Joys of Motherhood
...ouths to feed and backs to clothe. Soon engulfed in expenses Nnaife’s meager income became too small to sustain proper living and the family incurred a sickly spiral of poverty stricken life. Working to fulfill her traditional role only became a burden for the whole family as a unit. To make matters worse, Nnaife’s brother dies and he amasses all of his brother’s wives and their families. Then Nnaife is sent off to war. With no foreseeable income Nnu Ego chooses to return to Ibuza for a while. After a long stay, she is encouraged to return to Lagos, and when she comes back she “could not believe her eyes. It was as if she had been away nine years, not nine months.” (161) Everything was twice as expensive and she lost her trade because the neighbors had taken over her cigarette-selling market. In her absence she had lost her place in the community, everything had moved forward without her. When the choice came up to grind it out in Lagos or take refuge in Ibuza, Nnu fled to her traditional birthplace. This indicates her commitment to tradition over adapting in changing Lagos. Nnu’s tendency to resort to tradition has her financially, socially, and emotionally trapped. She realizes that she is “a prisoner, imprisoned by her love for her children, imprisoned in her role as the senior wife.” (137) She finally realizes that her children and her traditional role have bound her to a subservient, thankless role in which she serves everyone else but herself. This role entails doing anything and everything, taking whatever risk is needed, to ensure the well being of her children. She thinks nothing of herself, and her only hope is prospect of her children being successful enough to support her in her old age. However, her children, raised within the influences of westernization make their life decisions based on their own interests, without regard for the rest of their family, namely their mother. As a result, they end up scattered, and Nnu Ego remains poor. She is pushed to return home to Ibuza, and not long after arriving she was on her way home from the market when she “laid “down by the roadside…She died quietly there, with no child to hold her hand and no friend to talk to her.” After all her efforts proud, Nnu Ego died with no one by her side. All she wanted in life was to have peace in her old age, yet up till her death she was troubled with worries for her children and the burden of isolation. She tried to combine two separate and incompatible worlds into one lifestyle and ended up getting left behind. Nnu Ego brought upon her own devastation by holding onto the past and not giving in to the future. Adaku, Nnaife’s inherited wife, does not accept her inferior traditional role, and adjusting to developing social trends in Nigeria, brings herself success. Transferred to Lagos when Nnaife’s brother dies, Adaku finds herself in a strange land with people she has never met. At dinner on the night of her arrival, Naife tells a story of his adventure on the seas, and Nnu questions the validity of his story. However, Adaku, eager to gain favor with her new husband, defends her new husband, offering that “some peculiar things do happen on those ships that sail on the big seas, and the men do see peculiar sights. This is well known even in Ibuza.” (121) She is indicating that Nnu, the daughter of the great Agbadi, is not up to date with what is going on, even in her prized culture. It is the first thing Adaku says in their household and it is a direct challenge. She purposely disrespects the senior wife to assert that she commands a respected position and will not accept an inferior role. The two women coexisted in one household, in the family of Nnaife. However, the two raised their children separately, which was easier for Adaku for she “had only two children to feed.” (161) Adaku only has two children; two girls. In Ibuza tradition this is a very insufficient family. There are few kids, and no males. From the traditional view it appears as if she was cursed by her Chi. However with fewer mouths to feed, her kids, unlike Nnu’s always ate. She was able to provide enough for them to have a healthy childhood, without much sacrifice. When Nnaife is sent to war and Nnu returns to Ibuza, Adaku stays in Lagos. This is the turning point of the book because she enjoys economic success and her “stall in the Zabo market was stac...