People draw inspiration for the good, bad and downright ugly behaviour from several sources. For some, it is a movie on child soldiers that makes them decide to study Diplomacy, History or Sociology.
For others, it may be a song they hear on radio that reignites the belief that women are not smart or business oriented.
For women who read, books often serve as instruments of inspiration, succour and avenues to see what your life as a woman will look like if you do not take active charge of your life.
Fictional women and their lives and stories deserve as much amplification as flesh and blood women because by documenting fictional women, we are honoring the real women whose stories formed the basis of the fictional women’s characters.
Urban Woman Magazine recently asked some women to share the fictional women whose lives inspire them or are cautionary tales.
Read their responses below.
PN
Evelyn in Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the fictional woman who will always be my Goat. I have always been called ambitious woman all my life and her courage, discipline, bravery, and boldness inspire me lot. I just feel that anything is achievable, I just need to be persistence and consistent.
I also like Kehinde in Emecheta Buchi’s Kehinde. I like how she stood up for her dreams and self.
Fictional women are important as they serve as time travellers who have gone before us, see the dangers and truth, and come back to whisper it in our ears.
KT
While I don’t have any fictional women who inspired me, a fictional character who cautioned me was Maa Tsuru in Faceless. Maa Tsuru lived her life for a man not once but twice. If only she had thought of doing something better, her daughters won’t have gone through what they did especially Baby T who ended up losing her life.
I was so angry at her, how weak she was, while I knew the society limits us in certain areas, perhaps if she had made an effort, the story would have ended differently. Despite knowing the role of poison in Baby T’s death, she only asked Fofo to run, she didn’t make an effort whatsoever.
This brought me to a realisation not to live my life in a limited manner, it made me ambitious and wanting more for myself. And to definitely not be weak like Maa Tsuru.
To be honest, I dislike her character ( hate is a strong word) but it opened my eyes to certain things.
LO
Evelyn Hugo (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo).
If “Against All Odds” were a person, it’d be her.
Ifemelu (Americanah), too.
EW
Nani in The Middle Daughter.
A big cautionary tale on how religion and religious men are not safe havens for women. But the great part was that even though her situation looked hopeless and irreversible she was able to leave her abusive husband and build a better life for herself.
RO
I’m a high fantasy book fan, so my favourites would be Aelin Ashryver Galathynius from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas, Cyra Noavek from the Carve the Mark duology by Veronica Roth, Juliette Ferrars from the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi, and Binti from the Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor.
They overcame adversity, trauma, prejudice, learned helplessness, self-doubt, uncertainty, loneliness, the weight of responsibility, and such. The series are long, so the stories really go into detail, y’know.
But in non-fantasy books, I really love the main character (can’t currently remember her nfrom The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s wives. She withstood a lot of nonsense and still kept her sense of self intact, and so was able to leave as soon as possible.
If I could meet these women in person, I would congratulate them for surviving in the deadliest of circumstances, and wish them all the best for the future.
TJ
– Nnu Ego from Joys of Motherhood did it for in regards to motherhood (gal, don’t fucking do this to yourself). She contributed to my decision to be a child-free woman.
– Elizabeth Zott from Lessons in Chemistry, inspired me to do more with my feminism. A thorough woman in and out, she knows exactly what she wants at every point in her life. And her self-preservation approach towards life is what I want for other women.
– Ifemelu from _Americanah_ inspired me to always put myself first as woman in a relationship with a man, I shouldn’t lose myself to love. And yes, to be selfish, I love selfish women.
– Sidi from The Lion and the Jewel, she inspires me and at the same time her story serves as a cautionary tale. I named myself “Jewel” based of her character and the book title.
– Li from The Stillborn, her character is inspirational because amidst all her struggles, obstacles and challenges, she pursued her dreams! I’m going to add one of my favourite quote ever from the book: “It is well to dream… as long as we live, we shall continue to dream. But it is also important to remember that like babies, dreams are conceived but not all dreams are born alive. Some are aborted. Others are stillborn.”
– Kirabo from A Girl is A Body of Water. I love her resilient spirit and how very self aware she is.
JI
Nnu Ego made me realise that there’s no joy in motherhood. Aunty Ifeoma from Purple Hibiscus is another character that I liked.
She lived and didn’t let people’s opinion define her (not even her godforsaken brother) and she passed that trait on to her daughter.
Angel Nduka-Nwosu is a writer, journalist and editor. She moonlights occasionally as a podcaster on As Angel Was Sayin’. Catch her on all socials @asangelwassayin.