War of the Sexes and Literary Devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema
CHAPTER ONE
1.0. Introduction.
The war of the sexes has raged on as long as anyone can remember. Each sex, has either wanted or believed to have the upper hand over the other. It can be inform of power struggle or manipulation, often times where males are dominant and females submissive. War of the sexes implies the conflict between a man and a woman regarding gender roles in a given environment or circumstance, battle of supremacy between a man and a woman. Throughout history, women have been treated with disrespect, denied full range of life’s opportunities but the feminist movement has been engaged in a fight for the equal treatment of women all over the world. The study of Daniel Mengara’s Mema displays how the social world of the novel provides women with the enabling power to break male dominance and power.
Measuring women’s empowerment only in terms of educational, economic and political achievements of women without addressing the problems they face in their marital homes is limited or incomplete. A popular adage says that charity begins at home, thus, it can be said that women’s empowerment begins with their individual and collective capacities in solving daily problems whether in their marital homes or in their societies at large. Very few research has actually been carried out to show this aspect of women’s empowerment both literature and society.
Drawing on a multidimensional approach of empowerment and womanist theory, this study aims to show how some female characters in Daniel Mengara’s Mema are empowered through such aspects as witchcraft, motherhood and wifehood and sisterhood in order to curb wife battery and other forms of men’s/husband’s brutality, violence and oppression towards them. In Daniel Mengara’s Mema, women are said to have the power of the inside while the men are said to have the power of the outside but in Ntsame Minlare’s case she has both the power of the inside and outside and is also feared amongst men and women in their land.
Ntsame rules her household instead of her husband. She subverts an established order and recreates a situation where it is possible to have power in the hands of women .This study will give a full insight of Daniel Mengara’s Mema as we go further.
1.1. Background of the Study.
Literature has always been simply perceived as life itself. This is simply because it encloses those aspects of life which would have otherwise been ignored as trivial and unimportant. The writer expresses his emotions and feelings about the world through a good work of literature as he/she captures the social, cultural, and economic and most importantly the historical and political aspects of the society. It is these aspects that often form the basis for the subject matter that makes up an entire work of literature whether fictional ornon-fictional.
The subject matters that often preoccupy various works of literature are often embedded in the themes that are found within such works. In every work of literature therefore, it can be deduced that themes are the central ideas through which the socio-cultural, socio-political and historical occurrences can be successfully mirrored. They are the driving force which motivates the writer or author into writing a piece of art.
The Routledge Dictionary in its definition of a theme shows that, theme is from the traditional and modern perspective. A theme is the central idea or the subject matter that conveys the meaning of every work in literature. Themes vary both within a single work and between different works. A thematic preoccupation is the collective themes that occupy a work of literature. Novels, for instance are either read for academic purposes or for pleasure. The latter, however seems to be most prevalent.
It is then important to note that most readers of literature who only read for displeasure often miss out the central message which the writer is attempting to convey. This is simply because such readers ignore the themes that preoccupy such works. When the themes of a work of literature are ignored, then it can be said that the reader has missed out the entire central message which the writer is trying to pass across.
Furthermore, as Ngugi Wa Thiongo puts, “Literature does not grow or develop in a vacuum…”, that is, one cannot isolate a work of literature from the experiences which the society serves. In other words, a good and complete work of literature cannot be devoid of the daily occurrences that make up the society because that is the source to all literature. Thematic study is slated to be a most common form of analysis in a qualitative research in literature. It focuses on examining themes within a topic by identifying, analysing and reporting pattern within the stipulated text for the analysis.
The thematic study of a text is used for exploring and interpreting patterned meaning across a given text in literature . The research closely examines the data to identify common themes ,topic , ideas and pattern of meaning that come up repeatedly. There are various approaches to conducting thematic study, but the most common form follows a six – step process: familiarization, coding, generating themes , reviewing themes ,defining and naming themes , and writing up. These themes seem different but aiming at achieving a specific purpose within the content of the text. The themes of the text seem relevant because they address most current predicament in our society . This study will be undertaken to do thematic study, emphasizing the relevance of the themes to contemporary problems and also to conduct a literay device analysis predominant in the text.
War of the Sexes and Literary Devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema
1.2 . Statement of the Problem.
African Writers have taken it upon themselves to reflect their societies in their works through the themes that preoccupy their texts. In this study, we shall look at how effectively Daniel Mengara does that. The study shall explore how the societal and economic challenges the county has been facing have been adequately reflected in this text.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study.
The aim of this study is to examine the theme of the war of the sexes and literary devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema and to show their relevance to the society. The specific objectives of the study are:
- To identify the themes preoccupying in Daniel Mengara’s Mema
- To identify the literary devices predominant in Daniel Mengara’s Mema
- To identify the writer’s ability to effectively reflect his society through the themes that preoccupy his novel.
- To identify the historical, political and social relevance of the novel to the society.
1.4. Significance of the Study.
Many readers who approach literature for pleasure often miss out the central idea which the author wishes to convey. Such readers only read for entertainment or better still for pleasure unless they are compelled otherwise by academic purpose or educational research. They actually forget that real entertainment does not come through the gradual revelation of succeeding events in a story rather, through the reason or motivation behind such events.
This study, therefore, provides every sort of reader with the relevant information needed in understanding the motives and central messages embedded in the novel. It provides a reason to a keen reader to see the relevance of the effort put in by an author. As mentioned in the background above, themes convey the meaning within a work of literature. This study helps the reader to locate such subtle meanings that are not obvious to the reader who superficially reads for mere pleasure .
Lastly, the study also attempts to bring to light the historical and socio-political dimensions covered by the author in his work,all such issues that make up the events that constitute the daily occurrences that make up our ever changing society.
1.5 Scope of the Study .
A thematic preoccupation covers the themes in a text. This study covers the themes that preoccupy the text. The study does not attempt to find similarities or dissimilarity of themes nor the prevalence between the selected text. The study only attempts to discuss the different themes that occupy the work, as well as the literary devices. Moreover ,his study does not go on to talk about characterization or settings or other parts of the texts. Hence it is limited to the themes of battle of the sexes and literary devices alone. The research work sets out to examine the themes of battle the sexes and the literary devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema.
1.6. Research Questions.
This study investigates the following research questions:
- What are the themes that preoccupy Daniel Mengara’s Mema?
- What are the litearary devices that are predominant in Daniel Mengara’s Mema ?
- How does the writer accurately reflect the societies through the themes that preoccupy his work?
- What is the significance of these themes in shaping the historical, political and social values of the societies which they project?
War of the Sexes and Literary Devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary
The study was to examine war of the sexes and literary devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema. Chapter one of the research work was made up of introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, however, four research questions where formulated to guide the study. In chapter two, a deep and brief literature review on the topic and related works was carried out.
Chapter three which was research methodology comprises of; research design, area of study, population, method of data collection, sampling size and sampling technique and method of data analysis which was qualitative or library based method that involved a careful textual analysis of the selected text under study (Daniel Mengara’s Mema). Chapter four consist of Synopsis of Daniel Mengara’s Mema, war of the sexes in Daniel Mengara’s Mema, themes in Daniel Mengara’s Mema; the strength and resilience of women, the clash between traditional and modern values, the importance of family, the power of love. However, the researcher briefly carried out a study on literary devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema and language and style in Daniel Mengara’s Mema. Finally, chapter five which was the last chapter for this research work comprises of summary, conclusion and recommendations
5.2 Conclusion
The aim of this study was to examine war of the sexes and literary devices in Daniel Mengara’s Mema. It has been observed that the war between sexes or genders has been going on for ages, this the author portray using Mena a young girl who was born and brought up in a native land where men are seen as the superior. We have shown how women/wives have been able to fight against domestic violence, as in wife-battery by using witchcraft, mutual aid and self-help, motherhood and wifehood and dialogue.
In the novel under study, Mengara (the author of the novel) has qualitatively shown through his female characters that empowerment of women cannot be achieved only in terms of educational and economic achievements of women but through union and solidarity among women/wives as in sisterhood, so women have to join hands in eliminating negative patriarchal shortcomings in their marital homes and society. In this vein, he has shown the weakness of women like Alphonsine who have adopted the western individualistic lifestyle and their inability to merge their working status with their role as wives/mothers.
Such women are really illtreated and battered, and they suffer in silence in their world. Besides, Mengara has exuded the beneficial advantages women as wives and mothers can obtain through solidarity, union and sisterhood, if they put aside their differences and join hands together so as to share experience, design a common objective and harness their female power to end patriarchal violence, brutality and oppression.
5.3 Recommendations
The following recommendations where made:
- One of the most important things that can be done to address gender inequality in Africa is to invest in girls’ education. When girls are educated, they are more likely to be able to get good jobs, to have a say in their own lives, and to break the cycle of poverty.
- It is also important to challenge traditional gender roles and stereotypes. These stereotypes often limit girls’ and women’s opportunities and contribute to violence against them.
- Addressing gender inequality in Africa is a challenging task, but it is essential for the continent’s development. By investing in girls’ education, challenging gender stereotypes, and creating laws and policies that protect women’s rights, we can create a more just and equitable Africa for all.
- Finally, it is important to create laws and policies that protect women’s rights. These laws and policies should ensure that women have equal access to education, employment, and healthcare. They should also protect women from violence and discrimination.
