The Stillborn Character Analysis

3.0 The Stillborn by Zaynab Alkali It is a well-known fact that Zaynab Alkali is one of the first Northern Nigerian female writers writing in English. Primarily, she promotes and depicts Northern Nigerian cultures and traditions in an effort to advocate for the rights of women in the society. Unlike other female writers, she does not agitate for equality between men and women. As a liberal feminist or womanist, she attempts to redeem the image of the African women with a view to making them re-discover themselves and become responsible in the society through the acquisition of formal education. Though it is claimed that The Stillborn “has received critical attention because it is one of the first novels to be written by a Northern Nigerian female author in English” (Amba 91), I would rather insist that the critical attention the novel has received is as a result of the fact that Alkali explores in detail the plight of the woman as it exist in the predominantly Muslim Northern Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.

The stillborn sets out to explore the travails of Zaynab Alkali’s young female characters. It explores

As she watches the unfolding drama between Baba and his children, she laughs wildly when she realises that Baba has lost the battle for supremacy to his children. She sees him as a “foolish man [who is]... never tired of playing god with his children” (24). This indictment of Baba’s method of discipline is seen as an authoritative display of arrogance. If grandma who is Baba’s step-mother and who should know him very well; should make this indicting statement about him, then Baba’s authoritativeness is morally or socially unacceptable and is therefore questionable. Grandma is seen as a person who has a mean disposition. She has been accused of been behind the negative tendencies of the family. She spares no one who crosses her part especially when she has a moody