The Girl with the Louding Voice

Morufu is a big man in a small town. His taxi business makes him an important person in the little village, providing him with a wealth and fame unlike anyone else. Compared to Adunni’s impoverished, drunken father, Morufu is a titan of local industry and a pillar of the village society. Using his wealth and his local importance, Morufu builds a personal harem. He has three wives but does not truly understand love. Morufu obsesses over the physical act of sex and loads himself up with chemicals to achieve the true goal of his marriages: fathering two sons.

All Morufu wants is two sons and he is willing to do anything to get one. He does not care whether he harms a young girl or rips her away from her loving family. He is focused entirely on the child which might result from his hastily arranged marriage. Morufu imposes his desires on his wives like he physically imposes himself on them. Khadija is so terrified and consumed by Morufu’s desire for a son that she goes beyond the boundaries of her marriage to satisfy his desire. She has an affair which ultimately kills her because she is so scared of not giving Morufu what he wants. Morufu dominates his wives until his desires become their desires. His obliterates their sense of self and overpowers their psyche, illustrating how his controlling criminality goes far beyond the physical act of rape. 

While Big Madam is one of the central villains in The Girl with the Louding Voice, she is one of the novel’s most complicated figures. She first appears in the text as a means of escape. The job she offers allows Adunni to flee from a terrible, life-threatening situation. This escape, however, is soon shown to be tainted. Big Madam beats Adunni more violently than anyone else. Adunni is shocked by the pain she must endure, and her one-time escape becomes an entirely different kind of hell. This contradiction illustrates Big Madam’s complicated character, as she offers relief and pain in equal measure.

At the same time, Big Madam hates other women while providing an example of an independent businesswoman. She is jealous of other people’s marriages but remains in thrall to her cheating husband. Big Madam exhibits constant hate but is in desperate need of love. Her complicated, nuanced character allows Adunni to fear and empathize with Big Madam at the same time. The woman who beats Adunni is the same woman she comforts her at the end of the novel. Big Madam inspires fear, respect, and pity, often in the same scene. Ultimately, Big Madam’s flaws say more about Adunni’s capacity for kindness than they do about any possible redemption for Big Madam. That Adunni could pity someone who hurt her so badly, and that she should try to help someone who offers her nothing but hate, shows that Adunni is able to see the best parts of the worst people.

Tia is one of the neighboring women who frequent Big Madam’s Wellington Road Wives Association meetings. A foil to Big Madam, Tia is a source of maternal love and nurturing for Adunni whom she takes under her wing. She teaches Adunni English, explains the world outside Lagos to her, and helps her complete a scholarship application that will facilitate her escape from indentured servitude.

While serving as a mentor for Adunni, Tia faces her own challenges and traumas. After repeated failed attempts to get pregnant, Tia undergoes a religious fertility ritual that ends in a brutal beating. Tia also struggles to reconcile her feelings about her mother, who is dying. Tia’s surrogate mother-daughter relationship with Adunni ultimately gives her faith that she will be a great mother, despite the fact that her own mother failed to model this behavior for her.