The Bride Price

Buchi Emecheta

The Bride Price

Buchi Emecheta
43 pages1-hour read
Fiction
Novel
Adult
Published in 1976

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Essay Topics

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination and sexual content.

1.

How is Western education presented in The Bride Price? Is this always a force for good? Why or why not?

2.

Discuss how author Buchi Emecheta uses Okoboshi Obidi as a foil to Chike Ofulue. What effect does this have in the novel?

3.

What is the role of menstruation in the novel? How does this inform its presentation of gendered roles and status in Ibuza?

4.

How does The Bride Price use narrative voice to create a feminist critique of the intersecting powers of colonialism and patriarchy in mid-20th-century Nigeria?

5.

Analyze the character of Ma Blackie as a study in female complicity and survival.

6.

How does Emecheta employ natural imagery and settings to support the novel’s key themes?

7.

What is the role of magic and magical belief in The Bride Price?

8.

How does Emecheta portray sexual activity and consent? Consider aspects such as the concept of “virginity,” sexual violence and power, pleasure, love, and shame.

9.

Analyze how minor male characters present alternative models of masculinity, fatherhood, and familial loyalty. How does this change the tone and effect of the narrative?

10.

How does the title, The Bride Price, alter the reader’s expectations and perception of the narrative arc?

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