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LANGUAGE AND STYLE AS FEMINIST EXTENSION IN NURUDDIN FARAH’S FROM A 

CROOKED RIB 

 

Dr. Ifeoma Ezinne Odinye 

                                           Department of Language and Literature 

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria 

ie.odinye@unizik.edu.ng 

& 

Beatrice N. Ebingha 

Department of English and Literary Studies 

University of Calabar 

Email: ebinghabeatricengwede@unical.edu.ng 

 

 

Abstract 

This research explores language and style as feminist extension in Farah’s From a Crooked Rib. In 

other words, the study examines how plot, narrative technique and setting have influenced Farah’s 

stylistic pattern. This is achieved through a semantic analysis and interpretation of some lexical items 

and patriarchal descriptions of hemmed-in Somalia gender prejudice and female inferiority in Farah’s 

novel. The lexical items visible in the title “from a crooked Rib” have acquired cultural meanings that 

contend with feminist tenets of female assertiveness and emancipation. Within the feminist circles, 

symbolic patterns of fictional exposition delineate Farah’s motifs—journey and slavery. 

Keywords: language, style, semantics, feminist extension 

 

Introduction 

One does not overlook the fact that language has a universal value dealing with human thoughts and 

creativity. As a tool of literary communication, linguistic resources are explored to create an aura of 

verisimilitude—an evidence that captures the semiotic mould within a given cultural context. The 

argument presented above is an implicit endorsement that a literary artist chooses the semiotic 

elements or features within a well-known geographical setting to interpret a trend. There is either an 

acceptance of this trend or an implicit rejection leading to satirical jabs. Basically, there is a symbolic 

affinity between reality and thematic preoccupation inherent in the artist’s text. In terms of originality, 

the novelist’s artistic truths and efforts become a technique that aids the narration. Certainly, the 

artist’s linguistic usage remains a device in evaluating the significant features or qualities of the 

literary creation. 

 

In describing social or cultural situation, literary elements visible in the forms of plot, diction, theme, 

setting, character, narrative technique and point of view are necessary for a coherent evaluation. A 

good knowledge of these elements is very paramount in interpreting experiences within an 

imaginative genre. All these are articulated using words, phrases or sentence patterns that capture a 

unique historical point in time and physical regions with a peculiar emotion. If one should indulge in 

any form of analogy about language and style, then it is important to understand that no writer’s 

pattern of writing is incidental or supplementary—all manner of imaginative documentations are ideas 

represented as style. A concatenation of narrative events is meant to achieve a desired effect—to 

communicate the complexity of human experiences in a variety of meanings which may be structural, 

lexical, semantic and general. We can also conceptualize body language, facial expression and gesture 

as part of the inherent language with nuances of interpretations and meanings. So effective are the 

above forms in interpreting the artist’s philosophical idea within a given literary text. Since every 

social background calls for humanistic and moral attention which is inexhaustible, this paper 

explicates language and style as unconstrained index of asserting gender ideologies and space in 

Nuruddin Farah’s From a Crooked Rib. 

 

Feminist Patterns: Stylistic and Semantic Analyses of Farah’s From a Crooked Rib 

An objective approach to Nuruddin Farah’s novel sees a technique of conscious feminist undertone–

impressive expressions that are not culture-bound. A clear view as suggested by Odinye (2019) 

mailto:ie.odinye@unizik.edu.ng
mailto:ebinghabeatricengwede@unical.edu.ng


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97          Odinye & Ebingha 

stresses the obvious fact that “the social positions of girls and women in most African societies are 

closely related to the roles they play in society” (116). No doubt, the novel has revealed instances of 

patriarchal impressionistic purposes in addressing gender identity. The title of Farah’s novel, From a 

Crooked Rib draws semantic interpretation—an ideal approach to ameliorate female condition. The 

above phrasal expression which forms the title of Farah’s text conveys a symbolic interpretation that 

binds users’ utterances to cultural concepts in order to understand gender ideologies—patriarchal and 

feminist as dialog components. The social prestige ascribed to the expression is very symbolic 

because it speaks to its content in many ways. Farah’s title cues the readers into the central idea of the 

novel—the enduring tradition of drained female essence. To stress clearly, there is an intensification 

of the critical language understanding, an urge to overhaul Farah’s thematic foundation on which the 

patriarchal cultural outlook of gender identity is erected. This critical semantic interpretation solely 

hinges on feminist mentality. The central motif of the novel is built around the interpretative 

meanings of the title From a Crooked Rib which acquires a cultural meaning in the context of the 

novel. Semantically, there are two levels of meaning in the novel; the lexical usage of the expression 

and the contextual meaning which is intricately interpreted within a feminist idiolect—the language of 

the superior ‘Oedipal figure heads’ to the perpetually fixed dependent inferior females. Using the 

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the lexical items in the title are defined below with the use of 

English as a First language: 

a) ‘From’—is a preposition indicating an origin, starting point or the initial reference connected 

to the subject of discussion (599). 

b) ‘a’—is one or any indefinite example of something making reference to a singular item of a 

group (1). 

c) ‘Crooked’—means straight, having one or more bends or angels (349). 

d) ‘Rib’—any of a series of curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and other animals and 

extending from the spine to or toward the sternum (1256). 

The above lexical items are represented in this paper, first as words used within the L1 

circumstances and secondly as words with contextual meanings under a custom or established 

practice within a given cultural milieu in L2 context (The use of English as a Second language).In 

the context of the novel, the denotation, connotation or idea connected with the individual word 

that forms part of the title acquires certain culture-bound interpretations. 

 

In reading From a Crooked Rib, we know that there is a subtle semantic discussion which draws 

meaning from the text. The title helps the readers to understand and interpret characters’ utterances, 

by analyzing the grammatical structure of their expressions, and identifying relationships between 

characters’ words within the context of Somalia culture and Islamic religion. From a close reading of 

the novel, we know that Ebla owes allegiance to a patriarchal figure, probably her legally married 

husband, Awill despite his unending infidelity. This realization is undoubtedly aligned to Somalia’s 

Islamic patriarchal ego—a religious cultural context that gives undue power of superiority to males 

over the inferior females. No wonder, when Awill addresses his wife Ebla, we perceive a mixture of 

ego and male superiority: 

 

‘You know how you were created? Awill asked smiling. 

‘Yes, I know.’ 

‘let me tell you that you were created from the crooked rib of Adam…’ 

And if anyone tries to straighten it, he will have to break it’. (From a Crooked Rib, 170) 

 

Certainly, Awill proudly announces to his wife a clear stance of Somali religious ideology that “a 

woman’s prophet and second-to-God is her husband” (From a Crooked Rib, 151). Awill’s confession 

gives a structured illumination on female position—a being formed from a single curved rib of a man. 

Thus the composition of a woman’s body is solely dependent on a man’s physical and spiritual 

essence symbolized by ‘a bended or curved rib’. The words ‘crooked, bended or curved’ perform an 

adjectival function, often originally adjectives but used as nouns within the context of expression. The 

technicalities relating to the adjectival syntax elicit female total submission, humility and overall 

acceptance of male superiority or dominance. The interpretation of the expression, From a Crooked 

Rib centers on the subordinating position of females as second-class citizens simply fashioned for 



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98          Odinye & Ebingha 

men’s use or manipulation—a total ownership of body and soul. It is observed that the extract ‘from a 

crooked rib’ in the title aligns in thought with the extract ‘…from a crooked rib of Adam’ captured in 

Awill’s utterances in the quotation above. The two occurrences of the expression are adherently and 

ideologically connected through the act of conscious reiteration obviously having the same referent—

man. Structurally, the name “Adam” is a male given name, the progenitor of Homo sapiens in the 

purview of Abrahamic religious practices—interpretatively, Eve (Ebla) is created from one of the 

curved ribs of Adam (Awill). Awill and Ebla through the recognized traditional marriage rites belong 

in the same chain of identity. The logical assumption within the text places Awill in the position of 

Adam as a model. 

 

Notably, the extract, “and if anyone tries to straighten it, he will have to break it” (From a Crooked 

Rib, 170) is challenging the feminist construction of female consciousness which inscribes Ebla with 

both psychic and physical mobility strewn with huge negative consequences. The use of the modal 

auxiliary verb ‘will’ in English customarily attaches compulsion of destruction on an action that 

attempts to straighten the curved or crooked rib. Ebla’s daring psychic and physical deviation from 

the Somali-Islamic value of female docility and voicelessness imposes a protest against male 

hegemony culminating into series of insensitivity and troubles in her patriarchal clime. 

 

The focus of the extract “From a Crooked Rib” is a figurative expression that makes reference to the 

thematic preoccupation of the novel. Farah draws on a memorable line spoken by a character (Awill) 

as the title of his novel. Therefore, the title functions to emphasize the parallel themes of female 

oppression and national consciousness.  There are several levels on which we can interpret Farah’s 

title. First is the actual implied statement made by Awill concerning the subordinate role of the female 

gender. The second is the interpretation of Ebla’s quest for freedom and subsequent strategies 

employed to resist male subjugation which only ends in negotiation and complementarity. Despite 

Ebla’s continuous quest to escape patriarchal oppression, we see her at the end of the story, literally 

reconciling with her first husband Awill, the man who has raped and cheated on her several times. 

Ebla’s statement foreshadows this reunion “... Awill was the only husband I married willingly…” 

(From a Crooked Rib 158). We can move on to the symbolic meaning of the title. The narrator 

(Awill) makes a point in telling the readers that Ebla as his wife is part of his crooked rib. In a wider 

context, Farah depicts Ebla’s experiences as a symbolic representation of the condition of the female 

gender in Somalia and their overall dependence on men for survival.  Through the relation of 

substitution, Farah presupposes symbolic images to adequately capture female subjugation and her 

inability to pass beyond the limits of patriarchal bizarre challenges. 

 

One implication of the discussion is that Farah explored the journey motif as a stylistic device towards 

female emancipation. Farah begins his novel with physical and psychological mobility. The narrator 

observes that, “Ebla desired, more than anything to fly away; like a cock which has unknotted itself 

from the string tying its leg to the wall…. She wanted to fly away from dependence on the seasons, 

the seasons which determine the life or death of the nomads…” (From a Crooked Rib 13). Note that 

the narrator’s utterances do not contradict Ebla’s situation—a coercive attempt by Ebla’s grandfather 

to marry her off without due consultation to “Giumaleh, an old man of forty-eight: fit to be her father” 

(From a Crooked Rib, 9). Ebla’s indifference to a man who has given her hand in marriage to an old 

man in a mere exchange for camel sets the pattern of her assertiveness (From a Crooked Rib, 15). 

 

In the quotation above, it is necessary to do a lexical study in order to see the purported negative 

cultural pattern that propels Ebla’s ignominious choice of escape. For instance, the words ‘fly away’ 

is semantically interpreted in the text to mean ‘unrestrained, light and free”.Ebla’s flighty quest is 

likened to the imagined swift movement of a bird in situations that betray its search for tranquility. In 

the extract, the semantic interpretation one can give is that Ebla symbolizes the ‘cock’ that has 

unknotted itself from the string of patriarchal webs—a situation that presents man as the predator. 

Farah’s use of the semiotic element ‘camel’ signifies a hierarchy of importance placed on the animal 

culturally over the girl, Ebla. The patriarchal betrayal and its collocation with Ebla’s flight is an 

obvious journey for mobility—a quest for freedom (emotional and physical).In fact, Farah inscribes 

“mobility (physical and psychological) as the starting point of female consciousness in Somalia 



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Muslim culture that imposes immobility on the female” (Okereke “The Journey as Trope…” 91). 

Indeed, this journey is a journey of growth into consciousness raising for the protagonist.  

 

Stylistically, From a Crooked Rib is held together and organized around certain journey rhythms and 

journey motifs (movements) that act as centripetal forces, making for cohesion in the various elements 

of the novel. First, there is the rhythm of resistance and physical motion on Ebla’s part, a rhythm that 

provides an important thematic concern revealing the escape routes which Ebla takes to negotiate a 

space with men (Tiffo and Awill). Farah’s artistic arrangement of these rhythms and movements is a 

credit both on his artistic insight and on his novelistic technique. Farah arranges each movement so 

that it appears more complicated and grievous than the preceding one, assuming a deeper dimension 

in Ebla’s pitiful march towards negotiation with men. ‘Movement’ in From a Crooked Rib has many 

semantic implications and Farah’s exploration of these implications is a laudable achievement of his 

artistic intuition. The term, ‘movement’, in one sense, means ‘physical motion between points in 

space’ and in another sense; it means ‘motion of the mind or feelings (emotion)’. In essence, Ebla 

literally tries to escape from patriarchal oppression each time there is a movement. When Ebla first 

escapes from her nomadic environment, her scornful embittered grandfather could not understand 

why she should abandon and disregard the Somali tradition of being married off to a man based on his 

choice. This first escape is indeed a movement that shows Ebla’s consciousness about her plight as a 

girl. Ebla’s movement as a motion of the ‘mind or emotions’ describes her psychological disposition 

or feelings towards societal, cultural and individual maltreatment or oppression of the girl-child as a 

result of her gender. To Ebla, “… the allotment of assignments denoted the status of a woman, that 

she was lower in status than a man, and that she was weak.… (From a Crooked Rib 13). 

 

The journey in Farah’s From a Crooked Rib unfolds in three movements—first, second and third 

movements. Each movement depicts an escape from patriarchal oppression and subjugation which 

equips Ebla with a new experience as well as some assertive traits that enable her to explore her 

physical, emotional and psychological growth. The first movement of Ebla’s journey is an escape 

from the imposing limitations of a traditional society to empowerment through space and time. Ebla 

chooses to revolt against patriarchal subjugation by escaping from her nomad rural setting to Belet 

Wene to avoid an arranged marriage with an old man (Giumaleh). This journey is a movement away 

from the traditional Somalia Muslim culture that subjects girls to forced marriage through bartering. 

The second movement depicts a physical journey from the urban setting of Belet Wene to the city of 

Mogadiscio.  Ebla flees Belet Wene with the widow’s nephew (Awill) without the consent of her 

cousin, (Gheddi). Ebla escapes because Gheddi like her grandfather wants to marry her off to a broker 

as a wife. In the third movement, Ebla makes a revolutionary movement to obstruct patriarchal marital 

law by marrying Tiffo as her second husband. This third movement is a physical movement from 

Awill’s house to Tiffo’s house as a new bride. The third movement shows Ebla’s revolutionary stance 

and assertiveness to seek for equality and freedom of choice and expression. The third movement also 

captures the climax of the story, Ebla’s marriage with Tiffo drives her to self-examination and deep 

reflection. Through Ebla’s speech, the reader x-rays the false consciousness which has blinded her 

mode of reasoning towards male chauvinism. Ebla reflects on her experiences and comes to the 

conclusion that she is still trapped in the web of men. She escapes from the old man, Giumaleh, only 

to end up with another old man, Tiffo. She becomes aware of her position and thus confesses her 

dealings with men: “Giumaleh, I never saw him. It was only verbally done between him and my 

grandfather. Diris made an arrangement with my cousin…. Awill was the only husband I married 

willingly…” (From a Crooked Rib158).  

 

Indeed, Ebla learns through her experiences and assertive journey for emancipation. She learns the 

ethics and subordinating position of Somalia culture that leaves the female gender without a choice. In 

fact, Ebla’s bitter experiences as a bartered girl and a social misfit who marries a second husband for 

revenge teaches her great lessons. These experiences are vital in raising her consciousness. Okereke 

observes that “experience is thus a vital weapon in woman’s survival and achievement of growth. The 

journey becomes a journey of growth from innocence to knowledge, from naivety to experience” 

(“The Journey As Trope…” 95). By escaping from two planned marriages, eloping with Awill and 

marrying Tiffo, Ebla has gained experience through her journey. 



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The motif of slavery is also a recurring element in Farah’s From a CrookedRib. Significantly, Farah 

attacks the Somali cultural milieu for treating girls like slaves. In the novel, Ebla’s individual right to 

freedom of choice is abused and denied. In fact, through the experiences of Ebla, Farah seems to 

suggest that Ebla lives in a patriarchal society that places constraints on the girl child’s concept of life. 

Ebla is bartered like animals for marriage proposals by her grandfather and cousin, Gheddi, without 

her consent. She serves as a slave girl to Gheddi’s wife, performing mean roles of milking cows, 

feeding other animals and nursing Gheddi’s baby. In essence, Farah stresses that the Somali society 

exploits girls through a system of assigned and devalued roles. Ebla’s status as a slave girl is further 

seen when Gheddi uses her as a smuggling channel for his illegal business. Farah’s representation of 

the girl child as a slave in Somalia is further seen in Awill’s inhuman act of rape that violates Ebla’s 

right. This act of violence is an abuse of human rights which exposes male chauvinism and men’s 

perception of girls as mere property to be owned and used. To liberate Ebla from male chauvinism, 

Farah imbues her with assertive traits to revolt against patriarchal oppression and subjugation. 

Unfortunately, Ebla succumbs to the same fate she wishes to escape— this shows a cyclical structure 

because she ends where she started from, though with more experience, knowledge and power in 

gender issues. 

 

Setting is an essential element in examining the style of a text. The “setting of a narrative work is the 

general locale and historical time in which its action occurs; the setting of an episode or scene within 

a work is the particular physical location in which it takes place” (Abrams 157). The setting as an 

element of fiction is very important in understanding the concept of foregrounding and 

backgrounding. Poynton suggests that “ideological meanings come into view as a result of power 

configurations where ideology not only reflects the society that produced it, but remains bound 

together to reinforce its own identity” (18). The setting of Farah’s From a Crooked Rib is situated in 

Somalia. The general setting of the novel conveys the picture of an Islamic religious traditional setting 

that offers no space for female emancipation and exploration of basic human rights based on western 

ideology. This depiction gears Farah’s fictional creation towards reconstructing Somalia to give 

meaning to female existence. In view of the above, Meriem observes that in Farah’s fiction, 

“women’s struggle for freedom and for the right to voice themselves becomes an allegory for a nation 

in search of its voice. New womanhood becomes interchangeable with a new Somalia…” (84).  

 

The physical settings such as Ebla’s nomad setting, Belet Wene and Mogadiscio provide an 

atmosphere that oppresses and subjugates the protagonist to different forms of violence. These acts of 

violence are evidently linked to the patriarchal mentality and structures inherent in the above settings. 

In Ebla’s rural nomadic encampment and Belet Wene, she is exposed to bartering and forced 

marriage. Also, in the city of Mogadiscio, Ebla is raped by Awill. Notably, all these settings are 

synonymous with girl child oppression and subjugation. 

 

The plot forms a stylistic pattern in Farah’s From a Crooked Rib. Farah’s plot is presented in a 

chronological order. In essence, the story adopts a linear plot structure which employs a narrative 

memory to depict the experiences of Ebla. Structurally, From a Crooked Rib is divided into four parts 

(4) namely:  Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four. Part One comprises chapters 1-3, Part Two 

contains chapters 4-15, Part Three has chapters 16-20 and Part Four contains chapters 20-30. The 

structure of the novel consists of four basic parts: exposition, complication of conflict or rising action, 

climax, denouement or resolution. Farah uses prologue to expose the events that would lead to 

conflicts in the main plot. The prologue performs the basic function of exposition by introducing a 

character, an old man whose actions would create conflicts in the story. The omniscient narrator 

introduces the temperament of a character (Ebla’s grandfather) who is unhappy about a given 

situation that deviates from the normal family and traditional modes of living. The angry mood of the 

old man (Ebla’s grandfather) indicates a serious conflict which forces him to rain curses on his subject 

of discussion (Ebla). The narrator comments: “He could curse. That was all he could do. Other than 

that, he could give advice, but now he cursed” (From a Crooked Rib 3).  

 

The plot of Farah’s From a Crooked Rib is designed to achieve the effect of satire. Satire in a literary 

work is designed to achieve the effect of ridiculing and evoking contempt, indignation, or scorn. 



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101          Odinye & Ebingha 

Farah adopts satire as a variety of plot patterns in order to ridicule and expose varying religious, 

traditional and cultural elements that subjugate the girl-child. He develops the plot of From a Crooked 

Rib to clearly show the gradual movement of Ebla’s struggles from rebellion to self-assertion and 

finally to negotiation. Farah’s plot relies heavily on suspense to heighten the protagonist’s purpose for 

emancipation which keeps the reader’s sense alive till the resolution of the story or conflict.  The plot 

of the novel develops into conflicts as Ebla escapes from her family’s rural setting to a city (Belet 

Wene). The plot further takes a feminist dimension as Ebla becomes more determined and assertive in 

her struggle for liberation against patriarchy. In fact, the plot offers surprises to the readers when Ebla 

represses her assertive quest for emancipation and reconciles with her oppressor, Awill. This creates 

an emotional pull that keeps the readers pathetic towards the condition of the female protagonist. In 

essence, the resolution of Ebla’s conflict through reconciliation with the Oedipal figurehead that 

sexually abused her, is one way Farah tries to expose the fact that human rights violation constitutes a 

huge problem in Somalia. 

 

The plot of Farah’s From a Crooked Rib is appropriate for exposing violence on the female gender 

because it clearly exposes the abuse of female bodies through forced marriage, bartering and sexual 

exploitation. Farah’s plot through the journey and slavery motifs exposes various views on female 

oppression and how Ebla surmounts her oppression. Farah’s plot is symbolically cyclic in nature 

because we see Ebla returning to the oppressive condition she once rejected. Significantly, Farah’s 

portrayal appeals to the readers’ emotions and draws their concern to the helpless condition of females 

in Somalia.  

 

Narrative technique is one of the stylistic devices visible in Farah’s novel. Obviously, the value 

attached to his novel does not merelycenter “on its impact but on how the story is told” (Onyekwere 

124). Therefore, narrative technique becomes a good literary tool that enhances a writer’s style of 

writing. The stream of consciousness technique is extensively employed in the novels of Farah. This 

technique uses monologue to capture free expression of inner feelings and thoughts of Ebla as a 

female protagonist. It also helps her to comment on her bizarre conditions as well as evaluate 

them.Farah in writing From a Crooked Rib adopts the omniscient point of view which is a common 

term for: 

The assumption in a work of fiction that the narrator knows everything that needs to be 

known about the agents and events; that he is entirely free to move as he will in time and 

place, and to shift from character to character, reporting (or concealing) what he chooses of 

their speech and actions; and also that he has privileged access to a character’s thoughts and 

feelings and motives, as well as to his overt speech actions. (Abrams 134) 

 

The narrative features of Farah’s novel are also very interesting, especially the use of the third-person 

omniscient narrator to capture the inner dialogue and thoughts of all the characters. By allowing Ebla 

to express her feelings and condition, Farah’s ultimate goal is to show more than tell. This is evident 

in situations where he allows the individual characters to express their thoughts using monologue. 

Farah uses monologue to x-ray the emotions and psychological disposition of his protagonist, Ebla. 

One must not fail to draw attention to Farah’s use of point of view to empower his protagonist. Farah 

is an intrusive narrator who not only reports but freely comments on his characters, evaluating their 

actions and motives and expressing his views about human life in general. The omniscient narrator 

introduces Ebla as a girl who wants to escape from patriarchal holds and thus engages in an emotional 

quest to liberate herself. According to the narrator, “Ebla had been toying with the idea of leaving 

home for quite some time. However, she did not know whether this would be temporary change of air 

― in a tow ― or a permanent departure…” (From a Crooked Rib 8). The above quotation 

foreshadows Ebla’s movements for self-assertion and empowerment in the novel. The omniscient 

narrator who knows the thoughts of every character gives the readers a clue to understanding the 

thoughts and feelings of Ebla as the protagonist.  From the narrator, we can see where the sympathy 

and interest of Farah lies. In the beginning of the novel, Ebla is physically described by the narrator to 

also attract our sympathy towards her plight: “she was very tall, but this was not exceptional here. She 

stood six feet high. She would have been very beautiful, had it not been for the disproportion of her 

body. She thought about things and people in her own way, but always respected the old and the 



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dead…” (From a CrookedRib 8). The above description is in contrast with the way Farah describes 

Ebla’s grandfather as an ‘old man’ who rains curses on a vulnerable granddaughter (From a Crooked 

Rib 6). 

 

Farah employs point of view to disapprove patriarchal superstructures that oppress and limit the 

female gender. The omniscient narrative perspective helps readers to understand the way a given 

character perceives her oppression and relates with other characters. The way the omniscient narrator 

goes into the minds of different characters helps readers to understand what motivates their actions in 

the plot. These motivations are also perceived as the processes of characterization where a given 

character is defined by his or her attitudes and experiences. 

 

Farah’s use of the third person omniscient narrator allows the readers to get the story from the 

characters themselves. This is deduced from the characters’ speech, thoughts and action—that is 

questioning of self through inner dialogue. In essence, Farah objectively presents his story without 

imposing himself on the narration. In the novel, Farah allows Ebla to question the demeaning gender 

inequality instituted by patriarchy. From Ebla’s rhetorical questions, we can decipher that she is 

physically and psychologically tortured by Somalia’s savage culture. She therefore interrogates 

herself by questioning the reality of women’s existence: 

But why is a woman, a woman? To give companionship to man? To beget him children? To 

do a woman’s duty? But that is only in the house. What else? She asked herself. Surely a 

woman is indispensable to man, but do men realize it? (From a Crooked Rib 12) 

 

Farah’s narrative style is unique as a result of the density of his sentence structure and the unbroken 

flow of thought and awareness in the waking mind of the protagonist. In narrating Ebla’s assertive 

nature for freedom from Asha’s advice and manipulation, Farah employs the stream of consciousness 

to “capture the full spectrum and flow of his heroine’s mental process in which sense of perceptions 

mingle with conscious and half-conscious thoughts, memories, feelings, and random associations” 

(Abrams 165). 

Ebla thought over the question many a time, and finally she made up her mind. ‘Asha 

doesn't have to tell me what to do and what not to do…. It is me who marries or is 

divorced, so she doesn't have to put her nose into my private business. I will tell her 

to keep out of it. In future I am responsible for whatever I do. Tomorrow, I will tell 

her. Tomorrow. In future I will be myself and belong to myself, and my actions will 

belong to me. And I will, in turn, belong to them’. (From a Crooked Rib142) 

 

Monologue is also a special technique used by Farah to capture Ebla’s inner dialogue and thoughts 

about the culture of valuing boys more than girls in Somali society. This is what Ebla perceives as 

gender inequality or discrimination that confers an inferior position on girls, while boys are highly 

valued. Ebla comments: 

 

Why is it only the sons in the family who are counted? For sure this world is a man’s – it is 

his dominion and is going to be his as long as women are oppressed as long as this remains 

the system of life. Nature is against women. If a woman wants to argue about her fundamental 

rights not being fulfilled by her husband, it is always a man that she must see –- at 

government office and every other place. Before she has opened her mouth, she is condemned 

to the grave. Aren’t men the law? (From a Crooked Rib 84) 

 

Farah allows Ebla to express herself in monologue so as to portray the pitiful condition of girls and 

women in Somalia. Ebla’s monologue is very symbolic, because it shows her frantic efforts to escape 

from patriarchal subjugation. The monologue below summarizes her efforts: 

 

 Woman? ‘She asked in a grunting male voice, ‘Are you a cheat?’ 

‘Sometimes.’  

‘But why?’  

‘Because men cheat me.’  



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103          Odinye & Ebingha 

‘I take revenge upon them.’  

‘Yes, but why?’  

‘I don’t know, I am innocent. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what I do sometimes.  I 

do things; just do them without really getting myself involved. I put my faith in my man, but 

once I lose it, then it is hard to regain it. It is jealousy and insecurity that causes most 

misunderstanding.’ (From a Crooked Rib 166) 

 

Ebla interrogates herself in order to express her repressed emotions and make a stance that – men and 

women are equal irrespective of their biological differences. Also in the above quotation, Ebla is able 

to foreground the image of the female gender in Somalia society, as people whose bodies are 

constantly haunted by men’s crooked sexual drive and chauvinistic behaviour. Through Ebla’s voice, 

the readers are able to understand her pain and emotional torture in a male dominated society. From 

the above quotation, it is also clear that the superego is an important factor in illustrating the fate of 

the protagonist in her act of rebellion and revenge against Oedipal figureheads. Her monologue 

suggests that she is disillusioned and wants to conquer Oedipal forces of domination, depression and 

oppression. Indeed, the unconscious sense of guilt, with the corresponding need for rebellion, satisfied 

through manipulating men like Tiffo, plays a decisive part in Ebla’s willingness to revenge or 

challenge Awill’s infidelity and oppression. Significantly, Farah’s narrative techniques help to explore 

the theme of violence, self-assertion and self-actualization. Also, Farah’s adoption of different 

narrative techniques helps to create an impact that provokes sympathy from the readers. 

 

Conclusion 

From the foregoing, it is clear that plot, narrative technique, setting and semantic interpretation based 

on contextual meanings attached to some lexical items contributedto Farah’s creative style. The 

semantic extension culminates into a contextualization of facts that has captured the semiotic mould 

within the Somalia cultural context—a trend of bartering that imposes inferiority and savagery on the 

female gender. More importantly, the lexical items of Farah’s title have acquired additional cultural 

meanings in order to account for the unique Somali Socio-cultural experience hinged on female 

subjugation and oppression. 

 

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