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| Masculinity in African literature: in praise of a literary heartthrob | Masculinity in African literature: in praise of a literary heartthrob |
| (4 months later) | |
| From the cultural world to family life, recent discussions point to an increased interest in portrayals of masculinity in society. | From the cultural world to family life, recent discussions point to an increased interest in portrayals of masculinity in society. |
| The development is welcome. As a writer who is feminist, one of my most fond interests is masculinity. Yes, masculinity. It may sound like an oxymoron but transforming men’s roles is a necessary task while transforming women’s roles. | The development is welcome. As a writer who is feminist, one of my most fond interests is masculinity. Yes, masculinity. It may sound like an oxymoron but transforming men’s roles is a necessary task while transforming women’s roles. |
| That is why I’ve been writing about masculinity for years – about things that I like about men, and things that I don’t like as much, about my complex relationship to white masculinity, about crises in masculinity, about why we should objectify men, eroticise society, and stop associating male genitalia with violence. | That is why I’ve been writing about masculinity for years – about things that I like about men, and things that I don’t like as much, about my complex relationship to white masculinity, about crises in masculinity, about why we should objectify men, eroticise society, and stop associating male genitalia with violence. |
| As a writer of African heritage, I am also interested in the specific ways that African masculinity is shaped: how are African men portrayed in film and literature? | As a writer of African heritage, I am also interested in the specific ways that African masculinity is shaped: how are African men portrayed in film and literature? |
| This led me to a literary male archetype, namely the heartthrob. Subsequently, it occurred to me that little has been said about the African literary heartthrob. Who, if anyone, would be the ultimate heartthrob in the African literary canon? | This led me to a literary male archetype, namely the heartthrob. Subsequently, it occurred to me that little has been said about the African literary heartthrob. Who, if anyone, would be the ultimate heartthrob in the African literary canon? |
| The answer is, of course, Odenigbo, lead character in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best-selling Half of a Yellow Sun. Odenigbo is comparable to fictional characters such as Don Juan, Heathcliff and Romeo yet unlike his European equivalents, he has been cast in the shadow of his bombshell lover, Olanna, the female lead in the book. Although Odenigbo has caused women’s hearts to flap, his impact in the canon of romantic heroes goes largely unrecognised. | The answer is, of course, Odenigbo, lead character in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best-selling Half of a Yellow Sun. Odenigbo is comparable to fictional characters such as Don Juan, Heathcliff and Romeo yet unlike his European equivalents, he has been cast in the shadow of his bombshell lover, Olanna, the female lead in the book. Although Odenigbo has caused women’s hearts to flap, his impact in the canon of romantic heroes goes largely unrecognised. |
| In my case, I might add, Odenigbo makes my heart flip more than flap. I’ve had my fair share of Odenigbos, thank you. Nevertheless, it is bothersome that analyses of the characters in Half of a Yellow Sun have mostly, and predictably, attempted to comprehend its female lead – Olanna – neglecting the book’s most memorable character in the process. | In my case, I might add, Odenigbo makes my heart flip more than flap. I’ve had my fair share of Odenigbos, thank you. Nevertheless, it is bothersome that analyses of the characters in Half of a Yellow Sun have mostly, and predictably, attempted to comprehend its female lead – Olanna – neglecting the book’s most memorable character in the process. |
| The fixation with Olanna is such that when the film version of Half of a Yellow Sun came out, displeased fans created a petition against what in their view was an erroneous casting. | The fixation with Olanna is such that when the film version of Half of a Yellow Sun came out, displeased fans created a petition against what in their view was an erroneous casting. |
| However, fewer opposed (thank goodness) that Odenigbo, “a man who trusted the eccentricity that was his personality, a man who was not particularly attractive but who would draw the most attention in a room full of attractive men”, was played by Chiwitel Ejiofor, an actor one could hardly call “not particularly attractive”. | However, fewer opposed (thank goodness) that Odenigbo, “a man who trusted the eccentricity that was his personality, a man who was not particularly attractive but who would draw the most attention in a room full of attractive men”, was played by Chiwitel Ejiofor, an actor one could hardly call “not particularly attractive”. |
| In one scene, Olanna’s twin sister Kainene says to her, “There’s something very lazy about the way you have loved him so blindly … You’ve never even accepted that the man is ugly.” | In one scene, Olanna’s twin sister Kainene says to her, “There’s something very lazy about the way you have loved him so blindly … You’ve never even accepted that the man is ugly.” |
| Be that as it may, Odenigbo makes many women loose their marbles. So to what does Odenigbo owe his dazzling image if not his physical appearance? | Be that as it may, Odenigbo makes many women loose their marbles. So to what does Odenigbo owe his dazzling image if not his physical appearance? |
| Firstly, he is brainy. Unlike men, who as studies suggest are not attracted to intelligent women, studies have in contrast shown that women are indeed attracted to smart men. And as a university professor, Odenigbo is categorically erudite. | Firstly, he is brainy. Unlike men, who as studies suggest are not attracted to intelligent women, studies have in contrast shown that women are indeed attracted to smart men. And as a university professor, Odenigbo is categorically erudite. |
| Secondly, Odenigbo is passionate about social change. He is no abrasive Nnamdi Kanu, but this pan-Africanist Igbo hero’s tribal passion makes a seismic volcano seem lukewarm. | Secondly, Odenigbo is passionate about social change. He is no abrasive Nnamdi Kanu, but this pan-Africanist Igbo hero’s tribal passion makes a seismic volcano seem lukewarm. |
| Odenigbo is as macho as a pint of Guinness: to me, the feminist, this also makes him as charming as one | Odenigbo is as macho as a pint of Guinness: to me, the feminist, this also makes him as charming as one |
| Moreover, Odenigbo possesses that age-old aphrodisiac, confidence. Despite his mediocrity in the looks department, he does not for a second doubt that he can win the love of the ethereally beautiful Olanna. | Moreover, Odenigbo possesses that age-old aphrodisiac, confidence. Despite his mediocrity in the looks department, he does not for a second doubt that he can win the love of the ethereally beautiful Olanna. |
| Add to this that Odenigbo is as macho as a pint of Guinness: a trait, which to the feminist in me means that he is also as charming as one. But I must profess that, when Odenigbo softly holds Olanna’s hand while boisterously debating everything from Voltaire to Nkrumah to pan-Africanism; when he insists on treating their househelp, Ugwu, as his equal despite Ugwu’s own discomfort with the moment; and when he has rough sex with Olanna but she nevertheless feels as though “she is immersed in a mesh of soft feathers”, even my cynical heart flutters a little. | Add to this that Odenigbo is as macho as a pint of Guinness: a trait, which to the feminist in me means that he is also as charming as one. But I must profess that, when Odenigbo softly holds Olanna’s hand while boisterously debating everything from Voltaire to Nkrumah to pan-Africanism; when he insists on treating their househelp, Ugwu, as his equal despite Ugwu’s own discomfort with the moment; and when he has rough sex with Olanna but she nevertheless feels as though “she is immersed in a mesh of soft feathers”, even my cynical heart flutters a little. |
| Not to mention during times of despair, when just like the Heathcliffs and Don Juans before him, the almighty Odenigbo becomes a mere shadow of his grandiloquent self. This transformation only proves that, despite Odenigbo’s macho posturing he is in fact, lo and behold, made of vulnerable human flesh and blood. | Not to mention during times of despair, when just like the Heathcliffs and Don Juans before him, the almighty Odenigbo becomes a mere shadow of his grandiloquent self. This transformation only proves that, despite Odenigbo’s macho posturing he is in fact, lo and behold, made of vulnerable human flesh and blood. |
| But what speaks to the smitten reader’s most enamoured particle, is that Odenigbo never ceases to love Olanna. All the way through his youthful revolutionary days to his unplanned disloyalties, an atrocious war and right to the bitter end, his love of her is unfailingly adoring. When the war is over, and Olanna sobs over losses, Adichie enwraps the novel with the six words: “Odenigbo took her in her arms.” | But what speaks to the smitten reader’s most enamoured particle, is that Odenigbo never ceases to love Olanna. All the way through his youthful revolutionary days to his unplanned disloyalties, an atrocious war and right to the bitter end, his love of her is unfailingly adoring. When the war is over, and Olanna sobs over losses, Adichie enwraps the novel with the six words: “Odenigbo took her in her arms.” |
| Trivial as they may seem, these final words leave the infatuated female reader satiated in the knowledge that even in his cocoon of righteous self-pity, in the end, Odenigbo loved Olanna just as much as he did in the beginning. And what more could you require from a heart-throb? | Trivial as they may seem, these final words leave the infatuated female reader satiated in the knowledge that even in his cocoon of righteous self-pity, in the end, Odenigbo loved Olanna just as much as he did in the beginning. And what more could you require from a heart-throb? |
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