The African novel presents different images
of women in the contemporary patriarchal society. The
famous African writers like Flora Nwapa,Buchi Emecheta, Ulasi, Chinua Achebe, Wole
Soyinka, Cyprian Ekwensi, Amos Tutuola and Ben Okri use African imagery in
portraying and dramatizing the characters and situation, for effect and
authenticity.
African societies are primarily viewed as
masculine. Feminine perspective of Africa and African society,
especially about the role of women in African novels, is richly illuminating. In
African native religion and African life, it is the image of the chief deity, the
goddess of Earth that dominates. The chief
deities of the Ewe community of Ghana are
Mawu and Lisa. Mawu representing the moon is a female while Lisa symbolizing
the sun is masculine. The image of Mawu greatly influences the life and living
of the people. Though men do not duly regard woman, she is universally
acknowledged as the mother of mankind.
Dr. Wilfred Cartey‘s Whispers from a
Continent places African women geographically in the village. Woman
is used as a metaphor of stability. He quotes from Camarlaye‘s The Dark Child:
.The nourishing milk comes not only from the natural mother but also from
the earth of Africa, mother and earth
cross-fertilize and link together to from a
single symbol..1
Mother Africa is presented in the image of
purity, fertility and sustainer of the clan. Africa also assumes
negative image in the metaphor originating from the Greco-Roman word
standing for chaos, darkness and lack of order. Gender discrimination, family
constraints and social restrictions on women are the greatest banes of African society.
Some female voices scream that the real place of woman is in her home. However,
women are sometimes glorified in their personal life as family caretakers
and teachers. Woman constitutes a force to nourish and shapes the young minds in
her family. In the tradition-bound
society, she is confined to her home
discharging her primary duties. The creation of myth and literary image of Africa
meaning one‘s physical attachment, formulates the woman‘s place in the house.
Women, with their intimate knowledge and
experience of the spiritual world, as priestesses perform the
rituals at the shrine of the goddess of Earth and help in maintaining social morality.
Flora Nwapa, the most sought- after feminist, has the Lake Goddess as her
guiding principle and tries to bring people closer to the deity even in the
changed society. Goddess by virtue of her service becomes part of the society.
Nwapa‘s feminine perspective through the actions of her female characters catalyzes
the events in her novels. Lake Goddess Ogbuide, who becomes the kind and powerful
mother of Ugwuta community, asserts the feminine principle. Flora
Nwapa‘s Idu in Idu is lovable and submissive, a believer of male inheritance.
She even forces her husband to go for a second marriage when she fails to
conceive. But her husband Adiewer does not evince interest in the second marriage.
When he falls sick, Idu nurses him with least protest and dies twenty-eight days
after his death. In Emecheta‘s The Second Class Citizen , Adah is an intellectual, a
superior being.
A free woman is one who flouts the
conventional norms and for whom woman is not just to marry and produce
children. Flora Nwapa‘s Efuru symbolizes women‘s protest in Efuru. Efuru
determines to lead a lonely life without husband when she fails to conceive.
Efuru as a rebel, decision-maker and a social reformer, desires to change social
conventions that affect her own future. She negotiates with all possibilities and
remains firm in her decision though other women are angry with her and criticize her
for her indifference. She declares emphatically, .I want to be nurtured and
sustained by the strengths of my culture but I am also prepared to make changes if
any when the need arises.
Umuofia, the village in Achebe‘s Things
Fall Apart respects only one woman called Chielo, the priestess of the
Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. Chielo has a dual role to play as an
ordinary woman and as the one to reprimand the offenders of the community. She, as the
spokesperson of the deity, screams at
Okonkwo when he accompanies his wife and
daughter to the shrine of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves: .Beware of
exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a God speaks? Beware!.3
Okonkwo the great warrior and matchless wrestler, rants at Nwoye‘s
mother. .Do what you are told woman.
When did you become one of the nidche?.
Okonkwo‘s wife becomes meek and
dumb before Chielo.
Adaku in Buchi Emecheta‘s The Joys of
Motherhood symbolizes the struggle of woman to free herself from the
destructive traditional social dogmas that make her a wife primarily to suffer.
She seeks to continue casual relationship with men for material gains and physical
gratification. Nnu Ego in Joys of
Motherhood is a pain-stricken mother who
struggles hard to rear her children, and she even sacrifices her life for their
welfare. She defines the validity of her womanhood solely by the success of her
children. Buchi Emecheta, not satisfied with the image of mother, offers a positive
image of women by encouraging their education. According to her, .Women are
capable of living for so many other
reasons than men.
Ama Ata Aidoo‘s Esi in Changes is an
independent working woman symbolizing female protest. Esi is
also a dutiful and obliging daughter and granddaughter. African woman, besides
playing the roles of mother, wife, whore, courtesan, prostitute, daughter and
neighbour, has also become a political leader
and a professional worker.
Cyprian Ekwensi highlights the worse and
more disturbing elements of post-colonial African society with a
focus on the stereotyped female images. To create interest in the Western reader,
he has made subtle racism and sexism themes of many of his works. In Jagua Nana,
Jagua is a courtesan of high order.
She is professional in her dealings with
men. She cherishes her bitter experiences to mean something. Besides
being a courtesan, she is also a successful woman. She has assumed four
roles of woman as wife, mother, prostitute and extra breadwinner for the
household.
Wole Soyinka also presents the stereotyped
images of women that fall into one of the three categories: the
foolish virgin in rural settings, the female fatala in urban settings and the
masculanised matron. According to Davies, Soyinka‘s works present the kernel of
positive portrayal of female image that is
never fully realized.
Ekwensi‘s character Konni in Loko Town is a
progressing woman, experienced practitioner, and an
independent thinker. In Ekwensi‘s words, .She lived alone, she paid her rent, and did
just as she pleased.. Her main purpose of prostitution is to regain respectability.
Soyinka and Achebe‘s characters exhibiting
integrity and moral austerity boldly face the brutalities of
degenerating male-dominated society. The degree of resistance in extremity sometimes
involves serious physical loss and even death. Their self-assertion vindicates
their individuality. Achebe has presented the image of an idealized woman,
thereby opening the space for women to become active and involve themselves
along with men in the nation-building activities. They are the images of
progressive women though they are not fully evolved characters.