It is often said that tradition is an important tool for cultural heritage, of claiming upon our identity, spiritual consciousness, ancestral history, and for protecting our dignity. Nevertheless, it is also a tool that demolishes our identity. In Africa, Tradition was created to empower men and lower women’s valued, rights and standards among men. Because of our obedience in following our ancestral paths in what is considered the norm, Africa is the most Patriarchate region in the Diaspora. For a Woman to be respected or feel secure in her future she must cover her body, to show no emotion during intimacy or she’ll be labeled as the whore. All those qualities would label a woman as qualified and ready for a man’s control.
Tradition is a root that is shaping its branch in one direction, it is there to reshape our identity, our views in races, gender, religious belief, and social ranks, this we can see in the epistolary novel like “Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter” by J. Nozipo Maraire where a dying mother is writing to her daughter who left home to study at Harvard. Teaching her daughter ways of their culture, the good and the bad. After everything, her daughter Zenzele defies the African traditional roles and resist structures of oppression of women. Unlike ‘Zenzele’ where the mother embraces her tradition and the way of leaving. In “The Joys of Motherhood” Buchi Emecheta, we see women are enslaved to their traditions which subjugate them to certain customs and in “Krik? Krak!” by Edwige Danticat where she highlights numerous obstacles Haitians faced, gender oppression; women locked up in the prison of tradition and the denial of their liberation.
The three authors highlight topics of male empowerment in the lives of women because of the ancestral tradition that have become the societal norm, women are being silenced or shown their place by the act of raping, bride price and marring more than one wife, to show power and control over their body. In this essay, I’ll establish how the three authors highlight how tradition in Africa or the Island of African practice has oppressed women both physically and mentally throughout the pre- and neo-colonial period in Africa and Island nations.
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In the undeveloped countries and continents, we see a pattern of ancestral tradition that gives the power to man to decide the faith of women. In Africa, we see the role of patriarchy plays in marriages where the man would display masculinity by having more than one wife and forcing themselves upon women. Women in polygamous marriages have a lower status compared to males. In the book were Nnuego who was the offspring of a well-known chief in Igbo village Agbadi and his mistress Ona. Nnu Ego’s mother Ona who is also referred to as a priceless jewel by him was also her father’s pride and Agbadi obsession. She refuses to be married to Agdabi because that’ll signify the end of her liberty and the beginning of Agbadi’s ownership over her life and body.
Nnuego father displays his wealth by having multiple wive and sons to prove his masculinity, it wasn’t enough for him because like all his wives who became submissive to the traditional ways, he wanted one who defies the norm of their tradition and wanted a woman who can challenge him. The night Agbadi was hurt from a hunt Ona was taken advantage of by Agbadi to prove his masculinity and to keep her. “Ona gasped and opened her eyes. She wanted to scream. But Agbadi was faster, more experienced. He slid on his belly, like a big black snake, and covered her mouth.” (Emecheta, 19-20)
Evidently, this imagery of ‘He slid on his belly, like a big black snake’ is demonstrating the power a man like Agbadi has over a woman’s body, his belly demonstrates his wealth the description and the color of his predatorial ways show his high ranking among the male specie, the color dark stereotypically indicate a powerful being. We live in a society where a person’s size, race and physical build determine their survival ability or strength.
Generally, Emacheta’s epistolary novel themes of her gender role and polygamy identify with mine, for I also belonged to a large family with several wives who are my grandmother and a man at the head, growing up in a compound of children, grandchildren, uncles, and aunties. I review that the young men and Uncles in my compound had more opportunity than the young ladies in the manner they directed their regular daily existences. Coming into the western world I had taken this history for granted and, like many who lived in this cultural world, believed it to be the natural order of things. Traditions became the norm and we became embedded in tradition.
In the epistolary novel of Emacheta, Nnu Ego shared the same faith as her mother, being raped in the night of her arrival in her second husband’s home, “After such an experience, [she] knew why horrible-looking men raped women…She felt humiliated, but what was she to do? She knew she must have cried all night long and that the older Owulum had been there listening, congratulating his brother in his heart.” (Emecheta, 44-45) This shows an act of power, in the African tradition women, are seen as a commodity. Once a woman is taken by her husband sexually they are tight to them. Nnaife feared that if he does not lie down with her she is going to be for others to grab. Nevertheless, both mother and daughter were humiliated by someone they trusted. During their assault, their cries were being heard by others but were discarded as the craft of being manly. This is showing how Women’s lives became less about theirs and more so of their ancestral ways of living.
Despite the fact that The tradition of Africa had played a negative part in the lives of many Igbo women; Amai Zenzele used the teaching of the African Culture to empower her daughter by teaching her about her roots and what it means to be considered African. As an African woman, I agree with her teaching of the African culture and tradition to keep it alive, in this neo-colonialism area where many young Africans are losing themselves and the trace of our identity is being erased as more African descendants deny and refuse to embrace their ancestral traditions.
Nevertheless, even though Amai Zenzele portrayed a positive image of the African tradition, nonetheless, we can see the line of patriotism in this epistolary novel. In this Ancestral patriarchal realm is where Zenzele responds: “you have often explained that lobola is the appreciation of the gifts that a woman brings to her marriage.”(Maraire, 33) In the Europeans and western nations, the act of giving money to the bride’s family is labeled as ‘animist’ because it is degrading to others. Continent such as Africa giving money to the bride’s family is a symbol of thanking the bride’s family for raising and caring for the bride. I remember before my mother and aunts got to marry the husband’s family would come to our compound and buy alcohol and goods to show the family that their son is interested in their daughter.
However, In some’s lens, I can see why it is degrading for women and it is showing the act of power and wealth to the opposite sex. Although as I mention the bride price is a good thing for the family financially, it also shows a label of ownership over the woman’s body and freedom. Zenzele protests the meaning of cultural practice where it violates the dignity of women, her mother responds: to illustrate, When a woman and man would quarrel, he’ll become self-righteous and use the excuse like “I bought her ”(Maraire, 34) to show power over the woman. I have heard this so many times growing up in my avenue. Although Maraire’s novel is to form the audience what it means to be an African woman. As a result of the changes around them, both mother and daughter share different perspectives of what it means to be a woman. This piece of information is showing how women are the main subjects of living in patriarchal conditions and being the prize of their owners.
Moreover, we see the presence of patriarchy in Krik Krak. In the “Children of the Sea” and “The Missing Piece,” Danticat summed up the Political unrest of Haiti’s history under the two infamous Duvaliers. Under François Duvalier, also known as “Papa Doc,” He created a police force called the Tonton Macoutes that worked directly under him and had almost limitless power over the general population. Many Haitians lived in dread, Fathers were forced to sleep with their daughters, mothers forced to lay with their sons. In spite of that, In “Children of the Sea.”
Danticat uses the symbolism of water to demonstrate the struggle that the African descend of Haiti are facing under the regime of ‘Papa Doc,’ the element of water it is used to silence the Victim of the genocide in Haiti. In this chapter, we see the irony of water silencing Celianne with her secret. “They keep slapping her behind, but she is not crying.” This piece of evidence demonstrates the way women live under patriarchy society, being forced to silence and refuse to show any type of emotion. The dead baby reflects the quiet and dark life many women are living. This visual is also similar to “Between the Pool and the Gardenias,” where Marie was praising the baby for being quiet and properly behaved, it foreshadows the realization that the baby is dead. These two stories exhibit the lives of females as dead and submissive under a patriarchal society.
Further in the story we also see the element of water playing the role of patriarchy in women’s lives, erasing their existence. One can also say that the water is symbolically utilized to eliminate the island’s struggles which in the case of the “nineteen thirty-seven” is the women. “My mother would hold my hand tightly as we walked toward the water. We were all daughters of that river, which had taken our mothers from us.” These short stories are based on Haitian women that were imprisoned by the society patriarchal law that immobilized them. Some may state that this particular story is the irony of the Haitian struggles, however, Danticat is using women in this story as a symbol of Haiti’s conflict and dread under those in power. In a manner, Krik Krak is honoring the unheard stories of these women.
Another aspect of power being taken from is Madam Rocher who was confronted by the Tonton Macoutes who came to know the whereabouts of the other youth federations. The narrator who was also part of the youth federation was being taken by father and mother to escape. The narrator’s mother tries to challenge and subvert the patriarchal norms by trying to save the other woman. “Going out there will be like trying to raise the dead” She heard while Madam Rocher was silent for voicing her anger, for them beheading her son. For years women have been silent by those in power, embolizing them from voicing their thoughts. Being oppressed by the culture and tradition of the African norms.
