| dc.description.abstract | This study is an appraisal of involuntary childlessness in the selected texts. The traditional belief system based on continuity of lineages places a high premium on parenthood and as a result, the perception of people regarding childlessness is judgemental. Due to patriarchal dominance in most African societies, most men in childless marriages have passed the blame of childlessness to their wives, hence creating a sense of personal loss and tragedy to childless women in marriages. The feminisation of childlessness in African writing has coloured the image of women in childless marriages with negative connotations, which is inaccurate and stereotypical. The study explored how female Nigerian novelists use literature to articulate the place of women and men in childless marriages. The specific objectives were: to interrogate the socio-cultural perceptions of childlessness in the selected novels, to explore how the experiences of childless couples embody agency in the face of patriarchy, and finally, to explore the strategies used in the portrayal of childless characters. The study was inspired by the prominence of the theme of childlessness in print and electronic media. The choice of female authors was due to the curiosity to study the female authors’ perspective of childlessness since women seemed to bear the brunt of childlessness. The study demystifies the thorny issue of childlessness by contributing relevant knowledge and insight to literary scholars. Africana womanism literary theory was applied in the study to interrogate how strength and sisterhood, enabled the childless women in marriages to attain self-definition and embody agency despite mistreatments. Analytic research design was used to enable the researcher collect, interpret, analyse and describe the relevant qualitative data. The study population comprised nine Nigerian novels thematising involuntary childlessness from which three novels were purposively sampled: Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
(2010), Adebayo’s Stay With Me (2017), and Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Qualitative data was collected through close textual reading of the primary texts. Coding was done according to key thematic concerns. Qualitative content analysis was applied to analyse the data. The study found out that the authors subverted the oppressive forces that discriminated women based on their ability to bear children. By depicting male characters who were responsible for childlessness in their marriages, the novels foregrounded the possibility that some men could be responsible for childlessness in marriages, contrary to patriarchal beliefs. The traditional treatment for childlessness was portrayed as gendered, exploitative and an avenue for patriarchal prejudice. Women in childless marriages redeemed their images by embodying agency and positive attributes. Men in childless marriages were satirically depicted as victims of patriarchy. Women in childless marriages were portrayed through negative images of witches, hence the societal disapproval of childlessness. The study concludes that the female authors successfully depicted the need for social change in how African societies view infertility and childlessness. | en |
