Literature
Since the 1995 Beijing conference in which women from all over the world assembled to discuss gender related matters, the place of the girl-child in the scheme of things has been underscored by various writers. While some writers choose to fictionalise the subject-matter in form of plays, novels, short stories or poems, others prefer the direct essay genre.
In this book, Advice to My Daughter, B. B. Suleiman has come up with something different in order to make a better impact. The book is crafted in an all-embracing innovative style that combines fact and fiction. The epistolary technique is adopted in such a way that anecdotes, appeals, instructions and warnings interplay to deliver in a most effective manner the moral lessons parents are duty-bound to impart on their daughters.
The 110-page book contains series of letters addressed to a daughter or the persona, advising her on various aspects of her vulnerable life as she grows through the turbulent world. From her secondary school through university, the daughter receives letters from her father, which constantly remind her of the need to be morally upright. The letters spell out behaviours she should avoid and the ones she should stick to. They also stress the consequences she would suffer if she behaved contrary to the stipulated moral codes.
Specifically, the letters dwell on issues like sexuality, harmful traditional practices and education, as they affect the girl-child. From the first to the last letter, the issues are treated in a fatherly manner capable of appealing to not just the girl-child but parents alike who could use it as a complementary material to their efforts at guiding their daughters to the right path.
For instance, the first letter titled ?Death of the Innocent? relates the story of a neighbour whose young daughter got pregnant by fun seekers and ended up dying from pregnancy related complications. The same letter also relates the pathetic story of an eighteen-year old school girl who, according to newspapers reports, "delivered a baby in the bush and dumped it in the latrine!"
All these are consequences of wayward behaviours which committed parenthood could guide against.
B.B. Suleiman, who is a member of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, could be described as a writer with a bird?s eye view, seeing the girl-child issues from all perspectives; that of the parents, the girl-child herself and the society at large. Each of these aspects, according to the author, has a role to play in ensuring a safe and bright future for the girl-child. Over 60 per cent of the letters highlight the role the girl-child herself should play in the circumstance. While the parents provide the enabling environment, it is the responsibilty of the girl-child to stand up to actualise her beautiful dreams of the future. In the second letter ?The Fear of Sugar Daddy?, the girl-child is admonished to protect herself from marauding womanisers and rapists by dressing and behaving decently.
Among the numerous consequences of unsafe and casual sex resulting from indecent behaviours is the HIV inffection, from which over 530,000 people have died since the beginning of the epidemic.
The seventh letter highlights the prevailing cases of sexual harassment in high constitutions of learning. Titled ?A Mind of Your Own," the letter calls on the girl-child to rise above the situation by acknowledging the fact that she has the right to say no to sexual harassment and to safeguard her self-worth and family values.
Other letters, though equally addressed to the girl-child, stress the role of society at large in the upbringing of the child. In the letters, the author admonishes particularly the Nigerian traditional society to remove the cultural obstacles that have for years hindered the growth and development of the girl-child. They include traditional beliefs "that equate women status only with marriage and the number of children they are blessed with".
Indeed, Advice to My Daughter is mainly about the educational empowerment of the girl-child, the women folks and the society in general. As it is often said, when a girl is educated the entire nation is educated as no educated woman would allow her child to be an illitrate irrespective of the sex.
B.B. Suleiman has, no doubt, done a great job of focusing public attetion on this all-important issue. Unlike other books on this topic, which harp on gender debates that end up as mere intellectual exercise, this book is a loud and clear wake-up call to redeem the girl-child and give her a befitting future. In this era when most parents are too occupied to have even an occasional heart-to-heart discussion with their children especially on issues of sexuality, this book couldn?t have come at a more auspicious time. Written in a straight-forward and easy-to-comprehend language, the book will certainly go a long way in achieving the aims for which it was written.
- Pride & Prejudice - Difficult Marriages
Elizabeth feels that there are disadvantages in the parents? marriage.1. Discuss what disadvantages Elizabeth is talking about?2. How are children affected by difficult marriages?3. ...
- The Hollow Of The Three Hills Summary
THE HOLLOW OF THE THREE HILLSThe Hollow of the Three Hills is a story of dishonor, deceit, and death. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the main character as a beautiful woman with a shameful and abominable past. She tries to run from her problems...
- I Wrote My First Novel At 16
Adelakun Adunni Abimbola, winner of the 2010 edition of the Literary Journalist of the Year, awarded by the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, with B.A and M.A from the Department of Communication and Language...
- Violence Inspired Writer Shouldn?t Write For Children
Dr Chinyere Agabi is a lecturer in the department of Education Foundations and Management at the Rivers State University of Education, and the author of numerous children's literary books. In this interview, she speaks about her books and children's...
- In The Web Of Poverty (review)
Cobweb in the Sky by Patrick Tagbo Ogbuejiofor is an exciting novel set in Obunagu village, a typical Igbo community in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The story is centred on Anayo, a promising young man who found himself entangled in the web of poverty....
Literature
Redefining the place of the girl-child (review)
Since the 1995 Beijing conference in which women from all over the world assembled to discuss gender related matters, the place of the girl-child in the scheme of things has been underscored by various writers. While some writers choose to fictionalise the subject-matter in form of plays, novels, short stories or poems, others prefer the direct essay genre.In this book, Advice to My Daughter, B. B. Suleiman has come up with something different in order to make a better impact. The book is crafted in an all-embracing innovative style that combines fact and fiction. The epistolary technique is adopted in such a way that anecdotes, appeals, instructions and warnings interplay to deliver in a most effective manner the moral lessons parents are duty-bound to impart on their daughters.
The 110-page book contains series of letters addressed to a daughter or the persona, advising her on various aspects of her vulnerable life as she grows through the turbulent world. From her secondary school through university, the daughter receives letters from her father, which constantly remind her of the need to be morally upright. The letters spell out behaviours she should avoid and the ones she should stick to. They also stress the consequences she would suffer if she behaved contrary to the stipulated moral codes.
Specifically, the letters dwell on issues like sexuality, harmful traditional practices and education, as they affect the girl-child. From the first to the last letter, the issues are treated in a fatherly manner capable of appealing to not just the girl-child but parents alike who could use it as a complementary material to their efforts at guiding their daughters to the right path.
For instance, the first letter titled ?Death of the Innocent? relates the story of a neighbour whose young daughter got pregnant by fun seekers and ended up dying from pregnancy related complications. The same letter also relates the pathetic story of an eighteen-year old school girl who, according to newspapers reports, "delivered a baby in the bush and dumped it in the latrine!"
All these are consequences of wayward behaviours which committed parenthood could guide against.
B.B. Suleiman, who is a member of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, could be described as a writer with a bird?s eye view, seeing the girl-child issues from all perspectives; that of the parents, the girl-child herself and the society at large. Each of these aspects, according to the author, has a role to play in ensuring a safe and bright future for the girl-child. Over 60 per cent of the letters highlight the role the girl-child herself should play in the circumstance. While the parents provide the enabling environment, it is the responsibilty of the girl-child to stand up to actualise her beautiful dreams of the future. In the second letter ?The Fear of Sugar Daddy?, the girl-child is admonished to protect herself from marauding womanisers and rapists by dressing and behaving decently.
Among the numerous consequences of unsafe and casual sex resulting from indecent behaviours is the HIV inffection, from which over 530,000 people have died since the beginning of the epidemic.
The seventh letter highlights the prevailing cases of sexual harassment in high constitutions of learning. Titled ?A Mind of Your Own," the letter calls on the girl-child to rise above the situation by acknowledging the fact that she has the right to say no to sexual harassment and to safeguard her self-worth and family values.
Other letters, though equally addressed to the girl-child, stress the role of society at large in the upbringing of the child. In the letters, the author admonishes particularly the Nigerian traditional society to remove the cultural obstacles that have for years hindered the growth and development of the girl-child. They include traditional beliefs "that equate women status only with marriage and the number of children they are blessed with".
Indeed, Advice to My Daughter is mainly about the educational empowerment of the girl-child, the women folks and the society in general. As it is often said, when a girl is educated the entire nation is educated as no educated woman would allow her child to be an illitrate irrespective of the sex.
B.B. Suleiman has, no doubt, done a great job of focusing public attetion on this all-important issue. Unlike other books on this topic, which harp on gender debates that end up as mere intellectual exercise, this book is a loud and clear wake-up call to redeem the girl-child and give her a befitting future. In this era when most parents are too occupied to have even an occasional heart-to-heart discussion with their children especially on issues of sexuality, this book couldn?t have come at a more auspicious time. Written in a straight-forward and easy-to-comprehend language, the book will certainly go a long way in achieving the aims for which it was written.
(c) Reviewed by SUMAILA UMAISHA and published in the December 5th 2009 edition of New Nigerian newspaper.
- Pride & Prejudice - Difficult Marriages
Elizabeth feels that there are disadvantages in the parents? marriage.1. Discuss what disadvantages Elizabeth is talking about?2. How are children affected by difficult marriages?3. ...
- The Hollow Of The Three Hills Summary
THE HOLLOW OF THE THREE HILLSThe Hollow of the Three Hills is a story of dishonor, deceit, and death. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the main character as a beautiful woman with a shameful and abominable past. She tries to run from her problems...
- I Wrote My First Novel At 16
Adelakun Adunni Abimbola, winner of the 2010 edition of the Literary Journalist of the Year, awarded by the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, with B.A and M.A from the Department of Communication and Language...
- Violence Inspired Writer Shouldn?t Write For Children
Dr Chinyere Agabi is a lecturer in the department of Education Foundations and Management at the Rivers State University of Education, and the author of numerous children's literary books. In this interview, she speaks about her books and children's...
- In The Web Of Poverty (review)
Cobweb in the Sky by Patrick Tagbo Ogbuejiofor is an exciting novel set in Obunagu village, a typical Igbo community in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The story is centred on Anayo, a promising young man who found himself entangled in the web of poverty....