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Nwapa Efuru Literary Analysis

1850 Words8 Pages

This paper will analyse to what extent the women in Nwapa's Efuru in general and Efuru specifically are able to make their own decisions and which limitations there are to their freedom of choice. It will explore the role of gender in the decision-making process as gender is among the main influences of decision-making in the novel. the manner in which those decisions are made.
It will discuss how far the decision making abilities of women are restricted by their gender i.e. the societal limitations set to them because of their gender and which fields they wield power in.
2. Gender and Power
Gender plays a central role in determining the frame within which Efuru's protagonist can make her choices. Seeing as Efuru's protagonist is a woman, it is necessary …show more content…

In the end Adizua and Efuru agree to take Ogea in and to lend her parents Nwosu who is the cousin of Efuru's mother in law and Nwabata ten pounds. This exchange could be interpreted as Efuru retreating into her traditional role as a woman

Efuru decides to leave Adizua even though her mother in law tries to convince her to stay. Efuru's thought process is:
Perhaps self-imposed suffering appeals to her. It does not appeal to me. I know I am capable of suffering for greater things. But to suffer for a truant husband, an irresponsible husband like Adizua is to debase suffering [...]. When Adizua comes back, I shall leave him (Nwapa 1966:61-62).
Despite the fact that her mother in law would have stayed and waited for her husband, Efuru decides to leave Adizua, showing that despite her willingness to comply with traditions, she is not ready to fully surrender her dignity and independence for a man as undependable as

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