Violence and Narrative Representation of Women's Experiences in SefiAtta's Swallow and MariamaBâ's So Long a Letter
Violence of diverse forms is often metaphorised in some African literatures as semblances of culture, and religion. Sefi Atta's Swallow and MariamaBâ's So Long a Letter (SLaL) among otheriolence of diverse forms is often metaphorised in some African literatures as semblances of culture, and religion. Sefi Atta's Swallow and MariamaBâ's So Long a Letter (SLaL) among other African literatures experiment themes of betrayal, generational conflict, exploitation, hardship and death. Themes of violence are epitomised in marriage, religio-cultural values, sexual harassment, transnational mobility and divorce in both texts. Through the use of psychoanalytic theory in overviews, and character and thematic depiction, the study reveals that both texts go beyond physical and psychological violence to represent metaphorical and/or fictional discursive aspects of the female movement to self-actualisation. The representation of women's experiences of violence in both texts has not only physical but psychological dimensions portrayed in the narrative. In Swallow, three kinds of women are identified: the resilient, the brittle, and the reviled. The text is set in a stenchy-hustling Lagos, symbolising moral decadence and an insurrection of the unlikely, female breadwinning, respectively. MariamaBâ'sSLaL portrays abandonment and vulnerability of brilliant and aspiring women. The estrangement of Ramatoulaye from her husband, despite her love and loyalty, and her subsequent subjugation to the Islamic mourning obligations after Modou's death, speaks volume about the subtle violence women endure.
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