Feminist Imagery and Masculine Energy in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa

Abstract

Feminist writings as part of the corpus of gender literary canons have, in no small measures, contributed to the expansion of humanistic studies. This is primarily because they examine social relations between the male and female sexes. This chapter attempts an evaluation of feminist imagery and masculine energy in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa This is with a view to gaining a better and more profound Knowledge of its thematic, ideological and aesthetic thrusts. Also, the task of this critical analysis of Aidoo’s selected play is intended to promote women’s work and also state that women too have a voice and they have meaningful contribution to make to the world. The framework of this chapter is based on feminism and psychoanalysis. A feminist approach here becomes more challenging because the chapter  deals with a play on female protagonist, written by female author. Through the ambience of the various events in the play, the chapter establishes that although Anowa, the heroine is, on the façade, portrayed as a series of repulsions, she is, nonetheless, an attractive character. There is a sense in which it can be argued that in the genetic, feminist matrix, the author and the heroine embrace, and that Aidoo’s feminist imagery, is in reality, a mask for her Masculine energy. In the main, the two major characters: Anowa and Kofi are x-rayed to make a case for the need for re-orientation in the society particularly following the discovery that the feminist Assertive Will underlies Aidoo’s play. While applauding the indomitable personality of the heroine, the chapter highlights various means by which Anowa’s defiance of phallocentric edifice captures her feminist ideology. Thus, the chapter concludes that should any value judgement be pronounced on Anowa’s behaviour, the parameter of evaluation has to be based on an even male- female morality.