SILENCES AND CULTURAL CONTRADICTIONS IN THE JUMPING MONKEY HILL BY CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE

Abstract

During the proposed research, the aim is to analyze how the constructions of various silences in The Jumping Monkey Hill perpetuate or break the relationships of racism and sexism in Africa, stemming from the flawed model of Eurocentric patriarchy. The analysis is based on the assumptions of studies related to African Womanism and silence, specifically in the works of Dove (1998), Hudson-Wemms (2020), Davis (2013 - 2016), Orlandi (2007), and Perrot (2005), which encompass both the theoretical and applicable aspects of post-colonial literary analysis and the study of silence. The objective is to observe how the patriarchal system has deficits in its structure and establishes various silences, and how through the observation made within silence, it is possible to alter the norm that this system presents as natural. For those subjected to exclusion based on their race and sexuality, feelings of anguish and lack of belonging erupt, shaping social prisons that oppress and silence their voices. Thus, it is from listening to these voices, and primarily from the meanings enabled by their silences, that it becomes possible to reveal an authentic and profound process of identity, self-awareness, and resistance in which the anti-patriarchal struggle and diverse dimensions of silence move together.