Theory of Feminism and Second Class Citizen as a Feminist Novel

 THEORY OF FEMINISM AND SECOND CLASS CITIZEN AS A FEMINIST NOVEL 

THEORY OF FEMINISM

Feminism can be defined as a shared contemplation and advocacy of equality between men and women. feminism, the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. Although largely originating in the West, feminism is manifested worldwide and is represented by various institutions committed to activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.

The feminist theory sees its purpose in challenging the assessment of positions and experiences of women, as well as society and social interaction by male bias. It supports women’s rights as well as linked issues. Furthermore it criticises unequal social relations. The understanding of particular social behaviour, the awareness of male dominance and the observation of a situation through various angles and viewpoints have been achievements of the feminist theory.

The feminist perception is moreover divided into a variety of different approaches like the liberal and radical feminism.

Feminist theory considers the lived experience of any person/people, not just women, with an emphasis on oppression.  While there may not be a consensus on where feminist theory fits as a theory or paradigm, disruption of oppression is a core tenant of feminist work. As hooks (2000) states, “Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression. 

Feminist theories that focus on gender inequality recognize that women's location in and experience of social situations are not only different but also unequal to men's.

Liberal feminists argue that women have the same capacity as men for moral reasoning and agency, but that patriarchy, particularly the sexist division of labour, has historically denied women the opportunity to express and practice this reasoning.

These dynamics serve to shove women into the private sphere of the household and to exclude them from full participation in public life. Liberal feminists point out that gender inequality exists for women in a heterosexual marriage and that women do not benefit from being married.

Indeed, these feminist theorists claim, married women have higher levels of stress than unmarried women and married men. Therefore, the sexual division of labour in both the public and private spheres needs to be altered for women to achieve equality in marriage 

Radical feminists argue that being a woman is a positive thing in and of itself, but that this is not acknowledged in patriarchal societies where women are oppressed. They identify physical violence as being at the base of patriarchy, but they think that patriarchy can be defeated if women recognize their own value and strength, establish a sisterhood of trust with other women, confront oppression critically, and form female-based separatist networks in the private and public spheres.

Throughout most of Western history, women were confined to the domestic sphere, while public life was reserved for men. In medieval Europe, women were denied the right to own property, to study, or to participate in public life. At the end of the 19th century in France, they were still compelled to cover their heads in public, and, in parts of Germany, a husband still had the right to sell his wife. Even as late as the early 20th century, women could neither vote nor hold elective office in Europe and in most of the United States (where several territories and states granted women’s suffrage long before the federal government did so). Women were prevented from conducting business without a male representative, be it father, brother, husband, legal agent, or even son. Married women could not exercise control over their own children without the permission of their husbands. Moreover, women had little or no access to education and were barred from most professions. In some parts of the world, such restrictions on women continue today.

Feminist theories first emerged as early as 1794 in publications such as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, "The Changing Woman”  "Ain't I a Woman”  "Speech after Arrest for Illegal Voting”  and so on. "The Changing Woman" is a Navajo Myth that gave credit to a woman who, in the end, populated the world In 1851, Sojourner Truth addressed women's rights issues through her publication, "Ain't I a Woman". Sojourner Truth addressed the issue of women having limited rights due to men's flawed perception of women. Truth argued that if a woman of colour can perform tasks that were supposedly limited to men, then any woman of any colour could perform those same tasks. After her arrest for illegally voting, Susan B. Anthony gave a speech within court in which she addressed the issues of language within the constitution documented in her publication, "Speech after Arrest for Illegal voting" in 1872. Anthony questioned the authoritative principles of the constitution and its male-gendered language. She raised the question of why women are accountable to be punished under law but they cannot use the law for their own protection (women could not vote, own property, nor maintain custody of themselves in marriage). She also critiqued the constitution for its male-gendered language and questioned why women should have to abide by laws that do not specify women.

Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theories or politics. Its history has been varied, from classic works of female authors such as George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Margaret Fuller to recent theoretical work in women's studies and gender studies by "third-wave"  

In the most general terms, feminist literary criticism before the 1970s was concerned with the politics of women's authorship and the representation of women's condition within literature Since the arrival of more complex conceptions of gender and subjectivity, feminist literary criticism has taken a variety of new routes. It has considered gender in the terms of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, as part of the deconstruction of existing power relations

SECOND CLASS CITIZEN AS A FEMINIST NOVEL

African society is characterized by widespread male supremacy. Patriarchy is a key topic when talking about feminism and gender issues, Feminism symbolizes the struggle for participation of women in a world literally dominated by men. 

Adah Ofili, the protagonist is the centre of discussion in the novel. Buchi Emecheta creates Adah as a feminist character. Female children are less relevant and of low value in Ibuza, therefore, they are not given equal opportunities as their male counterparts. Adah's younger brother, Boy is enrolled in Ladi-Lak institute while her parents does not care sending her to school. She had to fight her way through to school after pulling up a show in which got her mother, Ma punished. 

It is noted from the beginning of the novel that Adah “arrived when everyone was expecting and predicting a boy” (p17). Therefore, Adah becomes a disappointment to her society. In Adah's society, a female is considered a child while a male is like four children put together. This shows how the society places more premium on the male than on the female

Her parents failed to record her birth date because she is believed to be a disappointment to her immediate family and to her tribe. Similarly, Adah’s family is disappointed at the birth of Titi because “after a long and painful ordeal, she had come home to Francis bearing a girl. Everybody looked at her with “is that all?” look. (p116). The birth of Vicky, her second child serves as a compensation for disappointing her people in the first place 

However, Adah who is not moved by any form of gender bias, inequality and societal belief, braces the odds to challenge the status quo. As the story unfolds, Adah is excluded from education due to her sex. As for the girl, “a year or two would do as long as she can write her name and count”(p9). However, the expectation that “the longer she stays at school, the bigger the dowry the future husband will pay for her (SC. 1994, 2) cannot go unnoticed.” Adah stole into Mr Cole's class, her neighbour while Ma was busy chatting with her friend and she was warmly received. While she is in the class, Ma, had been arrested for child neglect and forced to drink a bowl of garri as punishment. This single act of Adah earned her the right to education as her brother, Boy.

When Pa dies, Adah still struggles to acquire education. She goes to live with Uncle Vincent who punishes her sorely for losing two shillings which she actually used to pay for the entrance form. Adah is allowed to continue with her education after the death of Pa, her father and after Ma goes to marry Pa’s brother because of the believe that the more she stays in school, the higher her bride price. The plan for Adah is to marry her off as soon as she knows how to read and write. She determines to further her education into Methodist Girls' High School through scholarship in which she has to tell lie that she has lost Vincent Money in order to pay for the scholarship entrance form. Meanwhile Boy, her younger brother is already a pupil at Ladi Lak institute, one of the most expensive schools in Lagos. 

In marriage, Adah discovers that Francis is an “African through and through” (p30). To Francis, “he was the mace, and he was rigid to tell her what she was going to do” (p30). In contrast to contemporary feminism, Adah’s feminist mindset first viewed marriage as escaping destitution. The home she aspires to have is not one there would be trouble.. but a good, quiet and peaceful air. Her father in law subtly shifts the family responsibilities to Adah even the training of Francis sisters. She fend for Francis family after she has sponsored him abroad to study accounting. She pays the school fees of Francis' siblings while working as a Librarian at the American Consulate.

When Adah joins her husband in the United Kingdom, she refuses to work as a factory worker as others did. She secures a white collar job that elevates her to an enviable status with her landlady and co tenants. She feeds her children and  Francis with her earnings as Francis refuses to get a job despite repeatedly failing his examinations. She gets a minder for her children when Francis says he could not look over them. 

In Britain, after the birth of Bubu, Francis did not show up at the hospital. Adah wore her hospital gown for days and no greeting cards for her from her husband having seen all other women in her maternity ward showered with so much care. 

But when she gave birth to Dada she provides herself all she needs to be happy like buying twenty greeting  cards and addressing them to herself to be presented to her while in hospital.  

 Francis steady sexual violence on Adah makes her resolve not to get pregnant for him again  and therefore goes for family planning which Francis finds out and beats her into submission.

Francis had illicit affair with Trudy, the baby minder and also sexually harassed other female co-tenants that the women put it into writing and mailed it to Adah's Library address which everyone eventually got to read about. 

Later, when her husband’s selfishness, apathy and coldness toward her grown increasingly pronounced in Britain, their marriage deteriorates. This is after series of fights that the Nobles had to settle. Her loneliness and frustration are ordered in this situation. In this respect, when Okpara, a stranger, comes to console her at the park and then accompany her home, Adah does not care because “her mind was crying for someone to listen to her, to understand her” (p157). 

‘ Adah who is also the breadwinner of the family, does not want to refer to her husband as “Sir” or treat him as a master. She is no longer afraid of him. Francis regrets bringing Adah to London and letting her mix with middle class English women. “They African Woman” soon know their right, (p70). 

To crown it all, Adah shows her feminist hot headedness by dissolving her marriage with Francis, taking custody of her children in a hired two-bedroom apartment. Adah’s determination to fulfil her dream of being a writer is frustrated by Francis burning her manuscript. (p. 185). This single act by Francis is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. With the dissolution of the marriage, Adah prepares to assimilate into British culture while retaining her freedom and blackness.