El potencial reparador del amor (propio) en Daughters Who Walk this Path

Yejide Kilanko’s novel, Daughters Who Walk this Path (2012) explores the journey of its protagonist, Morayo, towards self-reparation and self-love amidst the backdrop of sexual abuse and societal expectations in Nigeria. This article delves into Morayo’s formation of emotional and sentimental attachments as an adult. I argue that her narrative serves as a powerful exploration of self-love amid intersecting societal pressures. For this, the focus is on Morayo’s struggle to confront her trauma against the backdrop of societal expectations of Nigerian “good citizenship” (Ahmed, 2014: 108), particularly in what concerns marriage and sexuality. My contention is that Morayo’s journey towards self-reparation is inherently self-driven as a result of the social barriers that prevent her from developing self-pride. In this respect, I explore Morayo’s agency in detaching herself from national and customary impositions, positioning her journey towards self-love as a critique of societal expectations, testifying to the transformative power of personal agency. Drawing on key events in Nigerian history during the 1990s, the article examines Morayo’s evolving journey towards self-reparation and contrasts it with the Nigeria’s own reparative trajectory. Additionally, the article analyzes Morayo’s relationship with Kachi, her childhood love, and the tensions arising from his adherence to societal norms of masculinity and romance. In this sense, the focus turns to how Morayo’s path toward self-love is threatened by Kachi’s willingness to follow Nigerian customary laws on masculinity (Uchendu, 2008: 15) and social expectations involving marriage and romantic love. Against this backdrop, the Morayo’s sense of self-preservation and her love for Kachi will be introduced as positively contributing to repairing the damage that expectations of Nigerian masculinity exert upon Kachi’s self-esteem.

https://doi.org/10.17811/arc.74.1.2024.223-250

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