“Diary Entry: 09/10/24 – Girl With the Louding Voice(Big Mama vs Ms.Tia)“
I finished The Girl with the Louding Voice. It is by far my favorite book this year. I know it is only September, but I don’t see any books I have lined up taking the thorn.
It was titled to perfection. Even though I tend to say ” Loudest Voice” instead of ” Louding Voice, ” this slip of my tongue doesn’t reflect my view of the title. This is truly a coming-of-age story, and we experince Adunni in the act of louding her voice, turning her well into active strength.
“spoiler alert: this is a more in-depth book review.”
In my first review of the book, I still need to finish it but assume the period it takes place. The cruelty that Adunni went through, the passive nature toward child brides, and the limited prospects women had made me conclude this story was set in the ’60s. My jaw dropped when the time period was stated. I could not believe this story was taking place in 2014. It is a fictional book meant to highlight issues still faced by many girls in Nigeria. While Adunni is on her journey to be educated, so are we, readers. Adunni would read from the book of Nigerian facts. Abi used this to teach us that fiction reflects reality. I learned the hard truth about Nigerian social customs and women’s plight.
Adunni’s growth followed a clear pattern with a woman who always helped facilitate it. The two women who influenced her the most were Ms.Tia and Big Madam. Kofi is receiving an honorable mention, not a woman, but was just as impactful on Adunni’s growth, which I will dive deeper into in a later Diary Entry.
Ms.Tia and Big Madam are neighbors in high society but come from different backgrounds. Ms.Tia came from an upper-middle-class family and was afforded a first-class education, while Big Madam’s background was closer to Adunni, where she came from nothing. All that was expected from her was marriage and child raising, yet she was the Adunni anti-role model and most extensive obstacle.
Two of my favorite characteristics of Adunni are that she knows her feelings and cannot accept things as they are. She will always query for understanding, either out loud or to herself. This treat was why Big Mama hated her while Ms. Tia cherished her.
Adunni escaped her village just to wind up a beaten maid. Big Mama abused Adunni so severely that other staff advised her to hide from her sight, but Big Mama would seek her out. I believe Big Mama saw herself in Adunni; they both had the drive to change their upbringing, but she also saw what she lacked. Big Mama came with a Big Daddy, her husband, and her ball and chain.
Big Daddy is everything that could be wrong with a man; I will dive deep into him in a later Diary Entry, but just know he is easy to hate. Big Mama wants to have a loving husband, but the only way to do so is to ignore his grotesque nature. The only thing Big Daddy contributes to the household is belching his declaration as the head of the house. Big Mama runs everything from the family’s social image, her lucrative business, and the house’s order. Her desire for her husband’s love and hatred for Adunni are cut from the same cloth.
This is all my interpretation. By dissecting Big Mama’s actions, Abi clearly wants us to know she loves Big Daddy. I can’t accept that her love for him was forged for a genuine connection; it came across as something she believed she needed to have, and therefore, she acted as if it was true. She wouldn’t have married Big Daddy if Big Mama had her lucrative business before marriage. She can’t just leave him; society is not welcoming of divorced women, and her social life and company would crumble. Big Mama would have too much to lose if she did have a husband, though Big Daddy provided nothing directly to her. She wanted at least love, a love she could boast about. Big Mama is a flashy woman. She makes her house staff wear uniform, gives her husband money for the church offerings to save face, and shares her future son-in-law because he comes from a good family. She displays her family’s joy because she feeds on the praise. Most of all, she wants to be proud of herself, and since she still upholds society’s standards, she strives to be a good wife to the detriment of her character.
Ms.Tia was a breath of fresh air. She was the only woman in Adunni’s life who didn’t uphold gender roles. Though she wasn’t the first woman to show her kindness. Adunni relied on women’s kindness to escape her first life as a child bride. But Ms.Tia, though a housewife, in the sense that she did work, did not put her husband on a pedestal. She showed her husband love but never degraded herself to do so. She was also an outsider to Nigerian society and relied on Adunni to show her the ways around the market and haggling for her. Adunni was being relied on in ways not designated for just women, which nurtured her trust in her abilities. One of the most essential lessons Ms.Tia taught Adunni indirectly is to take what she needs and leave the rest. She doesn’t have to follow a guidance guide to the letter, though it came from a good place. Since Ms.Tia comes from a different dimension than Adunni, she has never experienced being forcefully held back and limited; her guidance is never from experience but from what should be.
Big Mama and Ms.Tia are two opposing characters. They differ in how they seek love, interact in society, and treat Adunni. The only thing they both hold is my definition of a strong woman. They are not invisible, but both show strength. By facing their own kryptonite, they help Adunni come to her own.