"Changes, A Love Story"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, within Chapter 10 of Ama Ata Aidoo's "Changes, A Love Story", Aidoo's focuses on polygamy as a literary theme relates to the impending second marriage of handsome and charismatic Ali, whose Muslim faith allows polygamy and Esi, a recently divorced Christian woman who has left her unhappy marriage to her first husband, Oko, and is asked, within this chapter, to become Ali's second and current wife. The author points out that Aidoo implies the hurtfulness and, in this case, the deceitfulness of African polygamy as a practice not only for the second wife but also for the first. The paper relates that Chapter 20 stresses, implicitly yet very powerfully, the way Esi is hurt and neglected within her polygamous marriage; there is not enough of the man's attention to share equally, even if the wives lack for nothing materially.

From the Paper:

"As a consolation gesture for his ongoing neglect, Ali surprised his nearly forgotten second wife with a flashy new, very expensive maroon sports car. The car, as Esi sees immediately, is both a consolation prize for his continued absences, and a bribe so that Esi will continue to tolerate them. This latest gift tells Esi that this, like all Ali's presents, have been used to pacify her, substituting his physical presence and the attention and emotional support she never receives from him. Ali's strategy for keeping two wives happy at once has been to shower Esi with gifts, since he has not being able to be in two places, with two wives, at once, clearly a serious drawback of modern-day African polygamy."

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