violent desperation to be freed , both literally from the embrace and from her subjugation as a woman . Agbadi ’ s sexual conquest allows him to “ becom [ e ] himself again thus prefiguring the masculine ideal in Ibuza as inherently dominating . This is the type of masculinity which Nnu Ego has been raised to accept and expect from men , creating conflict when she meets her second husband , Nnaife .
Nnaife is described as “ a man with a belly like a pregnant cow ” ( The Joys of Motherhood , p . 61 ), emasculating him on account of his non-athletic body . Because he is not compatible with Nnu Ego ’ s ideal of masculinity , she sees him not only as effeminate , but as an animal . He is seen as such because if a man has “ the skin of someone who had for a long time worked in the shade and not in the open air ” ( The Joys of Motherhood , p . 61 ) like Agbadi , then they are not a ‘ real ’ human , let alone man . Nnu Ego also loses respect for her husband when she learns that his job is a servant to white masters : “ every time she saw her husband hanging out the white woman ' s smalls , Nnu Ego would wince as someone in pain ” ( The Joys of Motherhood , p . 70 ). She believes that this job makes him effeminate , despite the fact that Nnaife is providing as best he can under the conditions of a city that has become a ‘ contact zone ’ under colonial rule . It is important to note that Nnaife is not the villain of the narrative : Emecheta shares Achebe ’ s desire for ‘ truth ’ in her narrative , and her balanced portrayal of men in the novel reflects the ‘ womanist ’ approach of her writing , “ emphasis [ ing ] cultural contextualisation [ and ] the importance of including men ” ( Kolawole , ‘ Transcending Incongruities : Rethinking Feminisms and the Dynamics of Identity in Africa ’, 2002 , p . 96 ). That being said , Nnaife calls Nnu Ego “ stupid ” for expecting a more physically capable husband and “ mad ” for mourning the death of her child for longer than he deems necessary ( The Joys of Motherhood , p . 63 , 111 ). These two instances point to Nnaife ’ s insecurities as a man : his emasculation at the fact that he is not the masculine ideal of Ibuza , and shame at an inability to emotionally connect with her , both of which prompt him to “ reconstruct his own identity as a man by constructing his wife as “ Other ”” ( Ward , ‘ What They Told Buchi Emecheta : Oral Subjectivity and the Joys of ‘ Otherhood ,’’ 1990 , p . 94 ) ( intellectual inferiority and mental illness ). The term ‘ Other ’ was coined by Edward Said and refers to someone who is seen as lessthan the “ speaker or person spoken of ” and is excluded from their “ group ” ( Staszak , ‘ Other / otherness ’, 2008 ), which is Nnaife ’ s way of ensuring his own superior social status as a man by subjugating Nnu Ego as a woman . Much like Okonkwo , Nnaife lashes out at the fear of appearing weak , and does so physically as well as verbally , physically assaulting her with his guitar when she tells him he is unable to get a job . Masculinity is clearly a source of tension before the clash of a ‘ contact zone ’, but Emecheta shows that concepts of masculinity are radically different in a capitalist , colonial city than they are in a tribal village , such as when Nnaife asks , “ Did I not pay your bride price ? Am I not your owner ?” ( The Joys of Motherhood , p . 98 ). Money has replaced physical strength as the primary indicator of manliness in Lagos , meaning that when Nnaife does not appeal to his wife physically or support her financially , he is emasculated in much the same way Okonkwo is . Although Nnaife initially has a job , Emecheta details the inherently unfair nature of colonialism , a process which makes it more than likely that Africans will not succeed in their own city .
In the ‘ contact zone ’ of Lagos , a newly industrialised colonial city , Nigerians were supposedly presented with new job opportunities that would sustain themselves and their families . As revealed by Emecheta , men like Nnaife were actually subjugated by their colonial employers - in the case of Nnaife and Nnu Ego ,
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