Invigorating Radical Feminism

An Appraisal of Chimamanda Adichie's Half of Yellow Sun

Abstract

Apparently in Chimamanda Adichie’s most famous novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), the dominant leitmotif of the civil war seems to have beclouded many critics from observing the radical feminist view of ending patriarchy through sociopolitical empowerment of women to create their own structure delineated in the text (as against the liberal feminists’ clamouring for equality). The common perception of feminism, specifically radical feminist theory is the misinformation that feminists are extremely misandrists or man-haters. This study hereby attempts to clarify the problem of defining radical feminist theory by providing its brief history, major proponents and submissions which also guides the hermeneutic praxis for the analysis of the selected text. This paper basically expounds how female dynamic characters are invigorated or reinstated in the selected novels to espouse the radical feminist tenet of expunging patriarchal characterization of women in misogynist writings, as well as annihilate patriarchal societies’ political and socioeconomic subjugation of women. As depicted in the selected text, the study examines the characterization of some dominant female characters who have radically reversed the male domineering culture to create their own new strong sociopolitical structure where male characters can serve women as their cooks and servants.  This research aims to add to the existing analyses of the selected text in the course titled LITT 817 –Women Writing, and literary discourses at large.