Tuesday, 4 November 2014
The Lion &The Jewel- Gender Discrimination
Consider the theme 'Women in Society'. It can be stated that in the village of Illunjinle women play a subservient and domestic role as opposed to men who are expected to be the authoritative and educated figures. Use one male and one female character to support your views on this statement.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Because of the village ‘Illunjinle’ they figure that it is a male dominated society. Here as females were not allowed to go to school where as the males are assigned to go to school to get an education. In Illunjinle, Lakunle is the village teacher, who speaks to sidi and how women are the child bearers, they are to pound the yams, to fetch and carry and scrub; as he sees Sidi carrying a pale of water in the village. Also because it is a male dominated society, men can have as many wives as they like but women cannot have more than one husband at a time. So it was a discrimination to sidi, to marry lakunle, the village teacher who has not much to his name and still agree to be with the bale.
ReplyDeleteAkima, were the females not allowed to go to school at all? Or is it that they chose to stick with the structure of society? Remember the community is being invaded by the colonizers. The education system that we see is of the European government, and it is part of colonization. Remember too, that the society is one of polygamy when you are looking at the idea of men having multiple wives.
DeleteI think this theme comes into play when we see Baroka who had many wives. Polygamy shows how men can have authority and power over women by having multiple wives and making them subservient to them. Also Baroka seduced Sidi with his wise words which shows how educated and knowledgeable he is. In Illujinle's society, women are not supposed to be as educated as men. Women are to be educated in domestic areas. In the beginning of the play we see Sidi coming onto the stage with a pail of water on her head which indicates preparation for house work. In this society women are expected to clean the house, take care of the children, and prepare food for the family while men are out at work. (Sidi is walking with pail on her head while Lakunle is at work).
DeleteIn the village of 'Illunjinle' women play a subservient and domestic role. This is shown through the character Sadiku who is the wife of King of the village, Baroka. Women are expected to be obedient to the men of the village and to cater to them by all means. They way they dress,behave and speak are controlled by the men. Sadiku does this by maintaining the household and raising the children and catering to her husband's needs. For example when he was pretending to be sad from allegedly losing his manhood she massaged his feet. It was even her duty to fetch new wives for her husband. Sadiku can only speak when given permission. This was shown when she entered the Kings bedroom and addressed him as 'My Lord' and only continued speaking after he said 'You have my leave to speak.'
ReplyDeleteMen in the village are seen authoritative and educated. King Baroka is a fit example. His intelligence is seen through his ability of successfully ruling a village thus far and in return this brings great authority to his name. His authority is also shown in the way he has great control over all his wives and the way in which they obey without hesitation. As seen in the scene where Baroka and 'favorite' laid in bed and she was plucking his armpit hairs desperate of his approval and when she hurt him he sent her away abruptly. His intelligence also is depicted when his cunning plan to capture Sidi is revealed.
Women play a subservient and domestic role in the "Illunjinle" village. They have to cook, clean, make babies and please their husbands. Everything they do is also controlled by their husbands and the education they receive is to complete domestic tasks. In the novel "The Lion and The Jewel" Baroka's wives play these roles. His favorite wife is seen kneeling beside him plucking his armpit hairs. She asks him how she is doing but does not get a positive reply so she goes on to say that she will do better. When Baroka announces that he is getting a new wife she attempts to save her spot as favourite by trying to pluk his armpit hairs better. She is completing her task of pleasing her husband as a woman and wife in the village. She proves that she is subservient by leaving when he commands her to.
ReplyDeleteIn the village men are seen as authoritative and educated. Baroka is the king of a village, a post no woman can ever get not even his wives can claim upon his death. This shows that men hold authority. His wives has no choice but to listen to his commands this is seen when the favourite leaves when told to do so, and how Sadiku had to seek permission to speak. In the novel Baroka can be seen as educated with the way he rules and village and his mischievous plans one being the plan to get Sidi as his wife. A plan no one saw coming.
Women are seen as inferior; this is why they play a subservient and domestic role in the Illunjunle village. Take Sadiku, Baroka's eldest wife, for example. Her job was to meet her husband's every demand. Sadiku was convinced that she caused Baroka to become impotent; this is proof that one of her jobs was pleasuring her husband.Also, Baroka admitted that no other wife could pluck his arm pit hairs like Sadiku in the novel. Women were regarded as subservient and domestic because they had to live a submissive life to their dominant husbands whether it is to please them sexually or caress and treat their bodies the way it was requested.
ReplyDeleteMen are seen as authoritative and educated. Baroka, for example, at his old age has many wives and is still known as the King of the Village. He shows his authoritative behavior with his wives. He demands and receives; instructs and shuns. Proof of this is when he told his youngest wife to pluck his arm pit hairs. She did not do it right and was asked to leave him. The wife had no choice but to obey. Furthermore, Baroka proves that he was educated by the way he seduced Sidi into intercourse. He used his wits and wisdom to catch Sidi's attention and in the end his intelligence allowed him to successfully conquer the jewel.
In my understanding of the theme 'Women in Society' in the story and dramatization of The Lion & the Jewel. Women do play a subservient and domestic role in the "Illunjinle" village. Women are known to clean the household, make the children and please there husbands to a certain extent. Since it is a polygamy society everything the women do are controlled by there husbands. Baroka as king of the illunjinle village is a perfect example of authoritative and educated. He as king makes all decisions therefore his wives and have no choice but to listen and follow his such commands. Sidi on the other hand as the villages beauty has fallen into Baroka's trap. But using Baroka's "favourite" as an example of a woman who is being controlled by her husband, as she plucks his armpit hairs . She shows that she is subservient as a woman when Baroka commands her to leave the room.
ReplyDeleteThis theme comes about because in the village iijunle women are play a subservient and domestic role in the society back then. By tradition women are expected to do work in their home. Cooking food, cleaning the house and satisfying their husbands are all ways in which women play a domestic role. For example Sadiku did whatever her husband told her to do. Men are the ones who give women roles to play in the house therefore women are considered inferior because they are to obey there husband unquestioningly. Men are seemed as authoritative and educated because Lakunle was the only one who was okay and impressed with colonization because he figured that he knew the right way to live a modern life, while Sidi was unsatisfied with the idea and to some extent she represented her people but was considered to low to do so. It is seemed that Sidi and women on a greater scale has no right to give their opinion or views on society because they were not considered smart enough to do so.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand from the theme 'Women in Society' in the dramatization of The Lion & the Jewel. The women play a subservient role in the village of Illunjinle because by culture they are required to clean, cook and bear children etc... This nature is further expressed with Baroka and Sadiku when it is stated that she was passed down to Baroka from his father (Okiki). Women who are seen as inferior towards the men in this society cant reject to any or the desires and wishes of the men whom they are subservient to.
ReplyDeleteIn 'Illunjinle' women play a subservient and domestic role. They are required to cook, clean, take care of the children, satisfy their husband etc..... Women are seen as inferior oppose to the men. Sadiku, Baroka's eldest wife maintains the household and satisfies Baroka's needs and wants. It was also her duty to obtain new wives for her husband.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, Baroka is seen as an authoritative and educated man. As king he makes all the decisions and his wife's have no choice but to follow his commands. Men hold great authority. This is shown when Sadiku had to seek permission to speak and also when Baroka's 'favourite' left the room after being told to do so.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn 'The Lion and The Jewel’, in the story’s village ‘Ilujunle’, women are subjected to playing a subservient and domestic role, as opposed to the men who are expected to be authoritative and educated figures. This statement can be easily proven using two main characters 'Sidi' and 'Lakunle'.
ReplyDeleteLakunle was the village school teacher which meant he was quite well educated as opposed to Sidi, who was like many women in the society Lakunle referred to as ‘Bush girls’ because of their illiteracy. We see here the imbalanced spread of education between men and women in this society, men had the upper hand in education, while women were expected to look after the home and husband. Lakunle continuously belittled Sidi, by making constant remarks about how she was less intelligent and weaker than he was, simply because she was a woman, and he felt no remorse in saying such things to her because he felt justified in what he was saying and did not even see it as offensive, it was a common known fact to the men in their society; women were worth less than men, they were uneducated and all they were worth was reproduction and servitude to the man and his household. The most unorthodox part about these conversations that Lakunle had with Sidi is that they were in an effort to obtain her as a wife. He insulted her and begged her to marry him in the same breath.
Sidi on the other hand did feel a bit wounded by his remarks, she responded by reminding him of all the work women were expected to do in the community like pounding yams and carrying children and how it was ludicrous to call women the weaker sex. This shows how Sidi truly felt about the role of women in their society, she truly felt that there was nothing wrong with living in servitude to the men and she even felt a bit proud of the fact that women were able to endure so much; she did not feel oppressed in the slightest bit. She felt that Lakunle was out of place and disrespectful for thinking of it from that angle, in her opinion the men deserved to be served and have the highest authority because that was just the norm, but that did not mean that women were worthless. Despite Lakunle's insults, Sidi still agreed to marry him if he paid the price. It was as simple as that in their society, there was not a lot of love and romance involved in marriage. A man simply had to pick a girl from the community that he liked and pay her family a certain price if she was a virgin, (if she wasn't then he did not even have to) and a few years or even months later he could go out and repeat the same process again and obtain as many wives as he so desired. The women had no say, they were just to submit to their husbands and be accepting of his other wives.
Overall in my opinion, in the village of Ilujunle women lived in servitude to the men and the household but they did not feel oppressed by this, it was quite the opposite; they felt empowered.
The village of Illunjile has a male dominated society, this displays gender inequality. Women are treated as servants who had to cater to all the needs of the men. The men were seen as educated and authorative because of tradition. They referred to the bible as justification for how women are ranked under men, as God created woman from the man. The equality of the sexes was never considered to be of significance to their ancestors and was naturally passed down from all generations before them to the present villagers. The subservient and domestic roles were played by females as they were considered to be the inferior beings although they did the most difficult work proving them to be stronger. The men would go out hunting, which is challenging but the women would have to clean the game and cook it. They would also have to collect and carry water to their homes, wash clothes, pound the yams and bend all day plating millet with their children strapped to their backs. Two characters that prove this point are Baroka and Sadiku. Baroka was the head of the village and Sadiku was his first wife. He was well educated with the knowledge of hunting, wrestling and other survival requirements. Baroka was allowed to have many wives and Sadiku would be the one going out to lure the women that he wanted to him. Sadiku had to perform any task that Baroka requested, including plucking his armpit hairs by hand before any of his other wives were present to do it for him. She would always be subservient to Baroka until he died. It was custom that the women had to be their husband’s servants in the village. They referred to the bible as justification for how women are ranked under men, as God created woman from the man.
ReplyDeleteIn the village of 'Illunjile' they believe in the theory that 'Superiority to the male and Inferiority to the female'. This entire belief in based on the bible where God created man first and woman after so automatically in rank man is higher. The women in their society play a submissive role whereas they are expected to satisfy their husband, cook and clean. Take Sadaiku for example: She is the eldest of Baroka's wives and anything he ask's of her she must do. When Baroka wants Sidi to be his new wife it is Sadaiku he sends to ask her. Sadaiku had NO say in whether she wanted to go or not, she simple just had to do it.On the otherhand The men in this society play an authoritative and educative role. To prove this statement take Baroka for instance who fits the bill perfectly. When Baroka speaks his wives must listen, they cannot question him or "give him backchat". For example When Baroka's "favourite" is plucking out the armpit hairs and Baroka tells her to be more gentle she cannot talk back she must only do. Also when he asks her to leave the room she must do so without question. Baroka is also well educated. He uses wise words to trick Sidi into having sex with him and ultimately so marriage.
ReplyDeleteto marriage*
DeleteThe story is set in a male-dominant and polygynous society. Baroka is the leader of the village, a position which has been passed down generation after generation from father to son, never a woman. Baroka shows us his cunning in his schemes e.g. the prevention of the railway that would bring civilization straight to Illunjinle, leaving him as ruler undisturbed and the lie he told to Sadiku knowing her personality that it would reach Sidi's ears. Baroka also shows us his "authority" in the "promises" he makes to Sidi about all he could give her as well as the great control he has over all his wives and the way in which they obey without hesitation.
ReplyDeleteIn the book women are represented as child caretakers, cooks, cleaners, water-fetchers and washers. They are to see to all of their husband’s desires, in the community women were also circumcised as a sign of obedience and servitude. It is shown that the only time a woman may truly show power over a man is when she has taken the last of his seed and he is left impotent, the celebration of this event truly shows as to the lack of power women hold in the village.
Sadiku is a prime example of servitude and domestication of women in the society i.e. She can only speak when given permission. When Baroka lied about being impotent she comforted him by massaging his feet, it was even her duty to fetch new wives for him.
In the book 'THE LION AND THE JEWEL' iLLUNJUNLE is the village presented in the book.In this village, it is posed to be a male dominated soceity, which can be identified throughout the book.The woman are to follow rules of men and woman are subservient to men.Baroka, the village chief,has more than one wife because it is a polygamist soceity.Baroka sees himelf as a 'lion'who can conquer anything he desires.Baroka is expexted by us to treat his wives equally.but however, he actually has a favouritism.What ever Baroka orders,his wives are to obey.After his hand in marriage, they actually becomes his property and has to do as he says.They are fulfill his desires.these wives have to do their jobs to the best of their ability or they van actually get run out.He has the choice to have as many wives as he wants and no other wife has authority to disagree to his decisions.Theses wives have to submit to Baroka and follow his demands.These men are allowed to have numerous sexual partners where as Baroka wants his wives all to himself.whtaever he feels to do to them as his owned property, he has authority too.Barokais so selfish that if a wife fails to do her duty...he asks her to leave and never return.He views himself as higher than women and thinks he has power over his wives.
ReplyDeleteSadiku, Baroka,s eldest wife has to also submit to Baroka, no matter howold she may be.Sadiku was also given the responsibility to go out and pursuade Sidi to marry Baroka, whether she liked it or not.Woman in this soceity has to deal with their own husband going out to seek other women.Poor Sadikua as the eldest wife, also has to take responsibility for the rest of Baroka's wives.Whatever Baroka ordered her to do, she had to do it. She also had to fulfilll his desires and submit herselffully, even though the other's did.Sadiku, like every other wife had to cook, clean, make sure that Baroka was satisfied...whether it came to pleausresand basic needs.She still had to rub him if he needed a massage, and even had to go out to get him more wives.She alsohad to dealwith other women taking her place as themain or favorite wife...and had to accept that they would gain more than her...even if she has spent almost her whole life with this man.
All this evedience shows us that men were more respectedin the soceity and were posed as the head of women.women were viewed as lower than men...of less value.
The theme 'Women in Society' can be seen in the novel, 'The Lion and The Jewel' written by Wole Soyinka. The women had a subservient and domestic role in the village, unlike the men who were authoritative and educated figures.
ReplyDeleteIn Ilujinle, the women could be seen as property, who were needed for producing offspring, to serve the men and to take care of the household. Wives were obedient to their husbands and answered to all their husbands needs. The women were not allowed to eat until their husbands were done eating. They were not allowed to be independent individuals. Additionally, they maintained the basic domestic roles of women in general. Like cooking, cleaning, looking after their children and of course, their husbands. Sadiku, is the perfect example of the role the women had in the village. She was passed onto Baroka, like property, from his father whom she was married to previously. She took care of him and his children. For example, in the play when Baroka was distressed about Sidi's refusal, he asked Sadiku to come soothe him and she came to tickle the soles of his feet. It was not a direct command, but Sadiku would not have dismissed his request. She has to answer to all his needs. Sadiku depended on her husband for safety and shelter and could not provide these thing by herself. Another example in the play is, when Sadiku was sent to retrieve Baroka another wife, Sidi. She did not have a say in whether she agreed to his other marriages or not. She just had to accept this and do as the Bale commanded.
The men in the village had the role of being educated and authoritative. They believed that the women were inferior to them and should serve them. The men were the leaders of the tribe and could have more than one wife. They were the ones who set the law and who taught the younger ones. Lakunle, can be used as an example for this statement. Throughout the play, he kept on confessing his love for Sidi, however he always approached her in a condescending tone. For example, he told her that women's brain were smaller than men's brain. This displays that the society is a male dominated one. Even though, Lakunle was a modern schoolteacher, he still believed that he, as well as other men, were superior to women. That men were smarter, stronger and born-bred leaders and that the women should be submissive to all their needs.
In conclusion, the women in Ilujinle were their husbands servant being compliant to them and performing their domestic role to the best of their abilities. While the men thought of themselves as authentic and knowledgeable beings.
In 'The Lion and the Jewel', men are seen as authoritative and well educated figures while the women of the village 'Illunjile' are meant to be subservient and domestic individuals in the community. Two characters that can prove this statement are Sadiku and Baroka
ReplyDeleteBaroka is king of 'Illunjile', the highest authority in the village. He is a very clever man and he uses this ability to manipulate his wives and potential brides to get what he wants. This is seen when he easily tricks Sidi using his creative approaches to sleep with him, taking her virginity and later getting him to become his latest wife. King Baroka uses his power to get hing he wants
Sadiku is Baroka's eldest wife. Unlike her husband who has things easy, she goes out and does Baroka's dirty work and is given the responsibility of getting new wives at her husbands request. She acts as his messenger. This can be seen in the play when she finds Sidi in the market place and tells her that Kind Baroka wants her to come to her palace for dinner. On top of that, she is expected to pleasure her husband.
In the Yoruba village of Ilunjinle, the women are subservient and domestic while the men are looked at as educated and in authority.
ReplyDeleteLakunle, a school teacher, says to Sidi: “Sidi, I do not seek a wife to fetch and carry, to cook and scrub, to bring forth children by the gross….” He is a man strongly influenced by colonization so he wants to get rid of these customs. His statement is a clear indication of the domestic roles the women in his village have. The women being subservient to the males is undeniably conveyed in another statement by Lakunle: “I will not have you wait on me till I have dined my fill. No wife of mine, no lawful wedded wife shall eat the leavings off my plate..”
A perfect female example is the Bale’s favourite. For the majority of the women in the village, to be the Bale’s wife is an honour. It is no different with the Favourite. In one scene, when plucking his armpits, she asks “Do I improve my Lord?” because she longs to satisfy his needs. It is important to note that out of utmost respect, she calls him ‘Lord’. When he is not satisfied, she has to assure him by saying, “I’ll learn my Lord.”
My male example is Baroka, the Lion of the village. He, like the other men in the society, practices polygamy. He tells his Favourite, “Tonight I hope to take another wife.” He has many wives, a group which he circulates often enough. He sends his eldest wide, Sadiku, to fetch him wives. Imagine that! A wife going out to get her husband another wife. He can only do this because of the authority he holds. In the play, Sidi has to choose between Lakunle and Baroka. She chooses Baroka because of the intelligence he possesses that Lakunle does not have. For example he says, “I do not hate progress, only its nature which makes all roofs and faces look the same. That line showed such a high level of intellect and could only be the words of someone educated.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWomen in society are considered subordinate to men. In The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka, women play a subservient and domestic part in the village of Illunjunle while the men are authoritative and educated.We see this with Sadiku (Baroka's eldest wife) and Baroka ( the bale of the village) who practiced polygamy, like other men in society.
ReplyDeleteWomen are expected to cook, clean, nurture the children and attend to the needs and wishes of their husbands. Baroka sends Sadiku to tell Sidi, the village belle, he wants to marry her. He makes Sadiku think that he is impotent by putting up a fascade after she explains to him that Sidi does not want to marry him. Knowing that Sadiku will talk, he thinks that the only way to regain his pride is if he sees Sidi. He will then beam potent again; Baroka hopes that Sadiku will go back to convince Sidi. It can be said that even when Baroka does not request Sadiku's assistance, she feels obliged to do so. Baroka clearly states this when he says " The thoughtful guardian of the village health , if it concerns a woman, Sadiku straightway flings herself into the role of go-between and before i even don a cap, i find yet another stranger in my bed!" .
Again, we see Sadiku being subservient to Baroka when she asks him to speak.
Sadiku: "My lord...", Baroka replies " you have my leave to speak."
Additionally, Baroka appears to be educated in that he speaks to Sidi about why the community should not be colonized because it makes it all communities seem the same. Also, Baroka is very eloquent. He was able to talk his way to get Sidi attracted to him and ends up marrying her in the end. The lion indeed conquered the jewel.
Conclusively, in the Yoruba village of Illunjunle, women are inferior to the men. Sadiku and Baroka are two characters that help depict this statement.
Women in the society of Ilunjunle play a subservient role in comparison to the men due to the biased view of their inability to stand on the same footing as a man.
ReplyDeleteDue to customs women are expected to do many things such as cook, clean, carry out household duties, not walk alongside their spouse, not eat alongside the husband at the table, only eat after the husband has taken his fillings, be at their spouse's beck and call and so forth.
Sadiku fulfills that role relatively well. She carries out her husbands needs such as cooking, cleaning, satisfying sexual needs or plucking out his arm hairs and wishes such as convincing women chosen by her husband into becoming his new wife.
The men who are the dominant figures, have opposite roles in comparison to the women and so forth their lives are comparatively easier. The society is even polygamous, allowing men to have as many wives as he may wish. Baroka, fulfills the men's role of being authoritative and educated to a T. He is a prime example of what is expected in males. He is the Bale of Ilunjinle which is the highest rank there, possesses numerous wives, intelligent which is shown in his understanding that though colonization brings along improvement, it also brings about negativity when it destroys uniqueness of something. Additionally he is wise, which is seen through his realization that wisdom is proved when a wise person can learn from children. What woman could match up to that.
Due to the practiced views on women in this society as being "the weaker sex," the idea of them taking on men's role seems highly ludicrous. Women, being inferior are only needed to fulfill the superior sex's wishes.
In the Lion and the Jewel's village of Ilujinle women play a subservient and domestic role. This simply means that women are expected to be prepared to obey others unquestioningly and to do housework that needs to be done such as keeping the surroundings clean, make the babies and take care of the children and their husbands. The men on the other hand are to be respected and obeyed as well as educated figures. The village is dominated by the males.
ReplyDeleteBaroka, the king of the tribe, is an example of one of the men expected to be superior. In the village, the people live in a polygamous society which allows them to have many wives and husbands. Baroka has numerous wives which he gives equal attention and time. In the play, one of Baroka's newly chosen wives is plucking the hairs from his underarm and asks if she improves after calling him her lord. He replies that she should be sharp and sweet not just gentle as if she is afraid to hurt him. Eventually he becomes angered by her hopelessness and commands her to go away since she cannot 'soothe the smart of his misused armpit'. His first wife, Sadiku, enters and calls him her lord, and like his favourite wife, he commands her or rather gives her permission to speak. Because he is the male and it is a male dominated society he is allowed to tell the women who are considered his chattels what to do.
Sidi, the village jewel and virgin, is an example of one of the women considered illiterate and weak. In the play, Lakunle, the teacher who wishes to colonize the village of Ilujinle tells Sidi that she is as stubborn as an illiterate goat. He says this to her because he always admonishes her not carry loads on her head because of the end result which is the shortening of her neck. She is doing domestic work which is carrying the pail to her house. She is doing what is expected of her and because Lakunle wishes to colonize the village, he tries to break her from the habit of doing domestic work.
It is ridiculous to refer to women as the "weaker sex" and the "inferior beings" since men and women were made to be equal. Whatever a woman is given, she makes greater, therefore, women should not be made fun of just because they deal with life situations and live life differently from men.
In the play ''The Lion and The Jewel" the theme ''Women in Society is observed. In the newly colonized village of Illunjinle, its people follow in patrinoal and polytheistic custome where men are alowed many wives which are to be completely subservient to him.
ReplyDeleteAn example of ths can be seen between the two characters Sidi and Lakunle. In the play Lakunle, the colonized male characterel, makes a clear destinction bewteen the role of men and women n society where men are suppose to do the hard work and are suppose to be more edcated than the wome while the women attend to the domestic needs. Sidi he uncolonized femalr character that is unlike the women in the village who accept men as their superior, is determined to have her voic heard as an equal to the men.
With the addition of beng colonized in a time era where men generally thought themselves higher than the women who were considered lesser beings that needed to be controled, the suppression of women is likely to increase. Example, Lakunle who has accepted colonization thinks himself highe than his people who he refers to as "uncivilized and primative". In this he considers Sidi a "Bush Girl" because she refuses to marry him without a bride price which he cnsiders a savage custome. Lakunle seeks to colonize Sidi but still requiers her to be sudservient to him, not in doing all the hard work as requiered from an Illunjinle woman,but as a mere house servant / 'pet', as his chattle.
In the play "The Lion and the Jewel" ,the women in the village of Illunginle were expected to play a subservient and domestic role while the men on the other hand are to be authoritative and educated figures. Women were to bear children, clean, cook etc but most of all serve their husbands. The men had to give orders and commands in the households. This has been in their culture for many generations so even as colonization rolls in, their practices remains unchanged. We see gender discrimination among two of the main characters: Lakunle, a village teacher and Sidi, whom Lakunle wishes to take as his wife.
ReplyDeleteLakunle is a school teacher who has taken on the British Culture as his own and looks down on his African culture because of his new influence. He is trying to colonize the people of his village. Lakunle is very arrogant and like all other men in his village believe that they are superior to women. This can be seen when he says to Sidi that the brain of a man is larger than the brain of a woman. By stating this he is implying that men are more intelligent than women which makes the women inferior to men. Lakunle also looks down on Sidi and other women of the society because of their illiteracy. He refers to them as ''bush girls" because they do not wish to be educated for this was not one of their customs. The way in which Lakunle speaks about women, his smart comments about women and his tone of voice when speaking to Sidi makes clear that he feels that he is above women. He also considers Sidi his chattel, women are treated like men's property instead of their companions.
In the Wole Soyinka's play, 'The Lion and The Jewel', set in the Yoruba village of Illinjinle, women are portrayed as the house maids and chatters for the men in the village, while the men have the authority and education to control the women's lives. In the polygamous, patrilineal society of Illunjinle, the women, who are deemed the weaker sex, have little choices as to the outcomes of their lives. These facts can be presented through the characters, Sadiku and Baroka. This book, I opine, is a clear demonstration of the views of women in society all over the world.
ReplyDeleteWomen lived to please their husbands no matter what the task was, be it plucking his underarm hairs or rubbing his feet. Through Sadiku, we can see the level of compliance and loyalty that a woman has to pay to her husband. Her periodical task was to find the Bale a new wife every time he desired. Additionally, when Sadiku was young she was passed on to Baroka by his father Okiki because she was his youngest wife. She also had a job of comforting him when he was distressed and having sex with when he pleased. Even as his wife, as any other subject, she would have now and attain permission to speak from the Bale.
On the other hand, Bale with his high authority was able to do whatever he pleased. He was allowed to have numerous wives who could not deny him anything. He was to be addressed by his wives with utmost respect, like they were more of his subjects than wives. He could have intercourse with a virgin unmarried girl and get away with it, like how did to Sidi.
'The Lion and The Jewel', a play whose setting is a Yoruba village called Illunjinle, portrays women as the weaker sex, house maids and chatters of their authoritative and educated husbands of a polygamous, matrimonial society. This can be demonstrated through the characters, Sadiku and Baroka. This play, I opine, thrives to demonstrate the views of women, not only in West Africa, but all over the world.
I need help....
ReplyDeleteI have an oral exposition on.
topic :the satire in the lion and the jewel of Soyinka... so I need a sample plan
Hi comrades.i need you to help me identify easily the gender issues in lion and the jewel by wole soyinka
ReplyDeleteGender empowerment
DeleteGender descriminaton
hello comrades, grateful with these posts, managed to peruse through ma course work, just hoping we talk not only on the male chauvinism but also the petty versions where men are pinned down.E.G sidi over lakunle
ReplyDelete