Deconstructing gender and patriarchal ideology in Tess Onwueme’s The Broken Calabash

Abstract

This study investigates the rebellion of a marginalized female in Nigerian society. In effect, it elucidates and unravels how the main heroine confronts patriarchy inflicted society by engendering a distinct feminine linguistic discourse that focuses on plurality and strives to portray what has been suppressed by masculine order. Through the interpellation content analysis which asserts that, ‘individual interpretation creates a subject who is, without necessarily realizing it, conforming to the ideology of state power and the system that supports and generates it’ (Althusser 1998), the paper deconstructs how character is created from patriarchal nuances aided by cultural notions. In addition, the paper situates Connell’s (1995) and Butler's (1990) definitions of gender within the textual construct of the story.