17 Buchi Emecheta: The Joys of Motherhood

Dr. Rupa S. Deshmukhya

About the Module:

This module will give a brief overview of African Women Writers and outline some significant aspects of Buchi Emecheta’s life and works. It will give an overview of themes in Emecheta’s novels and particularly, the themes and techniques employed in the novel The Joys of Motherhood.

Overview of African Women Writers:  African Women Writers

Africa is deeply steeped in oral traditions and women are at the forefront of spreading knowledge and wisdom through oral traditions. This voice however, goes unnoticed in the territory of literary traditions. One of the foremost women writers to be credited with the development of contemporary feminist literary tradition in Africa was Flora Nwapa.

The exclusion of women from socio, economic and political fields is one of the themes of African women’s writings. Women writers also critique their position as the ‘Other’. Colonization along with patriarchy continued to oppress women and thus, marginalization remains at the centre of discussion in works by African women writers.

Women writers like Flora Nwapa, Ama Ata Aidoo Mariama Bâ, Buchi Emecheta, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Chimamanda Adichie focus on the brutalities faced by women and strive for liberation and freedom through their writings. They highlight the nuances of female experience by dismantling traditional structures and subversive practices. Carol Davies in Ngambika says “Writers like Buchi Emecheta and Mariama Bâ question and overturn some of the entire traditional attitudes to womanhood and women’s place”. (242).

Some Concerns in African Women’s Writings

Female critics of African women’s writings like Carol Boyce Davies and Molara Ogundipe-Leslie have investigated the role played by women writers in redefining the field  of literature. Carole Boyce Davies has examined African woman’s literature and identified some concerns which are similar and other which are unique to African women. (Ngambika, 15-16) These factors are:

• Motherhood (the presence or absence of it/its joys and pains.
• The vagaries of living in a polygamous marriage.
• The oppression of colonialism and white rule.
• The struggle for economic independence.
• The achievement of a balance between relationships between men and friendships with other women.
• The fickleness of husbands.
• The importance of having a support system particularly in the urban environment.
• The mother-daughter conflict or relationship.
• The mother-son relationship.
• The definition of self but not separate from tradition or other “man-made “restrictions.
• An analysis of these factors is crucial to understand the dynamics of African women’s writings.

Buchi Emecheta- The writer

Early Life:

Buchi Emecheta is a Nigerian woman writer who faced several turbulent events in her life and these experiences moulded her not only as a woman and but also as a writer. She grew up in a traditional environment, experienced gender discrimination and these factors impacted her life.

Emecheta as a Writer:

Emecheta started her writing career while singlehandedly raising her five children in London and experiencing the hostility of a new culture. Her first novel was The Bride Price which was burnt by her husband but, she later published it as her third novel. This hostility and oppression is captured with a powerful act of story-telling. The brutalities and violence of a patriarchal culture lend a cathartic effect to her novels and also underscore her immense resilience.

Her writings are autobiographical in nature. In the Ditch and Second Class Citizen chronicle some of the events from her personal life. In the Ditch is about her experiences in the black British life. Second Class Citizen zeroes in on the theme of gender discrimination and the denial of education to women. These two books which draw on her experiences were eventually published in one volume called Adah’s Story. She has captured the private and public unrest in the society and has grappled with the strains of a new culture.

Mary Kolawole explains: “To Emecheta and to several African women writers, writing as the brainchild of the author entails self-inscription as well as writing the collective identity for self-fulfilment.” (1997: 173).

Major Works

Buchi Emecheta is a prolific writer who has analysed the position of women in different spheres of life. She has authored eleven novels, four plays and has also contributed to Children’s literature.

The different roles of women as an individual, as a wife and as a daughter occupy a centre stage in Emecheta’s novels. Through her women characters she articulates a powerful voice to unearth the anxieties and frustrations of women. ‘Woman’ being an important entity is viewed differently as per the traditional and modern attitude.

Some of her prominent novels are In the Ditch (1972), Second Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood(1979) ,Destination Biafra (1982), The Rape of Shavi (1983).

Her Autobiography Head above Water published in 1986 records her personal history and the circumstances faced by the blacks in London. Her novels Adah’s Story, Kehinde and Head above Water represent the torture women experience at the hands of their spouses and how this stifles their individuality and identity. Some of the prominent themes explored in her novels also oppression; slavery and the all-pervasive, exploitative nature of patriarchy.

Accolades and Awards won:

In 1979, Emecheta received the New Statesman Jock Campbell Award for Commonwealth Writers. Her merit as a writer was recognized and she was honoured with the order of British Empire in 2005.

In this section we will get an overview of the novel The Joys of Motherhood and plot construction.

3. 1. Overview of the novel

The Joys of Motherhood written in 1979 is set in Ibuza and Lagos and depicts the tensions between traditional and modern beliefs. It also draws association between slavery and motherhood while exploring the dynamics of precolonial and colonial Nigeria. It is a powerful text which depicts the struggles of women in the precolonial and colonial Nigeria and postcolonial Nigeria and the repercussions of cultural collisions as the protagonist Nnu Ego moves from Ibuza to Lagos.

According to Marie Umeh, “The Joys of Motherhood stands as a model for other African women writers who wish to portray the actual condition of women and their response to their condition.”

According to Florence Stratton, The Joys of Motherhood has two major ideological functions:

a. To valorize the emergence of a female literary tradition

b. To refute conventional images of women.

3.   2. Plot construction

The chapters are ironically titled as The Mother, The Mother’s mother, The canonised mother.

Flashback:

The novel opens with the suicidal attempt of the protagonist Nnu Ego and then shifts to twenty-five years previous to this act.

Influence of Chi:

The story then navigates to the Ibuza homeland and the readers are introduced to Nnu’s father Nwokocha Agbadi and mother Ona. Nnu Ego is the love child of Ona and Agbadi. Prior to Nnu’s birth, a slave girl has to sacrifice her life when one of Agbadi’s wives dies. The slave woman pleads for her life and does not wish to sacrifice. She promises to come back. This brings us to the concept of ‘Chi’ in Igbo culture. Chi in the Igbo context refers to a guide but in this novel it is reincarnation. The chi of this slave woman continues to annoy Nnu and is also one of the reasons of Nnu being infertile.

The Loss of Child:

The novel is a tragic rendition of Nnu Ego’s life whose preoccupation is to become a mother and define her life only in terms of motherhood. The novel details the tragedy that befalls on Nnu Ego when she fails to conceive after her marriage to her first husband Amatokwu. Nnu experiences pangs of humiliation because she is not able to conceive. Her husband Amatokwu deserts her and proves his manliness by marrying another woman who begets a child. Nnu breastfeeds this child and is finally caught and snubbed from his compound.

A sense of Displacement and loss

There is a sense of displacement in Nnu Ego’s life because she has to move to Lagos to complete fortune as a mother. She marries Nnaife and her dream shatters in the first instance because the child that is born dies within four weeks. Nnu becomes hysterical after the loss of her child and experiences alienation and loses a sense of worth. Later, she restores herself after the birth of her son Oshia.

The Economic Burden

Nnu’s husband works for an English family but he soon loses this job adding to the economic burden in the family. Nnu has to carry local trade of selling cigarettes. After a few days, Nnaife is drafted into the army and shipped off to Burma to fight in world war II. When he is away Nnu and her son Oshia are forced to vacate the premises. Nnu faces many problems while taking care of her sons Oshia and Adim. Tragedy befalls on the family again when Nnaife’s brother dies and his wife Adaku arrives at Nnu’s compound. Initially, there is a rivalry between Nnu and Adaku but later they wage silent war against their husband by refusing to cook meals for him.

The growing tension in the family and expectations from Children

The tension in the family continues to grow due to poverty. Nnu and her family are famished. Nnu Ego assumes that her sons will come home to live and will care for her as she ages. “Nnu Ego realized that part of the pride of motherhood was to look a little unfashionable and be able to drawl with joy: “I can’t afford another outfit, because I am nursing him, so you see I can’t go anywhere to sell anything.” One usually received the answer, “Never mind, he will grow soon and clothe you and farm for you, so that your old age will be sweet”. (Emecheta 80).

The Joys of Motherhood

When her children heard of her sudden death, they all, even Oshia came home. They were all sorry she had died before they were in a position to give their mother good life. She had the noisiest and most costly second burial Ibuza had ever seen and a shrine was made in her name, so that her ground children could appeal to her should they be barren (p. 224).

Climax

The title of the novel is a biting commentary on the outlook of the society which validates a woman only after she becomes a mother. According to Mary Kolawole “The Joys of Motherhood is an ironic portrait of the artist as the conscience of her society. The story is one of Emecheta’s strongest indictments of a woman clinging to marriage at all costs- which she detests”.

This section will highlight some important themes and techniques in the novel The Joys of Motherhood.

Themes in the novel

4. Traditional versus Modern Culture

We witness different pictures of womanhood through the pre and post-colonial periods.

The novel chronicles the difficulties of abiding by traditional culture in modern society.

Nnu’s mother Ona is a representative of the precolonial African woman. She is a woman who asserts herself. Nnu on the other hand, continues to conform to traditional customs in the face of rapid transformation only to realize that these practices are futile. Nnu’s adherence to the values laid down by Ibuza patriarchy ultimately lead to alienation and she dies a lonely death. Her co-wife Adaku does not devote herself to the Ibuza customs and resorts to prostitution for survival. This comparison between Nnu and Adaku is a realistic depiction of the African society and it reflects Emecheta’s denial of traditional values for more radical positions.

Emecheta takes a dig at some of the traditional practices like Bride Price. In Ibuza, many girls are married at an early age to collect the Bride Price and this practice is criticized by the author. Bride Price collected for the benefits of male members in the family is staunchy critiqued in the novel.

Colonization

This unit discusses how colonization had a negative impact on the lives of women especially in terms of the social, economic and political influences. As Florence Stratton states, “Emecheta makes it clear that under colonialism women are subjected to interlocking forms of oppression.”(Contemporary African Literature and Politics of Gender, 109).

Social Impact

The Victorian concept of ‘The Cult of True Womanhood’ categorized women into four types as per their virtues. Any kind of defiance would bring reproach. The four virtues were piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. In this novel, Nnu Ego’s is steeped in domesticity and therefore, feels incomplete without attaining the stature of motherhood. Teresa Derrickson in the article “Class, Culture and Colonial Context “affirms, “The gender bias inscribed in the new, dominant capitalist system proves to be devastating for Nnu Ego, who is pressured to maintain her role as a traditional wife and mother regardless of the fact that this new system works against the success of that role”.

The narrator of The Joys of motherhood states , “To regard a woman who is quiet and timid as desirable was something that came after(Agbadi’s )time, with Christianity and other changes”.(10)

Economic and political Impact

African women served in the agrarian society. Their economic and political roles enabled them to voice their opinions and become self-sufficient. With the intrusion of colonial policies, they lost their independence and economic freedom. Men too, became pawns in the hands of white men. “Men here are too busy being white men’s servants to be men. We women mind the home. Not our husbands. Their manhood has been taken away from them. The shame of it is that they don’t know it. All they see is the money, shining white man’s money.”

Derrickson asserts:

“Nnu Ego’s barred access from reliable modes of production confines her to levels of poverty that make it nearly impossible for her to feed, clothe, and educate her eight children. This would not have been the situation in her tribal village of Ibuza, where Nnu Ego’s crop yield would have sustained her large family, and where Nnu Ego and the other women of the community would have controlled key sectors of the local economy through the production and exchange of household goods and services. Women’s influence over the economic affairs of their community gave them significant political leverage and allowed them to participate in village-wide decisions that affected their well-being as women”.

Men as well as women becomes slaves in front of the colonizers. Nnu and her children are almost famished when Nnaife’s income is subject to colonial masters. In the pre-colonial African societies, women were at the forefront in the political and economic affairs but they were divested of these powers with the intrusion of colonizers. The novel thus, traces the way colonization impinges on the psyche of women. Colonization along with patriarchy compels  a woman to adopt subdued roles and submit to the will of men.

6.   Link between Slavery andWomanhood

This unit discusses the similarity between a woman and a slave .Womanhood is linked to slavery because women do not have the right to assert their individuality. African women face oppression at different levels due to race, class and gender.

Impositions due to customs:

In this novel, the Slave woman is a literal and symbolic representation of oppression. In the novel, Nnu Ego is said to suffer because her chi is a slave woman. This slave woman was forcibly pushed into the coffin with Abgadi’s wife, Agunwa. According to some customs, a good slave is supposed to jump into the grave willingly to accompany her mistress. Thus, the slave woman did not have a choice but Nnu becomes a slave to certain ideals only to realize its futility.

Enslavement as a woman:

Nnu Ego is enslaved because of the idea of motherhood. This enslavement leads to identity crisis and she experiences a sense of incompleteness when she is childless. As Carole Boyce Davies affirms, “In many African societies, motherhood defines womanhood.”

Marriage is a kind of enslavement for women as she has to obey many oppressive standards set by my husband and family members. As a married woman, motherhood is one factor which enables a woman to attain status in the society. A barren woman’s position is akin to a slave and she experiences perpetual discrimination in her family and society.

Gloria Chineze Chukukere observes that in the case of Nnu Ego, “Motherhood does not always guarantee social and financial security” (1995: 193). In an interview with Feroza Jussawalla, Emecheta explains that through the story of Nnu Ego she addresses the fact that “raising a child is not enough,” and that “if you don’t keep something for yourself, you just become entangled with that child…you’ll be cheating yourself and cheating that child” (1992: 93).

Nnu ends up becoming slave to these roles and so does not experience the joys of motherhood in the true sense of the term.

7.  The effects of Patriarchy

The term Patriarchy refers to the rule of the father. This unit discusses the effects of patriarchy on Igbo women. Nnu’s sufferings as a woman are augmented because she lives in a society where woman is considered to prove her worth by giving birth to many children.

Emecheta has experienced the subjugating effects of patriarchy. Her husband burnt the manuscript of her book and thus she has subverted these suppressing practices in her novels.

Gender roles in a patriarchal society:

In a patriarchal society, men and women are not at par with each other. The former always assumes a superior position while the latter has to be in a state of submission. These notions are transferred in the ambit of the social structure therefore; people get influenced by the conditioned notions of gender.

A man being in a superior position has to hold an authoritative position and all his decisions ought to be acknowledged and considered. A woman is confined to the four walls of her house and her interests should only revolve around serving the man and his family members. Producing male children is the only thing which will bring reward to women. Women have no individuality and the freedom to think for themselves. In this novel, Ona is the only woman who defies many patriarchal norms but there are women like Nnu Ego who are confined to the decisions made by the male members of the family.

The gender roles are also dismantled to a certain extent. This is reflected through the relationship between Nnu and her husband Nnaife. Emecheta describes Nnaife as one, who is supposed to care for his family, but keeps getting more wives and abandons his children to his wife Nnu Ego to care for . Nnu takes on the responsibility of her family, a role traditionally performed by men. Nnu earns money and takes care of her children. Her husband on the other hand, has to serve the white men by performing tasks like generally accepted by women. This reversal indicates that women are not set to take up tasks which put them in subservient positions. Women need to understand the significance of their roles.

Gender discrimination

The novel elucidates the deeply entrenched notions of gender in society. Gender discrimination takes place in the private and public sphere. Women are not considered worthy of being educated. There is inequality in terms of education given to girls. Nnu and her husband think about their sons’ education and daughters are considered as mere objects. Nnu Ego looks forward to getting the bride price of her girls to send the boys to school as advised by Adankwo:“And if you are ever in a bad patch with the boys’ education, don’t you know that girls grow very quickly, the twins bride price will help out.”

Thus, the money they get as bride price is also used for the son’s education. Nnu Ego and her husband Nnaife strive to give best education to their son Oshia. Their second son Adim is also considered for this privilege but the daughters are not considered for education. Their marriage was also a means to receive good bride price and use that as an investment for their sons’ education.

This is the result of deep rooted gender conditioning. Men and women hanker after producing male children. This reflects the deep rooted effect of patriarchy. The patriarchal domination continues to suppress the woman’s voice and submission is considered a sign of passive outlook. The novel is thus, a critique of the inequalities perpetrated against women under the pretext of upholding the cultural norms. It depicts the travails of women and the way their freedom is curbed in a male dominated world.

Masculinity and femininity

The idea of manliness is established in Agbadi’s case. Agbadi suffers from manliness syndrome. He had a soft spot for those from big houses, daughters of chiefs and rich men.

He knew from experience that such women had an extra confidence and sauciness even in captivity. And that type of arrogance, which even captivity could not diminish, seemed to excite some wicked trait in him. In his young days, a woman who gave in to a man without first fighting for her honour was never respected.

Agbadi gets tired of his wives and goes a concubine. This is explained by the author:

He married a few women in the traditional sense, but as he watched each of them sink into domesticity and motherhood, he was soon bored and would go further a field for some other exciting, tall and proud female. This predilection of his extended to his mistresses as well.

According to Ibuza culture, a woman should be happy when her husband brings another wife home. Emecheta portrays this in Nnu Ego when she pretends to be happy to see a new wife. Emecheta reports: “She tried desperately to control her feelings, to put on a pleasant face, to be the sophisticated Ibuza wife and welcome another woman into her home but she could not.”

Femininity in this novel is related to fertility and this is critiqued by the author. Characters like Adaku who assert their independence and chose a path for survival are not looked down upon. It is rather, women like Nnu Ego who strive to survive despite projecting feminine behaviour.

Polygamous practices

Polygamy refers to the practice of having more than one wife. This is one of the cultural practices portrayed by Buchi Emecheta The Joys of Motherhood. The culture of Ibuza encourages men to marry more than one wife. This is reflected through the character of Agbadi and Amatokwu. Amatokwu snubs Nnu when she fails to conceive. Nnu’s second husband Nnaife brings home Adaku despite the abject condition of the family.

Nnu Ego does not fail to express her feelings about the new wife: “For once Nnu Ego did not bother to hide her disapproval. She refused to share a room with this new girl and all their children… where are we going to put them all? She screamed at her husband and the girl”.

The effects of polygamy and its repercussions on the rivals Nnu and Adaku come across in this novel. The independent spirited Adaku is constantly pitted against the traditional Nnu.

While polygamous marriages offered communal care and mothering in pre-colonial Nigerian society, it can be argued that this is no longer applicable in contemporary Nigeria which faces “neocolonialism, mismanaged independence, failed democracy, the civil war, the oil boom, military misrule, acquisition of instant wealth without accountability and the debt culture, with its inevitable economic depression, [all taking] their toll on women”.

Each woman had to take care of her own family, which left no time to care for her co- wives’ family. Also, womanists argue that contemporary Nigerian women view polygamy as an insult to their individuality, serving merely to gratify the male ego. In Emecheta and Okoye’s works, characters like Adaku (The Joys of Motherhood), Kehinde (Kehinde) and Ije (Men Without Ears) refuse to indulge their husband’s male pride and superiority traditionally demonstrated through engagement in polygamy.

When it comes to Nnaife taking up his duties as the father of the house, he refers his children to his wife, Nnu Ego. When the children do good they are his, and when they do bad they are their mother’s Nnu Ego declares: “When the children were good they belonged to  the father: when they were bad, they belonged to mother. Every woman knew this: but for Nnaife to keep hurling it in her face at the slightest provocation was very unfair” (p. 206). Thus the onus of nurturing children was always on the mother.

The concept of Motherhood:

This unit will discuss the importance of mother and motherhood in the African context. Mother is a celebrated figure in African writings. The concept of mother has been analysed from different angles in African writings. In Negritude literature, the trope of mother is idealized.

Chinua Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart has accorded supreme status to mother. ‘Mother is supreme’ is an adage which is clearly elaborated in the text and the significance of mother in a person’s life is expounded by depicting the way a child seeks refuge in his motherland during times of crisis. This has some similarities with the novel The Joys of Motherhood.

Motherhood is this novel is directly equivalent to identity. Nnu questions her worth as a woman when she fails to conceive. Emecheta has critiqued the notion of motherhood by depicting the emotional trauma that Nnu goes through to experience the joys of motherhood. In the traditional Igbo society a woman is incomplete without children. Again male children are favoured over female children. A woman is made to believe that her status in society is established only after conceiving and raising male children.

When her son Ngozi but after four weeks that child dies. Nnu’s world falls apart with this loss and she says, “But I am not a woman anymore! I am not a woman anymore.”… And they all agreed that a woman without a child for her husband was a failed woman.

This statement by Nnu when she loses her four weeks old son dies reflects how her identity is defined by motherhood. She experiences these pangs of depression because the child just told the world that she was not barren.

The theme of motherhood also moves to discussing the dismal state of society for not recognizing the importance of a girl child. The goal of a woman’s life is to give birth to many children preferably male and strive for the family and children keeping her personal aspirations aside. Poverty for this woman is not only in terms of money but in the loss of children. Therefore, when she begets many children there is a sense of joy and completeness in her life.

However, ironically, it is this very fervour that entraps her in a lifetime of self-sacrifice. Yet, towards the end of the text, there is a sense of realisation in Nnu Ego as she declares God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full being, not anybody’s appendage? She prayed desperately …What have I gained from all of this? Yes, I have many children, but what do I feed them on? On my life … I am a prisoner of my own flesh and blood. (Emecheta 1979: 186-7)

8.   The Techniques employed

The novel records the development of the character and therefore, it uses the technique of Bildungsroman.

According to Marie Umeh, “Emecheta employs the technique of the Bildungsroman- novel of formation-to underscore the development of the protagonist’s mind and character as she matures and recognizes her role in life. She also skillfully uses flashbacks to weave together information central to the development of the plot and to the full understanding of her characters’ relationships to both the external and spirit worlds”.(4)

Conclusion

The title of the novel The Joys of Motherhood is ironic and it critiques all the oppressive customs and traditions which marginalize women. The apparent joys culminate into miseries and ideas of womanhood and gender discrimination are subsequently dismantled. Above all, it is a scathing attack on the colonial policies that subjugate woman by erroneously projecting positive ideals of development. The novel is an attempt to depict the realities of African women’s life and clarify romanticized notions of motherhood and womanhood.

Reference

• Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood. A Novel. New York: George Braziller,  1979.Print.
• Davies,Carole Boyce, Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature. Trenton: African World Press, 1986.Print.
• Derrickson, Teresa, “Class, Culture, and the Colonial Context: The Status of Women in Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood”, The International Fiction Review, Vol.29.no.1.and                   2.       (2002). Web:                                       20             Aug.                 2014.
• <https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/IFR/article/view/7715/8772>
• Kolawole, Mary E. Modupe. Womanism and African Consciousness. Trenton: Africa World Press. Inc, 1997.Print.
• Stratton, Florence. Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. London: Routledge, 1994.Print.
• Umeh, Marie. The Joys of Motherhood: Myth or Reality? Colby Quarterly, Volume 18,Issue 1March  1982.                                                                         Web: 21Aug.2014.http://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2471&context=cq
• Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, 1966, pp. 151–174., www.jstor.org/stable/2711179.