49 pages • 1 hour read
Buchi EmechetaThe Joys of Motherhood
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1979A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Buchi Emecheta
Buchi Emecheta was a Nigerian British author known for offering nuanced depictions of the challenges facing Nigerian women. Born in 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria, Emecheta convinced her parents to keep her in school longer than was typical for girls at that time. She had an arranged marriage in 1960 and later emigrated to England with her husband and two children. Her marriage was an unhappy one, and she eventually left her abusive husband, who was responsible for burning one of her early manuscripts. Following her success as a novelist, Emecheta went on to achieve critical and academic success, launching a career as a professor and lecturer. She died in 2017.
Many of Emecheta’s books take inspiration from her own life. Second Class Citizen, published in 1974, follows a Nigerian immigrant in England who struggles to provide for her children and becomes a librarian and author, mirroring Emecheta’s own experiences. The Slave Girl, published in 1977, draws inspiration from Emecheta’s mother’s experiences, whose brother sold her into slavery. Several plot elements from The Joys of Motherhood are likewise inspired by Emecheta’s parents’ experiences. For instance, Emecheta’s father was a railway worker who was drafted into the military and injured in Burma, just like Nnaife is in the novel. Unlike Nnaife, however, Emecheta’s father did not survive the experience. Across various settings and characters in her novels, Emecheta explores the tension between tradition and modernism, the roles and status of women, and the effects of colonialism.
Socio-Historical Context: Colonial Nigeria
Beginning in 1861 with the annexation of Lagos, the British Empire began to exercise imperial control over parts of modern-day Nigeria. The Joys of Motherhood opens some 50 years later with Agbadi and Ona’s love story, and by this time, the British military and political leaders had established a unified Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, leading to tension between Nigeria’s disparate cultural and ethnic groups.
British imperialists established a system of so-called “indirect rule” in which local, Indigenous chiefs continued to rule with minimal interference under the authority of British leaders. This did not prevent the colonists from effecting major social and economic changes, many of which allowed the British to exploit Nigeria’s resources and labor. Though slavery was technically not allowed, many of the Indigenous African people who worked for the colonists received only subsistence wages; some were also drafted to serve in the British military during both world wars. Under British rule, certain areas were enriched by the development and export of cash crops while others suffered, leading some individuals from rural areas to migrate to urban centers—the protagonist of The Joys of Motherhood does this, as well. British colonists also fostered the spread of Western education and Christianity throughout Nigeria, which sometimes came into conflict with traditional belief systems. Such systems include one known as Odinala, which is practiced by the Ibo people, including the novel’s protagonist.
Over time, the colonists’ political power eroded as Nigerians increasingly sought the right to govern themselves. In 1960, Nigeria gained independence. The Joys of Motherhood serves as an examination of the ways in which broad social changes throughout this period impacted individual lives.
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