Engendering the bildungsroman: Entrapment and emancipation in chimamanda ngozi adichie’s purple hibiscus and tsitsi dangaremgba’s nervous conditions

The traditional coming-of-age novel, or Bildungsroman, explores the growth, development, or education (Bildung) of a protagonist who, dissatisfied with the conditions of his native environment, and actuated by his inborn powers of agency, leaves home to pursue his ambition of self-development in the larger world. The genre presupposes that the protagonist is at liberty to choose and decide for himself. Feminist writers have critiqued the coming-of-age narrative as inappropriate for exploring the girl-child experience because, they argue, the patriarchal system does not allow her the power of agency, the power of choosing and deciding her course of life. The patriarchal system imposes gender roles on the girl child that confine her to the domestic circle where she is expected to learn the gentle art of housewifery and to imbibe the values of meekness, submissiveness, sacrifice and long sufferance. Young and radical feminist writers have, however, chosen to write the girl story that explores the female experience of patriarchy; they have introduced defiant and rebellious female protagonists who resist and challenge patriarchal authority and entrapment, thereby redeeming themselves and creating their own individual identities. This paper examines two such narratives by two female African writers, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, as female Bildungsromane whose protagonists resist patriarchy’s entrapment and aspire to gain personal redemption and self-realisation.