Personal Information
Name : Makwana Bhargav ArvindbhaiRoll No : 01
Batch : M.A Sem 4 (2024-2026)Enro. No. : 5108240018Email : bhargavmakvana221@gmail.com
Assignment Details
Topic : Motherhood: Myth or Reality in The Joys of MotherhoodPaper 206: The African Literature
Subject Code:22413Words: 4945Date of Submission : 31 March 2026
Table of Content
Abstract
Introduction
Concept of Motherhood Myth
Motherhood as a Social Construct
The Reality of Motherhood in The Joys of Motherhood
Motherhood and Patriarchy
Myth vs Reality of Motherhood
Conclusion
References
Abstract
Motherhood has traditionally been regarded as the ultimate fulfillment of a woman's life, often associated with joy, sacrifice, and social respect. However, Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood challenges this idealized notion by presenting a stark contrast between the myth and the reality of motherhood. Drawing on critical perspectives, particularly those of Marie Umeh and Ogunrotimi and Owoeye, this paper examines how motherhood, rather than being a source of fulfillment, becomes a site of oppression, alienation, and emotional suffering. This Assignment argues that motherhood in the novel is not inherently joyful but is shaped by socio-economic and ideological forces that consistently lead to disillusionment and the erosion of individual identity.
Introduction
Motherhood has long been celebrated as one of the most sacred and fulfilling experiences in a woman's life, associated across cultures with love, sacrifice, and emotional completeness. In African societies particularly, it is considered the highest achievement of womanhood. However, this idealized perception does not always align with lived experience.
Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood (1979) critically interrogates this belief through the life of Nnu Ego, whose experiences consistently reveal a truth far removed from the cultural promise of motherhood. As Marie Umeh observed in her 1982 study, African literature has traditionally portrayed the mother as a figure of "love, strength and affection," yet Emecheta departs from this by foregrounding the struggles inherent in the role. Similarly, Ogunrotimi and Owoeye, writing in 2019, argue that the novel demonstrates how motherhood can lead to "oppression, exploitation, and alienation." Together, these readings invite us to ask whether the so-called joys of motherhood are a genuine experience or merely a powerful cultural fiction.
1.Concept of Motherhood Myth
1.1 Motherhood as an Idealized Institution
The compulsory nature of this expectation is captured early in the novel. When a character observes that "the men make it look as if we must aspire for children or die,"(Buchi) it lays bare how motherhood is not a free choice but a demand encoded into the fabric of society. The statement is not merely descriptive; it is a quiet indictment of the system that leaves women no room to define themselves outside their reproductive function.
This pressure intensifies around the question of sons in particular. The declaration "What greater honour is there for a woman than to be a mother... and now you are a mother — not of daughters who will marry and go, but of good-looking healthy sons" (Buchi) reveals how motherhood is not a uniform ideal but a hierarchical one, in which the birth of male children elevates a woman's worth far above the birth of daughters. In this way, a woman's status is not simply tied to her fertility but is further stratified by the gender of the children she produces.
Nnu Ego herself internalises this myth completely. Early in the novel, she is described as certain "that her old age would be happy, that when she died there would be somebody left behind to refer to her as 'mother'."(Buchi) The poignancy of this passage lies in its dramatic irony: the reader follows Nnu Ego across decades of hardship and ultimately witnesses a death that is neither peaceful nor honoured in the way she had imagined.
1.2 Motherhood as Natural and Instinctive
Another significant dimension of the myth is the assumption that motherhood is natural and instinctive — that maternal feeling arises automatically and that women are biologically predisposed to nurture. Dominant social discourse presents motherhood as something that "comes naturally and brings fulfilling joy," leaving no room for questioning its difficulties.
Emecheta complicates this by showing that instinct, though real, is insufficient to sustain a woman through the weight of her circumstances. When "Nnu Ego's arms involuntarily went to hold her aching breasts, more for assurance of her motherhood than to ease their weight" (Buchi), the gesture reveals how deeply the desire for motherhood operates at a bodily level, blurring the line between the biological and the socially conditioned. Equally, the acknowledgement that she knew "that soft liquid feeling of motherhood was lacking" (Buchi) shows how women internalise not just the ideal of motherhood but a specific physical standard against which they constantly measure themselves.
There are moments where the instinct appears tender and unambiguous: "Why not breastfeed him herself?... Nnu Ego locked her hut, lay beside the child and gave him her virgin breasts... contentment ran through her whole body" (Buchi). Yet this contentment is real but temporary — and it is precisely this temporary quality that the myth conceals, presenting a fleeting moment of joy as the defining truth of the entire experience.
1.3 Glorification of Sacrifice
The myth of motherhood is further entrenched through the glorification of sacrifice. A "good mother" is expected to prioritise her children above her own needs, suppressing her personal desires and ambitions entirely. In cultural narratives, maternal suffering is romanticised as a sign of love and devotion: the more a mother sacrifices, the more she is respected.
Nnu Ego herself eventually arrives at a painful reckoning with this reality. She reflects: "Yes, I have many children, but what do I have to feed them on? On my life. I have to work myself to the bone to look after them, I have to give them my all."(Buchi) The rawness of this admission — spoken not with pride but with exhaustion — strips away the romantic veneer that usually surrounds maternal sacrifice. She is not giving joyfully; she is giving because there is nothing left to withhold.
More strikingly, the novel describes her bond with her children not in the language of warmth but of bondage: "Her love and duty for her children were like her chain of slavery."(Buchi) This metaphor is one of the most damning in the text. It acknowledges that Nnu Ego's love is genuine while simultaneously exposing the system that has weaponised that love against her. The chain is not external — it is forged from her own devotion, making it all the harder to break.
The physical toll is no less vivid: "the little flesh she had on her was being sucked away by the new baby at her breast." (Buchi) The image of her body being literally consumed by the demands of motherhood transforms the act of nurturing into one of self-erasure. Sacrifice, in this light, is not rewarded but normalised — made to appear as the natural condition of womanhood rather than as the product of an unjust social arrangement.
1.4 Motherhood and Social Recognition
Motherhood is also closely linked with social status and acceptance. A woman's worth is measured by her ability to bear and raise children, and this worth is further calibrated by the sex and survival of those children. Women who fulfil this role are respected, while those who do not face marginalisation and even contempt.
The cruelty of this system is illustrated when a character remarks of Nnu Ego: "She has only just lost the child that told the world that she is not barren." (Buchi) The child here functions not primarily as a person but as a certificate of the mother's value — evidence that she is not deficient. When that child is lost, so too is the proof of her social standing.
The extent to which a woman's identity is subsumed by this role becomes even clearer in the custom of addressing mothers by their sons' names: "Mama Oshia, come!" Her own name recedes entirely; she is known only in relation to her male child. The practice, presented matter-of-factly in the novel, encapsulates how thoroughly a woman's individual identity is replaced by her maternal one.
Even in death, the measure applied to a woman is reproductive: "Having died a 'complete woman' [having borne children], she was to be buried in her husband's compound." Completeness, in this framework, is not a quality of character or achievement but simply the outcome of having reproduced. This social pressure transforms motherhood into a compulsory role rather than a personal choice, encouraging women to conform in order to gain recognition they might otherwise be denied entirely.
1.5 Motherhood as a Cultural Myth
Despite its powerful presence in cultural and literary narratives, the ideal of motherhood is not a universal truth but a constructed fiction. The novel's most pointed articulation of this comes in its bitter irony: "The joy of being a mother was the joy of giving all to your children, they said. And her reward? Did she not have the greatest funeral Ibuza had ever seen?" (Buchi) The sardonic edge of this passage is unmistakable — Nnu Ego's reward for a lifetime of sacrifice is a spectacular funeral, an honour she can no longer experience. The "joy" exists only in the telling of others, not in anything she herself ever possessed.
The myth's fragility is also exposed through the acknowledgement that "how was she to know that by the time her children grew up the values of her country... would have changed so drastically, to the extent where a woman with many children could face a lonely old age... just like a barren woman?"(Buchi) This is perhaps the novel's most devastating irony: the very insurance policy that Nnu Ego sacrificed everything to secure — children who would care for her in old age — proves worthless. The cultural promise was made in a world that no longer exists by the time it falls due for payment.
The myth, then, is sustained not because it is true but because it serves broader social and patriarchal structures. By idealising motherhood, society effectively overlooks the individuality and autonomy of women, reducing them to their reproductive function while dressing this reduction in the language of honour and fulfilment.
2: Motherhood as a Social Construct
2.1 Motherhood Beyond Biology
Motherhood is often perceived as a natural and biological role assigned to women. However, a closer examination reveals that motherhood is not merely a biological condition but a socially constructed institution shaped by cultural, historical, and ideological forces. Society defines what it means to be a “mother,” how a mother should behave, and what responsibilities she must fulfill.
The social definition of the "failed" woman is made explicit in the flat declaration that "a woman without a child for her husband was a failed woman."(Buchi) The phrasing is worth pausing over: the failure is not simply the absence of children but the absence of children for her husband — a formulation that positions the child primarily as the husband's property and the wife's productive function as one performed in service of him. This is not a biological description but an ideological one, and its matter-of-fact delivery in the text reflects how thoroughly it has been internalised by the community. Thus motherhood is structured through expectations that are imposed upon women. These expectations dictate that a woman must nurture, sacrifice, and devote herself entirely to her children. Such definitions are not universal truths but are shaped by dominant social norms and cultural practices. Studies on motherhood discourses emphasize that motherhood is constructed through ideological frameworks which regulate women’s roles and identities. Thus, motherhood is not simply something a woman is, but something she is expected to perform according to societal standards.
2.2 Role of Patriarchy in Constructing Motherhood
The construction of motherhood is deeply embedded within patriarchal structures. Patriarchy defines women primarily in relation to their reproductive roles and assigns them full responsibility for maintaining the family, while men remain largely exempt from equivalent accountability.
The economic dimensions of this control are made visible in the novel's depiction of domestic power: "Nnaife is the head of our family. He owns me... So even though I pay the fees, yet he owns me. So in other words he pays." (Buchi) The logic here is almost satirical in its circularity — Nnu Ego performs the labour, but the credit flows upward to the man who nominally heads the household. This is the architecture of patriarchal motherhood: women do the work; men receive the recognition.
Her worth as a woman is determined not by her individuality but by her success as a mother. The societal belief that a woman must have children in order to be valued reflects the strong influence of patriarchal ideology. Thus women often accept motherhood as their ultimate purpose, even when it leads to suffering and deprivation .
2.3 Cultural Expectations and the “Ideal Mother”
Society constructs a rigid image of the "ideal mother" — selfless, obedient, endlessly nurturing — against which all women are measured. A woman who conforms is praised; one who resists is criticised or marginalised. These cultural expectations function as mechanisms of control, conditioning women from an early age to believe that their primary duty is to become good mothers.
The violence of this conditioning becomes apparent when, after Nnu Ego's suicide attempt, she is rebuked: "You are shaming your womanhood, shaming your motherhood."(Buchi) Even in her moment of absolute despair, her pain is secondary to the embarrassment her behaviour causes the community. The accusation ties womanhood and motherhood together so tightly that to reject one is to dishonour the other — leaving a woman no legitimate space to express suffering that falls outside the sanctioned narrative of patient, selfless devotion.
2.4 Motherhood as a Measure of Womanhood
Society often equates being a woman with being a mother, thereby reducing female identity to reproductive capacity. In the novel, Nnu Ego’s initial struggle with barrenness highlights this reality. Her inability to conceive in her first marriage leads to rejection and humiliation, indicating that a woman without children is considered incomplete. This reflects a broader cultural belief that motherhood is essential for a woman’s social acceptance and self-worth. Such representations demonstrate how deeply embedded this idea is within society. Women are not recognized as individuals with independent identities but are valued primarily for their role as mothers.
2.5 Internalization of Social Norms
Nnu Ego dedicates her life to her children, believing that they will provide her with purpose and happiness — not because she has reasoned her way to this conclusion independently, but because the society that formed her left her no other framework for understanding her own worth.
The text shows how this internalisation operates even at the level of family: when Nnu Ego's own mother-in-law acknowledges infertility in terms that displace blame onto the woman — "whatever the juice is that forms children in a woman has been dried out of my daughter by anxiety"(Buchi) — the language of bodily failure is used to naturalise what is in fact a social judgement. The internalization of such norms ensures that the system sustains itself, as women continue to uphold the very structures that constrain them.
2.6 Motherhood as a Controlled Identity
Ultimately, motherhood as a social construct functions as a controlled identity imposed upon women. It defines their roles, regulates their behavior, and limits their choices. While it is presented as a source of fulfillment, it often restricts women’s freedom and individuality.
The novel clearly demonstrates how motherhood operates within a framework of control, where women are expected to sacrifice their personal desires for the sake of their families. This constructed identity leaves little room for self-realization outside the boundaries of motherhood.
3: The Reality of Motherhood in The Joys of Motherhood
3.1 From Ideal to Lived Experience
While motherhood is culturally constructed as a source of fulfillment and joy, The Joys of Motherhood presents a starkly different reality. Through the life of Nnu Ego, Buchi Emecheta exposes the gap between the idealized image of motherhood and its actual lived experience. Instead of happiness and respect, motherhood in the novel is marked by hardship, sacrifice, and emotional suffering. The title itself is deeply ironic, as it suggests happiness while the narrative reveals the painful realities associated with being a mother.
3.2 Nnu Ego’s Desire for Motherhood
At the beginning of the novel, Nnu Ego strongly believes in the cultural myth of motherhood. Like many women in her society, she considers motherhood essential for her identity and self-worth. Her initial barrenness in her first marriage leads to humiliation and rejection, reinforcing the idea that a woman without children is incomplete. When she finally becomes a mother, she experiences a sense of validation and relief. She believes that motherhood will bring her happiness, stability, and respect within society. This belief reflects the deeply internalized cultural notion that children are a source of fulfillment and security.
3.3 Motherhood as Continuous Struggle
The reality of motherhood rapidly contradicts Nnu Ego's expectations. Rather than the comfort and security she had anticipated, her life becomes a continuous struggle for survival. Nnaife fails to fulfil his responsibilities, leaving Nnu Ego to manage both the domestic and economic burdens of the household. Her body is visibly marked by this labour: "the little flesh she had on her was being sucked away by the new baby at her breast" (Buchi) — a detail that presents motherhood not as a state of flourishing but of physical depletion.
Her husband, Nnaife, fails to fulfill his responsibilities, leaving Nnu Ego to manage both domestic and economic challenges. She is forced to work tirelessly to provide for her children, often at the cost of her own well-being.
This situation highlights how motherhood, rather than being a source of joy, becomes a site of exploitation and exhaustion. As critical studies suggest, motherhood in the novel leads to “oppression, exploitation, and alienation” .
3.4 Sacrifice Without Reward
One of the most striking aspects of Nnu Ego’s experience is the extent of her sacrifice. She dedicates her entire life to her children, believing that they will eventually repay her love and care. However, this expectation is ultimately unfulfilled. As her children grow up, they become distant and fail to provide her with the emotional and material support she had hoped for. The assumption that children will care for their mother in old age proves to be an illusion.
She dedicates her entire life to her children, believing that they will repay her love and care. Yet as they grow up and are shaped by changing social conditions, they become distant, and the support she had depended upon never materialises. The novel is unflinching in its acknowledgement that even a woman with many children may face "a lonely old age and a miserable death." (Buchi) The maternal promise — that sacrifice will be rewarded — is exposed as one of the myth's most consequential deceptions.
3.5 Emotional and Psychological Alienation
Beyond physical hardship, Nnu Ego also experiences deep emotional and psychological alienation. Her identity becomes entirely centered around her role as a mother, leaving no space for personal desires or individuality. She becomes trapped in a cycle of responsibility and sacrifice, unable to envision a life beyond her children. This results in a loss of self, where her individuality is overshadowed by her maternal duties.
As Ogunrotimi and Owoeye observe, the novel reveals how motherhood can function as a mechanism of alienation, estranging women from their own autonomy .
3.6 Irony of the Title
The novel's title functions as its most sustained critical gesture. "The joy of being a mother was the joy of giving all to your children, they said. And her reward? Did she not have the greatest funeral Ibuza had ever seen?"(Buchi) The bitterness embedded in this passage encapsulates the novel's argument: the only reward Nnu Ego receives for a lifetime of sacrifice is a posthumous ceremony — spectacle in place of substance. Through this irony, Emecheta critiques not just Nnu Ego's individual fate but the cultural glorification of motherhood as a whole, revealing it as a narrative that benefits everyone except the women who live it.
Through Nnu Ego’s experiences, Emecheta demonstrates that the so-called “joys” of motherhood are often overshadowed by suffering and sacrifice. The title, therefore, becomes ironic, exposing the gap between societal ideals and actual lived experiences. This irony serves as a critique of the cultural glorification of motherhood, revealing it as a misleading and incomplete representation.
3.7 Motherhood as a Source of Oppression
Ultimately, the novel presents motherhood as a source of oppression rather than empowerment. Nnu Ego’s life is shaped by societal expectations that demand complete devotion to her children, without offering any recognition or support in return. Her struggles reflect a broader reality in which women are burdened with responsibilities that limit their freedom and individuality. Motherhood becomes a mechanism through which women are controlled and confined within traditional roles.
4: Motherhood and Patriarchy
4.1 Motherhood within a Patriarchal Framework
Motherhood in The Joys of Motherhood cannot be understood in isolation; it operates within a deeply patriarchal social structure. The expectations, responsibilities, and pressures associated with motherhood are largely shaped by a system that privileges male authority and defines women primarily through their reproductive roles.
Within the patriarchal framework of the novel, a woman's value is directly tied to her fertility. Her inability to conceive leads to rejection and contempt; her success as a mother becomes the primary index of her worth as a human being. The label "barren as a desert" illustrates the harshness of this evaluation: infertility is not treated as a medical reality but as a moral failure, a deficiency that renders a woman essentially worthless. Thus motherhood becomes not just a personal experience but a socially controlled institution that reinforces gender inequality.
4.2 Women Defined Through Reproduction
One of the central features of patriarchy is the reduction of women’s identity to their ability to bear children. In the novel, Nnu Ego’s value as a woman is directly tied to her fertility. Her initial rejection due to barrenness clearly demonstrates how society equates womanhood with motherhood. This reflects a broader cultural belief that a woman’s primary purpose is reproduction. Women who fulfill this role are accepted, while those who do not are marginalized. Such a system ensures that women are valued not as individuals but as mothers, thereby limiting their identity and autonomy.
4.3 Control Over Women’s Roles and Responsibilities
Patriarchy also controls the distribution of domestic and parental responsibilities. Nnu Ego is expected to shoulder complete responsibility for her children — their sustenance, their education, their emotional wellbeing — while Nnaife remains largely peripheral. The novel highlights the absurdity of a system in which Nnu Ego actually earns and pays for the children's schooling, yet this is credited to her husband: "even though I pay the fees, yet he owns me. So in other words he pays." (Buchi) Women perform the labour; men receive the authority.
Critical perspectives on motherhood emphasize that such structures place an unfair burden on women, forcing them to manage both domestic and economic roles without adequate support .
4.4 The Absent or Irresponsible Father Figure
A significant aspect of patriarchal society, as depicted in the novel, is the relative absence or irresponsibility of the father. Nnaife, like many male figures in the narrative, does not fully engage in the emotional and practical aspects of parenting. Despite this, society does not question his role or hold him accountable. Instead, the entire burden of childcare falls on Nnu Ego. This imbalance reflects a broader societal pattern where mothers are held responsible for the well-being of children, while fathers are often exempt from similar scrutiny.
The entire burden of childcare falls upon Nnu Ego, and this imbalance is presented not as injustice but as the natural order of things — a normalisation that is itself one of patriarchy's most effective tools.
4.5 The “Good Mother” vs “Bad Mother” Dichotomy
Patriarchal ideology creates rigid categories of what constitutes a "good" or "bad" mother. These categories are deeply internalised by women, who come to judge themselves against unrealistic standards. When Nnu Ego's suicide attempt is met with the accusation that she is "shaming your womanhood, shaming your motherhood," (Buchi) the community's response makes clear that a mother's suffering is less important than her performance of the maternal role. Even in crisis, she is not offered compassion but censure — a stark illustration of how the ideal functions to silence rather than support.
These expectations are deeply internalized by women, leading them to judge themselves according to unrealistic standards. Nnu Ego constantly strives to meet these expectations, even when it leads to her own suffering. Her desire to be a good mother compels her to endure hardship without questioning the system that imposes these demands.
4.6 Motherhood as a Tool of Oppression
Through its portrayal of Nnu Ego's life, the novel reveals how motherhood functions as a tool of oppression within a patriarchal system. By presenting motherhood as noble and fulfilling, patriarchy encourages women to accept their roles without resistance, ensuring they uphold structures that limit their freedom while believing they are pursuing their highest purpose.
Nnu Ego's life becomes entirely centred on her children, and what little remained of her own personhood is gradually consumed. She is addressed not by her name but by her son's: "Mama Oshia, come!" (Buchi) She is buried not as an individual but as a "complete woman" — a designation that reduces a lifetime to a reproductive outcome. By the time the novel closes, Nnu Ego has given everything the myth demanded and received almost nothing it promised.
4.7 Motherhood and Loss of Identity
Ultimately, the patriarchal construction of motherhood leads to a loss of individual identity. Nnu Ego’s life becomes entirely centered around her children, leaving no space for personal growth or self-realization.
Her identity as a mother overshadows all other aspects of her existence, reducing her to a role rather than recognizing her as an individual. This loss of self is one of the most profound consequences of motherhood within a patriarchal framework.
5: Myth vs Reality of Motherhood
5.1 The Illusion of Joy
The concept of motherhood, as constructed by society, rests on the assumption that it is inherently joyful. The Joys of Motherhood systematically dismantles this assumption. What appears as "joy" is revealed to be a carefully sustained illusion that masks the structural hardships faced by women. Emecheta's narrative exposes that the so-called joy is not an experiential reality for Nnu Ego but a cultural expectation that she is required to perform and endorse even as it fails her.
5.2 Cultural Ideal vs Material Reality
At the level of cultural discourse, motherhood is associated with dignity, fulfillment, and emotional completeness. Women are conditioned to believe that bearing children will secure their position within both the family and society.
However, the material reality presented in the novel stands in stark opposition to this belief. Nnu Ego’s life is marked by economic hardship, physical exhaustion, and emotional strain. Her daily existence is defined not by joy but by survival.
5.3 The Illusion of Fulfillment
One of the most persistent myths surrounding motherhood is that it guarantees fulfillment. Nnu Ego herself subscribes to this belief, assuming that her children will provide her with purpose and happiness. Yet, as the narrative progresses, this expectation collapses. Her life becomes increasingly burdensome, and the emotional satisfaction she anticipates never fully materializes.
Emecheta deliberately constructs this disillusionment to reveal that fulfillment is not an inherent outcome of motherhood. Instead, it is an ideological promise that often remains unfulfilled, particularly in contexts shaped by poverty and patriarchal constraints.
5.4 Sacrifice as an Economy of Exploitation
Society presents sacrifice as a noble and essential component of motherhood. In reality, however, this sacrifice operates as an economy of exploitation. Nnu Ego's labour — physical, emotional, and economic — is continuous and largely unacknowledged. As Umeh observes, the novel departs from traditional portrayals by emphasising not the perfection of the mother but "the turmoil and anguish" that define her experience. Sacrifice is not rewarded but normalised, transformed into an instrument of control rather than an expression of empowerment.
5.5 Breakdown of the Maternal Promise
The most fragile element of the myth is the promise that children will eventually reciprocate a mother's sacrifices. The novel presents the collapse of this promise with unflinching clarity. As Nnu Ego's children grow up in a changing world, they move away, both physically and emotionally, and the care and support she had expected never arrives. Even "a woman with many children could face a lonely old age... just like a barren woman" (Buchi) — a sentence that renders the entire ideological economy of maternal sacrifice worthless. If barrenness and prolific motherhood lead to the same lonely end, then the myth that elevated motherhood over barrenness was never a description of reality but a story told to keep women compliant.
5.6 Myth as Ideological Control
The persistence of the motherhood myth is not accidental; it serves a clear ideological function. By promoting motherhood as inherently joyful and fulfilling, society ensures that women continue to accept roles that demand sacrifice and submission. Women are encouraged to internalise these ideals, making it difficult for them to question their circumstances. In this sense, the myth is not simply a misunderstanding or a romantic exaggeration — it is a deliberate construction that sustains patriarchal structures by making their mechanisms invisible.
Conclusion: The Collapse of the Myth
Through Nnu Ego's life, The Joys of Motherhood ultimately dismantles the myth of motherhood with quiet but devastating precision.The novel demonstrates that motherhood, far from being a universal source of happiness, is shaped by social, economic, and ideological forces that frequently produce suffering rather than fulfilment — and that the culture which promotes it as otherwise is complicit in that suffering.
References
Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood. Heinemann, 1979.
Umeh, Marie A. "The Joys of Motherhood: Myth or Reality?." Colby Quarterly 18.1 (1982): 5.
Rani, Rinku, et al. "Motherhood is Womanhood: Myth or Reality? A Study of Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood." Language in India: Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow 20 (2020): 52-57.
Levey, Laura. "" Motherhood brings Joy and Happiness", Discourses of the Ideal Mother in South Africa." (2023).
Ogunrotimi, Olumide, and Omolara Kikelomo Owoeye. "Notions of Alienation and Motherhood in Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood." Crossings: A Journal of English Studies 10 (2019): 95-105.
Thakur, Archana, and Hem Raj Bansal. "Woman’in The Joys of Motherhood." Gendered Spaces and Ruptured Identities: 146.
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