THE TRULY MARRIED WOMAN ANALYSIS PDF

A Silent Song and Other Stories

 

Characters in The Truly Married Woman

• Ajayi
• Ayo - Ajayi's wife
• Omo -Ayo's neighbour
• Oju - Ajayi's son
• Bimbola – local nurse
• Chief clerk
• Jonathan Olsen – white missionary

 

Key events in The Truly Married Woman

• Daily routine
• The priest
• Beating Oju
• Meeting the missionaries
• Decision to wed
• The problems (Ajayi's sister, Omo's jealousy)
• Negotiations
• The wedding
• Truly married woman

 

The Truly Married Woman Summary

Ajayi and Ayo have lived together for 12 years but they are not married. They have three children and another on the way. Ayo’s mother remarks that Ayo is enthusiastic when it comes to true work of a woman – having children.

Ajayi and Ayo are used to each other and to daily routines and patterns of life. Ajayi is comfortable with this lifestyle. He has always meant to marry Ayo ever since they had their first child but he keeps postponing it. 

The cost of the ceremony also seems to scare him a bit.

Every morning Ayo wakes up at 5 to make tea for Ajayi. Apart from taking his weak, sugary tea without milk, his other morning rituals include: taking six deep breaths to prevent diseases of the chest, a quick bath, taking bitter medicine which he believes can cure about 20 different diseases and illnesses; and beating his son Oju to stop him from wetting his sleeping mat.

Although Ajayi and Ayo are happy with their arrangement, the church and her parents are not. The priest is categorically against unmarried couples living together. Ayo’s father hoped she would marry a high school teacher. Ajayi is a government clerk.

Ajayi loves his mistress because she is patient and honest. She is dark and beautiful with white teeth and neat hair. She is also obedient and rarely disagrees with him.

The one time they differed about Ajayi beating his son Oju, Ayo informed him that it is wrong to punish children for bed wetting. She learned that from Bimbola, a local nurse who studied in England and America. Ajayi is impressed by the enlightenment of his deceptively quiet wife.

This makes Ajayi thoughtful. Coupled with another incident, he considers marrying Ayo.

This is the visit by three missionaries working with World Gospel Crusading Alliance (WGCA) from Minnesota in USA. Ajayi had contacted the organization hoping to get free bibles to donate or sell and large religious pictures to put up on his bedroom wall. The visitors, led by Jonathan Olsen, visit Ajayi’s home. Ajayi is pleased by the way Ayo handles the visitors.

At short notice, she buys fruit drinks, replaces raunchy calendars with family photographs and magazines with religious books and hides wine glasses. The children and she dress smartly in Sunday clothes. She even borrows a wedding ring from a neighbour in order to appear like a truly married woman. She awes Ajayi when she speaks some English when she is introduced to the visitors. 

She does all these instinctively after learning that the visitors are not regular white men whom she presumes drink whisky and iced beer but are friendly, religious-looking men.

Ayo’s protest about Oju’s beating and her demeanor during the visit convince Ajayi to marry her. Another reason is the white man had taken some photographs of their family and millions of Americans would see their picture as ‘one God-loving and happy African family.’

When he tells Ayo that he wanted to marry her, she becomes worried thinking he is ill. She even cautions him: “let us get married but do not say I made you do it.”

They agree to have a church wedding.

That night when Ajayi pulls Ayo to him as they lay in bed she declines and tells him to wait until after the wedding.

Ajayi’s people welcome the idea of marriage except his skeptical sister who feels Ayo would become more important in the family than she was. She even visits a soothsayer in an attempt to scuttle the wedding plans but Ayo beats her at her own game.

When Omo, Ayo’s friend that she gossips with and who lends Ayo her wedding ring from time to time, hears about the wedding plans and sees Ayo’s wedding gifts she becomes jealous.

Meanwhile, Ajayi borrows a lot of money to cater for the wedding needs. He misses his normal routine especially his cup of tea, since Ayo had gone back to her parents’ home.

Ajayi finally marries Ayo after lengthy customary, back and forth discussions between the two families. About 60 people attend their church wedding. Ayo cries as if in disbelief, for she finally gets married in her mid-thirties.

An old aunt advises them to live peaceably and resolve disputes before going to bed. She cautions Ayo against gossiping with other women lest they steal her husband and warns Ajayi against using violence on their daughter. She adds that a wife is just as exciting as a mistress.

The morning after the wedding, Ajayi is met with a rude shock when he wakes up. Ayo does not wake up early to prepare breakfast as usual. He concludes that maybe she was taken ill. When he asks her, she replies nonchalantly that he should wake up and make himself a cup of tea. She even contemptuously wonders if something is wrong with his legs. Surprisingly, she demands respect from him asserting that she is now a truly married woman.

Next: Talking Money analysis 

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