Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written as a response to Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss about The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta. Summary, about Buchi Emecheta, and related quetion about novel.
About The Joys of Motherhood
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".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.
About 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.
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. Her Notable Works: “Adah’s Story” “Destination Biafra” “Double Yoke” “Gwendolen” “Head Above Water” “In the Ditch” “Kehinde” “Second-Class Citizen” “The Bride Price” “The Joys of Motherhood” “The New Tribe” “The Rape of Shavi” “The Slave Girl”.
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. Tap to read more.
Question
"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.
As Marie A. Umeh said that,"The most celebrated female character in African creative writing is the African mother." We find that the novel tries to bring that in character of Nnu Ego. She is shown as celebrating motherhood but at another point we find that she is also loosing her woman rights while nurturing her child and being ideal women.
African women are representation of African society itself. The condition of African women are poor as a women. They are seen as reproductive machines. And that's why the same potrayal of women came in many narrations of novels, stories, poetries etc. Generally the role women has to play are protecting, comforting, nourishing and nurturing their children.
This video uploaded by WHO AFRO ( World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa) is showing women situation and women role in African culture and society.
In the novel 'The Joys of Motherhood' we find breakdown of glorifying images of African Mother. Since childhood as a girl, she is taught that her sole functions are to bear and raise children. That's what she did throughout her life. The ideas of Motherhood informs her fantasies and her dreams. But when Nnu Ego really became mother she started facing lots of difficulties and struggles to raise her growing family and childrens.initially her idealism begins to change. In the beginning Buchi Emecheta in the favor of Motherhood stated that,
"The joy of being a mother is the joy of giving all to your children."
This is showing a kind of enthusiasm of mother. Nnu Ego wants to raise her children the best way she can. Also wants to give them everything they diserve. But as time passes Nnu Ego ultimately regrets having so many children and investing so much of her life in them since they seem to have little concern for her well-being. This lines indicating her regret for having so many childrens.
"A woman with many children could face a lonely old age and maybe a miserable death all alone, just like a barren woman".
Throughout the novel we find Nnu Ego face so many struggles in her marriage life, some failed marriage, her children also died and after all this Nnu Ego remains with her husband and bears him nine children of whom seven live, among them three boys and four girls. She now diverted her all attention towards her childrens and husbands because she believes that if she gave her attention and time to husband and children then only her old age would be happy and Even when she died someone (Her Childrens) refre their mother with good intentions and good Memorie.
"She was now sure, as she bathed her baby son and cooked for her husband, that her old age would be happy, that when she died there would be somebody left behind to refer to her as 'mother' ".
Instead of praising Motherhood in the novel.Buchi Emecheta criticise Motherhood. He described that here Motherhood is a barrier of Womanhood. For that he use suffering of Nnu Ego. Here in the novel we find representation of a women who want to be mother and has high dreams and imagination for her motherly roles. But soon after having children she started realizing that a single woman can be happy even though she has no children.at last we can say that Instead of an honored and revered figure, Nnu Ego becomes a sacrificial lamb, one who gave to her family selflessly while receiving little, if not nothing, in return.
To know more about the character of Nnu Ego watch the video given below.
I hope this blog will be helpful to you. Thank you.
Images - 2
Videos - 3
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