The Joys of Motherhood

Considered a classic of feminine literature, The Joys of Motherhood is the 1979 novel written by Nigerian-born British author Buchi Emecheta. Set in Lagos, Nigeria over the course of decades, the tragic story follows Nnu Ego, a young African woman struggling to overcome her temporary inability to rear children and embrace a motherly role in a patriarchal society. Unable to conceive a child in her first marriage, Nnu Ego is banished to Lagos, where she eventually gives birth to several children and redefines her role in the community. As Nnu Ego grapples with the traditional values and customs of becoming a “mother,” “wife” and “woman,” she must do everything in her power to protect her children and maintain her dignity. In 2008, The Joys of Motherhood was reissued in Heinemann’s African Writers Series.

Narrated in the third-person omniscient perspective, the story begins in 1930s Lagos, Nigeria. An African woman named Nnu Ego ambles across the Yaba property in a state of depression and grief. Nnu Ego wanders to the water’s edge of Carter Bridge with intentions to leap off and commit suicide. The story jumps backward 25 years in time. In the village of Ogboli in the Ibuza homeland, the proud and dignified local chief, Agbadi, has only one object of desire, an attractive and self-determined woman named Ona. While hunting one day, Agbadi is bludgeoned to near death by an elephant. Ona steadily nurtures him back to health. When he heals, Agbadi disgraces Ona with crude sexual advancements. A near rape ensues, resulting in Ona becoming pregnant. Agbadi declares that if the baby is a boy, it will belong to his father. If it’s a girl, Agbadi will claim ownership. Nine months later, Nnu Ego is born and Ona dies during childbirth. A local shaman declares Nnu Ego’s “chi” or guiding spirit is that of a slave child who was murdered and buried with one of Agbadi’s wives.

When Nnu Ego is 16, she is engaged to wed a man named Amatokwu. However, their relationship weakens after she is unable to become pregnant. Nnu Ego is transported to a different hut to assume a new role. She becomes demoted to tending the fields and caretaking for the new wife’s baby son. Amatokwu finds Nnu Ego breastfeeding the hungry baby and beats her for it. Nnu Ego goes home to recover, at which point her wedding engagement is dissolved. Determined to find his daughter a better suitor, Agbadi arranges a marriage between Nnu Ego and a man named Nnaife, who resides in faraway Lagos. Nnaife’s older brother takes Nnu Ego to Lagos to settle into her new environment.
Nnu Ego and Nnaife reside in the Yaba compound in Lagos. Nnaife launders clothes for the Meers, an English couple. Nnu Ego enjoys a happy marriage and gives birth to a son named Ngozi. Nnu Ego also begins selling cigarettes and matches on the side of the road. One day, Nnu Ego discovers Ngozi’s dead body in their one-room abode. Hopelessly devastated, Nnu Ego speeds to Carter Bridge with plans to jump off and commit suicide. Nwakusor, a local Ibo man just off of work, passes by and helps a crowd of people prevent Nnu Ego from leaping off the bridge.



Afterwards, Nnu Ego struggles through a long process of grieving the death of Ngozi. She eventually has another baby named Oshia. Nnu Ego decides to spend less time at her roadside market stall and instead focus all of her attention on raising Oshia. However, when the Meers are forced back to England, Nnaife loses his job, necessitating Nnu Ego to continue selling cigarettes and matches. Naife finds work that takes him far away from home. In his absence, British troops enter the area and tell Nnu Ego she and Oshia must vacate immediately. Nnu Ego relocates across town, where she gives birth to another son, Adim. Without aid, the woman and child suffer malnutrition. Their neighbors offer a helping hand. Later, Nnaife returns home with a bundle of cash. As Nnu Ego is awarded a permanent post in the marketplace to sell cigarettes, she encourages Nnaife to find a new job.

One day, Nnaife is informed from a friend that his brother has died in Ibuza. Nnaife has assumed his brother’s wives as a result, but only one is willing to come live in Lagos with them. The wife, Adaku, arrives with her daughter, resulting in jealous tension among the two women. At night, Nnaife attempts to have sex with Adaku while Nnu Ego rests nearby. Later, Nnaife finds work mowing grass for the railroad. Around this time, Adaku and Nnu Ego both become pregnant. Nnu Ego births to twin girls, Taiwo and Kehinde, while Adaku’s son dies shortly after birth. Feeling underpaid, Nnu Ego and other women go on strike for better wages. Nnu Ego’s steadfastness wanes however, and she prepares a peace-making meal. Nnaife cannot be present to enjoy the meal because he’s been forced to enlist in the army and transported to India to fight in WWII.

Nnu Ego becomes pregnant again, and uses Nnaife’s partially saved salary to take her family to Ibuza. Nnu Ego visits her dying father. Following these two funerals, Nnu Ego refuses to return to Lagos. However, she is convinced by Nnaife’s brother’s wife, Adankwo, to return to look after Adaku. Nnu Ego agrees. Upon her return, she finds a sum of money left behind by Nnaife during a brief visit back to Lagos. The tension between Nnu Ego and Adaku escalates; resulting in the former insulting the latter’s cousins during a visit. Adaku decides to move out with her children. Nnu Ego is left impoverished when Nnaife’s annual commissions are discontinued due to an institutional glitch. Nnaife returns and spends his remaining money. He returns to Ibuza, where he impregnates Adankwo. Later, Nnaife returns to Lagos with a 16-year-old wife, Okpo.



The family relocates to the other side of town. Oshia and Adim declare their intention to earn a higher education. Oshia tells Nnaife he has earned a scholarship to study in America. Nnaife condemns Oshia for betraying his sonly duties. Taiwo is arranged to marry an Ibo, while Kehinde elopes to wed a Yoruba. Enraged, Nnaife attempts to kill Kehinde’s father-in-law with a sword. Nnaife is jailed, convicted and sentenced to serve five years in prison, a period that will become reduced provided Nnaife return to Ibuza following his release. Nnu Ego returns home, where she dies beside the road several years later. Oshia returns and holds a lavish funeral in honor of her mother’s sacrifice.