Thinking Activity : The Joys of Motherhood

 Thinking Activity : The Joys of Motherhood

Hello,

I am Bhumika Mahida, here I'm going to write this blog on " The Joys of Motherhood" , the task which is assigned by Ms Yesha Bhatt . So , let's begin…

About Author : 

Buchi Emecheta

Buchi Emecheta is a Nigerian novelist. Her themes of child slavery, motherhood, female independence, and freedom through education have won her considerable critical acclaim and honors, including an Order of the British Empire in 2005. 

Buchi Emecheta was born on July 21st, 1944 in Lagos Nigeria. Her father, who was a railway worker, died when Emicheta was eight. Her mother also died, later on, leaving Emecheta an orphan. She lived with different family members while attending Methodist Girls High School on a scholarship that she won. Emecheta was known to be very intelligent, and her desire to obtain an education was always noticeable. Despite her challenging childhood she continued to work hard in school to pursue her dreams. At the age of sixteen, she married Sylvester Onwardi who she was betrothed to at age eleven. One of her dreams was to move to England, and after a bit of convincing, they journeyed to England with their two children in the year 1962. Emecheta’s living condition in England was entirely different than she was used to in Nigeria. At twenty-two, Emecheta was a mother of five living in a strange land and being abused by her husband. She worked as a librarian and attended London University in 1970 where she studied and earned her degree in Sociology in four years. Soon after she started to work as a social worker. Emecheta found her job to be very rewarding. She loved writing and decided to write her first novel. Filled with pride and excitement, she shared the moment with her husband. Filled with jealousy and rage, her husband destroyed her manuscript. Emecheta reported feeling as if she had lost a child, this malicious act was enough to ask for a divorce from her abusive husband.

Emecheta’s first book in The Ditch (1972) focused on the single immigrant mothers in the UK and also did her second novel Second Class Citizen (1974). Her love for writing produced more than 20 novels which are also based on her past experiences, sexual politics, and racial prejudice. Emecheta’s work continued with The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Nowhere to Play (1980), The Moonlight Bride (1980), The Wrestling Match (1980), Our Own Freedom (1981), Double Yoke (1982), Naira Power (1982), Destination Biafra (1982), The Rape of Shavi (1983), Adah’s Story (1983), Head Above Water (1986), A Kind of Marriage (1986), Family Bargain (1987), Gwendolen (1989) The Family (1989), Kehinde (1994) and The New Tribe (2000).

The Joys of Motherhood

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' '. It tells the tragic story of Nnu-Ego, the 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 centers 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 childbearing, 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

The Joy of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta is one of the most sophisticated Bildungsroman books produced in colonial Nigeria between the early and mid-twentieth centuries, describing the protagonist's twenty-five-year journey. The protagonist, Nnu Ego, has progressed from a powerful tradition-bound character to a feminist, as the author has highlighted. Her efforts to prove the validity of motherhood are thwarted at every point, regrettably, by a tangle of inconsistencies that she finds herself unable of resolving.

The novel is devoted to all mothers, beginning with "The Mother" in the first chapter and ending with "The Canonized Mother" in the last chapter. It provides a caustic examination of patriarchal, colonial restraints encountered by women like Nnu Ego, whose societal worth is predicated on two factors: first, her ability to produce children, and second, her readiness to meet male-oriented Ibo culture's demand and serviceability. As a passionate author in finding the difficulties encountered by Nigerian women, she stated in a talk  with Adeola James that  

“in Joys of Motherhood…I created a woman who had eight children and died by the wayside”( Adeola )

Traditions played an important part in the development of the concept of motherhood. They assumed that motherhood would deliver a fulfilled and distinguished life to the protagonist. Emecheta uses the technique of mother's introspection in which the protagonist realizes that she has not brought fulfillment to the family. Nnu Ego, who is a doubly colonized mother, describes her sorrows and sacrifices in a statement released shortly after the birth of her twin daughters. She had one of these epiphanic moments when stuck in the web of delivery and a difficult position. The following remark expresses the psychological temperament and sadness of a mother, and it represents the Nigerian women's response to the prevalent problem.

Nnu Ego feels empty without motherhood and has fought hard to be a mother. Emecheta wishes to convey the message that having more than five or six children does not guarantee that a mother would be rich in her later years. She looks at the institution of motherhood, the horrible experiences that come with it, and the impact it has on the brains of Nigerian women.

The author has given the novel's final chapter the satirical title of "The Canonized Mother." Throughout her life, Nnu Ego was subjected to patriarchal enslavement and died alone. In the patriarchal and traditionally strong Ibo society, all three moms, Ona, Akadu, and Nnu Ego, have been mistreated. However, Emecheta's Nnu Ego defies the conventional wisdom that having a large family will provide a woman with a lot of ecstasies.

Thank you…

Words

1,092

Characters

6,764

Thinking Activity : A Dance Of the Forests

 Thinking Activity : Unit-3 A Dance of the Forest

Hello, 

I am Bhumika Mahida , here I'm going to write a blog on the task of " Dance of The Forest' which is assigned by Ms. Yesha Bhatt , So let's begin…

About Author:

Wole Soyinka 

Nigerian playwright and political activist Wole Soyinka received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He was born in 1934 in Abeokuta, near Ibadan, into a Yoruba family and studied at University College in Ibadan, Nigeria, and the University of Leeds, England. Soyinka, who writes in English, is the author of five memoirs, including Aké: the Years of Childhood (1981) and You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir (2006), the novels The Interpreters (1965) and Season of Anomy (1973), and 19 plays shaped by a diverse range of influences, including avant-garde traditions, politics, and African myth.click here to know more about Soyinka.

A Dance of the Forests

A Dance of the Forests is one of the most recognized of Wole Soyinka's plays. The play "was presented at the Nigerian Independence celebrations in 1960, it ... denigrated the glorious African past and warned Nigerians and all Africans that their energies henceforth should be spent trying to avoid repeating the mistakes that have already been made." At the time of its release, it was an iconoclastic work that angered many of the elite in Soyinka's native Nigeria. Politicians were particularly incensed at his prescient portrayal of post-colonial Nigerian politics as aimless and corrupt. Despite the deluge of criticism, the play remains an influential work. In it, Soyinka espouses a unique vision for a new Africa, one that is able to forge a new identity free from the influence of European imperialism.

A Dance of the Forests is regarded as Soyinka's theatrical debut and has been considered the most complex and difficult to understand of his plays. In it, Soyinka unveils the rotten aspects of society and demonstrates that the past is no better than the present when it comes to the seamy side of life. He lays bare the fabric of Nigerian society and warns people as they are on the brink of a new stage in their history: independence.

Major Themes Of A Dance of the Forests

Corrupted power

Corrupted power is another major theme in the play, particularly as it represented in the characters of Mata Kharibu and Madame Tortoise. As we are taken back to the palace of the king, we see that Madame Tortoise exploits her beauty and her power over men in order to stir up discord. Mata Kharibu is also corrupted by his immense power, as demonstrated by the fact that he is demanding that his soldiers fight against their better judgment, and the fact that he mercilessly punishes free thinking. Wole Soyinka tells a story that reveals to the reader that all power is corruptible, and that just because people are given authority does not mean that they are good or ethical people.

Nature 

The play takes place in a forest, and throughout, various elements of the natural world come to life to take part in the reckoning that is taking place with the mortals. The Forest Head is a spirit who presides over the forest, and during the welcoming of the Dead Man and Dead Woman, various spirits of different natural elements are called upon to speak their piece. These include Spirit of the Rivers, Spirit of the Palms, Spirits of the Volcanos, and others. All of these elements of nature are personified through verse, showing us the connection between the human and the natural world.

Birth

One of the unresolved features of the Dead Woman is the fact that she was killed while pregnant with a child. She returns to the world of the living still with a pregnant belly, and during the welcome ritual, the fetus appears as a Half-Child, who is caught between being influenced by the spirit world and remaining with his mother. The Half-Child is a tragic figure, as he was never given the relief of life, and when he is given a chance to speak he says, "I who yet await a mother/Feel this dread/Feel this dread,/I who flee from womb/To branded womb cry it now/I'll be born dead/I'll be born dead." The figure of the child is a tragic one, standing in as the ultimate symbol for the wrongs done to the Dead Man and Dead Woman, and the unresolvedness of their plight.

Atonement

The play's central theme is atonement. The Dead Man and Dead Woman are brought back to life in order for the four mortals who mistreated them in the past to realise and atone for their wrongdoings. While the mortals are clueless for much of the play, they finally learn that the Dead Man and Dead Woman's visitation is to teach them a lesson, and by the end, they have experienced a form of conversion, realising that they had sinned before.

The Past 

The play does not follow an exactly linear structure, in spite of the fact that it all takes place in the course of a day. As we learn rather quickly, the narrative concerns the sins of the past, and each mortal character has multiple identities, representing both who they are in the present as well as who they once were in the past. The present is layered onto the past as if to suggest that nothing from our history is ever fully gone, that we descend from patterns and events that precede us and continue to affect us in the present. The plot of the play concerns the ways that human beings must overcome their pasts and learn from them.

Ritual

Another major theme, as well as a formal element of the play, is ritual and tradition. Throughout, we see the characters going through traditional motions in order to understand more about their circumstances. These rituals include the ceremony for the self-discovery of the mortals, in which the mortals must relive their crimes, the Dead Man and Dead Woman must be questioned, and the mortals reveal their secret wrongs.

Wounds Trauma 

People sometimes suffer from their traumatic pasts. As all characters who are roaming in the forest have their traumatic experiences. Obaneji knows all these things and he wants that they all can accept their deeds and atonement for it. In the forest Obaneji also asks all about their past and what they have done. Demoke told his story and Rola and Obaneji helped him to move on. The other example is of the dead man & woman who had a terrible end of their life. Their wounds were not filled but they faced a lot of trouble and trauma because they opposed the king.  

Thank you…

Words 

1,126

Characters

3,686

Thinking Activity : The Only Story

Thinking Activity : The Only Story 

Hello , 

I am Bhumika Mahida , here I'm going to write a blog on the novel ' The Only Story ' . In this blog I have to give the answers of some questions and points as a task from the blog 👉 The Only Story Which is assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir from Department of English M K Bhavnagar University. So let's begin with the introduction of the author of the Novel. 

Introduction : 

Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes, in full Julian Patrick Barnes, pseudonyms Edward Pygge and Dan Kavanagh, (born January 19, 1946, Leicester, England), British critic and author of inventive and intellectual novels about obsessed characters curious about the past.  click here ( to read more about the author) . 

The Only Story

For this novel we don't fine any readymade matirial to understand the very sense of the novel and there are such a reviews by some authors or readers make it clear that it is worth reading or not .

Here is one review by a reviewer. 

This is Julian Barnes's latest offering, an author I absolutely adore. It is a profound and moving love story, and the complexities, intense suffering and heartbreak that accompanies it. It has Paul looking back on his only story, the love of his life, and his shifting perspectives as time passes. Barnes can be relied on for his well crafted beautiful prose and imagery, underscored by a musicality that beguiles and delights. The novel is split into three parts, and relates the story of 19 year old Paul, a Sussex University student who in 1963 meets and falls in love with 48 year old married Susan, who has children older than him and carries heavy emotional baggage from her personal history. What follows in a detailed examination of the repercussions on the people in their lives of their love affair amidst the middle class suburban attitudes, social norms and expectations of the period that the lovers are subject to.

Barnes uses the classic device of moving from first person narrative, to the second person and finally the third person to highlight the increasing distance that Paul injects into his love story, moving from the intense passion at the beginning to a more dispassionate approach. He is aware that his memories are unreliable and his thinking tainted by self delusion. What Barnes gives is his insights into the human condition, a subtle reflection and observations on the nature of love and the trajectory it follows for Paul, infused with an air of melancholia set in a specific time and place. Whilst there are echoes of Barnes previous novels, I found this a brilliant and thought provoking read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to Random House Vintage for an ARC.

( It from one of the reviews on The Only Story )

  Review by      -Paromojit

              

1.Memory Novel - Structurally as well as Thematically

'The Only Story' is a memory novel. Because it is based on the memory of Paul Roberts. Paul as a narrator told his story but even he is not sure about his story.  We know the whole story of this novel which is based on the memory of Paul Roberts. 

In the novel we can find four aspects for the theme of memory : 

• History is collective memory; memory is personal history 

• Trauma in memory

• Memory and morality

• Memory prioritizes

We know the whole story of the novel by the memory of Paul. Sometimes it will be hard to remember all the things . So it is called the Trauma of Memory . When we read any historical concept it will be a  collective memory of events, and memory is personal history. The whole story is based on Paul's Memory of his love story So ' Memory' will be the major theme for this novel. 

2.Postmodern Novel - theme of existentialism

The Only Story is a postmodern novel. It thinks about the situation that is happening now and may happen in future also. 

In the novel we can find some objects which reflect the existential aspects . 

Most of us have only one story to tell. I don’t mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless  stories. But there’s only one that matters, only one finally worth telling, this is mine (Barnes,2018, p. 13). 

So proves that Paul considered himself as a truth - teller. Barnes' novels are devoid of any forced optimism. The properties of postmodern words may be justified by novels that reflect reality or fiction. In today's postmodern era fiction, true 'reality' is not portrayed. This is like a statement of fact, similar to how a crystal reflects our image's truth. In several of Barnes's stories, the primary characters reflect genuine images as a fictitious image rather than revealing their true attributes. As a result, several of Barnes's characters affect the image and thinking of Barnes.

Love is the emotional structure of one's society, and it is formed on sex indirectly. Love produces the polished form of culture and sex. Love, like sex, is riddled with ambiguity, existing in both natural and non-natural forms, implying that it exists beyond the abstract level and is difficult to explain. Love is an inexorable source of anxiety, though possibly a deeper dread for being soaked through, the fear of failing. The concept of eternal love is buried within the body, rather than being external as an ironic word suggests. Researchers and philosophers have observed that the postmodern sensual movement is dismantling the links that bind eroticism to sex on one hand and love on the other. Love selection is also founded on sex determination, which is the process of assigning healthy individuals to attributes such as selectiveness and faithfulness. If this planning is done free, the cross-cultural world will shift dramatically. The pleasures of sex with sensual meaning are encouraged in postmodern culture.

 

Barnes' novels are anchored by love and human imagination, and this in itself puts him on the margins of postmodernism. 

3. Theme of Love ( Passion + Suffering) 

In the Only Story the passion turned into suffering.The story of the youth of 19 years Paul's passionate attraction towards Susan MacLeod, 48 years old married woman with two daughters.This is nothing but a story of passion turning into suffering. 

Paul is giving his own defence that it was his  mistake to fall in love with a middle aged woman.But can we think of all these things when we are in love?well we can't because if we think then we are not in love.That is how he was carried towards suffering, drifting like a wooden log. 

"Remember, as you read this small book, generally and specifically about love, remember that suffering is, after all, the Latin root for passion": Ellen Prentiss Campbell on Julian Barnes's new novel. 

This is his story of a life-changing, life-defining passionate love affair, from innocence to experience, from youth to age, from infatuation to weariness. It is the story of suffering for both Paul as well as Susan, along with all other family members. 

Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question. You may point out correctly that it isn't a real question. Because we don't have a choice. If we had the choice, then there would be a question. But we don't, so there isn't. Who can control how much they love? If you can control it, then it isn't love. I don't know what you call it, but it isn't love. 

He remembered, at school, being guided by masters through books and plays in which there was often a Conflict between Love and Duty. In those old stories, innocent but passionate love would run up against the duty owed to family, church, king, state. Some protagonists won, some lost, some did both at the same time; usually, tragedy ensued. No doubt in religious, patriarchal, hierarchical societies, such conflicts continued and still gave themes to writers. But in the Village? No church-going for his family. Not much of a hierarchical social structure, unless you counted the tennis and golf club committees, with their power to expel. Not much patriarchy, either not with his mother around. As for family duty: he had felt no obligation to placate his parents. Indeed, nowadays the onus had shifted, and it was the parents' job to accept whatever 'life choices' their child might make. Like running off to a Greek island with Pedro the hairdresser, or bringing home that gymslip-mother-to-be. Yet this liberation from the old dogmas brought its own complexities. The sense of obligation became internalised. Love was a Duty in and of itself. You had a Duty to Love, the more so now that it was your central belief system. And Love brought many Duties with it. So, even when apparently weightless, Love could weigh heavily, and bind heavily, and its Duties could cause disasters as great as in the old days. 

4.Critique of Crosswords :

In this Novel two people are playing crosswords, one is mr. Gordon Macleaod and another is Joan.In ‘The Only Story’ Julian Barnes has captures the nuances of social life lived in the 20th century England. The crosswords was something so significant aspect of this traditional British activity that several characters of this novel are found meaningfully engaged with it. 

It is said that Crossword puzzles have several benefits like:

• They can strengthen social bonds. Completing a crossword puzzle on your own is impressive, but you should never feel bad if you need to ask for help. …

• They improve your vocabulary. ...

• They increase your knowledge base. ...

• They can relieve stress. ...

• They boost your mood. 

Apart from Joan, it is Gordon Macleod who is found doing crosswords in the novel. On two occasions, he is found solving the crosswords with Paul Roberts. The answers to the puzzle are ‘Taunton’ – a name of a town – meaning continue mocking at – and - ‘TREFOIL,   REF – arbiter – in the middle of TOIL – work.’ If we read these words in context of the relations between Paul and Gordon we may find it symbolically significant. Taunton – making mockery of something/somebody and Trefoil – a popular warning symbol signifies triangular relation among Paul – Susan – Gordon. Both these words in the crossword puzzle seem to signify a taunt on Paul’s middling in between Susan and Gondon’s not-so-happy married life.  

Like crossword , we can say that today's crossword is  'WORDLE' , lots of people play this game and also it's a very interesting game.

Here is the link 

https://www.wordleunlimited.com/?wardle=aXNsYW5k

Of the game 'WORDLE'.

5.Paul - the unreliable narrator

Paul is the unreliable narrator of this novel.Beacuse whatever he is telling to readers is based on his personal memory.hHe says that he never kept a diary.So how can we rely on one's own memory.It is very problematic.Paul is not sure about his life experiences. He himself is counter arguing the things in this novel.

6.Susan - madwoman in the attic 

Click here 👉 to read the full story of 'Mad Women in the Attic' . The title of the book is derived from Jane Eyre‘s Bertha Mason, who is locked away by her husband Mr Rochester in the attic of Thornfield Hall. She is an ominous character, full of uncontrollable passion, violence, sensuality, and madness, almost bestial in her behaviour.

Here the character of Susan is comparable with that character of Bertha from ' Madwoman in the Attic'. Bertha was suffered by her husband and here Susan is suffering from some kind of this thing. She becomes an alcoholic. She speaks lies to Paul. Somewhere she is stuck with responsibility. She was beaten by her own husband. She had extramarital affair with Paul, she somewhere wants love, some kind of warmness but she was constantly become a victim of hatred, sexual pleasure and was beaten so many times.  Susan also become a victim of child abuse when she went to his uncle Hemph’s house. When finally she went with Paul there she felt lonely and that time she became alcoholic like anything. In the end, Paul also abandons her and her daughter Clara takes care of her.  Susan’s character is fascinating because there is another character who counterpointed Susan's character.  

7.Joan - one who understood existential enigma 

Joan is sister of Gerald.After death of Gerald Joan suffered a lot because in her family Gerald was very near to Joan that also has does kind of damage to Joan.Joan can save herself from the damage.We may question that was it there nothing wrong happened with Joan as Susan is suffering from her life.Joan was living with yeppers/dog first and the she has another dog called Sibyl.Sybil is a mythical character (an old lady in a prison or jar).

Joan is the tennis player and partner with Paul.Joan has many affairs with the rich man.When Gerald was died Joan was devastated towards life.And when one devastated from life they don't go for human beings but rather find the pet animals.Joann Was doing the same in this novel.Sibyl as her ultimate company. 

8.Whom do you think is responsible for the tragedy in the story? Explain with reasons.

From my viewpoint this tragedy happened because of Susan , because Susan is the the character who creates her own problems and she is the responsible for her condition . When the love story begins at that time Paul is 19 years old while Susan is 48 years old. If she has chosen a right path for her then the tragedy might not happen. So , Susan is responsible for the tragedy in the novel.

Thank you…

Words

2,298

Characters

10,990