The Failed Marriage in Anowa, a Play by Ama Ata Aidoo

Anowa, a play whose events occur in a traditional Ghanaian setting is a story about a girl who refuses to marry the husband chosen for her by her mother and instead chooses to marry the man she wants and the man she loves, instead. The play is set in the 1870s on the Gold Coast of Abura, and tells the story of the heroine Anowa's failed marriage to the slave trader Kofi Ako. Similarly to Greek plays, this play has two characters who act as the chorus in the play.

These characters namely are Old Man and Old Woman. They present themselves at crucial points in the play and give their own views on the events in the play. Throughout her entire life, Anowa had only known to be her independent and fearless self. However, in her marriage, this something her husband Kofi Ako despises. He would prefer Anowa to like the other village women; never questioning what they have been told and taught to believe.

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At first, we are introduced to Anowa and her family as she argues with her mother, refusing to be forced to marry someone she does not love and that she chooses to marry Kofi Ako. Indeed, her mother is disappointed that she chooses not to marry the men she chooses for her but the fact that Anowa decides she wants to marry a "fool”, in her opinion. Anowa is angered by her mother's reaction and vows to leave with Kofi Ako, marry him and never return to Yebi, her home town.

With that, they trek the woods and survive however best they can, even if that involves sleeping outside. As time and their travels progress, Anowa's husband becomes more interested in accruing slaves to help do some of the labor. This is his attempt to make Anowa more like the other women who are neither independent nor hard working as Anowa. However, as the play progresses and this couple amass even more fortune, the marriage becomes more and more dampened. This is because their many slaves and extravagant change in their lifestyle has brought worry to Anowa. She, even more than before, begins to question their lifestyle choices. This may be due to the fact that she has not been able to bear Kofi Ako a son, an heir.

This childlessness their marriage faces cause Anowa to endeavor in hallucinations and even become more authoritative. Something, although Kofi Ako has tolerated thus far, cannot tolerate any longer. Her wealthy spouse becomes perturbed by Anowa's behavior and asks her to leave. Upon arguing, Anowa argues with him and finds out that he had lost his ability to bear children and the fault was in him and not in her. Anowa is infuriated as she had believed their marriage was failing because of her.Grief-stricken that his wife had found out his secret, Kofi Ako to shoots himself and Anowa, equally disturbed, drowns herself. Anowa represents the modern woman who likes to take her own decisions and live life as per her choice. She, though a tribal woman, has the traits of a city-bred. Her bravery and attitude ultimatley lead to her death.

Some of the major themes which I was able to come across in my analysis of the play Anowa included: marriage, individualism, vanity and (cultural) identity. In Anowa, the issue of marriage is raised again by Ama AtaAidoo. In this play, however, the play does not concentrate on the conflict of cultures as a main problem in the failure of the marriage between Anowa and Kofi Ako. Aidoo rather considersAnowa's refusal to listen to her mother's advice not to marry Ako as the main source of the problems associated with the marriage.

Anowa is a play which was written five years after publication of The Dilemma of a Ghost. It tells the story of Anowa, the daughter of Badua and Osam, who decides to marry Kofi Ako despite her mother's opposition to the marriage. The dominant theme of Anowa is feminism. Anowa's effort and attitude in the play single her out as a woman who is not ready to be relegated to the background. She chooses her own husband without her mother's consent and she demands to be given the chance to express her opinion on all matters concerning the marriage between her and Ako. When Ako sacks her, she refuses to go without the former providing tangible reasons as to why he, unilaterally, decides to terminate their marriage.

Anowa's fight for her rights as a woman leads her to a situation where she is branded by the conservatists such as Ako and Old Woman as a wife who contravenes societal norms concerning the submissive role ofwomen in traditional Akan marriage. The theme of feminism is handled in the play in such a way that marriage and other aspects of Akan culture are brought to the foreground in the discussion of issues. The theme of the play is acted out in the form of tragedy. To some extent, one can argue that there is recognition in Anowa. There is peripety in the sense that Ako thinks money will bring happiness and prosperity to their marriage. He is prepared to sacrifice everything for wealth. It, however, turns out that this same wealth is the cause of the sad end of Ako and Anowa.

Recognition takes place when Anowa comes to know that the man she has been married to might be impotent or might have traded his manhood for riches. Ako himself also realises that his wealth cannot buy them happiness and peace. The events in the plot of Anowa are arranged in such a way that one even gets terrified by listening to just a narration of them. Ako and Anowa are also not saints or villains. They occupy the position between saints and villains and their death excites pity and fear from us since we can easily identify ourselves with them.