Aku-nna and her brother Nna-nndo were living in Lagos, a city in Nigeria. One day, their father went to the hospital and didn't come back for a few weeks because it was disclosed that he was sick. A few days later, their father died. Because her father died, there was nobody to support them in Lagos so they had to move to Ibuza to live with their uncle. Then she begins to fall in love with her teacher Chike. Her stepfather Okonkwo, who has ambitions of being made a chief, begins to anticipate a large bride price for her. Meanwhile, she has begun to fall for her teacher Chike, who in turn has developed a passion for her. When she finally reveals that she has her period, young men come to court her and Okonkwo receives several offers. Then she gets kidnapped by the Obidi family, who want to marry her. Then, Chike rescues her to Ughelli, which is another city and he works for an oil company. However, Aku-nna is still guilty of not paying her bride price. Aku-nna later got pregnant, but didn’t survive the childbirth. Now people say that Aku-nna died because her bride price wasn’t paid.
Gender roles in society are strongly dictated by the traditional customs of that group of people, whether they favor men or women. Gender roles have been an important part of customs and society. There are always actions and traditions where women work, and the men do the “main part of the ritual”. Men have decided who was going to inherit the fortune, who went to school, and who needed to be married off quickly. There are quite a few instances where it is shown that Ibuza and the Ibo culture revolves around men. First, in Ezekiel’s funeral, Nna-nndo decides whether his father goes to the ancestral earth gods of the Ibo people, or goes to heaven with God in the Christian Bible. Also, girls are not allowed to have education, unless there is an exception where letting a girl learn is more efficient. However, the aspects that are the most influenced by the Ibo culture are marriage, sexuality, and self-worth. In the marriage, if the father of the bride agreed to the bride price, they would be married without doubt. However, a man could steal a woman as if she were property. Another area is sexuality. A man could have affairs with married women, and nobody would doubt it. However, if a woman was not a virgin before marriage, she would be labeled as taboo. The self-worth of men and women were different also. WOmen were merely regarded as tools for having children, while men were the real leaders. Society has used gender as a dividing line between privileges for a long time, but this is unfair.
Slavery and oppression in the society is also prevalent and directed towards people of a certain race or social class. This discrimination can be based on ancestral heritage, race, or even social class. In Chike’s condition, the discrimination is that his ancestors were slaves, and thus he is not allowed to marry a daughter of a free family in Ibuza. Chike and his family are treated without respect or kindness, just because their ancestors are slaves, and even though they got high-ranking positions in society, they are still considered as low-ranking. They are only allowed to be married to another slave girl, and they cannot marry a girl that is the daughter of a free man. Another representation of slavery is how women are treated. Women are sold and bought using a bride price, and work by providing children to the husband. This can be seen when Okoboshi’s father prays that Aku-nna will provide many children for his son Okoboshi. She also portrays women, in a sense, as slaves to men. A woman is bought and sold through the bride price. She is looked over, by her new owners, like a slave trader might look at his new slave. Her body becomes a commodity that will bring wealth to the family in the form of many children. Slavery and oppression both occur in slaves and women.
Defiance and resistance can change how people view things, and even though sometimes rebelling is wrong, it can make an influence. Rebelion can start small, but can eventually become a big thing, and thus can conjure courage in others. People can start rebelling, even when just one person is doing it. At first, Aku-nna doesn’t have any will to rebel, because she is not familiar and shy. However, she at first rebelled from the small fits of embarrassment or anger, and then she goes on to not take off her clothes by the river, and then finally she is able to defy her family’s traditions and marry Chike, who is the descendants of slaves. She doesn't like her family’s customs. The offense she said before Okoboshi was the climax of her defiance, and even though Okoboshi was really angry and mean to her, she still stood up and escaped with Chike. She tells Okoboshi that she is not a virgin. Furthermore, she lost her virginity to a descendant of a slave. In so doing, Aku-nna risks everything, possibly even her life. She, although scared, is willing to confront the dangers of “misbehaving”, and it takes a lot of courage. This all helped Aku-nna to become more resistant to the systems in Ibuza. Defiance and resistance cna start out small, but can get bigger.
The Bride Price is a story that talks about how gender roles, slavery, and defiance can become in the Ibuza society. Aku-nna, through defiance, has overcome the gender roles in society, and is able to go out with Chike and eventually marry him. This means that she will not be mistreated by her uncle or her suitors, like how Okoboshi was mean to her. Slavery and oppression in the society is also prevalent and directed towards people of a certain race or social class. Defiance and resistance can change how people view things, and even though sometimes rebelling is wrong, it can make an influence.
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