| Abstract: |
This paper appraises Lola Shoneyin's The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives with the intention of analyzing how issues of family betrayal and its impact on family members, individually and collectively, as well as the society are portrayed with the creative tool of meta-fiction. The study is qualitative and adopts the interpretative tool of sociological criticism to provide insights on how the author uses her plot, characters, actions and settings to represent the subject matter in the selected text. Findings reveal among others the appropriateness of the approach of social criticism to the selected novel that unveils the author's concept of family betrayal; the various forms of betrayal that exist in polygamy or polygamous homes. Through analyzed actions of Iya Segi, Iya Tope, and Iya Femi, and reactions of Baba Segi and Bolanle, the study reaffirms that betrayal takes place when an initial trust is broken and occurs in variant ways and modes in the context of polygamy. Likewise, any member of a family can be either its perpetrator or victim but its experience can build up or destroy the betrayed. |
EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
