Abstract:
This thesis explores how Flora Nwapa and Ayobami Adebayo construct
marriage and represent the childless woman in Efuru, One is Enough and Stay
With Me. The characters presented in the selected texts redefine marriage by
confronting heterosexual norms and women’s socio-political subjectivities in
the African context. The thesis, therefore, focuses on how the heroines in these
texts catalyse events that (re)define their fate and the fate of other women in
the texts. The thesis frames the selected texts as provocative and
nonconforming texts that aim at reinterpreting and contesting the conventional
idea that the childless married woman is synonymous with failure. In rereading
these texts, the thesis examines how Nwapa and Adebayo explore the
restoration of the dignity of the childless woman and the appreciation of her
contribution to society. The study found that both Nwapa and Adebayo
challenge and contest the cultural representation of the childless woman as a
failure by constructing strong, fearless, financially independent, and successful
women. The study also found that Adebayo shifts the burden of childlessness
from the African woman to the African man by representing Akin as impotent.
Furthermore, the study showed that Adebayo subtly proposes the
deconstruction of oral narratives as the solution to a genuine African conjugal
relationship.
