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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girl with the Louding Voice, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Education, Empowerment, and Self-Worth
Gender Inequality and Solidarity
Wealth, Poverty, and Choice
Survival
Summary
Analysis
Big Madam returns to the house without Mr. Kola and interrogates Kofi about dinner preparations. Adunni tries to ask where Mr. Kola is, but Big Madam ignores her and tells Kofi to get Adunni’s uniform for her. Big Madam tells Kofi to show Adunni the laundry room and teach her how to use the iron. Adunni and Kofi head to the laundry room and Adunni asks Kofi why Big Madam didn’t talk to her, but Kofi assures Adunni that speaking to Big Madam isn’t a good thing.
Big Madam’s refusal to tell Adunni where Mr. Kola went should raise further suspicion about what’s really going on with Adunni’s situation, as should Kofi’s advice not to talk to Big Madam. It seems as though there’s something negative looming beneath all the wealth and luxury of Big Madam’s house.
Themes
Kofi runs back to the kitchen to turn off the stove, and Adunni catches a glimpse of herself in the glass door. Her hair is unkempt; all the beads Enitan put in it for the wedding have since fallen out. Her skin is no longer “bright,” but rather “the color of spoiling tea with no milk.”
Adunni’s disheveled appearance illustrates the toll her recent hardships have had on her. That her skin is now “the color of spoiling tea with no milk” reflects the extent to which her horrendous experience as Morufu’s wife, grief over Khadija’s death, and exile have affected her mind and body. Her skin’s “spoil[ed]” appearance reflects her wounded mental state. Still, the fact that she is still alive and persevering despite what she’s been through shows how determined she is to survive.
Themes
