Thinking activity : The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

Hello Readers...

This blog is the part of my thinking activity in Google classroom. We have paper on African literature. In this blog I would like to talk about one African novel The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta. In this we have to ponder any one point in detail which was given by Yesha mam.

Let's throw some light on the author and Novel:-

Buchi Emecheta:-

Florence Onyebuchi "Buchi" Emecheta OBE (21 July 1944 – 25 January 2017) was a Nigerian-born novelist, based in the UK from 1962,[1] who also wrote plays and an autobiography, as well as works for children. She was the author of more than 20 books, including Second Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979). Most of her early novels were published by Allison and Busby, where her editor was Margaret Busby.

About Novel:-

The Joys of Motherhood is a novel written by Buchi Emecheta. It was first published in London, UK, by Allison & Busby in 1979 and was reprinted in Heinemann's African Writers Series in 2008. The basis of the novel is the "necessity for a woman to be fertile, and above all to give birth to sons".[1] It tells the tragic story of Nnu-Ego, daughter of Nwokocha Agbadi and Ona, who had a bad fate with childbearing. This novel explores the life of a Nigerian woman, Nnu Ego. Nnu's life centres on her children and through them, she gains the respect of her community. Traditional tribal values and customs begin to shift with increasing colonial presence and influence, pushing Ego to challenge accepted notions of "mother", "wife", and "woman". Through Nnu Ego's journey, Emecheta forces her readers to consider the dilemmas associated with adopting new ideas and practices against the inclination to cleave to tradition. In this novel, Emecheta reveals and celebrates the pleasures derived from fulfilling responsibilities related to family matters in child bearing, mothering, and nurturing activities among women. However, the author additionally highlights how the 'joys of motherhood' also include anxiety, obligation, and pain.

👉Motherhood – game of power and control (“Buchi Emecheta's The Joy of Motherhood discusses motherhood in the Ibo society as a

power game of desire and control)

Buchi Emecheta’s The Joy of Motherhood is one of the most complex Buildungsroman novels written in colonial Nigeria across the early- to mid-twentieth century, which describes the protagonist’s journey of a twenty –five years period. The author has underlined the protagonist, Nnu Ego’s escalation from a strong tradition-bound character to a feminist. Her efforts for proving the validity through motherhood is saddened at every turn, unfortunately, subverted by a multifarious and complex set of contradictions she finds herself incapable of the bargain. The novel is dedicated to all mothers which open with the first chapter “The Mother” and end with the last chapter, “The Canonized Mother”. It offers offers a scathing analysis of patriarchal, colonial curtailment faced by mothers like Nnu  Ego,  who’s  societal worth  based on,  first,  her ability to  bear children.

Motherhood was the main theme of the novel. The story began with the motherhood of Ona.She wanted to give a male child to her father. It was not fulfilled by her. So, the motherhood did not give her joy. She also died soon. Her role as a mother was less in the novel. Nnu Ego was the protagonist of the novel. She longed for motherhood in the beginning. Later, she became mother foseven children. The joy that she experienced during her first child birth was not found in her later delivery. She felt relieved especially, when a girl child died soon after it’s birth. Thus, the joy of motherhood becomes ironic. The happiness was turned a relief after some time. 

The title of the novel “The Joys of Motherhood” was ironic. The experiences of the mothers in the story Ona and Nnu Ego proved that though motherhood is a blessing and joyful experience, it is not giving the same joy and happiness for the mothers throughout the novel. She considered motherhood as joy. She felt that when she delivered her first son after so much treatment and shame.

The joy of being a mother was not long lasting. The joy she earned as a mother was less, while comparing to the turmoil she had faced in her life. The motherhood attainment itself was a great challenge for her. The challenge prevailed in bringing up the children. She was expecting a return in her old age from her children’s side. But, that was not offered by her children till her death. After her he death, they had given her a grand burial. It showed the more sorrow ridden motherhood of Nnu Ego and not the joys as it found in the title. So, the title of the novel The Joys of Motherhood is considered as ironic. Emecheta  employs  the  technique  of  mother’s  introspection in  which  the  protagonist realized that she has not brought fulfilment in the family. Found herself as a doubly colonized mother, Nnu Ego expresses the sufferings as well as sacrifice in her statement just after the birth of her twin daughters. Being caught in the web of childbirth and complicated situation, she had one such epiphanic moment. The psychological temperament and grief of a mother expressed in the following  statement  which presents  the Nigerian  women’s  response to  the widespread predicament. In her monologue, she says, “God, when will you create a woman who  will  be fulfilled  in herself,  a  full  human  being, not  anybody’s appendage?  I was  born alone, and I shall die alone. What have I gained from all this? Yes, I have many children, but what do I have to feed them on? On my life. I have to work myself to the bone to look after them. I have to give them my all. And if I am lucky enough to die in peace, I even have to give them my soul. They will worship my dead spirit to provide for them: it will be hailed as a good spirit so long as there are plenty of yams and children in the family, but if anything should go wrong, if a young wife does not conceive or there is a famine, my dead spirit will be blamed. When will I be free?”(JOM. p.186)

Without motherhood, Nnu Ego feels empty and struggled very hard to be a mother. Emecheta wants to transmit the point that bearing more than five or six children do not mean that a mother is going to be prosperous in her old age. She examines the institution of motherliness, unpleasant experiences mixed up in motherliness, and its shock on the minds of the Nigerian women. According to Katherine Frank, "The complete futility of motherhood that we find in The Joys of Motherhood is the most heretical and radical aspect of Emecheta's vision of the African Women".3The chapter titles, "The Mother," "The Mother's Mother," "The Mother's Early Life," "First Shock of Motherhood," “A Mothers Investment”, ‘A Failed Woman” etc., describes the ups and down in the destiny of Nnu Ego. The author has ended the novel by giving ironical title to its chapter as “The Canonized Mother”. Nnu Ego had to experience patriarchal slavery throughout her life and died in solitude. All mothers, Ona, Akadu and Nnu Ego, have been victimized in the patriarchal and traditionally strong Ibo society. But Emecheta’s Nnu Ego challenges the conservative conception that producing numerous children will give a woman much ecstasy.

Thank you.....