The treatment of the theme of women's identity and self-definition in the fictional works of Mariama ba, bessie head and buchi emecheta

Abstract

The present study is an analysis of how three major African female writers deal with the theme of identity and self-definition. Proceeding from an African feminist literary criticism's framework, the work focuses on how the writers navigate the contours of African culture, religion and social prejudices to bring out concerns of African women. The work primarily analyses the portrayal of the main female characters in the fictional writings of the writers under study. It then proceeds to explore the various impediments to the women's clear identity and a self designed definition. A close reading of the fictional works of these writers reveals that identity and self-definition IS a central theme common in the three writers' works. The study also ,arrives at the conclusion that the African female writers put at the top of their creative objective, the issue of women's identity and self-definition. Through an analysis of the main female characters, the study also demonstrates that most of them die deeply committed to mediating their identity and self-definition in the face of the militating cultures of Africa, Islam and the myths that have sustained them for years. The study ends with suggestions on other possible issues that should be studied in furtherance of the present understanding of African women's quest for a better identity and self-definition