1.1 INTRODUCTION
The Trial and Other Stories is a collection of poignant and painful narratives about
widowhood in Nigeria. Ifeoma Okoye wrote the foregrounding work. It is through
this work that she captures many different sides of women’s lives. Although these
women experience hardship, pain and suffering, they persevere to the end,
highlighting women’s capacity to struggle and triumph through adversity. The analysis of the stories is necessitated
by the need to draw our attention to the efforts of women to regain the
pugnaciously ruptured status of women through an indefatigable search for a new
female identity. The widows resolve questions why we should continue to debase
womanhood in the name of culture. These women do not resign to self-pity, but
reclaim agency by attaining freedom from the limits and constraints of their
lives and their status as widows. This study affirms that the situation of
widows should continue to feature on both national and international forums
until they become firmly integrated into the policy agenda, because if this is
not done, there will be a perpetuation of this debilitating circle of
exploitation and repression. These stories are purposively selected for
analysis and are subjected to critical analysis.
Our
choice of Okoye’s The Trial and Other
Stories is premised on the need to improve the condition of widows in
societies as a means of achieving social engineering and change. This is
because according to a report by the United Nations, there are about 258
million widows around the world and nearly one in ten live in abject poverty.
Once widowed, women in many countries often confront a denial of inheritance
and land rights, degrading and life threatening mourning and burial rites and
other forms of widow abuse. Okoye calls for action towards achieving full
rights and recognition for widows because it is long overdue. At the community
level, it is important to review the plight of widows and ensure that their
rights are enshrined in the law. Empowering women through access to full
participation in decision-making and public life, and a life free from violence
and abuse will give them a chance to build a secure life after bereavement.
Importantly, creating opportunities for widows can help to protect their
children and avoid the cycle of intergenerational poverty and deprivation
(www.un.org).
Diana Meyers
observes that some people grow up in social environments saturated with
culturally normative prejudice and implicit biases or even in communities where
overt forms of bigotry are strictly proscribed. Although official cultural
norms uphold the values of equality and tolerance, cultures continue to
transmit camouflaged messages of the inferiority of historically subordinated
social groups through stereotypes and other imagery (1997). It is on account of
this that the study of Okoye’s short stories becomes important in the quest to
reclaim women’s agency. This is mainly because the wicked customs, which form
the crux of the stories under consideration, suggests that they are not only
oppressive but also repressive, not only physical but also psychological. This
situation makes them inimical to women’s agency. The study adopts purposive
sampling technique. Excerpts were purposively sampled from the collection of
short stories and analysed using the negofeminst
theory.
The relevance of the choice of the topic
treated in this paper lies in the fact that The
Trial and Other Stories by Okoye brings to the fore, inherent gender bias
and inequality in most traditional societies especially in Africa. According to
Nneamaka Chikezie:, “the common feature of all forms of gender-based violence
is that they are violent acts that are socially tolerated because the victims
are females” (20). The stories in this collection substantiate this statement.
In his exploration of the use of short stories to portray the plight of women, Onuora Nweke declares that: “like
writers from other regions, African women writers have utilized the short story
genre both to prepare themselves for the task of writing major works of
literature like the novel, and also to explore their vision in and about their
societies” (212). Always central to most works of literature written by African
women is the negotiation of space by women for proper integration in the
affairs of their societies instead of always being located at the periphery.
Similarly, Regina Okafor posits that in her short
stories:, Okoye encapsulates the various traumatic
experiences and tribulations of a widow: assaults, false accusations,
exploitation and more. (78). Furthermore, Okafor
examines widowhood as an institutionalized dead weight to personal identity and
dignity. This study therefore goes further to expatiate on how these women
achieve agency through negotiation and assertiveness. It advocates a re-ordering
of mind set on gender polarization. The women therefore reject the patriarchal
stand that women should remain essentially unquestioning and unenlightened.
1.2 THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
The feminist
literary theory provides the springboard for the critical discourse on Okoye’s
selected text. Jonas Akung observes that feminist
criticism identifies those areas of female oppression and exclusion and exposes
them. This takes place in the explication of literary texts to see how these
vices are imposed on women. We equally see the efforts made at rectifying
inequalities in domestic and circular relations, particularly in defining
women’s rights within and outside marriage by creating characters that become
the speaking voices of women. According to Chizoba Akpan, the focal thrust of feminism generally is centred on
the advocacy for the liberation and dismantling of toxic patriarchal
machinations (222).
The choice
of the feminist theory is basically to bring to the fore some of the basic
concerns of women as they aspire towards a non-gendered society. Zainab Abdulkarim posits that:
“what female writers desire is an avenue to use their fictional writings to
review the plight of the African woman through disarming tradition, cultural
and social structures that oppose women’s development as well as providing
alternatives” (335). It is our purpose here to dwell on feminism as the most
eclectic means of advancing for positive change in the lives of women. The
feminist theory is a guiding set of beliefs and principles that become the
basis for action. The feminists therefore seek to change the position of women
or ideas about women through different concepts such as Negofeminism
and the like.
1.2.1 Negofeminism
In addition to this, we equally consider Obioma Nnaemeka’s Nego-Feminism. Negofeminism is a
subset of feminism. It is the feminism of negotiation. It aspires to change the
world by regenerating humanity in an outstanding way; this can be achieved as
it negotiates peace between warring parties. It usefully brings together
analyses of key issues, events and arguments among the sexes that have been
over heated and are causing discord. Nnaemaka reveals
negotiation as the best option in conflict resolution between the sexes. This
has great potential for breeding meaningful development in polities. The strong
can only listen to the weak when they stop feeling privileged. Nnaemeka argues that “all- knowing”, “all- talking”, and
“never listening” feminist critics of African literature must try to understand
that the negotiations of African feminists with their traditions are neither
narrow-minded nor timorous. Nnaemeka opines that
western feminism, womanism, stiwanism,
motherism, and negofeminism
are all committed to restoring women’s dignity and equality in their respective
societies. This reiterates the need for international dialogue and an open
exchange of perspectives, which recognizes both commonalities and differences.
Nego-feminism, therefore, connects with the oppressed groups
throughout the world in order to open up avenues for greater development to
take place. Its objective is to rethink familiar arguments and highlight
textual moves, frame devices, while importantly drawing attention to factorial
forgiveness between the sexes. Nego-feminism reflects
on the challenges and possibilities inherent in any sexist tension. It also
allows comfortable boundary crossing conversations that were available nowhere
else to the same degree, which is why it negotiates between the sexes on any
generated tension between them. The experiences of the female characters in
this collection of short stories help in illuminating the attributes of the
heroines on the basis of the feminist thought of Negofeminism.
Accordingly, the stories in this collection point out the resolve of these
widows to reclaim agency and change their social status through negotiation,
modification and alterations in human interactions.
1.3. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
1.3.1 “Soul Healers”
In the first story, “Soul Healers”, Somandi shows her love and affection for her children when
she dares her in-laws. She goes to check on her children despite their threats
to disallow her. Her children looked sad and drained due to the absence of a
mother’s love in their daily lives. According to Okafor,
Somandi makes a mockery of the traditional regressive
order that separates children from their mother by flouting the restriction
order (79). She resolutely rebels against traditional restrictions on the woman
when she realizes that the system is indifferent to her and her children.
Her story of
widowhood is that of intimidation and suffering. Her husband’s family also
insists that she must not secure a job and earn an income. However, she
struggles because work in her opinion is not all about earning money: “it also
meant freedom, empowerment, self-fulfilment and self-esteem. It meant meeting
people, gathering experience, building character and learning to live”(12). She believes that a woman without any income of her
own would always remain someone’s slave. This character conforms to Adichie’s stand in A
Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions where she states that women
should “never apologize for working… you don’t even have to love your job, you
can merely love what your job does for you- the confidence and self-fulfilment
that come with doing and earning” (5-6).
Therefore, she risks her life and goes to see them in school because “no
one can love her children as she did. She referred to them as her soul healers”
(14) as the title of the story points out. Her intelligence, resourcefulness
and courage are commendable. Through her determined effort, Somandi
is able to win back her children’s affection and get her emotional healing.
1.3.2 “Between Women”
The story is about Ebuka
who is an orphan from a very poor family and is already widowed at the age of
twenty-two. She left her daughter to come to Enugu so that she can provide for
the family, thereafter; she is hired as a domestic staff with the Edets. Mrs Edet denies Ebuka permission to travel home and see her daughter for
about two years now. Her employer claims that she will not have time to cater
for the children once Ebuka is away. Uzoamaka Madu observes that “Mrs. Edet, who is a woman and is
unarguably endowed with all maternal instincts, denied another woman the
opportunity of the companionship of her daughter of such a tender age is to say
the least unfortunate” (150). The foregoing passage highlights a woman’s
insensitivity to the needs of her other fellow women, thereby emphasizing the
need for female solidarity. Apart from this, Mrs Edet
has violently treated Ebuka, both verbally and
physically, and this compels Ebuka’s aunt to comment
thus: “Well I never really liked rich people. They treat
others like dirt” (24). In the first part of the story, Ebuka is presented as docile, submissive and hard working.
Subsequently, there is a turning point in her life. Okafor
captures this aptly when she writes that: “the employee jettisons the cloak of
docility and submissiveness and bravely puts on that of defiance, courage and
determination and works out of Mrs Edet and her
claustrophobic house to nurse her sick child” (82).
Ebuka has to take a decision: either to be ‘enslaved’ by a
fellow woman because she desires a wage or pursue a better future by quitting
the job. She chose the latter because “Amara gave meaning to her life. Amara was her life” (24).
She has come to realize that: “It’s the fear of the unknown future that
keeps us glued to a deplorable situation” (25).
In this story, Okoye stigmatizes the abuse of the underprivileged and
extols the importance of family. Okoye desires an improvement in women’s
interrelationship and female bonding.
1.3.3 “The Voiceless Victim”
The story is about a group of beggars
struggling to survive and most of the beggars in this story are women. The
narration focuses on Ebele who resorts to begging
because she is saddled with huge responsibilities and is of very low financial
status. Initially the narrator assumed that they are simply “lazy people who
were reluctant to work for a living… despicable people” (35). The narrator’s
attention is drawn to Ebele, who is about eighteen
years old: “she was clutching a baby to her bosom and crying beside her was a
toddler” (35). When this young widow pleads with her for some money, the
narrator shouts at her. She tells her “Get out. You have no money and you are breeding
like a guinea pig” (36). This outburst brought remorseful and disarming words
from the beggar, a response that differs from what the narrator usually
receives. Ebele is not overwhelmed by the enormity of
her situation; she follows the narrator to the office and tells her about her
plight and the unfortunate circumstance surrounding her life.
Upon
hearing the young lady’s story, the narrator realizes that Ebele
is a “victim of child marriage, of child widowhood and a world of imbalances”
(42). At the end, the narrator appreciates the following virtues in Ebele: “her courage, initiative, high moral standards in
spite of poverty, her well-chosen words, gently
spoken” (40). The narrator admits that the beggar dared me to do something
about her situation and indeed she rises up to the challenge as she resolves to
help her find something meaningful to do. The story illustrates the plight of
women in the society. This is because sometimes women are subjected to inhuman
treatment on the basis of assumptions and misconceptions.
1.3.4 “A Strange Disease”
In this story, Enu
refuses the advances of her brother in-law who wants her to be his third wife
after the death of her husband. Enu knows that Onumba is possessive, covetous and selfish. She also
understands the economic and social reasons that give rise to polygamy. Okoye
points out the misery and deprivation polygamy can bring, far from being an
economic panacea, it could lead to economic disaster. Jealousy is also
exhibited; Akubia, his wife comes to fight her at
home even though she has not given her consent to marry Onumba.
Enu has become powerfully aware of its disadvantages,
and through her, we are made to see the misery that polygamy can bring.
Polygamy in this context is an instrument of oppression wielded by men to
subjugate and dominate women. Enu knows that men who
were polygamous in nature treat the newly acquired wives like idols until they
got themselves another idol. The author
is generally concerned about the fate of women, not only within the ambit of
polygamy.
Enu is very
cautious in the type of response she gives to her brother in-law because she
observes that he is: “an insidious man, didn’t take kindly to any words or
actions he felt were humiliating to him and he could harm her and her two
teenage sons if she refused his proposal in a way he found humiliating” (29).
Beside all that, Enu did not like Onumba.
She describes him as selfish, high handed and untrustworthy. He is also a wife
beater, just like her late husband. She receives counsel from Ebube- a seventy-five year old widow who tells her: “Marry
him if you want to be in hell fire for the rest of your life…. Marry him if you
want to lose your sons’ share of the family land to him” (30).
His action
suggests that when the kinsmen propose marriage as portrayed in this context,
it is not out of love but for material gains and inheritance and also to
establish continued male dominance. To overcome this hurdle, Enu applies a lot of wisdom and reason rather than emotion,
she dreads having to go through “widowhood again with all its attendant
deprivations and horrible mourning rites” (33). She comes up with a non-violent
strategy, which successfully paves a way out of her dilemma without incurring
the man’s wrath. This story buttresses the happenings in the traditional
setting where women in polygamy do not enjoy the institution as much as earlier
written African texts will have us believe. The bitterness, strife, rivalry and
rancour associated with polygamy are well typified in the relationship between Akubia and Enu. Her decision not
to get married is important because it shows the development of female
protagonists who now question ‘that form of happiness that is derived from
matrimony’. Her refusal also suggests she is now more informed.
Writing
on the subject of polygamy, Andrea Powell submits that polygyny which makes
specific reference to a man having more than one wife as opposed to polygamy
which is more encompassing is still being practiced in Africa. In addition to
this, he notes that polygyny dehumanizes women in many ways. This means that
despite its benefits, polygyny is intrinsically destructive to women’s anatomy
(166). To conquer this challenge, Enu pretends to be suffering from a deadly disease, which
is infectious. Onumba gives up his quest of having
her as a third wife and she achieves her desired freedom without confrontation,
she negotiates her way out of this dilemma and secures the future of her sons
in the process.
1.3.5 “The Trial”
In the title story, Anayo
is accused of murder and summoned for questioning by a group of clan women. In
a review by African Books Collective, we learn that “The Trial” tells the tale
of Anayo, a grief stricken and pregnant widow, who
stands accused by her jealous brother in-law, Ezeji
of poisoning her husband. This notwithstanding, she is determined to prove to
the women group that she is innocent. Here, Okoye explores intra-women
relationships by highlighting the manner in which the women group handles other
women in disadvantaged positions. She notes that the women’s group was
notorious for applying rigidly the clan’s traditional laws and sanctions. In
like manner, Adichie equally opines that: “women are
quick to criticize other women in an attempt to silence them” (27).
The group’s
duty is to find out the truth and to certify this; Anayo
has to go through the traditional trial to prove her innocence because if she
refuses, she will be ostracized. Anayo revolts
against the decision; she reminds the other women of female solidarity and wonders
why the educated members of the group will not speak against this injustice. In
this regard, we see the woman not only as the oppressed but also as the
oppressor. Anayo faces a dehumanizing and humiliating
trial under the clan’s traditional laws.
Anayo then reminds women about their situation when she
says: “we shouldn’t let men use us to police ourselves… this dehumanizing and
humiliating tradition” (48). Yet, none of the women stands up for her cause and
they insist she goes through the trial. She is apparently shaken by Toje’s response; this is a woman who often spoke of
feminism, injustices meted out on women by men. Yet here “she is watching a fellow woman being humiliated and subjected not by
men but by her fellow women and remained tongue-tied”(49) (my emphasis). When Anayo’s mother arrives, Anayo is
initially relieved that finally someone will stand up for her, but much to her
chagrin, her mother advised her to go through the trial to prove her innocence.
Anayo rejects the assumed self-silencing of womanhood; she
airs her view over her trial and clamours for change. The silence in the trial
room is described as ‘deafening’ (53). Her keen scrutiny enables her to observe
that her brother in-law dips his finger into the water before passing it over
to her. This makes her suspicious of his motives because she knows he is
desperate to get her out of the way, therefore, Anayo
raises an alarm. Her assertiveness, insistence and strong will come into play.
When she refuses to take the water until it is certified safe by her in-law;
the Ozo who
is present at the scene supports her and this singular act earns her, the much
desired freedom. He declares: “You’re free to go, our wife. The accusation
against you is dropped. Go and get ready for the burial of your husband” (54).
Ezeji is visibly
shaken and distraught, he expresses his disappointment thus: “You are not going
to inherit the property of a man you’ve murdered” (55). This reveals the
motivation behind his actions. Through this story, Okoye rewrites a scene of
what sometimes occurs at funerals in some African cultures but with a twist.
Rather than allowing the woman to be destroyed and reduced to nothing on
account of her husband’s demise, we encounter a female character that asserts
her eccentricity which at the end leads to her individual freedom and the
freedom of all women who choose not to be limited by the circumstances
surrounding their lives. Instead, they serve as agents of change and liberation
for the woman who rises above these limitations to advocate for change and
re-orientation. She is presented as an educated woman, who stands firm and
achieves some concession. She is intelligent and audacious, smart enough to
manipulate her circumstances and to save her life. Anayo refuses to
give in to the option of remaining silent as a result of a mortal fear of the
domineering male figures around her.
1.3.6 “The New Business Woman”
Mercy’s late husband Egolum
used to run an automobile spare parts shop before his demise three months ago.
She resolves to continue running the shop instead of starting a new line of
business with all the risks involved. As at the time of his death, she was
unemployed with three children to cater for. To get a good grasp of the
business, she decides to go to the shop and assess it so as to map out her
plans. This is because she is concerned with salvaging and securing her late
husband’s business.
Mercy
is not unaware of the problems and challenges she is likely to encounter in her
attempt to delve into a male dominated field. She desires to break the norm and
challenge stereotypes about women in this line of business. Although she cannot
identify the spare parts, their functions or their names and she did she know
the retail price of each item, she remains committed to overcoming all these
obstacles and maintaining the shop. Her husband’s business rival offers to buy
off the business and categorically tells her that it was a man’s business. He adds: “I do not know of any woman in the
business”; but she quickly tells him: “I am happy to be the first” (60). Okoye
implores women to take up the challenge and break negative assumptions about
women by daring into fields hitherto assumed to be the exclusive prerogative of
the male gender. It is necessary for women to take a leap into fields
historically filled with men.
When
she closely scrutinizes the records, Mercy realizes that the sales boy who has
been running the shop since her husband’s death was not bringing in much. It
dawned on her that he may be embezzling the profit. He suddenly announces his
decision to quit the job because he says: “I don’t want to work under a woman. This is not a woman’s business” (62). Mercy hated the way Adim and Odo “belittle her
because of her sex” (63). Rather than give up, Mercy decides to go and see Ezeleu, another spare parts dealer to seek for his guidance
and support. Unlike the other men who look down on her, Ezeleu
noticed her determination to succeed and offers to help her. He releases one of
his trust-worthy boys named Innocent to join her in the shop and guide her
accordingly. Ezeleu opines that he would be happy if
his daughters would grow up to be as self-confident and as enterprising as
Mercy. He admits that he has seen in her the qualities of a strong, steady and
determined woman. He also offers to come over to her shop occasionally to see
how the shop is been run. In this story, we learn that a woman can pick up the
pieces of her life after the death of her husband and make a success out of it.
1.3.7 “From Wife to Concubine”
After the death of Ini’s
husband, she has issues with her brother in-law who she describes as “wicked
and powerful” (66). He has become known for acquiring other people’s farmlands
by deceit, intimidation or litigation. In like manner, he plans to dispossess
her of a block of four flats in Onitsha. Rather than fold her hands, Ini decides to fight for her right so that her children
will not starve to death. She is also careful to ensure that the case does not
get to the court because he can easily get the judgment passed in his favour.
The court of law, which should serve as a place of refuge for the poor and
disadvantaged in the society and the last hope of the common man is shown to
have failed in its duty such that favours are granted at the expense of
upholding justice and equity. In this case, justice is passed in favour of the
highest bidder.
Going
down memory lane, Ini re-calls all the dehumanizing
widowhood rites she had to go through after Fred’s death and how she was not
allowed to take part in the burial although she is asked to provide the money
needed for the burial expenses. After all these experiences, she realizes that:
“once you give in to other people’s attempt to subjugate you, they would most
likely continue to subjugate you” (68).
To
show his desperation, Paul spreads word in the village that Ini
is not legally married to Fred but was merely his concubine. He also steals her
marriage certificate and all efforts to get another copy from the Registry
proved abortive. Ini originally owns the block of
flats in contention but she changes the papers to bear her husband’s name
because tradition stipulates that it is embarrassing for a man to live in a
house owned by his wife. Ini blames herself for this
huge mistake but she does not allow it to deter her from finding a solution to
the problem. Ini is not scared into giving up her
rights; instead, it pushed her to negotiate her way out of this dilemma into
liberty as imprinted in the feminist theory of Negofeminism.
Her next action after Paul gives her a quit notice is a sly solution, which
nevertheless gets Paul to stop harassing and intimidating her. She threatens
her brother in-law with information about his past, which her late husband once
divulged to her. Though she did not know the details, Paul’s reaction when she
mentions it suggests he has something to hide. From that day, Paul did not
mention anything about the acquisition of the flats to her again. On the
contrary, he returns her marriage certificate to her a few weeks later and she
continued to live in her flat without further threats. The story deconstructs
all the myths derived from the supposed passivity of the female mind.
1.3.8 “Second Chance”
Ogoli sets out to secure the custody of her children after her
husband’s death because she chose to remarry outside the extended family as is
expected of her. Three years after the death of her husband, she has been
working tirelessly to cater for her two children. Life has not been easy for
her financially and otherwise. To get over her lonely moments, she decides to
marry a widower who also has children of his own. She hopes that her children
will find a father figure in him while she serves as a mother to his own
children.
Her late
husband’s uncle reminds her that although she is free to remarry, she could not
take the children along because they belong to the extended family of Anachuna. Ogoli on the contrary
fears that her children are too young to be left without a mother. She exhibits
a mother’s love and sacrifice when she laments that: “I’d rather die than let
them be taken away from me” (75). She ponders on this
culture that “discriminates against widows and the children of widows. The
children had already been traumatized by the death of their father. The custom could cause them to lose their mother as well” (75).
The story illustrates that there are no easy solutions to life’s surprising
ironies, yet the end is a hopeful one.
Although Ogoli loves Gerry, she fears that marrying him would mean
losing her children to her in-laws. That is not a path she wishes to take
because “it would mean committing them to a life of unhappiness, a life without
a father and mother” (81). Her commitment to Gerry is only renewed when he
promised to protect her children, see them through school and ensure that they
are not taken away from her. In this story, we are presented with a battle of
will and strength, victory and defeat, yet Ogoli is
determined to make something positive happen and she succeeds. The story gives
room for women to make informed choices and break down gender stereotypes.
1.3.9 “Daughters for Sale”
Meta’s brother in-law has practically pushed
her to the extreme. Her reaction to his misogynist attitude makes people to
call her mad… He refers to her as a mad woman for daring to challenge him, she
says: “because I won’t let him continue to treat me like a goat being dragged
to the market for sale” (83). She comments that she was not ‘mad when she was
obeying him like a dog’.
Her story
has been a long tale of a disadvantaged female serving the wimps and caprices
of the dominant male figure in her life. Her own father had sold out four of
his daughters; one after the other to the men who could pay the highest bride
price. The money he acquired from this, along with his life earnings, he spends
on drinking. He sells Meta off to a grains dealer in the north and she
concludes that “that was just the beginning of my suffering” (85). Years into
her marriage, she losses her sons, Chidi and Johnson
and finally her husband, who died in a motor accident. After the demise of the
men in the family, she is at the mercy of her brother in-law who sells out her
daughters to the highest bidder thereby repeating the circle of pain in her
life. In this story, women are reduced to commodities exchanged between men.
Her brother
in-law denies her access to the money he collects from her daughters’ suitors
because the tradition says that:, “A woman must not
touch the bride price. A woman must not know how much her daughter is sold for.
Tradition says so” (86). The reference to being ‘sold’
as indicated in the quotation above highlights the commodification of the
female body and compares the woman to an article of trade; it reduces her to an
acquired material under the rule and subjection of the man. After the wedding
of her older daughter, Awele and her husband easily
abandon her and move on with their lives; Meta’s main worry is that when her
brother in-law collects huge sums of money as bride price, he leaves her with a
disgruntled son in-law. Meta learns that her brother in-law, Uko intends to use Ikechi’s bride
price to settle a huge debt, to show her displeasure, she threatens to disrupt
the bargaining that evening unless her brother in-law agrees to accept a token
as bride price.
Uko seeks for
help from the elders of the clan to plead with her not to carry out her threat;
he comes into the compound with some elders ‘like a rain drenched cock” (87),
he must have realized that: “a token bride price is better than no bride price”
(88). His response shows that male gender animosity and antagonism is
threatened by female awareness and revolt. Uko is
thus caught in a trap because of his greed and is now ready to listen to her
for once. By being assertive and insistent on pursuing her rights, Meta
achieves a commendable feat, which earns her the respect of her prospective
in-laws and reminds Uko that the woman should be
given her rightful place in matters that affect the children she has borne and
nurtured. In this instance, power is transmitted from the hands of the
oppressor to the subject, which leads to agency and self-identification.
In this
story, we are presented with a scenario of double exploitation of women: as
wives and as daughters. Okoye insists that this multiple oppression must stop
if we wish to achieve gender justice. This can be achieved through
self-affirmation and proclamation. The story points out that the strength of
the oppressor comes from the silence of the oppressed, this accounts for the
voice given to Meta, which reduces the patriarchal dominance of her brother
in-law, Uko.
2.0 CONCLUSION
All the widows in the collection of short
stories contrive positive means of overcoming their limitations. We see the
dogged determination of the characters to escape varied forms of oppression and
victimization. These women are able to define their reality apart from the
reality imposed upon them by structures of domination. They provide new points
of recognition, embodying Stuart Hall’s vision of a critical practice that
acknowledges that identity is constituted “not outside but within
representation”, and this helps us to discover who we are (qtd.
in Parker 281). By challenging the
figures of authority in their lives, these characters learn to draw vigour from
their feminine strength. Therefore, their presentation depicts the various
approaches used by these female characters to redefine previously understood
notions of widowhood.
These women
could have easily become victims of complicity, but they rose above it. To
achieve agency, Helen Cixous urges women to “urgently
learn to speak” (246). In line with the previous excerpts, Okoye gives women a
voice, which removes them from the shadows and brings them to the forefront.
The ultimate concern of our selected writer is a vibrant call for an end to the
oppression against women in whatever manner.
Feminist
concerns galvanize women and men, writers and civil society to work for the
abrogation of the old-fashioned customs and traditions against widows. Okoye
engages the sympathy of the reader for her heroines’ efforts to achieve their
escape from a seemingly hopeless destiny through re-orientation. She
assiduously seeks to extricate women from all forms of mundane limitations. One
of these is degrading widowhood practices as well as inheritance practices that
discriminate against women. This suggests that the African woman needs to get
rid of all the complex structures that militate against her success. The study thus
advocates for a stable society realized through the corporate endeavour of the
sexes.
Having
evolved through this process, the characters are enabled to seize social,
economic, political and psychological agency for themselves, and liberate the personal
into the political sphere to bring about social peace and harmony. To address
this, there is a need for conceptualization, which digs deep into the ingrained
and culturally normative prejudice. It would pave a path for peaceful
co-existence, synchronization and integration of all members of the society. In
this context, Literature as a depiction of social dynamics in art form has no
doubt played a role in shaping people’s consciousness. It is hoped that this
will in turn translate to collective responsibility for social transformation.
REFERENCES
Abdulkarim Zainab. “Female Assertiveness
in Ifeoma Okoye’s The Fourth World. Journal of the Literary
Society of Nigeria. Issue 8, June 2016, pp. 333-341.
Adichie, Chimamanda. A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen
Suggestions. Farafina, 2017.
Akpah, Chizoba. “Voices of
Liberation: A Womanist Reading of Lynn Chukura’s Achetyping”. Literary
and Linguistic Perspectives on Orality, Literacy and
Gender Studies: A Celebration of Oluwatoyin Jegede@ 60. 2018, pp. 221-234.
Akung, Jonas. “The Western Voice and
Feminist Criticism of the Nigerian Novel”. World Journal of English Language. Sciedu
P. Vol.3, No. 1; 2013, pp. 24-37.
Cixous, Helen. “The Laugh of Medusa”. Critical
Theory: A Reader for Literary and Cultural Studies. Oxford U P. 2012, pp.
245-256.
Madu, Uzoamaka. Linguo
– Literary Reflections of Feminism in the works of Ifeoma Okoye. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University of Jos: 2014.
Meyers, Diana Tietjens
(ed). Feminist Social Thought: A Reader.
Routledge, 1997.
Mojekwu-Chikezie, Nneamaka. African Women
Sentenced by Tradition. Nwokebi & Company,
2012.
Nnaemaka, Obioma. “Nego-feminism:
Theorizing, Practicing and Pruning Africa’s Way”. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 29. (2), 2003, Pp.
357-385.
Nweke, Onuora. “Righting the Past, Writing the
Future: The New Woman in the Short Stories of Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo”. The Fiction of Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo:
Issues and Perspectives. 2008, pp. 209-223.
Okafor, Regina.
“Widowhood – Institutionalized Dead Weight to Personal Identity: A Reading of
Ifeoma Okoye’s The Trial and Other
Stories”. African
Literature Today 31. 2013, pp. 77-88.
Okoye, Ifeoma. The Trial and Other Stories. Africa Heritage P, 2005. ---. The Fourth World. The Rising People’s P,
2013.
Omonubi-McDonnell, Morolake. Gender
Inequality in Nigeria. Spectrum Books Ltd, 2003.
Parker, Dale Robert. Critical Theory: A Reader for Literary and
Cultural Studies. Oxford University P, 2012.
Powell,
Andrea. “Problematizing Polygyny in the Historical Novels of Chinua Achebe : The Role of the Western Feminist Scholar”. Research in African Literatures.
Vol 39, No
1. 2008, pp.166- 184
.www.unitednations .org
BIODATA
Leah Iliya Jalo is a Tutor with the School of Basic and Remedial
Studies, Gombe State University and also a Doctoral Student of English
Department, University of Jos. Her area of Research Interest include: Gender
Studies, Social Change, and Female Empowerment.
This paper is a reworking of a chapter in an on-going PhD Thesis being
supervised by Prof. Amaka Maureen Azuike
and Prof. Jeff Godwin Doki in the Department of
English, University of Jos. I am indebted to them for their generosity, reading
and re-reading as well as their academic guidance which enabled me to produce
this work.
