The Valuation of Women for Their Childbearing Potential
In this novel, the tribal tradition of valuing women according to their ability to have children stands front and center. Both Ona and Nnu Ego are women who experience severe stigma for their first failed pregnancies. They are not free to make their own decisions, often remaining like property to their fathers until a suitable marriage can be arranged. Unfortunately for both mother and daughter, their childbearing becomes its own problem. For Ona this means a tragic death in childbirth during her third pregnancy. Her body was not able to sustain the strain of such an extreme physical condition and she died, which was very common among women in her generation. In Nnu Ego's life, once she gives birth to children she loses her value to her husband. Her purpose has been fulfilled, so her society says. Not long afterward he comes home with a new wife, without telling Nnu Ego. Eventually even her children turn against their mother and neglect her in her old age, seeing as her value was based entirely upon her youth and health.
Disappointment
Two characters model the danger of hoping in something longterm and then receiving crushing disappointment. First, Agbadi falls for Ona. He tries everything within his power, but she remains elusive to his advances. When, by chance, she relents and agrees to marry him, Agbadi is overjoyed, but the elation is short lived. Poor Ona struggles to give him children, soon losing his favor in the process. While he desired her from afar, he finds himself easily disillusioned once he's chosen his mate. He turns to other women in her absence. Similarly but much more to the extreme, Nnu Ego experiences disappointment after finally delivering children after years and years of trying. As a woman, her very identity is wrapped up in the concept of motherhood, so she literally has everything to lose if she cannot have children. By the time her four kids mature into adulthood, however, Nnu Ego has major regrets. Her children are not a blessing to her in the least and remain ungrateful and neglectful of her late into her advanced years. In the end, Nnu Ego dies alone, despite having achieved the pinnacle of success for a woman by marrying into a wealthy family and bearing many children.
Motherhood
The women in this novel are entirely consumed by the hope of motherhood. They have been taught by their society that they will be most successful when they have children because that is their value to the men. In order to be a good wife, a woman must be first a good mother. As the story illustrates, however, this promise of society is not binding because the husbands continually take new wives and new lovers to fill whatever void they see in their first wives. Both Nnu Ego and Adaku suffer in Nnaife's household when they must live together, not only because of competition but also because the household is too modest to afford supporting so many people. For these women motherhood becomes a burden far greater than virginity had been for them in their youth. When they were young, they had hope. Now, they have already known a man and had their value used up until they have become useless to society itself. Their wisdom and their love holds no value for their society.
