Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo

The Dyanmics Of Female Representation In Changes By Ama Ata Aidoo

This print version free essay The Dyanmics Of Female Representation In Changes By Ama Ata Aidoo.

Category: Book Reports

Autor: reviewessays 05 February 2011

Words: 4256 | Pages: 18

NAME: FRANK YAW AMEWUGA

THE DYNAMICS OF FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN CHANGES BY AMA ATA AIDOO

Swimming against the tide has always been an uphill task especially in a male dominated terrain. And it goes without saying that West African writing has been male dominated in terms of volumes produced. In representing females, therefore, the tendency may be to consciously or unconsciously relapse into stereotyped representation of females in the literature produced my male and sometimes female writers. Consequently, there are stereotyped images of women as victors or victims which Ama Ata Aidoo makes an attempt to break from in her novel. In Changes, she seems to portray African women in stronger images and symbols who in addition to actively participating in decision making also accept responsibility for their fate. Changes discusses a range of feminist issues such as women’s perception of their role in marriage, women’s reaction to societal expectations, women’s sexuality and the conflicts that exist as a result of combining women’s role as mothers, wives and career professionals. This work dramatizes and subverts the male power notions which disempower women. This paper sets out to analyze how Ama Ata Aidoo represents women and the dynamics involved in such representation. A careful reading of Changes shows that Ama Ata Aidoo represents women in certain patterns which we shall presently discuss. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of English (4th Ed) ‘dynamics’ is ‘the forces and motions that characterize a system.’ It goes on to further define the word as ‘The social, intellectual or moral forces that produce activity and change in a given sphere.’ It goes without saying that Ama Ata...