By Esther Olamoyegun

Tomorrow I Become A Woman by Aiwanose Odafen; Scribner UK, May 2022.

For centuries, in the advancement of societies, even in more developed climes, one thing has remained constant: patriarchy, which refers to a social system in which men are the heads of every unit, the family, organisations and the overall society. This system is very present in every society and is seen as the norm, such that challenging it brings strong resistance, and in some cases, alienation. Evidently, Aiwanose Odafen hinges her debut novel on this, while examining other relatable themes.

Set from the post-civil war era in Nigeria in the 70s till the early 2000s, Tomorrow I Become a Woman tells a gripping story of three young women and how they wade through societal expectations, including the consequences of the choices they all make. These trio: Uju, Chinelo and Adaugo as students in the University of Lagos, Akoka, are inseparable. Uju, the book’s protagonist goes to a new Pentecostal Church on campus with her friends and lays sight on the lead chorister and somewhat, jokingly declares to her friends after the service “I’m going to marry him”. Her friends, who laugh at her declaration, soon realise that Uju was not joking. After several church services and a change in style, Uju gets the attention of Gozie, her target, and the seeming stimulus for her regular church service attendance. Sadly, the lead chorister is a lady’s man who many other ladies in church desirously want.

This meeting marks the beginning of the story’s plot and sets in motion all other events. Asides his handsomeness and closeness to God, Uju thinks Gozie resembles and acts like her beloved Uncle Ikenna, who they had lost in the Nigerian civil war. One thing leads to the other and Uju and Gozie get married right after Uju graduates, with the strong backing of her family with a particular warning from her mother to “behave yourself with him, don’t drive him away, don’t talk too much, and don’t be doing I-too-know.”

While the story is woven around Uju’s marriage as well as the marriages of her friends, an important subplot that the author managed to instill in our minds is the loss of Uncle Ikenna, Uju’s maternal uncle, during the war. Uncle Ikenna was important to the story because he was beloved by all, especially his sister (Uju’s mother). Throughout the rest of the story, Uju’s mother is on an emotional and physical search for Uncle Ikenna, who believes that he survived the war. Through this subplot, Aiwanose Odafen reiterates the effects of the civil war on many Nigerians, particularly the Igbos, who were directly involved in the war. This subplot is intertwined with tribalism depicted by Uju’s mother and other older people in the book, as she forbids any romantic interest in any person who is not Igbo. Chinelo also receives strong resistance and backlash for choosing to marry Christopher, who is not Igbo. 

Another theme that permeated the story is that of friendship. Odafen shows us pure, undiluted platonic relationships among Uju, Chinelo and Adaugo with how they stick with each other through good and bad times. This particularly resonates with readers who have been made to believe that female friendships can’t exist in a certain way.

“Tomorrow I Become a Woman” also does more of showing, and not telling us the ills of our predominantly patriarchal society with the character traits of Gozie, Uju’s mother and certain institutions in the society. Gozie’s constant physical and emotional abuse of Uju is at first, resisted and reported by Uju who is met with strong resistance and lack of support for reporting such ills. At several points, Uju seeks to put an end to it, but is met with even stronger resistance from all quarters, which gives Gozie room for his bad behaviour. At one point, Uju’s three brothers give Gozie a severe beating that left him injured. Gozie repents for some time, and goes right back to it, in a more dangerous way. Unfortunately, Mama (Uju’s mother) is one of the major places that Uju got resistance from. Mama’s views, perceptions and actions point to the fact that she believes in the apex of every woman’s life is marriage and childbirth, and this is what makes a woman. And while that is worrisome, the readers get to understand that Mama is only a true reflection of the society. 

The effects of patriarchy on society and women especially is also seen in the similar stories of Chinelo and Adaugo, Uju’s bosom friends. The unrealistic expectations of women to be a certain way is revealed. For one, when Chinelo is at some point, the unmarried one among her friends, she feels less of herself and almost launches into despair till Uju speaks to her about the travails of married life for a woman, and why Chinelo should not be envious at all. Also, the pressure and treatment Ada received for her ‘inability’ to have a son as well as Chinelo’s willingness to risk her life to have a son also reflects how different male and female children are seen in the society. This again, is another offshoot of patriarchal beliefs and norms.

Essentially, Tomorrow I Become a Woman does not tell a very unique story as its theme is quite familiar, especially with other books in the feminist genre like “Stay with Me” and “Ogadinma”. Nonetheless, this does not make the novel less interesting and somewhat suspense-filled. Also, the book is not a light read, emotionally as it passes as a study of violence, particularly domestic violence. There are other types of violence, though which the book depicts (spoken and unsaid), forced and unforced, acted and unacted. From the 1970s and 1980s military dictatorships to Uju’s private life. It is astonishing how often purposeful violence is used in Nigerian society.

Meiza Nigeria