Abstract:

The aim of this article is to discuss how Women are Different by Flora Nwapa presents the entrapped situation of post-colonial Nigerian society between their old traditions, values and the new traditions the colonizer brings along. Flora Nwapa who is the first African female writer to publish in English is significant in postcolonial discourses in that she introduces female voice in postcolonial literature, thereby contributes to the feminist discussion within postcolonial theory. Her specific focus on Nigerian women and their different experiences in Women are Different sustains a new gaze to the situations of the muted and doubly colonized African women. Nwapa exclusively portrays Nigerian women as they are entrapped between the expectations of Nigerian society and the liberating education of the colonizer. Nevertheless, Nwapa’s wide spectrum in the novel is inclusive of the effects of colonialism on the Nigerian men, white women and the next generation Nigerian characters, as well. Thus, setting off from the multifaceted narration of Nwapa, this article will discuss the dichotomies the colonial subjects as well as the colonizers are exposed to within colonial and postcolonial process.

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