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56                   Okwara & Ogene 

HOMOSEXUALITY: THE AFTERMATH OF CHILD NEGLECT IN 

DIBIA’SWALKING WITH SHADOWS 

 

Harriet Chinonso Okwara 

& 

Professor Mbanefo S.Ogene 

Department of English Language & Literature 

Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State        

sm.ogene@unizik.edu.ng 

 

Abstract 

The same sex unions have over the years witnessed a lot of positive and negative reactions 

across the globe. This is made possible by the religious and cultural orientations of the countries 

involved. In Africa, many countries prescribe strict ban to its practice and as a result, persons 

who have this kind of orientation experience homophobia that often lead to trauma and 

depression. As a result, researchers have ventured into studying the causes of this social 

anomaly with the view to ameliorating the depression and psychological disorders it causes on 

the persons with such sexuality and by extension lessen the negative effects it has on the 

society. This research uses psychoanalysis as its theoretical framework. Psychoanalysis 

explores the mind of the author in relation to the reality projected in his literary text. With this 

in mind, this study investigates the parental role in the sexual development of their children 

using Dibia’sWalking with Shadows and finds out that absence of parental guidance, love and 

care in the early stage of Adrian’s life leads him into homosexuality. The novel is set in Nigeria 

where cultural and religious orientation arrogates the practice of homosexuality; hence, 

Adrian’s society frustrates, depresses and drives him to neurosis.   

Keywords: Homosexuality, Child Neglect, Psychoanalysis, Cultural Orientation 

 

Introduction 

Children are always vulnerable with regards to the choices they make and sadly most of these 

choices make or mar them later in life. This necessitates parental and adults’ guidance in the 

shaping of the lives of the children to something socially acceptable but unfortunately because 

of some perceived uncertainties and a refocus in priorities by some parents, some of these 

children are left at their detriment. Neglect and lack of parental guidance in the child’s early 

stage of life have led to untold consequences like armed robbery, drug abuse, prostitution and 

sometimes sexual none conformity (homosexuality) in his adult life. This to a great extent 

shows erosion of values and ideals on the part of the parents that consequently model the 

individualinto a social misfit. This research throws its searchlight on Dibia’sWalking with 

Shadows with the view to determining the role of the parents in shaping their children’s sexual 

orientation.   

 

In Nigeria and most Africa countries, sexual orientation is patterned alongside cultural and 

religious lines. Different societies of the world have peculiar orientations and cultures that 

underline their perception to realities and the acceptance of a practice. This becomes evident 

when a particular society rejects a practice that is accepted by another. From the above ideology 

therefore, it becomes pertinent to see that some practices especially sex and sexual related 

issues receive a different appraisal and acceptance in African society different from the 

perceived sexual liberty obtainable in some western countries.Culturally, Africa is 

heteronormative (favours heterosexual union) because of the high significance it places on 

child bearing. African culture and orientation place high value to heterosexual marriage which 

is aimed at biological procreation. One of the apologists of this ideology, Mwalimuavers that 



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57                   Okwara & Ogene 

the “homosexuals cannot procreate. No male can have “sex” with another male and produce a 

child through that act. No female can have “sex” with another female and produce a child 

through that act” and that “bearing and rearing children in the perpetual circle of the living, the 

ancestors and the unborn are a fundamental element of Afrikan culture”(290). Mwalimu is of 

the view that African culture arrogates homosexuality because of its non-reproductive results. 

Biological reproduction and childbirth give validation to heterosexual union in African 

perception.  

 

Religion is another tool that reinforces the condemnation of the practice of homosexuality in 

Africa. In the words of Senayon Olaoluwa, “the framing of same sex sexualities and gender 

variances as ‘unAfrican’ is related to the purchase of Christianity and Islam, two Abrahamic 

religions that have domain influence on contemporary Africans” (21). In Olaoluwa’s view, the 

influence of religion (Christianity and Moslem) gives rise to the conception that the practice of 

homosexuality is outside African culture. African society is predominately Christian and 

Islamic religion adherent who are guided by the principle stipulated by the Holy Bible and the 

Qur’an. The Bible provides the tenets for a Christian living and outlines its principles which 

run contrary to the same sex union. It says in Leviticus 18:22 that, “you shall not lie with a 

male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” The book of Qur’an also outlaws this practice in 

these words, “indeed you approach men with desire instead of women…you are a transgressing 

people” (97:80-81, 26:165). 

 

Many countries in Africa ban the practice of homosexuality with stringent measure ranging 

from imprisonment, lynching to death. Undoubtedly, Nigeria is an African country and shares 

this unique ideology with Africa. In the Nigerian cultural setting, sex and sexual unions must 

happen between a man and a woman; any sexual behaviour that goes contrary to this patterned 

structure is viewed as taboo and abomination and consequently frowned at. This becomes the 

underlining factor to Nigeria’s prohibition of the practice of homosexuality. In 2014, Nigeria’s 

former president, GoodLuck Jonathan signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill into law. 

The law enshrined in Section 214 of the Nigerian Penal Code (Third Edition1967) prescribes 

that, “any person who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature or permits 

a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature  is guilty of 

a felony and liable to imprisonment for 14 years”. Section 217 also surmises that: 

 Any male person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross 

 indecency with another male person, or procures another male person to commit   

any act of gross indecency with him or attempts to procure the commission of any   such 

act by  any male person, whether in public or private, is guilty of a felony and is liable 

to imprisonment for three years. (Nigerian Penal Code, Third Edition,1967) 

 

The law also prescribes the same penalty to rape and consensual intimacies on persons of the 

same sex. The law also prescribes 10 years jail term for those who encourage or convince the 

victims into such unions. The Nigerian legal stand on homosexuality reinforces her firm belief 

on Christianity and Islamic tenets on one hand and her cultural orientation of heterosexual 

union on the other. With Nigeria’s ideological belief on the concept of homosexuality, persons 

who practice same sex sexuality are driven to depression, trauma and alienation. Since this is 

the case, this research goes to reassert the indispensable role of the parents and by contrast 

shows the untold consequences of lack of parental guidance in the child’s sexual development. 

 

Methodology 

This is a qualitative research. It will employ the use of Dibia’s literary text, Walking with 

Shadows and other related materials as a means of gathering its information.                                         



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Conceptual Framework 

Many authorities have defined the term‘homosexuality’. Martin M.W. defines homosexuality 

as “the sexual orientation in which one’s primary attraction is to a member of one’s own sex” 

(245). In the view of Jennings, homosexuality is “the orientation of sexual need, desire, or 

responsiveness towards other persons of the same gender (529). Bullough Vern posits that, 

“Homosexuality,’ a philologically awkward hybrid of Greek and Latin elements … applied to 

people who love those of the same sex, while "heterosexuality," equally philologically impure 

… applied to those who gained pleasure from the opposite sex” (9).From the above submissions 

therefore, homosexuality refers to romantic, sexual attraction or intimacy between people of 

the same sex. It embraces all sexual orientations and identities which run contrary to 

heterosexuality. 

 

Child Neglect 

Child neglect “is frequently defined as the failure of a parent or other person with responsibility 

for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision to the degree 

that the child's health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm” (Child Welfare 

Information Gateway, 2). Child neglect also comes in forms of lack of care, love, emotional 

support on the part of the parents or those responsible for a child to a point that the child’s 

social development is impaired. When this is the case, the child may seek these needs from 

wrong sources which sometimes results to sexual non conformity. 

 

Theoretical Framework  

This research employs the psychoanalytic literary theory as the premise most appropriate for 

it. Psychoanalytical theory studies the mind’s disposition to reality. In applying this theory to 

literary works, the reader investigates the inner workings of the characters to really discover 

the motives behind their actions and by so doing elicit the perception of the author to the reality 

projected in his text. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and physician, is acclaimed the 

foremost proponent of this theory. The theory was developed in the early 20th century for the 

treatment of his neurotical patients. 

 

Freud’s An Outline of Psychoanalysis (1949) provides a clearer understanding of how the 

theory works. According to the theorist, the human mind is made up of the conscious, the 

preconscious and the unconscious. Freud speculates that, the ‘Unconscious Human Mind’ 

comprises three functional components known as the id, the ego and the superego. In the view 

of the theorist, “the id has the quality of being unconscious and contains everything that is 

present at birth and the instinct” (Freud,14). Every human being is born with the id and it 

accounts for obsessions at food, sexual instincts and lack of consideration or moral 

implications. When this is left unchecked the individual will be controlled by the libido. The 

id contains two basic instincts called eros (desire for survival) and thanatos (drive for 

destructive or death). The ego on the other hand is another component of the conscious mind 

which controls man’s actions in a sophisticated environment. The ego reconciles the id 

(inordinate desires and lust) and the superego (the refined life) through some psychic apparatus 

called ‘defenses’. Defenses in Freudal perspective includes, ‘Repression, Denial, Sublimation, 

Regression and many others. 

 

The theorist also asserts that most of the conflicts encountered by the human mind take its 

origin from the early stages of life, what Freud calls ‘the psychosexual stage.’ He theorizes that 

human psychological development takes its root from predesigned successive psychosexual 

stages which comprises; the oral (birth-1year), anal (1-3years), phallic (3-6), latency (6-

puberty) and genital (puberty-adult). The scholar proposes that the first five years of life is very 



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59                   Okwara & Ogene 

essential to the formation of adult behaviour. During these periods, Mcleod suggests that “the 

id must be controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a conflict between 

frustrated wishes and social norms” (1). As the individual grows, these psychosexual stages 

pose challenges that must be resolved before the individual will advance to the next stage. If 

these issues are successfully resolved, the result is a healthy personality; on the contrary the 

individual will be fixated. Specifically, “psychoanalysis as a theory seeks to explain the 

complex relationships between a particular character and others by giving insights to the role 

of traumatic experiences in heightening emotion (fear or anxiety)” (Odinye, 43). 

 

A Psychoanalytical exploration of Homosexuality as a Consequence of Child Neglect in 

Dibia’sWalking with Shadows 

A cursory look at the back page of the literary text Walking with Shadows, shows that the 

author, Jude Dibia’s is a prolific writer of Nigerian origin. He is described as ‘daring and 

controversial’ by his readers and critics. His literary text, Unbridled won the Ken Saro-Wiwa 

Prize for prose fiction in 2017. In most works with psychoanalytical perspective, writers expose 

difference in gender binaries. These gender differences are mostly couched in their language 

and expressions which help transform their characters into balanced or fragmented characters. 

The male writers demonstrate the inherent dominating mindset in the male characters over their 

societies; an ideology best described as patriarchy.The male character in a patriarchal society 

is according toHaleem Shamaila portrayed “… as a brave, courageous, bold, reserved, 

confident and rational being” (56) but Dibia swiftly uses a twist of this patriarchal ideology by 

subjecting his protagonist Adrian to the position of a pathetic, withdrawn, neglected and 

unloved character; the fate that stereotypically aligns to the females characters in a male 

dominated society. Dibia reveals that “…their parents have pointedly ignored him. And his 

brothers too. They had made him invincible and he had become so. He was a sissy! And 

everyone hated a sissy” (WwS, 115). 

 

His family forces him to feel and act in a particular manner, all in his bid to get some love and 

acceptance by his family. This by implication is the lot of the female characters in a patriarchal 

society. As these patterns continue, Adrian’s character remains distorted and fragmented. His 

family therefore becomes a symbolic factor that drives him into psychological disorder and 

trauma. Judith Herman highlights this distorted personality as a constituent of eroded 

structures. In her words “repeated trauma in adult life erodes the structure of personality already 

formed but repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms personality” (96). Just like the 

female character in a patriarchal system, he seeks for liberation and freedom. This freedom 

gets realised in the practice of same sex affair; an act deemed as abhorrent in the society. 

 

Through his literary text, Dibia reveals that religious and cultural orientation of Nigeria favour 

heterosexuality.With the above stance therefore persons who engage in sexual none conformity 

mostly represses these sexual diversities to appear ideal and be accepted in the society. With 

the mechanism of repression, the individual personality gets fixated in his sexual development. 

As these continue over time, the individual’s psychological development further gets inhibited 

and in severe cases, becomes fragmented. This is clearly seen in the case of Adrian, the 

protagonist of the text, Walking with Shadows. In the novel, Dibia creates a protagonist whose 

unpleasant childhood memories of hatred, discrimination and neglect leads to his taking on a 

sexual orientation frowned at by his society. According to Freud, “the id has the quality of 

being unconscious and contains everything that is present at birth and the instinct” (14). The id 

is a reservoir for sexual desires and passions that are crude and unsophisticated. The id is also 

responsible for Adrian’s unabated cravings for his family’s love and acceptance. The narrator 

says that“his parents’ love and approval were two things he had coveted all his life. He had 



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60                   Okwara & Ogene 

wanted to be the ideal son that they could be proud of and show off to their friends”(123). 

Adrian wants to be the perfect son. All his life his craving was for his family’s love and 

recognition but no matter how hard he tries he realizes that he could not possibly attain that 

height. Owing to this, Adrian’s character did not develop as a normal heterosexual man as his 

childhood craving for love was doused by his parents’ ill treatment of him against what his 

parents feel for his brothers. His two brothers got all the love in their childhood. The narrator 

says:  

Their mother treated Chiedu like a king. He never had to do any kind of house 

chores and was also shown off to her friends like the heir apparent. Chika 

enjoyed being lifted up in the air and shrieked with glee as he pretended to be 

an airplane in his father’s strong  arm…all Adrian could do was watch from 

his little corner with an uneasy smile on his  face…but wanting some 

recognition and acceptance. When he was lucky, he got a smile  but 

sometimes he wasn’t even noticed. (WwS,46)  

  

He tried to get some love from his father by trying to go under his father’s shade after his father  

takes his bath so that the drizzle from his hair falls on him. Dibia reveals that: 

As a boy, at about seven or eight years old, he adored his father. When his father 

came out of the bathroom, he would move to the balcony to comb out his thick 

afro with a wooden fork-like comb. Light drops of water still trapped in the hair 

would drizzle down. In his young mind, Adrian had believed that these were 

showers of love. It was the closest he ever felt with his father. The ritual had 

become so important to him then, as he realized rather earlier that he was not 

the favourite of either of his parents. They loved him to some degree…Chiedu 

was his mother’s favourite and Chika who was his father’s champion. 

(WwS,45)  

 

His brothers also taunted him during their childhood years. At one time, his brothers had played 

an unhealthy prank on him by putting him in a carton and throwing him down the staircase. 

His moaning and pains did not elicit pity from them. Adrian also gets bullied at school and at 

one time in the house was accused of the money he did not steal. Adrian continues to seek love 

and acceptance from his family but was constantly rejected. His childhood experience was a 

case of total neglect and outright disregard. He had continually craved for this parental attention 

but was constantly neglected. “…their parents have pointedly ignored him. And his brothers 

too. They had made him invincible and he had become so. He was a sissy! And everyone hated 

a sissy” (115). He had at once won a price for sports at school and hoping this will win him 

that parental love from his parents but he rather gets an uncomfortable comparison from his 

father, “next time, try to aspire to be the most intelligent pupil in your class like Chika was” 

and so year after year he had tried to be the best at something academic, but hard as he tried, 

he could never be the perfect son” (124). Finally he says “…and I have to admit, I‘ve spent my 

entire life waiting for my parents’ approval” (124). The id shows itself in these excessive 

longings which are not met. The above harsh experience and many similar ones and more 

importantly the fact that Adrian was punished innocently as a result of the money Chika stole 

makes the family to despise and hate Adrian. As a result Adrian gets isolated, withdrawn and 

secluded from his family and society. These experiences caused him to shield himself from the 

human environment and into recluse.  He was seen as different, reserved and a loner. His family 

has made him a recluse. He gets bottled up and stunted in his growth as a heterosexual person 

as against his brothers who enjoyed all the love and had their sexuality patterned differently. 

  



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61                   Okwara & Ogene 

As Adrian grows up he continues to seek this parental love denied him in his childhood. This 

lack of parental love and guidance which Adrian experiences paves way for the type of choice 

he made as pertaining to his sexuality. To fill this gap Adrian engages in something socially 

unacceptable. Even though he didn’t know initially how to describe the act he had been engaged 

in but he knew that right from his childhood he had been sexually attracted to boys and then to 

men.This explains how Adrian satisfies the longings of the id sexually but as he grows up and 

comes to terms with the ethical voice of the superego which shows itself in his society’s ideals 

and values, Adrian learns that his society abhors the practice of homosexuality. Dibia notes 

that “being gay was certainly not in African culture. The whole idea was so foreign, so 

unnatural” (WwS,35). From Nigeria’s religious perspective, Pastor Matthew tells Adrian that 

“it is the devil that tempts you my brother” and as a result, he needs “…to pray for God’s mercy 

and strength” (WwS,174). 

 

Adrian also realizes that his family conceives homosexuals as ‘faggots’ and the practice of it 

abominable. This realization plunges him into fear; fear of homophobic attacks that lead him 

to deny his sexuality and get married; fear that leads him to repress his childhood incidents and 

appear idealistic. All through Adrian’s life, the reader notices that Adrian is controlled by fear; 

fear that prevents him from telling his family about his sexual choice because of their 

indifference to him during his childhood, he lacks the courage. Out of fear, he denies any 

incident that tries to probe his sexuality. Denial here comes from this repressed fear; fear of 

homophobic attacks from a social structure whose sexual orientation is in opposition to the 

internal conflict in his mind. Adrian’s internal sexual disposition and the cultural and religious 

background of his society are in opposition. This is responsible for the internal conflict Adrian 

suffers throughout the texts that models his character into a robotic and superficial personality. 

He lives by his society’s prescriptions and by extension an alienated personality. To bring a 

balance and avert the worries that come from fear and to forestall the mind’s degeneration into 

the neurotical state, the ego employs the mechanisms of repression, denial and sublimation. 

 

It is also pertinent to note that Adrian’s sexual development gets inhibited at the level of the 

libido. His childhood craving for love and acceptance which he suppresses in his unconscious 

mind constantly surge out and this is responsible for his unabated craving for love and 

acceptance, this by implication results to his inability to grow to the next stage of his sexual 

development. This affirms Freud’s assertion that most of the conflicts encountered by the 

human mind take its origin from the early stages of life, what Freud calls ‘the psychosexual 

stage.’ He theorizes that human psychological development takes its root from predesigned 

successive psychosexual stages. These predesigned successive psychosexual stages take effect 

from the first five years of life and is very essential to the formation of adult behaviour. As the 

individual grows, these psychosexual stages pose challenges that must be resolved before the 

individual will advance to the next stage. If these issues are successfully resolved, the result is 

a healthy personality. On the contrary the individual will be fixated. From Freud’s analogy 

therefore, it becomes evident that Adrian’s fixation on sexual growth draws from the 

unresolved conflicts repressed in his childhood.  

 

Conclusion 

Dibia shows that some institutionalized structures in the family and the society many a times 

are issues that mold peoples’ lives in different dimensions. In his view, parental roles are 

indispensable tool that pattern a child into an asset or a social misfit. Through an authorial 

intrusion, Dibia asks the society a soul searching question. In his words, “have you ever 

wondered how many homosexuals there are out there? If we as parents don’t monitor our 



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62                   Okwara & Ogene 

children and guide them in the right path, they could make the wrong choices later in life” 

(WwS,101).   

 

Works Cited 

Bible New Revised Standard Version, 1989.   

Bullough, Vern. Homosexuality: A History (From Ancients Greece to Gay Liberation). New 

 York: Routlegde, Taylor $ Francis Group. 1979. 

Freud, Sigmund. An Outline of Psychoanalysis. New York. Norton, 1949. 

Herman, Judith.Trauma and Recovery. New York: Harper Collins. 1992. 

Jennings, T.N. Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counselling Nashville: Abingdon Press. 

1990. 

Martin, M.W. Everyday Morality: An Introduction to Applied Ethics (2nd Edition). 

 California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1995. 

Mwalimu, Baruti. Homosexuality and the Effeminization of Afrikan Males.USA:Akoben,

 2003. 

Odinye, Ifeoma. “Fleshing Out Memory Through Feminist Consciousness: Psychoanalyzing 

Violent Girlhood Experiences in Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price”. Igwebuike: An 

African Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. 5 No 3, 2019. 

Senayon. Olaoluwa. The Human and Non-Human African Sexuality Debate and the 

 Symbolisms of Transgression. In Z. Mathebeni, S. Monro and V. Reddy (Ed(s)), Queer  

in Africa: LGBTQI Identities, Citizenship and Activism._ London:  Routledge, Taylor 

& Francis Group, PP. 21. (2018). 

The Penal Code 2014: Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. The Federal Government of 

Nigeria. Retrieved, November 29, 2021. print. 

The Qu’ran. Translated by M.A.S Abdel Haleem, Oxford Up, 2005. 

 

 

 


