Shane Marie Pineda
Professor Tavis
ENG 102
9 June 2017
Rape: The Power Behind A Tool of Oppression
Nnedi Okorafor has used the opportunity to write in her novel, Who Fears Death, about
the vicious act of rape, why it’s used as an oppression of women, and how it affected the victims
and product of the crime. Okorafor has expressed the issue of rape through Najeeba, Onye, and
Binta how each of these women had been affected and how each dealt with their situation
differently. Najeeba was an Okeke woman, the first rape victim that was mentioned in the novel.
Onyesonwu, Onye for short, was the daughter of Najeeba. Onye was an Ewu, a product of rape
between a Nuru man and an Okeke woman. Although Onye wasn’t raped, she carried the trauma
on her shoulders of what was done to her mother. Lastly, Binta who was sexually assaulted by her
own father. Through the stories of these women, the author has voiced out the consequences of
rape and how the victims learned to deal with it and later get their vengeance.
City of Zin was a town where the Okeke men and women lived peacefully and equally.
That was until a group of Nurus attacked the Okekes; killing men, children, and raping women.
Among those women was Najeeba, Onye’s mother, and a sorceress. Not only was Najeeba robbed
of a home, but also self-identity; the only dignity she had left. She was raped by a powerful sorcerer
named Daib who we later learn was only using Najeeba to create a magnificent son who will be
the greatest sorcerer in their land (Okorafor, 403). Najeeba wasn’t only ashamed of what happened
to her but was hopeless to see her husband again, thinking he was killed in the rampage.
Fortunately, she came home to see him alive but was unfortunate because her husband then left
her once he found out she was raped. Najeeba then decides to keep Onye. She had successfully
raised her child alone for six or so years in the desert, making Najeeba a strong and brave woman
(Okorafor, 30).
The story of Najeeba was inspired by an article that Nnedi Okorafor read called, “We Want
to Make a Light Baby”. Najeeba’s personal trauma was an interpretation of the experience of many
women in West Darfur when attacked by tribal fighters labeled as Janjaweed (Wax, 2004). Just
like the way Daib used Najeeba to create a magnificent sorcerer, the Janjaweed fighters used the
Darfur women to make light babies. Those victimized were humiliated and angry for what those
militiamen did to them (Wax, 2004). Not only was their land conquered by foreigners, but the
women were stolen of self-worth. Even though Najeeba knew the consequences of having a child
of rape, she still decides to keep the baby, which was something the women of West Darfur valued;
