Analysis Of In The Chest Of A Woman
Finding Meaning in My Favourite Text
The play, “In the chest of a woman”, written, directed and published in 2008 by the Ghanaian playwright, Efo Kojo Mawugbe, told the story of a female character who deviated from society’s constructed norms. The protagonist, Nana Yaa Kyeretwie, came to the forefront to challenge society’s notion that men should lead while women follow. This was evident as Nana Yaa exhibited macho characteristics. The hilarity of the text coupled with the feisty and cunning nature of Nana Yaa made the text stand out as my favourite. This paper seeks to offer an intrinsic analysis of the play, illustrating a society that promotes sexism, sexist exploitation and depression. The paper will use the feminist literary theory adopting key concepts: patriarchy, heteronormativity and queer theory in highlighting these instances.
The writer used the text, “In the chest of a woman”, as a social commentary to highlight barriers women face in their effort to achieve their desires. As an illustration of the stated theme, Nana Yaa Kyeretwie desired to possess power, however, she being a woman placed her on a disadvantaged side as her younger brother was bestowed with the Ebusa Kingdom. The queen mother told her, “…but you are not a man” when she insisted that she wanted to rule the whole kingdom. The queen mother’s statement suggested her enforcement of men in leadership, neglecting women. Here, the text skilfully employed the queen mother to disregard her daughter’s
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