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Chapter 4
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
Adunni and Enitan are behind Adunni’s house trying on makeup for the wedding, which is tomorrow. Enitan is laughing and cheerful, but Adunni can only pretend to be. Adunni tells Enitan that she fears that Morufu will not help her finish school. Enitan tells Adunni not to worry, because school isn’t important in their village—not like it is in Lagos. Adunni should focus on bearing male children for Morufu and forget about school. Also, Morufu’s house isn’t far away: Enitan can come over and “play with” Adunni when she isn’t busy with her own work.
Enitan’s advice presents a distinction between the social norms of the girls’ home of Ikati village, a rural community, and those of Lagos, which is Nigeria’s most populous city and a major economic hub. Enitan’s advice to not to worry about school shows that to be an educated girl in their village is the exception, not the norm. Girls in their village move up in society by marrying and having sons. Enitan’s words of encouragement that Adunni can still come over to “play with” her after she is married puts into obvious and shocking terms just how young the girls are—they’re still young enough to enjoy imaginative play, which makes the fact that Adunni is soon getting married against her will all the more disturbing.
Themes
After Enitan leaves, Adunni goes to the kitchen and removes the makeup from her face. She remains in the kitchen, shucking corn and plucking the seeds into a bucket, from the afternoon until after dark. Tomorrow, Aunty Sisi will take the corn and make a sweet drink for the wedding. Adunni leaves the kitchen and finds Papa sleeping in parlor, having drunk a bottle of stout that he received as a wedding gift. Adunni is about to beg Papa to call off the wedding once more—but she thinks about the food, fowl, and goats that the family now has and leaves without saying a word.
Adunni has no good options: she can either go through with the wedding give up her dreams of education and independence, or she can run away and put her life and her family’s financial stability in jeopardy. Papa passing out from drinking the stout lends an additional tinge of hopelessness to the situation, as he doesn’t seem at all troubled by his decision to sell off his daughter. His attitude further hints that child marriage is a socially accepted practice in the community.
Themes
Adunni returns to her room and lies down beside Kayus, who appears to be sleeping peacefully. She wishes she could be like her little brother, who doesn’t have to worry about such serious things. Adunni decides that if she can think of the marriage as providing money and comfort for Kayus, then she can go through with it. Adunni begins to cry, stuffing her mouth full of cloth to avoid disturbing Kayus.
Adunni recognizes how unfair it is that she is automatically married off because she is female. Still, she doesn’t hold this against Kayus and become jealous. She doesn’t let the unjustness of their society turn her bitter against her brother, whom she loves and whom has no say in the matter. Adunni’s decision to view the marriage as ultimately helping Kayus shows her strength and determination not to let her hardships destroy her.
Themes
Suddenly, Kayus wakes up and runs from the room. Adunni can hear him kicking a door as he screams her name; she hears Papa threatening to beat Kayus. Later, Adunni leaves the room and finds Kayus outside, crying as he rubs his aching foot. The siblings huddle together as Kayus falls asleep on Adunni’s shoulder.
When Kayus violently protests Papa’s decision to marry off Adunni, he establishes himself as one of Adunni’s allies, taking on the role Mama once played in her life. Still, like Mama before him, Kayus is severely limited in how much of a difference he can make in Adunni’s life: his lack of financial independence makes it impossible for him to challenge Papa in an effective way.
Themes
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