The Otherness of Motherhood in the Selected Novels of Buchi Emecheta

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of women, especially the role of a mother during the pains of daughters. Deliberately or unknowingly mother often causes their female children deep scars in their lives and they remain perpetually. In consequence for that behavior, a girl child suffers at the hands of mother like figure, directly responsible for the upbringing, the protagonist metes out to her own girl child. The earlier African novels describe mother as Supreme Being and root of African culture, but in reality, the situations of women and mother like being are entirely different. The author brings out the hidden truth and exposes it to the world. The male authors focus on the positive aspects of motherhood and highlight the character of mother as a symbol of sacrifice and fertility. It is always shown as the mother character as an embodiment of all good qualities. However, Emecheta a careful observer of her culture and also a spectator of other cultures narrated the otherness of motherhood in her novels. In her earlier novels, she primarily focused on two aspects that is the otherness of motherhood and the oppressive elements of patriarchal society. This paper focuses on the otherness of motherhood in the novels of Buchi Emecheta. Keywords: Motherhood, Patriarchal Society, Feminism, Otherness.