The Joys of Motherhood
Hello, I am Emisha Ravani, Writing this blog as a thinking activity which is assigned by Yesha Bhatt ma'am for the text 'The Joys of Motherhood'. (Teacher's blog)
Who is Buchi Emecheta?
Buchi Emecheta, in full Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta, (born July 21, 1944, Lagos, Nigeria—died January 25, 2017, London, England), Igbo writer whose novels deal largely with the difficult and unequal role of women in both immigrant and African societies and explore the tension between tradition and modernity.
Emecheta married at age 16, and she emigrated with her husband from Nigeria to London in 1962. She began writing stories based on her life, including the problems she initially encountered in England. These works were first published in New Statesman magazine and were later collected in the novel In the Ditch (1972). That work was followed by Second-Class Citizen (1974), and both were later included in the single volume Adah’s Story (1983). Those books introduce Emecheta’s three major themes: the quests for equal treatment, self-confidence, and dignity as a woman. Somewhat different in style is Emecheta’s novel Gwendolen (1989; also published as The Family), which addresses the issues of immigrant life in Great Britain, as do Kehinde (1994) and The New Tribe (2000).
Most of Emecheta’s other novels—including The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and Double Yoke (1982)—are realistic works of fiction set in Nigeria. Perhaps her strongest work, The Rape of Shavi (1983), is also the most difficult to categorize. Set in an imaginary idyllic African kingdom, it explores the dislocations that occur when a plane carrying Europeans seeking to escape an imminent nuclear disaster crashes.
As we have some questions to discuss like given below :
1. “The most celebrated female character in African creative writing is the African mother.” by Marie A. Umeh according to this, is the character of Nnu Ego celebrating motherhood or not? Explain.
2. The basic narrative lends itself toward neo-feminism. The main female characters struggle to shed the conditioning which forces them to act out roles that bring little fulfillment. With reference to this, study The Joys of Motherhood by applying a feminist theory.
3. “God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody’s appendage? I was born alone, and I shall die alone. What have I gained from all this?” Why does Nnu Ego say this? Write your views on this.
4. “The title of Emecheta's novel is patently ironic, for it would seem that there are few joys associated with motherhood after all.” Explain.
In the Nigerian writings, this is something new where introspective female characters give voice to their emotions. The classic novel, The Joy of Motherhood, challenges the extraordinary expectations of women in the name of the ideal mother and helps to solidify an Africa women’s literary tradition. While articulating this idea from the traditionalist point of view of Nnu Ego, Emecheta gave impetus on the reality that women have the collective accountability to condemn and contribute to the societal order. The novel was given the title borrowed from the closing sentence of Flora Nwapa’s famous novel, Efuru.
"God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody's appendage? 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? In 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?"
When we go to the her thoughts which she expresses by her words. In a way she praying to the God that when the free woman will be there who is fulfilled within herself. ' I was born alone, and I shall die alone. What have I gained from all this?' this seems like existential crises in the women life. Further, the concept of Ideal Motherhood, that is to have many children and it symbolise the prosperity. The sacrifice by the side of mother that how she has given her soul to her children. At last she denied to give bliss them by giving the reason very fairly that on which grounds we examine the women's character as mother.
This novel took place in twentieth century in Africa. The traditions played a vital role in the progression of an idea of motherhood. They believed that motherhood would bring the contended and distinguished life Emecheta employs the technique of mother's introspection in which the protagonist realized that she has not brought fulfillment in the family. Found herself as a doubly colonized mother, Nnu Ego expresses the sufferings as well as sacrifice in her statement just after the arrival of her new twin daughters. Being caught in the web of childbirth and complicated situation, she had one such epiphanic moment. The psychological temperament and grief of a mother expressed in the following statement which presents the Nigerian women's response to a widespread predicament.
Colonised mother --> Double Colonised mother
This concept is being very clear in portrayal of Nnu Ego. That how Her entire journey is presented front of us.
Without motherhood, Nnu Ego feels empty and struggled very hard to be a mother.Emecheta wants to transmit the point that bearing more than five or six children do not mean that a mother is going to be prosperous in her old age. She examines the institution of motherliness, unpleasant experiences mixed up in motherliness, and its shock on the minds of the Nigerian women. According to Katherine Frank, "The complete futility of motherhood that we find in The Joys of Motherhood is the most heretical and radical aspect of Emecheta's vision of the African Women".The chapter titles, "The Mother," "The Mother's Mother,""The Mother's Early Life," "First Shock of Motherhood," “A Mothers Investment”, ‘A FailedWoman” etc., describes the ups and down in the destiny of Nnu Ego. The author has ended the novel by giving ironical title to its chapter as “The Canonized Mother”. Nnu Ego had to experience patriarchal slavery throughout her life and died in solitude. All mothers, Ona,Akadu and Nnu Ego, have been victimized in the patriarchal and traditionally strong Ibo society. But Emecheta’s Nnu Ego challenges the conservative conception that producing numerous children will give a woman much ecstasy.
Thank you !
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