says of the journalist . A few paragraphs later , he comments , " Like vultures are you jarnaliss . Somewhere a bad thing happens , tears like rain in the wind , and look , here you come , drawn by the smell of blood " ( Sinha , p . 5 ). Whilst Animal clearly takes no joy in the West ’ s destructive voyeurism , he takes great joy in defiantly calling them out on it , swearing and ‘ giggling ’ ( Sinha , p . 5 ) along the way . This comedic defiance signifies more than just rebellion . Holoch explores Animal ’ s use of humour by referencing Mbembe :
" For Mbembe , laughter destabilizes the entire structure of signs and symbols established by the rulers of the postcolony [...] revealing those signs and symbols as a fetish ; ‘ the fetish , seen for the sham it is , is made to lose its might and becomes a mere artefact ." ( Holoch , p . 140 ).
Just as neo-colonialism inflicts its own brand of violence on Kaufpur , colonialism plays a significant role in The Joys of Motherhood . In addition to having to contend with the patriarchal pressures of traditional Ibo culture , black women living in 1930s Lagos had to battle with the added pressures of colonial rule .
In colonial Lagos , the jobs available to black men were predominantly domestic roles in white households . Wages for such jobs were low , meaning that these men struggled to financially support their families . However , it was difficult for black women to work at all . As Emecheta writes of Nnu Ego ’ s position , " she might not have any money to supplement her husband ’ s income , but were they not in a white man ’ s world where it was the duty of the father to provide for his family ? In Ibuza , women made a contribution , but in urban Lagos , men had to be the sole provider ; this new setting robbed the woman of her useful role " ( Emecheta , p . 81 ). Colonialism therefore impressed on black Nigerians the white Western value that men must be the superior patriarch in the home , but emasculated and devalued them in wider society . This rendered Nigerian women doubly vulnerable because they endured the same poverty as men but were also positioned as inferior to their husbands .
Tirop Simatei describes colonial violence as ‘ relationships , processes , and conditions [...] that violated the physical , social , and / or psychological integrity of the colonised ’ ( Simatei , ‘ Colonial Violence , Postcolonial Violations : Violence , Landscape , and Memory in Kenyan Fiction ’, 2005 , p . 85 ). Thus such interlocking oppression of women can be classed as double violence . It is difficult to imagine joy being possible in the midst of such violence , but once again it presents itself through female comradeship .
Nnu Ego ’ s neighbour , Iyawo cooks yam soup for her and her son , Oife , when she notices that they are both malnourished . " With a beaming smile , showing her perfect teeth to the full , Iyawo Itsekiri carried in the yam hotpot , into which she had added chunks of pork and lashings of palm oil ’ ( Emecheta , p . 105 ). There is joy in the practise of caring for others , as clearly communicated by Iyawo ’ s ‘ beaming smile .’ By creating new networks of women amongst their neighbours , the Ibo women in Lagos are able to transplant the force of female community from traditional rural villages into colonial Lagos . By implementing such communal compassion Iyawo undermines the violence of poverty using a traditional Ibo recipe that brings not just fulfilment , but much joy to both mother and son : ‘ All of them with the exception of the baby pounced on the stew ’ ( Emecheta , p . 106 ). When the mother and son have finished Iyawo is full of joy : ‘ Iyawo burst out giggling as the seemingly cured Oshia rolled himself on to his mat and fell asleep .’ This joy has truly been ‘ found in the most unlikely places ’ ( Roy , The Cost of Living , 1999 , p . 105 ). In an interview , Arundhati Roy said ‘ we
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