The Representation of the African Woman in Male-Dominated Society: A Study of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon

Abstract

This paper highlighted and analysed the portrayals of the  traditional African women in selected postcolonial Anglophone African writers’ literary works such as Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon (1995). Although they are of opposite sex, different nationalities and generations they condemn the phallocentric organisation of the African societies where women are nothing but naïve,  second-rank and sexually addicted people, reproducers, mere
commodities and men’s appendage, just to name a few. Interestingly, Achebe and Darko are convinced that it is time to do justice to women. Therefore, post-colonial criticism offers the lenses through which female characters can regain power. This paper posited that some writers show concern for the relegation of the African woman to subordination because they are not satisfied with some African male writers’ misrepresentation of the African woman. For this reason, they decide to give proofs of the real role of the African woman in her community.

Key Words: African woman, biased image, subordinate, patriarchy, exploit, fairness