Voice Of A Slave Woman: A Study On Buchi Emecheta’s The Slave Girl

Abstract

Florence Onye Buchi Emecheta is Africa’s most prolific female writer. Emecheta novels portray the life of African women and their struggle to succeed in an exploitative male dominated traditional Nigerian society. Buchi Emecheta’s The Slave Girl (1977) explores the concept of enslavement. There is a clear message in the novel, which refers to the permanent slave condition of women in Nigeria. This paper focus on the novel deals with how women are treated as slaves and mistreated. Women are exploited and oppressed by the male dominated society.  Through, the portrait of Ogbanje Ojebeta, the heroine of the novel Emecheta portrays slavery. Ojebeta, was sold into slavery by his own brother in need of money to serve his own selfish needs. However, her time as a slave, despite the hard work and sometimes-harsh treatment, is a period of great personal development.  Women are not allowed to decide their own future. Ojebeta shaves her head in order to escape the possibility of enforced marriage. She too asserts her freedom in the choice of her marriage partner.