The portrayal of single motherhood in Elieshi Lema’s Parched earth.

This study examines the representation of single motherhood in Elieshi Lema’s Parched Earth. It interrogates how male and female characters varyingly accommodate, appropriate, and/or resist the challenges of single motherhood. In specific the study tracks how single motherhood in the fictionalized households has been used to construct female characters’ strengths in their struggle against patriarchy and the way they assert their identity through single mothering of their families. The study employs African feminist approach to analyse how Parched Earth depicts single motherhood as a product of complex social systems and expectations. Defining single motherhood as the act of mothering the children in the absence of the father due to the societal restrictions, the study argues that single motherhood is one of the major aspects shaping female characters’ power in asserting and declaring their identity against patriarchal stereotypes. It reveals that female characters who become single mothers because of patriarchal social restrictions and expectations are able to stand on their own as single mothers and successfully raise their children. Nonetheless, the analysis shows that Lema portrays her society as being patriarchal and sexist. In the novel, male characters still hold their maleness and conform to the social systems and expectations to the extent of abandoning their families. Principally, the study’s major observation is that female characters do not submissively consume the patriarchal operations of the society rather they are able to overcome the challenges of single motherhood and manage to create unified families.