Emecheta, Buchi

The Joys of Motherhood

The Joys of Motherhood (1979) concerns a Nigerian village woman who believes her purpose in life was to bear and nurture children. She escapes a barren marriage and flees to Lagos, where she bears and raises children only to see them grow up and move away. She thus misses out on the “joys of motherhood” she anticipated: growing old among her children and grandchildren. The novel, set in the 1930s, is a critique of colonialism as well as traditional Nigerian society.

Emecheta is credited for successfully integrating her personal and intellectual life with her role as a mother and a woman, and is able to write characters who are also able to integrate many roles. Her writing explores Igbo culture, both before and after colonialism's impact. She also writes (fictionally) about her experiences of immigrating to London during the early years of her marriage. She exposes the problems of sexism, racism, and poverty, and proposes solutions; but above all, she challenges. She critiques both Igbo traditional culture and the fragmentation that colonialism caused within it.

Critics often call her a feminist, implying the Western meaning of that term by claiming that if she exposes or challenges problems in the Igbo system, she has changed allegiances from Nigeria to the West. It is easy for a Western reader to see Emecheta's criticisms as an indictment of an entire culture, but Emecheta commends what is good in Igbo tradition, especially those characteristics of tradition that give women power. Therefore, the importance of African feminism is a force in her works. Specifically, Emecheta seems to show her characters relying especially on the African feminist tenets of adaptability, networking, and survival strategies in her novels.

Furthermore, her novels, especially as evidenced in The Joys of Motherhood (1979), are complex, in the same way that colonial and postcolonial cultures and subjects are complex. The women in her novels navigate many problems within and without their traditional cultures, often utilizing African feminism as a positive force in their lives. Therefore, Emecheta challenges both patriarchy and colonialism/imperialism. Emecheta was named one of 20 Best of Young British Writers by the Book Marketing Council in 1983. She has been a visiting lecturer in the United States and Nigeria, and earned an honorary doctorate from Farleigh Dickinson University. A recent novel is called The New Tribe and was published in 2000.

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