RAPE AND THE FEMALE IDENTITY IN YEJIDE KILANKO’S DAUGHTERS WHO WALK THIS PATH

Abstract

Historically, the Nigerian female gender has suffered unspoken denigrations in different intensities. Thus the female identity in Africa is that which has been relegated to the background. Women in African society have been associated with qualities like weakness, emotion and dependence. In Daughters who walk this Path, the novelist explores the predicaments of the female character as a result of rape. A systematic and critical approach adopted in this study unraveled the different causes, forms and consequences of rape and violation of female character in literary works. The theoretical framework of the paper is based on the African feminist theory and Trauma theory. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the traumatic effects of rape on the female victim. The paper establishes that the female folks have suffered abuse and violation from the male folk in African society and that some men derive pleasure in sexually abusing women. Factors such as; family background, poverty, and quest for survival expose these women to rape and violation because men take advantage of them in such a helpless situation. The researcher did a critical analysis of the source texts.