Extract from Claire
Cohen’s article of Telegraph ( Novelist
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells Claire
Cohen of her determination to bust the 'Cinderella myth' and change traditional
expectations of her fellow Nigerian women.)
"In Nigeria, domestic abuse it still present in a very significant
way,". "People say to women, 'he beats you, but did you do anything?
Did you not cook dinner on time?' We need to educate them.
"Without marriage you're not complete there. I know a
middle-class woman who owned her own house, but was single and worried that men
were intimidated. So she sold her house to find a husband. We can't blame
poverty. It's a way of thinking that a lot of us have internalised."
"My nephew is 13, my
niece 11 and they're growing up in England. Once I was at their house and my
nephew was hungry. So his mother said to my niece ' go and make him some
noodles'. I said, 'wait, why can't he make his own noodles?' I suddenly
realised, that although both of these children are doing well at school and are
equally smart, the girl is still expected to cook for him.
"I was
really upset. Sometimes you go to Nigerian homes and the men are starving.
There's food in the kitchen, but they're waiting for the woman. So, for me,
that was very striking. I'm happy to report that my sister-in-law said 'OK
we'll teach him how to make noodles now.' I was like good. We're making
progress."
About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born in1977) is a writer from Nigeria ; She has been called "the most prominent" of a
"procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [that] is succeeding
in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature". Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), received wide critical acclaim; it was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005).
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
became a household name after writing her acclaimed novel, Half of a Yellow
Sun. For the full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/9995563/Chimamanda-Ngozi-Adichie-women-dont-want-simpering-heroines.html
