A voice of empowerment : a study on the portrayal of female characters in the literary works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Abstract

This dissertation is based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s presentation of African women, analysing the ways in which her characters go from oppressed women (Chapter 1) to female icons of independence and self-assurance (Chapter 2). They achieve a new sense of selfawareness through an epiphany, an experience that provides insight and makes them acknowledge that society does not make a woman, but rather that a woman has the choice to make herself. Adichie’s acute awareness of marginalisation is furthermore seen as a divergence from her African male predecessors Chinua Achebe. In her appropriation of Achebe, she depicts the Igbo world he presents but gives it her own twist, endowing her female characters with stronger feminist qualities (Chapter 3). This dissertation aims to demonstrate Adichie’s literary greatness in demolishing patriarchal views and creating images of woman power and self-dependence, taking the once male-based novel onto another level of social significance. Through the exploration of characters, themes and plot, I wish to outline the ways in which Adiche turns a story about family, war, love and friendship into a testament of an audacious woman spirit.