Gendering Narratives: Reflective Perspective On Environmental Novels Of Agary And Okediran

Abstract

This paper interrogates gender leanings in ecological novels of two selected male and female environmental writers, Kaine Agary and Wale Okediran– Yellow-Yellow (2006) and After the Flood (2003). Motivated by perceived gender undertones in ecological novels, the study contends that female writers, as exemplified in Agary’s account of the Niger-Delta debacles in Yellow-Yellow, are quick to take recourse to girl-child chronicle in their fictional narrative, which is not replicated in their male counterparts’ accounts. Though these writers elect to decry environmental abuse, their writings are punctuated with significant gender biases: Agary details the girl-child exploitation in the Niger Delta region consequent upon patriarchal abuse, Okediran, in contrast, delineates the lethal consequences of Ogunpa flooding in Ibadan and implicitly implicates his female character in the rot of environmental crisis amounting to unbalanced gender perceptions in the novels. The study, therefore, seeks to engender a conversation on gender questions in ecological novels. The paper surmises that the integrity of literature is sacrosanct and ought not to be perceived to be hinged on gender parochialism and chauvinism.