Portrayal of Women Characters in Selected Contemporary Yoruba Novels in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary Yoruba novelists and critics have done tremendous works in portraying female characters in their literary production. For example, Okediji (1981) in Atoto Arere portrays female characters as mother, wife, sister, prostitute, harsh and malicious, who always keep malice against others. Some other novelists and critics like Olabimtan (1993), Orilawe Adigun, Sobande (1959) Rigimo Obinrin o se tu and Adeyemi (2005) Oga Niya Mi among others celebrate womanhood in their novels. They portray women as loving, hardworking, serious-minded and people of dignity and character. This paper is a continuation of the discourse. It examines three novels namely Fila lobinrin, Igba Oro and Eru o bodo and evaluates how female characters in the novels are portrayed. The feminist approach has been adopted as our theoretical framework.