FAMILY VIOLENCE IN CLASSICAL AND IGBO LITERATURES
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 3000
ABSTRACT
Classical and African literatures have portrayed the family as a nucleus of the societies. Existing studies from the old Graeco-Roman times and Igbo cultures acknowledged this significance by paying adequate attention to issues of marriage, inheritance, finance, and social class in their literatures. However, hardly any one of these studies has exclusively concentrated on or compared the representations of family violence in the literatures. This study therefore, examines the causes, manifestations and effects of family violence in the Classical and Igbo literatures with a view to highlighting their convergences and divergences. Using the descriptive and comparative research design, the study adopts Sigmund Freud’s Instinct theory of Aggression. The primary Classical sources consulted were the works of Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Suetonius and the Digests of Justinian while the works of Achebe, Ofomata, Ike, Adichie, and oral literature were consulted for the Igbo aspect, because these have large representations of family violence. Data were subjected to thematic and critical analysis. Family violence which is largely a common feature of both Classical and Igbo societies, as portrayed in their literatures, demonstrates that barrenness is hardly tolerated and is blamed on the woman. In Euripides’ Andromache Hermione is repudiated and replaced with another woman on account of barrenness. Osita, Uju’s husband married another wife without her consent in Onye Chi ya Akwatughi written by Ofomata. The auctoritas of the paterfamilias sometimes constitute danger in the household, in Oresteian Trilogy, king Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to gain a favourable weather and passage across the sea. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s second wife almost lost her life to his gun shot, after being seriously battered because she made a mistake during food preparation. Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus presents Mr. Eugene as a batterer of wife and children on grounds of disobedience. Ezeulu creates a domestic harshness and fear in Achebe’s Arrow of God. Sophocles’ Electra and Ike’s Potter’s Wheel show that abandonment, rejection, and child abuse are traumas which family members suffer as a result of violence. The cruel treatment of a spouse often leads to rash reactions and murder as exemplified in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Euripides’ Medea, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, among others. The texts also show that false accusation, infidelity, deviant behaviours, incest and denial can both result from or into family violence. However, some cases are peculiar to Classical literature: youths directly or indirectly killing their mothers as observed in Aeschylus’ Libation Bearers and Sophocles’ Women of Trachis. In Igbo literature, wife and child battering (Things Fall Apart, Purple Hibiscus, and Onye Chi Ya Akwatughi) is a common occurrence. While Classical literature often attributes some violent attacks to the influence of the gods, Euripides’ (Bacchae) Igbo literature has no such corollary. Family violence in Classical and Igbo literatures is seated in socio-cultural, biological and economic experiences of the Graeco-Roman and Igbo peoples. Its effects scope over abandonment, battering, divorce and murder, with more cases of battering in Igbo literature; and murder and vengeance of the gods in Classical literature.
Related Project Materials
GOOD GOVERNANCE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION: A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN EKITI STATE
Background of the study
Poverty in Nigeria has escalated to become a destructive force. Like a malignan...
PROBLEMS MILITATING AGAINST TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ART IN PRIVATE JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
All school subjects have their intrinsic value (intellectual and utilitarian) and art is one of...
MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF LIVESTOCK-ASSOCIATED METHICILLIN RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS (LA-MRSA) FROM POULTRY IN EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is now a leading cause of staphylococcal infections in humans and animals. In...
INFLUENCE OF COVID-19 AND VIRTUAL LEARNING ON PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN JEGA LOCAL GOVERNMENT
ABSTRACT
This study examined the influence of covid-19 and virtual learning on perfor...
INDEPENDENCE OF AUDITORS AND RELIABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS IN BANKING INDUSTRY
ABSTRACT
There has been celebrated cases of corporate frauds and fina...
CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF PRE-MARITAL SEX AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN NSUKKA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Sex is a term that is universally used so you would expect a good amount...
THE CHALLENGES OF THE INTERNET IN TODAY'S NIGERIA BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Background to study
A study by BMG et al. (2015) found that almost all SMEs used the Internet for comme...
THE IMPACT OF FINTECH INNOVATIONS ON FINANCIAL REPORTING
Abstract:
This research explores the impact of fintech innovations on financial reporting in Lagos Stat...
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE ELECTRICITY PAYMENT AND METERING SYSTEM WITH PAYMENT INTEGRATION, EMAILING AND SMS. (A CASE STUDY OF HARCOURT ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY)
ABSTRACT
The Nigerian power sector is confronted with inadequate, poor, un-organized electricity billing and consume...
INTEGRATING RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS INTO VOCATIONAL TRAINING CURRICULA
ABSTRACT: Integrating renewable energy systems into vocational training curricula is critical for preparing students to meet the growing deman...
