You have no items in your shopping cart.
ABSTRACT
This research has adequately examined Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street from a psychoanalytical perspective. The study has successfully identified and evaluated the various forms of disillusionment in the text. As demonstrated earlier, disillusionment is characterised by a shattering of initial idealised sentiments by opposite realities. The application of the Mirror Stage Theory helps to deepen the understanding of this. The Mirror Stage Theory proposes phases of growth with substantial measures of illusions. What the theory suggests is that at infancy, the child is able to create illusions of themselves when they look in the mirror. At this stage, they could form mental images of what they wish to see themselves as. However, these illusions are shattered by opposite realities as the child grows. This is evident in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street.
Unigwe’s novel explores the complexities of life abroad. It looks at the complex and interwoven themes of poverty, corruption, migration and sex. Through the story of four women in the red light district of Antwerp, the readers are inundated the harsh realities that one may face abroad. The women have individual stories and motivations. They are, however, bound by similar harsh experiences. Through the women, Unigwe presents the theme of expectations vs realities and tacitly posits that one will likely become disillusioned after travelling abroad or getting one’s biggest desire. For the women, their coming abroad does not save them anything. Rather, it shoots up their anxieties.
