CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of Study
The struggle
for women’ right began in the 18th century during the period of
intense intellectual activity known as the Age of Enlightenment.
In traditional Africa
the woman is an object of constant scorn, degradation and physical torture. In
the past, women did not exist as individuals with personalities to defend. They
rather existed as mere docile and exotic accompaniments to the males.
Throughout that period, women lacked a voice to articulate their dilemma and
their points of view. They, thus, accepted their fate without resistance. Such
passive stance results from societal conditioning through questionable cultural
practices. From birth, through childhood and adolescence, to adulthood,
Africans receive from society and others around the messages and feedbacks
which launch them into roles and behaviors considered appropriate for males and
females respectively. Most often, female are accorded inferior roles and such
long years of cultural suppression and intimidation, unfortunately, misled the
women into an underestimation of their capabilities and self worth. Encased in
such a cultural mystique, the African women were particularly driven by a
community sense since culture obviates individualism. In those days, these
women, in addition to experiencing the same oppressive social condition as
their male counterparts in a developing world, were subjected to extra
repressive burdens arising from the socio-cultural structures of patriarchy and
gender hierarchy. These years of subjugation have, however, produced in today’s
women relentless questioning of the status quo. They protest against
dehumanization, political enslavement and social oppression. They rationalize
that the running of the Africa world is not
the preserve for males and thus there should be absolute equality of both sexes
in all spheres of life. Such a reaction is termed feminism, which is an
ideology that urges, in simple terms, recognition of the claims of women for
equal rights with men.
According to Cora Kaplan (162)
Literary text are constructed from within ideology, and the reality they
articulate is dependent on the historical culture which surrounds them; so too
are the literary critical claims about their truthfulness or authenticity determined
by the culture from which they arise. Helen Chukwuma (xiv) specifically
contends that African feminism is dedicated and informed from within, from
social realities that obtain. One of such realities is the persistence of
sexist socio-psychological paradigm despite the efforts to overcome “the
androcentricism which informs social life”. (Uko, 33)
The persistent sexism in Africa is, however, matched with women’s continued
aggressive demand for equal places in men’s former citadel of power and
privilege. The chorus African women say to men “whatever the case maybe, you
will never again hear us pronounce the words of the Virgin Mary, ‘thy will be
done’ while smiling at your despotic power”. (Josephine Felicite in Moses, C.G.
and Rabine, L. 308-309). They argue that it is better for men to desire from
them those noble and generous feelings which must exist between equals than
those mercenary feelings which a slave has for his master. Consequent upon this
quest and argument, there is a recent definition of womanhood in the context of
the African cosmic order: “A human being endowed with all the capabilities and
talents required to effectively function and make impact on all levels of life
within society” (Adeife Osemeikhiam, 21).
Notwithstanding the above stance,
there still abounds in Africa , evidence of
gender stereotypes which simply means a collection of commonly held beliefs or
opinions about what are “appropriate” behaviors and activities for males and
those that are “appropriate” for females. As a result of this, even though men
support women’s condemnation of their (women) societal deprivations, men’s
language still betrays subtle inclination to sexist socialization.
The New Lexicon Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language, Sexism is exemplified firstly as
attitudes and institutions, often unconscious that judge human worth on the
grounds of gender or sex.
It is explained as prejudice or
discrimination usually against women, based on their gender. Sexist socialization,
therefore, refers to the process by which infants and children are brought up
to imbibe attitudes and practices that discriminate against women on the
grounds of their gender.
This work examines So Long a Letter with a view to highlight its characteristic
language usage and as well as the psychological disposition that informs such
use of language. Research findings by anthropologists, educationists and
sociolinguistics show that traditionally, males use non-standard language;
females use the language of rapport while males use the language of report;
discursive language style is meant for women while men are given to the
language of theories and abstractions; females use polite language meant to
maintain harmony and strong relationship as well as to keep conversations open
whereas males use the language of assertiveness and insistence. Women use the
language of solidarity but men use the language of the expert.
Statement of the Problem
Men in Africa
make women understand that they, the men, are the head of the family that is, they are superior to women.
They see women as being weak and as a result, women have no say in the
activities of the community. They have no rights and are subjugated to do
whatever he the men want them to do especially in Africa .
Women are made to feel inferior and this breeds some sort of ill feelings in
women.
Objective of the study
The aim of this is to identify how Mariama Ba uses language to portray
feminism - the reaction of females against the oppressive and discriminatory
culture experienced by them - in her novel So Long a Letter.
Significance of the Study
The topic LANGUAGE IN FEMINIST LITERATURE: A
STUDY OF MARIAMA BA’S SO LONG A LETTER, will serve as a good research material to students and other researchers.
This work will throw more
light on the language of feminism and its impact to society.
Scope of the Study
This
project is restricted primarily to the study of the Language in Feminist
Literature in Mariama Ba’s So Long a
Letter.
Research Methodology
The
primary material of this work is Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter while the secondary materials include the various
works from the library.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Language and Feminism
The struggle to rejuvenate the
wounded dignity of African womanhood has been a dominating theme over the
years. The situation still prevails even in this age of modernism. The African
women have to fight against an oppressive culture and its attendant
discrimination against their sex in order to survive. The oppressive nature of
the African culture sparked off the reaction termed feminism, which is one of
the prominent ideologies that have continued to attract critical attention all
over the world. A number of writers have attempted to analyze the ideology from
different perspectives and this has led to the prevalence of many theories of
feminism.
This chapter discusses:
1. The relationship between language and
behavior.
2. Characteristic features of male and
female language.
3. Meaning of feminism.
4. Theories of feminism.
The Relationship Between Language and Behaviour
Olajuyigbe (8) defines language as a systematic means of communicating
ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures or
marks which have understood meaning. It is a system of conventional vocal or
graphic symbols by which human beings co-operate. This co-operation cuts across
the various domains in which people relate with one another.
Osakwe
(128) explains that the language we use is very powerful and loaded. It is usually
the only genetically endowed information storage system that humans have. This
implies that all our experiences and memories are, to a large extent, encoded
in some language system. She highlights that great linguists and
psycholinguists have established that language and behavior are related. The
language we speak clearly reflects the very way we think and behave. That 
