GENDER PORTRAYAL IN SELECTED EARLY MALE AND FEMALE-AUTHORED IGBO NOVELS: UBESIE’S ISI AKWỤ DARA N’ALA AND ONWUCHEKWA’S CHINAAGỌRỌM

Abstract

The feminists claim that the early male writers present a lopsided view of gender, which is derogatory to the female gender; a view equally supported by the African womanists. Previous studies on gender portrayal in Igbo literature have concentrated on the image of female in male-authored works, thereby paying inadequate attention to the female-authored literature. This paper makes a comparative analysis of gender portrayal in selected early male and female-authored Igbo novels: Tony Ubesie’s Isi Akwụ Dara N’ala (1973) and Julie Onwuchekwa’s Chinaagọrọm (1983). This is to ascertain the manner in which the writers depict gender in their novels. The theory of Snail-Sense Feminism is employed to guide the analysis. The novels are purposively selected and content analysed. Both Ubesie and Onwuchekwa present women as seductive and gossipy. Ubesie, unlike Onwuchekwa, presents men’s socio-cultural status, achievements and moral attributes, while women’s achievements and their contributions to the family and community are ignored. It is established that both the early male and female Igbo writers present women negatively in their novels. But, the negative portrayal of women as observed in Onwuchekwa’s novel was not as a means to dehumanize women but for didactic art. However, Onwuchekwa represents what seems to be the real position of both male and female genders in traditional Igbo society. She reconstructs the reality of the female gender which is misrepresented in the early male Igbo novels thereby breaking the glass ceiling which hinders women’s social progress. Since the negative portrayal of women in literature affects them in real life, Igbo novelists, especially the male, should be more positive and balanced in the presentation of the female gender by focusing on the experiences of the women in Igbo society where women are self-fulfilled and empowered.