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Chapter 54
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 finds Big Madam and Ms. Tia sitting in the reception. Adunni notices that Ms. Tia’s face has healed since the flogging. Ms. Tia tells Adunni that Big Madam has given Adunni permission to leave with Ms. Tia and accept the scholarship, but that she would like a word with Adunni before she leaves. Ms. Tia leaves the room. Sternly, Big Madam orders Adunni to give her Rebecca’s letter, and Adunni watches in horror as Big Madam tears the paper to pieces.
When Big Madam destroys Rebecca’s letter, she silences Rebecca’s voice, as she’s ensuring that no one else will read Rebecca’s words and find out the truth of what happened to her.
Themes
Adunni demands that Big Madam tell her what happened to Rebecca, and Big Madam finally reveals the truth: Big Madam was at home the day Rebecca disappeared. She went to the girl’s room and found her writhing in pain. Rebecca explained to Big Madam that she became ill after drinking something Big Daddy gave her. Suspecting that Big Daddy gave Rebecca something to induce a miscarriage, Big Madam loaded Rebecca into a car and took her to the doctor, who was able to stop the bleeding. After Rebecca was discharged from the hospital, Big Madam gave Rebecca some money and told her to leave and never return. Big Madam finishes her story and tells Adunni she is free to go.
Taking Rebecca to the hospital and giving her the money she needs to leave Lagos is Big Madam’s way of facilitating Rebecca’s freedom. Still, it’s worth noting that Big Madam’s decision to let Big Daddy remain at home and avoid facing the consequences for his actions enabled him to abuse Adunni. Ultimately, Big Madam’s complicity in Big Daddy’s abuse of Adunni complicates her solidarity with Rebecca. The reader might also speculate that Big Madam’s hostility toward Adunni during Adunni’s time as a housemaid was the result of Big Madam’s unresolved feelings of jealousy and bitterness about Big Daddy’s affair with Rebecca, which further complicates Big Madam’s role as an advocate for women’s rights.
Themes
Adunni runs to her room, removes her uniform, and changes into her dress. She packs her bag, including Mama’s Bible and Rebecca’s waist beads. Adunni reflects nostalgically on her life, family, and friends in Ikati. When she forces herself to think about Kayus, whatever composure could muster suddenly collapses, and she breaks down and weeps. She cries for Mama; for Papa, who could not see her worth; for Big Madam, “with her big house, the big cage of sadness around her soul”; and for Khadija’s tragic involvement with Bamidele.
When Adunni sheds her uniform, she symbolically frees herself from indentured servitude. Bringing along Mama’s Bible and Rebecca’s waist beads to her new life of freedom allows Adunni to grant a kind of honorary freedom to the women who were silenced before they could experience freedom themselves. When Adunni weeps for her loved ones, it’s a sign that she’s healing and on the path toward confronting her trauma.
Themes
Adunni hears someone call her name. Before leaving her room, she dries her eyes, lifts herself from the floor, and scratches the words “Adunni & Rebecca” into a space next to her bed. When she is done, closes the door behind her, feeling comfort and peace at the fact that she and Rebecca are immortalized forever in the writing on the wall.
Carving “Adunni & Rebecca” into the wall ensures that neither girl will be forgotten. It’s a symbolic gesture that illustrates Adunni’s commitment to supporting other women and ensuring that people hear their voices.
Themes
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