RETHINKING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN THIRD‐GENERATION NIGERIAN WOMEN’S FICTION RETHINKING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN THIRD‐GENERATION NIGERIAN WOMEN’S FICTION

Third‐generation Nigerian female writers’ representation of gender in local spaces through the rethinking of family relationships reflects a development and change from the first and second generation female writers Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, and Ifeoma Okoye. In a comparative analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2004), Unoma Azuah’s Sky‐High Flames (2005), Sade Adeniran’s Imagine This (2007) and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come (2005), a distinct pattern emerges of the young girl‐child / woman character developing into a matured, strong womanist. As female characters challenge their familial relationships, they develop their sense of personhood, reclaiming wholeness, authority and female subjectivity, changing prescribed roles and structures. Third‐generation Nigerian female writers’ representation of gender in local spaces through the rethinking of family relationships reflects a development and change from the first and second generation female writers Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, and Ifeoma Okoye. In a comparative analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2004), Unoma Azuah’s Sky‐High Flames (2005), Sade Adeniran’s Imagine This (2007) and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come (2005), a distinct pattern emerges of the young girl‐child / woman character developing into a matured, strong womanist. As female characters challenge their familial relationships, they develop their sense of personhood, reclaiming wholeness, authority and female subjectivity, changing prescribed roles and structures.