
The colonial enterprise, in its political, economic and cultural facets, sought to
invalidate, often violently, the identity, culture and self-worth of the colonized.
Literature that emerged from this enterprise, even if it was critical of some aspects of
colonialism, served to reinforce the inferiority of the colonized population in relation to
that of the colonizer. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness does this quite well by playing
on Europeans’ anxieties regarding their primordial kinship with the racialized ‘other’.
“What thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity – like yours – the thought of
your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly.” 1 Thus, African society
and history is reduced to a “wild and passionate uproar” in the eyes of European writers,
and thus the field of literature in general. Given the European’s assumption of the
superiority of his own culture, Abdul JanMohamed concludes that “he will rarely
1
Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. New York: New American Library, 1950. (106)
1
question the validity of either his own or his society’s formation and … he will not be
inclined to expend any energy in understanding the worthless alterity of the colonized.”2
For the authors of colonialist literature, Africans, and all those deemed to be "the
other", were reduced to either an imagined mirror of the imperialist's supremacy or a
symbolic object to advance the 'true' story taking place among Europeans. JanMohamed
has made this distinction between "imaginary" and "symbolic" texts, but both methods of
objectifying the 'other' negate the humanity of those being described.
Writers of
imaginary texts imagine the other as an objective embodiment of evil, against which the
imperialist European self is set. The authors of symbolic texts use the other as "a
mediator of European desires" in so far as they are objectified and used as symbols. 3 A
text such as Conrad's uses Africans as symbolic agents of the collapse of European
civilization into barbarism when removed from its social context. As Carola Kaplan
notes, "In psychological terms, the Other [represents] but the undiscovered territory in the
self."4 As a mere prop for European self-exploration, the African is dehumanized within
this literature.
The period from World War II onward involved an immense transformation in the
political and cultural landscape of Africa.
An emerging Western-educated class of
intellectual elites in urban centres began to question the political and cultural dominance
of Europeans over and within the African continent. Though a fair amount of African
political writing and poetry, not to mention oral history, had been documented by the
mid-1950s, the publication of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart marked a breakthrough
2
Abdul R. JanMohamed. "The Economy of Manichean Allegory" in Bill Ascroft et al (eds.) The
Postcolonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1994. (18)
3
JanMohamed. "The Economy of Manichean Allegory", 19.
2
in the emergence of an African literary tradition. The goal of this literature was to refute
the Manichean allegory within colonial writing by affirming the subjectivity of Africans
and the dignity and relevance of African ‘traditional’ societies. As Achebe himself
wrote, his goal was "to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes
of the years of denigration and self-abasement."5
In order to re-evaluate the meaning of African history and society, authors such as
Achebe, as Africans, sought to reclaim African subjectivity.
Things Fall Apart
demonstrates this through its historical positioning of pre-colonial Igbo society. From the
first paragraph, a specific human character, Okonkwo, is placed within a specific time,
place, and social context outside of European civilization.6 His moral dilemmas within
the context of Igbo society at that time are contrasted with those of other male characters
in order to illustrate the subjectivity and human agency of Africans. His father's failure
to inherit titles haunts Okonkwo throughout his life, leading him to adhere to a strict
'masculine' version of what he believes 'tradition' to be.
When confronted with
contradictions within his society, such as the need to kill his adopted son Ikemefuna, or
those introduced from outside, mainly the arrival of Europeans and Christianity, he is
unable to adapt, leading to his own self-destruction. Okonkwo's subjectivity and personal
struggles with these situations are vividly apparent, as are the traumatic effects of the
imposition of European influence and colonial rule.
As excellent a rebuttal to imperialist discourse within colonial literature as Things
Fall Apart was, its approach to women within African society reproduced many of the
4
Carola M. Kaplan. "Colonizers, Cannibals, and the Horror of Good Intentions in Joseph Conrad's Heart of
Darkness" Studies In Short Fiction; Summer 1997; 34, 3. (323)
5
Chinua Achebe. "The Novelist as Teacher" in Hopes and Impediments. New York: Anchor Books, 1988.
(44)
3
same issues concerning gender relations as it had attempted to displace regarding race.
Kwadwo Osei-Nyame rightly observes that "Achebe's text links and identifies power and
authority with masculinity."7 Throughout the novel, women's voices are rarely heard
except in the context of male interactions. The only instances of interaction between two
women outside the company of men are occasional exchanges between Okonkwo's
second wife, Ekwefi, and her daughter, Ezinma, and one short conversation between
Ekwefi and Chielo the priestess at a wrestling match. The latter exchange occurs the day
after Okonkwo had almost shot Ekwefi for talking back after he had beaten her. Though
Ekwefi says that, "I cannot yet find a mouth with which to tell the story", there is no
indication of her reaction to the incident nor of her anger at Okonkwo.8 Thus, her voice
is written out of the story, despite her role as the most prominent female character.
While the thoughts and emotions of men are evident throughout the novel, those
of female characters are rarely heard, except concerning motherhood. Two such cases
involve Ekwefi in chapters nine and eleven with her daughter, Ezinma. In both instances,
her emotions are limited to her desire for and love of her offspring. Ekwefi's existence in
the novel is restricted to her trials and tribulations of producing children, bearing nine
before having one that lives beyond infancy. "Ekwefi believed deep inside her that
Ezinma had come to stay. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own
life any kind of meaning."9 Thus, the reader is left to believe that the meaning of life for
Ekwefi, and by extension most Igbo and African women, lies in motherhood. Other than
6
Chinua Achebe. The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart. London: Picador, 1988 [1958]. (17)
Kwadwo Osei-Nyame. "Chinua Achebe Writing Culture: Representations of Gender and Tradition in
Things Fall Apart" Research in African Literatures: Summer 1999; 30, 2. (150)
8
Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 49-50.
9
Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 72.
7
4
Ekwefi's battles to become a mother, the novel leaves a rather uncritical view of
motherhood.
Achebe's work is not unique in its silence regarding women's voices. Throughout
most African male-authored texts, women are depicted as either morally deficient
characters such as prostitutes, or objective symbols of African tradition. These tropes
closely parallel the "imaginary" and "symbolic" colonial texts identified by JanMohamed.
Florence Stratton identifies these constructions as "sweep of history", in which woman is
"employed as an index of the changing state of the nation", and "pot of culture", which
"analogizes woman to traditional values of a bygone culture."10 She identifies both of
these approaches as belonging to the same phenomenon, the elaboration of "a gendered
theory of nationhood and of writing, one that excludes women from the creative
production of the national polity, of identity, and of literary texts."11 In both cases, the
subjectivity of women is absent in favour of the use of the female sex as a symbol for the
drama and dilemmas of men. Chandra Mohanty makes the distinction between the
representation of "Woman" and that of "women", the latter being "real, material subjects
of their collective histories."12 However, similar to colonialist literature's treatment of
Africans, most African male authors reduce "Woman" to either an imagined mirror of
male supremacy or a symbolic object used to advance a counter-discourse to racist
depictions of Africa in general. Thus, for African male authors, gender is merely a
construct through which issues of race can be symbolically illuminated.
10
Florence Stratton. "'Periodic Embodiments': A Ubiquitous Trope In African Men's Writing" Research in
African Literatures; Spring 1990; 21, 1. (112)
11
Stratton, "Periodic Embodiments", 122.
12
Chandra Mohanty. Feminism Without Borders. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. (19)
5
As a consequence of such an approach women were excluded from the process of
reclaiming ownership of dignified African society and tradition. As Susan Andrade
states, the question must be asked, "Whose tradition is being made, and how should it be
represented?"13 In much of the early works of anti-colonial male authors, the tradition
that is represented excludes women, and thus half of all Africans, leading to a
problematic conception of African nationalism. Well after a strong male-centred African
literary tradition had been established, it was only in the 1970s that female authors began
to make an impact on the African literary scene. These women authors thus had two
primary goals, to discredit depictions of Africans by imperialists, including those of some
international feminists, and to re-write the framework of African nationalism to include
the voices of women.
Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood is a carefully framed response to the
shortcomings of anti-colonial texts such as Things Fall Apart. Written in 1977 amid
some turmoil in her own family life14, Emecheta's novel deconstructs many of the myths
perpetuated in male-authored African literature, such as women as unquestioning
representatives of traditional values, the supposed moral decay of some 'modern' women,
and the idealistic representation of motherhood. As Joya Uraizee states, Emecheta is
"particularly concerned with defining what it is that makes [her] nation postcolonial,"15
the implication being that a postcolonial state must include women's input. Thus, her
purpose may be said to be the same as that of African male writers, asserting claim to
African subjectivity, except for her desire to include women.
13
Susan Z. Andrade. "Rewriting History, Motherhood, and Rebellion" Research in African Literatures;
Spring 1990; 21, 1. (91)
14
Buchi Emecheta. Head Above Water: An Autobiography. London: Fontana, 1986. (237-239)
15
Joya Uraizee. This Is No Place For A Woman. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2000. (7)
6
As in Things Fall Apart, the opening of The Joys of Motherhood locates the
central character in a specific historical time and social space, thus illustrating the
historical subjectivity of the main character, Nnu Ego. "The year was 1934 and the place
was Lagos, then a British colony."16 As with Achebe's work, the main character is
haunted by the legacy of a parent, and thus adopts a strict gendered interpretation of
tradition and respectability in the face of a rapidly changing social environment. Both
Okonkwo and Nnu Ego have children who reject their parent's vision of society. In the
end, both protagonists lead themselves to their own self-destruction.
Given these
similarities, the changing realities caused by colonialism are portrayed similarly.
However, in Things Fall Apart, the world that falls apart is a male world. Though she
has been criticized for stereotyping men, Emecheta's work repositions women at the
centre of the colonial experience, and thus challenges the perceived overvaluation of
male voices in earlier works.17
In contrast to Things Fall Apart, Emecheta does not depict colonialism as a
sudden catastrophic event, but as a social process that gradually affects the lives of the
novel's characters. With such an approach, she contrasts the life of Nnu Ego's mother,
Ona, in turn-of-the-century Igboland with that of Nnu Ego herself in 1930s and 1940s
colonial Lagos. Ona's and Nnu Ego's lives in Ibuza are used to illustrate the existence of
patriarchy in traditional society. While treating Agbadi during his illness, Ona's threats to
return to her father's compound illustrate her choice between accepting subordination to
her father or to her lover.18 As Ketu Katrak notes, "Emecheta's women protagonists are
16
Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood. London: Heinemann, 1982 [1979]. (7)
Florence Stratton. Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. New York: Routledge,
1994. (117)
18
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 16.
17
7
depicted as belonging at every stage of their lives to some male figure."19 Obi Idayi's
praise song, "'My sons, you will grow to be kings among men.… My daughters, you will
grow to rock your children's children,"20 illustrates the importance placed on childbearing in traditional society, while providing an ironic parallel between the world of
powerful kingly men and that of motherly women.
However, unlike many European feminists, Emecheta does not locate traditional
society as the sole source of African women's oppression. Several critics contend that the
Igbo Women's War, labelled the "Aba Riots" by the British, has a silent presence in The
Joys of Motherhood. In 1929, thousands of Igbo women mobilized to protest policies of
the colonial government that excluded women from power.
Their techniques of
mobilization conformed to traditional methods in which women could exert their
influence, but this was not recognized by the colonial government who brutally repressed
the uprising.21 This incident is a vivid illustration of the ways in which colonial rule
delegitimized and further suppressed forms of expression and agency particular to
women.
Similar ways in which the urban colonial setting led to the transformation of
social, political and economic relations to the disadvantage of women is evident
throughout the novel's treatment of Nnu Ego's life in Lagos. The most obvious and
disruptive change affecting women in the urban environment was the shift to a capitalist
market economy based on money. Thus, Nnu Ego and her co-wives become dependent
upon the wage earned by their husband in order to feed themselves and their family. The
19
Ketu H. Katrak. "Womanhood/Motherhood: Variations on a Theme in Selected Novels of Buchi
Emecheta" Journal of Commonwealth Literature; 1988; 22, 1. (163)
20
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 29.
21
Andrade, "Rewriting History", 95-97.
8
economic activity that women engage in is often difficult and/or demeaning, and is done
in order to pay for their (usually male) children's education in European-run schools.
Thus, women's responsibilities to the male members of their family are increased, leaving
little money for their own needs or wants. Emecheta illustrates the powerlessness of
women within the colonial economy with her description of Adaku's and Nnu Ego's
cooking strike. Though women are in charge of food preparation within the household,
Nnaife is easily able to survive his wives' cooking strike by sharing meals with his coworkers.22
Thus, The Joys of Motherhood illustrates the dual oppression operating within
colonial society. Forms of patriarchy illustrated in Ibuza are reinforced by new colonial
ideologies in Lagos that also introduce new forms of women's subordination.
As
Florence Stratton notes, "Nnu Ego is, then, in contrast to her female forebears, subject to
two forms of oppression, to definitions imposed on her by colonial society as well as by
Ibuza patriarchy."23
The importance of women's strength in precolonial Ibuza is
illustrated by the narrator's observation that "a woman who gave in to a man without first
fighting for her honour was never respected. To regard a woman who is quiet and timid
as desirable was something that came… with Christianity and other changes."24
Unlike her male counterparts, Emecheta seeks to dismantle aspects of both
traditional and colonial patriarchy in order to construct an alternative nationalist vision.
The issue of motherhood and the importance attached to it in both the precolonial and
colonial contexts is of central concern in The Joys of Motherhood. Male-authored texts,
Katrak, "Womanhood/Motherhood", 160-162.
22
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 143.
23
Stratton, Contemporary African Literature, 113.
24
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 10.
9
including Things Fall Apart, often portray an idealized version of motherhood and childbearing that reflects their image of women as personifications of African tradition and
identity. In Achebe's work, the problematic nature of children is only expressed from a
male perspective, as Nwoye defies his father and joins the Christian community. As
noted earlier, he unquestioningly portrays motherhood as the pinnacle of womanhood.
Additionally, he uses imagery that objectifies motherhood and mothering in order to
represent the integrity of Igbo life. Okonkwo's place of exile is to his Motherland,
because, as his uncle Uchendu explains, "A man… finds refuge in his motherland. Your
mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is
supreme."25 The problematic nature of this conception is explained by Omar Sougou:
"To write about Africa as the mother, or to write the mother as a substitute for nurture
and security, is not the same as paying attention to women as mothers."26 By objectifying
motherhood, Achebe is not critical of its role in society.
As Carole Boyce-Davis
describes, "Achebe expresses, on the literal and symbolic levels, the importance of
women and motherhood [yet] his primary concern is woman's place within man's
experience and man's lone struggle with larger social and political forces."27
In The Joys of Motherhood Emecheta seeks to correct this idealization of
motherhood by illustrating the problematic social values attached to it in the precolonial,
colonial, and by extension post-colonial, contexts.
As Katrak notes, "the joys of
motherhood are experienced by Nnu Ego as the sorrows of motherhood."28
This
25
Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 113.
Omar Sougou. Writing Across Cultures. New York: Rodopi, 2002. (92)
27
Carole Boyce Davies. "Motherhood in the Works of Some Male and Female Igbo Writers: Achebe,
Emecheta, Nwapa, and Nzaekwa." in Carole B. Davies and Anne Adams Graves (eds.). Ngambika: Studies
of Women In African Literature. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1986. (247)
28
Katrak, "Womanhood/Motherhood", 166-167.
26
10
emphasis on motherhood depicted in male-authored texts such as Things Fall Apart also
exists in Joys of Motherhood, though in de-romanticized form. The novel opens with
Nnu Ego preparing to commit suicide over her personal failure to bear offspring, yet by
the end of the text, she dies alone despite having nine children. Thus, Emecheta critiques
the social construct of motherhood, illustrating the problems of both success and failure
within it.
Many male authors use similar techniques to those of colonialist writers in that
they objectify the existence of others (Africans or women) in order to illustrate the
subjectivity of themselves. In so doing, male writers effectively eliminate the existence
of women as subjective beings, in what Florence Stratton calls a "conspiracy of silence, a
silence that protects male interests."29 The tropes of motherhood and womanhood in
Things Fall Apart and other male-centred texts deny their existence as real phenomena
affecting women. Thus, it is possible to apply JanMohamed's assessment of colonial
literature to that of African male writers: "Instead of seeing the native [woman] as a
bridge toward syncretic possibility, it uses him [her] as a mirror that reflects the
colonialist's [man's] self-image."30 Just as the imperialist claims the realm of humanity
for himself, so the African male author has a tendency to claim the realm of African
society for himself. Emecheta illustrates this using irony at the conclusion of her novel
similar to the way Achebe uses it to discredit imperialist depictions of Africans. In
Things Fall Apart the district commissioner's decision to dedicate a paragraph to
Okonkwo in his The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger represents
imperialist approaches to Africans. Towards the end of The Joys of Motherhood, a bus
29
30
Stratton, "Their New Sister", 123.
JanMohamed, "Economy of Manichean Allegory", 19.
11
driver represents the (inaccurate) views of male-authored texts by noting, "'This life is
very unfair for us men. We do all the work, you women take all the glory. You even live
longer to reap the rewards."31
In order to discredit the objectification of women and the idealization of
motherhood in many texts written by men, Emecheta seeks to represent her female
characters as subjective beings who are forced to interact with the constraints imposed on
them by society. Achebe illustrates the subjectivity of his protagonist Okonkwo by
contrasting his actions with those of his friend Obierika. Similarly, Emecheta pairs Nnu
Ego with Adaku, whose choices illustrate the options open to women within the social
boundaries of colonial society in Lagos. By contextualizing their lives, Emecheta uses
Nnu Ego's hardships as a mother to attack what Florence Stratton calls the "pot of
culture" construction in African male-authored texts similar to those labelled "symbolic"
by JanMohamed. Similarly, she uses Adaku's success as a prostitute to attack the "sweep
of history" construction in "imaginary" texts. In anticolonial narratives written by men
taking place in the colonial period, women are often portrayed as prostitutes as a
metaphor for the moral decline of society and the exploitation of the country by colonial
powers. However, in Joys of Motherhood Adaku decides to become of prostitute because
she believes that it will liberate her from the oppressive structures of a male-dominated
society influenced by traditional and colonial sexism.32
Rather than an image of
corruption and poverty, Adaku inspires awe in Nnu Ego at her wealth and autonomy.
In contrast with Adaku, Nnu Ego never entertains the idea of abdicating her role
as senior wife and mother. Though she is clearly amazed when asking Adaku, "You
31
32
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 223.
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 167-169.
12
mean you won't have to depend on men friends to do anything for you?", she refuses to
even visit her former co-wife due to her fear of other people's gossip.33 Thus, Nnu Ego,
like Okonkwo, maintains a strict, and problematic, interpretation of morality. However,
unlike in Things Fall Apart, both 'traditional' and 'Western' colonial influences affect Nnu
Ego's interpretation of morality, and it is not the sudden catastrophic event of colonialism
that leads to her downfall but the gradual shift in society caused by the intersection of
traditional and colonial values.
The power of Emecheta's work lies in her realism and in the subjective experience
of each character. As an attack on the objectification of women, neither Nnu Ego nor
Adaku should be read as a "symbol" of African women. Salome Nnoromele contends
that to view Nnu Ego as a symbol of the African woman is inaccurate and reproduces the
very problem that Emecheta seeks to address, the objectification of women. Rather, she
argues that Nnu Ego is a flawed character, whose "failure to change with the times, to
adapt psychologically, and to make tangible plans for the future is a form of madness."34
Nnu Ego's adherence to tradition -- or what she believes tradition to be -- is evident
throughout the book.
Even shortly after Adaku's arrival in Lagos from Ibuza, she
remarks, "Oh, senior wife, I think you are sometimes more traditional than people at
home in Ibuza."35 Like Okonkwo's fear of becoming his father, Nnu Ego fears not living
up to the legend and high birth of her parents. When assessing a rich relative of Adaku's
she thinks, "And she is the daughter of nobody! Yet look at me, the daughter of a well-
33
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 170-171.
Salome Nnoromele. "Representing the African Woman: Gender and Subjectivity in Buchi Emecheta's
The Joys of Motherhood" Critique; Winter 2002; 43, 2. (182)
35
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 127.
34
13
born chief, reduced to this…"36 When faced with these realities, her refusal to adapt may
indeed be considered strange behaviour and thus not representative of African women as
a whole.
Despite the subjectivity of her characters, Emecheta's protagonist's existence
cannot be separated from the oppressive structures of the society around her. While she
is clearly free to shape her own destiny, like all African women she must do so within the
context of her sexist society. Therefore, she makes clear the imperative to adapt and
make society compatible with the needs of women. Nnoromele asserts, "I see Nnu Ego
not as an object on which society heaps its 'unfair' practices and demands, but as a subject
of her own actions, as an active determinant of her own destiny."37
Though her
assessment is harsh, Nnoromele's point of view clearly illustrates that The Joys of
Motherhood is not merely an indictment of African patriarchy, but an illustration of the
failure of inadaptability in the face of enormous change. Thus, as a nationalist text, it
offers a strong revision of male-centred anti-colonial narratives that excluded women
from their vision of post-colonial society.
36
37
Emecheta, Joys of Motherhood, 163.
Nnoromele, "Representing the African Woman", 181.
14