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VOCALITY IN SEFI ATTA’S WOMEN:  

A CRITIQUE OF EVERYTHING GOOD WILL COME 

 

Dr. Ifeoma Ezinne Odinye 

Department of English and Literature 

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka  

Email: ie.odinye@unizik.edu.ng /ifeomaodinye@gmail.com 

&  

Beatrice N. Ebingha 

Department of English and Literary Studies 

University of Calabar 

Email: ebinghabeatricengwede@unical.edu.ng 

 

Abstract 

Courage spurred by assertiveness is the hallmark of feminist tenets. Despite discriminatory roles that 

challenge female consciousness for self-identity and liberation, self-fulfillment still occupies the 

center of female discourse within the entrenched cultural hierarchical gender inequality. Amidst 

negative and less significant portraitures of female characters in male authored texts, women writers 

have continually remained relentless in their effort at positioning women at the center of their artistic 

creations. Centrally positioned, these heroines are equipped with vocality for self-actualization and 

emancipation both at home and beyond—a spontaneous act structured to unweave patriarchal 

irrational ideology. This is achieved by placing the women characters in a beneficial position 

necessary for their assertive consciousness. Theoretically, this paper is hinged on feminist tenets and 

arched on the exemplary female vocality and its impact on self-actualization in Sefi Atta’s Everything 

Good Will Come. The aspects of style are also discussed as the artist’s sensibility in developing the 

themes.  

Keywords: vocality, feminist tenets, self-identity 

 

Social Background and Atta’s Creative Sensibility 

The social background of Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come is set in Lagos during the military 

era at the first instance and civilian regimes later. Both eras are characterized by dictatorship of the 

Army and the fanatical zeal of corrupt civilians in power.  Atta’s choice of a protagonist, a girl of 

seven remains a unique aesthetic mode of detailing events and tracing the social, moral and 

psychological development from the purview of the narrator. Undisputedly, Enitan, the protagonist 

asserts and punctures the myth of male subjugation through her father’s encouragement and education 

on the need to be liberated. She confesses thus: “from the beginning I believed whatever I was told, 

downright lies even about how best to behave, although I had my own inclinations.” (Everything 

Good 1). The above personal ideology is intricately linked to Atta’s title which summarizes Enitan’s 

inclinations leading to her perceptual vocality and dream actualization at the end of the novel. 

 

Enitan lives in a world of two divergent views—an excessively influential view of her father who 

insists she must assert herself by studying her books to avoid being confined to the kitchen as woman 

(Atta 20-21); and her mother, the true African woman who represents the African womanist, and 

teaches Enitan how to become a good wife through culinary skills in the kitchen as seen in the remark 

made by Enitan’s father, “I see your mother is making you understudy her again” and her mother 

retorts, “It won’t harm her to be in here” (Atta 20). Enitan’s education also extends to various aspects 

of motherhood bothering on issues of “blood and babies and “sex” (Atta 23).  These are the ways Erin 

Sunday, Enitan’s mother accentuates the need for Enitan to grow up understanding and undertaking 

the roles ascribed to women by the society which are geared towards earning her a reputation as a 

good housewife. One thing is certain, the conflicting models of training in her home and her 

relationships with men contribute to Enitan’s vocality and strength.  

 

Enitan’s graduation as a lawyer demonstrates her inner ability. She is indeed a dynamic personality—

a lawyer in her father’s firm (Atta 118), a credit control accountant in a bank (Atta 181) and the 

Bank’s company secretary (Atta 190). In her relationships with men, Atta portrays her as a radical 

mailto:ebinghabeatricengwede@unical.edu.ng


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17          Odinye & Ebingha 

feminist who would not tolerate the excessive ego of men or be naively oppressed and controlled in 

relationships. This is evident in her relationship with her husband, Niyi who claims to have phobia for 

the kitchen and allows Enitan do all the house chores while he sits in the living room reading 

newspapers and magazine. Even a simple gesture of bringing drinks for his siblings on visitation is 

dreaded by him. Enitan thus, challenges and dismantles the patriarchal belief of making the woman a 

slave to the man in all ramifications. This is achieved by a skilled mark of orality that solicits her 

husband’s assistance in petty chores. She states: “You have hands”, and Niyi responds, “My friend”. 

“Show some respect” and she replies, “Go to hell” (Atta 186). Enitan’s vocal ability enables her 

protest against domestic oppression—a perpetual engagement with domestic chores strictly left for 

wives. Her quest for complementarity equips her oratorical skill geared towards her liberation. She 

shouts: “Why can’t you go to the kitchen? What will happen if you go? Will a snake bite your leg?” 

(Atta 187). Atta in the above discussion portrays the typical African man as proud egoist whose 

preoccupation is to lord and suppress the woman without an iota of human mercy. The detention of 

Enitan’s father results to the crumbling of her marriage with Niyi. Enitan’s inability of procreating 

early becomes an opportunity for Niyi to force silence on her. Enitan confesses: “that was how my 

thirties found me, in a silence state. I felt as though I’d been running in midair for years” (Atta 189).  

 

Notably, Enitan’s challenging pregnancy does not constitute a barrier to her father’s freedom. She 

defies both her doctor’s advice and her husband’s recommendation and insistence on bed rest and 

equips herself with inner strength and self-induced vocality in fighting for her father’s release from 

prison.  

 

In the same vein, the house wives including Grace Ameh, the journalist also lend their voices and 

strength to actualize their self-worth. Their self-expressiveness showcases them as strong, assertive 

and powerful women. Their unity in vocalizing a collective decision becomes a strong force for the 

immediate release of the men in detention. The women resolve, “We would write letters to our 

president, asking for the release of our relations, whether or not he reads them. We will not stop until 

our relations are freed. There were other campaign groups like ours, and they often appeared in the 

press. Some were petitioning for the release of women journalists. We gained strength from their 

voices” (Atta 330).   

 

The success of the women’s struggle and subsequent release of their relatives is a source of inner joy 

to Enitan whose inclination propels a confession that—“Everything Good will Come…” (Atta 335). 

Enitan’s achievements reassure her, that despite her rejection by her husband and family members, 

every good thing will come to her. The most penetrating appreciation of her vocality draws the title of 

the novel from her confession as captured in the above quotation. Indeed, we see a fascination borne 

out of courage and determination—remarkably, Enitan is armed with a good career, a child and a 

voice. Her revolutionary action protests the slanderous focus of her husband and in- laws. 

 

Women and Vocality: The Feminist Streak in Everything Good Will Come 

Against the docile and voiceless women portrayed in male authored texts, Atta in her novel showcases 

women who are assertive and are able to speak out for the world, especially the patriarchal domain 

which helps them gain their self-worth. The women through their vocal ability made choices that 

propel their development against patriarchal domination. Helen Chukwuma in her paper entitled 

“Voices and choices” posits that,  

the female character in African fiction hitherto, is a facile lack-lustre human 

being, the quiet member of a household content to bear children, and 

unfulfilled if she does not…. Docility and complete submission of will is 

demanded and enacted from her. This traditional image of women as 

indeterminate human beings, dependent, gullible and voiceless, stuck 

especially, in the background of patrilinage which makes most African 

society. (131) 

 

The above assertion is true of most male- authored works and indeed in true life situations even in this 

contemporary age. Therefore “feminist writers… deploy diverse tropes to unsettle male-invented 



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18          Odinye & Ebingha 

conventions considered inimical to the self- development of the girl-child in the society” (Sule Egya 

211). In Odinye’s view, the diverse tropes are summarized as “feminist consciousness which helps 

fictional readers to conceptualize authorial thoughts and feelings by allowing them to see how the 

discourse of girlhood or womanhood is partially part of the autthor’s memory” (42). Amongst African 

female writers, Sefi Atta has contributed immensely in role reversal in her novel thereby giving the 

woman a voice. Enitan from seven years is strong-willed coupled with her father insistence on her 

studying law as a ploy to inherit his profession (Atta 40). The choice of law and the decision to send 

Enitan to London to study is to give her a voice and to have an edge over her contemporaries. It is to 

make her live above cultural limitations in actualizing her self-worth in a male dominated society. To 

confirm the above, Egya, Sule posits that Enitan’s father seems to set her on the path of female 

liberation, ready to do all he can to see her free from cultural restrictions” (Atta 226). This crave to 

empower Enitan makes her father insist on her joining the debating society rather than Girls guides 

for as he puts it; “Girls guides are nothing but kitchen martyrs in the making” (Atta  40). Just like the 

law profession, the debating society entails constructive arguments. As such, right from the outset, 

Enitan is positioned for vocality as debates and law connote vocality. Hence, Enitan’s father from 

childhood prepares her through the debate society for her future profession which later lends her a 

voice in the society. 

 

Sefi Atta also uses education as an instrument of vocality in the novel. Okereke aptly describes 

education as a, formal Western Education, a colonial heritage, which has been a positive liberating 

force for Nigerian women. It has equipped them for self-definition by raising their consciousness to 

their subjugation by a male-dominated society” (133).  The above assertion vividly describes Enitan, a 

lawyer and Grace Ameh, a journalist, who have been equipped through education—a good platform 

for conquering male prejudices. Formal education is indeed gave them a unique voice which serves as 

a liberating force fighting for the release of the political detainees. This educational awareness leads 

the duo to attend the literary readings. In her address to the over forty attendees who are mostly male, 

Armeh eulogizes the assertiveness of Winnie Mandela, the wife of the political prisoner, Nelson 

Mandela and her contributions towards his release during the apartheid regime in South Africa which 

she basically achieves as a result of her education and awareness. Simply put, the women’s 

educational background contributes effectively to their vocality—a courage displayed through 

writings leading the eventual release of Enitan’s father and other political prisoners. During the 

literary readings, Enitan observes “I was in awe of the people I was listening to, that they wrote 

without recognition or remuneration, and more so that the denounced injustices as a group at the 

expense of their freedoms and lives… I thought that none of them could be fully conscious of the 

implications of speaking out” (Atta 264). 

 

Grace Ameh is another woman who would not let the government’s intimidation cease her vocality. 

She achieves this as a correspondent with the Oracle magazine. Grace’s active participation at various 

conferences like the literary readings where she eloquently condemns the government who 

incarcerates innocent citizens without justice is not taken for granted. Her husband, Joe remarks, “My 

wife writes. She doesn’t get royalties, instead she gets locked up. You see my trouble.” (Atta 233). 

Seffi Atta through the narrator also presents a courageous woman, Kudirat Abiola whose vocality 

propels her to launch a campaign for her husband who is unjustly incarcerated after winning a free 

and fair presidential election – M. K. O. Abiola. The narrator states: “Abiola was campaigning for her 

husband’s release and for a re-instatement of our general election results. Kudirat Abiola had become 

the symbol of the Africa I’d been at odds with…fighting for her husband’s political freedom” (Atta 

250). This injection by the author is to ginger Enitan to action in order to fight for the release of her 

father and other political detainees. Moreso, Grace Ameh’s play, ‘The Fattening House’ is an apt 

platform for the expression of her vocality despite the political intimidation. However, in the face of 

pervasive intimidation, she goes underground, yet remaining a voice for the Oracle magazine.  

 

On the other hand, Enitan’s father who is a strong advocate for women liberation, is the force behind 

Enitan’s vocality. He regrets that women are not vocal enough because of their roles as wives and 

family managers.  As such, he ensures that Enitan is well educated and assertive. In essence, despite 

warnings from her mother, in-laws and husband not to challenge the government when her father was 



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19          Odinye & Ebingha 

detained, she insists on going ahead with the fight for her father’s release. And Grace Ameh charges 

her, “…Yes, yes, but you have a voice….use your voice to bring about change” (Atta 258-259) by 

this, Ameh encourages her to join other women, human rights and civil liberty organizations in the 

struggle for the release of her father and other political detainees. 

 

Interestingly, while Atta encourages vocality in women as depicted in the characters of Enitan and 

Ameh, she castigates the likes of Erin Sunday, Enitan’s mother and Mrs Toro Franco, Niyi’s mother, 

who represent the voiceless African women. These older women, silenced by patriarchy devise 

various means of survival in their homes. For Enitan’s mother, the church becomes her refuge, while 

Niyi’s mother decides to dwell under her husband’s oppression. This is evident in Niyi’s mother’s 

speech to Enitan as she tries to reconcile Enitan and Niyi after a misunderstanding; she states clearly 

“I was not born into this family. I married into it. It was not easy for me as a young bride….The 

Franco men are difficult. But you know my dear, when two rams meet head on, nothing can happen 

until one backs down”, and further states, “ What you did for your father, that was right but you were 

wrong not to consult your husband first. He is the head of the house” (Atta 302). The above assertion 

renders Niyi’s mother voiceless as summed up in the words of Orie Chibuezu, thus: “notably the 

summary effect of patriarchal lordship is silencing the woman, muffling, unmuting her voice or 

browbeating her to remain voiceless” (160). The two women, Enitan’s mother and mother in-law 

represent the traditional African women who are meant to be docile, subservient, passive and 

powerless. Even Erin, Enitan’s mother could not express her condition for the world to hear but is 

gradually withdrawn into her shell, moved out of her matrimonial home and died before the end of the 

novel. 

 

Enitan’s vocality therefore enables her command her brother in law, Big Foot, to join in serving food 

during a little family get-together. This earns her the name “women’s liberator” (Atta 310) by Big 

Foot. Seffi Atta succeeds in breaking the silence through Enitan against the Yoruba custom where a 

woman is expected to keep silence. And Grace Ameh who comes from the middle belt region of the 

country also demystifies silence because of her exposure and education. Both women represent the 

radical African feminist. Florence Orabueze observes that Sefi Atta “tenaciously believes that silence 

is no longer golden in the face of oppression and degradation” (281). Sule Egya in a stronger term 

posits “Atta’s new woman is also the professional woman but she expands the limits of the so-called 

radical African feminism to embrace the spirited, native commitment to the political struggles of her 

society” (225). Therefore, Atta reverses the role of her novel. She allows Sunday Taiwo to raise his 

voice against the government for the political detainees while the other men including “Uncle Fatai, 

Niyi, Alabo, Degogo and Debayo kept silent when the nation is burning and at the imprisonment of 

Sunny” (Orabueze 285). These men represent the voiceless, passive, and powerless citizens at a time 

there should be assertive and aggressive action towards the government that has unjustly incarcerated 

their friends, relatives and in-laws. The implication of this role reversal entails that a woman cannot 

be adjudged by her sexual biological roles but by her ability to face challenges and break the bounds 

instituted by patriarchy in actualizing her dreams and self-worth. This position is what Sefi Atta and 

other women writers like Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbor, Chimamanda Adichie and others have set out to 

achieve in their respective novels.  

 

Facets of Style in Atta’s Everything Good Will Come   

The aesthetic qualities of a good literary work depend largely on the style of the writer. Onukaogu and 

Oyenrionwu see style in literature as “everything the writer does to ensure that his work conveys the 

intended message effectively and at the same time create the level of beauty required of good art” 

(45). A writer may deploy different facets of style in transmitting his or her message to the targeted 

audience. These include proverbs, idiomatic expressions, flashback, language, portrayal of characters, 

narrative point of view and so on. For the purpose of this paper, different facets of style such as 

language, narrative technique and symbolism will be discussed. Sefi Attah weaves different facets of 

style to buttress her stance as a feminist with strong ideological portrayal of the woman as an 

independent, strong willed and vocal being. She negates the patriarchal ideals that subject the woman 

to a traditional kitchen, subservience and voiceless. Atta through style creates a radical, assertive and 

vocal woman. Sule Egya posits, “Atta’s new woman is also the professional woman but she expands 



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20          Odinye & Ebingha 

the limits of the so-called radical African feminism to embrace a spirited, normative commitment to 

the political struggles of her society” (225). Through style, Attah projects a protagonist who will not 

give in to patriarchal and societal expectations because she is a female gender, but “believes that true 

freedom can only come when both men and women discard the webs of silences that ensnare them by 

raising their voices to be heard in protest and making sensible choices” (Orabueze 257). 

 

Attah’s protagonist vehemently rejects the voiceless condition of women and she is placed side by 

side the older generation of women who represent the womanist and whose silence either destroys 

them or keeps them under patriarchal bondage. Atta, through style silences the men and empower the 

women to fight for the freedom of the political detainees. These detainees also symbolize the African 

woman who is imprisoned either as a girl child under her father and brother or wife under her 

husband. Hence, Atta’s narrative technique clearly shows that the woman is endowed with strength 

and vocality to change every situation within and outside her domain. These styles will be handled in 

the succeeding sections. 

 

Language: language is the writer’s use of words in realizing the various element of the novel which 

includes theme, characterization, and narrative technique. It is the element used to distinguish one 

character from the other and a medium through which literature is expressed (Ezeigbo 16-17). Atta in 

the novel deploys various styles of language to capture women’s vocality, oppression and the 

domiciliation of the novel as a Nigerian and African Novel by expression. 

 

Atta uses strong terms to describe the women’s situation in Nigeria and places side by side the 

voiceless and the voiced through language use. She creates in Enitan, her protagonist a young girl 

who places herself above others through vocal strength. She says to herself “At least I was a decent 

eleven-year-old. She barely reached my shoulder, even in her high heel shoes” (Everything Good 14). 

From childhood, Enitan sees and moves herself with some level of superiority as seen in the above 

quotation when height, and not age makes her feel superior to Sheri. This advantageous position of 

Sheri plays out in their later life as it concerns African feminism. In Enitan’s conversation with Sheri, 

she says “I want to be something like… like president” when asked who will cook for her husband, 

she says “He will cook for himself”, What if he refuses?” she answers, “I’ll drive him away” (Atta 30 

& 31) and she adds, “Who wants to marry him anyway” (Atta 31). Atta creates in Enitan an 

unimaginable bold assertiveness and gives her powerful vocality from her young age because she 

understands what she wants as a woman. Furthermore, when Sheri asks her how many children she 

will want to have, Enitan answers “One” (Atta 29). Orabueze asserts that “Atta criticizes the 

customary dictation that motherhood must be the natural and biological quest for every woman” (Atta 

260). The quest for motherhood has also swallowed up the voices of women in the society as 

portrayed in the novel and in the characters of Erin whose inability to give her husband, Sunday, a 

male child pushes him out of their home and Mrs Toro Franco whose voice is completely seized 

because of the traditional ideals in marriage and motherhood. Enitan states, “Toro Franco, she was 

one of those women who swallowed her voice since the day she got married” (Atta 183). Atta places 

the vocal and the non-vocal women side by side to achieve her struggle for women’s liberation. In her 

view, women can only be liberated when they come out of the shell of inferiority complex and 

subservient position through vocality. 

 

Also, Enitan’s vocality gives her the impetus to pry into her mother-in-law’s state of being the ‘object 

of manipulation’ in a home full of men and boys. She tells her about the kitchen which patriarchy has 

designated to be a woman’s abode. “It’s hot in here”, Toro responds, “Don’t worry”, “The boys 

should help”, “What can the boys do”. She further questions, “don’t you ever feel lonely here ma? 

Isn’t the kitchen the loneliest room?” (Atta 183). Atta interrogates the question of subscribing only the 

women to the kitchen while men and boys idle away in the sitting room. Enitan protests this situation 

in her home when she openly tells her husband, Niyi to “Go to hell” (Atta 186) if he cannot serve his 

brothers drinks from the kitchen. And she further reflects about the burden women are subjected to in 

the name of respect. “I had seen how women respected men and ended up shouldering burdens like 

one of those people who carried firewood on their heads… and foreheads crushed. We their daughters 

were expected to continue. We had no choice…. But there was a saying, and I’d only ever heard it 



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21          Odinye & Ebingha 

said by other women, that books were not edible” (Atta 186). From the foregoing, Atta’s new women 

have rejected the old generation’s status quo of domestic servanthood. Enitan further reflects, “the 

expectation of subordination bothered me most. How could I defer to a man whose naked buttocks I’d 

seen? Touched? Obey without checking on my humanity, like a fish bone down my throat” (Atta 

187). Atta’s Enitan rejects male dominance, subjugation and relegation to the kitchen. She breaks the 

bond of the old woman to emerge as the voice in her generation.  

 

Atta also uses language to emphasize the tepid attitude of men and the constitution as regards the 

rights of women. Enitan’s father insists on the women waking up to fight for the detainees and Enitan 

reacts: “Women”, “We have our own problems”. No husband, bad husband, husband’s girlfriend, 

husband’s mother. Human rights were never an issue till the rights of men were threatened” (Atta 

196). This implies that, women have been reduced to bother about irrelevant issues as mentioned 

above by the patriarchal society. The women do not care about their rights except it bothers on men.  

The above expressions show the level of voicelessness the women have been subjected to. In 

Orabueze’s view, “Enitan believes that true freedom can only come when both men and women 

discard the webs of silences that ensnare them by raising their voices to be heard in protest and by 

sensible choices” (Atta 257). 

 

Through language, Atta showcases women as political voices and activists. The men like Niyi are 

portrayed as voiceless and hopeless. He argues with Enitan on the possibility of fighting for her 

father’s release. He argues, “If you have no sense in your head, at least I do. What, should I walk to 

the presidential palace and ask them to release my wife’s father? Please, sir. My wife’s father is 

locked up. Please release him, sir” (Atta 238). He warns Enitan to desist from playing fucking 

political activist (Atta 238). In strong terms, Enitan insists: “I said that I will. That I want to. It’s the 

chance that I’ve been waiting for” (Atta 325).  Enitan’s vocality dismisses fear of divorce from her 

marriage because, “No one’s “no” is final than Niyi’s but I pressed further” (Atta 326). And she adds, 

“…. Now, it was motherhood” (326). Enitan becomes the liberated woman and her prove of 

motherhood enhances her vocality. 

 

Consequently, Grace Ameh’s career as a journalist earns her vocality which she uses to fight the 

oppressive government which earns her several detentions. She is the women’s voice and she 

encourages other women to rise to the challenge since the men have remained silence and docile. She 

charges Enitan , “…but you have a voice, which is what I always try to tell people. Use your voice to 

bring about change” (Atta 258). Ameh represents the radical female activists. She eventually gains 

victory for the fight of illegal political detainees along other women. Atta uses strong diction to 

portray women’s strong voices and political activism thereby emasculating the men and rendering 

them voiceless and helpless— unable to fight for their fellow men in the face of political oppression. 

 

Atta also uses language to localize the novel as a Nigerian work. The use of pidgin is sparingly used 

and portrays uneducated characters and its acceptability in Nigeria. Sheri uses pafuka (Atta 14) in 

describing the execution at the beach to Enitan. Enitan also responds to Pierre, her house boy, “I beg, 

put am for there” (Atta 212) to come down to the level of Peirre’s education and understanding. The 

use of Hausa language also, localizes the novel as seen Enitan’s exchange of pleasantries with her 

gate man “sanu madam”, and “sanu, mallam” respectively (Atta 201). 

 

Atta also showcases mother tongue interference through the M.D of Enitan’s bank. He describes 

Enitan as “segsy” for sexy, “sginny legs” for skinny legs and “mizeez frango” for Mrs. Franco. This 

interference is very prominent amongst Nigerians and Africans at large. 

 

Atta uses imageries to further showcase women’s vocality and assertiveness in the novel. According 

to M.H. Abrams, “Imagery is used to signify all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred 

to in a poem or work of literature...” (169). It is used to evoke the mental picture in a work of art. Atta 

uses the “president” (Atta 30) to place Enitan on the scale of vocality and superiority at an early age 

when Eniatn says she wants to become a president. This is because one of the major duties of the 

president is to address the Nation and direct the affairs of the country. This comes with vocal ability 



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22          Odinye & Ebingha 

which later becomes Enitan’s lot. The choice of “actress” (Atta 30) by Sheri also depicts one who will 

be taking instructions from others. That is why she gained economic independence without the 

required vocality to fight for other women and citizens. Also, the children invoke military images 

playing. They joke with words like, “Halt. Who goes there? Boom you’re dead” (Atta 29-30). These 

images represent the setting of the novel, which is during the military rule.  

 

Atta uses the imageries of “blood, babies and sex” (Atta 24) to explain the inevitability of 

womanhood and motherhood as instituted by patriarchy and the society which has equally deprived so 

many women the required vocality to assert themselves. This fear causes Enitan to reject marriage and 

child bearing as she responds to her mother’s counselling. “I will not marry”…. “I will not have 

children” (Atta 23). Atta’s use of language and style in her novel places her on the radical angle of the 

feminist struggle. She deploys powerful language and imagery to question male suppression and 

subjugation on the females and imbues them with the spirit of docility by their inability to act on a 

sensitive issue. She advocates the need for women to be expressive in order to gain a voice of 

liberation. Attah emasculates her male characters by empowering the women to take swift actions in 

times of controversy. This goes a long way in promoting complementarity which entails that both 

males and females must come together to assist one another. 

 

Conclusion  

Women’s vocality in women’s fiction has moved them away from the status of docility, subservience, 

passiveness and powerlessness to becoming aggressive, powerful and a subject of utmost importance 

to her family and society. Atta through her characters has developed both individual and collective 

females who became voices for the oppressed and political detainees at a time when the country is 

facing military dictatorship. She emasculates the highly educated men making them exhibit their 

weaknesses and fears at a time when their aggressive nature and vocality are most required to fight for 

the release of friends and relatives. No doubt, Atta’s women in the novel have specifically 

experienced a paradigm shift from the domestic sphere to the political domain for the unique purpose 

of achieving a voice of freedom—privately and publicly. Her aesthetic handling of the story is perfect 

as she weaves in so many issues in the country within the period into one volume. 

 

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Atta, Sefi. Everything Good Will Come: A Novel. Cape Town: Double Story Books, 

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Chukwuma, Helen. “Introduction: The Identity of Self”.  Feminism in African 

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…. “Voices and Choices. The Feminist Dilemma in Four African  Novels”.  

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