THE NIGERIAN WOMAN AND THE QUEST FOR SELF-REALIZATION IN ZAYNAB ALKALI’S THE DESCENDANTS AND SEFI ATTA’S EVERYTHING GOOD WILL COME

Contemporary literature in an attempt to address the woman issue is redirecting and re-presenting women identity rather continuing to lament women oppression. It presents women as striving actively to overcome oppression. This has led to the emergence of the new woman who is in charge of her destiny and has also taken control of the opportunities she was earlier denied for her own fulfillment. This research examines Zaynab Alkali‟s and Sefi Atta‟s portrayal of women as vibrant crusaders in bringing about meaningful development in the societies they find themselves. This project highlights Alkali‟s and Atta‟s new woman who is ready to offer her services, thereby re-define the old roles played by women in Nigerian Literature. The womanist goal is to foster change that will lead to the survival of males, females and children. Both authors portray characters whose actions are womanist rather than purely feminist. Atta‟s vision embodies not merely the emancipation of the female from the socio-cultural shackles but more significantly advances the proposition that a woman can effectively combine her matrimonial life with her social life. Black women characters in contemporary literature often strive to claim their place within their own history and culture as is reflected in Alice Walker‟s definition of a womanist as a woman committed to survival and wholeness of the entire people, male and female. Alkali‟s and Atta‟s character seek to reposition the woman.