Of Ethnic Obsession and Female Identity: A Psychological Reading of The Last of the Strong Ones & The Joys of Motherhood
Abstract
One of the challenges faced by the modern society is the controversy surrounding the status of the female gender. While some describe the woman as the weaker sex, others conclude that the female is the better half of the man. Both claims could be said to be rooted in cultural cum social or religious orientations of the people all over the world. To this end, many writers, male and female have written to either uphold, debunk or assert these positions in favour and disfavor of either of the gender. From social and historical perspectives, gender imbalances permeate society as both men and women could be said to be obsessed with these issues as may have evolved from ethnic or communal constitutions, practices and traditions. Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo‟s The Last of The Strong Ones and Buchi Emecheta‟s The Joys of Motherhood are two selected literary texts to treat ethnic issues and female identity as they define the status of women either in the past or in the modern day using psychological postulations as the theoretical background. The paper submits that the fight against gender discrimination in sociopolitical circles is sustained by and a product of psychological warfare on both sides.References
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