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Chapter 51
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
Fact: roughly 30 percent of Nigerian businesses are women-owned, though gender discrimination prevents further growth. Kofi arrives at Adunni’s door the next morning. He’s seen the mess around the house, and Big Madam’s disheveled appearance, and demands to know what happened the night before. He explains that Big Daddy gave him the night off and encouraged him to leave the house, which he did, though he admits that he found the gesture suspicious. Concerned, Kofi asks Adunni if Big Daddy raped her. Adunni assures Kofi that Big Madam appeared before anything could happen.
The fact at the beginning of this chapter sheds some light on the way Nigerian businesswomen like Big Madam have had to overcome more hurdles than businessmen. Big Daddy’s order that Kofi leave the house shows that his attempted rape of Adunni was calculated and premeditated. Despite Kofi’s suspicions about Big Daddy’s motives for getting him out of the house, his relative powerlessness forced him to follow his boss’s order and prevented him from staying behind to ensure Adunni’s safety.
Themes
Curious to know how Rebecca could actually believe Big Daddy’s marriage proposal, Adunni asks Kofi if Rebecca had gone to school. Kofi recalls that, yes, Rebecca’s previous Madam sent her school. Inwardly, Adunni regards Rebecca’s naivete and decides that speaking good English doesn’t automatically make a person intelligent. Adunni wants proof that Rebecca actually wrote the letter and asks Kofi if he has a sample of Rebecca’s writing. Kofi says he’ll ask Abu, for whom Rebecca would write shopping lists. Finally, Kofi tells Adunni that he’s here because Big Madam ordered him to send Adunni to her room, which is strange, since Big Madam never lets anyone into her room. Adunni thanks Kofi and leaves to meet Big Madam.
The realization that Rebecca had been relatively educated and still managed to fall prey to Big Daddy’s lies and manipulation also shows how powerfully factors like class and systemic oppression affect a person’s ability to make decisions for themselves. It’s possible that Rebecca might have initially been hesitant to believe Big Daddy’s talk of marriage but ultimately decided to make the best of the situation when she found out she was pregnant.
Themes
Big Madam calls Adunni into her room and orders her to shut the door. Adunni complies and looks around the room, spotting pictures of Big Madam’s children, as well as one of Big Madam as a young, slim woman with smooth skin. She spies a collection of skin bleaching creams on Big Madam’s dressing tables and wonders why Big Madam would do this to herself when she looked so beautiful in the old photograph. Big Madam asks Adunni if Big Daddy raped her the night before, and Adunni assures her that he did not.
Big Madam’s drastic transformation suggests that years of suffering from Big Daddy’s disrespect and abuses have worn down Big Madam, making her harsh and unforgiving. The skin bleaching creams symbolize Big Madam’s attempt to compensate for her physical and emotional exhaustion: she distorts her face and assumes an air of unapproachability and hostility in an effort to conceal her weathered skin and wounded psychological state. It’s also noteworthy that Big Madam is seemingly trying to lighten her skin tone, which hints at a broader social problem of colorism in Nigeria.
Themes
Big Madam is annoyed as she informs Adunni that Ms. Tia called her yesterday to discuss Adunni’s future. Apparently, the phone call went badly, ending with Ms. Tia hanging up on Big Madam, and Big Madam went to Adunni’s room to “deal with” Adunni, which is how she happened upon her husband forcing himself on Adunni in the first place. Big Madam expresses disbelief that her husband could go to church and still behave this way, and Adunni quietly responds that “God is not the church.”
Big Madam didn’t go to Adunni’s room that night out of concern for her housemaid, but to punish her: it was only by accident that she stopped the attempted rape. What had originally seemed like an act of solidarity on Big Madam’s part was really a failed attempt at cruelty. Adunni’s comment that “God is not the church” implies that a person’s public performance of goodness isn’t always indicative of their inner goodness: people can act God-fearing in church and behave abhorrently in their private lives.
Themes
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After a pause, Big Madam returns the conversation to the subject of Ms. Tia’s phone call and asks Adunni if she would take Ms. Tia up on an offer to leave this place. Adunni nods, and Big Madam asks why she wants to go. Adunni considers all the sorrows that she’s incurred in her months at Big Madam’s, though she only voices aloud that she’d like to go because Big Madam is unkind to her staff, and of course because of Big Daddy. Big Madam begins to talk to herself, anguishing over what she would do if she decided to leave her husband—what she would do “without Chief by [her] side.”
Adunni and Big Madam want the same thing: to leave their oppressors behind and claim their freedom. One key difference is that Big Madam’s wealth and independence make this a logistic possibility, whereas Adunni’s status as an indentured servant make her freedom contingent on whether Big Madam gives her permission to leave.
Themes
Adunni responds inwardly—or so she thinks—to Big Madam’s question: “He wasn’t ever by your side.” Big Madam demands to know what Adunni means, and Adunni pauses telling Big Madam exactly how cruel, ruthless, and physically violent Big Daddy is toward her. After Adunni is finished with her speech, she stands up and looks around the room to avoid meeting Big Madam’s eyes. Adunni offers to sing for Big Madam, but Big Madam has begun to cry again and angrily orders Adunni to leave the room.
That Adunni chooses to talk freely with Big Madam about Big Daddy is further evidence that she has found her louding voice. When Adunni tells Big Madam that “[Big Daddy] wasn’t ever by [her] side,” she forces Big Madam to confront the truth about her husband and their marriage, which is something she seems to have mostly suppressed until now, either out of shame, pride, or outright denial. Having to deal with the fact that her successful business and love for Big Daddy aren’t enough to make him love and respect her hurts Big Madam, and this is why she angrily orders Adunni to leave.
Themes
