BREAKING THE SILENCE: AN APPRAISAL OF SOME NIGERIAN FEMALE WAR WRITERS

Abstract

The study appraises Flora Nwapa’s Never Again, Buchi Emecheta’s Destination Biafra, Chimamnda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, and Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo’s Roses and Bullets, in a bid to portray the consequences of war on women, their roles and to investigate the effectiveness of women writing about women’s experiences. This paper used the feminist and psychoanalytic theories in appraising the writers and the characters created by them, to determine how effectively they have captured the bitter experiences of women and the traumatic effects of war on the feminists’ psyche. The thematic analyses of these works show that violent conflicts have far-reaching devastating effects on women and children. It is also discovered that female writers are better positioned to present women centered experiences more effectively than male writers. The study recommends that more female writers should get involved in the task of exposing situations that leave indelible marks of physical and psychological torture on women.