Wahala, a short story written by Chinelo Okpranta unfolds the life of Ezinne, a young barren married woman who visits the Debia (native doctor) to remove the “curse of the enchanted” with the intention to obtain society’s respect for her husband. Ezinne reluctantly gives in to sexual intercourse because of the pain she goes through during intimacy, but her husband’s demand for what he thought rightfully belonged to him leaves her with no alternative (Okpranta, 2013). This paper reveals how language, characterization, patriarchy and hegemony enforce the objectification of women in Wahala, using intrinsic and feminist literary lenses.
The use of the intrinsic literary lens exposes language as a very effective tool used to objectify women. Dale …show more content…
Anytime Chibuzo’s name was mentioned, you find Nneka very close to him. The writer described how hard Nneka worked to have a glimpse of Chibuzo during his intimacy with his wife but all her efforts turned out futile. It can be deduced from these and other extracts that at any point in time, Nneka performs her roles by helping him to achieve his tasks. She could only achieve this by always staying close to Chibuzo.
Furthermore, Patriarchy also exhibits women objectification using a feminist literary lens to analyze the text. Patriarchy is defined by the London feminist network (2015) as a society which systematically oppresses women as a result of the unequal distribution of power between both genders. Chinelo portrays how a society contributes to women's oppression by giving power to men. This excerpt:
“Mbachu’s relatives began prodding him to leave his wife to take another wife who could give him children, sons, especially to carry on the family …show more content…
Hegemony is referred to as a structural fact defined by culture or society which serves as a basis by which both genders interrelates (Morell, 1998). It basically presents the idea that, men are better than women and therefore women should find it satisfactory for men to remain at the top. Nneka’s emphasis on going to see the Debia for healing depicts the notion that, women are the ones who need cleansing else they would be thrown away. This perception made Ezinme incapacitated in questioning Chibuzo if he was not the reason for their childlessness. By the same token, Nneka found it satisfactory when Chibuzo was having intimacy with Ezinme because all she wanted was to make Chibuzo happy. She believed it was alright for her daughter to endure pain once it was serving as pleasure to Chibuzo. Owing to her believe, the writer stated: Nneka and Chibuzo heard Ezinme’s groaning’s as a sound of pleasure rather than a sound of
The use of the intrinsic literary lens exposes language as a very effective tool used to objectify women. Dale …show more content…
Anytime Chibuzo’s name was mentioned, you find Nneka very close to him. The writer described how hard Nneka worked to have a glimpse of Chibuzo during his intimacy with his wife but all her efforts turned out futile. It can be deduced from these and other extracts that at any point in time, Nneka performs her roles by helping him to achieve his tasks. She could only achieve this by always staying close to Chibuzo.
Furthermore, Patriarchy also exhibits women objectification using a feminist literary lens to analyze the text. Patriarchy is defined by the London feminist network (2015) as a society which systematically oppresses women as a result of the unequal distribution of power between both genders. Chinelo portrays how a society contributes to women's oppression by giving power to men. This excerpt:
“Mbachu’s relatives began prodding him to leave his wife to take another wife who could give him children, sons, especially to carry on the family …show more content…
Hegemony is referred to as a structural fact defined by culture or society which serves as a basis by which both genders interrelates (Morell, 1998). It basically presents the idea that, men are better than women and therefore women should find it satisfactory for men to remain at the top. Nneka’s emphasis on going to see the Debia for healing depicts the notion that, women are the ones who need cleansing else they would be thrown away. This perception made Ezinme incapacitated in questioning Chibuzo if he was not the reason for their childlessness. By the same token, Nneka found it satisfactory when Chibuzo was having intimacy with Ezinme because all she wanted was to make Chibuzo happy. She believed it was alright for her daughter to endure pain once it was serving as pleasure to Chibuzo. Owing to her believe, the writer stated: Nneka and Chibuzo heard Ezinme’s groaning’s as a sound of pleasure rather than a sound of