Volume : 2, Issue : 12, DEC 2016

MOTHERHOOD PARADIGM IN AFRICAN FICTION: A STUDY

Dr. SYED HAJIRA BEGUM

Abstract

The present research paper is an attempt to explore the ideology of African men writers to glorify African woman as a pure symbol of the precolonial Africa, a self–sacrificing mother inspiring awe and reverence with her caring aspects of woman?s personality. This ideology perpetuates male domination in patriarchal society and asserts that woman could achieve happiness only through marriage and motherhood which implicitly relegates women to become the slaves to men in the name of marriage. This study investigates the glorification of motherhood paradigm in men writings and the ideology of male and female African writers in portrayal of women characters in the selected novels of Chinua Achebe, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, and further references are made to the works of Mariama Ba, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ama Ata Aidoo and to the works of third generation writers like Semi Ata, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It concludes by highlighting the need for a change in the mindset of the writers to be objective and suggests a liberal approach in gender matters and concludes that feminine passivity could be overcome only through female solidarity among African women by awakening in them a new African consciousness.

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References

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