THE PORTRAITURE OF MODERN AND TRADITIONAL WOMAN IN AYI KWEI ARMAH’S THE BEAUTYFUL ONES ARE NOT YET BORN, FRAGMENT AND TWO THOUSAND SEASONS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the decadent portraiture of
modern female characters in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones
Are Not Yet Born and Fragment. It also examines the representation
of the traditional African woman in Two Thousand Seasons. By
spotlighting the moral degeneracy of the modern woman and its
implications on their men as they all struggle through Armah’s
themes of corruption, greed, exploitation, and acquisition of
material wealth, it also highlights the traditional African woman as
not being instruments of social change but agents of positive
cultural revitalization, thereby repositioning them for greater selfactualization. The chosen texts are analysed through the
postcolonial lens, which focuses on literature written in English in
formally colonized countries and concerns the struggle that occurs
when one culture is dominated by another. In articulating the pains,
traumas, and challenges arising from both colonial and neo-colonial
experiences, Armah therefore used the traditional female character
to enforce moral standards and so address sociocultural norms that
are inimical to female growth and development.

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