representing the violent desire to assert masculinity from a man who is naturally akin to the music loving Unoka than Okonkwo .
Returning to Ama Ato Aidoo ’ s assertion that feminism is the “ destroyer of homes ”, one can say the same of colonialism in Things Fall Apart and The Joys of Motherhood , particularly its weaponisation and degradation of masculinity . Robolin argues that Nnu Ego ’ s suffering in the novel is caused by “ the “ sins ” of her father […] namely , his hand in the slave trade ” ( Robolin , p . 77 ) and the murder of the slave who supposedly comes back as her haunting chi . Whilst one can argue that this is metaphorical for the subjugatory nature of patriarchal structure in Ibo culture , and Emecheta certainly analyses the impacts of these traditions , she also places a heavy emphasis on colonialism ’ s impact on masculinity as a cause of Nnu Ego ’ s misfortune . Okonkwo is similarly a victim of his own masculinity as well as the arrival of Christian missionaries , as although the destruction of his clan ’ s traditions are indeed inevitable , losing his son to them is not - his inability to fathom a version of masculinity that differs from one dominated by pride , fear and aggression , are all reasons for why his son “ walked away and never returned ” ( Things Fall Apart , p . 189 ). Both Nnaife and Okonkwo ’ s conceptions of masculinity cause them conflict and pain before the involvement of colonialism , but one cannot ignore the worsening of these tensions following the missionaries ’ arrival in Umuofia and the colonisation of Lagos - in other words , the aftermaths of these ‘ contact zones ’.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Achebe , Chinua , Things Fall Apart , William Heinemann , London , 1958 , Apple Books , pp . 21- 190 .
Anyokwu , Christopher , ‘ Re-Imagining Gender in Chinua Achebe ’ s ‘ Things Fall Apart ’’, in Interdisciplinary Literary Studies , vol . 12 , no . 2 , Penn State University Press , 2011 , pp . 16 – 31 .
Bhabha , Homi , ‘ Of Mimicry and Man : The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse ’, in October , vol . 28 , The MIT Press , 1984 , pp . 125 – 33 .
Champion , Ernest A ., ‘ The Story of a Man and His People : Chinua Achebe ’ s Things Fall Apart ’, in Negro American Literature Forum , vol . 8 , no . 4 , St . Louis University , 1974 , pp . 272 – 77 .
Emecheta , Buchi , The Joys of Motherhood , Allison and Busby , London , 1979 , Apple Books , pp . 9- 252 .
Frank , Katherine , ‘ The Death of the Slave Girl : African Womanhood in the Novels of Buchi Emecheta , in World Literature Written in English , no . 21 , 1982 , pp . 479 ( quoted on p . 84 of Ward ).
Gibson-Graham , J . K , The End of Capitalism ( As We Knew It ): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy . Oxford : Blackwell , 1996 , p . 5 .
Kolawole , Mary Modupe , ‘ Transcending Incongruities : Rethinking Feminisms and the Dynamics of Identity in Africa ’, in Agenda : Empowering Women for Gender Equity , no . 54 , [ Agenda Feminist Media , Taylor & Francis , Ltd .], 2002 , pp . 92 – 98 .
Pratt , Mary Louise , ‘ Arts of the Contact Zone ’, in Profession , Modern Language Association , 1991 , pp . 33-40 .
NATHANIEL REID
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