Re-writing motherhood in Flora Nwapa’sEfuru

Abstract

Abstract
In the critical commentary about African women’s writings, Flora
Nwapa’sEfuruhas become the quintessential novel that ostensibly privileges the
discourse of motherhood. In response to this critical position this paper examines
Nwapa’s debut novel, and the potential connection between female
objectification, heterosexuality, motherhood, and patriarchal domination. Reading
the novel through the prism of Adrienne Rich’s idea of “compulsory
heterosexuality,” it observes that even though motherhood is central to African
communities and literary production, uncritical internalization of it helps to
perpetuate heterosexual power, which objectifies women as targets of male sexual
fantasy. The paper argues that the centrality of motherhood to Efuru might
suggest its supremacy and consequently, women’s fulfilment, but the subliminal
text of the novel is that motherhood is not necessarily always biological, and that
women can find fulfilment in their social and sexual relationships as well as in
their material wealth. Therefore, Efuru is radical in its own way, in the sense that
it dares to create a women-centred space, which not only subtly challenges
patriarchal social production, but also their representation as signifier and
embodiment of male libidinal energy.
Keywords:
Objectification, Homoeroticism, Heterosexuality, Motherhood, Material wealth