Aidoo offers an exquisite narration of the struggle to be enough in Our Sister Killjoy. The problem of language is raised in the first sentence of the letter : My Precious Something , First of all , there is this Her novel , Our Sister Killjoy , reflects further exploration into a blending of oral and written traditions by its extensive use of dialogue , song , and poetry , in addition to the communal , female perspective of " our sister.
And what will she do when she goes back home? A profound version of the theme of self discovery, this novel explores the thoughts and experiences of a Ghanaian girl on her travels in Europe. It is a highly personal exploration of the conflicts between Africa and Europe, between men and women, and between a complacent acceptance of the status quo and a passionate desire to reform a rotten world. Previews available in: English.
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Check nearby libraries Library. Share this book Facebook. He suggests that the purpose of the novel is to get the reader to think about the impact of neocolonial change and the best ways of coping with the resultant dilemmas.
For Nfah-Abbenyi , Changes highlights simultaneously, a demonstration of contributions of the postcolonial woman to her own colonization and of the social and historical capital available for her empowerment. For instance, Arlene A. Sissie destroys the letter she writes to her westernized lover in England who considers her too idealistic and political. That is, the un-posted letter represents another woman who has been silenced by an unresponsive man. Even though no one listens to her, she will continue to speak for those that might listen.
This observation takes for granted marriage as an institution where the emotional, sexual, social, procreative, and reproductive needs of men are met by his wife or wives.
Morality defined as a simple adherence to institutionalize forms removes the concept from deeper discussions of right and wrong, not to mention power structures and the gendered nature of dominant ideas concerning sexual morality Olausssen, This irony is further examined in by Dako et al.
According to them, the novel looks at marriage, family and male-female relationships with brutal honesty. It unravels traditional concepts, it strips the modern concepts naked and leaves the emancipated African woman abandoned and alone, paid off with a new car but short changed in everything else. She has lost both husbands and abandoned her only child for her own gratification.
Dako et al, However, the same ideas are treated differently by each author. These differences will be examined in the fourth chapter.
We begin with Odamtten who suggests that the Ghanaian social norms and system have become so corrupt and thus affecting all aspects of our lives especially in the social institution of marriage. She took too long in wising up. This research will expand on this issue from the angle of how patriarchal structures give men the leverage to use and abuse women for their self-satisfaction. Related to the above is the issue of marriage and family.
Dako et al state that Darko implicitly laments the loss of the institutions of family and marriage as places where loyalty, loving kindness, trust and compassion may be nurtured for the good of men and women. Their impression of BTH is clearly stated as follows: Darko deconstructs traditional marriage.
Mara is made to prostitute herself with Akobi acting as her pimp. Dako et al, Though their discussion of the novel is not necessary feminist, it will be examined in the definition of the GFN, but from the angle of oppression and violence against women. This idea will also be used in examining NWF because it raises the issues of both polygamous and monogamous marriage as she exposes the various forms of oppressions women face.
It includes ideas about the rural-urban opposition as well as misguided ideas African villagers have about life in Europe. But whereas Esi and Amaka are successful professional women in charge of their own financial situation, Mara is the prototype of the innocent and vulnerable village woman forced to move to the city.
Mara is both socially and economically dependent on her abusive husband, Akobi. Another issue that critics have been concerned with is the issue of sexual relations. They examine how the desire for wealth and western lifestyle affect immigrants. Desires that force them to surrender part or all of their bodies to the appetites of the dominant cultural class in order to purchase the dubious privilege of continued presence in the host. They also raise the issue of the traffic in women and the how illegal alien women are rapidly converted into sexual objects; the employment opportunities available to them are generally only those that dehumanize them Unfortunately for Mara, she does not become a prostitute of her own will but was forced into it by her husband, Akobi.
Women are victims of rape, battery, betrayal, abandonment by irresponsible husbands, economic exploitation and obnoxious cultural practices I agree with Darko and other Ghanaian and even African female writers that for far too long the story and experiences of the woman have been told by men and the accounts of these men have failed, most of the time, to expose the suffering and discrimination against women.
It is only fair that the woman tells her story and tells it the way it is. Consequently, although it may be true, that to some extent, men are unfairly portrayed, I believe that women have been quiet for too long, so with such an opportunity, they must make exceptional use of it.
Whether unconscious or not, Darko explores issues that are politically supported by feminist theories and by so doing she describes a phase of feminism, a phase this thesis seeks to explore.
These themes will be discussed with focus on their contribution to the definition of the Ghanaian Feminist Novel. The last novel of Darko, Not Without Flowers is relatively new in the literary scene, as such yet to receive critical analysis. Hopefully my analysis of the feminist issues it discusses will create room for more reviews and readings of it. The novels present four major educated female characters, each with a different level of consciousness about the experiences of women in third-world countries, culture, marriage, career, education etc.
Sissie ranks high with her view on both political and social issues affecting Ghana and Africa; Esi follows with her views on education, marriage and career development of women in Ghana; then comes Opokuya with her concerns for relationships in marriage and general societal perception of women; and the last is Fusena who experiences the derogatory effects of culture and religion but is unable to do anything about them.
The chapter also examines how these women deal with and utilize their educational experiences for their own liberation and the general liberation of women and the society from various forms of oppression. Sissie discusses and pursues egalitarianism in relation to larger global issues such as racism, post and neo- colonialism, imperialism, the economy, language and culture.
She also comments on the silencing of women and the need for women to speak as well as take active part in the development of their country.
Through her, Aidoo examines the past and current issues of colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism, racism, culture and language use, nationalism and sexuality encountered by Ghanaians in their relationship with the west. Most importantly, Sissie becomes the mouth, eyes and ears of Ghana in the foreign lands she visits.
She makes it a point not only to think about these third-world problems but also to discuss them with various third world people in search of understanding and possible solutions. Most Africans believe that the flight to European and Western countries is the ultimate indication of progress and success that they should aspire to. This, instead of pleasing Sissie, fills her with disgust and sadness. Like other Africans, Sammy suffers a lack of self-worth that is the product of colonial intimidation and its conscious process of socialization.
The concern of the Ghanaian feminist is the need to instil self- worth in a bid to prevent the mass migration of Ghanaians and Africans to the west instead of staying and developing the country and continent as a whole.
Sissie experiences her first instance of very subtle racism when she is asked by the flight attendant of the plane, if she wants to join her two black friends at the back who were also coincidentally on the same programme. Aidoo uses this incident as the point of entry for her critique of racism.
Sissie would not have reacted in that manner, if her attention had not been drawn to her own colour. Other Africans who make that journey in search of better conditions experience worse forms of racism. They realize that as immigrants, most of them do not find the freedom, self- realization, and success they hoped for; instead, they are judged by the colour of their skin. Despite the challenges faced in the foreign land, Africans will not come back home because the situation still seems much better than at home.
Sissie discusses this issue with an Indian who has been in Germany for a number of years working as a doctor. This large-scale exodus of skilled professionals to the West greatly affects Ghana and the African continent as a whole. Aidoo calls on the Ghanaians and Africans in foreign lands to return to help in building Ghana and the continent as a whole.
She expects that women should also be concerned about the effects of the Brain Drain on the policies and development of their countries, bearing in mind that women suffer the worst in impoverished countries. However, she blames Ghanaian and African leaders for their inability to keep the few intellectuals at home. This is because they have forgotten the problems of their nations and their compatriots. In other words, money spent on these cocktail parties can go a long way to provide educational or health facilities that will help reduce problems such as maternal and infant mortality rates in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
Aidoo, thus, condemns the educated elite of Ghana, who, in the face of severe societal problems, offer empty rhetoric on national development which does not address the needs of the country. Another issue of concern to Aidoo is the problem of language. It is a very important tool for fostering Ghanaian and African values. However, Aidoo notes that the exodus of African youth to Western countries to study prevents this fostering from happening. Language, therefore, becomes a form of oppression for Sissie and other African immigrants who have no choice but to use a language as well as adapt to a culture which is not their own.
It makes them see their past as one wasteland of non-achievement and it makes them want to distance themselves from that wasteland. Its importance in the definition of the Ghanaian Feminist novel is that it reveals the context in which the Ghanaian feminist novel is written.
Throughout the history of Ghana, various ethnic groups have had preference of male children over females. Marija accepts her subservient role in her society. She also raises the issue of lesbianism which stirs a great deal of controversy among feminists.
Surely, not all western women are lesbians, in fact there a number of western women who frown on the idea of lesbianism. There are western feminist scholars who think that the solution to the sexual politics between men and women, is certainly not lesbianism.
However, western society is more accommodating as compared to African women. What strings, pulled by whom, drew her into those pinelands where not so long ago human beings stoked their own funeral pyres with other human beings, where now a young Aryan housewife kisses a young black woman with such desperation, right in the middle of her own nuptial chamber, with its lower middle-class cosiness?
As an African woman, societal convention of compulsory heterosexuality for women, racialism and neo-colonial oppressions leave her lonely, isolated and unfulfilled. She was never able to discuss the survival of the African race. She writes: No, My Darling: it seems as if so much of the softness and meekness you and all the brothers expect of me and all the sisters is that which is really western.
Some kind of hashed-up Victorian notions, hm? Allah, me and my big mouth!! See, at home the woman knew her position and all that. Of course, this has been true of the woman everywhere — most of the time. In reality, the African woman is more complex. The woman should have the right to air her views on various social issues as well as make critical decisions concerning her life whether sexually, politically, economically and socially.
She also encourages Ghanaian and African women to be bold and speak as well as fight for their liberation and that of their countries and continent as a whole. The novel ends while Sissie is on the verge of re-entry into the Ghanaian society. She arrives with different perspectives and is ready to reintegrate into the Ghanaian society, thereby giving hope for positive change for the country through women.
However, the situation of women in Ghana varied from one ethnic group to another and their roles in their various communities were and are still not the same.
It is clear from the above discussion that, in OSK, Aidoo reveals an emergent Ghanaian feminist principle where women are not only concerned about being victims of sexism and patriarchal social structures, but are also concerned about being victims of racism, neo- colonialism, cultural imperialism, socio-economic forms of oppression and corrupt systems.
That is, Aidoo extends the concerns of the African feminist novel, thereby helping in the definition of an aspect of the Ghanaian feminist novel. Aidoo also suggests that Ghanaian men and women should form an alliance to fight oppression since both genders experience the effects of the problems faced by third-world countries.
She is expected to be available to her husband and children at all times. She is responsible for her home, while her husband goes to work and provides for the family. As a result of education we have a number of women in various professions such as law, academia, business, banking etc.
Women also actively participate in political activities and also hold key political positions. These changes are relevant to the discussion of Changes because Aidoo focuses on the importance of education to the development of self-consciousness of women. Her feminist attack is mainly against patriarchal conventions such as stereotypes regarding desire, control, education, and marriage; and the conventional woman who does not see the need for change but rather frustrates the efforts of other women who are ready for change.
The main female character, Esi Sekyi, is a strong and independent woman. She has a job and genuinely enjoys her career as a government statistician. Esi comes to represent the emergence of a new feminine identity — one that can compete equally with men in terms of financial and personal security. As a career woman, Esi encounters difficulties with the men in her field. Changes begins with Esi reproving herself for taking up a responsibility that is not part of her job.
Esi is angry about the fact that anytime their secretary is sick, it is assumed that, since she Esi is a woman, she will be able to stand in for her. Her struggle against these pre-determined structures reveals the complexities concerning the changing roles of women in Ghana Africa.
Aidoo encourages a rebellion against social conventions that define specific spaces for women in various professions. Aidoo narrates a conversation she had with one of her students after a hard morning lecture and tutorial in May, Thus, intelligence, linguistic aptitude, political awareness and sensitivity to social issues are all masculine territories which should not be encroached upon. Knowing that she is unwelcome, Esi goes all out to prove her worth as well as maintain to maintain her job.
She reveals the fears and struggles of women in male dominated professions. Esi craves the freedom to pursue her career, desires and most of all, the freedom to find love. The accusation, however, leads to the issue of education, which is of great importance to the Ghanaian feminist discourse.
Esi is also criticized for not making time for her husband, her only daughter and their home and also because she has refused to have any more children. Instead of playing the role of a good wife and mother, Esi has second thoughts about her marriage to Oko and she is focused on pursuing higher heights in her career.
Because Esi is no longer the dependent woman, she is able to embark on her self-ambition and self-realization without hesitation; something that will be very difficult, if not impossible, for a woman who depends solely on her husband to do.
Oko loves Esi dearly, not only for her beauty, but also for her independence and intelligence. But, at the same time, Oko resents her for exactly the same reasons.
He struggles to understand what is going on around him. He knows that she is still an African woman despite gaining independence from the man in her life. In that era, Oko would not have felt so threatened and emasculated. The introduction of marital rape raises the issue of male sexual dominance, as it expresses and actualizes the distinctive power of men over women. The concept of marital rape is quite new to the Ghanaian society. It names a probable situation women face in their various marriages but are unable to name or afraid to speak about since sexual intercourse is the prerogative of the man.
Here, Aidoo seems to be commenting on the notion that many African feminists copy blindly from feminists in the West. Esi is concerned with naming the act marital rape and how society will perceive it. You cannot perceive what you cannot name, that is, that which has no name does not exist. She belonged to her husband entirely. Any time. It is certainly not up to the man to decide. Equality is achieved when both the man and woman take decisions together. When Esi tells Opokuya of her plans to divorce Oko, Opokuya is worried about the situation Esi would find herself in since single women are not positively regarded in the Ghanaian and African community.
A woman in such a position marries, remarries, or returns to her former husband. Otherwise, she is ostracized and she is left to die of shame and loneliness. It is not yet time for women to have all they want. We also realize that no state is comfortable for the woman, whether single, married, divorced or even educated.
As Acholonu proposes in Motherism, the woman need not neglect her biological roles but rather should focus on healing and protecting the cohesive essence of family culture, something Esi fails to do. Ogyaanowa is the unfortunate child of Esi and Oko Sekyi. Ogyaanowa hardly receives any form of motherly concern from her mother, Esi. Aidoo portrays the changing roles of women and the difficulty they face in combining the emerging changing roles with the traditional ones.
Thus, Ghanaian African feminism is not advocating for irresponsible mothers but rather for shared responsibilities when it comes to raising children in the family, unfortunately, Esi fails in this terrain. She falls in love and marries Ali who already has a family but has the right through religion and tradition to have more than one wife. It is important to note that as compared to the traditional system, the woman has no choice when it comes to her marriage but Esi opts for polygamy on her own.
Unfortunately, her attempt at avoiding prejudice and loneliness as a single woman fails since she ends up the same way in the polygamous marriage. In the long run, Ali cannot provide her the attention she needs because he still loves his family and is obligated to them coupled with the fact that he is a philanderer. After a breakdown and care analysis of her situation, Esi redefines her needs and her relationship with Ali after confronting him about it.
Esi dissociates herself by stressing the importance of her career to her development, demanding he sexual rights by reacting and finally divorcing her husband, remarrying and eventually living the life of a single woman; she eventually losses the right to her daughter. The results of her actions is neither a failure nor a success, since there are both good and bad outcomes, the problem however, is that the dilemma of the Ghanaian woman is not resolved.
Interestingly, the sacrificing partner is always the woman In spite of the efforts she makes, she receives little support from her husband, especially, when it comes to the use of the car. Transportation becomes a strong source of conflict for Opokuya and her husband.
The mother of four, who enjoys her busy career as a state registered nurse and qualified midwife, has yet to convince her husband to purchase a car for her or give her priority when it comes to the use of the car.
If she earned enough, Opokuya would buy her own car, especially if the husband could not afford it: but he is required to be reasonable about the use of his car.
Anything short of this is the perpetration of wronged womanhood and social injustice against the woman. He always makes sure that he has the car at his disposal even when he has no use for it. Kubi would not even arrive on time to pick Opokuya up when he is supposed to. Through his actions and inactions , Aidoo criticizes men who do not take responsibility for their home and family. When Opokuya complains to a couple of her friends that her husband does not want to give her the car for the numerous errands she has to run, she is considered spoilt.
She should listen to the stories of women who paid for cars which their husbands then took over completely. The behaviour and attitudes of such women make the feminist quest difficult and unfruitful.
Opokuya dissociates herself from other women by taking her career as well as family duties seriously, even though; it was very tiring and sometimes unbearable. She is able to argue her views and points out with her husband, something most women will not do. The fact that her friends even think she is mad attest to the fact that she is different especially in thinking as well as her strong will to succeed.
Fusena, the last of the three major female characters being discussed, is closer to the subjugated woman than Opokuya. She abandons her degree and career goals to become a full time wife and mother, which allows her husband more room to focus on his burgeoning career.
Fusena runs a shop established by her husband which is a source of income for her. Burdened with the impossibility of blossoming outside the domestic sphere, she is resigned to accepting her fate. Fusena is open-minded as a result of her education but that does not make her assertive enough to pursue her career nor prevent her husband from taking a second wife. Ali pushes his wife Fusena out of her profession and he has no qualms about pursuing other women.
Every journey he makes is an opportunity to be unfaithful to his wife. When he meets Esi for the first time, his interest in her is basically sexual. He does not concentrate on the problem with the travel arrangements Esi has come to talk about. What Ali sees is a frail and powerless woman who is in dire need of his protection. Esi becomes an object of beauty and sexual attraction instead of an intelligent, competent government statistician. Besides sexuality and fragility, there are other important things worth noting or considering about a woman; for example, her intelligence, sense of responsibility, and competence in profession.
Aidoo further criticizes the objectification of women, particularly as sexual objects. Which they decide not to. Whitewashed Africans As students from Africa were exposed to western ideology, they have been fed with knowledge and become intellectuals. Alongside this knowledge, they have also seen the intangible hold of European colonialism to Africa.
This intellect they have acquired could have been enough to open windows to awaken African nationalism if only they came back to their country. An example of this is the character of Amamu from another postcolonial African Novel, was fortunate to be intellectual enough but was not able to express compassion for fellow Africans.
But why will they trade life of comfort living in Europe with the life back to Africa, back to what is the unknown. Conclusion Neocolonialism is clearly evident in the novel—in Africa. African independence was just an event.
It was not a movement for the whole nation of Africa. The reason for the stagnation of Africa was made up different factors.
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