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'An Examination of Women's Voices in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The AN EXAMINATION OF WOMEN’S VOICES IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S “THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK” By CHRISTY AISHA OLORUNFEMI (Student Number: 216069143) Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of Master Degree in Gender Studies, College of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Supervisor: Dr. Janet Muthoni Muthuki 2018 i DECLARATION I, CHRISTY AISHA OLORUNFEMI, hereby declare that “Voices of Women in Chimamnda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck” is entirely my own work, that all the sources that i have used have been properly referenced and that i have not previously submitted any part of dissertation at any other University for a degree. Christy Aisha Olorunfemi ____________________ Date ____________________ As the candidate’s supervisor I, DR. JANET MUTHUKI, have approved this dissertation for submission. Dr Janet Muthuki ____________________ Date ____________________ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge that I owe many thanks to a number of people for their support towards this work and without which its completion would have been impossible. I also wish to state here that that the order in which I have presented these acknowledgements has nothing to do with hierarchy. My gratitude goes to my supervisor Dr. Janet Muthoni Muthuki for her scholarly expertise and meticulous supervision throughout this thesis writing process, and for the tact with which she always crititiqued my preliminary drafts. My heart-felt gratitude to my dear husband for his unwavering and unconditional support and for that mighty, and most of the time hard push which though always left me on the verge of tears, urged me on. I am grateful to my dear friend Dr. Adeoye Akinola for his enduring friendship and an invaluable source of inspiration which helped me keep perspective whenever I encountered hazy moments in the research. I would certainly not have accomplished this without his support; in fact, I would not have even been here in the first place. I am also grateful to the Association of African Universities (AAU) for its award of the Small Grants for Theses and Dissertations: 2017/2018 Academic Year, which helped facilitate the completion of this work. Special thanks to my friends and colleagues from room 349 who all encouraged me in their own little ways. iii ABSTRACT This study investigates Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s female character portrayal in her first short story effort, The Thing Around your Neck, an anthology of twelve short stories. The study offers an insight into a variety of female characters taken from the author’s short stories. These characters, after being contextualized within a patriarchal society/environment, are analyzed in terms of gender subjugation and marginalisation vis-à-vis an African Reformist Feminist reading to explore and analyse a variety of Adichie’s portrayal of female characters in the text and to ascertain how the author equips and empowers her females to fight and overcome subjugating situations and attain their liberation and freedom. The study further employs the Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis model to examine the ways in which the author resists sexism in literature through her writing and her attempt to increase the awareness of the sexual politics of language and style in writing. The study also identifies and critically explores the strategies adopted by Adichie’s female/women characters in the society to involve the men in their women’s emancipation. This analysis justifies the author’s aim to involve men as partners in the women’s quest for freedom and emancipation in the development of the Nigerian society in particular and Africa as a whole. Also, possible symbols or connections to recent African history are examined in order to give domestic stories a larger meaning. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ......................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................ iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... v CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................... 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. About the Author: Relevant Biography .................................................................... 6 1.3. Statement of the problem ........................................................................................ 10 1.4. Research Objectives ................................................................................................. 11 1.5. Research Questions ................................................................................................. 11 1.6. Significance of the Study .......................................................................................... 12 1.7. Structure of the Study .............................................................................................. 12 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................ 15 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 15 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 15 2.2. History of Literary Tradition in Nigeria ..................................................................... 15 2.3. Generations of Nigerian Female Writers ................................................................... 17 2.4. Portrayal of Female Characters in Literature by Male African Authors ................... 21 2.5. Portrayal of Women in African Literature by Female Authors ................................ 26 2.6. Critical Works on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Texts ........................................... 34 2.7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................... 38 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................... 38 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 38 3.2. Theoretical Framework Explained ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3. Principal Theory upon which the Study is based ......... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3.1. African feminism/ Reformist Feminist Approach ........................ Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................... 49 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND METHOD ................................................ 49 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 49 v 4.2. Methodology .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.3. Ethical Considerations................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.4. Conclusion ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................... 53 THE PORTRAYAL OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN SHORT STORY COLLECTION: THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK ................................................................ 53 5.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 53 5.2. Portrayal of women in Traditional, Sexist and Gendered Roles ............................... 56 5.3. Women as objects of Oppression/Domestic Dictatorship ........................................ 57 5.4. Portrayal of Women as Financially Dependent on Men ........................................... 62 5.5. Women as sexual objects and objects of sexual oppression ...................................... 64 5.6. Portrayal of Women as Strong, Assertive, Resilient .................................................. 68 5.7. Women as Mothers, Wives and Daughters ............................................................... 73 5.8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER SIX ........................................................................................... 76 STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE FEMALE CHARACTERS IN CHALLENGING, RESISTING, AND SUBVERTING PATRIARCHAL DOMINATION IN THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK ............................................................................... 76 6.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 76 6.2. Breaking Away from Masculine Supremacy and Dominance for Personhood and Liberation ............................................................................................................................ 77 6.3. Female Resistance in a Postcolonial Environment: Rebellion as Empowerment .... 79 6.3.1. Subverting Oppressive Cultural Practices and
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