Women and the Drama of Social Reformation

Abstract

A remarkable feature of feminist criticism in postcolonial Africa is the representation of female characters in African fiction Within this context this paper explores women characters attitude to oppression in marriage in selected African novels The aim is to investigate the nature of their heroism Chidi Maduka s concept of hero is mandliberal feminism form the theoretical framework The paper demonstrates that women characters are not monolithic in their attitude towards oppression in marriage Those whose inner forces compel the outer forces to succumb are the heroines The anti-heroines are those who remain in marriage but achieve self-definition and those who acquiesce to the status quo The dynamics of heroism highlighted in this paper shows that the African woman does not whole-heartedly accept the patriarchal denigration of her worth The paper concludes that the novelists under study have used art to advocate for change in the society