The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

The Joys of Motherhood was probably the novel that interested me the most thus far in the course. I found the novel to be, more than anything else, about sacrifice. Nnu Ego is the protagonist of the story, born from Agbadi and Ona. I wanted so much to love Ona for her subversive behavior toward traditional gender roles. Her father grants her the privilege of never marrying, and being his forever, which appeared to be liberating. But the consequences of this lifestyle are great. First, though her stubborn indepedence makes her attractively strong to Agbadi, she is always in fear that he only loves her because he can never really have her. Second, she loses a lot of respect in her community, where wifedom and motherhood is praised, despite being so caging and exploitive to the women. Third, when she does have a child, her life begins it's end. Also, Ona, despite seeming admirable, is viewed in her culture as punishable, especially when she becomes the percieved cause of Agunwa, Agbadi's first wife. The death of Agunwa also, due to an exceptionally destructive tradition, results in the death of her slave, who proclaims before falling into the grave that she will come back to life as his daughter. Thus perpetuating the punishment for Ona's lifestyle by making her only daughter, Nnu Ego, one who lives as a slave to her family.
Nnu Ego's whole life is about sacrifice, but a crueler kind than I had ever imagined to be generated from motherhood. She gives up her happiness, choices and life for her children and her husband, all of whom do absolutely nothing for her and leave her to die without having any sort of contentment in her life. while they go on to have happier lives without her. The only things she gains in return for her sacrifices are the validation of taking on the highly respected role of being a mother, and a nice funeral provided by her son. Its ironic, how scoieties, which value motherhood so greatly, and castigate those who chose a different path, still make it such a torture to be a mother.