The objective of this article is to analyse how Sefi Atta constructs feminist philosophy and uses narrative strategies to deconstruct patriarchal legacies and gender constructs that militate against women’s emancipation and welfare in Everything Good Will Come. Specifically, the study leans on African feminist theory proposed by Mary E. Modupe Kolawole to explore how Atta uses feminist consciousness to question the logic of customary laws and traditions put in place by men to oppress and exploit women. The study explores the thematic orientations of the novelist through language, setting and character portrayal. Specifically, the study examines how Sefi Atta deploys African feminist philosophy to expose and dismantle patriarchal structures in the novel. Relying mainly on Kolawole’s womanist framework, the study discusses education, professional agency, and female resistance as narrative vectors of emancipation. It argues that Atta’s portrayal of Enitan and other women re-centres female experience and calls for collaborative gender politics. The analysis positions the novel within broader post-colonial debates on sexism, socio-economic inequity, and cultural tradition.
References
[1]
Achebe, C. (1960). No Longer at Ease. Heinemann.
[2]
Atta, S. (2005). Everything Good Will Come. Interlink Books.
[3]
Bailey, A., & Chris, C. (2008). The Feminist Philosophy Reader. Routledge.
[4]
De La Cruz-Guzman, M. (2015). Of Mothers, Marriage, and Professionals: Transgenerational Emancipation of Nigerian Women in Sefi Atta’s Novels. In W. P. Collins III (Ed.), Writing Contemporary Nigeria: How Sefi Atta Illuminates African Culture and Tradition (pp. 3-40). Cambria Press.
[5]
El Saadawi, N. (1980). The Hidden Face of Eve. Women in the Arab World. Zed Press.
[6]
Johnson, A. G. (2006). The Gender Knot: Unravelling Patriarchal Legacies. Routledge.
[7]
Kolawole, M. E. M. (1997). Womanism and African Consciousness. Africa World Press.
[8]
Nnaemeka, O. (1997). The Politics of Mothering: Womanhood, Identity and Resistance in African Literature. Routledge.
[9]
Nnodim, R. (2017). Female Alter-Native Publics, Imaginations, and Cityness in Sefi Atta’s Lagos Novels. In W. P. Collins III (Ed.), Writing Contemporary Nigeria: How Sefi Atta Illuminates African Culture and Tradition (pp. 97-120). Cambria Press.
[10]
Ogede, O. (2023). Nigeria’s Third Generation Literature: Content and Form. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003290186
[11]
Olaoye, E. (2015). The Influence of Lagos on Women in Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come. In W. P. Collins III (Ed.), Writing Contemporary Nigeria: How Sefi Atta Illuminates African Culture and Tradition (pp. 140-149). Cambria Press.
[12]
Puchèrova, D. (2022). Feminism and Modernity in Anglophone African Women’s Writing: A 21st Century Global Context. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003255932
