In Cursed Daughters, the Falodun women believe that their family curse has arisen from supernatural forces, but in reality, it functions as a damaging belief passed from one generation to the next. As this idea of doomed romance settles into the women’s minds, it shapes their choices and pushes them toward fear and resignation. Their own actions then bring the prophecy to life, and every event that seems to confirm the existence of the curse gives it more weight in the women’s eyes, looming ever larger over the family’s collective legacy of sorrow.

Feranmi Falodun’s story sets this burden in motion when her husband’s first wife declares, “Your daughters are cursed—they will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms” (22). Burdened by this malediction, each generation of Falodun women absorbs this claim, and it becomes the lens through which they interpret their relationships. Even if an individual questions this dire family legacy, the force of tradition often overrules her objections. For example, when a teenage Ebun voices her doubt, Monife replies, “But what if the curse believes in you?” (23). In this moment, Monife’s question personifies the curse, portraying it as a baleful presence that closes off the women’s attempts to escape its grasp.