Growing My Hair Again Story Art
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Our new story is "Growing My Hair Again" by Chika Unigwe. It's in our anthology One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories. You can also find it online at the following link: https://nollyculture.blogspot.com/201...She has a great webpage at chikaunigwe.com which gives more biographical information than we have in the anthology.
As I read this, I thought of "Kelemo's Woman", one of our first stories in the anthology which was also written by a Nigerian author. In that story, I wanted the woman to survive through her own skills instead of attaching herself to a progression of powerful men. In this story, I thought about how tenuous the narrator's safety net was after her husband's death. It all depends on her son. What happens if the son dies? The boutique, her source of income, goes to someone else and she's out on the street again, I would guess. I want her to be able to survive on her own merits just like what I wanted for Kelemo's woman. But, how possible is that? They both just need to stay off of the precipice.
It's also interesting how some of the older women become as oppressive as the powerful men in these stories. They have grown up under one set of beliefs and limitations and they want this system to remain. Otherwise, it hurts their status within the social system. And, because of that system, their status is all they have. It feels like a boulder on everyone's back.
Yesterday, I went to a Women's Equality Day luncheon and one speaker commented that we need to remember that this is an international problem. It certainly is!
I liked this story, Barb. When the young wife laughed at her mother-in-law at the end, I inwardly cheered her on. At the same time, I worried about her future in this family. It was entirely conceivable to me that the family would connive to take her son away from her throw her out, but apparently she had tradition on her side.It was impossible for her to confront her husband directly because he was so much stronger, but she managed to fight back in her own way by having her tubes tied. There was a lot of strength in this young girl.
The emotionally and sometimes physically abusive mother-in-law seems to have been very common in traditional Chinese and Indian societies as well. After enduring such abuse as young wives, they seemed to find satisfaction in inflicting it on others once their status as the mother of the male heir had been assured.
Yes Barb and Ann, I agree. The rising laughter at the end is a triumph. Yes, the widow's situation is still precarious and hinges on the survival of her son. But the woman is smart and educated, smart enough to have her tubes tied secretly. Under society's boot-heel, she shows a remarkable amount of control-- enough control, do you think, to have engineered Okpala's death as alleged by her Mother in law? Hmmm... I forgot about her university degree, Kenneth. It was in sociology. The subject matter was not exactly a marketable skill, but she was definitely educated and seemed capable of running her husband's boutique.Whoa - I did not think about her being behind the robbery and murder of her husband, but I think she would have been capable of it. Having her tubes tied without anyone knowing showed her strong determination and willingness to take risks.
The mother-in-law kept berating her that her behavior would make people think that she didn't love her husband. Yep, at least she got that right. That was the idea.
I liked the role hair played in this story. The mother-in-law's hair was wispy and sparse. The wife gloried in her beautiful hair, and during the 3 months between the death and the funeral, she delighted in having hairdressers change her hairstyles every day. She knew her hair would be shaved off, but also that it would grow back. There was a future for her.
Nice post Ann. I like the way you linked the growth of her hair with her future. That gives me more confidence in her success down the road. Oh, I like that observation about her hair too, Ann. And, I like the idea that she might have engineered Okpala's death, Ken. It makes me stop worrying about how vulnerable she is in that culture. She may rise above it after all! 
I don't really have anything to add to the discussion, but wanted to say that I enjoyed this story -- especially the narrator's voice. And I totally expected to find out she had engineered her husband's death. Wow, why didn't that occur to me when I first read it? I've been wanting these women to take control of their lives and now it looks like she did and very decisively. 
I am catching up with our short stories whist you are all having a weekend get together in San Clemente! Of course it reminded me of living in Nigeria and the inordinate amount of time women spend on their hair there - believe me 7 hours is not an exaggeration! especially if extensions are in have to be taken out, and new different ones fixed.
And therein lies what I really like about the story - it takes something that all Nigerian women, and many others, will relate to namely their hair - and makes it work for regrowth in all in senses of the word - for the 'new' generation, for a different, more independent future, not tied to the traditions of the past - shaving widows hair off, long drawn out wailing funerals, so she will not be like her mother in law. However to do this she has had to "play" the system - she has suffered an abusive husband, had a son - so lucky- but been independent enough through eduction to have had money and a business. Yes its is optimistic in one respect. and great that she has the last laugh at her mother in laws expense.
But I can't help thinking how her son will grow up, he saw The Hand in action, he may well grew up to be yet another Hand.
Also there is a tendency for some women in Nigeria to "milk" men for money etc is a worrying one, stemming from ingrained inequality, sexual favour exploitation at school , college, univ, work, accomodation spheres of life.
No I didn't read it as she had insitigated and planned the armed robbery , only that her mother in law thought she had and that only because she did not like her, not that she really realised just how capable she was, that she had had her "tubes tied" but I do agree she might well have been ruthless enough to do it!
Glad to see you back here, Sheila! I was looking forward to your take on this.I think your paragraph about the son copying his father's behavior and the things women have learned to do to survive is an important one. The son will not only remember the Hand but will also imitate the other males that he sees. And, though I sympathize with the plight of the women, I am itching for them to go out and make a long term distance in their culture (easy for me to say, I know).
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