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EXCISING THE SPIRITUAL; PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF:
AN ANALYSIS OF FEMALE CIRCUMCISION IN THE WORKS OF
FLORA NWAPA, NGUGI WA THIONGO, AND ALICE WALKER

BY
Linda McNeely Strong-Leek

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of English
1994

ABSTRACT
EXCISING THE SPIRITUAL, PHYSICAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF:

AN ANALYSIS OF FEMALE CIRCUMCISION IN THE WORKS OF
FLORA NWAPA, NGUGI WA THIONGO, AND ALICE WALKER

BY
Linda McNeely Strong—Leek

This work is a study of female circumcision in Flora Nwapa's
gfggg, Ngugi wa Thiongo's The River Between, and Alice Walker's
Possessing The Secret of Joy» IFirst of all, in order to
contextualize the works, there is a lengthy section about female
circumcision in its three main forms, and an interpretation of the
events that have led to the maintenance of the ritual.

It is notable that the issue of female circumcision is
presented in vastly different manners by each author. Each of the
presentations of ritual will be analyzed. It is not, however, the
attempt of this study to assess the practice of female
circumcision, but it is to present the reader with the major
arguments for and against female circumcision, to assist one in
understanding the complexity of the issues surrounding its
maintenance, and allow for individual interpretations. Each work
will be analyzed specifically, and references will be made to the
other works throughout, particularly in the study of the final
novel, Alice Walker's PossessingiThe Secret of Joy.

The conclusion of this work will discuss, briefly, some of my
own queries and feelings of ambiguity about female circumcision

which developed as a result of this study.

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated with love and empathy to all the women
who have, with or without their knowledge or consent,
participated in the ritual of female circumcision. I also
dedicate this work to the memory of one who started out with me
on the road to achieving this goal, but who did not live to see
the fulfillment of a dream, my first husband, Richard Curtis

Strong.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank God Almighty, who is the
Head of my life, for giving me the strength, patience, and
perseverance to complete this endeavor. Next, thank you to my
Committee Chair, Dr. Linda Susan Beard, not only for being the
best Dissertation Director a student could possibly have, but
also for being a friend, confidant, and untiring cheerleader in a
time when I most needed cheering on.

Thanks to my Committee Members, Dr. Geneva Smitherman, Dr.
Harry Reed, and Dr. William Johnsen, for your kind comments,
support, and most of all, your hard work.

To my family and friends, well, where do I begin? For all
the evening work sessions, thank you to my sister, Brenda
McNeely, for caring for my children while I sat at the computer,
or in the library, or in class. Your love and help will never be
forgotten or taken for granted. To Ronnie Hopkins, my friend
always, words cannot express the deep gratitude I feel for being
granted the experience of your friendship. Yvette Bynum Wilson,
you know I love you, and thanks for your support. To my spritual
sister, Jeanette Bridges, for all yours prayers, I love you. To
my Mom, Ruth Massey, thank you for giving me life, and to my Aunt

Earnistine Garris, thank you for encouraging me, and fortaking me

ii

to church so that I could know where all my help comes from. To
Winnie Bennett, thanks for being my mentor, role model and
friend. To the Leek Family, David Earl (Daddy) and Pam, God only
knows how much I appreciate being a part of you. I love you
both!

And last, but certainly not least, thank you to my family,
my husband Kevin Leek, and to my beautiful daughters, Bi-Anka
Strong and Krystall Leek. For you, with you, and because of you,
I have completed this work. You all are unique and individual
blessings in my life, for which I thank God everyday. Kevin,
thank you so much for coming through when I needed you the most.
You are my love, and you are my life. Here's to you, Mr. Leek.

I love you always.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IntIOductionOO00......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.00......OOOOOOOOOOl

Chapter oneOOOOOOOIO...0..OOOOOOIOOIOOOOIOIOOOOO0.00.0.0.9
Female Circumcision: An Historical Overview

Chapter “0.000.000...OO...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.00.00.48
Reading Efuru As A Woman: Escape From a World of Marriage and
Motherhood to the Spiritual Sisterhood of Uhamiri.

Chapter Three.... ..... ...................................101
The Gikuyu and The Missionaries: The Impact of "Sin"
Ideology and "Prejudice" on a Proud People in Ngugi wa
Thiongo's The River Between.

Chapter Three.IOI.O..0OO0......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0.0.157
Bridging the Gap with Tashi: Alice Walker and the "Whole
Story" of Female Circumcision in Possessing the Secret of

J_x.

conCIuSionOOOOOOO ....... O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 0.00.00.208

. List of References......................................212

iv

INTRODUCTION

The idea of the ritual of female circumcision may seem
almost totally incomprehensible and completely illogical for
most individuals reared in Western societies because even
though, for’ religious as ‘well as medical reasons, male
circumcision is quite common and even "required" in Jewish
communities, the circumcision of women is almost never
discussed or practiced. But with the 1992 publication of
Alice Walker's, Possessing the Secret of Joy, the discussion
of this ritual has been brought to the forefront of literary,
political, and social conversations on women's rights and the
place of traditional ceremonies. The issue of female
circumcision is a difficult question filled with ambiguity,
and it is also a matter which raises much controversy not only
because of the physical, emotional, and psychological
consequences of the operations for women, but also because of
the ritual importance in communities that have been, literally
and ideologically, "stripped" down to their "black skins"
since the genesis of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the
occupation of Africa by the colonials.

In many cultures which practice female circumcision, such
as the Gikuyu in Kenya, authors such as Jomo Kenyatta (who*was

the first Kenyan to serve as President after colonization) has

2
stated that "clitoridectomy, like Jewish circumcision, is a
mere bodily mutilation which, however, is regarded as the sine
qua non of the whole teaching of tribal law, religion, and

morality" (Facing Mount Kenya, 133) , and he maintains that its

 

"abolition" will "mean to the Gikuyu the abolition of the
whole institution" (134, Kenyatta's emphasis). He continues:
The abolition of irua (female circumcision) will
destroy the tribal symbol which identifies the age-
groups, and prevent the Gikuyu from perpetuating
that spirit of collectivism and national solidarity
whichthey have been able to maintain from time
immemorial. (134, Kenyatta's emphasis)
Thus, one may understand that to cultures such as this one
which have been physiologically, spiritually, and
psychologically stripped of such a vast number of their
traditions, the people may feel that there is a need to
preserve this custom in order to retain their ethnicity.
Walker, however, presents an indepth analysis of not only
the physiological consequences of this genital operation, but
also the psychological trauma experienced by one fictional
Olinkan woman, Tashi, who feels it is her tribal duty to
submit herself to the "tsungas" knife (Walker's word). And in
her analysis, she deconstructs the arguments presented by
those like Kenyatta based on the startling medical evidence
which articulates the pain suffered by women who undergo
ritual female circumcision. The circumcision will 'scar' Tashi

mentally, physically, spiritually, psychologically, and

sexually for the remainder of her life, until she can find no

3

peace, no 'joy'. Only after the death of her circumcisor can
Tashi regain a sense of control and wholeness in her being.
It is quite apparent that though Walker is able to discuss the
complexity of some of the consequences of female circumcision,
she also refuses, to participate in any real discussion of the
social, political, and tribal significance of the ceremony
because the repercussions of the operations are simply too
devastating for women, in her view, to entertain any ideology
that would support the continuance of the ritual.

It is quite interesting that Walker addresses the idea of
female circumcision from a psychological and physiological
perspective, while other writers of fiction on this subject,
mainly African, including Nigerian writer Flora Nwapa and
Kenyan author Ngugi Wa Thiongo, have discussed the issue in a
considerably different manner than Walker. Notably, Ngugi has
confronted the ritual as not only a life-altering experience,
but more particularly as a rite which became emblematic of the
divisions in the community after colonization and the marked
influence of Christian missionaries. And in her discussion,
Nwapa describes the operation as an accepted (and expected)
part of woman's life, but it is also apparent from her work
that the operation will forever change the life of the main
character Efuru.

This Dissertation will discuss the works of each of these
writers, and their different interpretations and presentations

of the ritual of female circumcision. It is my hope that the

4
reader of this work will be able, upon completion, to
understand the significance of the ritual from a cultural
context, while recognizing the very real issue of the loss of
the human rights of women in societies which continue to
practice the ceremony.

It is most important, I feel, to "read" the ritual from
an "African" perspective, while acknowledging that some of the
major issues of the ritual are discussed only by a writer with
a "Western" perspective and interpretation of the rite which,
although problematic, addresses the serious repercussions and
implications of the ritual, while the two African novels do
not confront these very difficult issues in any indepth
manner.

Chapter One of this work will focus on a discussion of
Flora Nwapa's novel E_fu_£u_. In Nwapa's novel, m, the title
character undergoes this "bath" (the word Nwapa uses to denote
circumcision) shortly after her marriage. This is notably
different from Walker and Ngugi's presentation of the rite
because within their respective works, the ceremony is viewed
as a "rite of passage" from adolescence into adulthood. A
cursory reading of the novel would suggest that the rite is
presented in a 'matter of fact' manner, without a serious
discussion of the effects (except physical) on the young
woman. However, some interesting questions are presented. For
example, does Efuru use the goddess of the sea, Uhamiri, as an

escape from the physical and psychological consequences of her

5

'bath' (circumcision)? Is it the actual surgery that causes
Efuru to have great difficulty in conceiving? Why is this
issue obscured in other critical evaluations, even evaluations
that seem to confront the novel from a "feminist" point of
view? Reading the novel under the guise of the constructed
female reader, I would like to investigate these and other
issues with the help of feminist critics Dorothy Dinnerstein,
Judith Fetterely, Patrocinio P. Schweickart, and others.

Upon this closer, 'female' reading of the novel, one may
note that the title character remains one of the only
'independent' and 'free' women in at the end of the work
because of her eventual escape into a spiritual world. I
would like to investigate this idea, and also the reasons why
Walker addresses the issue in such a disparate way from Nwapa.
For example, why does Tashi feel it necessary to kill her
operator? Is it simply be because of her introduction to
Western religious values, or are there other, more complex
reasons? Why does Efuru come not only to love, but also
respect the woman (her mother-in-law) who not only arranges
the ritual, but also demands that it be performed as soon as
possible. I have similar queries in reference to Ngugi's
presentation of female circumcision.

Chapter Two will focus on a discussion of Ngugi wa
Thiongo's novel, The River Between. In his novel, Ngugi Wa
Thiongo focuses on the social and political consequences faced

by a community which, is divided by the issue of

6

clitoridectomy, particularly after the arrival of Christian
missionaries, and the children who are caught in the
crossfire. Ngugi adds yet another interesting element to the
discussion--the Christian ethic--and how the idea of female
circumcision as "sin" factored into the lives of the people
living on opposite sides of the river--ideologically and
literally. Ngugi's character Muthoni, like Tashi, feels
tribally obligated to undergo this rite; however, she does not
physically survive the trauma, and a few weeks after the
ceremony she dies, but not before proclaiming herself to be a
true Gikuyu "woman." It is apparent that the Christian
missionaries came to Africa with preconceived notions about
the inferiority and barbarity of the African people and their
customs. This 'prejudice' will be a large focus of the
discussion. I will investigate this issue of prejudice
utilizing the critical lens of Hans-Georg Gadamer, and his
discussion of prejudice in the work, Truth and Method.

Chapter Three will focus on a discussion of Alice
Walker's novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy. Although the
novels of Nwapa and Ngugi are beautifully written, and both
present the reader with portraits of African life in conflict
and turmoil in the modern era, it seems that there are
interesting discussions omitted from their works. Only after
reading Walker's novel did I feel that I had found the
"complete" stories of Nwapa's Efuru and Ngugi's Muthoni.

Ngugi's and Nwapa's works explore different elements of the

7

lives of women and girls who undergo the rite of circumcision
and how they survive (or do not survive) in their respective
communities, but Walker brings another important issue into
the conversation--the psychological anguish of one woman who
is never able to fully recover from her operation. After
reading Walker's novel, I could.understand the pain, the joy,
the search for belonging and acceptance, and the pressures
women in these communities faced daily to undergo the ritual,
and most of all, the consequences of the individual actions
and "choices" faced by these women.

Walker seems also, in Possessing the Secret of Joy, to
remove herself from the world of the "womanist," who is
interested in the survival of the whole of people, into the
world of the "feminist" who is interested only in the survival
the of woman and self. This is a matter that merits discussion
in this work. Also, utilizing the work of Laurent Jenny, and
his discussion of "intertextuality," I will discuss the
"transformation" of the characters presented by. Nwapa and
Ngugi into the Walker's Tashi. There is a definitive
connection between Walker's work and the works of her
predecessors, but she does not allow her analysis to become
merely a stifled re-presentation of the earlier novels. The
"Conclusion" of this work will attempt to analyze my own
position as a reader and my evolution of understanding of the

ritual and hose who participate in the ceremonies.

8

It is not my purpose to present a judgmental approach to
this practice. However, I must admit that as a woman and the
mother of two small female children, I was fascinated and I
wanted to understand what would make a woman submit herself or
her child (or any other female) to 'what I consider a
terrifying experience. In order for myself and my readers to
gain a better understanding of this ritual, an historic

presentation is in order.

CHAPTER ONE
FEMALE CIRCUMCISION: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

From the information gathered, I have found that there
are at least three different types of female circumcisions--
ranging from.the "mild" to the very "extreme." .Asma E1 Dareer
notes in her work, Woman, Why Do You Weep: Circumcision and
Its Consequences, that these three categories are referred to
as the Pharonic, the Sunna, and the Intermediate. The
Pharonic circumcision, also known as "Infibulation," is the
"oldest and most prevalent type" performed. She also notes
that there are two types of the Pharonic surgery,

the classical and the modernized. The
former consists of removal of the
clitoris, labia minora and labia majora
with the two sides of the wound being
brought together by different
methods...In western Sudan sometimes
adhesives substances, sometimes thorns,
and sometimes strings are used. The
girls legs are bound together in three
places--at the ankle; above the knees;
and round the thighs--for a period
varying from 15 to 40 days, with the aim
of limiting movement to allow proper
healing. The main objective is to make
the opening as tight as possible.
Sometimes, to ensure tightness, a thorn
is inserted into the vagina so that when
the tissue heals, only this opening will
remain...The modern type consists of
removal of the clitoris, labia.minora and
most of the anterior parts of the labia
majora; the two sides are then brought
together by stitching with cat gut or
silk. (1-2)

The second type, the Sunna, is considered the "mildest"
because it "consists of removing only the tip of the prepuce

of the clitoris" and is considered similar to the male

10
circumcision. (Note: This operation is also referred to by
some as a clitoridectomy, see Olayinka Rosa-Thomas, £13
Circumcision of Women: A Strategy For Eradication.) The third
type, the "Intermediate" form of circumcision, according to El
Dareer, was adopted after legislation outlawing the Pharonic
circumcision was passed in 1946 in The Sudan (although she
notes that Pharonic circumcisions continue in The Sudan).
This operation was "invented" by midwives; she notes that
"This operation entails removal of the clitoris, anterior
parts or whole of the labia minora, and slices, or more, of
labia minora. The two sides are then stitched together
leaving a variable opening which is sometimes the same as that
of Pharonic" (3-4) . According to El Dareer's study, over 80%
of the women interviewed had undergone the most severe form of
circumcision--the Pharonic or Infibulation, while only 2.5% of
her participants had undergone the Sunna circumcision, the
mildest form of the operation.
HISTORY

I must, first of all, acknowledge the mental and
spiritual difficulty of reading material that describes and
defines, in graphic detail, the circumcision of women, as well
as the difficulty of viewing, for the first time, a
circumcised "vagina" (or what I could see was left of it). El
Dareer's study was not only insightful, but particularly
moving as she prefaced her work with these words:

I was circumcised in 1960, at the age of
11 years. I remember every detail of

11

that operation, and that the worst part

was when the wound became infected and I

had to be given five injections of

penicillin by the operator, a qualified

nurse. From that time I began to think,

to wonder why girls are circumcised and

to learn more about it. (iii)
Not only as amwoman reared in a Judeo-Christian home, but also
as a Western woman educated in the age of "womanism" and
"feminism," knowing that this ritual was (and still is) being
practiced on women who would be my contemporaries (and
possibly my daughters) is numbing, and I cannot imagine having
the operation performed on myself or my children. With that
in mind, however, I proceed. E1 Dareer notes from an
historical perspective that the "circumcision of women was
practiced in Ancient Egypt, as the evidence of female mummies
from 200 BC has demonstrated (iii). Also, in a recent study
of circumcision in the Sudan, Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, an
educator and family counselor who studied this tOpic over a
six-year period while traveling through The Sudan, Kenya, and
Egypt, writes that

Pharonic circumcision in the Nile Valley

is as old as recorded history. To this

date (August 1989), it distinguishes

'decent' and respectable women from

unprotected prostitutes and slaves, and

it carries with it the only honorable,

dignified, and protected status that is

possible for a woman there. (375)
Thus, it is evident not only from these sources, but also from
a newspaper article as recent as January 1993, when a Gambian

woman was jailed in Paris for having the operation performed

on her two small daughters, that this practice is a part of

12
the oldest recorded history, and.it remains a part of the»most
modern of African and Islamic histories. (Although the article
notes that there is no law in France against female
circumcision, the author, Marlise Simon does state that case
was presented because the "prosecutors (were able to) argue
that the ritual violates a law against the mutilation of
children" (New York Times, January 17, 1993). But these facts
do not explain the purpose of the practice of female
circumcision» 'There are several reasons noted for the
practice and continuation of this custom.
TRADITION

One of the main rationales given for the continuation of
clitoridectomies is tradition. Many Africans felt (as is
voiced in the words of young Tashi and Muthoni) that in order
for'Africa to retain any part of its cultural heritage, people
in countries like The Sudan and Kenyatta's Gikuyu in Kenya
feel that they must continue the ancient practices. As El
Dareer suggests,

tradition. was the primary reason for

retention of the circumcision of women
offered by women themselves, and the

secondary reason offered by men. In a
country such as the Sudan, where social
pressures are strong, traditional

practices are taken for granted; it does
not occur to any one to question them;
traditions are complieduwith.because they
are firmly woven into the social fabric.
(67-69)

13
Similarly, Olayinka Koso-Thomas, who is a doctor from

Freetown, Sierre Leone, notes in her work, The Circumcision of

 

Women: a Strategy For Eradication, that

to belong to one's ethnic group and be

identified with that group carries

certain obligations which one»is expected

to meet before being accepted as a full

member of that group...In some

communities circumcision is the ritual

which confers the full social

acceptability and integration upon the

females. Without it, they become

estranged from their own kith and kin and

may lose their right to contribute to, or

participate in, the community life of

their homeland, to own property, to vote,

or be voted for. (8)
Thus, these young women face much social pressure from those
who wish to uphold the tribal and communal traditions, and
they feel obligated and honored, at times, to remain true to
the customs of their ancestors. One must realize that the
'choice' (which has become the popular North American term in
the argument over abortion) to be circumcised is not merely an
option for these women, but.it.is a matter of survival because
one may become a social and familial outcast if she does not
submit willingly to this rite.

INITIATION
Elizabeth Williams-Moen's notes in her study, "Female

Genital Mutilation: Everywoman's Problem" that "Genital
mutilation is also associated with initiation rites,
especially in sub-Saharan Africa" (5). This initiation is
considered comparable to male initiation and circumcision, and

is usually performed on pubescent females. It is also used as

14

an 'initiation' or 'preparation' for marriage, as Williams-
Moen further suggests that "excision and infibulation is
accompanied by instruction in marital duties and homemaking
skills." She also emphasizes that there seems to be
controversy concerning the use of the word "initiation" in
association with the rite of circumcision on a woman who is
about to be or already is married because "initiation," in
most forms, takes place when children are about to reach, or
are just beginning puberty.

Williams-Moen's states that those who wish to continue
this practice suggest that the females who undergo the rite
are not only willing but happy to participate:

in response to mounting criticism of
excision in that society, (Jomo Kenyatta
has) devoted an entire chapter to the
initiation rite. Like many defenders of
genital mutilation, he states that the
young girls look forward to the day and
want to undergo initiation...The girls
are brought up to look forward to this
event; they are told they will have

special food, clothes, and ornaments, and
will be the center of village attention.

(6)
However, upon reading Kenyatta's work, I have come to a
different conclusion than that of Williams-Moen. I did not
find in Kenyatta's argument that the girls "look forward" to
the ceremony, but instead he notes that they are taught, and
feel that it is a necessary part of their transformation from
childhood to womanhood. Kenyatta does note that the girls are
"put on a special diet" prior to the operation, but he also

states that this is to "prevent the loss of blood at the time

15

of initiation (physical operation) and also to ensure
immediate healing of the wound, as well as a precaution
against blood poisoning" (136). In the Gikuyu society,
Kenyatta further notes that the young woman undergoes the
operation with other members of her "age-group," and it is the
beginning of her official entry and exposure to the adult side
of Gikuyu life. Kenyatta further states that

it is important to note that the moral

code of the tribe is bound up with this

custom and that it symbolises the

unification of the whole tribal

organisation. This is the principal

reason. why irua (female circumcision)

plays such an important part in the life

of the Gikuyu people. (134, Kenyatta's

emphasis)
Thus Kenyatta's position is not merely based on the idea of
female circumcision as a way to oppress women, but it is a
traditional way to bring "women" into the adult world of the
Gikuyu.

Interestingly, I have found in my research (in the

literature and the~writings of.Awa Thiam, author of Speak Out,

 

Black Sisters and Asma El Dareer), that many women who have
undergone circumcision have done so in "secrecy" and it has
been, as Evelyne Acaad notes in her work on the Muslim
tradition, Veil of Shame: The Role of Women in the
Contemporary Fiction of North Africa and the Arab World, much
more an act of "degradation" for these young women, rather

than a celebratory instance. Recounting her own experience

16

with circumcision, Nawal e1 Saadawi writes in her work, The
Hidden Faces of Eve,

I was six years old that night when I lay

in my bed, warm and peaceful...I felt

something move under the blankets,

something like a huge hand...Almost

simultaneously a rough hand was clapped

over my mouth, to prevent me from

screaming. They carried me to the

bathroom...At that very moment.I realized

my thighs had been pulled wide apart, and

that each of my lower limbs was being

held as far away from the other as

possible...Then suddenly the sharp

metallic edge seemed to drop between my

thighs and they cut off a piece of my

flesh from my body. I screamed... (7-8)
Like Saadawi's own recount, El Dareer states that the
operation is often performed on girls too young to consent,
maybe even infants who do not nor cannot understand or
appreciate the history or the tradition behind the ceremony.
E1 Dareer and Thiam also note that many women, especially the
ones who have undergone Pharonic circumcision, will have to be
cut open or "deinfibulated" before they are able to have
sexual intercourse with their husbands, or before they are
able to give birth to a child.

RELIGION
There are also religious reasons given for the

continuation of this ceremony. Thiam notes that the Koran
does not sanction or require female circumcision stating that
"there is no allusion to this in the Koran...which can be
verified by referring to the Arabic text or to the

translations into different foreign languages; however,

17
Belkis Wolde Giorgis notes in relation to Islam in the work,
Female Circumcision in Africa, that "circumcision is
(considered) a duty for both.men and women; it is an ordinance
for men and ennobling for women" (11). E1 Dareer notes also
from her study that religion is the "main" reason given by men
for the continuation of the practice, and the "secondary"
reason given by the women. She writes, "This is mainly due to
the word 'sunna' which is inaccurately used for one type of
circumcision; to say that something is 'sunna' makes it
unquestionable for Muslims" (71) . And although Christians are
adamantly opposed to the idea of female circumcision, it is
noted by Belkis that male circumcision was (and still is) a
"required" Jewish rite, as it was a sign of the covenant
between God and Abraham (Genesis, 17). There are no direct
references in the Bible to female circumcision, although there
are some that believe that when Sarah "dealt harshly" with
Hagar after she conceived a son for Abraham, the’passage could
have been referring to Sarah circumcising Hagar (Genesis, 16) ,
noting that."A popular belief about the origin of the practice
can be found in the story of Sarah and Abraham. Sarah was
supposed to have had her husband's other wife excised after
the relationship between the co-wives had deteriorated"
(Giorgis, 11). Thiam also notes that from various interviews
of leaders in Muslim communities in Black Africa, it was their
belief that the practice was also a punitive measure from

Sarah against her husband's younger wife, Hagar (59). After

18
reviewing the Biblical text, and talking to one Imam in a
Black Muslim church in Lansing, MI, (who also noted that this
rite is not practiced or even discussed in his church) I
cannot come to the same conclusion (although I must note that
though I am.quite familiar with much of the text of the Bible,
I do not consider myself a Biblical scholar). ‘

As earlier suggested, it is interesting to note that
although the circumcision of the male is a time for
celebration and feasting in the Jewish and Islamic worlds, it
is just the opposite for the female. Acaad writes: "Unlike
male circumcision, which is an occasiOn of rejoicing and is
generally a beneficial operation, female circumcision is done
in secret and largely as an act of degradation'(20-21)." Ama
Ata Aidoo's discusses this "dirty" feeling when she became a
young woman in her work, "Ghana: To Be A Woman." Hence, the
woman learns quickly that anything associated with her body
and her sexuality must be cut off, covered up, or made
passive--even her ritual world is "dirty," secret, and sinful.

‘ Although most of the women who are circumcised are
Muslim, (El Dareer), as earlier noted, there is no evidence in
the Koran that this rite is a "required" Islamic religious
ceremony. Belkis writes:

There is nothing in the Koran that
justifies female circumcision, especially
its most'severe form, infibulation. The

prophet Mohammed is said to have opposed

19

the custom, since he considered it

harmful to women's sexual well-being..."

(12)
Despite the fact that Islam does not 'require' female
circumcision, the she continues that the "official position"
of Islam on the subject is as follows:

Female circumcision is an Islamic

tradition mentioned in the tradition of

the prophet, and sanctioned by Imams and

Jurists... We support the practice and

sanction it in view of its effect on

attenuating the sexual desire of women

and directing it to desirable moderation.

(12)
This quote also presents another reason for female
circumcision: to control the sexual desire of women.

SEXUAL CONTROL
Koso-Thomas notes that the "intact clitoris" is thought

to be the cause of "oversexed" women who may put
"uncontrollable sexual demands on their' husbands." She
further notes that it is believed that extramarital affairs
are the result of these oversexed women who cannot fulfill
their sexual appetites in the arms of their husbandsu Giorgis
supports this idea in the following manner:

The belief that uncircumcised women are

apt to be promiscuous is prevalent in all

societies that practice female

circumcision. The Islamic tradition pays

particular attention to this aspect of

female sexuality. (17)
Not only in the Islamic tradition, but also the Christian, as

well as in.many African societies, the sexual desires of women

20

are extremely censured. In Biblical circumstances, Paul
writes, "It is good for' a man not to touch a 'woman.
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let.every'man have’his own
wife, and let every woman have her own husband" (I
Corinthians, 7:1-2). Buchi Emecheta notes in her novels,
including The Bride Price and The Joys of Motherhood, that it
is considered a disgrace if a girl is found to be
"disvirgined" on. her' wedding' night, and her family' may
publicly disown her and her lineage (in the case of polygamous
marriages in some African societies). And one should note
that although men may indulge in intercourse without censure
before they marry (one can only imagine with whom as all
women are to remain virgins), it is only the woman who brings
shame upon her family if she is found without the intact
hymen.

Extremely important to this conversation on the sexual
control of women is the idea that the clitoris may represent,
to some societies, "maleness", and thus in order for one to
assert their "maleness," a woman must not have a clitoris.
For example, Williams-Moen writes that "In West Africa genital
mutilation is also important as a device to firmly establish
sexualityu The clitoris is thought.to represent "maleness" in
the female and therefore it must be removed..." (5). Giorgis
also notes that the Dogon believe that human beings possess
"twin souls" when they are born, male and female, and because

the clitoris represents the male portion of the female soul,

21

it must be excised in order for a woman to attain her full
status as female. Continuing in the realm of the "myth,"
Thiam writes that

The Bambara excise the clitoris on the

pretext that its dagger {sic} can wound

the man and even cause his death.. .The

Nandi, for their part, have observed that

girls in whom this harmful organ has not

been removed, waste away and die at

puberty. (74)
She continues by saying that these "myths" remain today in the
Bambara community, mainly with the insistence that a woman who
is not excised "resembles a boy." In the article, "Female
circumcision: fighting a cruel tradition," Sue Armstrong
writes that "Some believe female genitalia are unclean and
cutting them purifies a woman: . . .or that, unless they are cut,
the clitoris and the labia will grow until they hang down
between a woman's knees" (44). Thus, many of the "myths"
associated with the ritual are based on the "duality" of the
sexes, and the desire to make certain that gender is
biologically determined by the fact that.a woman does not have
any "appendage", however slight, that hangs from her body or
that could resemble a penis.

OTHER JUSTIFICATIONS
There are several other reasons given in the literature

on the subject for the continuation.of female circumcisions by
Koso-Thomas such as cleanliness, improved male sexual

pleasure, increase of marriage opportunities, maintenance of

good health, preservation of virginity, enhancement of

22

fertility, prevention of still-births, and some even note
"aesthetic" reasons. The majority of these causes, however,
are questioned. in studies surrounding the physical
consequences of clitoridectomies, especially in its most
severe form, infibulation. E1 Dareer notes some short-term
problems including difficulty in urination, severe to mild
hemorrhaging, and infection“ She also notes some of the long-
term problems as follows:

The results or effects of tight

circumcision include difficult or

impossible penetration and pain during

intercourse, and difficulty in passing

menstrual blood...Women in labor face

many difficulties due to

circumcision...Circumcision causes delay

in the progress of labor, especially in

the second stage. (38)
She further notes that all circumcised (infibulated) women
must be "cut" during labor, (and sometimes before any sexual
relationships may occur with their husbands) in order to
provide an opening for the baby during delivery. Lightfoot-
Klein also notes a 25% decrease in the fertility of women who
are circumcised in her work, Prisoners of Ritual: An Odyssey
into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa. It may seem
obvious that these operations will not only decrease
fertility, but also make sex unsatisfactory for the husband as
well as the wife in many instances; however, for those reared
in societies inwwhich individuals feel that they'must.maintain

their identity, such as the Gikuyu, this information is viewed

as "suspect" and merely another means of destroying who and

23
what one may feel is important to his/her, or the societies'
survival. Another important reason for the use of female
circumcision is highlighted in this section: it is that the

operation will insure female virginity prior to marriage.

VIRGINITY

Religion and tradition in many societies seem obsessed
with the retention of virginity in females. INot only Islamic,
but also Christian traditional values demand that the female
(and the male, in Christian and Koranic doctrine) remain
"intact" or untouched until the*wedding’nighte In the Islamic
world, circumcision is but onemmeans of ensuring that the girl
arrives at the marriage bed with an intact hymen. But is the
argument really about virginity, or is it ultimately based on

man's desire to control woman? Acaad notes:

From early childhood, a girl is brought
up in constant fear of losing her
virginity. There are several psychosocial
explanations for this virginity mania.
There are, of course, Koranic and
Biblical injunctions regarding virginity,
but, in general, overrating of the hymen
seems to spring from more down-to-earth
concerns. In this culture a man is only
convinced that he has made a wise choice
if his bride brings an intact hymen to
the marriage bed: he considers it
evidence of exclusive possession, proof
that the merchandise is brand new.
Further, it means that the man is assured
that his wife has had no prior sexual
experience and thus will not be able to
compare his performance unfavorably to
that of another man. (22-23)

24
Therefore, although the idea of retaining virginity does have
religious significance, as Acaad notes, this idea.is also used
in the maintenance of the patriarchy by ensuring that women
will remain passive and submissive during sex and throughout
the marriage, because anything else could result in her
dishonoring the family and she could, in Islamic societies, be
put to death by a member of her own family. In any and all
cases, however, purity of mind and body remains the burden of
the woman.
WOMEN AND TRADITION

One of the most interesting facts that this author
encountered was that women, not men, have become the keepers
of this status quo. They are the most severe critics of the
young, uncircumciseduwomena One particularly disturbing case
involves the experience of a educated woman from Mali who,
after realizing the horror of her own circumcision, decided
not to have the operation performed on her daughters.
However, after leaving her daughters with her mother, she
returned to find that her mother had had the operation
performed on them in her absence (Williams-Moen). Why do
women who have experienced the pain of being circumcised
insist that other women, their daughters and granddaughters,
undergo the same operation? Acaad discusses this phenomena in
the Muslim world:

It would seem natural that having
suffered a long list of social

oppression--circumcision, enforced
ignorance, an arranged marriage,

25

subservience to her husband and sons--she
would not be a staunch supporter of the
status quo when it comes to determining
the course of her daughters' lives, but
this is not so and could be explained in
terms of the phenomena described by
Simone de Beauvoir with respect to older
men in Western societies and their
attitudes toward compulsory military
service for their sons: It will do him
good...didn't I go through it?...why
shouldn't he?...it will make a man out of
him." In the same manner, most older
women in the cultures under consideration
curse the fate which caused them to be
born female...Thus older women are often
the firmest holders of traditional
customs. (30)

Hence, because they experienced the same thing, these women
feel that it will be "good" for their daughters, and they do
not expect them to question their assigned roles as the
"weaker" sex. Like the men de Beauvoir discusses, the women
Acaad describes believe that these rituals and experiences
will improve the younger generations by making them stronger,
and particularly in the case of the women, better able to
function in a world that has assigned them a difficult and
precarious role in life. Also, noting the case of women in

The Sudan, Giorgis writes that

Where women are responsible for most of
the socialization process of early
childhood, they themselves perpetuate
sexual inequality. (25) In the case of
female circumcision, the preservation of
the lineage is important to women, who
are more vulnerable than.men because they
derive their primary source of identity
and economic security from the
patriarchal unit. Hayes concludes that
because women have no institutionalized
power or authority, they have an equal if

26

not greater interest in safeguarding the

lineage's position in the larger society.

(17)
Thus, the literature suggests that it is financially,
socially, and economically important for these women to remain
loyal to the patriarchy because they presently have little or
no social, political, or fiscal power. Hence, the need to
maintain this ritual is not merely based on one's of

traditional outlook, but it is also crucial to the actual

physical survival of the community.

CLITORIDECTOMY AND THE WEST

Although this discussion has focused.on the act of female
circumcision in Africa and the Muslim world, it must be noted
that this practice has been documented outside Africa, even as
late as the 1930's in America, and Williams-Moen notes that
"the procedure is being taught to medical students in England"
(11) (this is in reference to a WIN--Women's International
News--network report in the early 1980's). There is also
evidence that suggests that these operations may have been
performed on female slaves in the beginnings of gynecological
surgeries. Deborah Kuhn McGregor notes in her work. Sexual
Surgery and the Origins of Gynecology: J. Marion Sims, His
Hospital, and His Patients, that _ one particular disease,
vesico-vaginal fistulae, was prevalent among slave women. The

studies by El Dareer, Sanderson, and Koso-Thomas also note a

27
high instance of fistulae among ‘women ‘they surveyed. or
interviewed, who had undergone Pharonic circumcision. I will
discuss this matter in-depth to show the relationship between
these findings and my hypothesis about female slaves. However,
first I will comment on nineteenth-century Western ideology.

In the work, The Horrors of the Half-Known Life: Male

 

Attitudes Toward Women and Sexuality in Nineteenth Century
America, G.J. Barker-Benfield notes that circumcisions were
performed on American and British women as a means to prevent
masturbation in young girls, as well as a way to cure
nymphomania or other 'aliments' connected with female

sexuality. Barker-Benfield writes that:

Clitoridectomy was the first operation
performed to check woman's mental
disorder. 'Invented' by an English
gynecologist in 1858, it began in.America
in the late 1860's and was performed at
least until 1904 and perhaps until 1925.
After publishing his results in 1866, the
English inventor, Isaac Baker Brown, was
severely censured by his profession; he
died two ‘years later' , and the
performance of Clitoridectomy in England
died with him (2). In the 0.8., it
coexisted with, and then was superseded
by, the circumcision of females of all
ages up to menopause; circumcision
continued to be performed here until 1937
at least. Both Clitoridectomy and
circumcision aimed to check ‘what was
thought to be a growing incidence of
female masturbation... (120)

Although this 1976 study notes that the practice of female
circumcision "died" with its "inventor" in the 19th century,

as earlier indicated, the practice was performed in Ancient

28
Egypt; thus, it was not 'invented' by Baker-Brown, and it
still occurs in.and outside of.Africa today, thus the practice
did not "die" with Baker-Brown, not even in England (as
earlier stated evidence suggests that the operation was still
being taught to medical students in the early 1980's). It is
not clear why Barker-Benfield states that Baker-Brown.was the
"inventor" of clitoridectomy, or why he feels the operation
"died" with him, (at least in.England). However, one possible
explanation could be that because his emphasis was only on
"nineteenth-century America," and because it was not a world
view of any particular ideology, he did not feel the need to
elaborate on the historical aspects of circumcision outside
the West. Importantly, Barker-Benfield.writes that his title

came from a line in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and he

 

continues:

Melville's work suggests
that...psychological.bifurcation, and.its
geographical expression, had a particular
significance for American men...and that
the relation between the sexes
corresponds to the same split. That view
of Melville was the starting point of
this book. Its subject is a conventional
one; it is WASP males;...my focus is the
nineteenth century. (xi-xii)

Therefore, if Barker-Benfield is concerned only with the WASP
male in the 19th century "America", an extensive or even
cursory view'of Clitoridectomy in other parts of the world.may
be unnecessary for his discussion. (Note: The information

about Baker-Brown, does, notably, support an initial assertion

29
that the practice was used, in.Western societies, to reduce or
eliminate female interest in sex).
THE SLAVERY QUESTION

It is easily documented in the history of the Americas
that slave women (men, and even later free blacks) were used
as human "guinea pigs" for doctors experimenting with new
surgical and medical procedures (McGregor) . (One such notable
instance has come to be known as the Tuskegee Experiment).
However, the literature does not explicitly state whether or
not clitoridectomies were performed on slave women. One could
assume, though, that due to the historical accounts which
(document the use of this operation in Ancient Egypt and Africa
prior'to‘colonization.and.the trans-Atlantic slave trade, that
many women brought to America on slave ships must have been
clitorized before their arrival. Barker-Benfield notes the
use of female slaves for experimentation in this manner: "Sims
“scoured the countryside for appropriate surgical subjects.
Significantly, given the need for their endurance, passivity,
and utter helplessness, they~were black female slaves, some of
whom Sims bought expressly for his experiments" (101).
McGregor writes that Sims documents only three
clitoridectomies in the history of his entire hospital in his
1877' records (239), and Barker-Benfield states that "Sims
shared.with Meigs the contemporary belief that woman's entire
psychology was governed by her sex organs, and Sims would go

on in the 1870's to perform clitoridectomy and female

30

castration" (96-7). Thus, the documented evidence shows that
Sims did, indeed perform clitoridectomies, but the evidence is
still not conclusive in reference to slave women. McGregor has
documented that Sims, who is called the "father of
gynecology," does, however, chronicle his use of the female
slave in experimental gynecological surgery, particularly in
reference to one operation that was to "aid" the slave woman
with an illness associated with childbirth, vesico-vaginal
fistula. She writes:

Sims' surgery was part and parcel, then,

of a fairly wide range of medical

practice which concerned slave women and

parturition. Slave women had a double

handicap‘which.originated in their status

as medical subjects-~first because they

were women and second because they were

slaves. Their bondage created both a

vulnerability to objectification by

medical men and a sometimes desperate

need for improvement in health. (79)
It is because of this malady, vesico-vaginal fistula, that I
would like to hypothesize that many slave women had either
been circumcised.before arrival in the New World, or they“were
victims of experimental clitoridectomies in the West. I have
come to this conclusion based on the data in various studies
that note that women who were Pharonically circumcised often
suffered from this affliction. For example, Sanderson writes
that "Some doctors have reported vesico-vaginal and recto-
vaginal fistulae resulting form obstructed labor", and

Lightfoot-Klein writes that "Various degrees and types of

urinary obstructions are a frequent result of infibulation"

31

(378) , while Koso-Thomas notes "post-natal complications" such
as "fistulae-urinary and rectal." She further states that
these "conditions are very disturbing to the patients who
suffer from them. Some are very upset as they constantly
smell of urine; others suffer frequent miscarriages as urine
seeps through the cervical 03 and poisons the growing foetus"
(27) . Fran Hosken, a Harvard graduate who has worked as a
newspaper columnist, photographer, and urban counselor, and
who has traveled in at least fifteen African countries, states
in.her work, "Genital Mutilation.of'Women.in.Africa," that the
"Retention of urine may be caused reflexly immediately after
infibulation because of the fear of scalding the fresh wound"
(14). E1 Dareer also discusses similar "obstetrical
complications." She suggests that

the continuous pressure of the baby's

head causes death of the tissue, leading

to fistula (abnormal passage), either

between the bladder and the vagina or the

vagina and the rectum. It is found that

circumcision, mainly the pharonic type is

the main predisposing factor in formation

of fistulae. It is very common among

Western Sudanese *women, complicated

because the fistula causes incontinence

and an unpleasant smell...It is a very

difficult condition to treat and women

who suffer from it stay for long periods-

even years-in hospital. (my emphasis, 38)
What is most important in this passage is El Dareer's
assertion that "the pharonic type (of circumcision) is the

main predisposing factor" in the formulation of fistulae. All

the above noted studies have indicated some form of fistulae

32

or blockage as a result of infibulation or Pharonic
circumcision. And, the earlier noted study by McGregor found
that many plantation owners called upon Sims to treat their
slaves who suffered from vesico-vaginal fistula, these
"vaginal tears which had resulted form childbirth" (37), and
although she does note that many women from all backgrounds
suffered from this illness, (which could suggest that other
women also experienced this operation) the number of cases of
slave women with the condition.was quite alarming, especially
for those who used the black woman as "breeders' to increase
the slave population on their plantations and farms. McGregor
further states that the "availability of slave women as
specimens for surgical experimentation allowed Sims to take
the steps necessary to originate American gynecology, (79)
(one can only imagine what pain, suffering and degradation
this must have cost the slave woman). The study submits that,
particularly in the case of Irish immigrants suffering form
the illness, rickets was thought to be the main cause for the
suffering, but this cause cannot be exclusively documented in
the case of the female slave. From the modern studies of
female circumcisions and the medical consequences of the
operation, I would like to suggest that the high rate of
vesico-vaginal fistulae was the result, in some part, of these
types of genital operations.

In fairness to Dr. Sims, I must also acknowledge that he

did perform experimental surgery on Irish female Immigrants

33
and some women who were desperate for medical attention that
would relieve their gynecological problems. Kuhn also
documents the continuance of these experimental surgeries on
slave women by Sims' followers, including Nathan Bozeman, J .P.
Mattauer, and Mortiz Schuppertn Slave cadavers were also used
to enhance programs of study in schools in the North, while
McGregor notes that "In the South, medical schools were
dependant upon the availability of these subjects to entice
medical students to enroll" (54). Although there is no direct
evidence that the practice of Clitoridectomy as performed in
Africa prior to bondage in North America was continued by
slaves, many modern day examples of African women in other
countries (including Canada and Europe), who have continued
the practice in the face of great social and political
pressure to discontinue the ritual, (New York Times, January
17, 1993) one could.deduct from.this evidence that slave women
probably continued this customnwhile in captivity. Although I
could locate no documented evidence that experimental
clitoridectomies were performed on slave women, it is
interesting to note that although there was a tremendous cry
of rage in European communities because of the
clitoridectomies performed by' Dr. Isaac Baker Brown on
Caucasian women, doctors in the United States were able to
continue experimental operations on slave bodies in the name
of scientific advancement without any moral outary (79).

Hence, they could have, and.did.(McGregor) continue to use and

34
abuse the bodies, minds, and spirits of these women who were
no more to them than human chattel.
CHINESE FOOTBINDING

As "foreign" as the rite of clitorizing women is to the
Western observer, other practices have occurred in diverse
communities which could be compared to the female
circumcision. One of the most unusual of these rites is
Chinese footbinding. The author of one particularly
interesting and developed study of this tradition, Howard S.
Levy, notes that the tradition probably began with the T'ang
dynasty and, by the 12th century, it was "widely practiced in

the palace". He writes:

From then on, its impact as a hallmark of
gentility and correct fashion was felt
increasingly by the upper class. It also
helped to ensure that a woman remain in
her proper p1ace--at home. It was so
inconvenient for the bound-footed to get
about that. her chances for indulging
sexually as did the Chinese male were
greatly lessened. Footbinding proved to
be a significant and lasting development
in a nation whose outlook on feminine
morality became increasingly
stringent...That the tiny foot came to be
considered a mark of gentility was
equally significant. From the Yuan
dynasty onward, families which claimed
aristocratic lineage came to feel
compelled to bind the feet of their
girls, with utmost severity and
diligence, as a visible sign of upper-
class distinction. (46)

Thus, the female feet are bound in the name of "gentility" and
sexual purity, and this practice also became a sign of an

"upper-class" lineage. Much like the female circumcision,

35

footbinding also became sudh a part of the Chinese (and
Oriental, as this was also practiced in Taiwan and Japan)
tradition that it continued without question until the
influence of the West and Christianity began to impact the
culture (Levy). Again, comparable to female circumcision,
Levy notes from his research that opposition to footbinding
came from Christian missionary community:

The natural-footed movement in the

eighteen-nineties was identified with

liberal reformers and champions of
women's rights. By the early twentieth

century, powerful officials and
influential statesmen were giving it
increasingly open support. A major

factor in bringing the evils of

footbinding before a large audience was

the missionary community, which worked

devotedly for this cause and gradually

influenced public opinion against it.

(85)
According to Levy, by 1938 most of the practice of footbinding
had been eradicated from China and the provinces (Japan and
Taiwan). Before it ended, however, it was believed (and
probably was realistic because of the pain and deformation
that occurred due to foot-binding) that the women who were
bound-footed were not only more subject, but also more
graceful and beautiful (one may question the beauty of the
bound foot). Like clitoridectomies, footbinding was performed
on young girls; also similar to clitorized women, doctors
have noted that foot-bound women suffered many ailments,

including irregular and difficult menstrual cycles which could

be attributed to the "constricting of veins and slowing

36
circulation. " These women experienced other physical problems
including "constipation, dizziness, and vomiting, " yet men
still insisted that their women were more sensuous, more
attractive, and more poised than "natural-footed" or "large-
footed women."
BRIDE BURNING
Another unusual practice is unlike Chinese Footbinding

and some instances of female circumcision because it is viewed
as a punitive measure, but it is also similar in many ways
because the female body is still viewed as a commodity to be
bought, sold, bound, burned, or cut. This most recent and
controversial phenomena in the Hindu world is the practice of
burning a bride because a husband's family is not satisfied
with the amount of the dowry (the property'a woman.brings with
her when she is married). This custom is related to the older
custom, called sati, which Wanda Teays describes in an article
entitled "The Burning Bride: The Dowry Problem in India."
Teays writes that "sati" is viewed as

the ultimate gift to her husband (in

which) the ideal wife goes up in smoke in

her husband's funeral pyre, (which is

seen as) a sacrifice of religious honor

and communal satisfaction; in dowry

burnings, (to the contrary) the bride is

set ablaze by her husband's family, a

figure of dishonor, sacrificed out of

consumer dissatisfaction. (29)
Teays states that because of the increasing demands for more

goods and money at the time of marriage, many families are

forced to take out loans to make certain that their daughter's

37
have an appropriate dowry. But those unable to keep up with
this "modern" status quo find their daughters set on fire,
often by the mother-in-law's (Detroit Free Press, June, 1993) .
Teays believes that it is the "modern" attitude of viewing
marriage as a financial transaction which may bring one
"upward.mobility" that has led to the trend.of bride burnings,
which were once called "suicides."’ The statistics are varied,
but Teays does note evidence which estimates that at least
twenty-two deaths per day in India are the result of bride
burnings. This issue, as Teays notes, is tied to concerns
about the position of women in society and their place as the
"property" of their husbands and/or fathers, and the way in
which the Hindu religion impacts upon the lives of its' women.
She writes that "Hindu women's lives revolve around men.
Their fathers exert great power over them as young children
and 'give' them to their husbands around puberty" (35) .
Woman's body and soul continues to be an object of
manipulation in some form and for some purpose in these
instances.
"NONMAINSTREAM BODY MODIFICATION"

Even though these rites of passage and/or methods of
punishment may be difficult for many Westerners to understand,
one recent study of what James Myers refers to as
"Nonmainstream Body Modification," notes that people living in
present-day North America for reasons sexual, psychological,

and even masochistic, undergo rituals of genital piercing,

38
cutting, branding, and burning for "aesthetic" and other

reasons . Myers writes ,

Sexual enhancement proved to be one of
the most compelling reasons behind
people's desire to alter their bodies.
Even though sexual enhancement is
presented here as a discrete motive, it
cut across and joined with all eight
categories. Thus ‘whatever ‘the
motivational category, there ‘was
typically a sexual interest lurking
behind the individuals' decisions to
alter their bodies. (288)

From this small section of the study, one finds a striking
fact--similar to female circumcision and footbinding, one of
the main interests in this "body modification" is the
supposed increase in "sexual desire" or performance when a
decision is made to "alter" or mutilate a body. Although the
author of this work does not claim that forced circumcisions
or footbinding is in any way similar to a "modern" persons'
need to disfigure self, it is interesting that many people,
educated and otherwise, (Myers) continue to practice "rites of
passage" in order to "prove" something to themselves or others
in the societies in which they are a social part. Myers
continues,

Potential nonmainstream body modifiers

frequently decide to alter their bodies

because of a desire to identify

themselves with a group of people they

have deemed significantly

important...Through the acquisition of a

genital piercing or a brand for instance,

individuals obtain a badge of admission--

a visible record that affiliates them

with others of similar interests and
beliefs. (288)

39

Notably, many African women surveyed by El Dareer have stated
similar reason for the continuation of the ritual because they
believe that they will only be able to find themselves in the
company of the ancestors after they are circumcised. They,
too feel compelled to "prove" something’to(others--mainly'that
they are "real" women, willing to suffer the pain associated
with the ritual. In a society that puts such.a major emphasis
on tradition, it is understandable that these African and
Muslim women feel compelled to submit to the operations.

One may also compare these operations to women's desire
to be beautiful in.a society'which.defines beauty based on the
contours or shape and size of one's body. In a society like
the United States, women undergo various operations, including
liposuction and breast implantation, in order to conform to
societies standards of beauty. The New England Journal of
Medicine notes that breast implants have been linked to breast
cancer (June, 1992), yet women continue to have these
operations. It is also interesting to note that college
students in fraternities, particularly on historically Black
college campuses, as late as the 1980's have participated in
"branding" rituals to show their loyalty and love of their
organizations, while some members of sororities now wear
tattoos for the same reason. (This information comes from
personal experience as I attended an historically Black
college from 1982-1990, and I witnessed this instances of

"proven" loyalty).

40
PSYCHOLOGICAL RAMIFICATIONS
I now return.to the query presented at the outset of this

study: why clitorize women? One author, Bruno Bettelheim,
notes that the "female circumcision may be partly the result
of men's ambivalence about female sex functions and partly a
reaction to male circumcision (119)." He further suggests
that although he found one particularly interesting paper on
the subject written by M. Bonaparte, which stated that "man's
fear and dislike of the clitoris and his desire to force
vaginal sexuality on the woman in preference to clitoridean
sexuality" caused clitoridectomies, it is his belief that
these operations are performed due to "man's envy of woman's
procreative function, and his desire to acquire power of the
vagina and the dangerous menstrual blood" (my emphasis, 120).
There are several examples of the "dangerousness" of menstrual
blood not only in African literature, but also in the Bible,
which refers to a menstruating woman as "unclean". In
Leviticus 15:17, the author writes:

And if a woman have an issue, and her

issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be

put apart seven days: and whoever

toucheth her shall be unclean until the

even.
As this passage continues, it notes further that all the
things this "unclean” woman sleeps on or sits on, also becomes
unclean and must be thoroughly washed, and that if any man

touches or sleeps with this woman while she is "unclean" he,

too, is unclean and must also be thoroughly cleansed. One

41

could argue that these "laws" were instituted before the
modern era of easy, accessible, and clean feminine hygiene,
but there are still those who believe, even in the Christian
world, that a menstruating woman is an unclean being. For
example, a colleague noted attending services one Sunday
morning and hearing his Bishop defend the Church position on
preventing women from attaining the position of Bishop in the
Apostolic Church, he not only noted that there was a Biblical
injunction against it (Titus 1:6-7), but more importantly for
this study, he stated that women are "unclean" one part of the
month and, thus, they would be unable to hold that position
and serve the congregation while in that "unclean" state
(Hopkins). Similarlyy a recent letter from the "Women's
Ordination Conference" of the Catholic Church presents a call
to those who would like to voice their opinions on the
ordination of women as bishops and priests in the church
because, as Ruth McDonough Fitzpatrick writes, "Pope John Paul
II has no plans to ordain women when he visits Denver in
August" (June 1993). Thus, women are still faced with what
she refers to as the "stained glass ceiling" in various
religious communities.

Further, Buchi Emecheta notes in one of her novels that
a menstruating woman Cannot enter the hut of a man for fear
she will "pollute" him, nor can she bathe in the stream for

the same reason (The Bride Price). In her essay, "Ghana: To

42

Be A Woman," Ama Ata Aidoo gives similar accounts of this

belief:
I had sensed as a child living among
adult females that everything which had
to do exclusively with being a woman was
regarded as dirty. At definite
'traditional' landmarks in a woman's life
cycle, she was regarded as literally
untouchable...These landmarks included
the first menstruation and (for some)
all other menstruations; . . .A girl's first
menstrual flow was celebrated after a
whole week of confinement. (258)

Also, when women are "barren" or unable to conceive, they
are seen as the culprits of this affront to their husbands.
It is never the husband.who is unable to produce--it is always
the woman who must present her body as a sacrifice to the
goddess of the river (or to the medicine men or women, or even
her "Chi" or' personal 'god') to regain. or recharge her
fertility. This is evident in the writings of not only
Emecheta, but there is also in an example of this in Chinua

Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, and other African authors

 

like Nwapa. And if it is woman who holds the "key" to
reproduction, one could conclude that the male might envy this
power and, thus, control it by his only'means--cutting'off and
sewing up the woman to maintain authority over her sexuality
and her child bearing ability.

Furthermore, Williams-Moen states that she believes that
genital mutilation is "done everywhere for the same reason:
sexual politics, the control of females in order to control

fertility" (11). She continues:

43

I have developed the argument that the
main reason societies dominate women is
that birth rates are vitally important to
every level of .human social
organizations--from the global to the
family, and further that there is
enormous power inherent in the control of
fertility; When only the aggregate birth
rate is important, women are allowed
flexibility in their sexual and
reproductive behavior. But in a highly
patriarchal society where maintenance of
the blood line and/or property through
legitimate children is extremely
important...then it is necessary to
control the sexual and reproductive
behavior of each woman. (Her emphasis,
11)

Thus, as earlier noted, the reproductive ability of woman must
be controlled, and woman's body must be mutilated, so that the
patriarchy may remain intact.
CAMPAIGNS TO END FEMALE CIRCUMCISION

There are presently several movements to "eradicate"
female circumcision in the African and Muslim worlds (and
abroad). Notably, all the studies I have noted, except for
the Kenyatta work, have a section calling for the
"eradication" or "abolition" of circumcision. Women like
Nawal E1 Sadaawi and Awa Thiam are calling on African women to
join the fight against the oppression of women in their
respective countries, Egypt and Senegal, and all over Black
Africa. In her'work, Speak.Out, Blackggisters, Thiam.bids her
"Black sisters" to join her and denounce the general
oppression, as well as the circumcision, of female bodies:

Every woman is, or ought to be, concerned
about sexual mutilation practised on the

44

body of another, whoever she may be. But
it remains for excised and infibulated
women themselves, being opposed to these
practices and aware of their harmful
consequences, to say publicly that they
want an end to these ancestral customs;
and to translate their word into action
in their daily lives. (85)

Thiam emphasizes here that although it is important that other
women throughout the world call for eradication of this
practice, it will only be when the voices of circumcised women
are heard that the nations and world communities will be able
to assemble together and eliminate the ritual. She also notes
the experience of one African woman, a 29 year old married
woman with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, who was not aware of her
infibulation and excision until she was about to be married,

who does allow her outraged voice to be heard:

I have no memory of being excised or
infibulated as the operation was
performed when I was very young. I only
became aware of my condition when I was
20 and about to be married...As soon as I
was conscious of being excised and
infibulated, I felt a deep sense of
outrage. What was I to do, I wondered.
I had no intention of letting myself be
cut open with a knife on my wedding day,
as is the custom for all women who have
been both excised and infibulated...Day
by day I grew angrier and more
rebellious. I saw how strong social
pressure could be... Finally, on the
evening of my wedding I had to make the
best of a bad job and let myself be cut
open. (64-65)

This was the experience of many women interviewed by Thiam,
women like Sadaawi and others, who did not even understand or

realize that their rights and their bodies had been operated

45

on, (partially because they were very small children) without
their knowledge or consent, and most likely at the urging or
insistence of their mothers. But it is not merely enough for
these women to say that the circumcision of women is "cruel"
and "medically dangerous" for'women and the children they'will
bear. What Saadawi and Thiam note as most important in the
struggle to end female circumcision is the re-education and
re-interpretation of womanhood for the women (and men) who
have been socialized to believe that only women who have
undergone this ritual are "real" women. It is apparent in the
literature on the subject that many women are opposed to the
eradication of this ritual, as I have earlier indicated, for
various reasons. Thiam writes of one women's experience and
commentary on her own circumcision:

I was excised as a child. I'm talking

about my own personal experience. Today,

I'm glad I had the excision operation.

The reason why I maintain this point of

view is that it has fulfilled its

function as far as I'm concerned. I've

been divorced for four years and I've

never for one moment felt the desire to

run after a man...it allows a woman to be

in control of her own body. (66)
This woman felt that her operation gave her a control over
herself and.her body that women who are not circumcised do not
have. In her work, Sanderson writes that people who are

taught to believe something, whatever the consequences, will

continue in that vein. She notes:

46

People's beliefs must be challenged and
the implications of change by society at
large, accepted. As a Ugandan father
explained, if a boy believes that his
right hand must be cut off before he can
enter adult society then he will
willingly submit to the mutilation in
order to be accepted by his group (4) If
people believe that genital mutilation is
essential to full womanhood, they may
accept it whatever the medical hazards.
(112)

Thus, one cannot simply present documented evidence of
difficult penetration, high infant mortality, and high death
rates from "botched" or "unsterile" operations and think that
will be sufficient in the call to end the practice. Saadawi,
Sanderson, and Thiam maintain that until women and men are re-
socialized to understand that an intact clitoris will not
ultimately lead to promiscuity, and that the intact vagina
does not mean that a woman is not a woman, the ritual will
continue. And until the social structures that would exclude
uncircumcised women must be dramatically altered.

There are presently several organizations, including the
World Health Organization, that are working to terminate
circumcision all over the ‘world (E1 Dareer, 96). These
associations are working to ensure that the women in the
various noted studies, and their daughters, will not feel
inclined to continue these practices. But until then,
fictional women like Walker's Tashi, Ngugi's Muthoni, and
Nwapa's Efuru present readers with a glimpse into the

societies, and the minds, bodies, and souls of women who are

dedicated, and often destroyed by societal traditions. Only

47
the voices of circumcised and infibulated women and other
alliances for the "eradication" of the practice will end this

tradition.

CHAPTER TWO
READING EFURU AS A WOMAN: ESACPE FROM A WORLD OF MOTHERHOOD
AND MARRIAGE TO THE SPIRITUAL SISTERHOOD OF UHAMIRI

Until recently, reading was thought to be
a rather straightforward. procedure.
Whether one emphasized its cognitive
aspects... or its affective aspects.. the
goal was to respond properly to the
stimulus provided by the text, that is,
to an object that remained the same at
all times and for everyone... However, in
spite of the impressive institutions
designed to preserve this view of
reading, it was in constant peril,
especially in the field of literary
studies. Readers were continually
producing counterexamples in the form of
irreducibly different and often
contradictory readings of the same
text... Today, the "objectivist" model of
-reading is still powerful, but during the
last two decades, new "stories of
reading" have begun to take root in the
field of literary criticism. (ix, Gender
and Reading, Essays on Readers, Texts,
and Contexts, Flynn and Schweickart,
eds.)

 

One of the most significant new "stories of reading" that
has come out of this "peril" described by Elizabeth A. Flynn
and Patricinio P. Schweickart is a "feminist" reading. A
"feminist" reading refers to a manner of reading that
incorporates the ideas and ideologies associated with gender
differences in approaches to literature, life, etc... Several
authors have discusses some of these new "feminist" theories
of reading, and some interesting conclusions have been made.
One question of particular interest presently addresses the
issue of what it really means to "read as a woman." Another
important query is this: can a woman "read as a woman" after
being educated to read "like a man?" In his work, On

48

49
Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism,
Jonathan Culler discusses these questions and forms several
interesting conclusions.

What does it mean to 'read as a woman'? Culler's answer
is brief and somewhat problematic. He writes, "to read as a
woman is to avoid reading as a man, to identify the specific
defenses and distortions of male misreadings and provide
correctives" (92, 54). Though Culler fails to outline these
"specific defenses and distortions," he does provide some
basic guidelines for one who is interested in the idea of the
constructed female reader.

However, others like Schweickart, Flynn, and. Judith
Fetterley articulate much more concretely examples of this
reading process. Accordingly, to 'read as a woman' requires
that one come to the work with the intent not to read as a
man, and therefore, not allow oneself to view'as important the
ideas and ideologies that are usually associated with a view
of life presented by males in power. One novel which tells
woman's story from a "woman's" standpoint, and which has not
really, in my opinion, been read from a "feminist" lens, is
Flora Nwapa's Efgrg.

In 1966, Flora Nwapa published her first novel. Gay

Wilentz notes in her work, Binding Cultures, that the work,

 

Efuru, was to be the first novel published in English by a
Black African woman. She continues:

With the publication of Efuru, Flora
Nwapa brought a fresh perspective to

50

traditional West African culture and

modern Nigeria in literary works by

exploring a woman's point of view and

exposing a society close to its

precolonial roots... Nwapa tells us that

she "writes stories about women because

these stories are familiar to her..." (3)
Until the publication of Egggg, West African literature was
dominated by male writers such as Chinua Achebe and Wole
Soyinka. Now a woman's voice would be heard.

Efggg is the story of a young Igbo woman who, unable to
flourish in the "traditional" Igbo world of marriage and
motherhood, turns to the river goddess Uhamiri in order to
find physical, spiritual, and psychological solace. The title
character, Efuru, is a woman living in a society which
attempts to dictate almost every aspect of her life: from the
man she will marry and the children she will bear, to the
control she will have over her own body, to her position in
Society and the community; Here is a community of customs: of
ancient, unquestioned traditions. A woman must marry in a
certain manner; a woman must mourn in a certain manner; a
woman must submit herself, willingly and fully, to the laws
and the rituals of the community. Male and female roles are
strictly defined; any deviation from those defined roles (for
men or women) can mean total ostracism from the community.

One of the most important traditions in the community is
that of the "bath," or Clitoridectomy. It is the belief that

a woman must undergo this operation before she gives birth to

a baby because, as the novel suggests, any child who is born

51

to a woman with an intact clitoris will become "unclean," and
the child's chances for survival will be limited. Nwapa
seemingly presents the simple story of the hardships and
triumphs of the title protagonist; however, upon a closer
reading, and a reading with the constructed "female" reader,
one will find a much more complex text. There is the
underlying tone that "all is not right" with Efuru's world,
especially after she undergoes her "bath." In order to
understand the complexity'of Efggg, one must consider several
important questions.

First of all, what is the significance of female
circumcision (the bath) in this novel? Why is it difficult
for Efuru to conceive after her "bath"? What is the purpose
of this "bath" and the implication of the use of the word
"bath" to denote circumcision? Does the operation change
Efuru's mental or psychological self, and if so, how? Why
does she "willingly" choose to worship the river goddess,
Uhamiri, if she knows that the women who worship her are
usually the ones who find monetary success, but not marital
happiness, neither do they seem to experience the "joy of
motherhood"? Do Efuru and other women like her find their
'joy' by escaping the traditional societal roles dictated not
only by the patriarchy, but also by the fiercely strong
community of older women who become the ultimate keepers of
the status quo due to their earned positions of authority

within their respective communities? Under the constructed

52
guise of woman reading as "woman," I will attempt to analyze
the events of Efuru's life which lead her to the eventual
worship of the river goddess Uhamiri as an alternative to the
roles of wife and mother, the traditional roles for women in
her culture, and the effect of the "bath" on her spiritual,
physical, and psychological self.

In the essay entitled, "Reading Ourselves: Toward a
Feminist Theory of Reading," Patricinio P. Schweickart
discusses some of the important questions that are now facing
women as readers, writers, and critics attempting to "read"
woman's experience as "woman," (and a term coined by Elaine
Showalter, "gynocritics"):

Today, the dominant mode of feminist
criticism is "gynocritics," the study of
woman as writer, of the "history,
styles, themes, genres, and structures of
writing by women; the psychodynamics of
female creativity; the trajectory of the
individual or collective female career;
and the evolution and laws of a female
literary tradition." This shift from
"feminist critique" to "gynocritics"--
from emphasis on woman as reader to woman
as writer--has put us in the position of
developing a feminist criticism that is
"genuinely woman-centered, independent,
and intellectually coherent.".fl. But why
should the activity of the woman writer
be more conducive to theory than the
activity of the woman reader is? If it
is possible to formulate a basic
conceptual framework for disclosing the
"difference" of women's writing, surely
it is no less possible to do so for
women's reading; The same difference, be
it linguistic, biOlogical, psychological,
or cultural, should apply in either case.
In addition, what Showalter call
"gynocritics" is in fact constituted by
feminist criticism--that is, readings--of

53

female texts. Thus, the relevant
distinction is not between woman as
reader and woman as writer, but between
feminist readings of male texts and
feminist readings of female texts, and
there is no reason why the former could
not be as theoretically coherent (or
irreducibly pluralistic) as the latter.
(38)

Although this paper will not discuss this "new" term by
Showalter (gynocritics), it is important that Schweickart
notes here that just as Showalter has pointed out the
differences in the writing of women and men, so exists similar
differences between the reading of women and men. It is this
difference in reading (as I earlier note from Culler) as a
'woman' that will be used to investigate the life of the
character Efuru as woman. I will also explore some male
readings of the novel, including Lloyd Brown's, and question
the assumptions of that and other readings of Efuru's text as
a woman reader reading a woman's text. Schweickart continues:

Feminist criticism, we should remember,
is a mode of praxis. The point is not
merely to interpret literature in various
ways; the point is to change the world...
Two factors--gender and politics--which
are suppressed in the dominant models_of
reading gain prominence with the advent
of a feminist perspective. The feminist
story will have at least two chapters:
one concerned with feminists readings of
male texts, and another with feminist
readings of female texts. In addition,
in this story, gender will have a
prominent role as the locus of political
struggle. The story will speak of the
difference between men and women, of the
way the experience and perspectives of
women have been systematically
fallaciously assimilated into the generic

54

masculine, and of the need to correct
this error. (39)

EFL“. is a work that speaks to the reader of the personal
experience of woman in a male-dominated world, and how that
experience has an impact on the women who must live in that
worlde I will discuss some of these events, how they alter the
life of the main character Efuru, and how some authors, both
male and female, have approached this text from a "generically
masculine" vantage point, which has, it seems to me, obscured
one of the most important events in the characters' life.

One of the most critical events of Efuru's life takes
place in the first few pages of the novel--the "bath" or
circumcision. There is a definitive change in the continuity
of relationships between Efuru as woman and her experience
within the "social and familial structures" after her
circumcision. 'This event has been given little or no critical
attention discussions on the novel by male writers such as
Ernest Emenyou and Lloyd Brown, and even female writers like
Carole Boyce Davies and Maryse Conde. However, it is the
assertion of this critic, "reading as a woman," that this
circumcision is the pivotal event of Efuru's young adult life
that will dramatically alter the remainder of her existence,
and this discussionuwill attempt to give adequate attention to
this issue.

It is important to note that the novel begins with a
strong, defiant young woman who decides to "choose" her own

husband. Efuru is the "prized" daughter of her father. Her

55

mother, who' had experienced an ‘untimely' death, was .the
"favorite wife" of the honored village elder, Nwashike Ogene.
Thus, Efuru holds a special place in her father's heart. But
Efuru runs away from the safety and security of her father's
home, and the ultimate possibility of an arranged marriage,
against her father's wishes and without the customary
procedures of negotiating and paying the dowry (bride price)
before the marriage. Efuru has been secretly meeting with her
lover, Adizua, and they have decided that they will marry.
Nwapa writes:

On Nkwo day when everybody had gone to

the market, Efuru prepared herself. She

had her bath very early in the stream.

She took great care that morning over her

appearance. Her father was not at home.

She took a few of her belongings and went

to her lover's house. The mother of the

young man went to the market; when she

returned she was surprised to see Efuru's

clothes and a few other possessions in

her son's room. The young man was quick

to explain. He told his mother that

Efuru was his wife. 'I have no money for

the dowry'yet, Efuru herself understands

this. We have agreed to be husband and

wife and that is all that matters.‘ (8)
This action brings an immediate response from. Efuru's father
and family, who encourage her to make certain that her husband
proceeds with the proper marriage procedures; namely, that the
exchange of gifts and the dowry is paid as soon as possible.
Efuru understands that until that time, neither her family nor
the community as a whole will officially recognize her

marriage.

56
The concern.of her father and her family, however, is not

just for the welfare or the well-being of the newly married
couple; instead, (and more importantly), it is about how her
actions will be perceived by the community, especially the
community of enemies of the village. It is the families' (and
community's) assertion that Efuru should have considered the
societal repercussions of her actions before participating in
this marriage. The communities' response was brief and
pointed:

Efuru has run away to a young man. It is

a shame. Our enemies will glory in this.

This young man is nobody. His family is

not known. Efuru has brought shame on

us. Something must be done immediately

to get her back. (8-9)
Reading this section as a woman reading woman's experience, it
is important to note that it is the village elders and thelmen
in Efuru's family who expect her immediate return home, and
who insist that she and her husband abide by the rules of the
patriarchy by presenting an acceptable dowry in exchange for
the bride. The perception of one's community’ and the
sustenance of the male power structure are the central foci--
Efuru has brought shame, not on herself, but on her family and
her village.

The nexus of woman and the concept of shame is not a new

one. In the earliest Hebrew texts translated in English, the
female body and functions are referred to as "dirty and

unclean" (see Leviticus in the King James Bible). Some Muslim

women are taught that the Koran tells them that they must hide

57

their "shameful parts" (See Nawal E1 Sadaawi), and some
African women have discussed in their literature and essays
the "shame" associated with being a woman (see Buchi Emecheta
and Ama Ata Aidoo). But reading this passage "as a woman,"
one~must note that Efuru is not attempting to "bring shame" on
herself or' her community; instead, she is asserting“ an
independence of character that might have been considered
admirable, if she were living in a society which respected and
perpetuated the image of the strong-willed, independent,
female figure. It is not that Efuru acts against anyone or
anything; nor is hers an effort to dishonor her community.
She, instead, acts mainly as one in love and determined to be
with the man of her choice. As Maryse Conde notes in the
essay, "Three Female Writers in Modern Africa: Flora Nwapa,
Ama Ata Aidoo, and Grace Ogotz"

Efuru is portrayed as a very independent

character. Unconcerned with her parents

opinions, she chooses her own husband, a

young man who has not even enough money

for her dowry, and runs away to live with

him...Having married the man of her

choice, Efuru does not stop there and is

no picture of meek obedience. (134-35)
Although she is not the picture of "meek obedience," it is
important to Efuru that her husband pay the expected dowry.
She is, at this point, unable to break totally with tradition.
She realizes that if the dowry is not paid, her husband will
be despised by her family and community.

It is quite apparent that the exchange of a daughter to

the position of wife/bride is, in this case, a monetary

58

transaction. It is Efuru's choice to adhere to the familial
and societal tradition of the payment of a dowry. And it is
not until the dowry is paid that Efuru is able to find true
solace in her marriage. Nwapa writes:

...the dowry was fixed and Adizua's

people paid everything there» They drank

and when the ceremony came to an end,

Efuru's father called her and her husband

and blessed them and gave them some words

of advice. They went home and for the

first time since that fateful day the

two felt really married. (24)
Thus, even though Efuru is 'bold' enough to run away from her
father to marry the man of her choice, it is not until the
traditions are upheld that even the couple feel that they are
"really married." A financial transaction must take place;
thus, Efuru.remains her father's "property“ until the~exchange
of money and gifts takes placeu Lynda E. Boose describes this
tradition as it is practiced in many parts of the African,
Muslim, and Asian worlds:

In the anthropological narration of

family, the father is 'the figure 'who

controls the exogamous exchange of women.

The woman most practically available to

be exchanged is clearly not the mother,

who sexually belongs to the father, nor

the sister, she comes under the bestowed

rights of her' own father; The

exchangeable figure is the daughter (19).
Continuing Boose notes that "In Levi-Strauss's terms, the
exchange of women between males constitutes the 'supreme rule
of the gift'" (25). Thus, as the "exchangeable" gift, Efuru
must be properly transferred or Adizua will violate the male

understanding of the transaction and the "gift" by taking

59

Efuru as his wife before he is financially able to "pay" for
her. This action will upset the frame of the patriarchy
because the woman as "exchangeable gift" has been taken
without the proper financial interchange. Hence, until the
dowry is paid, and the proper ceremonies take place, Efuru and
her husband will remain on the periphery of her once close-
knit, loving family, headed by her dedicated and loving
father.

Efuru has decided that she will suffer the wrath of her
father and remain, at least initially, ostracized from her
immediate family in order to be with the man of her choice.
But although she is willing to live with her father's anger
for a length of time, she finds it difficult to detach
completely from her communities' traditions. This is one of
the major problems of women asserting themselves in a male
world, and also a problem for a constructed female reader,
recognizing the conflicts and contradictions inherent within
a reading that is "female." Schweickart continues:

Judith Fetterely gives the most explicit
theory to date about the dynamics of the
woman reader's encounter with
androcentric literature. According to
Fetterely, notwithstanding the prevalence
of the castrating bitch stereotype, "the
cultural reality is not the emaSculation
of men by women, but the emasculation of
women by men. As readers and teachers
and scholars, women are taught to think
as men, to identify with a male point of
view, and to accept as normal and
legitimate a male system of values, one

of whose central principles in misogyny."
(41-42)

60

Schweickart assertions are critical: women have been taught to
view the world through the eyes of men: it is a world view
where women's ideas, needs, and concerns are secondary or
unimportant, and in which the thinking, feeling, acting world
is male, and all who live in the world must respond to the
needs of the male as center. This reading of the world is a
"learned" one, and one of the main foci of that learning
experience for women is self-hate. Because many women have
been taught in school, at home, and society in general to
experience the world from.a male perspective, that is, to put
their needs second or often away in order to please others,
(usually male) it is understandable that though Efuru flouts
convention on one level, she adheres to it on another. Her
vantage point remains in the realm of the ideology of the
"dominant" power.

Katherine Frank articulately notes this conflict,
particularly in reference to the African woman in her essay,
"Feminist Criticism and the African Novel:

The fundamental problem that seems to
face the contemporary African fictional
heroine is that she is torn between two
antagonistic identities: her communally
-bred sense of herself as an African, and
her feminist aspirations for autonomy and
self-realizations as a woman. Feminism,

by definition, is a profoundly
individualistic philosophy: it values the

personal growth and individual
fulfillment over any larger communal
needs or good. African society, of

course, even in its most westernized,
modern forms, places the value of the
group over those of the individual with
the result that the notion of an African

61

feminist almost seems a contradiction in
terms. (45)

The character'of Efuru is an.embodiment of contradictions. It
is difficult for her to break with many of her community's
traditions and rituals. But it is not merely because she is
an African woman; more importantly, it is because she is like
many women who have been socialized to view the needs of the
men in their societies before their own personal desires. For
example, Efuru waits almost two years for her husband to
return after he abandons her. She remains faithful to him,
even though all the evidence suggests that he has not been
loyal to her. She is not expected to find another husband
right away, but it is required that she wait for her husband
to return. After Efuru finds out that her husband is having an
affair, this is the advice that she receives from Ajanupu, her
husband's aunt and her confidant:

My' advice is this my' dear* child: be

patient and wait. It is only the patient

man that drinks good.water. Some men are

not fit to be called men. They have no

sense. They are like dogs that do not

know who feeds them. Leave Adizua with

this woman. He will soon be tired of her

and you will resume your position again.

This is all I have come to tell you. (58)
Thus, it is up to the woman to "wait" and.be patient, and hope
that her man will return. Although Efuru knows she has been
betrayed, she takes the advice of her "aunt" and remains with

her'mother-in-law for two years in the belief that Adizua‘will

return to her. But her faithfulness is never reciprocated.

62
As the novel continues, Efuru's responses and.reactions become
even more ambiguous and paradoxical.

The idea of Efuru as contradictory character is also
discussed in Naana Banyiwa-Horne's essay, "African.Womanhood:
The Contrasting Perspectives of Flora Nwapa's E3133; and Elechi
Amadi's The Concubine". She writes:

Nwapa's Efuru is no paragon of female
submissivenessa She demonstrates a
marked sense of independence and a
determination to lead a fulfilling life.
From an early age she reveals a resolve
to control her own life rather than
submit blindly to tradition. She is by
no means a revolutionary because she does
not completely abrogate tradition, but
neither is she enslaved by it. Whenever
traditional stipulations stifle her
individuality, she steps out of them to
adopt alternative means that best enable
her to express her personality. (125)

Efuru does, in many instances, exercise a sense of
independence and determination in her actions before, during
and after both of her marriages. But I agree with Banyiwa-
Horne's assertion that she does not "completely abrogate
tradition," most notably in her participation in the "bath,"
and also in her initial desire to become the mother and wife
society has deemed she must be in order to be happy and
fulfilled. As Barbara Christian notes

Motherhood is a major theme in

contemporary women's literature, the

"unwritten story" just beginning to be

told as a result of women's struggles to

become all that they can be...As

important is the fact that the role of

mother, with all that it implies, is

universally imposed upon women as their
sole identity, their proper identity,

63

above all others. The primacy of
motherhood for women is the one value
that societies, whatever their
differences, share. (Black Feminist

 

Criticism, 212)

 

Thus, Christian believes that women in societies all over the
world, even in the industrialized United States and the
Western world, feel some pressure to become wives and/or

mothers. In the work, Ties That Bind: Essays on Mothering and

 

Patriarchy, notes via the editors that "motherhood is arguably
the most profound life transit a woman undertakes, the deepest
knowledge she can experience" (1) They proceed by stating
that motherhood is an extremely intimate experience and that
it changes perpetually social and private life. "From her
earliest years, she has been the recipient of a continuous
stream of dictates, determinations, representations, and norms
of femininity--a condition exemplified by heterosexual
marriage and motherhood" (1). Thus, Efuru feels it is her
destiny in life to live as a wife and a mother; and, within
her culture, a wife and a mother must first be circumcised.
Although she decides to adhere to the precepts of her

cultural tradition, Efuru is 295 the initiator of the "bath."
Instead, it is her'mother-in-lawwwho insists that the ceremony
take place as soon as possible:

One day, Efuru's mother-in-law' called

her. 'My daughter,‘ she said to her. 'You

have not had your bath.‘ 'No, my mother,

I have not had my bath.‘ 'A young woman

must have her' bath. before she has a

baby.‘ 'I am not pregnant yet, mother.‘

'I know, my daughter. I am not talking
about that. . . I want you to have your

64
bath before there is a baby. It is
better that way. It is safer really.’
(11)

The discussion and arrangement for clitorization (and
other female rituals/expectations) are initiated and
necessitated by the mother-in-law and/or other matriarchs,
generally in the male spouse's family. This instance of the
mother-in-law (or female matriarch) as initiator of ritual and
keeper of tradition is a phenomenon throughout many Arab,

African, and Muslim societies. For example, the June 13, 1993

issue of the Detroit Free Press notes that not only are the

 

mothers'-in-law often the initiators of clitoridectomies, but
they sometimes take an active part in the ceremony, removing
the clitoris themselves. The Detroit Free Press tells the
story of a young woman, Agnes Manyara, who grew up in a family
which did not have their daughters circumcised. After her
marriage, her husband's family became "displeased" with her
because she obtained a part-time job outside the home. The
author continues: "Two years ago, while her husband.was away,
her mother-in-law and several other female-in-laws attacked.
She was held down on her living room floor and circumcised."
This case does seem to be the representation of an extreme
scenario in which older women feel they must control younger
women by forcing them to submit to rituals. However, the
mother-in-law and older women seem to remain powerful figures
in many cultures, with.the right to demand certain.things from

their future daughters-in-law and their own children. Evelyne

65

Acaad also talks about the power of the mother-in-law in the
Arab world and her ability to "inspect" the "merchandise" who
will become her daughters'-in-law:

Once the transaction has been completed,

the mother of the groom generally wants

to inspect the "merchandise," so she

usually invites the bride, together with

the bride's mother, to the hammam (public

bath)...0n the marriage night the

relatives usually gather outside the

nuptial chamber and, after the

consummation, the mother-in-law (and

sometimes others as well) troops in to

view the sheet or handkerchief stained

with the hymenal blood (or its

substitute). ("The Social Position of

Women in North African and the Arab

World," 26)
Although Efuru's mother-in-law does not stand outside the
nuptial chamber for virginal confirmation, or does she
physically hold Efuru down during her circumcision, she does
insist that Efuru remain true to her culture and her“womanhood
by having the procedure. Other instances of family matriarchs
having circumcisions performed on their children,
grandchildren, etc. . . without the knowledge or even consent of
the parents/participants can be found in the works of Hanny
Lightfoot Klein and Nawal El Sadaawi, and Elizabeth Moen.1

Although the women represented in Acaad's work are from

different cultures, one "Arabian," one "African," they share

 

1 Other instances of family matriarchs having circumcision

performed on their children and/or grandchildren, etc. without the
consent or even knowledge of the parents/participants may be found
in the works of Nawal El Sadaawi, Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, and
Elizabeth Moen. See Works Cited in "Introduction" for
bibliographic information.

66

experiences which.bind.them'togetheru First of all, the issue
of the power and the influence of older women in their
respective societies is prevalent. The women her are both
acting, and being acted upon. They are participating in the
rituals, and they are making certain that the women in the
younger generations remain true to their heritage. Efuru's
mother-in-law has 'power' over her body--she demands that "it"
be circumcised--while the women in Acaad's analysis are
similar in their right to demand certain things from their
daughters-in-law--such as public bodily displays and
inspections, or hymenal confirmation, to name a few. One of
the other, and most important similarities, is that these
older women become "active participants" in the rituals and
traditions that seem to subjugate them; they themselves view
the female body as 'sinful,‘ 'shameful,‘ and 'dirtyu' This is
a part of how woman has been taught to "read" the experience
of woman. Schweickart writes:

The process of immasculation does not

impart virile power to the woman reader.

On the contrary, it doubles her

oppression. She suffers "not simply the

powerlessness which derives 'from not

seeing one's experience articulated,

clarified, and legitimized in art, but

more significantly, the powerlessness

which results from the endless division

of self against self, the consequence of

the invocation to identify as male while

being reminded that to be male--to be

universal--...is to be not female." (42)

Woman's "powerlessness" then, is acquired by living in a

worldmwhich focuses its attention.on the needs and perceptions

67

of men. A woman must care for her son, and love and nurture
and build up the egos of the son and the father,(and even the
daughter), without concern for her own personal welfare. She
must focus her attention.on the stability of the household and
the community, while her own needs must remain secondary or
must be abandoned for the greater needs of those in power. The
lives, minds, and spirits of women are also affected from
within any society which perceives women's bodies, sexuality,
and women's selves as negative. One must identify with the
male perspective because that is the "universal" perspective.
To identify with woman is to create, somehow, a limited world
view.

The women in Efuru's world have basically prescribed to
the this limited world view by assigning themselves to the
roles available to them. But unlike the woman in the Detroit
Free Press article and her family, who had been "educated"
about the "dangers," and felt themselves "enlightened" to the
school of thought that female circumcision was no longer a
necessary operation, Efuru and other women in Nwapa's novel
participate in circumcision as if it is merely one of the
painful, but necessary, parts of the life of a woman. Lloyd
Brown notes in his brief discussion of Efuru's circumcision
that

This series of ceremonies is centered on
that body-consciousness which is so
pervasive in Nwapa's fiction. Her women
are extremely conscious of their bodies

in relation to their roles as wives and
mothers. Accordingly, most of the

68

prescribed rites in which Efuru
participates are as physically oriented
as they are moral ly justi f ied .
Clitoridectomy, for example, is both
physically "useful" (allegedly, to
facilitate child birth) and a morally
sanctioned compliance with established
religious and social custom. The total
effect of this pervasive and intense
body-consciousness among the women is to
encourage the acceptance of their roles
as inevitable and necessary. (146)

Reading Brown's criticism here 'as a woman', it is important
to note that Brown does not explore the "why" of the
significance of the woman's body-consciousness as text in
Nwapa's writing. In Nwapa's work, woman's body becomes text
because it is an important commodity in the patriarchy-~it is
the only means (at least presently) of maintaining future
generations of men. Gay Wilentz voices a similar sentiment in
the following quotation from Binding Cultures:

Revealingly, the voice of the community

that demands adherence to strict social

codes for its' women often comes from the

women themselves. The paradox of this

system, adding to the complexity of

linguistical meaning in the novel, is

that women often uphold traditions and

practices which limit their choices and

rights as women. (6)
Wilentz does not really address the issue of "why" women
participate in their own subjugation; the idea is merely
articulated.within her work. She does go further than Brown.
Wilentz states that the "language" of the older women is used
to silence Efuru and the concerns of the pain associated with

the operation; however, there needs to be a further

investigation into the matter of "why".

69
It is important to note the absence of the discussion of

‘woman's body as text, particularly in relation to the image of
the clitoris and or the clitoridectomy, in many feminist
readings of texts. It is noted in this work that it is not
only Lloyd Brown who does not discuss the issue of Efuru's
circumcision in great detail, but also the women who discuss
the novel, including Wilentz and Carole Boyce-Davies, are not
particularly sensitive to the issue. In her essay, "Critical
Clitoridectomy: Female Sexual Imagery and Feminist
Psychoanalytic Theory," Paul Bennett discusses the matter of
the feminist critic and the avoidance of the clitoris in
literary analysis as follows:

If the clitoris can thus supply an

alternative and autonomous site for

definitions of female pleasure and

desire, why then, one must wonder, has

twentieth-century feminist psychoanalytic

theory been so reluctant to discuss it?

Why, that is, have so many theorists

maintained a Freudian and Lacanian-

authorized silence on this particular

topic, a silence that neither female

sexual symbolism nor the female sexual

response in themselves supports? (128)
Bennett continues her essay with a detailed discussion of
Freud's analysis and representation of the clitoris that, she
feels, has much to do with the absence of its' discussion in
feminist psychoanalytic theory. She writes:

To understand why feminist psychoanalytic

theory thus far has been unable to

incorporate the clitoris into its

thinking on female sexuality, the best

place to begin is with Freud. And to

understand Freud's general treatment of
the clitoris, one must see it as part of

70

the general anxiety he exhibits whenever
confronting the female genitalia... (128)

Bennett asserts that Freudian theory has to "eliminate" the
thing about the woman that made her "masculine" in order to
view her as "femininez" that thing is the clitoris. Notably
here, Freud's views are not unlike the Dogon and the Bambara
who also believed that the clitoris represented the masculine
part of woman, and therefore, that it must be eliminated in
order to delete that "duality" that exists in woman, Thus, it
was not only the "ancient" Africans who believed in the
"duality" of the sexes, and although Freud did not call for
the literal removal of the clitoris, he did state, as Bennett
notes, that "' the elimination of clitoridal sexuality is a
necessary precondition for the development of femininity'"
(129). Bennett notes further that

For feminist psychoanalytic theory, the
consequences of this Freudian blind spot
have been as negative as Spivak suggests
they must be whenever the "suppression or
effacement of the clitoris" is
involved...For it is only by rendering
the clitoris accidental (as it were) to
female sexuality (and this, effectively
eliminating it) that complementarity is
made possible. In the binary terms of
Freud's phallocentric definition, without
the clitoris, women are what men are not:
as Cixous puts it, they are dark where
men are light, passive where men are
active, empty where men are full... Thus
deprived of that which makes her
different but "equal" to men, the
Freudian. woman. becomes man's negative
obverse... (130-31)

According to Bennett, Freud's analysis of the clitoris, and

his "elimination" of clitoral imagery, has even affected the

71

way in which women as feminists discuss the clitoris. The
clitoris is that thing which gives sexual pleasure to women,
and it is that evolutionary part.of‘woman that remains 'male'.
Thus, only with the removal of clitoral imagery, and with the
lack of discussion of the imagery, can man maintain his
dominance in the phallocentric world that Freud describes as
one which revolves around "penis envy." A woman with a
clitoris does not have the need, then, to envy the penis
because she has, in a sense, her own 'penis.' This idea is
too deemasculating, and apparently difficult for even women as
theorists because it questions the idea of male primacy and
gender in general. This could be one of the main reasons why
women themselves have refused or neglected to discuss the
issues associated with clitoral imagery in their own analyses
of literature. But it is not just important to note why women
have neglected the discussion. of the clitoris in their
analyses; it is also important to note why the women in works
which focus on the discussion of women and women's issues
often participate in their own subjugation.

In.the "Introduction" to this work, the section on "Women
and Tradition" discusses the issue of "why" women are such
staunch keepers of "status quo" in some detail, noting that it
is usually the oldeerom n who maintain the traditions for the
younger women (and the men in some cases). Reasons noted
include lack of economic, social, or political power outside

the realm of tradition, as well as the belief by many that

72

these and other rituals and conditions of life will be "good"
for the young women because the older women have already
participated in them, Acaad's analysis of this phenomenon in
the Arab world is particularly enlightening:

It should be mentioned that women at an

advanced age who have fulfilled the

expectations of society by providing male

children and satisfying' physically,

psychologically and socially the harsh

demands made upon them, acquire an

immense power within the family

structure... most older women in the

cultures under consideration curse the

fate which caused them.to be born female,

but do not seem to improve their

daughters' lot even when they acquire a

certain measure of power and are capable

of instituting certain reforms... Thus

older women are often the firmest holders

of traditional customs. (30)
Acaad's analysis points out the need for women, at least in
their later years, to be "compensated" in some way for their
pain and suffering. In Efuru, the same remains true. The
older women have already participated in the ritual process,
and they feel that it is necessary for all other women
participate also. The older women not only have the power to
dictate that the rite of circumcision be performed, but also
have the right to insist that Efuru find another wife for her
husband after she is unable to give birth to any viable
children. However, before any of these events occur, and
prior to.Efuru can think about giving birth to any children,
she must undergo her bath. At this point in the discussion,
I would like to turn to the importance of the use of the word

"bath" to denote the circumcision of women.

73
"Bath" is the word that Nwapa uses for clitoridectomy,
and according to Wilentz, bath is the Igbo term used in
reference to female circumcision. Being the "good" wife,
"good" daughter, and "good" mother that she must be, Efuru
knows that she has to be clitorized. But just because she is
a "willing" participant in the clitorization does not mean
that Efuru is not "scarred," physically and psychologically,
by the operation. It may seem to the cursory reader that
Nwapa presents the operation and its aftermath in a matter of
fact manner; however, upon a closer reading one may see that
the main character undergoes a deep, yet subtle change after
the surgery. Her life is forever altered by this "bath" that
the author refers to as 'painful'.
The Oxford English Dictionary has several definitions for
bath that include the following:
The action of bathing; the immersion or
washing of baptism; The action of
immersing the body in, or surrounding it
with, any medium, such as vapor, hot air,
mud, to produce effects analogous to
those of bathing; any particular liquid
or mixture of liquids applied to the body
to produce a certain remedial effect; in
the hydropathic treatment of disease, any
yielding medium. as water, mud, sand,
etc., in which the body is bathed or
immersed, or with which it is sprayed or
showered. (998)
A "bath," then, is something used to "wash or soak" the
body in order to cleanse it from something dirty or impure, or

an event that "cleanses" the body from a disease or impurity,

in the medical sense. In the Greek scriptures, water is used

74

as a means to cleanse "sin" away from the soul and the
physical person as convert (see Acts). Thus, water has a
literal and a physical significance in the baptismal ceremony.
The results are the same, though. In Western or other
Christian societies, a cleansing takes place, and the person
is eternally transformed. After the bath, the woman in the
Igbo world is also considered "clean."

The circumcision, or the bath that Nwapa describes, is
seen in the same manner. The removal of the clitoris is
supposed to "cleanse" the ‘woman from something’ that is
'unclean'. Efuru is told by her mother-in-law that she must
have her bath before she conceives a child. There is little
discussion in the novel about why it is important for this to
occur before childbirth, but the women do make reference to
one woman who was not circumcised before her pregnancy. In a
conversation with Efuru and her mother-in-law, the woman who
will perform the bath on Efuru, Omeifeaku states:

'You know Nwakaego's daughter?‘

'Yes, I know her.‘

'She did not have her bath before she had
that baby boy who died after that
dreadful flood.’

'God forbid. Why?‘

'Fear. She was afraid. Foolish girl.
She had a foolish mother, their folly
cost them a son, a good son.‘

'How did you know?"

'They came to me early one morning and
told me. They wanted it to be done in my
house so that people will not know. The
dibia had already told them that the baby

died because she did not have her bath.
I did it for them...‘ (14)

75

Thus, it is the belief of these women that the child perishes
because the mother is 'unclean', she is "impure" because she
does not have her proper "bath" before the birth of her child.
Nawal E1 Saadawi notes in her work, The Three Faces of Eve,
that many women believe that the clitoris is an unclean
entity: "When I discussed the matter with these girls and
women it transpired that most of them had no idea of the harm
done by circumcision, and some of them even thought it was
good for one's health and conducive to cleanliness and
'purity'" (34). Also, as noted in the "Introduction" to this
work, Asma El Dareer writes that "cleanliness" is the third
most prominent reason given by males and females in her study
for the continuation of female circumcision. She continues:

They considered an uncircumcised girl to

be dirty and impure because they believed

an offensive discharge and smell emanates

from the clitoris. . .When respondents were

asked why they circumcise their

daughters, they said 'We cannot leave

them dirty and impure and smelly'...One

midwife, said that she favors

circumcision because it covers the

genital area, thus preventing it from
being contaminated. (73, Woman.Why Do You

Weep, my emphasis)

Various ideas about the "impurity" and "uncleanness" of
the intact clitoris have persisted in various cultures.

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein writes in Prisoners of Ritual that "The

 

Bambara believe that the clitoris is poisonous, and.will kill
a man if it comes in contact with his penis during
intercourse, " and she also notes that Olayinka Koso-Thomas

writes "it is often agreed that circumcision maintains good

76

health in a woman" (38). Because the majority of interviewees
in these studies are female, these instances re-emphasize the
assertion noted earlier: women have now become the guardians
of patriarchy because they themselves accept the derogatory
ideologies associated with the minds, bodies, and spirits of
themselves as women. But this acceptance is based on the need
to survive, the need to validate their own experiences, and
the need to make sense out of a sometimes hostile and almost
totally incomprehensible world view. Hence, for the
uncircumcised woman in a society of circumcised women, any and
all instances of illness or sickness, still-born or untimely
childhood deaths, or even male sexual problems may be
attributed to the "dirty" clitoris. Efuru, understanding the
ramifications of these beliefs in her society, submits herself
to the operation. The description of the operation is brief,
but illuminating:

The woman went to the back of the house

and there it was done. Efuru screamed

and screamed. It was so painful. Her

mother-in-law consoled her. 'It will

soon be over, my daughter don't cry. '

(14)
Efuru is even warned of the pain before the operation when
Omeifeaku, the circumcisor, comes to her house on the day
before the operation.will occur: "'I will be gentle with you.
Don't be afraid. It is painful, no doubt, but the pain
disappears like hunger'" (13-14). Wilentz comments on this

section as thus:

77
From this passage we can see several
ways in which.Nwapa evokes the dilemma of
female circumcision by utilizing the
-orality of the traditional culture...The
woman practitioner who is there to help
Efuru through the pain of circumcision
does so by offering a proverb: 'The pain
disappears like hunger.’ The teaching of
the tradition is passed on to the younger

generation through an everyday speech
sprinkled with proverbs and aphorisms.

(7)

Although the proverbs and aphorisms are used to calm the
fears of the young woman, it is soon apparent that the pain
will not "disappear" quite as easily as a "hunger," once it is
quenched by an appetizing meal. Efuru, throughout her life,
until her meeting with Uhamiri, will hunger for love and
acceptance, and a feeling of security she seems to lose after
her circumcision. She desires, at some level, to become a
part of the 'traditional' society. But it is a desire, a
hunger that. will never' be quenched. in the conventional
society.

Efuru will remain confined to her home for one month
after the operation. This is a period of rest, recovery, and
"feasting" for Efuru. She, like the women Acaad describes,
has undergone the traditional ceremony with dignity and pride,
and she will now be "rewarded" for her courage and valor as
one who has suffered her lot with honor and grace. It seems
that Efuru is able to emerge from her confinement more
beautiful than before:

So on Nkwo day, Efuru dressed gorgeously.

She plaited her lovely hair very well,
tied velvet to her waist and used aka

 

Na

tr

h

78

stones for her neck. Her body was bare

showing her beautiful breasts. No dress

was worn when a young woman went to the

market after her period of feasting. Her

body was exposed so that the people saw

how well her mother or mother-in-law had

cared for her. A woman who was not

beautiful on that day, would never be

beautiful in her life. (18)
Nwapa continues by articulating the voices and the comments of
the people in the market as to the beauty and care of Efuru,
but notes at the end of the section that "...underneath,
something weighed Efuru down" (19). What is that something
that now "weighed" her down? There is no mention of this
extra weight before the "bath," but now something was quite
different in Efuru. Noting a report from Elizabeth Moen,
Lightfoot-Klein writes that women who have undergone
circumcision often experiences feelings of "loss of self-
esteem; feelings of victimization; severe anxiety prior to the
operations; depression associated with complications such as
infection, hemorrhage, shock, septicemia, and retention of
urine; chronic irritability; and sexual frustration" (76).
She also notes in her work that one physician who had given
his own mother "complete autonomy" over the care of his
daughters, stated that he only noticed that his daughters were
"less hyperactive" after their circumcisions (9). Are these
some of these same feelings experienced by the young Efuru
after her surgery? Efuru is, of course, not a "little girl"

like many of the respondents in Lightfoot-Klein's work;

however, it is apparent that there is a change in Efuru. She

79
seems to go through the motions expected of her after her
confinement and-recovery, and her "period of feasting," but
the reader is led to believe that her life will never be the
same--that it has been totally and irrevocably altered.

The once rebellious and somewhat non-traditional woman
becomes, in a very real sense, stoically conventional in
several important ways after her operation. Instead of
focusing on her life as a trader and a wife, Efuru is suddenly
obsessed.with bearing a child for her husband and his family.
But this will prove to be a difficult task for Efuru.
Motherhood comes to mean something very different for Efuru--
it is to be the beginning of the end of a dream, and the
introduction to another reality for a woman who is not able to
live up to her communities' "standards". This seems to be
quite a different actuality than Efuru envisioned when she ran
away from her father to be with the man of her choice. As
Carole Boyce Davies notes in the essay, "Motherhood in the
Works of Male and Female Igbo Writers,"

Before Efuru goes home to her father's

compound she realizes that marriage was

the beginning of her suffering"... that

you cannot buy happiness of children ...,

that living in.a man's house means chores

and subjugation to his whims. She wavers

between. helplessness and. decisiveness"

(251).
It is most certain that Efuru is shocked and horrified by the
truth that faced her after the abandonment of her husband:

life for a woman is filled with constraints and expectations

established by society. But, then, how is Boyce-Davies

80
reading some of Efuru's other experiences? Is she reading 'as
a woman?‘ Why is Efuru, in her eyes, "wavering," rather than
attempting to find her place in society by exploring all
available avenues (which for women were limited). Boyce-
Davies must take the position that Judith Fetterely describes
as a "resisting reader" in the introduction to her work, Egg

ResistingiReader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction.

 

Fetterely notes that:

Feminist criticism is a political act
whose aim is not simply to interpret the
world but to change it by changing the
consciousness of those who read their
relation to what they read (p. viii). The
first act of a feminist critic is "to
become a resisting rather than an
assenting reader and, by this refusal to
assent, begin the process of exorcising
the male mind that has been implanted in
us. (p. xxii)

Boyce—Davies must then attempt to "resists" that male reading
of Efuru that will present her as the confused, disturbed
woman. The "exorcism" of this "male mind" is a difficult task,
even for the feminist critic, but this male mind must be
altered before the complete Efuru will be able to emerge.
Efuru, too, must exorcise her male mind. Frank notes that:

The 'new~woman,' or feminist, as Stegeman
goes on. to show, rebels against such
traditionalism because she evinces a
'theory of personhood where the
individual exists as an independent
entity rather than a group member, where
she is defined by her experiences rather
than her kinship relations, where she has
responsibility to realize her potential
for happiness rather than to accept her
role, where she has indefinable value
rather than quantitative financial worth,

Thi
the
end

of

Uh.‘
tr.
uh
Be
ho

St

t1

81

and where she must reason about her own

values rather than fit into stereotyped

tradition. (46)
This is the Efuru, who values herself and her being outside
the realm of "stereotyped tradition" that will emerge at the
end of the novel. Returning to Boyce-Davies, though, instead
of reading Efuru as a "wavering" and "indecisive" being,
(which are characteristic patriarchal definitions and
descriptions of women), a woman reading'as‘woman.may interpret
Efuru's actions as an exploration of her identities on the
road to the discovery of her individuality. Efuru will find
her most comfortable identity in her relationship with
Uhamiri. It is an individuality that cannot thrive within the
traditional world, but it is one that flourishes in a world
where women are independent, assertive, and self-supportive.
Before she is able to reach that point of fulfillment,
however, she‘will attempt to find her solace in the»male power
structures. ’

While attempting to find solace in the role of the

traditional Igbo woman, and in the face of the physical change
that had taken place on her body and the alteration within her
soul, Efuru will have to face the difficulty of being unable
to conceive. This difficulty becomes the monumental and
overbearing focus of her life:

A year passed, and no child came. Efuru

did not despair. 'I am still young,

surely God cannot deny me the joy of

motherhood,‘ she often said to herself.

But her mother-in-law was becoming
anxious... Neighbors talked as they were

82

bound to talk. They did not see the
reason why Adizua should not marry
another woman since, according to them,
two men do not live together. To them
Efuru was a man because she could not
reproduce. (24)

Even the women of the community begin to scorn Efuru for her
inability to conceive by referring to her as a 'man.' It may
seem that the women should display a heartfelt empathy for
Efuru, but to the contrary, they are often the most adamant
detractors and critics of her circumstances. Wilentz notes:

In the following passage, we hear the

voices of the community women speaking of

Efuru's barrenness while they wash

clothes at the stream. The passage

emphasizes not only the importance of

having a child but also the community's

demand for it. Again, the women are

often the most pitiless in protecting the

traditions from‘which they do not always

benefit... As upholders of tradition,

women can be the harshest critics of

those who cannot conform to a

conventional role. They are caught in a

bind because many of the traditions are

not to women's advantage, but they must

honor them. (12)
Like the ritual of circumcision, women insist that other women
become good wives and mothers. Like Acaad's Muslim women,
there is the need for the women in Efuru to validate their
suffering, not just by inflicting pain on others, but by
believing that they have truly gained strength from their
experiences. If the younger generations question and remove
all rituals and traditions, what will their misery signify?
It will mean that their lives and pain, in a sense, are

negated and their suffering was in vain. So, in their roles as

83

guardian of the traditions, (though not always gaining from
this position), older“women.often epitomize the "best" and the
worst of the patriarchy. Wilentz continues:

...even.though wewmight assume that--as a

woman--the speaker would be more

understanding, clearly she feels her'duty

to function as the voice of community

authority as well. She sees herself as

the mouthpiece of community demands. . .

Omirima represents a most obdurate

custodian.of cultural mores... The voices

of these community women are sometimes

harmless, other times sympathetic, but

the traditional culture which has given

them a powerful voice in the decisions of

the society limits their choices. (121)
The‘women.are~the "custodians" of patriarchal norms, but their
limited "power" is maintained by those in control--the men.
This is not to say that women have no power or authority; it
is earlier noted that the women who do undergo these
traditional rituals with "pride and dignity" gain tremendous
power in the family and the community. But their power must
be restricted because if they are given the power to make the
"real" decisions, the lives of men in power will eventually
begin to alter, and they will lose their comfortable roles as
"heads" of the household and community. This is a system
designed to conquer from within; the men are, in a sense,
without blame because the women become the main protectors of
ritual. But none can totally escape the accountability for

Efuru's pain--it will remain a part of her soul and the soul

of her community forever.

84
It is of the utmost importance to note that although
Efuru has undergone the ritual circumcision, the community
remains focused on her body; however, now it is her sexual and
reproductive organs--and the focus is no longer on what must
be removed, but on.what must be conceived. In her discussion

of this subject in The Mermaid and The Minotaur, Dorothy

 

Dinnerstein writes:

woman, who introduced us to the human

situation and.who at the beginning seemed

to us responsible for every drawback of

that situation, carries for all of us a

pre-rational onus of ultimately culpable

responsibility forever after. (234)
It is in Efuru's heart (and the words of those in her
community) that she feels 'ultimately' culpable" for her
inability to conceive. Woman as nurturer is responsible for
society's ills; woman as barren is responsible for the demise
of the community. In either case, woman is accountable.

Nwapa notes that Efuru has become a 'man' in her

community because she is unable to bear a child, and she is
accountable to her husband and the village people, as well as
her own mother-in-law, who begin to think that it is time for
Adizua to find 'real' woman, another'wife who might be able to
provide him with a child. This is because the idea of woman
as a reproductive organism is such a dominant part of the
belief system in a male-dominated society. There is no
sympathy for the "barren" woman, as there is no sympathy for

the uncircumcised. For example, Lucia Valeska notes that

there also is a "stigma" associated with being a "barren"

85

woman in. America. She notes that "the term. 'childless'
represents our society's traditional perception of the
situation." Valeska comments that in the early American
society, children were the only means to economic "well-
being," and therefore, women who could not have children were
viewed historically and culturally as unproductive women and
the term "barren" became equated with "childless" in this
culture. She continues: "To be childless still carries a
negative stigma, even though the social and economic reality
has drastically changed" (74). Although these examples are
associated with American women, the literature of African
women suggests that the idea of a woman as "barren" is
similar-~she is unproductive, unwanted, and not only pitied,
but sometimes scorned and cast aside. 2

And, in Efuru's case, the idea of "barrenness" is full of
economic, societal, and familial implications. This is a
question of her responsibility to the future of her community
and.to herself, but more importantly, of her obligation.to her
husband. For example, in his discussion of Buchi Emecheta's
The Joys of Motherhood, Eustace Palmer makes a point that is
apropos also to this novel: "Clearly, the man is the point of
reference in this society. It is significant that the chorus

of countrymen say, not that a woman without a child is a

failed woman, but that.a*woman without a child for her husband

 

2See Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood for one example
of the problems associated with being a "barren" woman in the Igbo
society.

86
is a failed woman" (40). Likewise, Efuru becomes a "man" , or
a "failed" woman, because she is not yet pregnant, and it is
her husband who is "shamed" by her 'actions.‘ In her essay,
Boyce-Davies writes :

This vacillation between independence and
dependence, masculinity and femininity,
characterizes Efuru's existence up until
the end of the novel where she leaves her
second husband. Much of her feelings of
insecurity stems from her inability to
conceive and be the "complete woman" her
society respects . . .Woman' 8 responsibility
for self is central in Efuru. There is
persistently the fear of being considered
a 'male woman'... (250-51)

The idea of independence is inherently tied to the idea of
masculinity in.Efuru's world, while the ability'to’conceive is
tied to the ability to be female. An independent women is a
man; a barren woman is a man. Culler notes that

Men have aligned the opposition

male/female with rational/emotional,

s e r'l.()ll s / f 1::1 v o 1 (>11 3 ,

reflective/spontaneous; (add.to this list

independent/dependent) and feminist

criticism of the second moment work to

prove itself more rational, serious, and

reflective than male readings that omit

and distort. (58, my addition)
The male reading of Efuru, then, (and female readings that
result from women reading as men) have noted that Efuru loses
her feminine side because she is unable to conceive, remain
dependent, and thoughtless. But Efuru is, to the contrary, a
woman who does not react to a situation without careful

thought and planning. She is independent in a world of

"dependent" women. Netably, even though her first husband

87

deserts her and does not have the decency to return to the
funeral of his own child, Efuru remains in the home of her
mother-in-law, not as a dependent, but rather as a self-
sufficient woman. This action may seem incomprehensible to
some women reading women's experience, but it demonstrates the
depth of character that Efuru embodied, as well as her
independent nature. She does not simply return to the home of
her father for spiritual comfort or financial aid after
abandonment; instead, she supports herself and relies only on
the community of women who surround her for solace and
assistance.

Efuru's inability to conceive and flourish outside the
community of women is a constant source of concern for her
husband, family, community, and her self. Her matrimonial life
is put in jeopardy after she is unable to conceive a child
immediately after her period of rest and recovery. The
possible physical reasons for this inability to conceive,
however, are never discussed in any of the analysis that I
have read which refer to the novel, nor does the novel itself
seem to address the issue of 'why' she is not able to
conceive.

Studies have indicated a marked decrease in fertility in
a number of women who have undergone circumcision. As Fran
Hosken writes in the article, "Genital Mutilation of Women in
Africa":

The medical literature also mentions that
as much as 25 percent of infertility in

88

women is the result of genital
mutilation, often.because of infection of
injury that interferes with conception or
increases the risk of pregnancy
wastage...clitoridectomy performed under
septic conditions may result in ascending
infection in the genital tract. (16)

It is possible that Efuru's inability to conceive was aidirect
result of her operation. But society does not even entertain
this possibility. Instead, it is almost as though Efuru has
"chosen" not to become pregnant--as if she is somehow
preventing herself from conceiving. She is expected (and
required) to go to the dibia, or the medicine man, in order to
find a "cure" or’a reason for her infertility, There is never
a discussion of what could have physically caused her
"problem," or if the "problem" could a result of the
infertility of her husband. These things become somewhat
insignificant, so to speak, because the main issue is that if
Efuru does not have a child, it will mean the "demise" of her
husband's paternal line. Wilentz notes:

In a community that believes in the

spiritual/genetic passage of 'values

through kinship lines as well as

environmental instruction, childlessness

amounts to a cultural tragedy, A younger

generation must continue the lineage from

ancestors to descendants, and the

community needs to people future

generations. (12)

Brown responds to this issue of childlessness as follows:
Accordingly, neighbors gossip, as they
invariably do when Efuru remains
childless a year after marriage. From
their point of view, she is not a real

woman: she is barren (p.23). When this
"problem" recurs during Efuru's second

89

marriage (to Eneberi) the comments are

essentially the same. In this case the

commentators are identified... Their

settled views of ‘women, marriage and

motherhood are appropriately conveyed in

highly formal dialogue reflecting a

strong sense of social and rhetorical

order and moving slowly from formal

preliminaries to circumlocution, thence

to a direct discussion of the immediate

topic. (143)
Once again, Brown emphasizes that point that Efuru is viewed
as a 'man" because of her inability to conceive. He notes that
there is an emphasis on the patriarchal belief in a strong
community and social structure with the maintenance of the
status quo, rather than the unique individual Frank describes
as a "feminist." The community views Efuru as "womb," and
Brown does not seem to question the women in the novel who
conform to this opinion.

Hence, the responsibility for the care, conceiving, and
the nurturing of all the generations lies within the woman,
the mother, the womb. Efuru accepts her circumcision as
merely a part of her female responsibility. She also accepts
her role as the "womb," but unlike other women, she is unable
to fulfill the requirements of that position. And underneath,
there is the inkling that the defiant young woman who left her
father's home to marry the man of her choice is still waiting
for the opportunity to emerge.

On the way to this opportunity, however, Efuru

experiences the birth of her only child-~a female, Ogonim.

90

Ogonim is the joy of her mother's life, and she is the child
who tells the world that Efuru is not a "barren" woman:

Efuru lay there thinking of it all. 'Is

this happening to me or someone I know.

Is that baby mine or somebody else's?" Is

it really true that I have had a baby,

that I am a woman after all. Perhaps I

am dreaming.‘ (31)
Even Efuru herself starts to believe that she can not really
be a woman until she is be able to have a baby. She needed to
have a baby to prpyg to the rest of the world (and to herself)
that she was a whole person.

In a world where male and female roles are assigned on
the ability or inability to bear children, Efuru must conform
to some of society' norms in order to function in that world.
But after the untimely death of her only child, Ogonim, (whom
seems insignificant to her father) and the unexpected
desertion of her husband.Adizua, Efuru is left in the position
of the woman without a man, without a child--in essence, in
, her community, without a life. In a sense, Ogonim's death
represents the unimportance of woman. As a female child, she
will be missed, but her worth is not comparable, at least in
the community, to a male child who would have been his
father's heir. But even in the face of this tragic loss, Efuru
does not totally succumb to society's pressures. She informs
her mother-in-law that she is going to return to her father's
house and attempt to begin a new life:

A week after her return from Agbor she

called her mother-in-law: 'Mother, I
cannot stay anymore. A man said that he

91

had wept for the death that killed his

friend, but he did not wish that death to

kill him. I cannot wait indefinitely for

Adizua, you can bear witness that I have

tried my best. (88)
Efuru endures two years of abandonment and suffering through
the death of her only child alone after her husband deserts
her, to emerge once again as the high-spirited young woman she
was before her marriage. Her experiences-~circumcision,
marriage, betrayal, and death--have changed, but not totally
destroyed her sense of self or being. Banyiwa-Horne writes
that

Nwapa's portrayal of her heroine present

an in-depth study of womanhood. Her

novel is a study of the growth of Efuru,

and both her physical and psychological

development are brought to light as she

searches for' options for self-

actualization, Efuru begins by accepting

the traditional sexually-oriented

prescriptions for defining a woman's

identity, but she moves gradually towards

a new definition of a sense of self, a

better option for self-definition. (125-

26)

But along the road.to*what Banyiwa-Horne refers to as "self-
actualization" and "self-definition," Efuru will attempt to
conform, once again, to the ideal Igbo situation of marriage
and motherhood. This will, once again, be to her detriment.

After a second marriage to an "unconventional" man who
uses his given Christian name, Gilbert, more than his
"African" name, Eneberi, Efuru thinks that she has finally
found happiness. But the same thing occurs--no child is born

from their union. Efuru is then, "encouraged" by her family-

92

in-law to find another wife for her second husband, after she
is unable to have another child; but what she will soon find
is that her husband has already taken another wife, and he is
now the father of two sons. It is at this time that Efuru
notes the presence of unusual dreams. ‘Upon consultation.with
the dibia, she learns that she has been "chosen" by the river
goddess Uhamiri to worship her. It is only within this
relationship that Efuru's life seems to take on another
dimension--it is an intense spirituality that begins to move
her, at least figuratively, out of the realm of women whose
lives revolves around husband and children. The experience of
the woman as center has finally emerged.

In view of the relationship that Efuru will experience
with Uhamiri, a constructed woman/feminist reader may see
Efuru's spiritual experience as one of the most positive
experiences of her life. Efuru will now be free to devote
herself to spiritual and financial fulfillment because the
ties that have attempted to bind her to marriage and
motherhood are forever broken by fate. This spiritual
connection is not only an honor for Efuru, but it is also a
most probable answer to her prayers. Nwapa describes the
position that this "honor" will mean for Efuru:

'You are a great woman. Nwashike Ogene,
your daughter is a great woman. The
goddess of the lake has chosen her to be
one of her worshippers. It is a real
honor. She is going to protect you and
shower riches on you. But you must keep

her laws. Look round this town, nearly
all the storey buildings you find are

93

built by women who one time or another
have been worshippers of Uhamiri. Many
of them came to me and asked me what to
do.‘ (152)

Now Efuru will be able to concentrate on satisfying
herself and her needs. The woman as an independent entity has
evolved from the young, rebellious girl who left the home of
her father. The emphasis here is on Efuru and her personal
fulfillment. As Karla F.C. Holloway notes in Moorings and
Metaphors: Figures of Culture and Gender in Black Women's
Literature,

Displacement of the traditional cultural
values assigned to fertility and
motherhood is Nwapa's thesis. . .In Nwapa's
novel, the decentering of fertility and
motherhood.allows Efuru's spirituality to
assert itself in their place. As the
metaphorical center of this novel,
womanspirit subverts the traditional,
biological parameters of women's being.
(171)

Here, the spirit of Efuru is center. The issues, ideas, and
needs of woman are now'of the utmost importance, and the woman
herself has positioned herself in the heart of it all.
Banyiwa-Horne also notes that:

In Efuru's case, the supernatural becomes
an extension of her sense of
self...Uhamiri, the woman of the lake,
the supernatural element in Nwapa's
novel, is a symbolic representation of
Nwapa's heroine, who is chosen as a
special worshipper to this deity.
Uhamiri becomes the alter ego of the
matured Efuru who is invested with all
Uhamiri's qualities...Efuru's acceptance
of her role as a special worshipper of
the woman of the lake, therefore, becomes
a symbolic representation of her

94

acceptance of herself as a person in her
own right. (127)

In this case, the worship of the river goddess seems to
finally release Efuru from her role as mother and womb because
the villagers believe that women who worship Uhamiri can not
have any children. But this does not release Efuru from the
scorn of her in-laws and the belief of her community that she
is still a failed and unfulfilled woman:

'She has spoilt everything. This is bad.

How many ‘women do you know who are

worshippers of Uhamiri who have children?

Answer me, Amede, how many?... Your

daughter-in-law must be a foolish woman

to go into that. Amede, you are to

blame. Didn't you point this out to her?

You are the mother, why didn't you point

this out to her? (162)
Thus, although she is somewhat liberated from the traditional
role as mother, it is still the community's belief that Efuru
will remain unfulfilled because she will not have children.
This is a male centered reading of Efuru's experience. Even
though much of the voiced reaction is from women, it remains
a male reading because of its inability to see woman as
spiritually and financially independent as a positive
experience for woman. Efuru is able, however, to devote her
life to the fulfillment of her spirit. Holloway continues,
"Nwapa's Efuru turns her life over to the goddess of the lake
and replaces reality with her spirit. In this novel, Nwapa
juxtaposes the social circumstances that abuse women against

cultural and.communal memories that can save them" (169) And

Efuru is "saved" from the life of misery that is imposed upon

95
her by her community as a "barren" woman through the worship
and communion with Uhamiri. Boyce-Davies asserts that:

The novel does end on a positive note for
we see Efuru realizing that her existence
was not totally defined by motherhood.
This confidence is given by the goddess
of the lake to whom she becomes a
priestess , and is the symbolic
representation of acceptance of self....
The Woman of the Lake and Efuru's
adherence to her reaffirm her belief in
herself and her contributions to society
and provide a societal alternative to
motherhood for women "who are not so
blest." (252)

It is the assertion of this reader that Efuru is finally
"blest" because she is able to live outside the confines of
the traditional role of wife and mother. Efuru's life
circumstances have' dealt her another reality--life's
occurrences and the cruelty of two wandering husbands have
taken away any hope for that life with the "joys of
motherhood". Brown notes

Efuru achieves independence within the
community, not outside it, and her
individualism.is sanctioned by one set of
the community's traditions (enshrined by
the deity's presence) despite the fact
that it departs from another set of
traditions... Efuru displays that
individualism which will eventually lead
to her rejection of marriage and
motherhood, and as a consequence, her
education in the conventions of
traditional womanhood is essentially
ambiguous. Even as it prepares her for
the traditional roles it also becomes
part of the overall growth which
eventually culminates in her religiously
sanctioned declaration of independence.
(144-45)

96

It is unclear why Brown considers Efuru's "education" in
"tradition" as "ambiguous". It is apparent that Efuru
attempts to conform to the norms, but she is unable to due to
infertility problems (that could have been caused by her
circumcision), and two unfaithful husbands. But is it just
that her "education" in tradition prepares her for the role
that she will accept at the end of the novel? Maybe, but
reading this notation by Brown "as a woman," I think it is
clear her that Brown underestimates the drive and
individuality of Efuru. She does not become that independent
woman.merely as a result of her education; to the contrary, it
seems that the education she receives in convention is the
antithesis of what she becomes at the end of the novel. And
although.her independence is "sanctioned" by the~community, it
is apparent that it is not the norm, nor is it usually the
position.a*woman or her family'wishes as an endeavor for their
female members. Thus, as Efuru turns to the river goddess, a
womanspirit, for her release and refuge, she does exit that
world of conventions and "womanly" expectations. The reader
is not left, then, with the suggestion that Efuru will lead an
unhappy existence; to the contrary, it seems that she has now
found peace and a sense of self only after she being liberated
from the traditions associated with marriage and motherhood.

After finally asserting her independence and leaving her
second husband, who will accuse her of adultery, Efuru gains

financial independence and stability. As the novel ends,

97
Efuru has just overcome a serious illness, and her rhetorical
question, at the end.of her thoughts may give one insight into
the community’ of women 'who choose (in a sense) to be
worshippers of Uhamiri:

Efuru slept soundly that night. She
dreamt of the woman of the lake, her
beauty, her long hair and her riches.
She had lived for ages at the bottom of
the lake. She was as old as the lake
itself. She was happy, she was wealthy.
She was beautiful. She gave women beauty
and wealth but she had no child. She had
never experienced the joy of motherhood.
Why then did the women worship her? (221)

Efuru's (and other women's) reasons for worshipping Uhamiri
are understandable: she has a need to remove herself from a
world which she can find no fulfillment, and she finds solace
in her spiritual relationship with the goddess, which also
elevates her to a position of respect in her community. She
is altered by an operation that took possession of a part of
her body and soul, but she is, in a sense, made "whole" again
by her communion with the womanspirit. Holloway asserts

At this point, Efuru's decision to
dedicate herself to the service of the
goddess, even in the midst of her
marriage to Gilbert (Eneberi),
articulates her intense dedication to the
centering' of ‘womanspirit that the
childless goddess represents. Both the
Lady and Efuru are happy, wealthy,
beautiful, and childless. But Efuru's
understanding that the goddess could not
assure her children... marks her
dependence on the womanspirit she has
nurtured and. developed throughout her
life. (177)

98

Efuru's wholeness does not result from the traditional world
or adherence to the norms. She finds it, to the contrary, on
the peripheral society in which women are financially
independent, but childless. Schweickart asserts that a
feminist reading of a text must focus on issues important and
central to the experience of women. Thus, one must not view
Efuru as a woman "alone," as Brown suggests in the following
passage:

Despite her admirable qualities, she

cannot seem to sustain satisfactory

relationships with men. After two

unsuccessful marriages she finally

determines that her personal fulfillment

has to be attained, not by the

conventional female roles of wife and

mother, but by being alone and

independent, (141)
but rather as one who has found herself complete and
autonomous, like she is before the circumcision that will
alter her sense of self and being. She is not "alone" as
Brown proposes, but she is now in the community of women who
no longer need.husbands or children.to validate their’personal
selves. In her new community of women who worship Uhamiri,
one may wonder if the women not only worship her willingly,
but even happily. Is it possible that the women who are
'chosen' tO'worship the river goddess are content because they
know that they have escaped the fate of their counterparts? Is
this one explanation for Efuru's query? Or is it merely the

financial security that they desire? Holloway writes:

Efuru's acquiescence to the spirit
Uhamiri does not contain the threatening

99

potential of Sethe's behavior. Uhamiri

will be Efuru's spiritual salvation

rather than her condemnation. The

question posed in the closing lines...

illustrates the recursive posture of the

novel. Since... Nwapa figuratively

connects spirituality and motherhood,

(the) novel illustrates the gender-based

revision of this equation in black

women's texts. The literature of this

tradition acknowledges that motherhood

has a history of physical and spiritual

damage Efuru knows, by the experiences

documented in her community and by her

own short-lived experience, that she’must

worry over it's potential, (172, emphasis

Holloway's)
Thus, Holloway asserts, and I agree, that the motherhood of
Efuru caused her great mental and spiritual "damage." But
Nwapa is able to define motherhood in other'ways. The goddess
of the river is the mother of the childless women who gives
them a different kind of "child' to nurture: a business.
Motherhood is supposed to be the defining role for Efuru's
existence. But she finds others role more suited for her
needs. These roles are exemplified by her spirituality and
economic autonomy. Her body and her mind have been excised,
but her soul remains intact.

Thus, unable to flourish in a world of tradition, changed
forever by an operation that she can neither reject or ignore,
Efuru finds peace within herself by turning to the river
goddess Uhamiri for spiritual consolation. She is unable to
find any happiness among the community of rituals and
constraints offered by her society. This reading of the

novel, under the constructed guise of the female reader, must

100
emphasize that Efuru has to leave the traditional, male
centered world in order to find solace. It is the experience
of circumcision that forever alters her life and her sense of
being. I can, then, see Efuru as an early "feminist" in search
of her identity in a traditional world.

Nwapa rewrites woman's story in this early Nigerian
woman's novel. She brings the ideas, thoughts, feelings, and
desires of women to the center, rather than allowing them to
remain on the periphery. Efuru's life is totally transformed
after her bath. She continues her life on a journey to make
herself complete and whole once again. It seems that the
author provides only a spiritual escape for the women in the
novel--but it is an escape worthy of notice. It is an escape
from the world of female circumcision, of forced marriages,
and of life as "womb." Without the confines of the life of
motherhood and matrimony, Efuru and other Uhamiri worshippers
gain financial, spiritual, and psychological freedom--
something that they could never find in the*world of the women

of Efuru.

CHAPTER THREE
THE GIKUYU AND THE MISSIONARIES:
THE IMPACT OF "SIN" IDEOLOGY AND "PREJUDUCE" ON A PROUD
PEOPLE IN NGUGI WA THIONGO'S THE RIVER BETWEEN

...a person trying to understand a text
is prepared for it to tell him something.
That is why a hermeneutically trained
consciousness must be, from the start,
sensitive to the text's alterity. But
this kind of sensitivity involves neither
"neutrality" with respect to content or
extinction of one's self, but the
foregrounding and appropriation of one's
own fore-meanings and prejudices. The
important thing is to be aware of one's
own bias, so that the text can present
itself in all its otherness and thus
assert its own truth against one's own
fore-meanings. Truth and. Method, 268,
Hans-Georg Gadamer)

 

Gadamer asserts that when one reads a text, it is not
necessary to approach the text from a positiOn of
"neutrality," but it is important to recognize one's own
"prejudices." It is not enough, however, just to recognize
these biases. One must, instead, put these presuppositions in
the proper perspective in order to gain a "true" understanding
of the work. In The River Between, Ngugi wa Thiongo presents
the story of a community that is divided, physically and
ideologically. The circumcision of teenage girls becomes the
main focus of the divergence, particularly when one young
woman, Muthoni, daughter of a converted Christian missionary,
dies after having the operation performed against the wishes
of her father. Ngugi brings an interesting element into his
discussion of the Gikuyu puberty ritual--female circumcision

as a 'sin' against the Christian God. As one who considers

101

102

herself a "womanist," to me, the idea of female circumcision
is horrifying, at best. But in reading The River Between, I
must confess that I gain an understanding of the cultural
significance of the ritual. Utilizing the work of Gadamer, I
will attempt to read this novel, not only'with the recognition
of my own prejudices, but also by articulating the prejudiced
positions inherent in the missionary perspective, which
significantly affected the complexity of the issue.

This first Ngugi novel presents the complexity of female
circumcision in beautiful, poetic language, in order to
introduce the reader to some of the conflicts in Gikuyu land
before and after the arrival of Christian missionaries. The
conflicts and controversies of Ngugi's ideas and ideologies,
as well as his own conflicts about.missionary's, politics, and
education are prevalent throughout the work. Florence Stratton
notes in her essay, "Narrative Methods in the Novels of
Ngugi," that Ngugi's ideas and ideologies are most prevalent
in this first novel. She writes:

Although in The River Between Ngugi
employs dramatic {devices which. become
characteristic of his style, as will be
discussed later, much less material is
dramatized and much more is told to the
reader in such a way that the reader is
made more aware of the author's voice
than is justified. (126)
Although I do not feel the need to "justify" the voice of the
author in the novel, I concur'with Stratton that the struggles

and controversies of the author are quite present and quite

articulate. In a 1967 interview, Ngugi relates his own

103

feelings about his state of being during the novel's
development:

I wrote The River Between first. I had

come from a missionary school and I was

deeply Christian. In school I was

concerned with trying to remove the

central Christian doctrine from the dress

of Western culture, and seeing how this

might be grafted onto the central beliefs

of our people. (II)
Although.Ngugi states here that.he‘was "deeply'Christian" when
he wrote the novel, he also acknowledges that he was
interested in removing the "central Christian doctrine from
the dress of Western culture," in an attempt to reconcile the
divergent doctrines and practices of Western Christianity with
the "traditional" practices and customs of his people, without
losing the spirit of the community. Later in the same
interview, he tells the interviewer that he has given "up the
Christian faith" by the time he arrives at the University of
Leeds. This may account, in part, for Ngugi's anti-Christian,
anti-colonial mode of representation that is found in his
later novels, including Weep Not, Child. But Ngugi's view is
not merely of a Christian "utopia." He draws the reader into
the reality of a prejudice that effects his world. It is the
kind of prejudice that Gadamer defines as "a judgment that is
rendered before all the elements that determine a situation
have been finally examined" (270). It would seem from reading
missionary documents and essays, that many of those who

travelled in Africa as missionaries had pre-conceived notions

about the inferiority and barbarity of African peoples. These

104

ideas are apparent in the missionaries' approaches not only to
female circumcision, but other African rites and religious
ceremonies. I will discuss some of these views to articulate
the affect of these presuppositions and prejudices on the
people who lived in the "ridges" of Kameno and Makuyu. While
investigating some of these prejudices and.presuppositions of
the missionaries in this novel, one must ask some important
questions.

First of all, is there a specific point the author is
attempting to make by his presentation of a "Christian"
ideology that is introduced to the Kikuyu by the missionaries?
What about the issue of female circumcision? Does the author
believe that it should.be abolished, altered, or maintained in
the form it takes in the novel? Is the author's voice so
prevalent that the argument becomes skewed or cloudy, or do
the author's conflicts and concerns add to the understanding
of the confusion surrounding the issue of female circumcision?
Although I will not be able to answer all these questions in
the scope of this brief study, I will attempt to explore the
issues surrounding the questions pertaining to female
circumcision in order to understand the presentation of
characters and circumstances.

Ngugi presents the poetic vision of a beautiful
community, bound together by ancient traditions and secrets
before the arrival of the white people and the Christian

missionaries: a place where the souls of the ancestors and the

105
creators thrive. 'The settings, Kameno and. Makuyu, are
separated by a river, but joined by the gods; isolated in

unity and understanding. Ngugi writes:
The ridges were isolated. The people
there led a life of their own,
undisturbed by what happened outside or
beyond. Men and women had nothing to
fear... Even other Gikuyu from Nyeri of
Kiambu could not very well find their way
into the hills. And so the country of
many ridges was left alone, unaffected by
turbulent forces outside. (3)

But there is the implication that something is askew in this
"paradise." As Abdul R. JanMohammed writes in the work,
Manichean Aesthetics,

Both the background and the foreground of
The River Between are directly concerned
with an attempt to come to terms with the
peripeteia of values in a colonial
situation. The plot of the novel, set in
the late 19203 and the 19308, is centered
once more on a combination of education
and. messianism, ‘while the subplot
examines the clash of values through the
emotionally and culturally charged
controversy over female circumcision, The
geographical setting of the novel as well
as the characterization of all the major
protagonists are imbued‘with the’dramatic
and disruptive nature of cultural
transition. The setting is allegorical:
the events take place in the "heart and
soul" of Gikuyu land and culture on two
ridges that are ranged on either side of
River Honia, which in Gikuyu means
"Regeneration". (201-02)

On the surface then, this seems an illustration of a people
who had led their lives, for the most part, unaffected by the
outside world. It would seem that they were people who had

never experienced a major conflict from within. Clifford

106

Robson also supports the thesis that the setting is mainly
allegorical when he writes in his work, nggi wa Thiongp, that

It is no coincidence that The River

Between starts and finishes with the

ridges. They are a pervasive feature of

the novel: they symbolise a struggle,

they represent a land, and they play a

major part in Ngugi's conscious creation

of the texture of Gikuyuland. (1)
"The river between" literally begins to represent the chasm
that has developed as a result of the argument over female
circumcision. Ngugi continues with the allusion that something
is not quite right in this almost Edenic presentation. There
is the hint, ever so slight, that all is not as it seems. He
writes:

The ridges slept on. Kameno and Makuyu

were no longer antagonistic. They had

merged into one area of beautiful land,

which is what, perhaps, they were meant

to be. Makuyu, Kameno, and the other

ridges lay in peace and there was no sign

of life, as one stood on the hill of God.

(19)
These descriptions of an almost utopic world foreshadow what
lies ahead--the surfacing of old conflicts and new rivalries
which intensifies upon the arrival of the white missionaries.
After the arrival of the whites and the conversion of many to
the new religion, the village elder, Chege, voices his belief
of inevitable change; from then on, the struggle between the
"traditional" ways and the "new" ways become insurmountable.
Definitive boundaries are drawn, and anyone stepping over
those boundaries will have to pay dearly and perpetually.

Nothing will ever be the same again:

107

But the white man had come to Siriana,

and Joshua and Kabonyi had been

converted. They had abandoned the ways

of the ridges and followed the new faith.

Still people shrugged their shoulders and

went on with their work, whispering:

'Who from the outside can make his way

into the hills?‘ (9)
The village people do not perceive the significance of Chege's
warnings and Joshua's conversion and are, thus, unable to
accept the fact that a great transformation is about to occur
within their community. What the people of Kameno and Makuyu
will soon find is that one need not come from the outside to
bring division and destruction to their "peaceful" existence.
The white men are able to work through the converts, preaching
their own version of "the Word of God" to instill loyalty,
fear, and unquestioning devotion in their followers, while
dividing and conquering the communities and bringing to the
forefront the spiritual and ideological differences between
the ridges. As Michael Rice notes in his work, "The River
Between : A Discussion,"

This novel presents the effects on an

isolated Gikuyu community in the

highlands of East Africa after its first

contact with the white man, Ngugi avoids

the temptation of depicting these people

as exploited, manipulated and subjugated

dupes of the Europeans. Instead, he

leaves the reader in no doubt, as does

Achebe in Things Fall Apart, that the

tribe contains the seeds of its own

downfall. (126)
As Rice notes, Okonkwo's great pride and refusal to
acknowledge the changes that were about to occur in his

community“was a part of his downfall in.Chinua.Achebe's Things

108
Fall Apart. Similarly, Ngugi shows the reader that the
convert Joshua's strict interpretation of a religious code of
ethics presented to him by the missionaries, as well as
Chege's own adherence and opposition to the new ideas of the
colonists, and his proud spirit, will contribute to
destruction in their communities. The people are not merely,
then, conquered.by European ideology, but are also'defeated.by
their own stubborn arrogance. It will be his unyielding,
intolerable insolence that will lead Joshua to his doctrine of
"hell fire and brimstone" for those unwilling to end their
'evil ways' and forsake their ancestral traditions, while
Chege's mixed message of infiltration and opposition.will add
fire to the controversy of "tradition" versus "progression."
Joshua and Chege are representations of extremes; in thought,
passion, and ideology both are staunchly entrenched in their
positions. They recognize the prejudices and biases of the
other, Gadamer notes that there must be the "recognition that
all understanding inevitably involves some prejudice" (270).
Hence, Joshua and Chege have come to an "understanding" of
sorts, and they have taken strongly prejudicial approaches to
the ideology of the other. But unlike Chege, Joshua feels
that he has developed his prejudice from.what Gadamer calls a
"true understanding" of the facts surrounding the rituals and
custom of his people. Gadamer continues by noting that all
prejudice "does not necessarily mean a false judgement, but

that part of the idea can be that it can have either a

109

positive or a negative judgement... The only thing that gives
a judgment dignity is its having a basis, a methodological
justification (270, 271). Because Joshua has, in his life,
participated in the rituals of the community, it could mean
that his "prejudice" is based on knowledge rather than mere
presuppositions. However, Joshua is prejudiced not merely
because of this "knowledge;" instead, he takes such a strong
stance against female circumcision because the people that he
emulates believe it is "sinful." If he was basing his
reaction to the ritual on the medical statistics that surround
the physical, emotional, and.psychological complications that
accompany female circumcision, this representation of the
issue could be viewed as an honest presentation of the matter.
But he does not approach the issue from this base of
knowledge. He approaches it with dogma and is without
understanding. He begins the crusade against the ritual by
preaching the "Word of God" as it is presented to him by the
Christian missionaries.

It is important to note that the missionaries, in most
cases, viewed anything perceived as "traditional" or "African"
in a negative manner; however, there ‘was an especially'
negative interpretation of the custom of female circumcision.
In.a section entitled "The Church and.Native~Customs" from.his
work, A New Day In Kenya, Horace R. A. Philps, a Protestant
Missionary writes

Many of the customs of the natives of
Kenya are distinctly repulsive, and none

110

more so that the practice of female

mutilation as carried out by the Kikuyu

and allied tribes...Regarding the

mutilation of females and young girls as

an act of initiation into the full

womanhood of the tribe, there can be no

doubt whatever to those who know the

facts. The whole custom is utterly

revolting, and causes serious damage to

the body and the mind... (165)
Thus, little inference is needed to understand this particular
missionary's ideas regarding female circumcision (as well as
many other Gikuyu cultural traditions). They regarded the
rite as "utterly revolting"; certainly, this has an effect on
those who choose to follow the "Christian" precepts presented
to them by the communities in Gikuyu land. Although it is not
clear which religious denomination or society of missionaries
Ngugi presents in the work, there is little doubt from
Joshua's reaction to Muthoni's circumcision that this group of
missionaries would concur with Philps that the tradition was
"distinctly repulsive" and needed to be abolished. The idea
of female circumcision as sin was a great part of the Gikuyu
land missionaries' religious teaching, and they believed in an
interpretation of the "Word of God" that would free the Gikuyu
people from their "dark" world of ancestral and idol worship.

The "Word of God" as presented by Ngugi which was

introduced by the Christian missionaries in Kikuyu land was
one filled with a God of wrath, ready and willing to condemn
to "hell fire" anyone who would not follow Him. Philps
defines the "theology" of the United Methodist Church in 1913

in the Kikuyu community as follows:

111

The basis of federation shall consist of
the loyal acceptance of the Holy
Scriptures as our supreme rule of faith
and practice; we accept the Apostolic and
Nicene Creeds as a general expression of
the fundamental Christian belief, and in
particular we declare our belief in the
absolute authority of the Holy Scriptures
as the word of God, in the Deity of Jesus
Christ, and in the atoning death of our
Lord as the ground of our forgiveness.
(35-6, my emphasis)

Thus, the converts were not only expected to accept "loyally"
the teachings of the church, but they must also believe and
accept that the "word of God," represented in the Holy
Scriptures, (Greek and Hebrew), as the "absolute authority" of
their lives. It was this type of adamant and forceful
ideology that met Joshua on his way to Christian "rebirth."
Joshua, now 'the converted. preacher, remembered. what the
missionaries at Siriana had told him before his 'rebirth':

Those who refuse him are the children of

darkness; These, sons and daughters of

the evil one, will go to Hell. They will

burn for ever more; world unending.

These strong words frightened Joshua and

shook his whole body; shook him to the

very roots of his being. He became

baptized and it was only then that he

felt at peace and stopped trembling. (34)
The missionaries' words were used to instill not only total
commitment to the new religion, but also fear in the converts.
Gadamer notes that this idea of using the Bible as a means of
"absolute authority," as an "historical document," "endangers

its own dogmatic claims" because, he asserts, "the written

tradition of Scriptures... can claim no absolute validity

112

(272)." Hence, in their staunch support of Biblical
assertions (whether accurately portrayed or not), the
missionaries did "endanger" their claims because the people,
like Muthoni, are unwilling and unable to accept the message
not only because they are attempting to resist the teachings
of the missionaries, but, most importantly because they will
invalidate generations of her fore-mothers and fore-fathers
beliefs and practices. The truth of their lives cannot, then,
be based just on the written word, but there must also be an
understanding of that word that is written within its proper
cultural, social, and political context. It is not enough for
the missionaries to simply assert that circumcision is against
the law of God, The people of Gikuyu land need.more than just
the "authority" of the Scriptures. However, the result of
these teachings against the female circumcision rite is a
community separated by those who insisted on maintaining the
"traditional" values and rituals, most forcefully represented
by the ritual of female circumcision, and those who believe
that the "white man's God" is the only God to follow, and who
will denounce or refuse to practice any of the "traditional"
rituals. Ngugi brings this conflict, as represented most
adamantly by the community of elders to the forefront of his
discussion. JanMohammed notes that

Characterization too is stylized to

reflect this antagonism between the

desire for cultural purity and the desire

to abrogate the traditional society.

Among the older generation which.provides
the secondary characters, the opposition

113

is embodied in Chege. . .and Joshua. . .Ngugi

balances the static and absolute cultural

oppositions that are embodied in Chege

and Joshua with the dynamic and

relativistic attitudes of their

children... (220)
The ideas of the older generation are perceived as immovable.
There is no room for compromise or reconciliation. But the
younger generation will attempt to conciliate the differing
views of Chege and Joshua. It will be the actions of the
children that will- bring the people to the heart of their
conflict. Joshua's daughter Muthoni becomes the literal and
symbolic emblem of division and contention, while Chege's son
Waiyaki will attempt to use his knowledge of the white man's
educational system to insure the survival of his ancestral
customs. It is the act of Muthoni, in defiance of her father,
and the community's varied responses to this act, that seems
to guide the community into its almost certain and complete
division.

Muthoni is the elder of the two daughters of Joshua. She
is reared in a home which follows the precepts of the
Christian missionaries at Siriana after her parents'
conversion; however, she has a definitive desire to make
herself a "true" Gikuyu woman by participating in the
traditional Gikuyu circumcision ceremony. David Sandgren notes
in his work, Christianity and the Kikuyu, that

Circumcision was the central focus of
Kikuyu initiation. There were equivalent
rites for both. men and ‘women. The

operation was only the outward sign of an
inner transformation to adulthood. This

114

transformation was fostered by the whole
of traditional education when.Kikuyu boys
and girls learned from.an early age about
pastoral and agricultural skills... (71)

Thus, this ceremony is of the utmost importance to the
community, as Sandgren notes, and it is the "outward sign" of
the change that will take place as one went from childhood to
adulthood. In his anthropological account of The Southern
Kikuyu Before 1903, L.S.B. Leakey describes the practice of
"female circumcision" as practiced by the Kikuyu as follows:

When all the girl candidates were in

position and ready in a line in the order

of seniority and facing Mount Kenya, the

female operator knelt before the senior

girl candidate. With her left hand she

parted the labia majora and took hold of

the clitoris between the thumb and first

finger of her left hand. Pulling it

forward as much as she could, she cut off

a tiny' portion. of the skin, using' a

special sharp razor to do so... Sometimes

the operator also excised a little piece

of the labia majora on either side of the

clitoris. (622)
This operation could be defined as the "Sunna" circumcision
discussed earlier. But the important point here is that the
significance of the ceremony could not be denied for young
Muthoni.

Aware of its cultural importance, Muthoni insists upon
initiation. In the first of many conversations with her
sister, Nyambura, on the subject of circumcision, Muthoni
reveals her innermost feelings:

'I have thought and thought again about
it. I have not been able to eat or sleep

properly. My thoughts terrify me. But I
think now I have come to a decision.‘

115

She stopped; gazing past Nyambura, she

said, slowly and quietly: 'Nyambura, I

want to be circumcised.‘ (28)
Muthoni's desire to fulfill what she views as her tribal
obligation is, at first, shocking to her younger sister. But
she is vocalizing the thoughts of many of the young girls
living within.Christian.households who feel that the ritual is
the most important part of their feminine and tribal
development. As recently as September of 1993, the idea of
female circumcision as an integral part of feminine
development was voiced on an episode of the weekly ABC
newsmagazine Day One. While being interviewed, a Somalian
woman noted her own feelings about her circumcision, (which
she felt had not altered her life in any negative manner),
while stating that she could not imagine her own two daughters
growing up and marrying a man from within their cultural
tradition without being circumcised. Thus, even in the face
of "modern" opposition and.a movement to eradicate completely
the ritual of female circumcision, modern, educated women
maintain that the ritual is so important that they consider
(as many others consider) having the procedure performed on
their own daughters. Hence, it is understandable that young
women like Muthoni will feel the need to participate in these
ceremonies. Muthoni's decision, consequently, is a difficult
one. Michael Rice points out:

At the same time, she articulates the

dilemma of all those like her who have

become confused by the rival claims of
foreign ideas which they do not

116

understand and have not properly
assimilated. (129)

Thus Muthoni, and others like her, are caught between
different worlds and ideologies, and they do not know how to,
nor do they desire (in many instances) to make a choice
between female circumcision and Christianity. They are caught
in the middle of an argument that they do not understand at
one of the most difficult times of their lives--adolescence.
The importance of adolescence in the Gikuyu tradition cannot
be exaggerated. Puberty’ was the time when all Gikuyu
children, male and female, began to join the ranks of the
adults in their society. They participated not only in the
circumcision rite, but also in other adult responsibilities.
The missionary community focused only on the circumcision
rite, without regard to the consequences that would take place
after the alteration of a ritual that was of such vital
importance in the lives of the Gikuyu. Gadamer points out
that

meanings cannot be understood in an

arbitrary way. Just as we cannot

continually misunderstand the use of a

word.without its affecting the meaning of

the whole, so we cannot stick blindly to

our own fore-meaning about the thing if

we want to understand the meaning of

another... All that is asked is that we

remain open to the meaning of the other

person or the text. (268)
Joshua and the other missionaries inability to "remain open"

to the circumcision rite, and their devaluation of the entire

process, resulted in the underground circumcision that left

117

Muthoni near death. These missionaries do "stick blindly" by
their conviction that female circumcision is a sin, and they
do not even.attempt to understand the cultural significance of
the ceremony. They can not understand the importance of the
ritual because they refuse to remain open to any meaning other
than their own biased, prejudiced interpretation. For
example, in a volume of essays entitled, Kikuyu 1898-1923:
Semi-Jubilee Book of the Church of Scotland Mission, Kenya
Colony, although the authors acknowledge the importance of
female circumcision to the Gikuyu, they are quick to
deconstruct the idea of the importance of female circumcision
in the harshest, most cynical tones:

It has already been remarked, however,

that the songs sung at these dances are

objectionable, and these are not the only

evil features of these rites, which,

though. doubtless based, on "religious"

conceptions, must, in as far as they are

impure, have an inevitable degrading

effect. Their existence and tremendous

importance in the natives' eyes form one

of the chief difficulties against which

the missionaries have to contend. (21)
With the use of words such as evil, impure, degrading, and
difficult(ies), this missionary account portrays a colonizing
community with undoubtedly preconceived notions about the
moral and psychological inferiority of the African peoples and
their customs. The prejudice here is based on a total
misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the Gikuyu ritual.

The stage is set for conflict and confusion, and what the

Gikuyu must fight against is the uneducated fore-thought of

118
the European community because that uneducated fore-thought,
that lack of understanding and knowledge, had so often led to
the alteration. or total obliteration of all things the
indigenous peoples held as sacred, important, and defining.
Muthoni and the other young women in her community had

been prepared for the moment of circumcision for most of their
lives-~it is a sacred, unquestioned tradition. But now
outsiders (and even their parents) tell them that the ritual
is "sinful." However, that argument is not enough in and of
itself to deter Muthoni from her conviction. As Jomo Kenyatta
notes in Facing Mount Kenya, female circumcision is of great
importance to the Gikuyu:

The initiation of both sexes is the most

important custom among the Gikuyu. It is

looked upon as a deciding factor in

giving a boy or girl the status of

manhood or womanhood in the Gikuyu

community. This custom is adhered to by

the vast majority of African peoples and

is found in almost every part of the

continent. (133-34, my emphasis)
Although Kenyatta's book was originally published in 1938,
there is definitive evidence that many individuals, including
women, continue to believe that this ritual is of the utmost
importance for the sexual safety and communal conformity of
their daughters. For example, Hanny Lightfoot-Klein notes
in her "Appendix" that the majority of the women she
interviewed had already had or were planning to have the

operations performed on their daughters, even though many of

them had experienced severe pain and physical problems as a

119

result of their own circumcisions. She also noted that many
of the women felt that they had lost nothing (sexually) by
being circumcised. The woman she discusses as "History #5", a
woman from Saudi Arabia who had been pharonically circumcised,
(the most dramatic form of circumcision which includes removal
of all the outside parts of the vagina and the infibulation,
or "sewing up" of the female genitalia) tells Lightfoot-Klein
that "she thinks pharonic circumcision.is a good.practice, and
feels she has lost nothing by her own.circumcision" (253) (At
the time of this interview, her oldest daughter had already
been pharonically circumcised, and she was planning to have
her other two daughters circumcised in the same manner.) With
this in mind, one can understand the dilemma of Muthoni, who
is trying desperately to intermingle her differing worlds.
She can not understand why, suddenly, the circumcision of
women is sin when, for years and'years, her mother and her
mothers' mothers had been circumcised. She has to make a
choice-~a very personal choice--but it is a choice that will
affect her community forever. But it is not merely that the
missionary's view this particular female issue negatively. In
general, they tend to view everything about these women in a
negative manner.

This negative view of Africa and.Africanuwomen.is not new
nor unique» In the missionary account of the Kikuyu from 1898
to 1923, this is the manner in which the missionaries describe

the life of the African woman:

120

.A woman's status is that of a superior

chattel. She is never at any time her

own mistresses, but always the property

of some one, as likewise her children, is

she has any. Before being "bought" in

marriage she belongs to her father, or if

an orphan, to some member of his family;

after being "bought" she belongs to her

husband... The disadvantages of this

system arise from the inferior status it

accords to women; the curtailment of

their liberty to choose freely who they

will marry,... and the complications and

great amounts of litigation which occur

when marriage agreements are broken.

(Kikuyu, 1898-1923, 22, 23)
To say that the missionaries are being very critical of the
Kikuyu, and quite hypocritical, in general, is probably a
gross understatement. During the time which this account
documents, 1898-1923, European women, and western women in
general, were fighting for the right to vote, and the right to
be viewed as equal in their societies. These are rights that
women all over the world continue to fight for in 1993.
Thus, for the missionaries to recognize that the status of
African. women. as that of "superior' chattel," 'while not
recognizing the complexity of women's issues in their own
communities they remain, once again blindly, entrenched in
their negative notions about African society and African
peoples. These notions and preconceptions greatly affect the
African interaction and response to the missionaries. Ngugi
continues to evaluate these responses and the consequences of
differing actions as the novel continues.

As the novel progresses, Muthoni is allowed.t0<die a slow

and.painful death after her operation, Is Ngugi, here, making

121

his own personal commentary on the issue of female
circumcision? Is he saying that the Christians are correct
and that Muthoni has suffered the wrath of an angry God
because of her disobedience? Or is he directing his criticism
at the missionaries, showing how their indifference,
intolerance, and interpretation of one 'Christian' doctrine
causes the death of the young woman and her total dissociation
with her parents? Or are there other reasons for her death?
Is it a tool of dramatic presentation for the author? Are
there other possibilities? Florence Stratton notes that

it would seem that at the time of writing

his first novel, Ngugi had not entirely

mastered dramatic presentation. This is

one reason among others, such as

unintegrated. sociological. material and

melodramatic elements why The River

Between is a less accomplished novel than

the later ones. (126)
Though I do not agree that this novel is "less accomplished"
than Ngugi's later novels, I do agree that stylistically and

metaphorically the later novels, such as Devil On the Cross,

are more artistic. I do believe, though, that The River

 

Between presents very difficult questions, such as a concrete
ideological conflict within a community, and he uses the
highly controversial issue of female circumcision to highlight
the conflict. Ngugi's presentation of Muthoni's slow and
painful death. does add. an element of the melodramatic,
especially with the proverbial use of the 'dying words' of the
young character which are repeated (and manipulated) to

correspond with the needs of those retelling the story. Ngugi

122
does not seem.to present an absolute resolution on any side of
the argument. He does, though, seem to present a picture of
the hypocrisy of the missionary community in their
interpretation and dogmatic view of female circumcision as
"8111".

I noted earlier that the presentation of this "Christian"
community in Gikuyu land is that female circumcision is a
"sin" against the Christian God. This idea of sin was an
important part of the missionary teaching in Kenya. For
example, in his account of the Presbyterian Church in Kenya,
R. MacPherson notes

The missionaries pursued the classical

themes of evangelical revival-~the love

of God and the power of evil, the sin of

men and God's judgement on sin, the

reconciliations of God and men through

faith in the sacrificial death of

Christ... (89, my emphasis).
Thus, the "sin of men and God's judgement on sin" was one of
the "classical themes" of the Presbyterian missionaries in the
communities in Kenya, and the idea is prevalent in the novel.
What is most important for this discussion is to understand
and.review Nyambura's response to her sister'after she reveals
her plans to be circumcised:

'Besides,‘ 'you are»a Christian. You and

I are now wise in the ways of the white

people. Father has been teaching us what

he learnt at Siriana. And you know, the

missionaries do not like the circumcision

of girls. Father has been saying so.

Besides, Jesus told us it was wrong and
sinful.’ (29, my emphasis)

123
Nyambura has been taught to believe that the act of

female circumcision is a sin against the Christian God, and
there is no room, in. Nyambura's mind, to question her
Christian teaching. It is sometimes difficult to understand
that all that is written can not always be accepted as
evidence of a statement or an assertion. Gadamer comments on
the use of the "written word" as "proof" as follows:

It is not altogether easy to realize that

what is written down cannot be untrue.

The written word has the tangible quality

of something that can be demonstrated and

is like a proof. It requires a special

critical effort to free oneself of the

prejudice in favor of what is written

down and to distinguish here also, no

less in the case of oral assertions,

between opinion and truth. (272)
Nyambura is unable to "free herself" from the opinions and
assertions of the missionaries, whereas Muthoni is "freed" by
her ability to establish her own "truth" and meaning in her
life, separate from her father and the missionary community.
To Nyambura and others, if it is written, if it is said by one
in authority, then it must be true. Gadamer continues by
noting, though, as earlier quoted, the "scriptures, like any
other historical document, can claim no absolute validity; the
possible truth of the tradition depends on the credibility
that reason accords it" (272).
If Muthoni is able to reason her own truth outside the
representation of the Christian community, she can only find

that she must partake in the initiation ceremony because that

is the reality and the truth of her life. The missionary

124
"text," is therefore discounted, because it does not allow her
an interpretation of herself and her community that she can
find peace within. And if Muthoni can read the Bible for
herself, (which is most likely the case because of the
missionary's emphasis on reading the scriptures and educating
the people), she should have been acquainted with a few of
the manners in which the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures present
the issue of circumcision. 3
It is important to note that, in the Hebrew scriptures,

circumcision was a Jewish rite instituted by God as a covenant
between Himself and Abraham. First of all, Genesis 17 notes
that God made a covenant with Abraham which noted that this
God would now become the God of Abraham and all of his future
generations. He stated:

And I will make my covenant between me

and thee, and will multiply thee

exceedingly,.. As for me, behold, my

covenant with thee, and thou shall be a

father of many nations...And I will give

unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,

the land wherein thou art a stranger, all

the land of Canaan, for an everlasting

possession; and I will be their God.

(2.4.8)
Chapter 17 continues with the description of what would be the
sign of the covenant between God and Abraham: the circumcision

of the foreskin of every male child. Verses 10-11 state:

This is my covenant, which ye shall keep,
between me and you and thy seed after

 

3See R.A. Macpherson and his discussion of the Kikuyu ritual
for details. Bibliographic information available in the list of
works cited.

125

thee; Every man child among you shall be

circumcised.

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your

foreskin and it shall be a token of the

covenant betwixt me and you.
This was an agreement between God and Abraham which
established a physical difference between Jewish men and all
other men in the world. This was an important part of Old
Testament doctrine. In the work, People of the Covenant: An
Introduction to the Old Testament, an exegetical discussion of
the Old Testament written in 1963, the authors note that

Abraham and his descendants were

commanded to keep the covenant throughout

their generations and circumcision was

introduced as the seal of their covenant.

This elaboration of the covenant belongs

to the Priestly traditions and is

particularly concerned with circumcision

as a cultic rite. (88-9)

Hence, even if the missionaries could contend that
circumcision was 'wrong,‘ because the Gikuyu use the rite as
a puberty initiation and not as a representation of any
covenant between. the Gikuyu. people and any god, female
circumcision does not have the same meaning for the Gikuyu
people. Hence, unless the person was a Jewish male, this
argument could be invalidated for the Gikuyu. However, even
if it was a valid contention, New Testament doctrine changes
the significance of the ceremony.

In the New Testament it is noted that this 'physical'
sign of difference and symbolic sacrifice no longer carries

the same relevance in the Christian world. For example,

Galatians 5:6 notes that, "For in. Jesus Christ neither

126
circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith
which worketh by love," while
Colossians 3,11 states:

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: But
Christ is all, and in all.

Furthermore, Romans 3,25-29 adds these important statements to
the discussion of circumcision.‘

For circumcision ‘verily' profiteth, it
thou keep the law: but if thou be a
breaker of the law, thy circumcision is
made uncircumcision.

Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the
righteousness of the law, shall not his
uncircumcision be counted for
circumcision?

And shall not uncircumcision which is by
nature, if it fulfill the law, judge
thee, who by the letter and circumcision
dost transgress the law?

For he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly; neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly;
and circumcision is that of the heart, in
the spirit, and not in the letter; whose
praise is not of men, but of God.

Romans, 3-4 continues in the same vein, pgygp stating that
circumcision is sinful or wrong, but that now through "faith
and love" and because of the death and bloodshed of Jesus
Christ, there is no longer a spiritual difference, (or the
need for an outward physical difference) between 'Jew' and
'Gentile,‘ or the 'circumcision' and the 'uncircumcision', and

that all now have a right to "the Tree of Life." These

 

‘I must note here that all Biblical discussions of

circumcision refer to male circumcision.

127

Biblical statements may be interpreted to indicate that one
need not circumcise himself or herself physically in order to
become a part of the "Kingdom of God," but instead, s/he must
'circumcise' themselves spiritually and inwardly by changing
the heart and.completely turning over their being to the "Will
of God." One could, of course, argue that female circumcision
is a "sin" because it violates the equality of persons in God.
However, as historical and nussionary accounts continually
note the "intellectual and moral" inequality of not only
Africans in general, but, more specifically, women in the eyes
of men, this argument has no foundational context within the
realm of this study.

It is interesting to note however, that the Apostle Paul,
(and other apostles) faced harsh criticism and ostracism from
other Christian Jews because he preached against the need for
this outward show of loyalty as represented by the
circumcision of the male child. In the work, People of The
Covenant, it is noted that "Later, Israel made much of this
sign, actually excluding from the covenant community any who
did not keep the 'covenant in the flesh'" (89). Thus, in this
African community, people are ostracized for participating in
the circumcision. ritual, while earlier in 'the> Christian
community, others were cast out for not.participating in the
ritual. Charles E. Nnolin discusses the hypocrisy aof the

Christians regarding the issue of female circumcision in his

128
essay, "Background Setting: Key To The Structure of Ngugi's
The River Between." He writes,

what Ngugi does in The River Between is
to use irony to depict a gentile society
in Africa that holds more fanatically to
circumcision for total acceptance into
the tribe than did the early Jewish

Christians. And as if this were not
enough, Ngugi sketches vividly for the
reader an African convert to

Christianity, Joshua, who abhors ‘with

fanaticism anyone submitting to the

ritual: to Joshua, by submitting to

circumcision, his daughter Muthoni "had

sold herself to the devil"... (142)
Thus, both the early Christian community and the African
Christian community are home to "fanatics;" neither willing to
compromise, neither willing to adhere to or yield to the
precepts of the other--all strongly entrenched in dogma.

Why, then are these Gikuyu told that Jesus made such

statements against circumcision? This may be one of the many
instances in which people have used the Bible, and other
religious and philosophical ideologies, as instruments to
benefit their own personal agendas, and one in which
individuals or groups of people use scriptural texts to
express their' own, particular’ sentiments about. (usually)
controversial issues. It may also have been a manipulation of
doctrine to assist the missionaries in ending what they viewed
as an unusually painful and dangerous ritual for the Gikuyu
females.

One notable example of another use of Christian doctrine

as dogma to subjugate a people was the American slave system.

129

The slave holders and supporters of slavery were notorious in
their use of Biblical passages to keep their slaves docile and
obedient. Note the writings of Harriet Jacobs, for instance.
In her work, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she
recalls one sermon she and other slaves attended after the Nat
Turner Insurrection had occurred, in which several slaves
holders and their families had been killed. The Biblical text
for the sermon was "Servants, be obedient to them that are
your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,
in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ." Jacobs writes:

Pious Mr. Pike brushed up his hair till

it stood upright, and, in deep, solemn

tones began: Hearken, ye servants! Give

strict heed unto my words. You are

rebellious sinners. Your hearts are

filled with all manner of evil. 'This

the devil who tempts you. God is angry

with you, and will surely punish you, if

you don ' t forsake your wicked

ways...Instead of serving your masters

faithfully, which is pleasing in the

sight of your heavenly Master, you are

idle, and shirk your work. God sees you.

You tell lies. God hears you. (69)
The Reverend Mr. Pike continues his sermon by telling the
servants that they must return to their homes and work
diligently and happily for their masters because that is the
will of the Almighty, and that if they do not do this, they
will suffer the consequences of their sin at the hands of an
angry God. Jacobs and others like Frederick Douglass

recognized the use of deception and dogma, most especially

after they were able to read the Bible for themselves and

130
interpret their own.meanings, but this did not end these types
of teachings.

In his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Douglass discusses the
slave owners use of Biblical passages and religious doctrine
to keep their slaves submissive, controlled, and most
importantly, "in their place." He describes some of the
"religious" slaveholders as follows:

I should regard being the slave of a
religious master the greatest calamity
that could befall me. For of all
slaveholders with whom I have ever met,
religious slaveholders are the worst. I
have ever found them the meanest and
basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of
all others. It was my unhappy lot not
only to belong to a religious
slaveholder, but to live in a community
of such religionists...Mr. Weeden owned,
among others, a woman slave whose name I
have forgotten. This woman's back, for
weeks, was kept literally raw, made so by
the lash of this merciless, religious
wretch. (Douglass' emphasis, 85-6)

North American slave narratives are filled with discussions of
the cruelty of "religious" slave masters, as well as the use
of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures as a means of keeping
slaves subject to their masters. 5

In short, in their zeal to end the circumcision of

females, which they deemed not only as sinful, but also

"barbaric," the missionaries used measures similar to

 

5See the Works of Phyliss Wheatley, Octavia Rogers Albert, and
Harriet E.W. Wilson's account of her life as a "free" black in the
north for further examples.

131
slaveholders by only reading or teaching certain passages in
the Greek and Hebrew scriptures that would support their
claims.
And as a newly "born again" Christian, Nyambura is quick

and careful to respond to anything viewed as "sinful" in a
drastically negative manner. The "completely" converted
Nyambura, hence, feels the need to continue to plea with her
sister to reconsider her decision, using a "Christian"
philosophy as taught to her by her father and the missionaries
at Siriana as her touchstone:

Why do you want this? You know this is

the devil's work. ‘You know how he tempts

people. You and I are Christians. Were

we not baptized long ago? Are you not now

saved from sin? (29)
Once again, circumcision as 'sin' is the center of Nyambura's
argument. She is now firmly entrenched in the missionary-
style Christian doctrine presented by her father and the other
missionaries at Siriana, the location of the mission schools.
Philps continues his account, which reflects the feelings and
reactions of Nyambura:

The African Christian Church amongst the

Kikuyu early saw the sinfulness of this

revolting ~custom and took steps to

abolish it as far as professing

Christians were concerned, although it

could not interfere with its practice by

the heathen. On one occasion, amongst

others known to the writer, at an African

Conference held at Tumutumu in January

1920, the African leaders themselves

voted that this custom must be abolished

as far as the Christians were concerned.
(165)

132

Again, the prejudicial view of the missionaries stems from
their own misunderstanding of the people. Gadamer asserts
that

.A person who is trying to understand a

text is always projecting. He projects a

meaning for the text as a whole as soon

as some initial meaning emerges only

because he is reading the text with

particular expectations in regard to a

certain meaning. Working out this fore-

projection, which is constantly revised

in terms of what emerges as he penetrates

into the meaning, is understanding what

is there. (267)
Philps fails to realize "what is there," and to gain any
underStanding because he refuses to abandon his fore-
projection of negative imagery on the Gikuyu people and their
rituals. He sees no need to understand something he
describes as "disgusting," and "utterly revolting." There is
only the need to change it; to make certain that it exists no
more.

Ngugi presents a complex picture of a community that is
ideologically and spiritually at odds over the issue of female
circumcision; it is in a state of confusion, and change is
inevitable. This ritual will become the symbol of difference
between the communities; but the reasons for the division are
much more complicated. Like Ngugi's community, divided by the
river, there are»differences that caused.rifts between the old
and the new; youth and traditional wisdom, and the colonizer

and the colonized. The Christian missionaries seize upon this

moment of crisis and confusion in order to further alienate

133
the communities from each other. Now they will use other
methods of disenfranchisement to divide and, ultimately, to
conquer the communities.

The fight between the Christian missionaries and the
traditional Gikuyu will continue to escalate as time
continued. Kenyatta notes that the missionaries made several
attempts to obliterate completely the rite of female
circumcision in Gikuyu land. They used several methods,
including banning from school children whose parents will not
denounce the rite, or those who allowed their children to
participate in the ceremonies. He writes:

In 1929, after several attempts to break

down the custom, the Church of Scotland

Mission to Gikuyu issued an order

demanding that all their followers and

those who wish their children to attend

schools should pledge themselves that

they will not in any way adhere to or

support this custom, and that they will

not let their children undergo the

initiation rite. This raised a great

controversy between the missionary and

the Gikuyu. (130)
It is this "great controversy" that will become the central
argument in the novel after the death of Muthoni--the right of
the Gikuyu children to attend missionary schools. The
quotation above is important as it is illustrative of what
will happen to the community after the arrival of new ideas
and methods of advancement presented by the white society.
There are now questions of education and mobility facing the

people of the ridges. Only the children who attended the

missionary schools can learn the "ways" of the white man and

134

help the community survive the changes that are inevitable
with the change-of time, leadership, and the arrival of the
whites. But if their children are barred from the schools,
they will not be able to "advance." In his work, The Novel as
Transformation Myth, Kandioura Drame writes,

In The River Between, the prophecy is

interpreted by Chege as a myth of

education. School education in the ways

and secrets of the white man was expected

to bring freedom, and when the white

people denied the Gikuyu the use of their

schools, the Gikuyu built separate

schools. (36)
These separate schools will be the focus of the remainder of
the novel. However, returning to Joshua, as a convert, he
will decide to serve the Christian God at all costs, even if
it means cutting off himself (and his family, he thought) from
the traditional Gikuyu community in Kameno.

Joshua not only becomes a zealous supporter of all things
"Christian," but he also becomes a major force against the
traditions in his community. He begins to associate anything
traditional with "paganism." In several missionary accounts
noted previously, the authors frequently use the word "pagan;"
it seems only to have reference to those who were not
"Christian" rather than those who were not "religious" since

the majority of the missionary reports acknowledge the

spirituality of the different African communities. 5 In his

 

6See Bewes, Kikuyu Conflict, for a detailed example.
BibliBibliographic information available in the list of Works Cited
for this chapter.

135

harshness, Joshua becomes most unlike the Christ he purports
to emulate by developing a staunchly critical and totally
unforgiving spirit. In one of his most memorable moments,
Christ asked God the Father to forgive those who are
crucifying him, because as he said, "They know not what they
do" (Luke 23,34). Rice adds:

Joshua has learnt little from his

conversion to Christianity of the spirit

of love, forgiveness, and the need for

reconciliation, Instead, he suffers from

that most heinous of sins: pride in his

own spiritual superiority' and

incorruptibility. Joshua's obstinate

conviction of his own rectitude is one of

the chief factors that leads to the open

conflict between the two communities...

(128-29)
Hence, instead of developing that Greek scriptural spirit that
is considered one of the major ideals of the life of Christ,
"forgiving those who would hurt you," Joshua becomes just the
opposite. Conversely, Joshua can be viewed in the realm of
the Christ presented in the Gospels, who chastises the money
changers in the temple and the Sadducees and the Pharisees for
their "strict adherence" to their version of the scriptures,
and their non-acceptance of him. as the long-prophesied
"Messiah," foretold in the Hebrew scriptures. 7 However,
Christ does chastise these Jews for something similar to
Joshua's actions: they are all interpreting doctrine

dogmatically and without a cultural understanding or

appreciation for the transformation that will need to take

 

7See Isaiah for details.

136

place in order for the community and the religion to survive.
Joshua is immovable in his attitude toward the traditional
Gikuyu community. After "preaching the Gospel" as taught to
him by the missionaries at Siriana, Joshua is deeply disturbed
when the people do not heed his warnings and turn from their
'wicked ways':

But some went back to drinking; to

dancing the tribal ritual ; to

circumcision. And Joshua day by day grew

in wrath and vehemently condemned such

behavior. Perhaps the word had not taken

root. Joshua himself was strict and

observed the word to the letter.

Religious uniformity in his own home was

binding. (34)
This vehement attitude toward religious uniformity will drive
Joshua's daughter into an underground circumcision in the
sense that she will literally have to run away from home in
order to take part in the ritual. Again, is Ngugi arguing
against the ritual of circumcision, or is his argument
opposing those who would force young girls into a choice
between the worlds they feel bound to by loyalty, love,
religion, tradition, and family? This question remains
unanswered in my mind. However, according to Tobe Levin,

Ngugi's novel, in any case, deals with

female circumcision not from a feminist,

but from a humanist and progressive

standpoint, leading its readers gently

and ironically to understand that male
insistence on female 'rites' is displaced

137

impotence and is ultimately de-
constructive. (210)

I think it is true that Ngugi does not, in any manner,
address this rite from a "feminist" perspective. But does
Ngugi hint or’ even state that the rite» was "displaced
impotence" on the part of those males in the novel, or is he
addressing another issue? As Chimalum Moses Nwankwo states in
his "Dissertation", Women, Violence, and the Quest for Social

Justice in the Works of nggi wa Thiongo:

 

Forgiveness is the core of Christian

conduct and belief, but Joshua does not

forgive anyone, not even his daughter.

Circumcision is the ultimate unforgivable

sin, even though he and his wife were

circumcised before their conversion.

Joshua's prayers underline this un-

Christian quality. (67-68)
Thus, Ngugi addresses the theme of the "Christian" ethic of
Joshua in relation to his family and his community; he does
not seem to question the legitimacy or the human rights
associated with female circumcision. He shows that Joshua, in
his desire to be everything a "good Christian" should be,
comes instead to represent the reprehensible spirit of a
"self-righteous" person. He is without compassion or
understanding of his daughter's pain and confusion, and he
does not attempt, in any way, to help her come to terms with
her turmoil. Muthoni's desire is to be the best 'Gikuyu"woman

in a 'Christian"world that she can.be; however, she is forced

 

8See "Women as Scapegoats of Culture and Cult: A Activist's
View of Female Circumcision in Ngugi's The River Between, for
details.

138

to make a choice, and she chooses (at least outwardly) the
traditional ways. For Joshua, the act of female circumcision
is the ultimate blasphemy:

Joshua was against such initiation rites,

especially the female circumcision, which

was taking on a new significance in the

relationship between Makuyu and Kameno.

To Joshua, indulging in this ceremony was

the unforgivable sin. Had he not been

told to take up everything and leave

Egypt?... In fact, Joshua believed

circumcision to be so sinful that he

devoted a prayer to asking God to forgive

him for marrying a woman who had been

circumcised. (35)
But Joshua must be questioned in this instance because he does
not simply leave his personal "repentance" or his outrage
against the rite as a prayer for his own forgiveness, nor will
he tolerate this "blasphemous" act from anyone in the
community. He becomes so incensed at the prospect of more
initiation ceremonies that he actually prays to God for His
wrath to come down upon the young people who will take part in
the ritual. He states:

0, God. Look at their preparations. 0,

God, why don't you descend on this wicked

generation and finish their evil ways?. . .

Bring down the fire and thunder, Bring

down the flood. (37)

In his account of the Protestant missionaries, Philps

presents what he refers to as "actual histories" of people
who, like Joshua, had turned from their "wicked ways" and come

to wholeheartedly and unquestioningly accept "The Word of

God." He writes:

139

I never thought that I would name the
name of Jesus in any other than
blasphemy, I who have called Him a
European, and an Indian. But now Jesus
is a Reality, and my Savior. I rejoice
as I speak His name. God has preserved
me from. danger and death many times
without number. Now I want to witness
for Him alone. "I" bears the marks of
sin still on his face, but the light of
Jesus shows through all the sin marks,
and how he witnesses! (36-7)

Like Joshua, this convert referred to as "I" hates his
traditions. He refutes the tribal markings on his face, and he
is a vehement "witness" for Christ. Joshua uses his prayer to
ask God to destroy the enemy, (those who are now undergoing
the same circumcision ceremony he and his wife had already
participated in) rather than "praying for those who would
despitefully use you" (St. Matthew 5:44) as the Greek
scriptures declare. Again, is this Ngugi's indictment of
Christianity, or just the brand of Christianity taught to the
Gikuyu by the missionaries? Nwankwo believes that
The treatment of Joshua in the novel
suggests not the pacific and virtuous
nature of the convert of a credible
religion but a temperament that
approaches neurosis and paranoia. He is
a convert without the godliness of
conversion. The common fears of man are
with him.always and these range from fear
of the wrath of his erstwhile friends to
fear of the punishment of his Christian
God. (65-66)
Although I do not agree with Nwankwo in his assertion
that Ngugi is using Joshua as a representative of a religion
that is not "credible," I do agree that Joshua is the

proverbial person who does not "practice what he preaches."

140

His adamant desire to follow Christ is overshadowed by his
desire to be "holier than thou" at the expense of all those
around him, especially his family. He is much like the man
described by Nwankwo, most notably, a "convert without the
godliness of conversion." His "transformation" thus, is not
totally spiritual, but lends itself only to outward actions
generated by a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the
life and actions of one who claims to be like Christ.

Joshua's most "un-Christian-like" behavior is shown in
his treatment of his own daughters, Muthoni because she
disobeys him and does not return home after he sends for her,
and Nyambura because she is the bearer of the "bad" tidings.
Joshua probably feels that his actions are not only correct,
but also, according to Greek and Hebrew scriptures, they are
"expected" by his religious community; but to the traditional
community he is viewed as one who causes the wrath of the
spirit and the ancestors to befall his own family by turning
away from the ancestors to the»Christian.Godu .Again, like the
character Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, there is no room for
compromise, even at the cost of his own family. There are
others, including David Sandgren, 'who have studied the
Christian influence on the people of Kenya and who have come
to conclusions similar to Nwankwo's assertions.

In his discussion entitled Christianity and the Kikuyu,
David Sandgren writes that

Education and medicine were considered
only a means to the desired end of

141

Christian conversion, .AIM (Africa Inland

Mission) schools taught the fundamentals

of education so that school attenders

could read the Bible. AIM doctors

conducted daily worship services among

their patients, and led patients to

believe that attendance of services was a

prerequisite for 'treatment...(57) A

theology of the whole person was not

operative among the AIM; they were

interested in African souls, not in the

conduct of their minds or bodies.

Emphasis on evangelism. and. conversion

fostered great insensitivity to East

African culture and society. (23)
According to Sandgren, then, the emphasis of this missionary
organization (AIM) was to "save the souls" of the Africans
without any regard for the mind, body, (or the communities'
survival). There was no attempt to integrate tradition and
Christianity; to the contrary, the Gikuyu are presented with
ultimata--traditional ways or missionary ways. Joshua chooses
the nussionary teachings. It is Joshua's disregard for the
total spiritual, emotional, and psychological being of his own
daughter that will force Muthoni into her undercover
circumcision, and her sister will have to bear the initial
brunt of the wrath of Joshua.

After realizing that Muthoni is missing after an evening
out, Joshua questions Nyambura about her sister's whereabouts.
With fear, she reveals her sister's secret, and is quickly
punished by her father. Her knowledge of Muthoni's intent
makes her accountable for her sister's actions:

'I think she has gone to my aunt at

Kameno."
'To do what?‘

142

There was no help for it. She looked at
the door ready to run out as she gathered
her courage to say the one ominous word--
'Circumcision'

'What!‘

'To be circumcised.‘

Before she could run out Joshua was on
her. He glared at her, shaking her all
the time. He was almost mad and small
foams of saliva could be seen at the
sides of his mouth. (40-41)

This description of Joshua as an almost "rabid dog" with
"foams of saliva" coming from his mouth is striking. He has,
in his passion, lost control of his senses; he has taken on
the characteristics of a "mad dog," and has decided that his
remaining daughter must atone for the sins of the wayward
Muthoni by becoming the principal object of his rage. He has
become like an animal by allowing his fervor and zeal, rather
than his intellect and compassion, to control his actions.
Nwankwo views this deed as yet another in a long line of "un-
Christian-like" conduct. He writes that

Temperance is also a cardinal Christian

virtue but none of it is ever reflected

in Joshua. When Muthoni disappears and

his other daughter, Nyambura, breaks the

news that the disappearance is for

circumcision, the irreligious fury" of

Joshua is quite interesting to watch.

The newsbearer is regarded almost as much

a culprit as the offender. (68)
Nyambura is, thus, the victim of her father's displaced anger.
But his anger is not simply because Muthoni has disobeyed him.
His major concern, instead, is how he will be viewed in the

Christian community since his daughter has decided to take

part in the ritual he has so adamantly fought against. His

143
concern is mainly for asserting his position as the leader of
the converts in the missionary community, even if it means
totally ostracizing his own daughter. Attempting to retrieve
his daughter in his only known manner, by force, Joshua sends
Nyambura to Kameno. However, Nyambura returns home with
ominous news, and Joshua is, once again met with Muthoni's
rejection of him and her insistence upon becoming a "genuine"
woman:
On the following day Nyambura brought the
sad news that Muthoni had refused to
return home. Joshua sat still as he
listened to this. Already he felt
ashamed for being caught last night by
the devil, unawares. He had now prayed,
asking for strength never to be caught
again in slumber....From.that day Muthoni
ceased to exist for him, in his heart.
She had brought an everlasting disgrace
to him and his house, which he had meant
to be an example of what a Christian home
should grow into. All right. Let her go
back to Egypt. (42)
Muthoni's desire to take part in the ritual is viewed.as a sin
and a disgrace by her father. The use of Egypt as a synonym
for the world of sin is important. In the Bible (Exodus),
Moses had. literally to lead the Israelites from their bondage
in Egypt after many battles with Pharaoh, 'Only a few of these
people would, eventually, arrive in "The Promised Land."
According to Exodus, after Moses led the Israelites from their
bondage in Egypt, they' became restless and filled ‘with
despair. Instead of honoring the God who had delivered them
from their captivity, they built a golden calf to worship. In

His anger, God speaks to Moses thus:

144

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get
thee down: For thy people, which thou
hast brought out of the land of Egypt,
have corrupted themselves: They have
turned aside quickly out of the way which
I commanded them: they have made them a
molten calf, and have worshipped it, and
have sacrificed thereunto, and said,
These be thy gods, 0 Israel, which have
brought thee up out of Egypt. And the
Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this
people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked
people: Now therefore let me alone, that
my wrath may wax hot against then: and I
will make of thee a great nation. (32:
7-10)

Moses pleads with his God as the story continues, and God has
mercy upon the children of Israel. Joshua, however, does not
pray for mercy for his people; instead, he feels that they
should be severely punished for their disobedience--for their
return to the "idolatrous" ritual of circumcision. He feels
that the missionaries have led him and his people away from
their Egypt of ancestor worship and "pagan" rites such as
circumcision. But those who will return to the rituals,
(circumcision and the ceremonies that precede it) anyone who
will look back at the sinful ways abandoned in 'Egypt,’ Joshua
feels that they will encounter only (ultimate and complete
destruction. The Biblical chapter of Jude also supports this
assertion:

I will therefore put you in remembrance,

though ye once knew this, how the Lord,

having saved the people out of the land

of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that

believed not. (5)

Thus, Ngugi presents the reader with a zealous Christian

who does not completely live the life he purports, although he

145

firmly believes that cutting off his daughter by allowing her
to "cease from existence" in his life, and letting her go
"back to Egypt" will be restitution for his being caught
"unawares" by "the devil." I believe that this is Ngugi's
indictment, not. of’ Christianity, but of individuals ‘who
manipulate a religious, political, or social institution or
ideology to present ideas that will later be used to colonize
the minds, bodies, and souls of the indigenous peoples; to
further the political, social, financial, or even spiritual
agenda of one group of individuals at the expense of another
group of people. As noted at the beginning of this essay,
Ngugi himself states that when he wrote this work he was
"deeply Christian," but he later abandoned Christianity. This
may explain his reasons for not totally indicting Christianity
in this novel, while he blatantly attacks it in other novels
like Weep Not, Child. This is a "prejudice" that Ngugi
develops as a result of his personal experience with
Christianity and the missionary communities in his own
village.

The novel is, however, an indictment of those who would
ostracize, humiliate, and disassociate one group of people
from another in the name of any god. This is similar to the
discussion of Christianity and colonization presented in

Chinua Achebe's novels, Things Fall Apart and.Arrow*of God; it

 

is an ideology that would indict all things traditional and

"African"--all the things the people of the village believed

146
to be important and.worthwhile. This brand of teaching would
ultimately divide communities, families, and friends across
religious and ideological rivers.

Yet, despite with all the rage of her father, threatened
with familial ostracism, and with extreme division in the
community, Muthoni still insists upon being circumcised, The
ritual comes to symbolize much.more than.womanhood to her--it
is also a symbol of tribal pride and loyalty to the ancestors.
She can not understand why, if her parents are both
circumcised, they can now fight against the rite:

'Father and mother are circumcised. Are
they not Christians? Circumcision did not
prevent them from being Christians. I
too have embraced the white man's faith.

However, I know it is beautiful, oh so
beautiful to be initiated into*womanhoodi

You learn the ways of the tribe. Yes,
the white man's God does not quite
satisfy me. I want, I need something

more. My life and your life are here, in
the hills, that you and I know.‘ (29-30)

Muthoni continues by voicing her belief that the man who is
living at Siriana with all the women at the mission, must be
married to those women, and that he, as a Gikuyu man, will
'surely not marry' a woman who is not circumcised. She is
unable to reconcile ‘within. her spirit her father's new
attitude toward the circumcision of women, nor can she
comprehend a society in which women lived.with men outside of
marriage, or in a celibate manner (note her reaction to the

women living with the male missionary at Siriana). Lloyd

147

Williams notes in the essay, "Religion and Life in James
Ngugi's The River Between" that

Muthoni knows that religion in and for

itself is nothing. She says that she is

a Christian. She does not wish to leave

the faith. But she realises that her

life is inseparably bound up in the ways

and life of the tribe, and that

Christianity cannot be meaningful to her

if it attempts to meet her outside the

tribe, outside of her life within the

tribe. (147)
It is her desire to become like her father and mother that
drives Muthoni to her final act of "betrayal" and.desperation-
-her return to Kameno to have the rite performed with her age-
group. This ceremony is of the utmost importance to the
psychological development of Muthoni. Without it, her life
has no real meaning within the Christian or Gikuyu world.
Williams continues:

James Ngugi, too, is aware that

Christianity must encounter man where he

is and lives, that it can be a meaningful

faith only as it comes to man within the

context of his life in the world. (147)
Thus, as earlier stated, Christianity in.and of itself can.not
have total meaning for those like Muthoni; instead, it has to
meet them in their own realm of understanding, or within the
context of a lifestyle that they can appreciate. It can not
totally obliterate the culture, traditions, and values that
are of the utmost concern, and which represent the pride and

individuality of the community. Instead, it has to bring

those important pieces into a sphere of comprehension which

148
the inhabitants can accept without having to give up their
total selves, their values, and their traditions. Rice adds:
All knowledge is theoretical. What we
see, what we understand is within the
context of a frame of reference
determined by our experiences which are
invested with symbolic significance by
the culture in which we live. Thus, for
Muthoni, the nuns at Siriana. are the
missionary's wives; nor can she conceive
of any 'tribe' that does not practice
circumcision, for it is only through

circumcision that "a girl can grow into
womanhood." (128)

Muthoni does not live in a world in which women live celibate
lives without men, marriage, or children. Similarly, after
being socialized to believe that only girls' who are
circumcised would grow into full "womanhood" and become true
parts of Gikuyu culture, she can not picture her life as a
part of the "uncircumcision". Muthoni and her other age-mates
are'met with the new'Christian.doctrine that views this ritual
as an abomination before God. But, as Rice notes, her world
and her knowledge comes from within a traditional society and,
at least initially, a traditional Gikuyu home. 'This ritual is
the symbol of adulthood to her society and thus, she can not
and will not allow her father's new found faith to destroy
something she holds dear and describes as "oh so beautiful."
As Jomo Kenyatta states,

No proper Gikuyu would dream of marrying

a girl who has not been circumcised, and

vice versa. It is taboo for a Gikuyu man

or woman to have sexual relations with

someone who has not undergone this

operation. If it happens, a man of a
woman must go through a ceremonial

149

purification, korutwo thahu or

gotahikiomegiro--namely, ritual vomiting

of the evil deed. (132)
Understanding this great "taboo" and not wanting to become a
part of the community cut off from her heritage, wanting to
marry a Gikuyu man and live a Gikuyu life, Muthoni not only
feels that there is no other option for her, but she is also
bound by love to the tradition.

With these feelings of duty in mind, Muthoni joins the
other girls in the dancing ceremonies prior to the ritual.
Her emotions as a sensual, sexual being about to join the
adult world are expressed through her movements and songs:

And then Muthoni appeared on the scene.

The singing increased in volume and

excitement. And she was a wonder. ‘Where

had she learnt this?... She danced, sang

describing love; telling of relationships

between a woman and a man; scenes and

‘ words of lovemaking. (49)

All spectators and participants wonder where Muthoni has
gathered the strength and the conviction to take such a
drastic step away from her family, and how she seems to know
the words and the movements associated with the dance better
than all the other participants. Tobe Levin notes that, "it
is in light of her foremothers' independence that Muthoni's
controversial decision, to submit to clitoridectomy, has been
judged. One is tempted to censure her, but disapproval may be
softened.if her gesture is seen as an act of rebellion against

her father's rigid code" (213) . I dojagree that Muthoni's act

is a "rebellious" one, but I also believe that Ngugi presents

150

a young woman who not only feels the need.to rebel against her
hypocritical father, but also a teenager who is bound by love
to her mother and her "foremothers" to continue their
traditions. Ngugi even suggests that much of Muthoni's
knowledge of the dance and the songs may have come from her
own mother, Miriama. He writes of Miriama:

Her faith and belief in God were coupled

with her fear of Joshua. But that was

religion and it was the way things were

ordered. However, one could still tell

by her eyes that this was a religion

learnt and accepted; inside the true

Gikuyu woman was sleeping. (39)
It is quite possible that this "sleeping" Gikuyu. woman
secretly taught the songs and dances to her daughter, and
instills within her a pride for her heritage. Miriama has
accepted the new religion out of a learned passivity and
"fear" of her husband. But she is like her daughter inside;
she desires for her true self to be revealed as a traditional
Gikuyu woman. Muthoni sees and experienced the beauty of the
dance with her mother's inherited and experienced spirit; but
it is this part of the ceremony that Joshua and the other
Christians find most reprehensible because they view the
dances as "sexually suggestive." Nwankwo writes

The ultimate humiliation for Joshua is

the running away of Muthoni. The

sexually suggestive description of her

ritual dance is something for people to

think about. The dance enables the

reader to relate the girl's decision

properly to the disgusting bigotry

responsible for it. Joshua, in fiction

or reality, would definitely not bear to
see or hear he daughter "jumping and

151

swinging her hips from side to side"
(p.40) in public. (70)

Although I feel that the words "disgusting bigotry" are a bit
harsh for descriptions of Joshua's actions, and I would
probably feel more comfortable with him being characterized as
a "misguided" figure who blindly follows in the footsteps of
the missionary leaders, I do agree with Nwankwo that the
imagery and the sensuality of the dance are important. As
Williams notes:

In the character of Joshua, Ngugi

portrays the religious law given, the man

who accepts without question the religion

handed down to him by those he considers

his superiors, the man who feels it is

his duty to impose the acceptance of the

same religion on those under his

control... (152)
Thus, to the misguided Joshua, anything viewed as sexually
suggestive is yet another affront to his Christian morality,
and Muthoni became his asymbolic ram for sacrifice and
slaughter, .As earlier stated, Muthoni feels that this part of
the ritual is most enjoyable and she expresses her feelings
of changing from a 'girl' into a 'woman' in a manner that
captivates all those around her. However, Muthoni's erotic
enjoyment will last only a brief moment--she will pay a high
price for her initiation.

After the dancing ends and Muthoni is circumcised, the

book takes a dramatic turn. Instead of properly recuperating

like the other girls of her age-group, her wound becomes

infected and even seems to "expand." This is an allegorical

152

comment on the "expansion" of the issue of female circumcision
to mythic proportions in the communities of Kameno and Makuyu.
It is as if the wound is speaking for itself--it is crying out
for all to hear of the injustice and assault on the mind,
body, and spirit of young Muthoni. Gadamer asserts that

All mythical consciousness is still

knowledge, and if it knows about divine

powers, then it has progressed beyond

mere trembling before power...but also

beyond a collective life contained in

magic rituals...It knows about itself,

and in this knowledge it is no longer

simply outside itself. (274)
The wound is now empowered because it is expanding beyond the
understanding of the original circumstance. It is mythic in
its use in furthering the ideologies of both the Christians
and the people who choose to worship and live by the rules of
the ancestors. Ngugi continues:

As days went by, Muthoni became worse.

Waiyaki, who was a frequent visitor, grew

more troubled. Muthoni was wasting away

so fast. Now only her eyes seemed to

have any life. Something had to be done.

He was now convinced that the herbsawhich

the aunt gave to Muthoni would not cure

her. (58)
It becomes apparent that Muthoni will not survive the surgery-
-the‘wound will envelope her, and.it*will exist, not "outside"
the community, but as an ever-present reminder of the
struggle. This raises another important issue: why does the
author allow Muthoni to die? Is it a continued indictment of
the missionary-type Christianity and dogma practiced in Gikuyu

land?

153
Ngugi's presentation of Joshua's "Christian" ethic leaves

the reader with little doubt that he does not support this
harsh brand of 'Christian' teaching. Cook notes

The novel clearly deplores the rigid,

doctrinaire rejection by hard line

Christians of all traditional beliefs and

values. Joshua's evangelical work is

essentially dehumanizing and mechanical.

he is subservient to ideas which he makes

no claim to have mastered(:). (31)
Ngugi was writing out of a difficult context at best. Being
reared in a "Christian" community with "Christian" values,
yet, in the long run, forsaking his "Christian" name and even
the language of the colonizer for the Gikuyu language, this
conflict is understandable and even expected. (7)
7. Ngugi adamantly opposes the use of any "foreign" language
in the production of African literature, and has written
several works, including Decolonizigg the Mind as
representative essays of his thoughts on this matter.
The Christianity that Ngugi approves of at this time is one
that has to meet him.at the most "African" level of his being.
He, thus, presents a community that desires to remain true to
its uniqueness, its' "AfricanneSs," without giving all to the
colonizer. But Ngugi will, later in life, question his own
belief in a Christian God, and abandon the religion of his
childhood. However, Ngugi's view of female circumcision seems
to remain unclear.

One may deduce that Ngugi views female circumcision in a

negative manner because of the death of Muthoni. But

154

considering the fact that all of the other girls who
participated in the ritual survive and thrive, and are viewed
as healthy after their wounds begin to heal, this is not such
an obvious appraisal. So why, then, is Muthoni allowed to
die? In his discussion of the work, Robson notes that:

Muthoni's death sparks off in the ridges

the sort of conflict going on in

Waiyaki's mind, The event is interpreted

differently' by' different sides... The

reaction of the Siriana Mission to

Muthoni's death is to regard it as a

punishment for the perpetuation of such a

brutal ritual... Muthoni's death also has

an effect which carries over in to the

remainder of the novel giving her a role

as a martyr to the tribe. (11)
As Robson continues, he recalls a radio conversation between
Ngugi and Robert Serumagu, in which Ngugi remarked that the
person who becomes a martyr "is not the ldser." Ngugi believes
that once a person become a martyr (he mentions Christ and
Peter) those who are left behind to carry on their mission
become even more adamant in their desire to fulfill the goals
of their deceased mentor. This is what Muthoni's death meant
to Ngugi (Robson), and from this, I feel safe in saying that
Ngugi does not, in any manner, use Muthoni's death as a way to
speak literally against the circumcision of girls. Ngugi
seems, to the contrary, to mythologize Muthoni and her

circumstance:

Within a few weeks the name of Muthoni
was a legend. Stories grew up around her
name. Some people said that she had not
actually died of the wound, but that she
had been poisoned by the missionaries.

155

Indeed, one of the boys who had taken her
there had seen this. (67)

In her death and martyrdom, Muthoni embodies all the beauty,
love, and dedication to her community which Ngugi discusses,
and.which Kenyatta describes in his work. Ngugi's indictment
is of the systems that would have Muthoni choose; but Muthoni
never really chooses. Even on her deathbed, she says to her

sister:

'I am still a Christian, see, a Christian
in the tribe. I am.a woman and will grow
big and healthy in the tribe'...
'Waiyaki,‘ she turned to him, 'tell
Nyambura I see Jesus. And I am a woman,
beautiful in the tribe(...)" She had died
clinging to that image, to that obsession
which had led her from Makuyu to Kameno.
(61)

This "obsession" is to try to remain a Christian, to see

Jesus, but also to be a "beautiful woman" in the tribe. Rice

adds that

...Muthoni dies triumphant, proclaiming
her victory, unaware that she is an
ironic symbol of the ambiguous future
that awaits the tribe. If it can adapt
to change*without losing its identity, if
it can make sacrifices, there is always
the hope that the tribe will be able to
rejuvenate and regenerate its spiritual
core and thereby ensure its survival, by
fusing what is best in Christianity and
the white man's culture; if not, it will
be torn apart by internal dissension, and
will disintegrate and die. (130)

In her "triumphant" death, Muthoni's actions will further
divide the community on an issue mentioned earlier: mission

school education.

156

Thus, Ngugi presents the portrait of traditional Gikuyu
life, interrupted and forever altered after the arrival of the
white men and the Christian missionaries. His indictment is
not of the ritual of circumcision; to the contrary, it is of
the convictions of a "Christian" community that will use its
beliefs and dogmatic convictions to divide and conquer from
within. It is a critique of the prejudice that comes without
the knowledge or recognition of what Gadamer calls fore-
thought, and it is a prejudice without a desire to understand
the live and situations of the "others." Muthoni will lose her
family as a result of the strict teachings of the missionary
community. This community, represented most adamantly by
Joshua, will utilize Christian doctrine as a colonizing agent,
and eventually, with the unbending pride of the people, cause
the communities to remain perpetually and irrevocably divided

along spiritual, literal, and ideological lines.

CHAPTER THREE
BRIDGING THE GAP WITH TASHI
ALICE WALKER AND THE "WHOLE STORY" OF FEMALE CIRCUMCISION
IN POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY

We grasp the meaning and structure of a
literary work only through its relation
to archetypes which are themselves
abstracted from a long series of texts
which they are, so to speak, the
invariants. These archetypes... encode
the uses of that "secondary language"
(Lotman) which we call '1iterature.‘ The
literary works relation to these
archetypal models is always one of
realization, transformation, or
transgression. (34, Laurent Jenny, "The
strategy of form.")

In order to understand the "meaning and structure" of any
work, we must first understand its relation to the
"archetypes" from which it emerges. This Dissertation thus
far has investigated the works of Flora NWapa and Ngugi wa
Thiongo, and their presentations and representations of the
issue of female circumcision. As noted in the "Introduction"
to this work, only' after reading .Alice ‘Walker's novel,
Possessing The Secret of Joy, did I feel that the whole
stories of Ngugi's Muthoni and Nwapa's Efuru had been told.
What seems to be most obviously missing from Ngugi's and
Nwapa's portrayals is the deep and severe physical, emotional
and psychological anguish experienced by women who undergo the
circumcision operation/ritual. Walker "transforms" Nwapa's
Efuru and Ngugi's Muthoni in her ‘work into the deeply
disturbed and emotionally scarred figure of Tashi. Walker's
work, then, is not merely a 'reproduction' of Ngugi's and
Nwapa's ideas, but it is a re-analysis and re-development of

157

158
the concept of woman as the ultimate sacrifice for culture,
and the detrimental effects this sacrifice has on the
community of women as a whole.

Walker's novel tells the horrific story of the physical,
emotional, and psychological journey into terror of Tashi, a
young Olinkan girl, who is literally and figuratively
destroyed by her initiation by pharonic circumcision into the
fictive community. Her operation could, at best, be described
as what Asma El Dareer calls a "tight infibulation," in the
work discussed in the previous chapters. 9

Walker's presentation of Tashi's circumcision and its'
aftermath are central in the novel. The quest for Tashi's
individual justice seems to take a back seat in a brief
section about the theories surrounding the intentional spread
of AIDS in Black Africa. However, returning to the destructive
repercussion of female circumcision, Walker writes an account
that could be the narrative of any of the women and families
whose lives have been forever and irrevocably traumatized
after a female member is circumcised. Notably, many of the
women in the studies written by Olayinka Koso-Thomas, Asma El

Dareer, and.Hanny'Lightfoot-Klein have noted similar physical

 

9See Asma El Dareer's work, Woman, Why Do You Weep? Female
Circumcision.and Its' Consequences, for details. See list of Works
Cited for bibliographic information.

159
and.mental manifestations of pain, suffering, and humiliation
as Tashi after they are circumcised. m
It is obvious from Walker's deeply disturbing
interpretation of the tradition that, because the ritual has
such overwhelmingly damaging effects on women, she believes
that the eradication of female circumcision is the only
resolution to the physical, emotional, and psychological
problems that face ‘women like her fictional Tashi. And
although Tashi is traumatically scarred, both physically and
emotionally by the ritual itself, her scar and suffering
transform her in the end to one who truly knows what is "the
Secret of Joy." This idea of transforming woman by her scars
is one that Walker has utilized before in her writing. For
example, in her essay, "Curative Domains: Women, Healing and
History in Black Woman's Narratives," Professor Athena Vrettos
writes that
Throughout In Search of Our' Mothers'
Gardens," Walker envisions herself in the
role of healer; like Rebecca she creates
a world out of her ancestral scars. By
reclaiming the history of black women,
those "creatures so mutilated.in body, so
dimmed and confused by pain," and

redefining their scars as "the springs of

 

10See the "Introduction" of this work, section entitled "Women
and Tradition," for details.

160

creativity for which there was no

release," Walker (embodies the healer's

ability to forge spiritual bonds with the

past. (455-56)
Walker's role is similar in Possessing the Secret of Joy. She
takes on the character of 'healer/savior' of the women whose
bodies have been mutilated, and whose spirits have been
destroyed by female circumcision. She redefines Tashi's scars
in the end because although Tashi has experienced a horror
worse than death, she triumphs, even in her own death, by
taking control of her life and giving meaning to her
suffering.

Walker's presentation is not, however, unproblematic. It
seems to me that she presents the character of the tsunga
(Walker's word)/circumcisor in such a horrific manner that it
is almost impossible for anyone to feel any sympathy for her,
even though she (the circumcisor) had also to undergo a
horrible and painful circumcision. And it is also problematic
to me that she seems to move away, in this work, from the
realm she defines as "womanist" to an ideology that is more
profoundly "feminist" in her presentation of Tashi's dilemma.
These issues will be discussed further in this analysis.
However, returning to the novel, Tashi's experiences
articulate various dilemmas which are not vocalized by the

characters of Muthoni and Efuru, but Walker's presentation is,

161

without question, connected to her predecessors. But Jenny
continues by stating that

The term intertextuality designates this

transposition of one or more systems into

another, but since it has often been

understood in the banal sense of 'source

criticism' of a text we prefer the term

transposition, which has the advantage of

indicating that the passage from. one

signifying system to another requires a

new articulation of the thetic—-of

enuciative and denotative positionality.

(39, Jenny's emphasis)
It is not my attempt, then, as one who reads "intertextually"
to present Walker's work as just another segment of the 'ur'
or 'original' texts, but I must acknowledge the individuality
of reflection and 'positionality' in her analysis. Walker's
document "transposes" the earlier ideas of Nwapa and Ngugi,
not by merely repeating their ideas, but by bringing her own
beliefs and further investigations of ritual into the
conversation. To Walker, female circumcision is the utmost
imposition of patriarchy, and she leaves the reader with no
doubt of her personal reasons for writing and publishing the
novel. In her latest work, a book which documents the
details of a film she has produced with the help of director

Pratibha Parmar, about female circumcision, Warrior Marks:

 

Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women,
Walker writes that

I wrote my novel (Possessingythe Secret
of Joy) as a duty to my conscience as an
educated African-AmerIndian woman . To
write a book such as this, about a woman
such as Tashi, about a subject such as
genital mutilation, is in fact, as far as

162

I am concerned, the reason for my

education. Writing it worked my every

nerve, as we say in African-American

culture about those areas of struggle

that pull from us every ounce of creative

energy and pull every last shred of

illusion. I know only one thing about

the "success" of my effort. I believe

with all my heart that there is at least

one baby girl born on the planet today

who will not know the pain of genital

mutilation because of my work. And that

in this one instance, at least, the pen

will prove mightier that the

circumcisor's knife. (25)
It is apparent from this quotation that the novel was written
with this goal in mind: to assist in the argument for the
eradication of female circumcision. As she notes, her
"success" depends solely on her ability to keep at least one
female child from experiencing the trauma of circumcision. She
wants, then, to eliminate the practice, by erasing the pain of
one small girl at a time. This does not seem, in any way, to
be the purpose of the discussions of Ngugi nor Nwapa.

Walker's discussion of female circumcision, then, as well

as her 'reason' for publication of the novel, is vastly
dissimilar from the portrayals discussed previously by Ngugi
and Nwapa. Although both of those works are filled with
ambiguous sentiments regarding the issue, at no time does
Ngugi nor Nwapa blatantly attack the tradition, nor do they
criticize the people who participate or perform the
ceremonies. Walker does however, from cover to cover of
Possessingythe Secret of Joy, attack, deconstruct, and indict

female circumcision and its cultural significance within the

163

fictional‘Olinkan African community. Even in Warrior Marks,
Walker does not seem willing to address some of the complex
social and cultural issues that pertain to many discussions of
female circumcision because, I think, in her analysis, there
is no cultural, religious, or social argument strong enough to
support the continuation of a ritual that does so much
physical, spiritual, and mental harm to women.

However, in Warrior Marks, Walker's co-author, Pratibha
Parmar, addresses the issue of what she calls a "culturally
imperialistic" view of female circumcision as follows:

The fear of being labeled cultural
imperialists and racists ,has made many
women reluctant to say or do anything
about female genital mutilation. Except
for the writings and voices of a handful
of white feminists over the last decade
or so, there has been a deafening
silence, a refusal to engage either
critically or actively with this taboo
area of feminist concern. Clearly,
female genital mutilation is a painful,
complex, and difficult issue, which
involves questions of cultural and
national identities, sexual,' human
rights, and the rights of women and girls
to live safely and healthy. But this
complexity is not an excuse to sit by and
do nothing... This reluctance to
interfere with other cultures leaves
African children at risk of mutilation.
If we do not speak out, we collude in the
perpetuation of this violence. (94-95,
Parmar's emphasis)

First of all, I must note that a vast number of African women
whom. I have quoted in this study, who have themselves
experienced female circumcision, including Nawal El Sadaawi,

Asma El Dareer, and Awa Thiam, have written works which have

164
discussed the "horrors" of female circumcision. Thus,
Parmar's assertion here that only a "handful of white
feminists" have addressed the issue in the past decade is
simply inaccurate. Nevertheless, in her analysis of female
circumcision, Parmar confronts the issue of the difficulty
associated with "interfering" with cultural traditiOns, and
she does acknowledge that the issue is a sensitive one that
involves "questions of cultural and national identities," as
well as other matters. Although this paper cannot attempt to
answer all of the philosophical, moral, and social issues
connected with the ritual of female circumcision, it can
investigate the vastly different, though intertextually
connected, presentation of ritual by Walker, as well as
confronting some of the problems associated with her
explication of female circumcision and the circumcisors.
Walker also seems, in this instance, to deviate from the
werld and the lives of women whom she refers to and defines as
"womanists." In the volume of essays entitled In Search of Our
Mothers' Gardens, Walker defines a "womanist" as follows:
A black feminist or feminist of color.
From the black folk expression.of mothers
to female children, "You acting

womanish," i.e., like a woman... A woman
who loves other women, sexually and or

nonsexually... Committed to survival and
wholeness of entire people, male and
female . Not a separatist , except

periodically, for health. (xi)
A "womanist," then, is unlike a "feminist" in her commitment

to the "wholeness of entire people." Also, in a recent essay

165

which discusses and defines the term "womanism", "Womanism:
The Dynamics of the Contemporary Black Female Novel,"
Chikweyne Okonjo Ogunyemi writes

Black womanism is a philosophy that

celebrates black roots, the ideals of

black life, while giving a balanced

presentation of black womandom. It

concerns itself as much with the black

sexual power tussle as with the world

power structures that subjugate blacks.

Its ideal is for black unity where every

black person has.a modicum of power and

so can be a "brother" or a "sister" or a

"father" or a "mother" to the other.

This philosophy has a mandalic core: its

aim is the dynamism of the wholeness and

self-healing that one sees in the

positive, integrative endings of womanist

novels. (240)
Walker seems to deviate from this, and her own definition of
a "womanist" ideology in her interpretation of Tashi's
circumstances. It could be, however, that because Tashi
experienced severe»physical and.health.problemc as a result of
her operation, Walker does remain true to this womanist
ideology, as she does state that a womanist may‘ be a
separatist for "health" reasons. It could also be that
Walker's ideas about "womanism" are still evolving, and that
she has come to see that even a "womanist," must at times,
forsake the needs of society in general for the greater needs
of womankind in particular. This deviation could also be
representative of Walker's own ambiguity in thought and
ideology about the "feminist" movement.

In one essay from In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens

entitled "One Child of One's Own," Walker articulates some of

166
the problems associated with the "white feminist" movement,
but she intimates also that the "real" feminists are those who
are not "racists."’ She is critical of "white feminists," but
if her assertions are accurate, is there really a need for
"womanism" in her mind?

Our mother understood that in America
white women who are truly feminist--for
whom racism is inherently an
impossibility--are largely outnumbered by
average American white women for whom
racism...is an accepted way of life...
What was required of women of color was
to learn to distinguish between who was
the real feminist and.who was not, and to
exert energy in feminist collaborations
onlwahen there is little risk of wasting
it. The rigors of this discernment will
inevitably keep throwing women of color
back upon themselves, where there is,
indeed, so much. work, of a feminist
nature, to be done. From the stopping of
clitoridectomy and "female circumcision"
in large parts of Arabia and Africa to
the heating of freezing urban tenements
in which poor mothers and children are
trapped alone to freeze to death. (379)

This ambiguity in Walker's work is difficult for me because I
adhere to the "womanist" ideology Walker defines in the
"Introduction" to the aforementioned volume of essays, as well
as Ogunyemi's supplementary interpretation of the term. But
why is there a need for this "womanist" ideology if the "true
feminists" are not racists?, and if they are not racist, they
must and will, therefore, address the needs of all women?
Perhaps this confrontation with female circumcision and
between feminism/womanism is an example of what Walker refers

to in the novel as the "bluntness" of the African American

167

woman, and not merely a thinly veiled feminism. Walker notes
in the novel that this is one of the things that Tashi says
she does "not like" about African American women:

I was reminded of a quality in African-

American women that I did not like at

all. A bluntness. A going to the heart of

the matter even if it gave everyone

concerned a heart attack. Rarely did

black women in America exhibit the

subtlety of the African woman. (117)
By going to the "heart of the matter" of female circumcision,
Walker does put the very difficult issue in the public view.
Is Walker here, then, deconstructing herself as an "African
Ameri-Indian woman" by acknowledging the difficulty faced by
many women like her“who feel that they must, regardless of the
consequences, say what they feel? Some of these queries that
will be analyzed in this work, like why the presentation of
Tashi seems grounded in a "feminist," and not a "womanist"
conviction, which, I think, dramatically alters Walker's
presentation of the ritual because it removes Tashi from the
all-important "African" communal and spiritual heritage into
a Western and feminist ideology that is based on the survival
and significance of individuality. Unlike Ngugi and NWapa,
who seem concerned with the maintenance of societal norms and
traditions, Walker is, to the contrary, only interested in the
preservation of the souls of the‘women who live in traditional
communities.

It is with this conviction to end circumcision that

Walker begins her discussion of Tashi with Tashi's own view of

168

herself as thus: "I did not realize for a long time that I was
dead" (3). Coming from the mouth of a woman who is, at least
literally, alive at the time of this statement, this idea of
Tashi viewing herself as "dead" is pivotal. Before the
circumcision and death of her sister Dura from her own
circumcision, Tashi is described as a creative, imaginative
and "complete" person. Her childhood friend and love, Adam,
who*will later become her husband, describes Tashi as follows:
"The Tashi I remembered was always laughing and making up
stories, or flitting cheerfully about the place on errands for
her mother" (14). Olivia's memory of Tashi is also of a
wonderfully cheerful, and even "impish" person. She will
later lament on the loss of this Tashi:

It was heartbreaking to see, on their

return, how passive Tashi had become. No

longer cheerful, or impish. Her

movements, which had always been

graceful, and quick with the liveliness

of her personality, now became merely

graceful. Slow. Studied. This was true

even of her smile; which she never seemed

to offer you without considering it

first. (65)
This is the vision that Olivia and Adam had of Tashi, once
alive, now figuratively dead. She was lively and graceful and
quick; now she merely exists. It is interesting that although
Olivia remembers this Tashi, who is always creating stories
and imaginative lies to tell her mother about why things did
not happen in the manner in which they should have, she also

recalls that her first encounter with Tashi found the small

child in tears:

169

I remember, as if it were yesterday, my

first glimpse of her. She was weeping,

and the tears made a track through the

dust on her face... Tashi was standing

behind Catherine, her mother, a small,

sway backed woman with an obdurate

expression on her dark, lived face, and

at first there was only Tashi's hand--a

small dark hand and arm, like that of a

monkey, reaching around her mother's

lower body and clutching at her long,

hibiscus-colored skirts. Then, as we

drew nearer, my father and mother and

Adam and myself, more of her became

visible as she peeked around her mother's

body to stare at us. (6-7)
Why are the first recollections of Tashi by Olivia and.Adam.so
drastically different? They have both recorded the memory of
their initial encounter with Tashi in their minds. Do their
differing memories establish an early opposition between the
visions of women and men in the work? Why is it important to
note this difference? What is the importance of this, and
other issues in Walker's writing, and the writings of other
black women? I would like here to take a few minutes to gain
a further understanding into some of the "meta-meanings" of
Walker's writing in particular, and black women's writings, in
general.

In an attempt to comprehend some of the "meta-meanings"
of the writing of African American women, Missy Dean
Kubitscheck states in her work, Claiming the Heritage: African
American Women Novelist and History, that the African American
woman writer

explores novels that posit the

fundamental necessity of knowing and
coming to terms with tribal history to

170

construct tenable black female
identities. This theme appears in dual
form: first, the characters'

relationships to the history of blacks in

the new world and, second, the author's

relationships to the literary traditions

on the literal level. African American

women's work consistently assert the

necessity of intellectually and

emotionally understanding tribal

historical experience to become and

remain a fully functional black woman. On

the meta-level, they document the linked

strategies of persistence by which

African American women writers have

communicated, written, and.published. (7-

8)
It is this "literal" level that Kubitscheck describes that is
important to this discussion. Kubitscheck also notes earlier
in her work that black women's writing "seeks to document a
recurrent theme, the interplay of history and developing
female identities, enlivened by individual improvisation" (7) .
There can be no doubt that Walker presents Tashi as one who
does, in her desire to participate in the circumcision ritual,
attempt to understand her own "tribal historical experience"
on the literal level. How can she become a true Olinkan woman,
remaining loyal to her heritage, without holding on to the one
thing that she felt within herself would make her uniquely
"African?" Walker presents this "recurrent theme" throughout
her work. However, she does deconstruct this "necessity" of
understanding that experience of circumcision.by articulating
that.no»perception.of the ritual can legitimize the reality of
pain and suffering faced daily by the women who are the

"participants" in this tradition. But there is a direct and

171

definitive connections between Tashi's history and her
developing identity. She does not know who she can be out of
the realm of tradition. There is no other reality for Tashi
until she comes to the United States to "see" other women in
order to know what is supposed to be "down there" between her
legs. Tashi states:

It was only after I came to American, I

said, that I even knew what was supposed

to be down there.

Down there?

Yes, my own body was a mystery to me, as

was the female body, beyond the function

of the breasts, to almost everyone I

knew. (119)
Here, then, Walker shifts Tashi from defender and supporter of
tribal practice, like the characters presented by Ngugi and
Nwapa, to one who is extremely critical of and hostile to
tradition. Tashi cannot even recall a picture of herself and
her vagina as it was (and should have remained) before the
operation. What she has lost can never be replaced. It is
important to note that although Walker's interpretation and
presentation of ritual is so dramatically different from

Ngugi's and Nwapa's, there is no doubt that there is a

connection between Walker's work and the Efuru and The River

 

Between. Jenny continues by stating that

Every poet is said to suffer from a
veritable~Oedipal complex of the creator,
which leads him to modify the models to
which he is sensitive by a variety of
figures. Sometimes the "follower" will
prolong the work of his precursor while
deflecting it towards the point which it
should have attained (Clinamen),
sometimes the intention is to create that

172

fragment which will make it possible to

consider the precursor's work as a new

whole (Tessera), sometimes there is an

effort to break radically with the

'father' (Kenosis), or to purge oneself

of the imaginative heritage one has in

common with him (Askesis), or to create

an oevre which will paradoxically seem to

be the source and not the result of the

preceding work (Apophrades). (36)
Walker not only, then, 'transforms' Tashi from Efuru and
Muthoni; more importantly, she is able to recreate Tashi and
the female circumcision experience in every way Jenny
describes above. First of all, as the "follower," Walker
takes Tashi to the point that Efuru and Muthoni most probably
"should have attained" in their own experiences with female
circumcision: the point of outrage which is most acutely
voiced by Tashi's spiritual and emotional suffering. But
Walker also make her work a "new whole" because neither of the
preceding discussions detail, in any manner, the severe
physical and psychological consequences of the ritual. Then,
in this effort, she does literally break with 'mother and
father' and 'purge' herself of that creative connection with
those who write about the tradition much earlier than herself
by elaborating on and deconstructing the ritual. Finally, it
does seem, at times, that Walker's work could be considered
the "source" text rather than the "result" of other works for
the mere fact that it is her work that confronts almost all of
the major physical and psychological problems associated with

any discussion of female circumcision. So although the

intertextual relationship does exist, Walker's novel most

173
apparently articulates, in depth, issues that neither Nwapa
nor Ngugi discuss in their presentations.

Before the picture of Tashi as a devastated and destroyed
individual becomes so apparent, Walker describes Tashi as a
defiant one, like Ngugi's Muthoni, and like the Gikuyu
described by Jomo Kenyatta. In the following passage,
Kenyatta articulates the importance of circumcision to the
history of the Gikuyu people of Kenya in his work, Facing
Mount Kenya:

The history and legends of the people are

explained.and remembered according to the

names given to various age-groups at the

time of the initiation ceremony...

Historical events are recorded and

remembered in this same manner. Without

this custom a tribe which had no written

records would not have been able to keep

a record of important events and

happenings in the life of the Gikuyu

nation. (134-35)
It is quite possible that Kenyatta exaggerated.his concern for
the continuation of female circumcision based on the need for
an event or circumstance that would record the Gikuyu history
orally. But when Kenyatta continues, he notes most
importantly, though, that those in the tribe teach their
children, and are taught themselves, that to. be an
uncircumcised woman is to be outside of the tradition and the
heritage that made one uniquely Gikuyu. Tashi voices a
similar sentiment throughout the novel:

Olivia begged me not to go. But she did

not understand. All I care about now is

the struggle for our people, I said. You
are a foreigner. Any day you like, you

174

and your family can ship yourselves back

home... Who are you and your people never

to accept us as we are? Never to imitate

any of our ways? It is always we who

have to change. I spat on the ground.

It was an expression of contempt only

very old Olinkans had known how to use to

the full effect... I dug my heels into

the flanks of the donkey and we trotted

to the encampment... We had been stripped

of everything but our black skins. Here

and there a defiant cheek bore the mark

of our withered tribe. These marks gave

me courage. I wanted such a mark for

myself. (21-24)
Walker's analysis of Tashi here is as a devout member of a
dying African tribe. Like Kenyatta, who could see the impact
of the missionaries on traditional tribal life, and the
alteration of ideology in his community, and who held on for
"dear life" to this one "African" tradition, Tashi posits
herself similarly. There is no room for discussion or debate
in her young mind--no consideration for the pain, suffering,
and long-term consequences of the operation. The concern is
only for the here and now--the preservation of the>Olinkan way
of life. Like Ngugi's Muthoni, she is rebellious and
dedicated to herself and her world. But unlike Muthoni, she
will later turn on herself and her world after the tsunga,
M'Lissa, will end all hope for her to have a normal sensual,
sexual, physical, or' psychological life» Muthoni remains
defiant whereas Tashi becomes almost totally passive, until
her journey back to Africa. This representation of Tashi is
continually marked with a harshly critical posture for the

tradition of female circumcision.

175

As the novel progresses, the Tashi described and defined,
the "dead" Tashi, will emerge as one totally separate from.her
community after the terrible surgery. Altered after an
unspeakable suffering, she will literally becomes a "shell" of
a person, and Walker presents no hope for those who, like
Tashi, attempt to remain true to their cultural and their
tribal identities. Their worlds must be turned completely and
irrevocably upside down and inside out.

Many circumcised women do encounter similar
manifestations of physical and psychological pain as Tashi.
Some of the women who wrote histories of their own
circumcisions articulate much of Tashi's grief, and feelings
of guilt and shame as well. For example, Nawal El Sadaawi
writes:

The memory of circumcision continued to

track me down like a nightmare. I had a

feeling of insecurity, of the unknown

waiting for me at every step I took into

the future. I did not even know if there

were new surprises being stored up for me

by my mother and father, or my

grandmother, or the people around me.

Society had made me feel, since the day

that I opened my eyes on life, that I was

a girl, and that the word Bint (girl)

when pronounced by anyone is almost

always accompanied.by a frown. (8-9, The

Three Faces of Eve)
Tashi's reaction to her own circumcision is similar to
Sadaawi's. It is, of course, notable that Sadaawi did.not know
what was being done to her, whereas Tashi "volunteered" for
her operation. Even so, their young impressionable minds are

forever altered by the operation. But unlike Sadaawi, who has

176

become a crusader in the fight to end female circumcision,
Tashi loses touch with reality. Her once imaginative mind
becomes an escape from her madness because she is irrevocably
lost in a world of sorrow and distress. She cannot, at this
point, crusade for anything except her own personal sanity.
And though Tashi and Saadawi recount their experiences with
circumcision in a terrifying manner, there are others who
maintain, for one reason or another, that their experiences
with circumcision are somehow "positive." Saadawi recounts her
conversation with one woman as follows:

'I did not know anything about the

operation at the time, except that it was

very simple, and that it was done to all

girls for the purposes of cleanliness,

purity, and the preservation of a good

reputation. It was said that a girl who

did not undergo this operation.was liable

to be talked about by people, her

behavior would become bad, and she would

start running after men...‘

'Did you believe what was said to you?’

'Of course I did. I was happy the day I

recovered from the effects of the

operation, and felt as though I was rid

of something which had to be removed, and

so had become clean and pure.‘ (34-35)
Even more articulate about her "positive" feelings regarding
her own excision is a woman from Mali in Awa Thiam's
discussion, Speak Out, Black Sisters. She is a divorcee who
states that she is "glad" that she "had the excision
operation," because since her divorce, she has not felt the
need or desire to "run after a man" (66). One may argue,
though, that this woman did not feel this "need" because a

major part of her sexual organs were gone, and hence, her lack

177
of "necessity" is not really based on her desire to be*without
a man, but it is the result of a loss that occurred early in
her life, over which she had no control. It is the voices of
the women who, for one reason or another, believe that their
surgeries have been.beneficial to them, that are not voiced in
Walker's discussion of ritual. Why does Walker not discuss
these women's point of view? Is it simply that she believes
that these women really have no understanding of what they
have lost? This may very well be the case. For example, in

Warrior Marks, Walker notes of her encounter with one African

 

woman 3

I had to stop writing yesterday because I
couldn't bear it. The enormity of what
they've lost (had taken, by force, from
them) will not be clear to these girls
until much later in life. .For most, it
will never be clear. I'd asked "big
Mary" about sexual pleasure. You know, I
said, that the removal of sexual organs
lessens sexual response and destroys or
severely diminishes a woman's enjoyment.
Well, she replied, my sex life is
perfectly satisfactory, thank you very
much! (How would you know, though, I
thought.) I said a heartfelt Good for
you!, slapped her palm, and let it go.
(44)

It is apparent here that Walker is aware of the loss that has
occurred in the lives of women like "big Mary," and women like
Tashi who only realize (if they ever do) that some great part
of their female person has been removed without their
permission or, sometimes, even their knowledge. There is a
deep feeling of empathy and sorrow articulated by Walker

because she seems to feel that these women have no real

178
understanding of the significance of the part of their body
that has been so violently eliminated. The importance of the
loss of this organ of pleasure is immense. Notably, in her
essay, "Critical Clitoridectomy: Female Sexual Imagery and
Feminist Psychoanalytic Theory," Paula Bennett discusses
clitoral imagery and the "loss" of the clitoris as thus:

of all human organs, female and.male, the
clitoris is uniquely adapted to a sexual
mission, being better supplied with nerve
endings proportionate to its size than
any other human body part, the penis
included. Pleasure, moreover, is its
only object. Quite unlike the penis...
the clitoris has no reason beyond
pleasure for being, This being the case,
the clitoris's presence or absence in
theoretical treatments of female
sexuality... is of no small consequence
to women. As Spivak has argued, "The
pre-comprehended suppression or
effacement of the clitoris relates to
every move to define woman as sex object,
or as a means of reproduction..." (181)
Investigating the clitoris's effacement
is therefore a passage into understanding
the historical and theoretical
suppression of women... (118-19)

And if Bennett is accurate in her assertion that the function
of the clitoris is only "pleasure," how can women like 'big
Mary" who no longer have a clitoris possibly enjoy sex? Of
course sex is thought to be much more than just a physical
manifestation of pleasure, yet it is most probable that
clitorized women have little or no sensations of carnal
enjoyment during intercourse due to their operations. And it

is most especially probable that infibulated women cannot

179

enjoy intercourse in any manner because of the infibulation

11

(sewing up) part of the surgery.

But this lack of physical, sexual enjoyment is not the
main issue of Tashi's life. One of the concerns of Walker's
analysis is Tashi's interpretation of the events that lead to
her sister, Dura's, painful and untimely death. It is shortly
after this death that Tashi is met by the missionaries and
their children, Adam and Olivia. Tashi comments on Dura as
follows:

They'were always saying 'You.mustn't cry!
(Walker's emphasis) These are new'people
coming to live among us, and.to meet them
in tears is to bring bad luck to us.
They'll think that we beat you! Yes, we
understand your sister is dead ... It was
a nightmare. Suddenly it was not
acceptable to speak of my sister. Or to
cry for her ... How small I felt,
especially since Dura was no longer
around to measure myself against. Not
there to tease me that I had grown
perhaps the thickness of a coin but still
had not caught up with her ... And there
was my mother, trudging along the path in
front of me ... Tashi, she would say, it
is only hard work that fills the
emptiness. (15-16)

Here, Walker is articulating a fact that has become so well
known in the fight to eradicate female circumcision--the many
unexpected and untimely deaths, and subsequent "cover ups" of

the circumstances surrounding the demises of young girls after

 

11Hanny Lightfoot-Klein does note that women from the Sudan,
however, a regidn known for its' use of infibulation, assert that
they have enjoyable sex lives, for the most part. See "The sexual
Experience and Marital Adjustment of Genitally Circumcised and
Infibulated Females in the Sudan," for further information.

180

these operations. These young' ‘women become like
"unmentionable" people--their deaths a punishment from.a god,
or some sort of an ominous warning from the ancestors. The
fact that many women die as a result of circumcision is a
point articulated.by many of the works that detail the subject
of female circumcision. Thiam writes of the deaths of women
from these operations as follows:

The deaths that result from these
excision and infibulation account for
approximately five to six percent of the
annual mortality rate for women. The
particularly high death rate here among
parturient women.is partly due to the low
standards of hygiene found in many
villages, but also to the persistence of
clitoridectomy‘ and infibulation, The
principal cause of death is a severe
haemorrhage, causing the women to bleed
to death, when the scar tissue that had
formed after the operations bursts open.
(78)

All studies on this subject reviewed in this work note a
significant loss of life for women who are circumcised in the
countries that still practice the ritual. Like the women
Thiam describes, Walker's Dura also "bleeds to death:"

I remember my sister Dura's... my sister

Dura's... I could get no further I

had been going to say, before the boulder

barred my throat: my sister's death;

because that was how I always thought of

Dura's demise. She'd simply died. She'd

bled and bled and bled and then there was

death. (80, 81)

Walker, here, is presenting a medical reality associated

with what she refers to as "female genital mutilation"--that

many women and girls die of complications associated with the

181
surgery, But theldifference in interpretation.of these events
between Walker and others is distinct. For example, in

Ngugi's work, The River Between, the novel emphasizes the fact

 

that only Muthoni, daughter of the Christian missionary
Joshua, dies after her circumcision. In Nwapa's novel, Efuru,
there is no discussion of the physical repercussion of the
operations (although I hypothesize that Efuru's inability to
conceive could have been a direct result of her operation).
But in Walker's novel, the emphasis is maintained throughout
that Dura (and others) died, and later Tashi will call her
death murder, implicating the society in general, but the
tsunga, M'Lissa, in particular, because of her circumcision.
Walker, then, takes her analysis beyond the scope of
discussion presented by the earlier noted novelists. She does
not merely present the ritual as a traditional "given," but
she questions this ritual because of the devastating effects
the operations have on women. Jenny asserts that:

Intertextuality is thus a mechanism of

perturbation. Its function is to prevent

meaning from becoming lethargic--to avert

the triumph of the cliche by a process

of transformation. Cultural persistence

indeed provides nourishment for all

texts, but it also poses a constant

threat of stagnation, if the text yields

to automation of association, does not

resist the paralysing pressure of

increasingly cumbersome stereotypes. (59)
Walker does not allow the cultural representation of female

circumcision as a "taboo" subject to deter her from her

analysis. She is not bound by the previous texts

182
unwillingness to discuss the harsh realities of the ritual.
As earlier noted, Muthoni and Efuru are transformed into
Tashi; their cries, their pain, finally voiced, and
unmistakably deafening.

As Walker brings together the cruel actuality of Tashi's
life, Tashi becomes an illustration of the circumcised women
who survive the "cruel and barbaric" operation, whereas Dura
becomes the representation of all the girls who have died
because of female circumcision. There is no middle ground;
survival means madness, meanness, and inhumanity, from which
death is the only escape. Tashi's world is truly chaotic and
disorderly. Walker does not really give much analysis to the
significance of an African loss of identity which many, like
Kenyatta argue, could possibly be one of the results of the
eradication of female circumcision because of the actuality of
the cruel physical and psychological consequences of the
operations for women. This view of female circumcision is one
that will continue to be voiced through the conversations of
not only the females, but also the males in the work. The
pain and suffering of women must, in Walker's analysis, take
precedence over tradition.

The male views of circumcision are presented in a similar
manner to the female views of the issue in the novel. Although
the men approach the ritual from a different, more detached
perspective, the argument against the ritual remains intact.

This may have much to do with the fact that all the major male

183
figures in the book are from Western societies (i.e., the
United States, France, and Switzerland) which no longer, (at
least not openly) practice the ritual.

The most crucial male figure in Tashi's life is her
American-born husband, Adam. There is little or no discussion
about her relationship with her father, but there is much
dialogue about her association with Adam. It is through
Adam's voice that the reader is brought into an intimate part
of Tashi's most private world. Tashi is seen and described
through the eyes of Adam in several instances in the novel.
For example, when Adam returns to Africa to find Tashi, it is
after her circumcision, and she is a dramatically different
person:

The first thing I noticed was the

flatness of her gaze. It frightened

me...Tashi was in a rough bower made of

branches. Lying on a mat made from the

grass that grew around the camp. As she

lay there, her head and shoulders propped

against a boulder that resembled a small

animal, she was busy making more of these

grass mats. I could not tell if she was

happy to see me. Her eyes no longer

sparkled with anticipation, They were as

flat as eyes that have been painted in,

and with dull paint. There were five

small cuts on each side f her face, like

the marks one makes when playing tic-tac-

toe. Her legs, ashen and wasted, were

bound. (40; 43-44)
This vision of Tashi after her circumcision is "frightening"
for her future husband. She has lost the vitality that made
her so exciting to him before he left Africa.

Tashi is also seen through the vantage point of her

husband's illegitimate son, Pierre. Pierre becomes, in a

184

sense, as obsessive about gaining an understanding of Tashi's
experiences and the repercussions of these experiences as
Tashi is about the roOster that haunts her inner soul.
Although Tashi does not welcome this attention from Pierre,
and she is even blatantly rude and violent towards him at one
time, Pierre is not deterred from his desire to help Tashi.
Adam remarks of his son's fixation on Tashi as follows:

Since the moment, as a small boy, Pierre

heard of Tashi's dark tower and her

terror of it, he has never put her

suffering out of his mind. Everything he

learns, no matter how trivial or in what

context or with whom, he brings to bear

on her dilemma. The conversations we

have as adults predictably include some

bit of information that he has stored

away to become a part of Tashi's puzzle.

(175)
Pierre attempts to bring Tashi to an understanding of herself
and her circumstances from.a clinical, scholarly perspective.
This approach. would include» the use of ‘textbooks 'which
explained to Tashi the "origin" of female circumcision in
man's desire to eliminate that "duality" in both the sexes.
But Tashi's dark tower needs much more than just a textbook
explanation to illustrate her pain and suffering. Her real
terror begins not after her circumcision, as Adam and Pierre
seem to think, but after the circumcision and death of her
sister Dura. This death will bring about the beginning of
Tashi's loss of self. But it is Olivia, not Adam, who will

remember the events that met them on their arrival into the

Olinkan camp.

185
It is important to note here, once again, that Adam and
Olivia's initial memory of Tashi is quite different. Adam
remembers a happy, care-free, imaginative child, and while
Olivia does remember the creative child, she also recalls the
tear-streaked face and the sadness that.met her on her arrival
to the Olinkan camp. Olivia talks about her first meeting
with Tashi intimately: they are similar in visage and age.
But the tears are the most profound recollection; the sadness
of the child stands out in Olivia's mind. Early on, it is as
though Olivia can feel Tashi's pain. Schweickart asserts that
The significant body of literature written by women
presents feminist critics with another, more
heartwarming, task: that of recovering, articulating, and
elaborating positive expressions of women's point of
view, of celebrating the survival of this point of view
in spite of formidable forces that have been ranged
against it. This shift to women's writing brings with it
a shift in emphasis from the negative hermeneutic of
ideological unmasking to a positive hermeneutic whose aim
is the recovery and cultivation of women's culture. As
Showalter has noted, feminist criticism of 'women's
writing proposes to articulate women's difference: What
does it mean for a woman to express herself in writing?
How does a woman write as a woman? What does it mean for
a woman to read without condemning herself to the
position of the other? What does it mean for a woman,
reading as a woman, to read literature written by a woman
writing as a woman? (35) (51)
The focus here then, is on the woman's' point of view. By
concentrating on this "reading" of Tashi by Olivia, and not
just Adam's representation of Tashi, I can note here that the
most apparent transformation in Tashi as a whole and unique
person began not after her circumcision, but more
appropriately, it follows the circumcision and death of her

sister Dura. Woman's difference is important here; it is no

186

longer merely a "negative hermeneutic." Woman does not, in
feminism, need to resist seeing and feeling the world from.her
own personal perspective, which is not through the eyes of
men, but her viewpoint becomes one that is valid and has
significant meaning. If the view of Tashi is just from.Adam's
point of reference, one of the most significant events of
Tashi's life will be obscured.

It is critical to note that although Tashi does remember
the horror and carries around the pain of her own
circumcision, in her dreams it is the memory of Dura's demise
and the devouring bird that seems to drive her to and beyond
the brinks of insanity, and it is this recollection that is
obscured in Adam's view of Tashi. Olivia remembers the pain
on the face of the child, and although she does not initially
know the cause of the suffering, her memory of that meeting
will remain with her throughout her life. For Tashi, it is the
thought of the bird that consumes her mind, soul, and body,
and most importantly, it gorges a little piece of the soul and
body of her sister. The importance of Dura's subsequent death
cannot be over emphasized in Tashi's mind.

The impact of Dura's circumcision and resulting demise on
Tashi is immense. Tashi has a brief vision of her sister
before and after the operation, and a recurrent dream of an
enormous rooster eating something odd, This dreamnwill haunt

Tashi until she begins her psychological sessions with the

187
"Old Man," Mzee, who is her first psychiatrist. Tashi
remembers:

As I painted I remembered, as if a lid
lifted off my brain, the day I had crept,
hidden in the elephant grass, to the
isolated hut from which came howls of
pain and terror. Underneath a tree, on
the bare ground outside the hut, lay a
dazed row of little girls... Dura,
however, was not among them; and I knew
instinctively that it was Dura being held
down and tortured inside the hut. Dura
who made those inhuman shrieks that rent
the air and chilled my heart. Abruptly,
inside, there. was silence... I saw
M'Lissa shuffle out, and at first I
didn't realize she was carrying anything,
for it was so insignificant and unclean
that she carried it...between her toes.
A chicken--a hen, not a cock--was
scratching futilely in the dirt...
M'Lissa lifted her foot and flung this
small object in the direction of the
hen... and in one quick movement of beak
and neck, (the hen) gobbled it down. (73)

It is this memory that will drive Tashi to paint what Adam
describes as the "monstrous" bird, on a large wall in the home
of Mzee. She becomes obsessed with the bird, and the
"unclean" object that it devours. She experiences a
"spiritual emptiness" until she understands the origin of the
bird and its' significance in her dreams. It is only after
she is able to exorcise the bird from her mind and soul that
she can put some of the pieces of her shattered life back
together. This is part of the "four-step" journey' that
Kubitscheck points out (noting Carol Christ) is present in
many works by black women:

Focusing on women's work about women's
characters, Carol Christ proposes a four-

188

step patten that is less linear and more
cyclical. First, the female quester
experiences social and spiritual
emptiness, from which the second event,
the experience of connection with natural
or mystical sources of energy, rescues
her. That experience leads to an
awakening, after which the heroine names
herself anew as a part of her re-vision
of the world. Her spiritual journey
complete, she must then attempt the
social quest to find a place for this new
self. (9-10)

The novel begins with a spiritually and socially "empty"
Tashi. Tashi's spirit then finds itself somewhere between the
"second and third" events Christ outlines. When she is able
to visualize the horror of the monstrous bird, and the birds'
connection to Dura and the events surrounding her death, the
"demon" bird is exorcised from.her soul. .After the bird is on
the wall, and out of her mind and spirit, Tashi is physically
and psychologically "exhausted." But she has finally released
the demon that has plagued and haunted her since Dura's
operation. She has come face to face‘with the overbearing evil
in her memory. Now she can say to herself and the world what
she really feels about the death. of her sister. Tashi
believes, deep down inside, that Dura did not merely die, but
that she is 'murdered' by the tsunga:

I remembered my sister Dura's murder, I

said, exploding the boulder. It felt a

pain stitch throughout my body that I

knew stitched my tears to my soul. No

longer would my weeping be separate from

what I remember. I began to wail, there

in Mzee's old arms...She has been

screaming in.my ears since it happened, I

said, suddenly feeling weary beyond
expression. (81, Walker's emphasis)

189
Tashi now’ faces the reality' of .her life, which. is the
"herstory" of the death of her sister and her eventual mental
illness. Now she can make herself a "whole" person.again, and
she must attempt to discover a place for this new, reborn
self.

Dura's life and history, as well as Tashi's is, to
Walker, a representation of the reality of many other
circumcised girls and/or women whose operations have been
"botched," all those whose circumcisions have been too
"severe;" the millions of women who should never have had to
endure such traumatic and life-altering pain. Walker's
representation of these women is not merely then, fictional,
but it is grounded in a definitive and easily documented
reality. But authenticity has become a difficult entity for
Tashi to comprehend. Tashi's mind.continues to elevate the hen
she saw'which "gobbled up" Dura's insides to mythically large
proportions. It seems here that Walker's presentation of the
circumcision ritual does takes on a mythic image, but it is an
impression based on the reality of the suffering that many
women who have endured because of this ritual.

It is this overall and wholly negative presentation of
circumcision that permeates Walker's novel. And in this view
Tashi seems so adamantly to represents Walker's own opinions
about female circumcision. For example, Tashi's recollections
of Dura's life and death became overwhelming burdens which

continually weigh her down. Walker is writing Tashi's

190

experience, again, not only as a woman, but as a woman who
refuses to acknowledge the depth of history and tradition
because that convention has caused the deaths and mental
destructions of so many women. She, then, deconstructs the
importance of the rituals to the survival of the individuality’
of certain groups of people in face of the fear and horror
experienced by ‘women like Tashi. This is one of the
presentations in the novel that makes Walker seem much more of
a "feminist" than a "womanist." Here, the needs of the
individual are the focus. It is Tashi, and how she feels and
is affected by Dura's, and later her own circumcision, that is
confronted by the author. This is contrary to what seems to
be the one of the most important aspects of "African" life--
communal and dependent living. In her essay on "Feminist
Criticism and the African Novel," Katherine Frank notes that
this problem must be faced by those who write by and about
African women:

--the problem of the African woman torn

between her desire for independence and

fulfillment and the claims and

constraints of her society--is the most

striking and controversial issue in

contemporary African fiction.by'and about

‘women. But it is also a manifestation of

the fundamental opposition between

western and African values that permeates

African literature and the critical

writing on it. (46-47)
This is the point that seems to be most obviously missing from

Walker's analysis: the importance of the survival of the

African community. It is only the independence of woman from

191

ritual that Walker is willing to discuss. For a brief moment,
Walker seems to address the issue of communal obligation and
survival, but she is quick to deconstruct her own
understanding of the people and their traditions in the novel.
One example of this deconstruction of tradition is Tashi's
first encounter with the African American female psychologist
Raye. This meeting is indicative of some of Walker's own
queries about why women would submit themselves to what she
describes as a "horrifying" ritual.

During one of their sessions, Raye questions Tashi in an
abrupt and up front manner about why she would surrender
herself to such a painful operation. Raye interrogates Tashi
in an indepth manner and even seems to deconstruct Tashi's
arguments for having been initiated. For example, when Tashi
states that no Olinka man will consider marrying a woman who
is not circumcised, Raye intimates that Tashi knew that she
was going to marry her American love, Adam. Tashi's reply
reveals much of her anguish and frustration:

Everyone knew that if a woman was not
circumcised her unclean parts would grow
so long they'd soon touch her thighs;
she'd become masculine and arouse

herself... Certainly to all my friends
who'd been circumcised, my uncircumcised

vagina was though a monstrosity. They
laughed at me. Jeered at me for having a
tail... To be accepted as a real woman by

the Olinka people; to stop the jeering.
Otherwise I was a thing. (119; 120)

Tashi continues by stating that she feels outside of her tribe

because of her relationship with Adam and the other

192

missionaries, and she feels that the only way she can get back
in will be to acquiesce to the tsunga's knife. Unlike her
earlier assertion that she has the operation.because she‘wants'
to uphold tribal and familial tradition, she maintains here
that she has the surgery basically because of myths
surrounding the clitoris, as well as peer pressure from her
age-mates. In her earlier statements, she presents herself as
a proud Olinkan youth, determined to carry on the traditions
of her ancestors. Here, she is a frightened young woman who
does not want to become a "thing."

The reasons for the different presentations of arguments
that. Tashi offers may have more to do with.Tashi's age at the
time of her circumcision than an error in Walker's writing.
Tashi does later, in the aforementioned passage, describe
herself as an "ignorant and innocent" young girl. Thus, it
could simply be that.with.hindsight, and years of experiencing’
the torture that resulted from her circumcision, Tashi has
come to the realization that her reasons for having the
operation are not at all as clearly defined as she once
imagined. But it could also be that Walker is merely
continuing her original argument about the horrors of
circumcision by deconstructing Tashi's own initial
understanding of the significance of the ritual. She
transposes Tashi's original interpretation of the ritual to
present this older, wiser version of the events that led Tashi

to her decision.

193
Tashi and all the other women in this novel who undergo

circumcision deeply regret, and are angry at the society
because of their participation in the ceremonies. But this is
not always the case. As earlier noted, Lightfoot-Klein points
out that the women she interviewed.not only maintain that they
did not regret their circumcisions, but that they also had
enjoyable sex lives and experienced "extreme" sexual pleasure
in their relationships with their husbands:

Circumcised women, in general, and

uneducated village women, in particular,

give every indication...of being enviably

intact in terms of sexual 'lustiness,‘ in

spite of their'mutilation, quite contrary

to the intent of circumcision to reduce

their sexual drive...How is orgasm

possible at all under such conditions?

Contrary to expectations, nearly 90% of

all women interviewed said that they

experienced orgasm (climax) or had at

various periods of their' marriage

experienced it. (382; 383-84)
There are no representations of these*women.in Walker's novel.
Why? Maybe she»does not really believe that these women exist.
After all, how can one undergo a pharonic circumcision (which
is the operation usually performed in the Sudan), being
mutilated and. sewn-up, and then "enjoy" penetration? As
earlier noted, Bennett states that the~c1itoris functions only
as an organ of pleasure, and if it is removed, how can a woman
experience pleasure?

There are those, moreover, who argue adamantly against

Walker and her presentation of the ritual. How can she, as

one outside of a cultural context, speak for these women and

194

how they feel about themselves and their sex lives? There
are, hence, some African people who are quite upset by
Walker's presentation, and they themselves defend the custom
and/or their communities right to maintain the practice. In a
1992 book review of Walker's work called, "The Cutting Edge,"
Erich Eichman articulates the response of the African
panelists to Walker's novel:

As the two Africans on the panel pointed

out, where the practice is routine it is

often.desired--by the girls themselves or

by mothers for their daughters. To go

uncircumcised in some African cultures is

to forgo an essential rite of passage, to

suffer ridicule and neglect, and to make

oneself (literally) less nubile. There

are even women who claim it adds to

sexual pleasure. We were admonished more

than once by the African panelists to

eschew the insensitivity and arrogance--

the "Desert Storm approach," as it was

called--by which the West supposedly

intrudes upon Africa and its indigenous

populations. (49)
So even at what was called a "debate about female
circumcision," which turned out really to be walker's book
publicity and signing session for Possessing the Secret of
Joy, the "African" panelists admonish Walker and others for
their "insensitivity and arrogance" when it comes to this
African tradition, as well as what they call the "Desert
Storm" approach (i.e., the war between Iraq and the United
States and Kuwait) to anything uniquely and culturally
"African." Walker totally negates the issue of the cultural
significance of circumcision to place the issue of women above

the survival of a culture, a tradition, and even a society.

195
But this is also another problematic of Walker's presentation,
because, at times, it seems to»me that she seems to think that
these women can not speak for, or even comprehend, their own
suffering.
For example, in Warrior Marks, she writes:

My beloved called to wish me a Happy
Valentine's Day, and it feels odd ‘to
think of a Valentine's Day kind of love
here, where men have three and four
wives, all of them poor, and even the
mosque is forbidden to women until after
menopause, when they are closer to being
male...What has happened to these people,
that they seem so joyless and
oppressed?...Everything, including
massive overgrazing of livestock, turning
the fertile land to desert, is merely
"the will of Allah"? I think genital

mutilation plays a role. The early
submission by force that is the hallmark
of mutilation. The feeling of being

overpowered and thoroughly dominated by

those you are duty bound to respect. The

result is women with downcast eyes and

stiff backs and necks (they are of course

beaten by their fathers and brothers and

husbands). (69)
Walker continues by stating that there»are some "Africans" she
finds "tender' and. sincere," and. that she "loves"
spontaneously. In the aforementioned passage though, Walker
attacks not only circumcision, but also polygamy, blatantly
stating that it is not possible for the women of this area
(Senegal) to experience a "Valentine's Day" love because they
live in these many-wived relationships. I do not know if I
agree with Walker here in saying that these women cannot

experience a ”Valentine's iDay love" *which is supposedly

indicative of the love experience in societies in the United

196

States (which has such an alarmingly high divorce rate).
However, it is apparent that this ritual has had such a
profound effect on these various women that they not only
allow themselves, their daughters, and their daughters'
daughters to participate in the ritual, but many times they
insist that it be done to those with the "modern"
interpretations of women's lives, based on their contact with
"Western" cultures or other "outside" ideologies.

Walker continues her attack on the ritual by presenting
the women who circumcise as monstrous representations of many
of the ills of African society and the patriarchy. In one
presentation, this is how she describes one of the "tsunga's"
she meets on her journey to Africa:

She (the! circumcisor) pontificated. at
length about "the tradition" and how she
was chosen by the village to perform
circumcisions--gold, she said, was
"poured" over her. Two bulls were
killed. (This should have told her
something, I thought, since the bull is a
very ancient symbol of woman, the shape
of its head and horns the shape of her
internal reproductive organs and a symbol
for them.) All the women before her had
been circumcised. All those after her
would be, also. She said this flatly,
defiantly, looking directly at
me. . .Later, interviewing the circumcisor,
I asked her what she felt when the
children cried and screamed. She didn't
hear them, she said. Interviewing her
was very difficult. I glanced at her
hands--extremely dirty, with black gunk
under her nails--and thought of their
coarse hardness against the tenderest
parts of these girls. (46, 47, Warrior
Marks)

197
This is much like the presentation of M'Lissa that Walker
offers in the novel. To Walker, the tsunga is a woman who
does not feel, does not hear the cries of the children; she is
a mutilator and a murderer. M'Lissa is the epitome of these
unfeeling destroying, mutilating women.

It is the voice and the face of M'Lissa, the destroyer of
souls, that Tashi must travel, literally and psychologically,
back to Africa to confront and hear before she can find any
peace. She wants to understand the history of the custom that
cost her sister Dura to lose her life, and herself to lose her
soul., But to Walker, there is no need to understand the
tradition. It is merely another custom in a litany of male-
oriented practices used to subjugate and humiliate women.
Tashi clearly relates this view of M'Lissa as a terrible
mutilator and destroyer of souls, before and after her return
to Africa, which seems most apparently Walker's own view, to
the reader.

And thus, it is this presentation of circumcision.and the
circumcisors as mutilator/mutilated that dominates the vast
majority of discussions of the ritual in the novel. Even
after years of psychotherapy and an attempt to alter her view
of the world and herself, Tashi must return to Africa in
search of her lost self; Walker seems to take Tashi in search
of the same demon she searches for on her journey to Africa
which she describes in Warrior Marks, and Tashi, too, is able

to find that demon one week after her arrival in the old

198
Olinkan land. Tashi is surprised, however, to find that not
only is M'Lissa alive and well, but that she is now considered
a "national monument" to the Olinkan people:

She had been honored by the Olinkan
government for her role during the wars
of liberation, when she'd acted as a
nurse as devoted to her charges as
Florence Nightingale, and for her
unfailing adherence to the ancient
customs and traditions of the Olinka
state. No mention was made of how she
fulfilled this obligation. (147)

Tashi will visit M'Lissa several times in an attempt to
understand her as a tsunga, and in order to try to comprehend
the significance of her loss of herself and her inner peace.
In one of her many conversations with M'Lissa, the old woman
recounts to Tashi the terrifying story of her own pharonic
circumcision. She tells Tashi that because the job of tsunga
is usually confined to one family, it was her own mother's
duty to circumcise her. Here, M'Lissa reveals the horrifying
events of her own operation:

Then, one day, my mother had to
circumcise the girls in my age group.
Prior to that day, for weeks, she prayed
to the little idol constantly. And when
my turn came she tried to get away with
cutting lightly. Of course she took the
outer lips, because four strong eagle-
eyed women held me down; and of course
the inner lips too. But she tried to
leave me a nub. . .But the other women
saw...What my' mother started, the
witchdoctor finished...He showed. no
mercy. In fright and unbearable pain my
body bucked under the razor-sharp stone
he was cutting me with... I could never
again see myself, for the child that
finally rose from the mat three months

199

later...was not the child who had been
taken there. (214-15)

M'Lissa's horrific description of her own circumcision
seems to account for her callous behavior toward not only
Tashi, but all other girls and women. She later tells Tashi
that after her circumcision she could not "feel" anything
anymore. She hints that this lack of feeling is the event
that has allowed her to continue to perform the same
terrifying surgery on other females. Walker notes in an
earlier quoted section of Warrior Marks that the women who
circumcise other women tell her that they do not hear the
cries of the children. Perhaps this is because they, like
M'Lissa, have also experienced a painful and disfiguring
operation, But one is not really allowed to feel sympathy for
M'Lissa except for a fleeting'moment, This view of the tsunga
as an ugly, mutilating creature can also be found in Warrior
Marks, And it is this destructive creature‘who is the "cause"
of Tashi's pain and suffering. The repercussions of this
horrible surgery for Tashi are seen quite vividly through the
recollections of Tashi's husband Adam.

Although Adam does not seem to remember Tashi as she
really is upon their arrival in the Olinkan camp, he is keenly
aware of some of the most severe consequences and
complications associated with Tashi's operation, some which
surprisingly echo the anguish M'Lissa experienced after her

own circumcision:

200

The operation she'd had done to herself

joined her, she felt, to these women,

whom she envisioned as strong,

invincible... It was only when she at

least was told by M'Lissa, who one day

unbound her legs that she might sit up

and walk a few steps that she noticed her

own proud walk had become a shuffle. It

now took a quarter of an hour for her to

pee. Her menstrual periods lasted ten

days. She was incapacitated with cramps

for nearly half the month. There were

premenstrual cramps... There was the

odor, too, of soured blood, which no

amount of scrubbing, until we got to

America ever washed off. (63-64)
For Adam, Tashi's surgery is an ever-present phenomenon. And
of course, M'Lissa is the creator of this "albatross" for
Tashi because she performs the operation, The‘above passage is
just a brief example of the medical history of Tashi after her
surgery. This is also a relatively accurate account of what
could have and did happen to many women who were pharonically
circumcised. Studies by Lillian Passmore-Sanderson, Asma El
Dareer, and Olayinka Koso-Thomas note that these physical
problems occur often in women who have been "tightly sewn"
after a pharonic circumcision. Walker presents, then, a
gruesomely realistic portrayal of some of the physical
consequences associated.with female circumcision, and her use
of language to articulate the terror that Tashi feels is
simply phenomenal.

Walker's conscious use of language as a vehicle to bring

the reader into the terrifying world of Tashi is unmistakable.

Hayden White comments on the use of language by the novelist

201
(as opposed to the use of language by the historian) as
follows:

historians usually work with much less
linguistic (and therefore less poetic)
self consciousness than writers of
fiction do. They tend to treat language
as a transparent vehicle of
representation that brings no cognitive
baggage of its own into the discourse.
Great works of fiction will usually...
not only be about their putative subject
matter, but also about language itself
and the problematical relation between
language, consciousness, and reality--
including the writer's own language.
(127, White's emphasis, Tropics of
Discourse)

 

 

Walker, then, as poet, novelist, and fiction writer uses word
such as 'painful, ' 'mutilation, ' traumatize, ' unhealable, ' and
'frightened,‘ to describe Tashi's (and other women's)
encounters with circumcision. The expressions of the author
fill the mind of the reader with an unwaveringly negative view
of the ritual world. In the sentiments that cover the pages
of the novel, circumcision is a ritual without any purpose or
significance, religious or otherwise. M'Lissa even seems to
sneer at and taunt Tashi for her "supposed" need to be
circumcised in order to feel connected to her people:

But what did you think, I ask M'Lissa.

When I came to the Mbele camp asking to

be "bathed."

I thought you were a fool, she says

without hesitation. The very biggest.

(237)

This is probably one of the most disturbing portrayals in

Walker's work. The tsunga goes to. the extent of calling Tashi

a "fool" for allowing herself to be needlessly tortured.

202

M'Lissa, in this one instance, seems to articulate Walker's
own views of the ritual. Why is it, she argues, that the men
who so adamantly support the ritual keep their bodies intact?
Tashi recounts some of the 'instructions' she received as a
young woman as to the maintenance of tribal traditions:

Even from prison we received our

instructions, I said. Good instructions.

sensible; correct. From Our Leader.

That we must remember who we were. That

we must fight the white oppressors

without ceasing; without, even, the

contemplation of ceasing; . . . That we must

reclaim the descendants of those of our

people sold into slavery throughout the

world... that. we must return to the

purity of our own culture and traditions.

That we must not neglect our ancient

customs. (115)
But as the novel continues, Walker deconstructs these
arguments because, as M'Lissa notes, the only way that these
customs can be maintained is through the maiming of women.
And the only way that men will be able to understand this
horror will be to submit themselves to castration. Walker
brings into the discourse the analysis of men like the earlier
noted Jomo Kenyatta, who fought for the preservation of female
circumcision, yet did not have to suffer a similar fate in
their own operations. M'Lissa asks Tashi:

Did our leader keep his penis? Is there

evidence that even one testicle was

removed? The man had eleven children by

three different wives. I think this

means the fellow's private parts were

intact. (238)
M'Lissa makes Tashi confront her own view of self and her

society. It seems that here M'Lissa has some brief 'positive'

203

function in Tashi's life. She is brutally honest at times
about the uselessness of the circumcision ritual. She tells
Tashi the 'truth' about her valued leaders, and she
articulates the reality that the fight for freedom included
women only when it was good for the cause. But she does not
leave it merely at informing Tashi about the cold realities of
the ritual. She takes her discussion one step further, too
far for Tashi, when.she articulates her'assertion that.Tashi's
own mother was the cause of her sister Dura's death:

The death of your sister--what was her

name?--was your stupid mother Nafa's

fault. I was not absolutely sure the

chief would make us return to

circumcision... Stop feeling sorry for

yourself, she says. You are like your

mother. If Dura is not bathed, she said,

no one will marry her. She never seemed

to notice no one had ever married me, and

that I lived anyway... Being bathed did

not kill me, she said... (252-53)

Tashi's mind seems to deteriorate more after this meeting
with M'Lissa. M'Lissa reveals through this conversation that
not only did Tashi's mother insist that her daughter be
circumcised, but also that she did it with the knowledge that
Dura 'bled easily' and profusely, (which could probably
indicate that.Dura was a hemophiliac). What Walker nor'M'Lissa
discuss, however, is the reason why all the other little girls
are also circumcised at the same time that Dura is
circumcised. This may just be an inconsistency in the novel.

The way Dura's circumcision is presented in this conversation

with MiLissa, it would seem that Nafa is the only one who

204

insists that her child be circumcised. But from Tashi's own
recollection, there is a whole line of "puffy-faced" little
girls outside M'Lissa's hut before Dura is brought out. But
the emphasis here is on Dura's mother, and her supposed
resolution to have the ritual performed on her daughter. Did
Nafa know that the circumcision could possibly cause Dura's
death? Or is M'Lissa simply trying to shift the blame to
Tashi's mother, rather than accepting her own role in the
death of Dura? And what about all the other little girls?
Did their mothers also insist that they be circumcised? Or is
this just a question that Walker does not address in her
discussion?

I do not think that these questions are ever fully
addressed in the novel, but one thing that is certain is that
Tashi views the old woman as a mutilator of minds, bodies, and
spirits, and even as a murderer. Unfeeling, unkind, uncaring-
-M'Lissa seems to embody all of these negative qualities.
Where is her humanity? It is also apparent in Walker's
presentation of the circumcisors in Warrior Marks, that she
does not feel any empathy, or have any understanding for these
tsunga women and their traditions. The women who perform
these surgeries are described in monster-like images, and
M'Lissa seems to be the essence of that particular kind of
demon.

There is but one brief moment when the reader seems to be

allowed a instant of sympathy for the deviant M'Lissa has

205

become, and that is when she recounts the terrifying events
surrounding her own circumcision. It is but fleeting, though.
M'Lissa returns, after the memory of her own terror, to taunt
and torment Tashi. Tashi comes to the realization at this
point that in order to truly end her own suffering, she must
end the life of the old woman who she feels is responsible for
so much of that pain--M'Lissa. In a letter to Lisette, her
husband Adam's now deceased lover, Tashi writes:

I killed her alright. I placed a pillow

over her face and lay across it for an

hour. Her sad stories about her life

caused me to lose my taste for slashing

her. She had told me it was traditional

for a well-appreciated tsunga to be

murdered.by someone she circumcised, then

burned. I carried out what was expected

of me. It is curious, is it not, that

the traditional tribal society dealt so

cleverly with its appreciation for the

tsunga and its hatred of her. But of

course the tsunga was to the traditional

elders merely a witch they could control,

an extension of their own. dominating

power. (274-75)
There is the slight notion at the end of the quotation that
M'Lissa is, perhaps, not so bad because she is merely a pawn
in a game played by the patriarchy. There is also the
intimation that she planned her own demise by telling Tashi
that it is tradition for one _of the females she has
circumcised to kill her, But yet, to Tashi, M'Lissa plays the
game too well, allowing her mind, body and soul's alteration
to remove her from the most intimate sisterhood within the
world of women. She seems here again to voice Walker's own

feelings about women who circumcise other women. But unlike

206
M'Lissa, who Walker represents as one who loses touch with any
"female" sisterhood in a woman-centered universe because of
her continued."mutilation" of otheeromen, Tashi is "saved" as
she is able to find one of her final "sisterhoods" in pouring
out her heart to the woman who was once a rival for her
husband's love and affection, Lisette.

At the end of the letter to Lisette, Tashi has found her
lost soul. She signs the letter, "Tashi Evelyn Johnson--
Reborn, soon to be Deceased" (277). Tashi is not whole again
until she finds one fact for herself: that RESISTANCE is the
"secret to joy." Because she has finally resisted, in her
"murder" of M'Lissa, whether real or imagined, she has finally
made someone accountable for her pain. Walker seems to write
the perfect ending to the story by allowing M'Lissa to be
killed, but Tashi also must lose her life to regain her soul.

Walker undoubtedly indicts female circumcision, the
tsungas, and sometimes even the women themselves who
participate in the ritual. She is addressing what will most
likely become one of the most important and explosive issues
of the feminist/womanist movement since the fight for the
right to vote--rights of individual women over their own
bodies.

Walker does, then, present a very poignant and
beautifully painful portrait of the life and suffering of a
woman who experiences an unspeakable pain. Walker deconstructs

the importance of the continuation of the practice of female

207
circumcision in any cultural context. Unlike her
predecessors, Ngugi and Nwapa, her emphasis is as one grounded
in a response to the suffering of woman. She has, it seems to
me, removed herself from the "womanist" ideology of the world
that she herself defines, and posits herself firmly as a
feminist. This presentation also removes the main character,
Tashi, from her most "natural," 'African' universe into a
world which focuses on the needs of the individual. Only in
this world can Tashi survive. The characters, Walker's Tashi,
Nwapa's Efuru, and Ngugi's Muthoni are connected, but they are
also separated by a distinct ideology and presentation of
events. Walker's presentation is not without problems. But it
is, in some instances, a much richer and deeper presentation
of the pain and suffering of women who have endured this
ritual for generations than the presentations of Ngugi or

Nwapa .

CONCLUSION

Female circumcision--female genital mutilation--female
initiation--infibulation--clitoridectomy. When I first heard
about female circumcision, I was in my second term as a
graduate student at Michigan State University. I did not know
then.what impact this issue would.have»on.my academic life and
work, But after having the opportunity to read the*works that
I have discussed in this study, I found myself horrified,
intrigued, and intensely interested in learning more about
what I felt could only be described as a cruel and barbaric
custom. However, as I began to read through the books, and
analyze the arguments for and against the maintenance of the
ritual, as well as reading and re-reading the literary works
on the subject, I developed feelings about the ritual that
could be called, at best, ambiguous.

I could never in my life, as a woman or mother, believe
that it is right for a woman, a teenage girl, or especially a
little baby to be subjected to the pain and trauma associated
with female circumcision. But as I read those works, I began
to feel a kinship with those like Muthoni who died defiantly
attempting to maintain the rituals of her people. How can her
experience be discounted? How can her cries and her feelings
be ignored? In. a community like the African. American
community, we, too, feel that there is a need to hold on to

traditions. Many of us feel the need to identify'with "Mother

208

209

Africa," while others insist that we remain "true" to
ourselves and not become so much a part of "the white man's
world" that we no longer understand who we are or what our
experiences represent. Yet, when we read about issues like
female circumcision, there is only one response: it is a cruel
and primitive practice used to subjugate and humiliate women.
This is most definitely true! But what about all the
Muthoni's of the world who just want to preserve their
culture, their belief in the ancestors, and their connections
with the past? Should their loyalty, their feelings of
cultural dignity suffer the legacy of so man other uniquely
"African" traditions--total negation and annihilation?

I do not have any simple answers to these queries. I
only know that it is not simply a question of "women's
rights." We are presently faced, in this country, with a
similar, yet vastly different argument over women's rights as
the heated debate rages on about abortion. What right does a
woman have to take the life of an unborn child, but.what right
does society have to say to that woman that she must have that
child, whether or not she can feed it, clothe it, or whether
or not she wants the responsibility that comes with having a
child? These are profoundly difficult issues associated.with
cultural identities, political constituencies, and religious
convictions. And, I assert that the issue of female
circumcision. is as complex an issue ‘with no monolithic

"rights" or "wrongs." Can one tell another person that they

210

no longer have the right to participate in rituals that have
culturally represented who and what they are for generations?
But can one insist that a little girl be subjected to the
suffering and atrocity associated with female circumcision?
The matters are so multifarious, so multi-dimensional, and so
overbearingly weighty that it is easy to understand the
conflict that occurred in Gikuyu land, and which still occurs
today all over the world as a result of this ceremony.

It seems to me that first of all, other issues involving
the disenfranchisement of women in the cultures that maintain
the ritual must be addressed. If women continue to be taught
that this tradition is the all-defining, all encompassing
meaning of who they are, in or outside their communities, this
ritual will always remain intact, though.it may not be easy to
identify, But even.if women.are educated, education alone can
not totally eradicate female circumcision. There must be a
cooperative effort between the men and the women to redefine
the roles and the positions of women in these various
societies. But if one looks realistically at the possibility
of this happening in a war torn Somalia, or amidst the mass
starvation in the Sudan, the hopes are somewhat diminished.
The issues facing the people in many of these countries are so
complex, and physical survival seems to take precedence over
matters of humanity and equality, This is sad, but it is also
true. And the answers to the questions surrounding this and

other issues facing many of the people are, I am certain, just

211
as complex. It is not the attempt of this author to confuse
or disturb the reader at this point. However, living in a
society that is apt to confront.many of the most difficult and
devastating social and political problems of our time, I would
like for you to carefully consider all the facets of this
complicated ritual. Come to terms with your own feelings, and

let us converse.

LI ST OF REFERENCES

212

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