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Example research essay topic: Interesting Narrative Eighteenth Century - 1,408 words

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... ms and expectations for women's behavior in many places and among many groups have not altered considerably in everyday life. One critic, Carole Boyce Davies, who co-edited Ngambika, a major work on women in African literatures, sees the efforts of these writers as quite comparable-and comparably bold: "writers like Miriama B question and overturn some of the entire traditional attitudes to womanhood and women's place" (242). This distinct approach to the topic of motherhood is dramatically displayed in So Long a Letter, the life of the main character, Ramatoulaye, is also dominated by her children; however, for a variety of reasons, the children are not the pivotal element of her story or, seemingly, the overriding concern of Ramatoulaye's life. She was an educated woman with a career of her own, and her family enjoyed at least a minimum of financial security.

Her letter to her close friend implies that while her husband remained in the marriage, she must have had to work very hard-with a teaching job and twelve children to care for-but that she had household assistance and was able to manage without undue hardships while finding a great deal of satisfaction in her life. When her husband deserts her for a young woman, Ramatoulaye then feels the great burdens of motherhood. Ramatoulaye's vivid descriptions of her daily efforts-the "details" of her life as mother, for example: The purchase of basic foodstuffs kept me occupied at the end of every month; I made sure that I was never short of tomatoes or of oil, potatoes or onions during those periods when they became rare in the markets The last date for payment of electricity bills and of water rates demanded my attention. I was often the only woman in the queue. Replacing the locks and latches of broken doors, replacing broken windows was a bother My son Made Fall complained about burnt-out bulbs that needed replacement (Ba 51).

Her life, though, while exhausting and frustrating and, undoubtedly, terrifying at times - particularly when children become ill or injured, Ramatoulaye has money for sufficient food and even has modern conveniences in her home. Nevertheless, Ramatoulaye has other experiences as the protagonist - while the children cause a great deal of her daily trials and drain her energy, these same dependents rouse her from her personal misery. Rama explains: "I adopted a sprightly tone to rouse my battalion. The coffee warmed the atmosphere, exuding its sweet fragrance.

Foaming baths, mutual teasing, and laughter. " After documenting numerous further items of their lives, she summarizes these particulars with a brief but plaintive cry: "I shed tears of joy and sadness together: joy in being loved by my children, the sadness of a mother who does not have the means to change the course of events" (53). Concurrently with the experience of motherhood, the novel also examines the life of Rama and Aissatou as women in their societies. Decisions regarding marriage, family, properties are all at the disposal of the males of both societies. Both woman's situation as beloved wife is undermined by the husband taking another (and younger) wife, an action sanctioned by the religion and officially by the society but which, according to the effects that occur in both stories, destroys the trust of the marriage, the self-esteem of the wife, and the fabric of the family's life together. Miriama B's book features a character that is much more articulate and un accepting of the narrow role allowed to women in her society. B's female characters have been called "champions of change and justice" who "inspire other women and people to live and carry on" (Chain 100).

Ramatoulaye does suffer some of the same restrictions on her movements as her friend does by virtue of being a wife and mother. She spends a great deal of her life feeling that events are out of her control: marriage (although she and her husband had chosen each other rather than entering into an arranged marriage), property ownership, domination by in-laws, her husband's desertion. Nevertheless, for many reasons of sufficient money and an education, Rama finds the strength to oppose some of the expectations of her society. She learns to drive, forces herself to go to the cinema alone, notably refuses marriage offers from men of high repute (primarily because they are already married) and courageously accepts her second daughter's unwed pregnancy without reprimanding her or even indulging in the wailing that is traditionally expected of her. Edris Makward declares that B is "the first African writer [of either sex apparently] to stress unequivocally the strong desire of a new generation of Africans to break away from the age-old marriage customs and adopt a decidedly more modern approach based on free mutual choice and the equality of the two partners" (278). In addition, Rama's daughters - at least the two presented directly in the novel - represent a new direction for women in their society.

It is her children, especially these daughters, who are adamant that their mothers divorce their father when he takes a second wife. Both Data and Aissatou clearly seem like people who will make decisions for themselves. Data, who has earned a prized baccalaureate and freely chosen a man to whom she is engaged, actually challenges her father by deliberately appearing in the nightclubs where he and his new wife (originally her classmate and friend) spend their evenings. "[S]he would arrive late on purpose so to sit in full view of her father" (Ba 50). This young woman is no withering, oppressed victim of society. The second daughter is named after the full-fledged rebel in the story (who never appears, but is the recipient of the letter), Ramatoulaye friend Aissatou, who did divorce her husband when he took a second wife.

The daughter Aissatou is quite aware of the import of her unmarried pregnancy. But Rama is amazed that, although Aissatou confession is delivered "in a broken voice accompanied by much sniffing, " it is yet "without any regret!" (82). This young woman is not a victim either; she has entered freely and lovingly into a sexual relationship and is thoroughly willing to assume responsibility for the consequences of her actions. All of the female characters in So Long a Letter represent women who attempt to, and to some extent succeed in, taking control of their lives. Rama closes her letter (the novel itself) by asserting I have not given up wanting to refashion my life.

Despite everything -disappointments and humiliations-hope still lives within me" (89). Miriama B herself declared in an interview she gave after accepting the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa that a unity of all women cannot be denied, "there is a cry everywhere, everywhere in the world, a woman's cry is being uttered. The cry may be different but there is still a certain unity" (Chain 89). Conclusion The truly radical nature of the two novels cannot be overemphasized. Not only are both books utterly engrossing as good stories and extremely well crafted works of art, but they also make dramatic statements about their position in society.

Mary Conde contends, "the personality and inner reality of African (s)... have been hidden under a heap of myths, so-called ethnological theories, rapid generalizations and patent untruths" (Davis 242). Bibliography Allison, Robert J, ed. Equianos Interesting Narrative.

Boston: Bedford Books, 1995. B, Miriama. So Long a Letter. Translated by Module Bod & Thomas. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1980. Caldwell, Tanya.

Talking Too Much English: Languages of Economics and Politics in Equianos The Interesting Narrative, Early American Literature. Volume 34 3 (1999). Chain, More B. "Contemporary Society and the Female Imagination: A Study of the Novels of Miriama Ba, " in Eldred Durosimi Jones, Eustace Palmer and Marjorie Jones, (Eds. ) Women in African Literature Today. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1987. Davies, Carol Boyce. "Motherhood in the Works of Male and Female Igbo Writers: Achebe Emecheta, Na and Nzekwu, " in Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves (Eds. ) Ngambika.

Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1986. Makward, Edris. "Marriage, Tradition, and Woman's pursuit of Happiness in the Novels of Miriama Ba, " in Eldred Durosimi Jones, Eustace Palmer and Marjorie Jones, (Eds. ) Women in African Literature Today. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1987. Potkay, Adam.

Forum: Teaching Equianos Interesting Narrative Eighteenth-Century Studies. Volume 34 4 (2001). Sandiford, Keith. Measuring the Moment: Strategies of Protest in Eighteenth Century Afro-English Writing. PA: Susquehanna University Press, 1988.


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Research essay sample on Interesting Narrative Eighteenth Century

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