The Joys of Motherhood pdf Book Overview
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta delves into the life of Nnu Ego, born to a powerful chief and a fiercely independent woman, Ona. Marked by tragedy from birth, Nnu Ego’s journey unfolds through love, loss, and cultural expectations as she navigates her role as a wife and mother in colonial Nigeria. From her struggles with barrenness to bearing many children, her life becomes a testament to societal pressures and the sacrifices of motherhood. Emecheta weaves a poignant narrative of resilience and the complexities of womanhood, set against a backdrop of tradition and change.
Summary of the joys of motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
Nwokocha Agbadi is a proud, handsome and wealthy local chief. Although he has many wives, he finds a woman named Ona more attractive. Ona (or a priceless jewel) is the name he has given her. She is the daughter of a fellow chief. When she was young, her father took her everywhere he went, saying she was his ornament, and Nwokocha Agbadi would say jokingly in response, “Why don’t you wear her around your neck like an Ona?” It never occurred to him that he would be one of the men to later ask for her when she grew up.
During one rainy season Chief Agbadi and his friends have gone elephant hunting and having come too near the heavy creature, the chief is thrown with a mighty tusk into a nearby sugar-cane bush and is pinned to the floor. He aims his spear at the belly of the mighty animal and kills it but not until it has wounded him badly. Agbadi passes out and it seems to all he has died. He wakes up after several days to find Ona beside him. During his period of recovery, he sleeps with her, and shortly thereafter he finds out that his senior wife Agunwa is very ill. She later dies, and it is thought that perhaps she became ill as a result of seeing her husband making love to Ona on his apparent deathbed.
The funeral festivities continue through the day. When it is time to put Agunwa in her grave, everything she will need in her afterlife having been placed in her coffin, her personal slave is called. According to custom, a good slave is supposed to jump into the grave willingly to accompany her mistress but this young and beautiful slave begs for her life, much to the annoyance of the men. The hapless slave is pushed into the shallow grave but struggles out, appealing to her owner Agbadi, whose eldest son cries angrily: “So my mother does not deserve a decent burial?” So saying, he gives her a sharp blow with the head of the cutlass. Another relative gives her a final blow to the head and she falls into the grave, silenced forever. The burial is then completed.
Ona becomes pregnant from sleeping with Agbadi and delivers a baby girl named Nnu Ego (“twenty bags of cowries”). The baby is born with a mark on her head resembling that made by the cutlass used on the head of the slave woman. Ona gives birth to another son but she dies in premature labour and her son also dies a week afterwards. Nnu Ego becomes a woman but is barren. She is later remarried to Nnaife in lagos where she bears children and her life is measured by the number of children she has. She dies a sad and lonely woman on her return to her hometown.
The Joys of Motherhood pdf Book Author – Buchi Emecheta
Born of Ibo parents in Nigeria, Buchi Emecheta is widely known for her multilayered stories of black women struggling to maintain their identity and construct viable lives for themselves and their families. She writes, according to The New York Times, with “subtlety, power, and abundant compassion.” Her numerous novels include Second class citizen, The Slave Girl, The Family, Bride Price, and The Joys of Motherhood.
Information about the book the joys of motherhood (Amazon)
- Publisher : George Braziller Inc.; 2nd edition (August 7, 2013)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 230 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0807616230
- ISBN-13 : 978-0807616239
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.6 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #144,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,283 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #11,629 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews: 4.7 out of 5 stars 231 ratings
Where to buy The Joys of Motherhood pdf by Buchi Emecheta Online
You can easily buy the paperback version of this great read that portrays the African woman’s struggles for accomplishment and recognition from the following sites:
- barnesandnoble.com
- thriftbooks.com
- scribd.com
- goodreads.com
- amazon.com
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