Beatrice

Journal of English and Communication in Africa Vol. 1, No.
2, 2018
Gender Reversals: Men’s Emasculation in Tracie Chima’s

Our Wives Have Gone Mad Again and Tess Onwueme’s
The Reign of Wazobia
Beatrice Nwawuloke Onuoha

Department of English and Linguistics, Federal University, Dutse
Abstract
This essay is an attempt to deconstruct the traditional patriarch
definition of man and woman in Tracie Chima’s Our Wives have
Gone Mad Again and Tess Onwueme’s The Reign of Wazobia.
Tracie and Tess question the perception of conventional
masculinity and gender roles through the portrayal of male and
female characters in a modern setting. In this essay, masculinity is
argued to be fluid and subject to constant alterations/
modifications. This implies that, one can be masculine at one
point and not in another instance. Through their
characterisation, Tracie and Tess enable us to interpret and
understand the mutability of masculinity. Robert Connell and
Judith Butler’s perceptions of masculinity will be playing a vital
role in understanding masculinity in this essay. Their views will
assist the study in interpreting and understanding how women’s
performances and characteristics affect men and their masculinity
in Our Wives have gone Mad Again and The Reign of Wazobia.
These female characters display strong aggressive attitudes. This
paper deploys these masculine projections of women in two
selected Nigerian play texts by women. It concludes by saying
that both masculinity and feminity are not strictly biological but
more of gender construction.
Keywords: masculinity, feminity, power, gender, patriarchy
Introduction
According to Connell (2005), men construct their masculine
identities through relationships with both their fellow men and
women. For Connell, men are expected to vigorously struggle
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Journal of English and Communication in Africa Vol. 1, No. 2, 2018
for dominance and this active struggle for dominance is really

fundamental in redefining what a normal male gender identity
should be. Men are expected to demonstrate features of
dominant forms of masculinity like power, courage,
aggressiveness, competence and confidence in communication.
According to Hussein (2005):
Men tends to communicate with confidence and

air of independence to preserve their social and
political status in the social hierarchy. Women, on
the other hand, prefer to be co-operative and less
harsh to maintain high modesty which the
patriarchy requires of them” (p.62).
The above quotation means that, social culture and

every day practices encourage men to take up dominating roles
over women and women are prepared to be unquestioning,
submissive, passive and obedient to their men. However, the
concept of hegemonic masculinity is changing and gender
hierarchies are subject to change as well. In this attitude of
changing, there is the possibility of older forms of masculinity to
be displaced by new ones because it is a “dynamic configurations
of gender practice negotiated in time, ideology and culture
(Connell 2000:28). Connell’s perception of gender aids us to
understand the dynamic state of masculinity that tends to change
the configurations of gender practice that guarantees the
dominant position of men and subordination of women in Our
Wives have Gone Mad Again and The Reign of Wazobia.
Connell (1995) and Butler (1990) sees masculinity as a social
construct that is constructed through performances. It is
manifested in the ways that individuals style their bodies and
carry themselves and also in the ways they speak and move.
From Butler’s stand point of gender, masculinity is not only
produced by and on particular bodies but it is also located
within particular activities, behaviours and practices. It is through
the “stylised repetition” of these gendered practices such as body
gestures, mannerism, language and actions that gender is

performed. She went further to argue that these gendered
practices are not fixed and they vary between situations. She
also sees gender as an unstable subject and criticises
categorisation of women/men as fixed coherent identity against
the opposite sex. Butler’s theory of performativity helps us to
comprehend how Tracie and Tess’s female and male characters
perform their masculinities through their repetitive actions and
how these actions in turn construct various forms of masculinities
in Our Wives have Mad Again and The Reign of Wazobia.
Masculinizing Female Characters

Our Wives have Gone Mad Again and The Reign of Wazobia
dramatizes masculinity in relation to modern perceptions that
contrasts it with the traditional patriarchal definition of man and
woman. Tracie and Tess, through the portrayal of their male
and female characters, unthinks, challenges and deconstructs the
essentialist’ perspectives of a man’s definition. Their portrayal of
a man deconstructs the normalised thinking of the patriarchal
male figure that is rooted in essentialist assumptions that a man
is aggressive, a decision maker, a provider and his authority
cannot be questioned by a woman. In their representation of
male and female characters, Tracie and Tess dramatizes multiple
levels of masculinities that seem to be influenced by modernity,
western ideology, education and money/wealth.
In the texts, the dramatists seem to be anxious to
challenge the conventional definition of masculinity through the
portrayal of their female protagonists, chief Irene and Wazobia,
who displaces masculine traits similar to those of men. Tracie
and Tess use chief Irene and Wazobia as an example of women
who can easily transcend conventional gender boundaries.
Through the portrayal of chief Irene and Wazobia, they
dramatize how a woman can perform masculinity and as such
play roles that are traditionally and culturally assigned to men.
Tracie and Tess depict women who are willing to turn their
homes upside down in order to protect themselves from the
harassment of men. Our Wives have Gone Mad Again is a text

that shows the aggressiveness of women like Irene, Ene, Funmi,
Mairo and Ifeoma who see men – their husbands in particular –
as “different grades and degrees of imbeciles,” “necessary evils”
(p.23), and “good for nothing piece of liability” (p.32) over
whom the women seek to exercise complete dominion. They
formed an interest group whose intension is to dominate men
by all means possible.
In the same vein, The Reign of Wazobia features women
like Wazobia who becomes a ruler but is depicted as a tyrannical
sit-tight mode of leader. She empowers women, subdues men to
the level of cowardice and treachery, upturns some retrogressive
traditions and demobilises the dissidents who seek to undermine
her rulership. In a desperate reaction, the men arraign with some
women to present her with a pot of cooked herbs which is a
sign for her to abdicate the throne and commit suicide at the
expiration of her three-year reign. She refuses and triumphantly
continues with her reign. She is neither modest nor humble but
boasts of her position, power, prowess and proclaims herself
superior to everyone including men who in the traditional
patriarchy society are regarded as superior human beings. She
clearly refers to herself as:
The masquerade who dances the hot steps of the

new day! The finger which laps the soup when it
is hottest while the men scrape it by the sides.
The lead masquerade who speaks many tongues.
I, the masquerade whose feet imprint new images
on the sagging face of this land without a father
(p.8).
From the above quotation, Wazobia declares that she is

not just a masquerade but the lead masquerade who enters the
arena and others took to their heels. In the traditional Igbo
society, a woman does not discuss issues relating to
masquerades. Masquerade cult is strictly meant for men only,

this is unimaginable and that is why men disgust her openly.
From the portrayal of women in Our wives have Gone
Mad Again and Wazobia in The Reign of Wazobia, Tracie and
Tess are of course challenging normalised definitions and
performances of everyday rituals of masculinity and feminity.
Their depiction of women openly arguing with men in public
spheres deconstructs the conventional feminine traits of a
traditional woman. The conventional patriarchal notion of a
woman and the essentialists’ perception of a woman regard
women as weak and non-aggressive characters who in most
cases appear to be inferior and timid in front of men (Connell,
1995). However, women in the two texts disavow this notion as
they act against what is expected of conventional traditional
women. They undermine masculinity by “breaking all the rules
of decent political behaviour and turn political activities into
oppressive and dehumanising affairs” (Ezenwa, 2001:11).
These women’s action is perceived as strange particularly
by men who think women must be submissive before men.
Tracie and Tess make obvious this kind of men’s perception
towards these women through Iyase’s comment in The Reign of
Wazobia “and men insist that women must leave this gathering”
(p.33) and First Man’s comment in Our wives have Gone Mad
Again “Is it true that you have divorced your husband”? (p.76).
These comments capture a male’s normalised categorization and
generalisation of women as submissive and docile. His thinking
reflects the society’s negative perception of women who try to
cross traditional patriarchal boundaries by aggressively standing
and fighting their rights. Such women are branded as stubborn
and arrogant. Implicitly, Iyase and First man’s attitude towards
this type of women reveals fear and nervousness in the men’s
world; the fear that threatens men’s masculinity because they do
not expect to have a world whereby a woman can act like a
man. In order words, these comments implicate itself in the
sustenance of normalised and constructed gender imbalances
that consider feminity as always subservient to masculinity.
Further, implied in the comments is the very desire to entrench

and perpetuate the patriarchal society’s imbalances of masculine-
feminine relationships.
However, Tracie and Tess reveal that this status quo can be
destabilised when conventional gender roles are challenged by
men and women in the contemporary world. Through the
portrayal of a married couple, Inyang and Ene in Our wives have
Gone Mad Again, Tracie reverses gender roles by depicting a
wife who assumes masculine roles and orders her husband to
perform what are normally coded as female gender roles in a
‘conventional’ patriarchal gendered socio-cultural set-up. We are
confronted with this situation in the scene where Ene and her
friends enter their house to find Inyang sweeping and dusting:
Ene: (waves her hand expensively.) Inyang! What is the

meaning of this?
Inyang: (straightens up.) What? Madam Ene, you have come.
Welcome. Madam Funmi and madam Mairo,
welcome.
Ene: (standoffish.) welcome yourself, foolish man.
(Pointing) look at the clock, is this the time your
mates clean the house? Lazy idiot! (p.22)
From a traditional patriarchal perception of a man, we

can argue that Inyang is feminized because he is made to
perform feminine roles while his wife abuses him at will. Inyang
and Ene’s performances of reversal gendered roles may be
attributed to economic power. Inyang depends economically on
his wife Ene likewise the other men in the text. Zeus, Ifeoma’s
husband, neither pays rent, children’s school fees nor contributes
to housekeeping in any way. Odera, Mairo’s husband is also
dependent on her. He even steals from her. Felix, Irene’s
husband, cannot even afford to pay the prostitute he hires. Thus,
economic independence is a tool for liberation. As can been seen
in Tracie’s text, the men are victims of economic power, needing
liberation from mistreatment by women.
Similarly, in Reign of Wazobia, Tess’s selection of

Wazobia, as a regent of Illa kingdom comes as a surprise to men
who see woman as a commodity sold by her parents and
bought by the husband so she has no right to talk, protest
against issues that affect her adversely or even challenge any
social structure. Also, men can be installed as chiefs and
successful men are recognised and are given titles. However, the
heroic role of this fearless woman is a reminder that traditionally
African women can take over the leadership of the society from
their menfolk anytime/anyday. The women assume such
leadership roles especially when the men do not have viable
strategies for warding off any impending danger. Wazobia is
selected by the gods to rule as a regent to prevent any vacuum
threatening the affairs of the state. The men around her frown at
this idea by emphasising the place of submission in the society.
Their insistence on submission suggests that in the African
patriarchal society, a woman should be obedient, subservient
and respectful to the men in the society. A woman who does
not abide to the ethos of a traditional patriarchy appears as an
extraordinary one. As such Iyase construes Wazobia as a strange
woman who wants to subvert traditional patriarchal practices by
empowering women and subdues the men.
Furthermore, it is important to note that apart from
political and economic power, what drives these women is the
spirit of determination to dethrone men. The women in Our
wives have Gone Mad Again indicates a conscious effort and
determination to bring about changes to their situation and if
possible, a reversal of the situation. Wazobia gathers women in
a more defined activist group. This paper agrees with Ostia’s
assertion, “the brand of women illustrated in these dramatist
texts…is taken erroneously as the goal of feminism,” (187). He
went further to say that, attitudes such as those displayed in
these plays give feminism a negative undertone and cause many
scholars to dissociate themselves from feminist struggles despite
the fact that the oppression and marginalisation of women are
real (cited in Adeleke 2016:94). This implies that feminism
should not be detrimental to peace and harmony of the society.

Tracie and Tess’s portrayal of women affirms Butler’s (1990)
theory of performativity. Butler attests that the construction of
gender identity comprises the stylized repetition of acts, but not
of an immutable and pre-discursive identity. Butler also points to
the possibilities of gender transformation. These possibilities are
usually found in the arbitrary relation between such acts, in the
possibility of a different sort of repeating, in the breaking or
subversive repetition of that style.
A Threatened males’ world and Females’ Negative

Masculinity
Tracie and Tess’s portrayal of female protagonists reveals that
women can contribute to traditional harmful versions of
masculinity, just as men and in doing so, they affect men’s
masculinity. They reinforce this argument through the depiction
of Irene and Wazobia who appears to be violating the morals of
an ideal society. In Our wives have gone Mad Again, Irene is
seen in the last scene campaigning. When asked how she has
been able to make it this far unopposed, she attributes it to the
love the people have for her. But the main thing is that many of
her opponents were killed, intimidated or blackmailed into
submission. In The Reign of Wazobia, Wazobia abrogates the
tradition that allows a female regent “…to sit and warm the
throne for a period of three seasons” because by the end of the
play, instead of abdicating the throne as expected, she continues
her reign. She manipulates the same tradition that brought her to
power to perpetuate herself in power. This also confirms the
general notion that it is not easy for anyone who has tasted
power to give up as Wazobia asserts “it’s not easy to
leave…power, [because] like crack, once injected turns you gay”
(p.129). Akachi (2004) contends that Wazobia’s refusal to
relinquish power is done for “selfish reason” (p.202) and that a
feminist should be selfless and not to manipulate others for her
selfish gains. This is extended further by Anehe’s outburst:
Since Wazobia ascended the throne, most

traditions have turned upside down. Wives no
longer take turns to cook for their husbands’
tongue and stomach. Wazobia insists that we all
cook and share together. Reducing us all to the
same level. There is no longer any incentive to
try (p.57).
We also learn about their manipulation of men as the

dramatists depicted the women denying sex from their
husbands. In addition to this, the women intimidate and
undermine their men publicly. In situation two, the trio of
Inyang, Odera and Felix, incidentally, husbands to Ene, Mairo
and Irene, hide themselves away in a small beer parlour to
relieve the tension of their homes. They share the same burden
of being bossed around. Felix sees the barmaid who is also a
prostitute and makes a deal with her. As fate is not on their side,
almost immediately as they enter, Ene, Irene and Mairo enter
the same bar to discuss strategies on how Irene can get the
presidential ticket for LPP party. The women discover their
husbands in the bar with Felix not able to pay for the services
given by the harlot. This clear indication that even the sex lives
of these people is not on a good stability with their wives. Ene
has been complaining that her husband, Inyang has not been
able to perform the much-valued function of giving her a child.
This cannot work since the man is denied of his conjugal rights
and duties and has been reduced to a mere house boy. In
addition to this, Gambo, Irene’s new husband is undermined
publicly by people. They address him as “Mumu”. “If dem make
you president, which plan you get for dat your mumu?” (p.76).
Irene replies by saying that:
Oh, I have great plans. I will create a ministry for

men affairs under which he can run such
programmes as Better Life for Rural Men,
Husband Support Programme and many other
lucrative… Sorry, I mean expedient programmes

(p.77).
This portrays Irene as a masculine figure before Gambo

whose failure to understand her cunning and repulsive
behaviour makes him look foolish (mumu) before other men,
while his passivity highlights his feminine gender qualities.
Furthermore, in The Reign of Wazobia, Wazobia’s success
hinges on powerful rhetoric which she uses to coax, intimidate
or dictate depending on the circumstance. For example, she tells
Omu, conservative defender of tradition that “longevity is no
measure of wisdom” (p.27) and when Omu becomes
recalcitrant Wazobia resorts to threat and intimidation. “You
seek to keep the clock still, Omu. But the gravity must take its
toll” (p.28). She is known as the “new king” who rules by
“degrees” who threatens to show her detractors “what the left
hand did to the anus” (p.16). She employs the appropriate
language use in each occasion to realise and maintain her vision
as the heroine.
By coding men, intimidating Inyang and even paying
dowry for him, Ene negates Inyang masculine status and
relegates him into a humiliating effeminate position. She gives us
insight into this humiliation by this statement:
Ene: …. I took him to the village and gave him

money to pay my dowry. I sponsored the
traditional marriage and the church wedding. I
feed this man, I clothe him and I put comfortable
shelter over his head. Now what do I get in
return? Ingratitude! He is lazy, insubordinate and
good for nothing (Tracie 2001:23-24).
According to Pierce (1998), “[the] worst humiliation for

a man is to be turned into a woman” (p.22). If we consent that
a man has to pay bride price in the African tradition, we may
thus argue that Ene has taken a masculine position and turned
Inyang into a woman. Moreover, the way Ene describes her

husband to her friends as a nonentity who cannot think “are you
capable of thinking? (p.26) reveals also how she undermines
him. This description suggests that Ene controls her husband who
is relegated to a feminine position in their marriage.
Furthermore, this gender role reversal affirms Butler’s (1990)
views where she describes female and male bodies as possible
site of subversion of normative gender roles. This gender
reversal that reveals Ene’s masculinity is further portrayed in the
character chief Irene Gambo where she and her army of
insurgent women do a number of things much better than men
have been known to do them. Chief Irene Gambo, a political
aspirant, uses a number of negative tactics to eliminate her
opposition. She pays off opponents, callously sets people up,
uses blackmail, maims and kills political opponents (cited in
Adeleke 2016 p:105). Chief Irene and her political groups plan:
Ene: How to eliminate opposition is another

crucial issue. Naturally, we will pay off the
opposition. But one never knows. Some might
prove stubborn. It is this group that we should
direct out attention to. I suggest we use
blackmail. Send pretty girls to seduce such men.
Then we will then organise for photographs,
video clips and other incriminating and damaging
evidence and use these to put the squeeze on
them. Where blackmail fails, we will send hired
assassins to eliminate them. After all, dead men
tell no tales (Tracie 2001 pp: 44-45).
The above are not just mere threats. The women carry
out all their plans and were able to defeat the opposition party
candidates. According to Adeleke (2016), “in politics, the
women appear to have learnt the art of blackmail and violence
much better than the men but the result is chaos” (p. 106). It is
expedient to know that all the opponents Irene blackmails and
assassinates are all men. Chief Irene and her cohorts and
Wazobia’s behaviour in this context affirms Butler’s view of
gender performances. Butler (1990) contends that gender can be
performed and re-enacted in a myriad of ways, even those that
are against the heterosexual framework of gender embodiment.
Further, in Salih (2002), Butler argues that the notion of an
original or primary gender identity is often parodied within the
cultural practices of drag, cross-dressing and the sexual stylisation
of masculine/feminine identities.
Another factor that masculinizes women and feminizes
men in Our wives have Gone Mad Again is men’s financial
dependency. In situation one, Ene sends Inyang to market with
the sum of five thousand naira (N5000) to purchase soup things.
She also pays dowry for him and prepares for a marriage (p.24),
in addition, she takes good care of Inyang and buys him clothes
and caters for all his basic needs (p.24). This implies that
economic independence is an index of masculinity. It is
economic power that gives Ene the means to alter her feminine
role to a masculine one. Money, in this case, enables Ene to
subvert patriarchal gender relations and undermine traditional
notions of feminity and masculinity that assumes men as
providers and women as dependents. Similarly, Tess’s
questioning of the conventional notions of masculinity and its
fluidity is further laid bare through the act of decision-making in
The Reign of Wazobia. Traditionally, a man has to make
decisions for himself and his family. This role is inverted by
Wazobia as we see her possessing power as she decides for
herself and the whole community of Illaaa. Tess portrays
Wazobia as a key decision-maker in Illaaa kingdom in all issues.
The men lack the will power. We encounter her striking the
royal bell beside her and demands absolute silence from the
community. “Now, silence! The king decrees! Hold it and sit
down Iyase! Now hear our manifesto. Henceforth, women will
have equal representation in rulership and shall have equal rights
of inheritance in matters of land and property! (p.39).
Moreover, Wazobia orders the man that beat his wife to tender
his apology before all. Another instance that displays this power
is when she stops her women from dancing naked in public as
tradition demands to prove their innocence from the death of
their former husband (p. 26). This act explains more about the
masculine position that Wazobia possesses in the house and
before the community and the feminine position the men in
Illaaa kingdom occupies.
Further, Tracie exposes how chief Irene and her cohort’s
spirit of competition with men displays their masculinity and
how this affects their male political opponents in Our wives have
Gone Mad Again. These women engage in the political field
which traditionally is known to be the preoccupation of the
man, they exhibit all the cunning and craftiness of the political
class. They blackmail, threaten and pressure their rivals
eliminating all opposition on their path. According to Jeremiah
(2014):
They are well focused as they marshal their

strategies. Their masculine prowess is contrasted
with the feminine confusion of their male
political opponents, who like their poor hapless
husbands have also been feminized (p.6141)
The above implies that they aim at diminishing and

killing their political opponents. They use prostitutes,
Cameramen and hired assassins to assist them in accomplishing
their mission of killing, blackmailing and incriminating their
political opponents. This spirit of competition with men lead
them to become the most dangerous persons in the society.
They were depicted paying off policeman to hide the corpse of
Ifeoma’s husband and the circumstances surrounding his death
from the public.
Irene: Now, this is what I want you to do. Get

rid of the corpse from the house and plant it in
another location. Get rid of all incriminating
evidence. Create a new set of circumstances

which led to the death. Write a police report to
go with it. When you finish, cover your footsteps
properly. Then go back to the house with some
of your colleagues. There, you will meet Mrs.
Ifeoma Eze-Longpole waiting to be duly informed
about her husbands’ accidental death. I expect
you to take care of the details (p.69).
The above description of the covering mission depicts

Irene as an extra-ordinary woman in a conventional patriarchal
society who removes any obstacle in her way. It also shows their
clear-mindedness, unbending will and manlike prowess that not
only humiliates men but also embarrasses them as the women
see them as less important. Similarly, in The Reign of Wazobia,
Wazobia condemns men for putting women at risk of cooking,
rearing children and at the same time, receiving beatings from
their husbands. These portrayals display these women as
performers of negative masculinity; they end up appearing as a
dictator, criminal and murderer.
Moreover, the portrayal exposes Irene, Ene, Ifeoma,
Mairo, Funmi, Rosandra and Wazobia as masculine women and
the humiliated and threatened men (Inyang, Felix, Odera, Zeus,
Gambo, Policemen, Iyase, Idehen and Ozoma) as effeminate
men. This scenario affirms Butler’s view of gender being
‘unnatural’. Butler (1990) claims that there is no relationship
between one’s body and one’s gender. For Butler, gender is
‘unnatural’. This assertion implies that it is not necessary for a
male body to display traits that are normally considered
‘masculine’. In this circumstance, one may be a ‘masculine’
female or a ‘feminine’ male. This is what is witnessed in the
female characters performance and the reaction of men they
relate with.
Through the characterisation of male and female
personae represented in the texts, one can argue that the
dramatists deconstruct the conception of traditional masculinity
and femininity in Nigeria and Africa as a whole by creating

female and male characters with non-specific and ambiguous
gender identities in the texts. Furthermore, their characters’
performance affirms that masculinity is not a fixed category and
is therefore not solely located in male bodies as had been
previously envisaged by essentialists. As such, masculinity can
also be performed by female bodies. In addition, Tracie and
Tess’s portrayal of male and female characters is a dramatization
of masculinity and femininity as ephemeral conditions extant in
gendered bodies.
The temporariness of masculinity and femininity in
individuals’ bodies is further emphasized by Tracie through the
portrayal of Inyang when he regains his conventional masculine
traits and break-up with Ene because of her insubordination.
Inyang: (suddenly brave.) I am going away. I am

tired of this marriage. What my eyes are seeing is
too much (Tracie 2001:72).
What we see in Inyangs’ performance is what Butler

explains as the inconsistency of gender. According to her, “….
What we take to be “real,” what we invoke as the naturalised
knowledge of gender is, in fact, a changeable and revisable
reality” (Butler 1999: xxiii). From Inyangs’ break-up action, one
can deduce that he eventually regained his masculinity as
expected by the patriarchal society as normal. His reaction to
Ene annihilates his previous inert and compliant character as well
as Ene’s superiority and belligerence. In this situation, Ene’s
masculinity is seen as having been sequential and transient as she
can now no longer beat Inyang to it. Through Inyangs’ boldness
towards his wife, Tracie climaxes how an insolent wife can
reduce a man’s reputation in a society. This situation brings to
mind the worth of a man marrying a ‘decent and humble’ wife.
This implies that, a man’s masculinity is also ascertained by his
wife’s attitude.
Tracie’s demonstration of masculinity as a fluid and

dynamic subject in Our Wives have Gone Mad Again is further
revealed through the portrayal of women characters who work
as bar maids. Despite their striking differences with Irene, Ene,
Mairo, Funmi and Ifeoma in terms of respect to class,
occupation, marital status and personality traits, these bar maids
can also be categorised as modern women whose characters and
personalities challenge the conventional patriarchal perceptions
and perspectives of masculinity. Felix, Odera and Inyang were
seen in the bar trying to cool off the tension at home. They
decided to engage the services of the bar maid leader. Felix is
the first to go and after the service he decide to run away
because he does not have money to pay. She scorns him in this
manner:
Rosandra: Yeeee, see dis yeye man! Dis foolish

man wan run comot with my moni. Pay me my
moni useless man wey no get shame for face.
Shuu! See my body (Exhibiting) na so so wound.
See how dis ogogoro man do me like say I be
rag. Abi you never see woman before? Na God
go punish you. Yeye man. I no blame you. Na
me sell market give you. Look make I tell you!
You like am, you no like am, you go pay me my
moni complete. If no bi so, you go see fire. Yeye
pay me my moni, make wahala rest. (Throughout
this tirade, Felix lies face down on the floor. He
tries to shield his face but Rosandra succeeds in
exposing him. The women gasp in shock on
recognising him. Felix scrambles up and makes a
dash for the door. Rosandra follows in pursuit, still
demanding her money) (Tracie 2001:52).
Rosandra’s boastfulness and her daring act of threatening

men are indicative of masculine traits in a female body. She
demonstrates her pride and self-confidence for what she has
done. This brings to light her masculinity as she humiliates the

man who feel embarrassed and decide to run away. Felix’s
humiliation feminises him as he becomes inferior before her. This
is affirmed by his decision to run away so as to avoid being
ridiculed in public, since, to be publicly disgraced is to lose one’s
masculinity. From Rosandra’s point of view about Felix not
having money to pay for the services rendered to him, Tracie
dramatizes that money is a sign of success and power for one to
be considered a man in the text. This implies that, masculinity is
inextricably linked to a man’s economic status. It also stresses the
role of money in shaping men’s masculinity. Felix’s case also
validates the universal effects of hegemonic masculinity which
creates pressure within men to achieve an ideal masculine status
(Connell 2000).
Weapons are the embodiment of violent models of
masculinity, which, in turn, have broader societal ramifications.
Tracie illustrates how weapons enhance women’s masculinity
through the portrayal of Chief Irene and her cohorts in a
meeting with Rosandra the leader of the bar maids. The agenda
is for the bar maids to use sex as a weapon on her male political
opponents. In their discussion, we realise that twelve (12) men
were running for the office of the president from twelve
different political parties. They, as such, strategize on how to get
these men out of the way by allocating one man to a girl.
Funmi: We will just go ahead and define your

duties. (Brings out twelve pictures). Here are the
photographs of your targets. Assign each girl to a
man. The girls are to work hand in hand with our
photographer and cameraman. (Hands-over some
typewritten sheets). In these sheets, you will find
details of the social life of your targets, their
schedule, movement and other relevant details.
The girls are to track them down, seduce them
and get them into compromising positions. Our
photographer and cameraman will take care of
the rest. (Hands-over small paper packets). Here

are wraps of cocaine. Plant these in the rooms of
those same targets. Notify us as soon as you have
done this and your job is done. (Tracie 2001:62)
In this situation, we see women performing a masculine

role. They are proud of robbing men of their positions,
manipulating and even killing them. The sex weapon they
applied, can been seen as phallic symbols of violence that
enhances their masculinity. It terrifies men and reduces them to a
mere slave. Chief Irene and her partners take the role of a man
in what would be a normalised patriarchal set-up because of
their conceive and violent performance. Men, in this case, are
feminised and made impotent as they are left dejected,
humiliated and scared. From this scenario Tracie has again
subverted the conventional definition of masculinity as she
reverses gender role. However, their individual behaviours
represented by Irene, Mairo, Ifeoma, Funmi and Rosandra raises
questions about this strategy as it exposes them as corrupt and
disruptive to societal norms, depriving people of their honour
and integrity. Tracie condemns such masculine performance
through male characters that run away (Inyang and Felix) after
their evil performances.
In The Reign of Wazobia, Anehe, Wa, Zo and Bia were
the wives of the late king now Wazobia’s wives.
Unquestionably, Wazobia is in charge of these women. In the
traditional patriarchal society, a man marries wife/wives as the
case may be. But Tess subverts this convention by allowing
Wazobia to be the husband of these women. She dictates and
rules these women and the entire homestead as man would.
Not only does Wazobia acquire and assert men’s role, she
assumes their physical appearance too. Her performance is
therefore a heroic act that endures and survives all kinds of
obstacles imposed by the patriarchal society. It then follows that,
the object of value in her quest is the acquisition of masculinity
without ambiguity. The protagonist is ready to destroy all
hindrances in her quest for masculinity. It is a choice she imposes

on herself. In this instance, Wazobia confirms the existentialist
view of gender. She has made her choice and takes actions by
which she constructs a male persona. And society accepts and
interacts with her based on this public identity, which surpasses
perception and becomes reality. Tracie and Tess in this case,
seems to affirm Butler’s view on the issue of individuals’ gender
performances being controlled by the society’s norms and ethos.
Butler explains:
….gender is not noun, but neither is it a set of

free floating attributes, for we have seen that the
substantive effect of gender is performatively
produced and compelled by the regulatory
practices of gender coherence (Butler 1990:33).
Conclusion
Tracie’s Our wives have Gone Mad Again and Tess’s The Reign
of Wazobia deconstruct and undermine the configuration of
masculinity that embraces the conventional masculine and
feminine definitions and perceptions. Through their male and
female characters, they have explicitly demonstrated that gender
roles can be reversed and that masculinity is a position that can
be occupied by both males and females. To illustrate this
argument, they portray female characters such as Ene, chief
Irene, Ifeoma, Mairo, Rosandra and Wazobia, who display
masculine qualities such as aggression, autocratic and arrogance.
We have also seen how women can perform negative and
disruptive masculinity that are not approved by the society
through the portrayal of their characters. This is also true of the
depiction of male characters. For instance, Inyang, Odera, Felix,
Zeus, Gambo, Policemen, Iyase, Idehen, Ozoma and Man were
portrayed as subservient and bashful characters when they are
before women. Their portrayal enables us to understand their
perception of masculinity as a contested category because of its
mutable and ambivalent manifestations. The mutability and
ambivalence are revealed through Tracie and Tess’s male and

female characters who exhibit both gender traits: feminine and
masculine. In addition to individual’s occupying dual gender
qualities, that is, masculinity and femininity in the texts, Tracie
and Tess condemns masculinity that is troublesome and
advocates its dismissal.
References
Primary Sources
Tracie, C.U (2001), Our Wives Have Gone Mad Again. Awka:
Valid Publishing Company (Nig) Ltd
Tess, O. O (1988), The Reign of Wazobia. Ibadan: Heinemann
Nigeria Ltd.
Secondary Sources
Adeleke, E.B. (2016), ““Interrogating Misconceptions of
Feminism in Tracie Chima’s Our Wives have gone Mad
Again and Stella ‘Dia Oyedepo’s The Rebellion of the
Bumpy-Chested,” Journal of the Literary Society of
Nigeria. Benin: University of Benin Press.
Akachi, E. (2004), “Siddon Look or Go-Getter! Identity and
Generation Gap in Contemporary Women’s Writing,”
Journal of Cultural Studies. Vol. 6, No. 2.
Butler, J. (1990), Gender Trouble: Feminism and Subversion of
Identity. New York: Routledge
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Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Connell, R. W. (1995), Masculinity. Cambridge: Polity Press
_____________. (2000), The Men and the Boys. Cambridge:
Polity Press.
_____________. (2005), Masculinities. (2nd ed). California:
University of California Press.
Ezenwa, O. (2001), Preface. Our Wives have gone Mad Again.
Awka: Valid, 1-14.
Husein, J. W. (2005), “The Social and Ethno-Cultural

Construction of Masculinity and Feminity in African
Proverb”, African Study Monographs. 26(2): 59-87.
Jeremiah, S.M. (2014), “Masculine Women, Feminine Men:
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Gender and Behaviour Journal. 12(1), 6136-6144.
Osita, E. (2008), “The Empowered Women in Ahmed Yerima’s
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Writings. Peirce Edition Project, (eds.) (vol 2. 1893-1913).
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Salih, S. (2002), Judith Butler. London: Routledge.

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Journal of English and Communication in Africa Vol. 1, No.

Gender Reversals: Men’s Emasculation in Tracie Chima’s

Beatrice Nwawuloke Onuoha

Keywords: masculinity, feminity, power, gender, patriarchy

for dominance and this active struggle for dominance is really

Men tends to communicate with confidence and

The above quotation means that, social culture and

gestures, mannerism, language and actions that gender is

Masculinizing Female Characters

harassment of men. Our Wives have Gone Mad Again is a text

The masquerade who dances the hot steps of the

From the above quotation, Wazobia declares that she is

masquerades. Masquerade cult is strictly meant for men only,

Further, implied in the comments is the very desire to entrench

Ene: (waves her hand expensively.) Inyang! What is the

From a traditional patriarchal perception of a man, we

Similarly, in Reign of Wazobia, Tess’s selection of

should not be detrimental to peace and harmony of the society.

A Threatened males’ world and Females’ Negative

Since Wazobia ascended the throne, most

We also learn about their manipulation of men as the

Oh, I have great plans. I will create a ministry for

lucrative… Sorry, I mean expedient programmes

This portrays Irene as a masculine figure before Gambo

Ene: …. I took him to the village and gave him

According to Pierce (1998), “[the] worst humiliation for

Inyang into a woman. Moreover, the way Ene describes her

Ene: How to eliminate opposition is another

They are well focused as they marshal their

The above implies that they aim at diminishing and

Irene: Now, this is what I want you to do. Get

evidence. Create a new set of circumstances

The above description of the covering mission depicts

and femininity in Nigeria and Africa as a whole by creating

Inyang: (suddenly brave.) I am going away. I am

What we see in Inyangs’ performance is what Butler

Tracie’s demonstration of masculinity as a fluid and

Rosandra: Yeeee, see dis yeye man! Dis foolish

Rosandra’s boastfulness and her daring act of threatening

done. This brings to light her masculinity as she humiliates the

Funmi: We will just go ahead and define your

the rest. (Hands-over small paper packets). Here

In this situation, we see women performing a masculine

hindrances in her quest for masculinity. It is a choice she imposes

….gender is not noun, but neither is it a set of

ambivalence are revealed through Tracie and Tess’s male and

Husein, J. W. (2005), “The Social and Ethno-Cultural

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