Anowa

Published in 1970, Ama Ata Aidoo’s play Anowa tells the gripping story of its title character, who serves as an allegory for Africa itself. No stranger to Africa’s political and societal turmoil, Aidoo, a Ghanaian playwright, uses Anowa to interrogate the relationships between men and women, husbands and wives, women and motherhood, mothers and daughters, society and the individuals comprising it, and the future encroaching on ancient traditions.  

Anowa opens in the 1870s in the Ghanaian village of Yebi. During the prologue, two figures—called the Old Man and the Old Woman—take the stage and describe one of Ghana’s perennial folk tale tropes: the daughter who refuses to obey. It is clear that the Old Woman views Anowa’s story with disdain, while the Old Man considers it an opportunity for reflection. 

After the prologue, the first scene begins with Badua and Osam arguing about their headstrong daughter, Anowa. Osam believes that Anowa might make a better priestess than a wife, but Badua insists that Anowa needs to conform to societal mores, settle down, and marry. However, when Anowa falls instantly in love with a handsome young man named Kofi Ano, Badua protests the union. She wants to arrange a marriage for Badua, seeing Kofi as a narcissistic, lazy show-off from a family who tends to produce disastrous husbands. Anowa ignores her mother’s opinions, marries Kofi, and leaves the village of Yebi forever. 

Two years later, the reader sees Kofi and Anowa on the road. They are making a decent—if hard—living selling monkey skins and corn. They are playful and affectionate, but Anowa asks Kofi if he might not like to have another wife. The reader learns that they have been trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child. Kofi wants for them to consult with a medicine man, but Anowa wants to see a traditional Western doctor. Kofi changes the subject to slaves. He wants to buy several men to help them with their work. Anowa is appalled and angered by the suggestion. She believes that slavery is evil. Also, she says that if she has no work to do, she will wither away. 

Years later, Kofi has grown prosperous. Financially, at least, buying the slaves has paid off handsomely. However, his marriage to Anowa is deteriorating. Now that she no longer has to work, she hates idleness as much as she predicted she would. He is mystified that she cannot enjoy or appreciate the life he has provided with her. But the fact that they still have no child weighs on her heavily and consumes her thoughts. Again, she asks Kofi to take another wife, and again, he refuses. 

In the final segment of the play, Kofi has become the richest man on the Guinea Coast. But he still cannot make Anowa happy. Without daily work or a child to care for, she is directionless and despairing. She spends her days pacing their home, encouraging the children who clean for them to call her mother. During a final argument with Kofi, he says that he wishes for her to leave. Her ingratitude is making him miserable. For her own good, he wants to separate. However, he will not give her a specific reason. Anowa is incensed. She would be willing to leave him, but is not willing to be expelled. She has a cleaning boy summon the slaves, who gather in the room with them. Before them all, she reveals that Kofi is impotent, and this is why they have no children.

Kofi leaves the room and shoots himself. Anowa drowns herself shortly after. The Old Man and Old Woman retake the stage. The Old Woman lays all of the responsibility on Anowa and her erratic actions and emotional instability. The Old Man, however, says that the blame belongs to Anowa, Kofi, and also the villagers. He is more optimistic about change than she is, and while the ending is grim, the fact that the Old Man is given the final word suggests that Aidoo is hopeful about the future. 

Anowa is a challenging play filled with grave questions. It was released to well-deserved critical acclaim and has been hailed as a feminist masterpiece.