African Prose BAY ADEMOWALE: Lonely Days Discuss the theme of loneliness in the novel.

Explanation

Loneliness is a major theme in the novel. It is the outcome of a tradition of Kufi which isolates widows for a period. Three windows, Dedewe, Radeke and Fayoyin, suffer this fate, but only for as long as they end their widowhood by the cap-picking ceremony. However, one character who is most afflicted by loneliness is Yaremi, whose marriage to her husband, Ajumobi, comes to an abrupt end through his untimely death. Therefore she is consigned to a life of loneliness.

As a motif, 'loneliness' and its association such as 'left her alone'. 'lonely' and 'solitude' permeate the novel. Yaremi is rendered lonely after the death of her husband, Ajumobi. Her two daughters, Segi and Wura, after being given away into marriage, no longer keep her company. Her only son, Alani, now lives in Ibadan, and to him, Kufi has become a lonely settlement at the very end of the earth. Yaremi's only companion is Woye, her little grandchild. On very cold nights, when other lucky women of Kufi enjoy the company and warmth of their husbands, Yaremi sprawls dejectedly on her bamboo bed, missing Ajumobi and can only launch into a spate of rapturous reminiscences. It becomes her habit to visit her husband's grave at least two times a day. There she sits alone and monolouges her earthly problems, hoping for Ajumobi's response.

For fear of losing her only companion, Woye, she does everything she knows of