Feminist Criticisms of Some Selected Feminist Works
Chapter One
Preamble of the Study
There are view shared by all feminists is that women are discriminated against on account of their sex. Feminists stress the relevant of gender segregation in society and it present these segregation as working to the overall advantage of men. Although feminists are united with their shared desire for sexual justice and their concern for women’s welfare, there is a range spectrum of feminist views.
Chapter Two
FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM
Feminist literary criticism is informed by feminist theory . It can be understood as using feminist principles and ideological discourses to critique the language of literature, its structure and being. This school of thought seeks to describe and analyze the ways in which literature portrays the narrative of male domination in regard to female bodies by exploring the economic, social, political, and psychological forces embedded within literature.
Feminist literary criticism is literary analysis that arises from the view point of feminism, feminist theory and/or feminist politics. Basic methods of feminist literary criticism include:
- Identifying with female characters: This is a way to challenge the male-centred outlook of authors. Feminist literary criticism suggests that women in literature were historically presented as objects seen from a male perspective.
- Re-evaluating literature and the world in which literature is read: This involves questioning whether society has predominantly valued male authors and their literary works because it has valued males more than females.
A feminist literary critic resists traditional assumptions while reading. In addition to challenging assumptions which were thought to be universal, feminist literary criticism actively supports including women’s knowledge in literature and valuing women’s experiences.
The notion is that men use the smoke screen of culture, politics, economic, tradition, and all other sectors of the society to adulate patriarchy at the expense of the female gender. Even in the dramatic concept we hardly see many of these female writers except for the likes of Osonye Tess Onwueme who is the god mother of feminism in Nigeria, Tracy Chima Utoh, the late Zulu Sofola and few others. This impression is misleading, as some male writers like J.P Clark, Femi Osofisan, Kole Omotosho, Ngugi Wa Thiongu, Ola Rotimi and others have all addressed feminism in their various works. However, we shall analyse Ola Rotimi’s our husband has gone mad again and J.P Clark’s “The wives Revolt” as the address the issue of feminism.
CHAPTER THREE
THE WIVES REVOLT
ANALYSIS
One of the modern Nigeria’s foremost literary figure, J.P. Clark-Bekederemo, known for the first part of his career as John Pepper Clark, is also one of the country’s most versatile thinkers. His work has moved back and forth between Nigeria and the West, between traditional modes of expression and European-derived forms ranging from ancient Greek tragic drama to modern image centered poetry. Clark-Bekederemo caused controversy in both worlds; he felt distinctly out of place when he visited the United States dismaying his hosts, but his unsparing depictions of Nigerian civil war likewise unsettled his countrymen. J.P. Clark-Bekederemo was, in short, a modern writer who raised questions and crossed boundaries wherever he went and whatever he did.
THEME
INEQUALITY/INJUSTICE
The play, ‘The Wives Revolt’ begins with Okoro, Koko’s husband. Okoro, equipped with the gong, announces the enforcement of a new law banishing goats in the oil-rich Erhuwaren village that law sparks a feud in the community between the men and the women as the latter are the owners of these forbidden domestic animals. The law was considered as repressive by the women. Already, the sharing formula for the oil wealth has been in three parts namely the elders, men of particular age-group and women. The women reason that the elders are the men and the implication is that the men folk hold the two-thirds of the oil revenue.
Hence, the women plan to make men their “domestic animals”. In their bid to be heard, they deserted their homes and their children, leaving their husbands to do the domestic chores such as cooking, sweeping and other menial tasks that the men would otherwise treat as masculine abomination. The women travel through Otughieven, Eijophe, or Igherekan, Imode to Eyara while expecting to be quickly recalled by their lonely husbands. But their husbands are prepared for the worse. At Eyara, the women are accommodated and cared for by Ighodayen, a notorious prostitute. When the men receive the agonizing news of their wives’ sojourn, they plead for their return without any inkling that the worst is yet to come. The women returned with deadly diseases, having been infected by Ighodayen. They became the subjects of ridicule of their husbands who had been brought to their knees to revoke the obnoxious law.
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Men have dominated the political landscape within much visible development in the live of most Africa and nations. Most nations are wallowing in abject poverty because of corruption and fraudulent practices of male politicians, whose political drive is personal economic empowerment. The women have
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