Gender relations in ben OKRI'S trilogy: the famished road, songs of enchantment and infinite riches

Abstract

This study examines Ben Okri' s exposition of gender relations in three interrelated novels: The Famished Road, Songs of Enchantment, and Infinite Riches. The premise of the study is the elision of the woman's experience from the writing of the male African prose artist and the paucity of critical output on Okri as an artist who contests gender positions. The underlying objectives of this study are to show that Okri (mirrors men and women in their existential reality and proposes revised gender positions. This study is informed· by the sociological and feminist theoretical postulations. Library research guides the study in the area of methodology. The study basically takes a thematic approach that focuses on the womanhood trope, patriarchal relations and new images and consciousness as areas of exegetical interest. Under the womanhood trope the study presents portraits that typify the perception of women in society and have gender as the inflected ideology. This study discusses experiences such as motherhood, marriage, violence, the individuality of women, and impediments that women encounter in their aspiration to bond together. This study examines patriarchal relations in order bring to the fore the imaging of men in social engagements contingent upon the presence of women. The study encompasses issues such as the male-child's reciprocation of maternity, patriarchy and masculinity as reference points in social relations, and the place of defiant femininity. The study finally explores what IS articulated in the trilogy as the basis for reconstructing gender relations. The discussion evaluates the revisron and development in the consciousness of both male and female characters. Here the study looks at how men and women adjust to their domestic roles, individual character, and role in public life. The study concludes that Okri has portrayed men and women in their social positions realistically. This study also establishes that Okri proposes a redrawing of gender positions with the aim of advocating equality and social justice. Finally, the study suggests perspectives beneficial to future research on Okri as an African literary artist.