Assignment 1 : Universal Feminine Voice in ‘The Joys of Motherhood’ : 22413 – Paper 206 : The African Literature

• Name : Nirav Lalitbhai Amreliya

• Batch : M.A. Sem. 4 (2021-2023)

• Enrollment N/o. : 4069206420210002

• Roll N/o. : 18

• Subject Code & Paper N/o. : 22413 – Paper 206 : The African Literature 

• Email Address : niramreliyaunofficial@gmail.com

• Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English – Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University – Bhavnagar – 364001

• Date of Submission : 30th March, 2023

Universal Feminine Voice in ‘The Joys of Motherhood’

Introduction : In Buchi Emecheta's novel 'The Joys of Motherhood' (1979) we find the brilliance of well-maintained ironical tone starting from the very beginning of the title to the tragic or natural if to say so end of the novel. The novel depicts the agony faced by Nnu Ego on the path of becoming a respected person as she aspires to be like her confidant Mama Abby who is well provided for by her son. 

Now the question of relevancy comes; to what extent is the novel thematically connected with the society of the world? This we will try to look at with textual evidences and its relevancy to real happenings in history and modern days. 

Irony in 'The Joys of Motherhood' : 

The irony begins right from the title of the novel as in "joys of motherhood" is something Emecheta wants to hit upon as there is no joy as such in being a mother but it is just a cultural affliction imposed upon woman that there is joy in being mother but it really can only be felt by the woman who begets children that how painful it is to beget children and the worst is to rear it which patriarchally cultured people would see as the Heaven-assigned-duty to woman and as they believe that whenever God gives something, there is joy in it, despite it is prolonged pain and dire death it be right over there indeed. Irony continues as the story furthers. We find that how tyrannical the situation is when Nnu Ego has to force down her expression gush while roaming in the streets of Lagos in 1934 Nigeria : 

'Her baby ... her baby! Nnu Ego's arms involuntarily went to hold her

aching breasts, more for assurance of her motherhood than to ease their

weight. She felt the milk trickling out, wetting her buba blouse; and the

other choking pain got heavier, nearing her throat, as if determined to

squeeze the very life out of her there and then. But, unlike the milk, this

pain could not come out, though it urged her on, and she was running,

running away from it. Yet it was there inside her. There was only one way

to rid herself of it. For how would she be able to face the world after what

had happened? No, it was better not to try. It was best to end it all this

way, the only good way.' 

Her physical agony is felt even by a person of little emotions. She tries to suppress her inner fluctuations - both emotional and physical; and interestingly, this suppression is due to the outside society and people who are not even have any concern to Nnu Ego's life and her difficulty as a woman but still they are interested in criticizing her if she goes ahead of limits laid down by the patriarchal social structure of Africa which resembles to any same situation around the world, this is what the author hints at in order to be taken seriously by the entire community of the world so that the age-long oppression on feminine identity can be curbed and nullified thereafter bringing the overall well-being for male, female, and queer identities. 

Contemporary Relativity of the Novel : 

The applicability of any literary work is to be measured with the parameter of its relevancy to the real-life matters, to whatever extent, but it should have to have the realistic tinge into it if it is claimed to be the critical work for critique can be done of what is in existence, tangible or intangible. Here are some real-life illustrations that go hand in hand with the condition of Nnu Ego in the novel : 

'A year after the birth of Nnu Ego, Obi Umunna died, and Ona cried for

days for him, especially as he had gone without her producing the

wanted son. Agbadi relented when he heard of it, for he knew how close

Ona was to her father.

For over two years, he persisted in trying to persuade her to come and

live in his compound. "You are no longer bound by your father's hopes.

He is dead. But we are still living. Come and stay with me. You are all

alone here among your extended relatives. Please, Ona, don't let us

waste our lives longing for each other."

"You know my father would not have liked it, so stop talking like that,

Agbadi. I refuse to be intimidated by your wealth and your position."' 

Here we find that how hard it was - and also 'is' in certain deprived areas of the world even now - for a woman who is widowed and more on it having a girl-child without the roof of father to survive in the extremely patriarchal society in character of Ona and when she cried on the death of her husband Obi Umunna for not having her impregnated with a male-child with whom she could have spent her life by enduring on him when he grows up and starts working to feed the hungry bellies of him as well his mother Ona and the sister Nnu Ego. The statement that "You are no longer bound by your father's hopes." states the captive conditioning of femininity in twentieth-century African countries as it overlaps the boundaries by encompassing the entirety of woman-opressive forces functioning without hesitancy in all over the world. 

Anuli Aniebo Ola-Olaniyi who is the founder of Heir Women Development has talked about the freedom of women from the oppression of patriarchy : 

'Historically, Nigerian women occupied spaces that were not gendered. Westernisation and domesticity were the colonisers’ method to limit the potential of Nigerian women and dominate them through masculine norms introduced by the Europeans to oppress women. Our organisation is showing young women the ideology that needs to be unlearned so that they can take on leadership and decision making positions.' (Awodipe) 

She further highlights the importance of media and religious institutions in feeding patriarchy against the oppression of women : 

'We need to unify the fight against this menace. I find that media and religious institutions have a very big role to play in this fight. These are two spaces that daily feed into the lives of everyday Nigerians. SGBV is metamorphosing into a trend that we all need to tactfully and strategically contain. We have no time left to dwindle our thumbs.' (Awodipe) 

One question comes that why through the centuries we are discussing the problem of patriarchal oppressions on feminine identities and yet this societal, cultural, and religious evil has not yet been removed from the world! The answer can be that it is a hardline task to sensitize the large amount of people and educate them about gender roles and its uselessness in order to make them aware about the wrong done to femininity. 

Ideal-Womanism in Nnu Ego's Mental-Construction : 

As we see that patriarchy is not a gender-specific trait that can be found only in men, but it is also seeped into women as well. Women have started believing what is told, taught, and shown to them with the emphatical name of God or Heaven and other religious institutions which conform to sacred texts wherein women is just a subordinate object to men. Women believed, accepted, and lived their whole life by tenets given by patriarchal structure of society, not only by men, but by women too. In the novel, Nnu Ego is possessed by same madness to be an ideal woman by begetting children, to have reputable status as alike Mama Abby. Knaife again speaks the patriarchal froth : 

'He was happy with his children and very proud to hear about his family in Ibuza. He dismissed Adaku as an evil woman, and declared, "After I have rested, I must go and see that nice woman Adankwo in Ibuza. She must be longing for a man. For a woman to be without a man for five years! My brother will never forgive me."' 

The aforementioned excerpt from the novel has the patriarchal voiced narrated in the words of Knaife as he masters over choice of having wives and when to ditch who is not upto his standards, especially a wife who does not get him son. Moreover, a wife without 'protection' of a husband or a girl without 'protection' of boy is thought to be as negative signal by the family members of girls which also is a misconception erected in patriarchal setting of any cultural area. 

Buchi Emecheta laments the universal spirit of silenced feminine identities through the voice of Nnu Ego's character : 

'The arrival of her new twin daughters had a subduing effect upon Nnu Ego. She felt more inadequate than ever. Men---all they were interested in were male babies to keep their names going. But did not a woman have to bear the woman-child who would later bear the sons? "God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody's appendage?" she prayed desperately. "After all, I was born alone, and I shall die alone. What have I gained from all this? Yes, I have many children, but what do I have to feed them on? On my life. I have to work myself to the bone to look after them, I have to give them my all. And if I am lucky enough to die in peace, I even have to give them my soul. They will worship my dead spirit to provide for them: it will be hailed as a good spirit so long as there are plenty of yams and children in the family, but if anything should go wrong, if a young wife does not conceive or there is a famine, my dead spirit will be blamed. When will I be free?"' 

The spirit of becoming free from patriarchal restraints, the cultural conflicts, child-bearing then rearing it, religiously superimposed dogmatic subjugation, and fear of death - all such maladies are found in every slaved woman in all the parts of the world. Nnu Ego also represents the superstitious belief of spirit helping after death to those who are of her likes. 

Conclusion : The way of describing realities with deeper shades is what makes the novel 'The Joys of Motherhood' one of the brilliant pieces of literary writings in realm of Feminist Discourse. When Nnu Ego represents the African Womanhood, there comes the sovereignty of her voice which is of universal significance for being the soliloquies of countless silenced women of the world of so-called great cultures full of elite religious values. This is what is hinted by the author. 

• (Word Count : 1780) 

Works Cited :

 Awodipe, Tobi. “I Want Women, Girls to Be Free from Oppression Created by Masculine Norms.” The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News, 6 May 2022, https://guardian.ng/guardian-woman/i-want-women-girls-to-be-free-from-oppression-created-by-masculine-norms/. 

Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood: A Novel. G. Braziller, 1979.