I found the novel, The Joys of Motherhood, really sad. Nnu Ego worked so hard to please and support her children and she was never really appreciated. She reminds me a lot of my mother. My mother is always putting me and my two sisters first. Reading this novel really made me realize how selfless my mother is and how unappreciative I've been.
I was a bit confused with the ending. Was Nnu Ego's honor really restored just from an expensive funeral? I feel like this was a poor attempt by Oshia to show his appreciation for his mother.
While I sympathized for Nnu Ego throughout the novel, I found it hard to relate to her. One, because I'm not a mother, but mainly because I've never had to emerse myself into a new culture. This was especially hard for Nnu Ego because the most important thing in her life, her role as a mother, was what was most greatly affected when she moved to Lagos. The traditions there were very different from her village. Her children were socialized in Lagos to be unappreciative of thier mother and selfish. Yet even though her children were like that, she endured all of those hardships in order to support them. I think this says a lot about her character.

Annie John

Throughout the semester we have discussed the issue of identity and the different influences on identity. Annie John shows how one's relationship to their mother affects one's identity. Throughout the novel, Annie has a love/hate relationship with her mother. Annie is very reliant upon her mother and extremely close to her. This becomes an issue when Annie has trouble seperating from her mother. When Annie walks in on her mother and father sleeping together, she becomes angry and jealous that her mother is showing someone else affection. This stems from her fear of seperation from her mother. This fear and anxiety are what lead her to cause trouble in school. As Annie gets older I think she begins to realize that she needs to develop her own identity, seperate from that of her mothers. I think this is the main reason why she decides to move away. While I don't think it is what Annie really wants to do, I think she knows that she needs to. If she doesn't go off on her own and become independent of her mother, I think she fears that the rest of her life with mirror the struggle of her childhood with her mother.