A feminist-psychological reading of Jennifer’s trauma in Omobowale’s seasons of rage in an era of recurrent emotional betrayals

Abstract

The literary portrayal of African women’s physical and mental sufferings in relation to patriarchal hostilities is not new. From Buchi Emecheta to  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the psychosocial experiences of the African woman are explored and interrogated. When women’s challenges are portrayed  by male writers, there is a kind of objective, unbiased perspective to such representation. In Seasons of Rage, a novel of Emmanuel Babatunde  Omobowale, one come across, the traumatic episode that is triggered by emotional betrayal. This essay examines Omobowale’s realistic recreation of the  psychological breakdown of Jennifer as a result of her betrayal by Martins, her lover. Aspects of Freud’s Psychoanalysis and Horney’s Feminist Psychology  were adopted in this essay, to account for the gradual emotional and psychological disorientation of Jennifer. The novel was subjected to qualitative,  literary analysis, highlighting the psychosocial issues fore grounded in it. Through the character of Jennifer in the novel, the reader is made to understand  that spousal betrayal can lead to traumatic breakdown in people.