Infidelity as Escapism, An Assessment of Lola Shoneyin's Novel - The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

This study explores the issue of infidelity as escapism in the society. Mostly, the society entirely blames people who engage in relationship with different partners and mark them as evil not even considering what may have caused the suppose offenders to engage in the infidelity act, naturally leading the researcher to ask the following questions: what are the issues of infidelity in the society? What are some of the possible causes of infidelity in the society? This study draws data from Lola Shoneyin’s debut novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives to answer the preceding questions. It uses close textual analysis and support from secondary sources to make its argument. It is concluded from the study that mostly women are often blamed and disgraced when they are caught engaging in illicit sexual relationship outside their marriages but the truth is that, it is not entirely their fault. Some situations and reasons caused them to engage in the illicit sexual relationship outside their marriage thereby, practicing infidelity. Therefore, the research recommends that keeping communication open and avoid secrets, keeping your sex life active and exciting, avoiding social comparison will help a spouse avoid the issue of infidelity.