Feminism Assignment

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI. NAME: NDEOKWELU, CHINONYE MAT/NO: NSU/ARTS/297/05/06 LECTURER: DR TERHEMBA SHIJA

QUESTION: A FEMINISM CRITIC ON HELON HABILA’S MEASURING TIME.

In every society, women are relegated to the background and reserved for laundry, cooking and producing children. Male chauvinist classify women as irrational, impatient, emotional,

gossips and lousy. Its so pathetic that the society supports these beliefs and carry it on from generation to generation. From the first chapter of the book he presents a character named Lamang as THE KING OF WOMEN, there is no justification for this portrayal. The best name suitable for this chapter is THE MALE PROSTITUTE because Lamang was a threat to women. Infact, mothers locked up their daughters at night to save them from the dangers of Lamang.

…and how mothers locked up their daughters at night to save them from “the handsome rav isher” p.13.

Lamang is not even man enough to marry his first love, instead he visits her at night in her matrimonial home . This indeed is probably what led to the death of her husband, barely one year after their marriage. However, Lamang marries Tabita the most beautiful girl in the village. He treated her so badly. She later died after giving birth to a set of twins, but Lamang is not moved , he abandoned his dead wife and children, he didn’t even attend her burial. Women indeed are prey in the hands of men. The future of Tabita is terminated and Saraya losses her memory after the death of her husband.

He couldn’t marry his Saraya because after her husband’s death she had suffered a stroke that destroyed her memory

…p.16. How then can Helon Habila call a destroyer of women’s destiny THE KING OF WOMEN? Again, Helon Habila’s use of Nana Mudo as an old witch is questionable. Why on earth did he choose a female character as a witch? I expect Habila to use a Man because Men love dogs and handles them properly than women. Therefore, I strongly believe that Habila’s use of Nana Mudo is not appropriate

The old witch Nana Mudo, lived alone with her dog on the other edge of the grove. P.23

Also, in reality men are greater witches than women, they do dubious things which involves killing their wives, children or parents for money. Habila supports the societal maxim of having male folks as politicians and few or no female to support. Right from the inception of creation, Men have been given certain roles in the society. For instance only men are eligible to hold governmental position. Measuring Time gives credence to these societal injustice to women.

There was general laughter, deep male voices; some of the laughter was forced, calculating, interspersed amid the male laughter were a few female voices; the Widows p.75.

This implies that women whose husbands are alive can not feature because they are saddened with a lot of domestic responsibilities. Even the widows in their midst are not allowed to sit among them or make decisions but they serve as servants. They’d be sited discreetly on the outside of the semicircles of Men, or hovering by the door, refilling empty water cups, going out to the kitchen now and then to return with plates. P.75

Habila depicts these widows as jobless and hopefully hovering around lamang for marriage or favour.

The three women were the remainders of a larger group of Widows who had hovered hopefully around Lamang after his wife’s death. P.75.

This of course is an elusive idea about the widows. Most times widows in the society mourn their dead husband and concentrate in the upkeep of their children. Helon Habila portrays women as incapable of staying without a man which is not true about the female folks. There is no justifiable reason why several widows should be frolicking around one man. The character of Zara is quite different from others because Habila didn’t take sides with the injustice of George Dogo to his

wife. But, I still wonder why Habila allowed the man to take custody of the child. In the African society, when a man cheats on his wife and she complains, she would be driven out of her husbands house. Conversely, when the woman cheats, she also packs out. This scenario is very glaring in Helon Habila’s work Measuring Time .

I had remember the first time he slapped me. I had caught Him red-handed with a girl in his car as I passed them on the Street.When I asked him about it later at home he just raised His hands and slapped me. P.106

Zara confides in Mamo as a friend but he takes advantage of her and in her psychological state of distress, he had sex with her.

She laughed and he could see in her eyes that she was as nervous… He bent down and pressed his lips on hers p.106

Habila also portrays young girls as prostitute who roam around sleeping with guys without caution. Bintu is one of those kind of girls as illustrated by Habila. I agree totally that its possible for Bintu to lure Mamo and Lamamo to bed but its not probable that she forced herself on them. Therefore, Habila’s judgement of Bintu is not accepted, rather men are often the ones who take

advantage of innocent girls, impregnate them and abandon them with the little infant forming in their womb. Bintu’s background is not mentioned anywhere in the book, but , we can probably say that she is not well cared for. This accounts for her innocent sexual acts with Mamo and Lamamo as a form of defense. Apparently, Helon Habila’s Measuring Timeis a book deliberately written to relegate and despise women. Habila accredits wonderful and heroic roles to the male characters. For example Uncle Haruna goes out to fight a war for his country, he comes back and is celebrated by the people of Keti. Lamamo dies fighting for the oppressed, Okigbo also died while fighting for his community, Lamang’s inlaw dies leaving a lot of wealth for him and his generation, Mamo is an intellectual who is marred by the status of his health, Mai and the Waziri are leaders of the Keti, Reverend Drinkwater stopped the killing of twins, the professor in Uganda contributes greatly to the growth of Keti community. On the contrary, women are given very unserious roles. For instance, Tabita dies mysteriously while giving birth, Saraya is mentally derayed, the widows are hopelessly roaming around Lamang, Aunt Mariana have been driven away from her husband’s house because of her inability to bear children for her husband. Habila’s work is a portrayal of injustice and renewal of gender inequality. However, Habila must be applauded for creating a character like Aunt Mariana, she assumes the role of a mother to the twins telling them stories about life , even when their father cares less for them. She brings a lot of peace and joy to their lives. (See chapters 1-3). Another issue worthy of note is the important role of the female folks in the society. In Measuring Time part of Asabar’s unreasonable habit of drinking and gambling is largely because there was no mother figure in his life. Mothers are known for spending quality time with their children, share from their pain

and watch their excesses but Asabar has none of these that is why he ended the way he did.More so, even if Aunt Mariana play the role of a mother to the twins, they still have a vacuum in their lives which can never be filled. Right from the beginning of the book, they speak sadly about the mysterious death of their mother and how much they miss her. In conclusion, though Helon Habila directs his story to the weakness of women, but, at the end of the book, the status of women is elevated in the society. We see that, Lamamo’s wife Bintou carries the life of the society in her womb. This implies that the hope, progress and success of every society lies in the womb of a woman.

Works-cited Helon, Habila. Measuring Time ; Cassava Republic Press. 2007.