Article
The Bride Price as a Symbol of Abjection
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies
(2025)
Abstract
Abjection, a term developed by French philosopher Julia Kristeva, refers to being excluded or cast out from something considered sacred or pure. It’s associated with feelings of disgust, shame, and humiliation. Buchi Emecheta’s novel The Bride Price 1976 delves into the female identity and shows how the woman is being changed into abject because of the oppression and subjugation. Bride price, also known as dowry, is the practice of transferring wealth from the groom’s family to the bride’s family upon marriage. It can be seen as a symbolic exchange, potentially representing the value placed on the bride. The bride price could be seen as a way of marking the bride as an object of exchange, potentially reducing her economic value and causing a sense of abjection. Studying The Bride Price is significant for several reasons: It helps us understand the cultural context and historical origins. It aims to examine the ways in which gender relations are constructed and maintained through cultural practices. The paper investigates Abject as a concept developed by Julia Kristeva in The Powers of Horror 1982, which refers to a feeling of disgust or horror. The Abject disrupts our established categories and systems of meaning. Emecheta bride’s use of price might evoke feelings of disgust and threaten our sense of self and social order. This paper also attempts to analyze the experience of the female characters and shows how mortality and decay are an abject which threatens human boundaries and disturbs the identity.
Keywords
- Abjection,
- agony,
- Buchi Emecheta,
- discrimination,
- female abjection,
- gender- studies,
- Julia Kristeva pain,
- The Bride Price,
- The Powers of Horror
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter February 20, 2025
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol9no1.11
Citation Information
Tawhida Akhter & Suad Abdullaziz Khalil. "The Bride Price as a Symbol of Abjection" AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Vol. 9 Iss. 1 (2025) p. 161 - 168 ISSN: 2550-1542 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/awejfortranslation-literarystudies/503/