The African continent is synonymous with war and women are caught up in it in the perpetual role of the victim. African literature in the pre colonial and colonial period has tended to be very intransigent in its portrayal of females in times of conflict. The African writer has created a fragmented female. This character is often bartered, manipulated or presented as lovesick in conflict situations creating a flawed and destructive image of the African woman. I argue that writers of African literature exposing the violent conflict of colonialism and liberation have a pessimistic outlook on the role of women in war which has hindered the empowerment of women. I will use Psychoanalysis and its concept on the life and death instincts to account for why sex and identity dominates the portrayal of women in pre-colonial and colonial literature. African writers have created a situation where conflict necessitates a sexual definition of the female character. Women thus possess a paradoxical identity of being sensual and consuming of the male phallus which ultimately breaks and consumes them. The conflict resolution is such that sex seems to logically place and displace ideas of sexuality and its impact on the female character.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: African Literature and the abused woman
2. Freud’s concept of Eros and Thanatos
3. Eros and Thanatos in Sunset at Dawn
4. The environment as regards Eros/Thanatos
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This essay examines how women are represented in African war literature, focusing on Chukwuemeka Ike’s Sunset at Dawn. Using Freud’s concepts of Eros and Thanatos, it asks how representations of sexuality and violence shape female characters’ identities in the context of war.
- Representations of women in African war literature
- Freud’s life and death instincts as a critical framework
- Sexual and military imagery in Sunset at Dawn
- Gender, survival and power during the Biafran war
- The relationship between wartime environments and the instinct to survive
Excerpt from the Book
Eros and Thanatos in Sunset at Dawn
It is not immediately apparent that African literature that focuses on the upheavals of wartime tends to have a narrative discourse that brutally sexualises women. The language in the text feeds off the female form keeping her literally under the double assault of the phallus and the bomb. The role of women is seen in contributing a much needed sexual reprieve to men who are under constant barrage from enemy mortar. The trickledown effect is that while the shells fall from the sky, the men on the ground “shell” the women in the beds. Psychoanalytic views on Eros and Thanatos, the life and death instincts, can be used in Sunset at Dawn (1976) to show how women play a very predictable, and stereotypical role in conflict resolution while remaining peripheral in the war effort. The point is that while the male characters engage the war with rifles and bombs, they engage their women in the same fervour using violent and destructive language to conquer their supine bodies and satisfy their instincts.
Sunset at Dawn (1976) is a novel with very little sympathy for life, not even for its main character, Dr Amilo Kano. He is an intellectual who is troubled by a fatalistic need to make his life meaningful in the Biafran war against the ‘vandals’ as the faceless and much loathed Nigerian enemy is called. Dr Kano is an intellectual, trained overseas in medicine but he is willing to court death by volunteering himself as a soldier in the front. This is despite the fact that he knows nothing about being a soldier. In death Kano will find a sense of purpose, of achievement that life under the constant siege of Nigerian warplanes and ferrets denies him. He is a man who approaches his Thanatos in the same manner that he approaches his Eros, passionately. The language that he uses to describe his mistress, Love, is no different from that which he uses to talk of the warfront. There is little distinction between preparing for battle militarily and doing so sexually; both activities complement each other as to be in sync. The phallus is presented with the same destructive force as the ferrets that terrorize the Biafrans. Though educated, Dr Kano uses language that is crude and insensitive in a way that suggests that when appeasing the life instincts man reverts to his most basic nature, devoid of etiquette. When he is with Love in the bedroom the narrative states that, “the only thing left was to arm himself with a troop carrier – it was one thing that gave Love the usual assurance that no ‘troops’ had been left inside her to cause trouble later” (162). This is after he has described her as a ripe pawpaw ready to be peeled. So in the manner in which the character approaches his mistress, Love, we see both the life and death instincts merging. She is devoured; the troop carrier invades her and metaphorically destroys her sex. The actual lovemaking is referred to as ‘shelling’ by the male characters and the female characters go along with this vocabulary without any criticism of it. Female characters are objectified as fertile ground to be raided and laid to waste by the mortars of the erect phallus. There is a realisation that the life and death instincts create a similar sense of satisfaction and are not to be shunned.
Chapter Summaries
Introduction: African Literature and the abused woman: The introduction connects the portrayal of women in African war literature to questions of violence, identity and the marginalization of women writers. It situates the essay’s concern within a wider discussion of precolonial and colonial literature.
Freud’s concept of Eros and Thanatos: This section outlines Freud’s concepts of life and death instincts and introduces their use as a framework for reading Sunset at Dawn.
Eros and Thanatos in Sunset at Dawn: The essay examines the novel’s sexual and military language, male characters’ attitudes toward women, and the conditions under which female characters navigate wartime society.
The environment as regards Eros/Thanatos: This section explores how the novel’s wartime setting shapes characters’ responses to danger, loss, family and survival.
Conclusion: The conclusion brings together the essay’s interpretation of sexuality, violence and gender in the novel and considers the implications of its portrayal of women.
Keywords
African literature, war literature, Sunset at Dawn, Chukwuemeka Ike, Biafran war, women, sexuality, gender representation, psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, Eros, Thanatos, life instinct, death instinct
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this essay about?
It examines representations of women, sexuality and violence in African war literature, with a focus on Chukwuemeka Ike’s Sunset at Dawn.
What are the main themes?
The main themes include gender representation, wartime violence, sexuality, survival and the relationship between life and death instincts.
What is the essay’s central question?
It asks how the portrayal of women in war can be understood through the relationship between sexuality, violence and Freud’s concepts of Eros and Thanatos.
What scholarly method does the author use?
The author uses psychoanalytic literary interpretation, applying Freud’s concepts of Eros and Thanatos to characters and language in the novel.
What does the main analysis cover?
It considers the novel’s military and sexual imagery, the roles of male and female characters, and the pressures of the Biafran wartime setting.
Which keywords characterize the essay?
Key terms include African war literature, gender representation, sexuality, psychoanalysis, Eros, Thanatos and the Biafran war.
Why does the essay discuss the language of “shelling”?
The author uses it to examine how the novel connects the vocabulary of military violence with descriptions of sexual relationships.
How does the wartime setting relate to Eros and Thanatos?
The essay considers how danger, loss and the desire to survive shape characters’ attitudes toward life and death.
- Citation du texte
- Wazha Lopang (Auteur), 2017, "Shelling" women for pleasure in "Sunset at Dawn". An analysis of the abused woman in African literature, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/374773
