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key influences and themes
| "In so many great literatures of the world, women are nearly always around to service the great male heroes. Since I am a woman it is natural that I not only write about women but with women in more central roles, the story which is being told is normally about women..."
Ama Ata Aidoo |
Aidoo
gives women the central place in her fiction. In Changes
she writes about love and the dilemma of the modern marriage.
In her writing relationships are full of conflict as men and
women try to reconcile traditional ways with their personal
expectations. Esi is determined to pursue her independent life
and won't compromise to take account of her husband, Oko's,
desires.
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"Esi
clearly is one of these women who seem to know what they
want out of this life and what she seems to want doesn't
necessarily coincide with what her husband wants for her
or what society thinks a woman should have, and so part
of the conflict comes out of that. (The other issue is
that Oko clearly felt torn between his love for this woman
and his male friends who are absolutely clear of what
is expected of men and women and he was being genuine
when he expressed that dilemma or hopelessness.)"
Ama Ata Aidoo |
Aidoo
once said that she could never write about lovers but in Changes,
published in 1991, she did just that. What made her change her
mind?
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"I've
always had a politicised imagination and I couldn't see
politics anywhere in love but of course, Thank God, I
grew up some and realised that you know love, like politics,
is what makes the world go round and that there isn't
anything that is more important than love."
Ama Ata Aidoo |
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