Freedom within Enslavement and Confinement in a Comparative Analysis between B. EMECHETA’s The Joys of Motherhood(1979) and F. FAQIR’s Pillars of Salt(1996)

Abstract

The current research work is a comparative analysis between Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and Fadia Faqir’s Pillars of Salt (1996). The major argument of this analysis is informed with the concept of “unhomeliness” as defined by Homi Bhabha. It describes the feeling of displacement as experienced by the female characters of both novels engendered by different oppressions: patriarchal, colonial and imperial. It discusses several issues, chief among which questioning the manner in which space is negotiated by these female characters using traditional material and how their quest for freedom turn to enslavement and confinement. The appropriation of traditional material and the linguistic and narratological strategies as used by both authors bring to the fore Emecheta’s African Womanism and Faqir’s Arabo-Islamic Womanism. It is a way to write back to patriarchal and colonial hegemonies. The quest for freedom resides in their intention to subvert the oppressing patriarchal, colonial or post-colonial order the African and the Arab woman live in, using their traditional heritage.