THE IMAGE OF AFRICAN WOMEN IN A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY: A STUDY OF BUCHI EMECHETA’S THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD AND AMMA DARKO’S BEYOND THE HORIZON

ABSTRACT

This thesis examines the image of African women in a patriarchal society. The purpose of this research work is to find out how Buchi Emecheta uses this text to present African women, how Amma Darko uses her book to present African women, whether these two novelists present women differently or similarly and also to find out whether Emecheta and Darko present African women different from the way some male authors have presented women. The investigation was done through the use of Joys of Motherhood written by Buchi Emecheta and Beyond the Horizon authored by Amma Darko. The theoretical frameworks for this study are African feminism and postcolonial African literary theory. The researcher carefully selected one standard novel of each author. In each, the key female characters were identified, their role and relationship with men and other women were analysed. This study reveals that Buchi Emecheta presents African women in a number of ways and notable among them are; they are presented as second-class citizens, very assertive, very hardworking, they can face difficulties in the absence of their husbands, they are appendages of men and capable of fostering peace and tranquillity. Amma Darko, in contrast, presents African women diversely as people who are naïve, who are exploited easily, as people who cannot make their own choices, as sex commodities and as property that must be sold to the highest bidder. Similarly, it is revealed that both Emecheta and Darko presented African women as: people that can be battered, people who should not resist the sexual pleasures of men, means through which their parents get wealth, people who are hardworking, appendages of men, people who are created for the sake of men and people who are incapable of making their own decisions.