Breath, Eyes, Memory

I think, in this book, the idea of not being free to make your own choices is very important. I think a lot of the feelings or actions that the women were making were because they felt is was their "duty." With Tante Atie, she had to let Sophie go back to her mother and she was deeply sad about this but she did not let her feelings show. "We have no right to be sad" (17) is how she responded to Sophie's leaving, meaning she felt she did not have a right to be sad because Sophie was not her real child. Another instance of Tante Atie expressing duty is when she told Sophie "We are each going to our mothers. that is what was supposed to happen" (19). In both of these instances tante Atie never spoke of wanting to do these things. Another instance of
"duty" is the testing. The testing was seen as the mother's responsibility to protect their daughter. This is seen when Martine says, "..... a mother is supposed to do that to her daughter until the daughter is married. It is her responsibility to keep her pure" (66). I think what is more interesting is that everyone hated it but until Sophie no one stopped the tradtiion of it. Even Sophie showed signs of doing things only because she felt she had to. After Sophie had the baby she was not interested in being sexual but she still had sex with her husband because she felt that it was her duty as a wife. I think in this book one can see how being forced or feeling pressured to do something really affect one's life. That a person's freedom can liberate a person and without it they can feel like a "caged bird."

The Joys of Motherhood

I think that throughout the novel the most significant aspect of it was Nnu Ego's committment to her children. Nnu Ego never felt like she was a complete woman until she had children with Nnaife. This is because "she had been brought up to beilive that children made a woman" (219). When Nnu Ego first had her child and lost it, she was soo depressed because she felt like a failure, and she even tried to committ suicide. Nnu Ego spent all her money, and time, and energy raising her children well so that one day they would take care of her when she was old. This is seen when Nnaife was always telling her sons to "work hard in school" or when she was tellin them that they were "handsome" or "her boys." This relationship she maintained with the only male heirs of Nnaife was out of true love and out of hope that they would give back to the family when they got older. The problem with this situation is that Nnu Ego became almost a slave to her children due to her love for them. "It occurred to Nnu Ego that she was a prisoner, imprisoned by her love for her children" (137). Nnu Ego would not leave Nnaife even in the worst of times because of the children that she had had with him. She also did the most strenuous job, that of gathering the wood, to make sure her boys could remain in school and that she had enough money to feed the family. Nnu Ego thought that when she got older she would have a litlle peace but this was not the case. Her eldest son Oshia did not help the family like she hoped and he even married a white lady. Nnu ego would eventually have to move back to Ibuza where she died with no since of peace. "Poor Nnu Ego, even in death she had no peace (224)!