INSECURITY AND EMANCIPATION IN NIGERIAN FICTION

Abstract

Most studies are limited to the negative implications of insecurity. This paper is a deviation in that it tackles insecurity from the positive forces embedded in it that push individuals to anticipate freedom and emancipation. The paper uses the Psychoanalytical Theory to argue that insecurity contains positive seeds that can propel characters to liberation from their predicament. In so doing, illustrations are taken from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2006), Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow (2006), and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010). The analysis of the texts discovers that through the movement of themes from contentment, perseverance, disillusionment, and anguish to those of hope, emancipation and a new beginning, writers of contemporary Nigerian fiction have embedded the thesis of insecurity propelling characters from suffering to freedom in their novels. Then, with the techniques of flashback, flash forward, symbolism, relocation and escape, the study found that these works are aesthetically embellished to project the thesis of this paper. In all, the paper urges critics to balance the study of insecurity in both its complexities and ambivalence.