The Portrayal Of Major Female Characters In Four Amharic Novels
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Date
2008-02
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AAU
Abstract
A number of studies have been conducted at both undergraduate and post
graduate levels to study the portrayal of women characters in literature
though most of them seem to lack depth for they were not analyzed from a
clearly defined theoretical frame work. Besides, in previous studies, much
attention has not been given to the discussion of the portrayal of women
ch aracters in novels written at different periods to find whether strong and
liberated women a re appearing in view of the changing real ities.
The aim of this thesis is, therefore, to analyze the portrayal of major female
characters in four Amharic novels, written during the pre-Italian occupation
(1908-1935), the post war period (1941-1958) and the modern period (1950s
and 1960s), and see if new images of women are emerging.
The novels selected for discussion include: Afework Gebreyesus's Tobya
(1908), Hiruy Woldeselassie's Yelib Hassab: Yebirhanena Yetsion Mogessa
Gabicha (1931), Negash Gebremariam's Setegna Adari (1964) anct Bealu
Girma's Kadma's Bashager (1970). Major characters have been identified
and discussed separately in the order of the publication of each book. The
portrayals are analyzed from the feminist perspective.
The thes is has five chapters. In the first chapter, the statement of the
problem, objectives of the study, significance of the study, limitations of the
study, methodology and organization of the paper are presented. In chapter
two, feminist theories, literary criticism and review of related literature have
been discussed. In chapter three, the portrayal of the female characters is
discussed. In chapter four, comparative analyses of the portrayals are
presented. Finally, conclusions are given in chapter five.
The main finding of thi s study is th at women characlers are portrayed in
their traditional and biological roles . They are depicted as loyal housewives,
mothers, mistresses, lovers and sex objects. For insta nce, Afework's Tobya is
pres ented as beautiful, pious, selfless and physically and menta lly strong.
However, despite her tremendous positive qualities, in the end she becomes
a mere housewife, h er main role being bearing and taking care of children.
Hiruy's Tsion Mogessa is presented as cute and intelligent. She ch ooses to
learn writing and reading history instead of preparing tej and tella and
cooking and baking enjera. Notwithstanding this however, after her ma rriage
she becomes a mere housewife cheerfully performing domes tic duties su ch
as cooking and serving within the traditional milieu. Negash 's Ena nu , a
victim of early marriage, escapes from a jealous and cruel husband to fin a lly
become a prostitute. She bea rs an illegitimate child for whose sake she qui ts
her job and as a consequence she suffers from a bject poverty and en dless
mishaps. Bealu's Lulit is first presented as proud, assertive a nd aggres s ive.
After her marriage, however, she turns out to be weak, timid , selfless and a
devout wife who places her husband before herself.
Even if glorified as virtuous, devout, intelligent and physically strong for
thematic purposes, their ultimate ambition is ma rriage and they are
expected to be loyal, obedient and selfless mothers. Other than in the h ouse
sphere, they don't participa te in social and political life. Hence, educated ,
self-reliant and strong women who take part in all areas of life have not been
portrayed in the four novels discussed.
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Keywords
women characters in literature