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This blog is a response blog task given by my teacher. In this blog we have to answer any one question given it is an African literature paper novel.
Introduction of Author
A Nigerian-born author who has resided in England since 1962, Emecheta is best known for her novels that address the difficulties facing modern African women forced into traditional and subservient roles. Emecheta's heroines often challenge the restrictive customs imposed on them and aspire to economic and social independence. Although some critics have categorized Emecheta's works as feminist in nature, Emecheta rejects the label, stating, "I have not committed myself to the cause of African women only. I write about Africa as a whole."
Three of Emecheta's works focus on events in her life. Her first two novels, In the Ditch and Second-Class Citizen (1975), are loosely based on her own experiences as a single parent and are regarded as her most accomplished works. Both books revolve around a young Nigerian woman named Adah and her search for a better quality of life. In the first book, Emecheta depicts Adah's struggle to raise five small children while depending on welfare payments, attending college, and attempting to complete her first novel. The second book recounts Adah's immigration to England and her marriage to a domineering man who attempts to thwart her educational and professional aspirations. Their marriage dissolves as Adah, influenced by the women's liberation movement, begins to assert her individuality. Head above Water (1986) is a nonfiction work detailing Emecheta's childhood in a small Nigerian village, her career as a social worker in London, and the problems she encountered in securing a publisher for her writings.
About Novel
Feminism is one of the oldest movements in global history. There’s no single definition, but feminism boils down to ending gender discrimination and bringing about gender equality. Within this goal, there are many types of feminism. Instead of describing them in isolation from each other, feminism can be divided into “waves.”
The wave metaphor is the most common explanation for feminism’s movements, though it’s not without flaws. It can oversimplify a complicated history of values, ideas, and people that are often in conflict with each other. With this simplification, one might think feminism’s history is a straightforward arc. The reality is much messier. There are many sub-movements building on (and fighting with) each other. That being said, the wave metaphor is a useful starting point. It doesn’t tell the whole story, but it helps outline it.
The Joys of Motherhood is a novel written by Buchi Emecheta. It was first published in London, UK, by Allison & Busby in 1979 and was first published in Heinemann's African Writers Series in 1980 and reprinted 1982, 2004, 2008. The basis of the novel is the "necessity for a woman to be fertile, and above all to give birth to sons".[1] It tells the tragic story of Nnu-Ego, daughter of Nwokocha Agbadi and Ona, who had a bad fate with childbearing. This novel explores the life of a Nigerian woman, Nnu Ego. Nnu's life centres on her children and through them, she gains the respect of her community. Traditional tribal values and customs begin to shift with increasing colonial presence and influence, pushing Ego to challenge accepted notions of "mother", "wife", and "woman". Through Nnu Ego's journey, 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, mothering, and nurturing activities among women. However, the author additionally highlights how the 'joys of motherhood' also include anxiety, obligation, and pain.
Feminism
Emecheta’s work is not strictly feminist in the western sense of the term, and she does not fully identify with Western feminist ideals. Many African women have not typically viewed themselves as domestic drudges, confined to the endless domestic cycles of childbearing and child rearing. Instead, Emecheta and others have pointed out that African women have a different cultural understanding of the role and function of work, identifying themselves as powerful economic forces who have always been a significant source of the family’s income.
Still, Emecheta does not back down when it comes to critiquing the often repressive attitudes commonly held by many Ibo men of her generation. The Ibo, sometimes referred to as the Igbo, are a group of people who originally settled in southeastern Nigeria. Traditional Ibo culture called for strict regulation of women’s roles and a proscribed subservience to men. In her novels, Emecheta is often critical of authoritarian Ibos who take advantage of male privilege, citing it as a justification for the oppression of their wives and daughters. Emecheta has always defended polygamy, or multiple marriage, seeing the system as a necessary community that aids in the rearing of children. However, she argues that it is not a presumed right that every man holds, especially when the husband is unable to afford and support additional family members. She sees the unquestioning application of repressive attitudes and behaviors as systematically silencing women and barring them from realizing their full potential.
The Joys of Motherhood unfolds events in Nigeria during the period of time that it was invaded and colonized by British imperialism “in 1930 and moving forward to the time of independence from colonial rule” (Killam, 2004, p. 42). Killam (2004) asserts that until late 18 century contact between Europe and Africa was limited to slave trade. But since 1780, a new interest appeared. They sought a market to offer their goods and to develop their religion in Africa. Through developing the theory of social Darwinism, this idea was formed by Europeans that they were superior. Therefore, they were responsible to give Africans identity, civilization, religion and rule. That was the way they justified colonial expansion in Africa. As a result, African formal colonization began from 1885 Western countries establish themselves as the legitimate rulers of the orient, in other words, they believe that they have the power to build their empire. They are increasingly of the opinion that Third World people are in capable of self-government. Consequently, they have the right both to make rules for them and to control them and to bring about changes in their lives as well The European invasion and colonization of Africa in the nineteenth century had an enormous impact on Nigerian history because it brought about a series of social, cultural, economic and political changes in Nigeria. In the novel, Emecheta carefully depicts the way in which the colonial discourse brings about changes such as religious ones in Lagos through the institutions: “the workers are determined to be off only half a day in the week and that is on Sundays in order to attend the church. The marriage should be done in the church, otherwise; it is regarded as an illegal marriage. When Nnu Ego is pregnant for the first time, Nnaif becomes worried that he may lose his job because they didn’t marry in the church. Moreover, Nnu Ego, in the court, is told to swear by the holy Bible not by her chi”. Hence, Emecheta highlights how carefully the West develops its culture and rules through the institutions.
Nnu Ego lives in a society, in which a woman's identity is defined in terms of her relationship with man and her definition as a mother of many children. As Emecheta notices, “gender inequality” in the colonial and indigenous patriarchal society, determines the value of human beings: male child is attached to excess importance while female child is considered as “other”. We are told how Adaku is disdained by Nwakusor because she is not the mother of the male child. She was regarded as one without any historical identity when she was told, “you Adaku, the daughter of whoever you are” So, a female's identity is constructed through her relationship with a patriarchal society. Since "identity'' has a close-knit relationship with the place it lives in, a female's identity is constructed through her relationship with a patriarchal society.
Nnu Ego protagonist she was representing all African women and their conditions and also she was more in neo feminist than called her as feminist thinking because in their village Ogboli village in the background women are going for the field work but when colonized ruler came they can change everything then Male are work but for Nnu she was working and she was give her children best future she was facing many problems like first marriage not able to conceive baby then first child died then her husband not taking their responsibility but she was taking care of everyone she was not relayed on husband for her and family life born in village and their lived in city. In this novel there are three women represent feminism Nnu Ego with her born to death she was struggle as well as never complain about anything she was work and earn money for her children then her mother Ona she was strong and woman with male power then Adaku when she was having one daughter and realise that she was not having any source for money then she decided to become prostitute represent independent woman.
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