PSYCHIC MIGRATIONS AND METAMORPHOSIS OF THE FEMALE PERSONAEINSELECT POST INDEPENDENCE NIGERIAN AND ENGLISH VICTORIAN NOVELS

Abstract

The dynamics of gender relations in novels include biophysical, ethnocultural and psychological dimensions. Scholars of African and Western literatures have addressed the biophysical and ethnocultural dimensions with little recognition of the psychic or interior shifts and external metamorphosis of the female personae. Therefore, the concept of psychic migration and metamorphosis of the female personae in post-Independence Nigerian and English Victorian novels were investigated with a view to establishing the interior shift and mental psychosis of the female personae from childhood to womanhood.

Karen Horney’s Feminine Psychology was adopted as framework because it interrogates the cultural and sexual experiences of women arising from these interactions in the society. Three post-Independence Nigerian and three Victorian English novels are purposively selected for their thematic affinities to diverse forms of psychic migrations and metamorphosis. They are Zaynab Alkali’s TheStillborn, Buchi Emecheta’s Joys of Motherhood, Flora Nwapa’s Efuru, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, George Eliot’s Silas Marner and Charlotte Bronte’s JaneEyre. The novels were subjected to literary criticism.

The female personae experience progressions in the physical, emotional, psychological, social and economic realms. There are theses and antitheses in all the novels from girlhood to womanhood; innocence to experience; romantic dreams to shattered reality; passive disposition to self-assertion and tolerance of traditional norms to emancipation from patriarchal influences. Psychological migrations are manifested when Li in TheStillborn experiences changes from emotional intolerance of family and tradition to self-discovery and realisation through education. Catherine in Wuthering Heights displays emotional and psychological changes when she emerges from internal trauma to subjectivity and autonomy. Her African female counterpart inEfuru, grows from psychological and economic innocence and ignorance to find self-empowerment in local trading and spiritual fulfillment in deep intimate relationship and quiet resolve to worship the Sea King. Physical migrations are manifested in Jane Eyre as the protagonist experiences physical movements in her change of residences, fleeting affections and mood swings in her social interactions from girlhood to womanhood. Nnu Ego in Joysof Motherhood experiences social challenges of barrenness, childlessness and stigmatisation, leading to solitude in motherhood and death. Eppie in Silas Marner symbolises emotional and social migration through the renewal of human love and communal fellowship within Silas Marner. In all the novels, the female personae experience progressions that constitute the woman’s growth at various stages of life, which enables her to propagate her gender values for self-recognition.

The female personae in post-Independence Nigerian and English Victorian fiction traversed routes of psychic migrations that motivate them to assert their individuality, leading to fulfillment and empowerment.