In Cursed Daughters, Oyinkan Braithwaite employs magical realism, a literary mode that blends fantastical elements into a realistic setting to explore profound psychological and social truths. The term “magical realism” was first applied in the 1940s by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier and began as a Latin American narrative form. Well-known authors of magical realism include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Isabelle Allende. “Some scholars have posited that magic realism is a natural outcome of postcolonial writing, which must make sense of at least two separate realities—the reality of the conquerors as well as that of the conquered” (“Magic Realism.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. 17 Aug. 2018). As such, magical realism has transcended Latin America and has become an international writing style. This tension between traditional Yoruba and Western eurocentrism is seen in Braithwaite’s novel as the Falodun women navigate the curse’s legacy on their family.

Additionally, rather than creating an alternate world, magical realism makes the supernatural a part of everyday life, and this pattern can be seen in Cursed Daughters when a dream of Monife leaves behind a real “small pool of water” (16) on the hospital floor. This technique allows Braithwaite to give physical form to the abstract concept of generational trauma, where the unprocessed pain of one generation is passed down to the next. This phenomenon is studied in fields like epigenetics, where research on descendants of Holocaust survivors, for example, has suggested that trauma may leave inheritable biological markers that affect stress responses (Yehuda, Rachel et al. “Holocaust Exposure Induced Intergenerational Effects on FKBP5 Methylation.” Biological Psychiatry Vol. 80, Issue 5, 372-380. 2016). In the novel, the Falodun family curse serves as a supernatural manifestation of this inherited emotional weight. The belief that Eniiyi is a reincarnation of Monife is a literal representation of how the family’s cycle of grief and suffering traps the next generation. By blurring the lines between the spiritual and the physical, Braithwaite transforms the internal, psychological burdens of memory, grief, and fate into external forces that actively shape the characters’ lives. The curse becomes a tangible character in the story, embodying the inescapable nature of the family’s traumatic past.