The Joys of Motherhood

“The Joys of Motherhood”, written by Buchi Emecheta, is a novel that spans the life of Nnu Ego. The novel is taken from a third party’s perspective of Nnu Ego’s life and the many hardships that develop from some significant themes. Two of the main themes of this book include colonialism and the power in numbers.

Colonialism is shown throughout most of the novel through a clash of cultures. The two cultures being compared are that of traditional Nigeria and Britain. Nnu Ego, a woman of Ibuza, moves to Lagos, a colonial city of British influence. She is exposed to a new way of life primarily through capitalism and Christianity. The difference in capitalism is through the earning the money and the gender roles that go along with supplying an income for the family. In Lagos, the male was the only one allowed to bring in a salary. The female was able to sell objects, cigarettes for instance, but could not hold a waged position. In traditional Nigerian culture the women was made to work in the field and do manual labor to bring in money for the family.

While in Lagos, Nnu was influenced by Christianity through the structure of the family. The structure differed by the acceptable number of wives a man could have. For traditional Nigerian culture the male could have as many wives as he seemed fit. In Lagos, under the influence of Christianity only one wife was acceptable.

There is a common trend in Emecheta’s writing that shows the power in numbers. From the very beginning of Nnu’s life, she is taught to yearn for motherhood, having a family and existing within a community. While she strives to obtain these goals, she struggles immensely. At different points in the text Nnu is unable to bear a child, does not want to marry and feels separated from the community. Through these struggles, Emecheta shows a strong correlation between Nnu’s ‘group’ dynamic and the hardships that she goes through. The common trend is whenever there is separation between Nnu and a loved one (the group), her husband for instance, there is a struggle that mounts. For instance, when Nnaife goes to Fernado Po (95), Nnu struggles with money due to the separation of her and her husband, the son gets sick and Nnu has to go through childbirth without the father. Due to instances like this families relied a lot on group dynamic and the help and support of neighbors. “… workers would go away for weeks and weeks, leaving their young wives to have babies on their own with no help except that given by neighbours.” (51)

Another example of the power in numbers is the “sitting on the man”. It was mentioned that, in a typical Ibuza family, if the women were not getting what they wanted they could/would join together and hold out on the man’s needs/desires until he gave in. When Nnu and Adaku tried this their plan was ruined by Nnu feeling the need for security. Nonetheless, this common trend shows that there is power in numbers and the significance of being a group instead of an individual.