Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girl with the Louding Voice, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Education, Empowerment, and Self-Worth
Gender Inequality and Solidarity
Wealth, Poverty, and Choice
Survival
Summary
Analysis
There are many rooms in Big Madam’s house, and each one serves its own purpose: one is for bathing, one is for sleeping, one is for storing shoes. Each room has a mirror on the wall. One room is just for eating, and it has a long table with over a dozen chairs, everything decorated in gold. Kofi explains that this is the dining room, which is where Big Daddy and Big Madam take their meals when they are getting along with each other.
Kofi’s comment implies that Big Madam and Big Daddy are often on bad terms with each other, which suggests that money can’t solve every problem—wealthy people aren’t immune to troubled marriages. Big Madam’s house has enough rooms for the couple to be able to inhabit their own spaces, which might symbolize that they have separate sets of personal morals or worldviews, as well.
Themes
Kofi shows Adunni another room, the library. The library is full of books, which thrills Adunni, who wishes she could read all day. She reads the titles of some of the books, one of which is The Book of Nigerian Facts: From Past to Present, 5th edition, 2014. Kofi explains that Big Daddy, Big Madam’s husband, owns all the books. Big Daddy used to love to read, but that was before he lost his job and started drinking. Big Daddy is often away on business, explains Kofi—“woman business.” Kofi then asks Adunni how old she is and is alarmed when she tells him she is 14. He cautions her to be “extra careful” with Big Daddy.
The library indicates to Adunni that perhaps receiving an education is possible for her; after all, it’s not just a formal education that she desires, but the ability to gain knowledge and experience in a broader sense. Kofi’s mention of Big Daddy’s “woman business” implies that Big Daddy has a lot of extramarital affairs. It also suggests that just because Adunni has moved into a more economically privileged house doesn’t mean she won’t witness more mistreatment and disrespect of women. Kofi’s warning to be “extra careful” around Big Daddy implies that he is dangerous. The placement of this warning after Kofi mentions Big Daddy’s affairs implies that he may try to prey on Adunni sexually, though the warning is still rather vague.
Themes
Kofi shows Adunni the kitchen, which is grander than any kitchen Adunni has ever seen before, with a different tool to accomplish every cooking task. Adunni closes her eyes and imagines Mama cooking and singing in this kitchen, and Kayus kicking around a football out back. Kofi shows Adunni the faucet in the kitchen, which is like nothing Adunni has ever seen before—there is only one incredibly slow tap in Ikati village.
It's comforting for Adunni to imagine her family in this house because a life in such a big, grand structure implies a life free from hardship and suffering—something Adunni hasn’t experienced in a long time.
Themes
Next, Kofi shows Adunni to her room, which is in a separate small house on the compound called “the boys’ quarters” where the staff live. Kofi leads Adunni to a small room in the boys’ quarters. He begins to say something about how Rebecca used to sleep there but cuts himself off and vaguely suggests that maybe Rebecca ran away with her boyfriend.
Kofi’s sudden decision not to talk about Rebecca is further evidence that something bad or mysterious happened to her. The fact that Adunni is taking over Rebecca’s room could symbolically represent that Adunni is stepping into her shoes and is assuming the risk of something bad happening to her, too. Perhaps, as women, Adunni and Rebecca have a shared experience of gendered violence or oppression, though it’s still unclear what happened to the former housemaid.
Themes
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Kofi then shows Adunni her uniform, which belonged to Rebecca, and tells her to get dressed. Adunni checks out the room, which contains a foam mattress, cupboard, and a table and chair. She wonders aloud if the uniform is for school, but Kofi assures her that it is just for work—Big Madam likes her staff to look professional—and that Big Madam has not once helped a housemaid attend school.
Inheriting Rebecca’s uniform symbolically suggests that Adunni will inherit Rebecca’s experiences while working at Big Madam’s, becoming part of a cycle in which their privileged madam employs and possibly takes advantage of her undereducated, underprivileged housemaids. The fact that Adunni must don a housemaid’s uniform instead of a school uniform illustrates how her disadvantaged social position and her gender rob her of an education.
Themes
Kofi leads Adunni to a small room to teach her to iron, and Adunni struggles to move in Rebecca’s too-small uniform. Adunni promises Kofi that she will work hard and mentions Mr. Kola’s promise to bring her salary to her sin three months. Kofi doubts this will happen, though, as Kola promised Rebecca the same thing, kept her salary to himself, and didn’t show up again until today.
Kofi confirms what Adunni (and the reader) might have suspected for a while now: Kola is untrustworthy, and there’s a good chance Adunni will never see the salary she is owed. It seems as though Kola has sold Adunni into domestic servitude, though Adunni doesn’t have the vocabulary or knowledge to realize this fully.
Themes
