THE WOMAN SABOTAGE IN SKY-HIGH FLAMES BY UNOMA AZUAH AND THE SECRET LIVES OF BABA SEGI’S WIVES BY LOLA SHONEYIN

Abstract

The dominant culture in the African setting is patriarchy and it largely
marginalizes, subjugates, and oppresses the woman as she is often
treated as a second class citizen. The ongoing fights against this
syndrome, especially since the inception of feminism, have recorded
little achievements. This is because the woman has an anti-womanist
tendency of being hostile to a fellow woman. The woman has a hatred
for her sister. She deliberately obstructs or prevents her sister’s success.
This paper addresses the issue of the woman sabotage in Unoma
Azuah’s Sky-High Flames and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba
Segi’s Wives. The issue of women sabotaging themselves leads to the
continual subjugation of women which results to lack of development.
The paper uses the lens of African womanist approach to analyse the
texts under discourse. Womanism subverts the patriarchal authorities
in Africa and is directed at reversing the relegation faced by the woman
in Africa. It therefore upholds collectivity. The paper captures the
selfishness and hatred exhibited towards fellow women, as well as
backbite and evil machination against another constructed in Sky-High
Flames and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. The research finds that
continuous sabotage to fellow women is dangerous and people should
uphold collectivity evident in some of the issues resolved in the texts
analysed, which is engraving a new message of love for fellow woman,
affection and the unification of women as the only panacea for
development that fosters national progress.