The  close bond between ogbanje daughters and their fathers in the novels Things Fall Apart and The Bride Price

Ewerton  Batista-Duarte

doi:10.23925/1983-4373.2022i29p143-156

Authors

Ewerton Batista-Duarte Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6355-6493

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23925/1983-4373.2022i29p143-156

Keywords:

Ogbanje, Igbo culture, Nigerian novels, Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta

Abstract

Nigeria comprises over 200 ethnic groups, making it the most multi- ethnic nation in West Africa. As part of both the Igbo and the Yòrubá cultures, ogbanje/abiku are children who are born to die and then return to be reborn by the same mother. This phenomenal cycle has been narrated in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price (1976). Based on Achebe (1986) and other scholars, this paper analyzes the ogbanje phenomenon and draws a parallel between both novels, bringing to light the close bond between ogbanje daughters and their fathers. As a result, the paper points out a connection by unveiling a shared attribute of ‘manliness’ between Okonkwo and his daughter with a focus on the neglect of local traditions. The comparative analysis is intended as a pilot study of a broader investigation of culture in the fields of literary and cultural studies.

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Author Biography

Ewerton Batista-Duarte, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP)

Possui Graduação em Letras pela Universidade Paulista (Unip); Especialização em Literatura Inglesa e Norte-americana pelo Centro Universitário Claretiano (Ceuclar), Especialização em Gestão Escolar pela Universidade de São Paulo (USP) e Mestrado em Linguística Aplicada pela Universidade de Taubaté (Unitau). É doutorando, com bolsa CAPES, no Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Literatura e Crítica Literária (PEPG-LCL), da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), em parceria com a University of Lagos, na Nigéria. Tem experiência como professor de inglês na Educação Básica; em programas de intercâmbio com estudantes do Ensino Médio; em projetos internacionais com professores da África do Sul e Rússia e no Programa Nacional do Livro e do Material Didático (PNLD), do Ministério da Educação (MEC), tendo atuado como avaliador de obras didáticas inseridas na área de Língua Inglesa. Foi vencedor da Olimpíada Brasileira de Inglês em 2019 e 2020. Atualmente, é membro do Grupo de Pesquisa “Literaturas e Ancestralidades Negras” (LAN), vinculado ao PEPG-LCL, da PUC-SP.

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