Abstract:
This study examines Ɓilƙisu Abubakar’s novel To Live Again and explores the challenges women face in Hausa society, ranging from early/forced marriage, marital quagmire, rampant divorce, denial of educational rights, and girl-child hawking, among a plethora of other predicaments. Importantly, the author also uses her writings and exposes the different forms of maltreatment women suffer at the hands of their fellow women. Employing Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi’s Womanism as the theoretical framework, this paper examines the presentation of acrimonious relationships amongst co-wives in the selected novel, where the author presents three sets of polygamous homes to depict intra-gender strife among women, finding that through manipulation, women like Khadija and Hajara have total control of their husband's house, which they use as a chance to oppress their innocent co-wives. However, the author presents female solidarity models in the novel to illustrate how women are supposed to relate to their fellow women without antagonism, malice, or rivalry, advocating that instead of intra-gender oppression, women should embrace sisterhood, an ideology that promotes solidarity, mutual love, and cooperation among women. By portraying the cruelties women inflict on one another within polygamous households and advocating for sisterhood as a solution, Abubaka’s To Live Again serves as a powerful commentary on the complexities of female relationships in Hausa society, challenging readers to reflect on societal pressures that lead women to harm one another and the need to embrace solidarity to promote a more equitable society.
Keywords: Co-wives, Conflict, Womanism,
Acrimonious, Intra-gender
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2024.v03i02.005
author/Joyce Onoromhenre Agofure (PhD) & Inuwa Mahmud
journal/Tasambo JLLC 3(2) | September 2024 |
