NEW IMAGE OF WOMEN IN SELECTED NOVELS OF TERRY MCMILLAN AND CHIKA UNIGWE

Abstract

Representations of new image of women constitute a motif in the writings of Terry McMillan and Chika Unigwe. Such representations have been critically engaged in many studies, mostly from the feminist (individualistic) perspective without adequately addressing the issue from the womanist (collective) angle; including Terry McMillan and Chika Unigwe novels. The study was designed to examine the representations of the new image of women in selected novels of Terry McMillan and Chika Unigwe with a view to mapping out the most dominant images of women which allow for more inclusion and flexibility in the selected novels, as well as identifying the intertextual links in both novelists’ portrayals of women’s images.

Alice Walker’s model of Womanism which privileges family values and complementarity between the sexes served as framework for the study. Chika Unigwe’s Phoenix, Night Dancer and On Black Sisters’ Street and Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale, Disappearing Acts and The Interruption of Everything were purposively selected due to similarity in the experiences of their female protagonists. The texts were subjected to critical literary analysis.

The most recurring images of women in the selected novels are depictments of female emancipation, motherhood and female bonding towards happiness, independence, assertiveness and advancement. The novels positively portray women, suggesting that marriage and family enhance a woman’s quest for emancipation. Female bonding, irrespective of cultural background, creates a sense of collective experiences among women. From this gendered union and interdependence, laudable decisions were reached, and behavioural changes emerge. In Night Dancer, Ezi consults Mama Gold whenever she is confused. Ezi, who was voiceless, becomes eloquent. Similarly, in Disappearing Acts, Zora Banks’ friends; Claudette, Portia and Maria, help her decision-making about her relationship with Franklin Swift. In On Black Sisters’ Street, Sisi, Efe, Ema and Joyce are incapacitated to challenge their enemies, until Sisi’s death, after which they adopt sisterhood relationship and confront their oppressors. In Waiting to Exhale, the three friends (Robin, Savannah and Gloria) help Bernadine to recover from depression when her husband left her for his White secretary. The therapeutic potentials of the family are well espoused in the novels. For instance, Nma, in Night Dancer, resorts to her grandparents and father for blessing before getting married. Motherhood is a viable motif for self-realisation. In Phoenix, Oge’s problem of marital misunderstanding is resolved on her mother’s arrival, as her psychological state begins to heal with her mother instilling a new orientation in her. In Disappearing Acts, Zora and Maria show behavioural changes after chidbirth. In Night Dancer and On Black Sisters’ Street, Ezi and Efe exhibit similarbehavioural changes after child delivery. In The Interruption of Everything, Marilyn became independent and adopts coping strategies such as patience and tolerance in relating with her husband.

Unigwe’s and McMillan’s novels are replete with new images of women which valorise certain gendered notions (female interdependence and support) of female bonding to negotiate love, marriage and family life. Therefore, their novels reflect the wide range of factors that constitute and condition the existence of women in the enabling milieus of both novelists.