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The Joys Of Motherhood Analysis

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These analyses are all valid and serve to accurately analyze the text. However, there is a beautiful aspect of the novel that should not be overlooked. The Joys of Motherhood provides various examples of how an oppressed people manage to sidestep the obstructions placed within their society. The novel models the ways in which the oppressed manage to create insular communities to maintain a dignified daily existence in which they can observe traditional customs. The Joys of Motherhood is part of an autobiographical series of five novels based on Emecheta’s life. The series consists of the novels The Bride Price, In the Ditch, Second Class Citizen, The Slave Girl, and The Joys of Motherhood. Like the protagonist in several of the novels, Emecheta is an immigrant to London. Born in an Ibo village and educated in a missionary school in Lagos, Nigeria, Emecheta married at a young age to a fellow African student, and the couple immigrated to England for broader opportunities. Once in London, marital difficulties arose, and despite five children, the couple divorced. Emecheta’s autobiographical series chronicles her experiences as first a young bride and then a single parent in London. Mixed with her contemporary British existence and Ibo traditions gleaned from her own and her ancestors’ experiences, …show more content…

Since the novel takes place before the Nigerian Civil Wars, there is not much strife depicted between the Ibos and Yorubas. The main conflict in the novel is how the Africans navigate the British imperialistic order. United against a common adversary, the Ibos and Yorubas in The Joys of Motherhood forge a loose knit community and rely on each other during hard times. The men also depend on each other for support. Nnaife, and his co-worker Ubani and the other men carouse and drink together as well as console each other in their own

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