The Joys of Motherhood

I felt this was one of the more interesting novels we have read thus far. For one it described a more diverse culture than any other we have read of so far. It was also quite different than the others. I thought it was interesting the way she ending up having eight or nine children in her life. I do not know if I would be able to have so many children. This shows how their society gives value and worth to mothers, not neccesarily women. The worth they have is the ablility to have kids. I feel that because of their low gain of worth in society this brings them several hardships. Women are people who are set to have and raise children, and many children at that. To find independence you must be able to raise yourself first. When Nnu Ego gets a job, her first baby dies, so she decides she can no longer work because she needs to focus on raising her children. She had to rely on her husband's income to support his household. She discovers difficulties later when her husband is sent to war and his paycheck is stipened. She must begin selling tobacco and cigerettes again. When her brother-in-law dies, he left his wives to his brother. Nnu Ego began to see change in her life as she had co-wives. She eventually ran her off, but we see that she cannot fully be the attention of her husband. Women have no independence to just be the sole property of thier husband, now she has to be shared.