Welcome readers! This blog is a response to a thinking activity given by Megha Ma'am from the Department of English at MKBU. Here, I am going to talk about African literature, focusing on Buchi Emecheta's novel "The Joys of Motherhood." Specifically, I will discuss two questions related to this novel. But Before that, let's quickly introduce the author, Buchi Emecheta, and a brief overview pf the novel. Buchi Emecheta is a well - known writer in African literature. Her book 'The Joys of Motherhood' is widely acclaimed.
'The Joys of Motherhood'
Buchi Emecheta
The Joys of Motherhood is a novel written by Buchi Emecheta. This novel explores the life a Nigerian woman, Nnu- Ego. It tells the tragic story of Nnu- Ego, daughter of Agbadi and Ona, who had a bad fate with childbearing. The basis of the novel is ;
' The necessity for a woman to be fertile, and above all to give birth to sons.'
The Protagonist of this novel Nnu- Ego's life centres on her children and through them, she gains the respect of her community. Traditional tribal values and customs begins to shift with increasing colonial presence and influence, pushing Ego to challenge accepted notions of mother, wife and woman. Through Nnu-Ego's Journey, Buchi Emecheta forces her readers to consider the dilemmas associated with adopting new ideas and practices against the inclination to cleave to tradition. In this novel, Emecheta reveals and celebrates the Pleasures derived from fulfilling responsibilities related to family matters in child - bearing, nurturing activities among women. However, the author additionally highlights how the 'Joys of Motherhood' also include anxiety, obligation and pain.
In the words of critic Marie Umeh, Buchi Emecheta,
'' Breaks the prevalent portraitures in African writing...It must have been difficult to draw provocative images of African motherhood against the already existing literary models, especially on such a sensitive subject."
About Buchi Emecheta :-
Florence Onyebuchi 'Buchi' Emecheta ( 21st July 1944 - 25 January 2017) was a Nigerian - born novelist. She wrote plays and an autobiography, as well as works for children. She was the author of more than 20 books, including ' Second Class Citizen' ( 1974), ' The Bride Price' ( 1976), ' The Slave Girl' ( 1977), 'The Joys of Motherhood' ( 1979). Most of her early novels were Published by Allison and Busby, Where her editor was Margaret Busby.
Due to the gender bias of the time, the young Emecheta was initially kept at home while her younger brother was sent to school; but after Persuading her parents to consider the benefits of her education, she spent her early childhood at an all- girls missionary school. Emecheta's themes of child slavery, motherhood, female independence and freedom through education gained recognition from critics and honours. She once described her stories as;
'Stories of the world, where women face the universal problems of poverty and oppression, and the longer they stay, no matter where they come from originally, the more the problems become identical.'
Her works explore the tension between tradition and modernity. she has been characterized as ' the first successful black woman novelist living in Britain after 1948. she began writing about her experiences of Black British life in a regular column in the New Statesman, and a collection of these pieces became her first published book in the year 1972, 'In the Ditch.' Most of Buchi Emecheta's works fictional works are focused on sexual discrimination and racial prejudice, informed by her own experiences as both a single parent and a black woman living in the united kingdom. she received many honours during her literary career.
Her Notable Works :-
Novels :-
- In the Ditch ( 1972)
- Second Class Citizen ( 1974)
- The Bride Price ( 1976)
- The Slave Girl ( 1977)
- The Joys of Motherhood ( 1979)
- Naira Power ( 1982)
- The Rape of Shavi ( 1983)
- Kehinde ( 1994)
- The New Tribe (2000)
Autobiography :-
- Head above Water ( 1984 - 1986) and Others.
Along with that, she has also written the Children's or Young adult's book, Plays, Articles and shorter writings also.
About the novel - 'The Joys of Motherhood ' :-
The Joys of Motherhood is a novel that is written by Buchi Emecheta in an attempt to treats the socio - cultural and economic challenges that Nigerian women face in an urban setting. It gives and exposes the obstacle a woman goes through when she is unable to produce child in marriage. Emecheta in her work of art detail a story of a young Igbo woman who dreams of leaving a traditional life as a mother of many children. Instead, she spends her life in Lagos, Nigerian, Watching as traditional values are eroded and destroyed by western influence. The hope and dream she has toward being the mother of many children turns out to be misplaced and her entire life is simply a struggle for survival with no reward in an old age.
'The Joys of Motherhood' - Published in the year 1979, is Buchi Emecheta's fifth novel and one at her most popular novel. The novel centered on the role of women in Nigerian society. The Protagonist of this novel is Nnu- Ego. Nnu - Ego grows up in Ibuza where she honours her father and her mother's memory, her greatest wish in life being that of becoming a mother. Buchi Emecheta narrates the entire life of Nnu-Ego : her two marriages, the loss of her first son, the spectre of infertility and its consequence within a traditional family society like the one Nnu-Ego belongs to, but also the relocation from her village to the city of Lagos and, literally, the Joys of Motherhood - living through the hopes and tribulations of the many children she will have.
'God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody's appendage... when I will be free? '
There is no great honour for a woman in an Ibo village than to have children- especially sons. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu Ego is sent away to a new husband in the city of Lagos, where she finally succeeds in becoming a mother. But things are changing, and a war that unfolds thousands of miles away threatens her family's fortunes and her entire way of life. So, It is evident in the context of the novel that;
" In a world where motherhood is everything, what will be left for her at the end of it all? "
Title :-
The title of the novel 'The Joys of Motherhood' is taken from Flora Nwapa's pioneering novel Efuru (1966). The closing sentences of Nwapa's book raise a paradox about the much-consulted childless river goddess, Uhamiri :
'she had never experienced the joys of motherhood.
Why then did the women worship her? ' ( Efuru)
Buchi Emecheta attempts to make an ironic point
with the title of her novel. She points out that there is no joy to life or motherhood for a
woman who chooses to live an isolated, anachronistic life in a changing world. The Joys of Motherhood is Buchi Emecheta's hauntigly ironic elaboration on those venerated, so - called joys. However, the author additionally highlights how the joys of Motherhood also include anxiety, obligation and pain.
“Every woman should be free to live the life she chooses.”
Question 1 :- '' The most celebrated female character in African creative writing is the African mother.'' by Marie Umeh according to this , Is the character of Nnu Ego celebrating motherhood or not? - Explain. [ With the reference of one article titled, The Joys of Motherhood : Myth or Reality? by Marie A. Umeh]
Answer :- In Buchi Emecheta's novel, The Joys of Motherhood, one witnesses
the collapse of these glorifying images of the African Mother. As a literary artist preoccupied with promoting change, author Emecheta, an
iconoclast, breaks away from the prevalent portraitures in African writing in which motherhood is honorific. Children do not always maintain
strong and loving ties with their mothers throughout adulthood. As Emeheta states in her novel that ;
" The joy of being a mother is the joy of giving all to your children.''
The title of the book, which is taken from Flora Nwapa's novel, Efuru, is then significant and bitterly ironic. Dazzled by ambitious sons educated outside of traditional Igbo values,
Nnu Ego breaks down and her old secure world gives way to a new one. Fully conscious to the irony in her life, she says ;
' A woman with many children could face a lonely old age and may be a miserable death all alone, just like a barren woman.'
Here, In the present novel Buchi Emecheta constructs a wholly different set of economic, socio - political and cultural imperatives which diverge from the existing literary models. The Joys of Motherhood is the most complex and difficult of Emecheta's five published novels. The book's complexity arises out of the
dramatization of the place of motherhood in Igbo society. At the level
of realistic narrative, Emecheta tends to present a far more well rounded and multi-dimensional character, emphasizing the problems
that afflict a woman because of her blind adherence to tradition. Of
particular interest to this author are the problems of polygamy (Jealousy
among wives and the inequity of some husbands), the problems of the
childless wife in a society that honors fertility, the problems of women
married to weak men, the problems of widows. Emecheta does not dwell
on the perfections of the mother. Instead she draws spirited individuals,
not without faults. In this book, the mother figure is described in a variety of situations. One witnesses the mother sacrificing herself for her
children, fighting with her husband in order to get financial support for
the children, protecting her children from their father's wrath, correcting her children and suffering because of their absence, their revolts
against traditional customs, their needs.
Unlike most African male
writers who revere their mothers in autobiographies, recalling their
mothers' affection, Buchi Emecheta records the troubled and chaotic
moments in a mother's life. Apart from the positive aspects of motherhood, author Emecheta records the turmoil and anguish of women who
long for children and of mothers who worry about their children.
Buchi Emecheta's artistic growth as a writer, demonstrated in her prolific use of literary
devices such as flashback, interior monologue and Bildungsroman, is
stylistically exciting. For example, Emecheta employs the technique of
the Bildungsroman-novel of formation-to underscore the development of the protagonist's mind and character as she nlatures and recognizes her role in life. She also skillfully uses flashbacks to weave together crucial information central to the development of the plot and to the
full understanding of her characters' relationships to both the external
and spirit worlds.
The Joys of Motherhood is a good example of an African Bildungsroman. The book tracing Nnu - Ego's Personal development from the time she is newly married until her old age. Nnu Ego's growth from a staunch traditionalist to a feminist, when
she discovers after many years that motherhood has not brought fulfillment, is cleverly drawn. In 'The Joys of Motherhood', however one is eased right into Nnu - Ego's unconscious mind as well as into her thoughts. For example, in explaining her temporary nervous breakdown following the loss of her first son named Ngozi, Nnu - Ego laments that ;
"But I am not a woman any more! I am not a mother
any more. The child is there, dead on the mat. My chi has taken him
away from me. I only want to go in there and meet her...''
Here, Nnu Ego puts forth traditional Igbo ideas as well as the role of
one's chi in the psyche of an Igbo person. But gradually a chain of disasters in Nnu Ego's life awakens her to the reality of her unrewarding years of suffering and sacrificing for her children. Nnu- Ego Says ;
" 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?"
Although this book is valuable as a feminist work, it lacks strong feminist consciousness and ideology in form. Neo - Feminist works, in general are controlled by the dynamics of struggle.
'Realizing too late that a single woman can be happy even though she has no children.'
For example, Flora Nwapa's protagonist Efuru in the novel,
Efuru, challenges many accepted mores and assumptions in the Igbo
community when it was not popular to do so, just like Adaku. Efuru
leaves her husband Gilbert when he falsely accuses her of committing adultery, and does so without sharing the sense of failure the community dictates she should. Emecheta falls short of being a serious feminist writer in
that her nlain character, Nnu Ego, acquires her raised consciousness to
personhood only as the book closes. Although her character Adaku
serves as a model of the liberated woman who conducts herself as a
"free woman" and provides us with a glimpse of how an African
woman conducts herself as a separated mother with two children, we
have yet to see a realistic novel which describes a fully liberated heroine
who lives an independent life as a respectable human being within African society. Because of the conservative sexual mores expected of women in the Igbo community, Adaku, by renouncing her marriage to
Nnaife, choosing to live alone.
In this novel, The Joys of Motherhood' Buchi Emecheta extends her metaphor of the enslaved Igbo woman, arguing that the society also programs women to be slaves of their male offspring as well as their husbands. In describing the joys, author Emecheta is at her best in the irony
implied in the title. Children give joy, we all agree. From this premise,
she builds an elaborate story to demolish the myth, while at the same
time pretending to uphold the age-old idea. Indeed, a mother of sons
should be happy; such happiness should help her to bear the grind of
poverty.
Thus, Nnu Ego gradually realizes that motherhood has not
brought fulfillment. After years of sacrificing everything for her family, our heroine is forced to understand that ;
'' the joy of being a mother was the joy of giving all to your children.''
It is also
an account of her gradual awakening, and the beginning of her self affirmation. Nnu Ego is a realistic heroine who is not totally defeated.
Although she does not achieve authentic selfhood in her lifetime, her
commitment to her sisters lies in her refusal to passively watch them be fenced in by housewifely duties and have too many children that bring
abundant economic and emotional strains.
Conclusion :- To conclude, Buchi Emecheta's 'The Joys of Motherhood' stands as a model for other
African women writers who wish to portray the actual condition of
women and their responses to their condition and the actual possibilities
of overcoming barriers and achieving individuality.
Question 2 :- The basic narrative lends itself towards neo - feminism. The main female characters struggle to shed the conditioning that forces them to act out roles that bring little fulfillment. With reference to this, study The Joys of Motherhood by applying a feminist theory.
Answer :- The Joys of Motherhood narrates the story of a traditional woman, Nnu- Ego who knows her identity and its completion in having many children, especially the boy one. suffering from poverty, she knows herself rich, for she has three sons. Having detailed Nnu- Ego's painful life in Lagos, a colonized city, the novel ends with her tragic death alone. Yet, far from being devoted to her children exposing her Joys of Motherhood. Nnu- Ego dies at the end of the story, a lonely death ;
'' With no child to hold her hand and no friend to talk to her. she had never really made many friends, so busy she had been building up her joys as a mother."
Through depicting the oppression and suffering Nnu - Ego experiences in Lagos, Buchi Emecheta indeed highlights the effects of capital politics and colonial patriarchal regimes in Third world women's marginalization and domination. Four Waves of feminism are there.
The first wave of feminism focused on women's suffrage, or the right to vote. Activists during this time period fought for women to have the same political rights as men.
The second wave of feminism, also known as the women's liberation movement, sought to address a broader range of issues, including reproductive rights, equal pay, and ending discrimination and violence against women.
The third wave of feminism was characterized by a focus on intersectionality or the idea that different forms of oppression, such as racism, classism, and homophobia, intersect and compound one another. This wave also saw the rise of feminist activism on the internet and the use of social media to mobilize and organize.
The fourth wave of feminism, also known as intersectional feminism, continues to build on the principles of the third wave and emphasizes the importance of inclusivity and diversity within the feminist movement. This wave has also seen the rise of the #MeToo movement, which aims to expose and challenge sexual harassment and assault.
Are Woman as a homogenous Group ?
As the story of invisibility and Marginalization of women who have no voice. Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood aims at rewriting an integral part of history which has been dismissed. Indeed, Emecheta seeks to speak for Ibuza women being multiply marginalized and oppressed by a colonial and indigenous patriarchal society. Hence, Emecheta as a Nigerian woman is the best person to rewrite the story of marginalization and suffering of nigerian women and her novel is an essential source of knowledge about them. Western feminism does not mean radical feminism based on which men are considered as women's greatest enemy. For instance, Ona is a proud woman With a male power. Adaku, a representation of independent women, struggles for her independence and freedom. Nnu - Ego, a traditional woman who accepts, the superiority of man and she always tries to be a good daughter for her father, a good wife for her husband and a good mother for her children.
"women are not as a singular monolithic subject. Even when they share the same culture, they are still different."
In that way Buchi Emecheta explored the condition of Ibuza woman. Third world women to speak for themselves. Adankwo, is the representation of those women who have accepted their fate. Internalizing the patriarchal values and norms, she herself cooperates in the oppression of Nnu Ego and Adaku. Hence, regarding Women as a category of analysis or, in other words, as a homogenous group, as Mohanty suggests that ;
'' results in an assumption of women as an always already constructed group, that has been labeled powerless, exploited, sexually harassed, and so on."
The Joys of Motherhood and the issue of Gender :-
Beside criticizing colonialism, capitalism and racism, The Joys of Motherhood Points out the ways in which women are silenced oppressed by native patriarchy and, however, this oppression is not mediated by race or class. Unlike other black feminists who merely struggle to expose African women's racial oppression within the colonial society or the effects of racism on Afro - American women, Emecheta attemps to highlight black women's oppression within the patriarchal IGBO society as well. she in her novels criticizes the way in which the patriarchal tradition views Igbo women and dominant them. she goes further to give voice to the subaltern African women through her female characters.
Reading Emecheta's new critical view, Bazin asserts that ;
'Buchi Emecheta's heroine Nnu- Ego in The Joys of Motherhood ventures into feminist consciousness, the awakening of self to the inequities in Igbo cultures, such as son preference, polygamy, rigid sex roles, and a glorification of motherhood, which all render women powerless.'
Besides criticizing colonialism, capital economic and racism Emecheta, in The Joys of Motherhood' questions African oppressive patriarchal tradition in which women have been dominated, disempowered and disregarded for a long time. However, the effects of colonialism, capitalism and racism reinforce the undermining and marginalization of women. Thus, it documents the fact that through her novels, Emecheta is going to give a self - understanding of African women. In other words, she attempts to reform the quality of African women's lives.
Enecheta in The Joys of Motherhood, attemps to depict the African women's marginalization, oppression and suffering within the polygamous system. she is going to expose how women are subject to emotional abuse, their sexual pleasure is dismissed and oppressed by male violence. Even, they are not permitted to say a word of complaint because they are women : the forbidden 'other' and the subject of domination. Hence, how they can question the male authority?
Adaku was the complete opposite of Nnu Ego, she could give birth to a boy child but she knew the importance of education and educated her daughter. Adaku joined prostitution for her earnings and decided to be an independent woman. While Nnu Ego was afraid of losing her respect in society and so she refused prostitution and worked in the fields to enjoy her motherhood. Adaku aptly presents neo - feminism. On the other side, Nnu - Ego loses herself in a path of empowering herself with a mother. There is a Irony presented in the title of the novel - 'The Joys of Motherhood' in which Buchi Emecheta tries to present the sufferings and loneliness of African mothers through the main character of the novel, Nnu - Ego.
Conclusion :- To Conclude, 'The Joys of Motherhood' is an extraordinary novel which unfolds the story of invisibility and marginalization of African women who have no voice, aims at reconstructing part of history which is dismissed. This novel attempts to explore the extent to which the colonialism, racism and Patriarchal society dominated Third world women and their lives. According to Palmer ( 1972);
'The Joys Of Motherhood' is the first work in African literature to present the female point of view in registering its disgust at male chauvinism and Patriarchy's satisfaction with an oppressive system towards women.'
Here, I am embedding the video of classroom Introductory presentation on this novel - The Joys of Motherhood given by my classmate - Trushali Dodiya.
References :-
(PDF) a Study of Buchi Emecheta’s the Joys of Motherhood in The ..., www.researchgate.net/publication/333296130_A_Study_of_Buchi_Emecheta’s_The_Joys_of_Motherhood_in_the_Light_of_Chandra_Talpade_Mohanty_A_Postcolonial_Feminist_Theory. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
“Buchi Emecheta: The Joys of Motherhood.” YouTube, 5 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=19PjQ8c3U4s&pp=ygUXVGhlIGpveXMgb2YgbW90aGVyaG9vZCc%3D. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
Dodiya , Trushali. “The Joys of Motherhood/Buchi Emecheta/African Literature/Classroom Presentation/SEM 4.” YouTube, 25 Jan. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGbHIyABBt4&t=258s&pp=ygUnVGhlIGpveXMgb2YgbW90aGVyaG9vZCcgdHJ1c2hhbGkgZG9kaXlh. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
“The Joys of Motherhood, by Buchi Emecheta Summary | African Writers | African Literature.” YouTube, 26 Sept. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1RlkLgVA3A&t=12s&pp=ygUXVGhlIGpveXMgb2YgbW90aGVyaG9vZCc%3D. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
Umeh, Marie A. “The Joys of Motherhood: Myth or Reality?” Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 1, March 1982, pp. 39-46. https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2471&context=cq. Accessed 19 February 2024.
Vallath , Kalyani. “The Joys of Motherhood - Net | Set | African Literature Series Part XIX.” YouTube, 7 Aug. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZ5V44bfB4&pp=ygUtVGhlIGpveXMgb2YgbW90aGVyaG9vZCcga2FsbHlhbmkgdmFsbGF0aCBtYWFt. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.
Thank you for visiting...😊
No comments:
Post a Comment