Misogyny In Urban Fiction: A Study Of Selected Texts By Meja Mwangi

ABSTRACT

The study is an investigation of the theme of misogyny as propagated by the urban underclass represented in the urban fiction of Meja Mwangi. The study argues that over the years, literary critics have unjustly classified the urban fiction of Mwangi as “non- serious” literature, and have therefore accorded him little if any critical acclaim albeit his fiction deals with very intricate and vital modern-day social problems in Kenya. The study argues that misogyny has directly and indirectly affected the social, economic, political and psychological lives of women represented in the text under study. These and other social problems constitute the bulk of themes found in the urban fiction of Mwangi. In Chapter Two, the study examined the social-economic, political and psychological impact of misogyny on women represented in the fiction of Meja Mwangi. In Chapter Three, the study critically examined the images of women focusing on the character roles and types assigned to them. The study then shifted focus in Chapter Four to the identification of actual prototypes of misogyny and a discussion on the bearing they had on his social vision for women as a writer of African fiction. Chapter Five summarized the analytical aspects of all the chapters and drew conclusions as well as offered recommendations for future tasks. The study employed the Masculinist Literary Theory and Feminist Literary Theory in its analysis. The theories used in an interwoven manner enabled a sufficient analysis of the various aspects of gender injustice propagated through misogyny. It also actualized the re-reading of the texts from a different standpoint. This in turn enabled the identification and later discussion of the various facets of misogyny employed in the primary texts under study. The research concluded that Meja Mwangi has a positive so cial vision for women. A comprehensive qualitative study has been conducted, mainly through library research, and a close examination of primary and secondary texts. Internet resources constituting online journal articles have been consulted in conducting this research.