Aliyu Kamal and his Female Characters: A Feminist Analysis of Life Afresh

Citation: Umar SAJE (Ph.D.) & Mal. Inuwa MAHMUD (2021). Aliyu Kamal and his Female Characters: A Feminist Analysis of Life Afresh. Yobe Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (YOJOLLAC), Vol. 9, Issue 1. Department of African Languages and Linguistics, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. ISSN 2449-0660

ALIYU KAMAL AND HIS FEMALE CHARACTERS: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF LIFE AFRESH

Umar SAJE (Ph.D.)

Mal. Inuwa MAHMUD

Abstract

The social and cultural life of women in Africa is viewed to be that of subjugation and marginalization. Their roles in most of the early male authored texts are reduced to child-bearing and rearing, cooking and other domestic chores. They are always under men’s control and their views in making any decision are immaterial. This paper explores the presentation of female characters in Aliyu Kamal’s (a relatively recent writer from northern Nigerian region) Life Afresh from a feminist perspective. Unlike other male writers (with the exception of a few) in Nigeria who present women as docile, uneducated, subjugated, greedy, gossips, rude and dehumanized, Kamal presents women as a people who have access to the gains of society, such as education and career, without having to declare religious principles. The prominent female characters: Asabe, Jummai and Dijengala in Life Afresh, are portrayed as assertive, purposeful, bold, intelligent and yet humble. They are economically independent unlike other Kamalian female characters like those in Fire in My Backyard (2004), The Blaming Soul (2005), Women without Borders (2010) and No Sweat (2013).

Key words: Female, characters, representation, feminism, Life Afresh and portrayal

1.0 Introduction

The representation of women in African Literature, as in other parts of the world, has received (and is still receiving) a critical attention from scholars and critics. Women have been variously portrayed by both male and female writers across the world as either positive or negative, stereotypes or prototypes. They are seen in most of the texts authored by males as men’s appendages, which are used, squeezed dry and then thrown into the dustbin, Sekula (2012, p. 95) writes:

Popular creative writing by men has used the usual stock of good, bad, old maid, or hag stereotypes of women in many of their fiction. Interestingly, female writers have to a large extent also used, quite indiscriminately, the stock and stereotypes they inherited from male popular and mainstream writers. Therefore, the images of the Northern Nigerian women in popular fiction include those of meek, virtuous women, vicious co-wives, rivals or step-mothers.

African writers like Tutuola in Palm Wine Drinkard (1952), Achebe in Things fall Apart (1958), Ekwensi in People of the City (1963), Amadi in The Concubine (1966), Armah in The Beatyful Ones are not yet Born (1968), Yari in The Climate of Corruption (1978) and Jibia in The Hunt Begins (1982), among others, have negatively portrayed women as greedy, helpless, objects of sexual gratification, destroyers, docile and subservient to the whims and caprices of men.

On the other hand, male writers like Wa Thiong’o in Weep not, Child (1964) and Petals of Blood (1977), Ousmane in God’s Bits of Wood (1976), Tahir in The Last Imam (1984), Obafemi in Wheel (1997) and Gimba in Witnesses to Tears (2007) and Sacred Apples (1994) and now Aliyu Kamal in Silence and a Smile (2005) and Life Afresh (the novel under analysis) have portrayed women as educated, assertive, resourceful and catalysts for social reform, which can be seen as a paradigm shift on the role of women in African novels.

2.0 Life Afresh

A 2012 publication by Ahmadu Bello University Press, Life Afresh recounts the domestic and official life of Audi Adam, an indefatigable English teacher, who specializes in Linguistics and teaches at the School of English. Audi Adam, the central character in the novel shares some outstanding attributes with his creator, the novelist. In the first place, both are all males. They are both from humble backgrounds. They all specialized in Linguistics and teach in university, a very interesting similarity.

Audi divorces his first wife, Delu, the mother of Iqbal and Maqbul (his two sons) on account of her ungodly code of dress within her marital home. Immediately afterwards, he proposes to marry a nymphet, Dijengala Maikano, whose father is very much in a hurry to marry her off to lighten his burden and turn his attention to his younger children. After the birth of Quraishy, Dijengala’s first born, Audi again proposes to marry his house-help, Uwani, a grown-up daughter of Mallam Lallan, whose “Strap of a bra” engrossed him the most. For this reason, Dijengala deserts him as a result of which he takes solace in writing a novel after a novel. The blurb of the novel reveals that “He (Audi) leads a life unfettered by the dispensable aspects of native Hausa culture that his wife, Dijengala Maikano, finds so alluring as to risk infringing his rights, especially concerning polygamy.” In the novel, Kamal raises issues of divorce and its aftermath, abject poverty, polygamy, deception, marginalization, exploitation, social stratification, gossip, greed, exploitation, the girl-child abuse and parental irresponsibility, among a plethora of other issues discussed in the novel. The story the writer weaves around his characters portrays life in northern Nigeria. However, it is not the general themes of the novel that this paper investigates. Rather, the focus is on the examination of the portrayal of women and their characterization in the story.

3.0 Women and Patriarchy in Hausa Islamic Society of Northern Nigeria

A woman, according to Kabir (2019, p. 48) “is created to be a helper unto the man. She is physiologically everything that a man is not.” Like in many other places in the world, a woman in northern Nigerian Hausa Islamic society is expected to be under the control of a man. The Hausa people believe that an unmarried woman is unfulfilled. Hence, young girls are given in marriage without their consent. And whether they love the suitors or not, they in most cases accept them unwillingly and remain in their matrimonial homes for fear of being seen as cultural deviants like Maryam, in Ibrahim’s A Weird Hope (2012), who promised never to disobey her parents no matter how unkind her husband would be to her.

As a region, northern Nigeria, as many critics believe, is a place where women, however their age are chauvinistically under the control of a man and are not involved in decision making even in matters that directly or indirectly affect their lives (see Orabueze 2006; Hamza 2006; Yacim 2012; Kabir 2019; Othman and Mohammed 2017). The patriarchal nature of the region denies them a chance to voice out their views in what concerns them. Men often largely re-interpret religious obligations to suit their selfish interest thereby abusing the rights of women. Oluwayomi (2012, p. 150) explains that:

Patriarchy is a form of sociological stratification that exalts the male gender over the female. It ultimately seeks to delineate the society along gender lines, thereby assigning certain roles and responsibilities to a particular gender. Marginalization, suppression, discrimination, and injustice are but a few negative terms associated with such a social order.

Thus, women, whether as daughters, sisters, wives or mothers are over clouded in northern Nigerian male-controlled atmosphere in which they are subjected to the various forms of marginalization such as denial of education, forced marriage and rapes. These and similar other maltreatments meted against women in most societies across the globe compel critics like Kabir (2006, p. 155) to lament that:

She (woman) has no say in the choice of her life partner (husband). She is given little chance to express herself and is expected to take things as they come (positive or negative). When she eventually marries, she is expected as a wife to be totally submissive to her husband. The kitchen is traditionally regarded as her rightful place. As a mother, her sole responsibilities and use are in bearing children, caring for them and bringing them up to be good citizens. When they are good the credit goes to the father but when they go bad or do wrong the mother is blamed and condemned.

However, with acquisition of formal education as propagated by some male and female literary activists such as Abubakar Gimba (1994), Abubakar (1998), Alkali (2007) and Ahmad (2007), among others, women can have a voice in matters that affect them and equally contribute their quota in the development of their societies. For instance, Avi Dayyan in Alkali’s The Initiates (2007) and Amina in Ahmad’s The Twist (2007) acquire formal education, get married and still contribute in bringing change and development in their immediate environment. In essence, feminists view education as a necessary tool in the battle against the discrimination of women as Alu (2007, p. 296) puts it that “Education is the antidote to poverty, frustration, ignorance, diseases, superstition and certainly a multi-dynamic for liberation.”

4.0 Aliyu Kamal and his Critics

For critics like Buba (2013), Abdu (2014), Jaji (2015) and Mahmud (2019), Kamal is a writer who is sympathetic to the plight of women and takes a form of critical protest through his writings against some traditional practices like arranged/forced marriages, which have perpetually kept women in bondage. In other words, he has used most of his writings to depict how women are subjugated to various forms of oppression. Thus, he creates awareness of their rights and how such rights are denied to them in their Hausa Muslim patriarchal society. Against this background, Mahmud (2019, p. 42) writes:

Kamal joins some African writers, such as Sembene Ousmane, Nuruddin Farah, Tayib Salih, Mariama Ba, Zaynab Alkali, Ibrahim Tahir, Abubakar Gimba and Auwalu Yusufu Hamza, among others, to expose injustice, marginalisation, hardship and inhuman treatment meted to women. He uses northern Nigeria as a microcosm to explore what happens in most patriarchal African societies.

Kamal’s prominent female characters: Dija, Husna and Jummai in Silence and a Smile and Asabe, Jummai and Dijengala in Life Afresh, the novel under analysis, are portrayed as assertive, purposeful, bold, intelligent and yet humble. They symbolically represent modern Hausa girls, who are ready to achieve their ambitions despite patriarchal domination. They are portrayed in a modern society where girls are allowed to pursue education without encumbrance or male preference. The opportunity given to them is advancement in the changing face of female children. Clearly, in line with womanists, such as Zaynab Alkali, Asabe Kabir Usman and Razinat T. Mohammed, among others, Kamal strongly believes that girls’ redemption from suffocating and humiliating traditional practices (arranged, early or forced marriage and other forms of marginalization) lies in the acquisition of formal education, as evident in many of his works. Against this background, Buba (2013, p. 70) observes that:

The aim and objectives of Kamal’s writings is to address the social burden of the society with intention of sanitising the general outlook of the society, in order to forge the country ahead. He wants to inculcate decorum in the pursuit of life. He also believes in freedom and this is identified in the representation of his characters in his writings.

In essence, his novels are works that explore and portray the complex experiences of women in a phallocentric (male-dominated) society and their struggles to overcome their problems. Kamal gives insights on the plight of African woman in a patriarchal society and how education is used as a ‘weapon’ for liberation through the display of the lives of his characters within a larger cultural and social force in northern Nigeria.

On the other hand, there are female characters that are portrayed as inactive, submissive and less educated. In a word, their lives are damaged. They are prostitutes, divorcees, illegitimates, food-sellers, objects of sexual gratification or heart-broken women, etcetera purposely cast to satirize the patriarchal male-dominated northern Nigerian society where men take undue advantage of women, who they use and abuse. Apparently, Kamal uses his writings to pinpoint the instances of injustice, marginalization and other forms of hardship meted against women in his society. For instance, female characters like Tala (Dela) in Fire in My Backyard, Hajjo’s mother in Hausa Girl, Azumi in King of the Boys and Laraba in Someone Somewhere are portrayed as prostitutes and Goshi Musa in Portrait of a Patron, Larai in A Possible World and Delu in Life Afresh as divorcees. Also, Bara, in A Possible World and Uwani in Life Afresh are depicted as house-helps. Dije is blamed of misery borne and Ayya is accused as a witch in King of the Boys. Equally, female characters like Larai in Silence and a Smile, Indo in Women without Borders, Dijengala in Life Afresh, Marka in No Sweat and Dada in Somewhere Somehow suffer various forms of oppression and maltreatment in their matrimonial homes. Similarly, the issue of negative consequences of girl-child hawking is portrayed through the image of Shatu and Kande in Silence and a Smile and Barmani in Hausa Boy. They attend neither the Islamic nor Western school. They spent their whole life hawking due to the attitude of their irresponsible fathers. These and similar other reasons compel critics like Yacim (2012, p. 53) to opine that:

Marginalization, subordination and under representation of women is not a recent phenomenon across the globe. However, the case of the women from the Northern part of Nigeria is worth x-raying considering the way their religion is being manipulated to suit the whims and caprices of the patriarchal society they find themselves... The patriarchal nature of Nigeria as a country is aiding the northern Muslim society in giving deaf ears and blind eyes to the current trend of development around the world.

5.0 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework considered in this is feminism, a theory that is a reaction to the stereotyping of women seen as indeterminate human beings, vulnerable, defendant, gullible, voiceless and meant to bear children and take care of the family. All these deny them a positive identity and fulfillment of what they want to become in life. Isaiah (2012, p. 86) explains that:

Feminism, which is feminist criticism directly, concerns itself with contemporary agitation by women for social, economic, religious, political and cultural equality with their male counterparts. The patriarchal society sets the parameters for women’s structural unequal positions in families and markets.

A close examination of early African novels reveals that in texts (like Achebe’s Things fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, etc.) written by male writers, women are given stereotyped images, which portray them as passive, unstable and irrational. Thus, their representation in literature forms an important socializing factor in feminist literary criticism, since it produces a role model that indicates legitimate feminine goals and aspirations.

A feminist reading of a text is typically one that examines the representation of women in order to expose the underlying power relations to which they are subjected and challenge the strategies used to define them as “other” or a “lack” or part of nature. Feminist critics have also exploited the close connection between feminism and post-colonialism in their readings: in post-colonial theory, the colonized subject rather than the woman is characterized as “other” but the strategies of subjugation are comparable (Bertens, 2001, p. 46). In a sense then, the paper deploys the theory to point to some changes in the representation of women in Nigerian (nay, northern region) literature where patriarchy welcomes women at the doorstep.

6.0 The Representation of Young Female Characters in Life Afresh

The female characters in Life Afresh like Dijengala, Asabe and Jummai are positively portrayed. They are educated, analytical and economically independent unlike the male characters that are portrayed as greedy, lazy, insincere and corrupt. They are also ever ready to achieve their ambition despite patriarchal hegemony. To begin with, Dijengala Maikano is arguably the protagonist of the novel. We meet her on the very first page of the novel up to the last and know most of the other female characters through her interaction with them. She was married to Audi immediately after the completion of her secondary school education. She loved Abubakar and preferred to marry him but her father rejected him in preference to Audi, whom he considered as a religious and responsible person. Being very obedient, she respects her father’s choice and marries Audi because she is quite aware that respect for elders (parents) is one of the good qualities expected of younger people in the Hausa community and, by extension, every Nigerian or African Society. As the saying goes, “The words of elders are words of wisdom”, any ‘child’ that disrespects older people in his community is vulnerable to many great misfortunes in life. Dijengala, like Fatahiyya in Kamal’s Hausa Girl (2010) and Maryam in Ibrahim’s A Weird Hope (2012), does not enjoy her marital life but her obedience to Alhaji Maikano forces her to submissively accept her predicament and remain in her husband’s house. She, however, decides to treat Audi with an iron hand.

The author clearly describes the pathetic and unbearable life Dijengala is subjected to in her matrimonial home. He gives her a voice to avail the reader the opportunity to have a look at the tedious as well as stressful life she experiences in Audi’s house. She vehemently reacts against being over-exploited by her selfish husband when she utters some melancholy words, which appear to reflect her regret of marrying Audi. She courageously tells him:

Have some sympathy for me; the ordeal will be too much for me. There is only me-and no one else. The boys do assist and help around the house. But only if I catch them before they go out to play football. Even if I succeed in doing so, the help they offer me doesn’t very much reduce the tedium I have to put up with from sunup until sundown. And that happens every day. If their mother had not been divorced – (Kamal, 2012, P. 5).

She fails to hide her annoyance by signifying it facially and verbally as well. She punishes Audi by her refusal to look after his sons in order to prevent herself from receiving a divorced letter like Delu (the mother of Iqbal and Maqbul), for if she treats them well, as Audi wishes, it is like giving him the chance to divorce her one day, as he did Delu, and marry a virgin, who will continue with the slavery. Thus, she chooses to treat the children in her own personal way rather than attend to them in the manner ordained by circumstances. The text records that:

Dijengala, who compares household drudgery to slavery, has chosen not to look after her husband’s children left behind by their mother after a hateful divorce, which Dijengala assigns to flimsy reasons. The young housewife, whose marriage is so recent such that she still hasn’t told her husband about her decision…(Kamal, 2012,P. 1).

In other words, she seems to avenge for the innocent Delu. Dijengala’s refusal of taking care of Delu’s sons well indirectly suggests that she wants him to bring back their mother to the house. To further show her vehement denial to treat the children the way her husband likes, she says to him, “I have enough on my hands as it were. There are the house chores, and there is this baby (her son Quraishy) to look after”. Once again, she sarcastically asks him, “That looking after them is part of the daily chores?” (Kamal, 2012, P. 5). All this is a warning to Audi and his likes to stop divorcing their wives under the pretence of rejecting indecent dressing.

Also, Dijengala is portrayed as a patient wife, who stops herself from being carried away by the grief of jealously for fear of what negative result her action is likely to cause her. Thus, when the rumor of her husband’s intention to marry a second wife (Uwani) reaches her ears, she tries to appear composed by attending to her child, putting a brave face and displaying calmness. She sees nothing gainful in one fighting an impossible battle-something that she lacks the audacity to stop. She prefers to act moderately and not be consumed by grief. She dismisses the claim said to be heard from Jadda (Audi’s uncle) that her husband will marry Uwani. Even Uwani herself praises Dijengala as she says inside her mind, “To marry the teacher of English may not turn out to be a problem. After all, Dijengala is peaceful and peaceable: one never hears her speak out aloud” (Kamal, 2012, P. 169).

Being a fulltime housewife, Dijengala wants to be economically independent. She operates a business of adashi collection, which enables her to gain some money by charging the contributors ten to twenty percent as her commission as the narrative reveals:

Neighbors in the locality deposit fixed amounts to a head weekly, fortnightly or monthly, which she pays to those on the queue before collecting her karan dashi commission. Some payees fail to pay up- and still get away with it. She never bothers to ask for it (Kamal, 2012, P.66).

She uses some of her commission to buy for herself what Audi fails to buy for her and also to buy recharge cards to call her relatives and friends because her husband hardly allows her out even when necessary. “He’s very strict about feminine outings” (Kamal, 2012, P. 68).

Asabe is the next most important female character in the novel. She is a hardworking teacher of English, who teaches literature at the same college with Audi. The author’s depiction of Asabe’s positive personality is convincing. He uses her image to depict the indispensable role that education plays in the life of women. She is financially secure because of her education like Kyauta in Sadiq’s The Favourite Wife (1998) and Zainab in Mohammad’s A Clean Break (1998). In line with feminist ideology, Kamal wants women not only to be educated but also economically empowered. This will go a long way in solving most domestic tensions. Asabe always appears decently dressed. The way she often dresses is graphically painted in the following words:

She is beautifully turned out in an ankle length wrapper and the faint smear of a transparent veil, which, in failing to hide and succeeding to accentuate, the soft rounded lines of the bodice of a blouse, gives the young man sufficient grounds to believe that he will find it very difficult to relate cordially with this coquette (Kamal, 2012, P. 194).

Because of this academic excellence that Asabe attains, Audi, being a chauvinist, metaphorically refers to her as a “broom-stick”. To further dent her image, he says to his wife, Dijengala, “Asabe takes coffee like a man” (Kamal, 2012, P.46). Audi becomes more jealous of her when she wrote a novel. The first paragraph of Chapter Nineteen of Life Afresh describes his jealousy of her: “Audi is shocked by the appearance of Asabe’s first novel. He is disappointed that marking student essays prevented him from knowing that she was writing the novel” (Kamal, 2012, P.191). Being an avid reader of novels, Audi myopically thinks that he is the only person who can write one in the Department. He also thinks that since Asabe has the same level of education as he, she will remain unmarriageable. He selfishly reasoned that whoever marries her will be “The-Wife-Says”. Thus when the HoD informs him about her wedding, he asks in astonishment, “Is she getting married?” (Kamal, 2012, P.226). Audi’s jealousy of women’s success does not end, in that he presents a paper, which reveals that male students are better than females in terms of achieving academic excellence. He deliberately does it to hear what comment Asabe will pass on it. Would she bend her anger or annoyance on him? Asabe audaciously shows him that she is assertive, analytic and feminist. She instantly decodes his intention (what he meant) and wastes no time in criticizing his prejudiced view about women. She categorically says to him:

I’ve always suspected you of chauvinism but today you confirmed it to me loud and clear that you are a male chauvinist. I’ll only believe you if you hand the scores to a mathematician or better still a statistician to tell us whether one can’t go beyond ordinary percentages to analyze the scores. As they are now, they are suspect (Kamal, 2012, P.250).

Evidently, Kamal’s heroines such as Asabe in Life Afresh and Hadiyya Munir in Somewhere Somehow symbolize new female characters that are against the deeply ingrained socially constructed ideologies consistent with often oppressive and perverse dictates of a patriarchal Hausa culture of the traditional and contemporary time. Similarly, Asabe is a carbon copy of Miriam in Gimba’s Sacred Apples (1994). They have a number of personality traits in common. Both of them are educated and out-spoken in fighting patriarchy. The two are also independent economically and ready to help those around them. 

Another female character positively portrayed in the novel is Jummai Maikano (Dijengala’s sister). Unlike Dijengala, Jummai continues her studies, graduates successfully and gets a job. Her first gorgeous appearance when she pays a visit to Dijengala confirms to us the flamboyant life she leads in her matrimonial home. The narrative reveals that:

Jummai comes in dressed in an ankle-length black abaya and headscarf that stops at the shoulders. She has a rather large bag, which she sligns on her shoulder. As soon as she comes into the parlour, she snatches her sister’s baby, which is at the breast (Kamal, 2012, P.67).

Her husband, Manniru, is a reasonable and understanding man; that is why they live harmoniously and peacefully. It is this harmonious marital life of Jummai that Audi is somewhat jealous of. As Dijengala says to Jummai, “Audi believes that Manniru is under your control. He says that he puts himself under your control by giving you whatever you ask him” (Kamal, 2012, P.69).

Jummai is also portrayed as an intelligent woman. She is an avid reader of literary works. When Audi finished writing his short story, she read, discerned and deciphered it. But Audi lies to his wife that he has not finished writing it. Jummai disclosed to Dijengala that “He has finished it, that’s why I say he’s hiding it from you” (Kamal, 2012, P.160). She summarizes the story to her sister and links it to Audi’s life. She says to Dijengala, “Alhaji Tsu marrying a very young girl and Audi falling for Uwani-it makes sense indeed!” (Kamal, 2012, P.161). But being not very educated as Jummai, Dijengala fails to understand what the story is all about. She says to Jummai that Audi has no business with Uwani. She can swear to God that her husband has never shown any passionate interest in her or Uwani in him. With all this defense from Dijengala on Audi, the brilliant Jummai sniggers and says to her sister, “It isn’t as easy as that. Writing has a subtlety all to it that the discerning reader, which we try to be, unravels as it is said by reading between the lines” (Kamal, 2012, P.161).

7.0 A Portrait of old Women in Life Afresh

Hajiya, Audi’s mother, falls under this group. Although she may be referred to as a “yesterday woman”, she is wise and not blind to change in the society just like Magiri Milli in Alkali’s The Descendants (2005). She is very much ready to embrace change in the society. She is a good mother-in-law, who distances herself from involving in her son’s marital life. She never complains about any of her daughters-in-law (Delu and Dijengala). Like Dijengala, she considers Audi’s excuse of divorcing Delu flimsy and feeble because Delu’s style of dressing is common to many married Hausa women, especially if they have children. The way Delu dressed is not different from how Hajiya herself dresses. The narrative reveals that in one of Audi’s visits to her, “Hajiya’s shoulders are bare, but she has tied a wrapper securely around her chest” (Kamal, 2012, P.54).

As Dijengala’s mother-in-law, Hajiya is not domineering like Modow’s mother in Ba’s So Long a Letter (1981), Ahmad’s mother in Abubakar’s To Live Again (2007) and Mama Agba, who seeks to kill her son’s wife in Mobolaji’s Empty Arms (1997). In most cases, there is hostility, disagreement and outright enmity between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. In Hausa society of the northern Nigerian region in particular, such conflict between the two groups of women brings sour relationship and breaks down of harmony in the family as Kabir (2010, p. 242) writes:

Most mothers-in-law in Hausa society, especially the mother of the man who is also the head of the family is depicted stereotypically as a difficult, inconsiderate, nagging, overprotective, manipulative, controlling, smothering, and an overbearing figure, one who persists in interfering in her children’s lives long after they have become adults.

However, Hajiya is generous to a fault to Dijengala, her obedient daughter-in-law. She is like Dija’s mother, Hafsa, in Silence and a Smile, who strongly believes in giving her children the right to choose their marriage partners. She does not entertain the notion of the arranged marriage. That is why when Jadda visits her in order to convince her to persuade Audi to marry his housemaid, Uwani, whom he said is “ripe for marriage”, Hajiya, being a good mother, says to mischievous Jadda, as she flashbacks to Audi, “I will not persuade you to marry her, nor will I persuade you not to marry her: do whatever you think is best for you. That is what I told him” (Kamal, 2012, P.258). She does not want to lose the respect that Dijengala has for her. She further says to Audi, “I am not going to get involved. After all, Dijengala will point a finger at me and call me a piece of potash, the chief ingredient, for causing it to happen”. The matron renders this idiom to her son to exonerate herself from the possible blame likely to be labeled against her by Dijengala regarding Audi’s marriage to Uwani.

Also, when Audi tells her that Dijengala has left his house because of his impoliteness while telling her about his intention of marrying Uwani, Hajiya does not side with him. She instantly shows him his mistake. “Marital jealousy is like vomit in the belly of women” (Kamal, 2012, P. 284). She wants him to understand that naturally women do not conceal their jealousy even if one intends only to pull their legs. Age does not make them do away with their jealousy. In a typical Hausa society, one finds an old man of seventy to eighty years proposing to marry because desire is still in him at that age. Even if he has an old wife and she is told that her husband is planning to take another wife, jealousy can easily be noticed in her. Why not Dijengala? That is why when Audi says to Hajiya that he will not go and persuade Dijengala to come back to his house, Hajiya insists that he should go for a reconciliation. She says to him that he must to go to Dijengala’s parents’ house together with his uncle to comfort and pacify her. In this way, Hajiya’s admonition to Audi safeguards Dijengala’s marriage from reaching a calamitous end.

Another woman who falls under this group is Kunami, Dijangala’s maternal grandmother. She is a dowager who gives loan to people like Jadda. She has a vibrancy that is unique in northern Nigerian literature. She shares some personality traits with Alkali’s Grandma in The Stillborn (1984) and Toka, Dijengala’s grandmother in Kamal’s Somewhere Somehow (2019). When Dijengala deserts her husband’s house because of his intention to marry her housemaid, Uwani Lallan, she goes and resides in Kunami’s house for solace.

Kunami, the matriarch of Dijangala’s family, apparently represents Kamal’s new vision of womanhood. Though very old, she is at the forefront of the affairs of things in her family. Her opinion is sought particularly on marital issue. When Maikano learns of Dijangala’s desertion from her husband’s house and is in Kunami’s house, he follows her there to teach her a lesson. He never cares to listen to her version of what actually happened between them. All he cares is that, Dijangala should remain in her husband’s house till death no matter how ordeal or terrible the atmosphere would be. Lucky for Dijengala, if not for vibrant Kunami’s presence, she will be in a sorry state like Indo in Women without Borders (2010) whose father mercilessly flogs her before her husband, Alto. Kunami frankly says to Maikano “I wouldn’t have let you beat my granddaughter” (Kamal, 2012, p.295).

Also, through the image of Atine, Uwani’s mother, the author depicts a traditional Hausa woman, who keeps silent and remains subservient to her husband’s whims and caprices and never raises any alarm or divulge the story of misunderstanding between them, for fear of being seen as cultural deviant. She is treated with contempt and neglect. Her views in the house are immaterial on any issue. Her husband Malam Lallan is a person that one can never predict. He singlehandedly makes a decision that Uwani would marry Audi which he should have made it known to Atine first, being Uwani’s mother. A marriage is something that traditionally, in a typical Hausa society, requires collective commitment. However, Malam Lallan arrives at the decision to give out his daughter for marriage to Audi without the knowledge of his wife. He is like Malam Saleh in Hajara Sadiq’s The Favourite Wife (1998) and Malam Bako in Muhsin Ibrahim’s A Weird Hope. Atine’s reaction to the marriage is that of resignation and antipathy. She cannot change her husband’s mind. As a mother, she should have a say in the marriage of her daughter but patriarchy does not accord her such a right. Lallan completely sidelines Atine in her daughter’s marital issue. He ignores the fact that the girl is closer to her mother who knows her interests and as such should be consulted in everything concerning her. As Saje (1993, p. 2) laments “In this process, women are crippled and unable to participate in decision making, even in matters that directly affect their lives.”

8.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, it is lucidly pointed out in the paper that the women we see in Life Afresh are portrayed as new characters that are successful. They are different from the earlier Kamalian female characters like Juma, in The Blaming Soul (2005), Biriji, in Women without Borders (2010) and Fatahiyya in Hausa Girl (2010) who are just house wives solely dependent on their husbands for everything. Also, Saudat, in Fire in My Backyard (2004) considers herself inferior because she does not think she can become as educated as her boyfriend, Umar Faruq. Clearly, Life Afresh makes its strongest impact on the reader when it represents women who refuse to buckle under the pressure of tradition, which limits their chances. They are portrayed in a modern society where girls are allowed to pursue their studies without encumbrance or male preference. As earlier stated, Aliyu Kamal, in line with womanists, such as Zaynab Alkali, Asabe Kabir Usman and Razinat. T. Mohammed, among others, strongly believes that the redemption for girls from suffocating and humiliating traditional practices (arranged, early or forced marriage and other forms of marginalization) lies in the acquisition of formal education, as evident in many of his works, without necessarily compromising their religious background. 

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