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
It’s midnight and raining when Abu arrives at Adunni’s door. He enters her room quickly, and there’s a scared look on his face as he takes a folded piece of from his pocket and hands it to Adunni. He orders Adunni not to tell anyone that he gave it to her and begins his story: The day that Rebecca disappeared, Big Daddy asked him to clean his car. As Abu cleaned, he noticed that the front seat was wet, and nobody could explain why. It was only after reading this letter, which he found hidden in a seat belt buckle, that he understood the truth of Rebecca’s disappearance—a truth that has weighed on him ever since. Abu tells Adunni good night and leaves to fetch Big Madam from the hospital.
Abu’s scared look, combined with the fact that he found the letter hidden in a seat belt buckle, suggests that the letter likely contains some bad news about Rebecca. Abu’s silence (despite his guilty conscience) could indicate that he hasn’t felt the same obligation as Adunni feels to share Rebecca’s story and restore her voice. Still, Abu is in a difficult position: if the letter contains information that implicates Big Daddy or Big Madam in Rebecca’s disappearance, and people were to find out that Abu had it, he could lose his job. Abu’s predicament highlights the unethical decisions people—particularly poor or otherwise oppressed people—can be forced to make to protect their themselves.
Themes
Adunni opens the letter and sees what looks like a bloody fingerprint at the top of the paper. Her heart pounds as she reads. The letter is written by Rebecca, who tells her reader that she is a housemaid of Chief and Florence Adeoti (Big Daddy and Big Madam). According to Rebecca, Big Daddy impregnated her and told her that he would marry her if she continued to have sex with him. On the morning that Rebecca writes the letter, she explains, she is supposed to go to the doctor. She has chosen to write this letter because her stomach began to hurt after eating food that Big Daddy brought her, and now she is afraid. The letter ends mid-sentence.
Rebecca’s letter confirms that Big Daddy manipulated Rebecca into a sexual relationship, just as he has tried to do with Adunni. To keep Rebecca happy and to prevent her from telling Big Madam about the affair (and eventual pregnancy), he lied about his intentions to marry her. Rebecca doesn’t seem to know what made her stomach start hurting, but it seems plausible that Big Daddy put something in the food her gave her in an effort to harm the unborn baby. Even if Rebecca was happy about the affair, it’s difficult to see the relationship as completely consensual, as Big Daddy was Rebecca’s employer, and she might have felt pressured into having sex with him to keep her job.
Themes
Adunni folds the letter and shakes as she considers Rebecca’s fate. Was Big Daddy the boyfriend that Chisom mentioned? And did Big Daddy hurt her? Adunni is so preoccupied with fear that she doesn’t her the door open. At first, she thinks that Abu has returned, but when she smells alcohol, she knows it must be Big Daddy behind her. Adunni wants to slam the door in his face but knows that Big Daddy will overpower her. Adunni hides under the bed just before Big Daddy enters the room, calling for her, knowing that she is there. Big Daddy lies on the bed, his weight pushing the mattress lower onto Adunni’s chest until she screams, revealing her hiding spot. Big Daddy pulls Adunni out from under the bed. Adunni screams as loud as she can.
The letter appears to fill in some of the blanks in Chisom’s earlier story: the man Rebecca believed she was going to marry was Big Daddy, and the reason she grew bigger and bigger right before her disappearance was because she was pregnant with his child. Interestingly, Rebecca’s arrangement with Big Daddy shares some similarities to Chisom’s arrangement with Caroline Bankole: both housemaids keep their employers’ secrets in exchange for rewards. That Big Daddy’s breath smells of alcohol suggests that trouble lies ahead: so far, Big Daddy has behaved most inappropriately toward Adunni when he is intoxicated.
Themes
Big Daddy tries to cover Adunni’s mouth, but she knees his stomach and continues to fight back, biting and spitting at her attacker. Big Daddy pins Adunni against the ground, and Adunni hears his pants unzip. A voice inside Adunni urges her to fight, though she doesn’t know how she can—Big Daddy is too strong. Inwardly, she cries for Mama to save her. Suddenly, Adunni sees a bolt of lightning flash through the sky, and she recalls the light she saw the night Morufu first raped her. Unlike that time, though, this lightning is followed by a powerful crack of thunder, and Adunni knows that Mama is there, watching out for her.
Big Daddy’s hand covering Adunni’s mouth symbolizes the oppressor silencing the oppressed. Throughout the novel, people have silenced Adunni because of her gender, lack of education, and social status, all of which are factors that contribute to Big Daddy and Adunni’s unequal relationship. The bolt of lightning, both here and in the earlier passage in Morufu’s room, symbolizes Mama’s spirit and, by extension, the transformative power of women’s solidarity. Although in the earlier scene Mama’s spiritual support was not enough to help Adunni overpower Morufu, this time, a crack of thunder accompanies the lightning, which could symbolize Adunni’s newly honed “louding voice” and reinvigorated will to survive. This indicates that she may be able to overpower her attacker this time around.
Themes
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With all the strength she can muster, Adunni bites Big Daddy’s hand. Big Daddy recoils in pain, and Adunni frees herself from underneath him, picks up Mama’s Bible, and whacks Big Daddy on the head. Big Daddy’s phone, which has been ringing, flies out of his pocket.
In a way, Adunni’s inner “louding” voice, bolstered by the lightning bolt that she believes represents Mama’s spirit, is what gives her the strength to overpower Big Daddy. That the lightning bolt is stronger and accompanied by thunder tonight, as opposed to the weaker, fleeting lightning Adunni witnessed on her first night with Morufu, symbolizes her personal growth. Before, Mama’s spirit and the “louding voice” she encouraged Adunni to find could speak only in a timid whisper. But now, Adunni possesses a confident inner voice that allows her to respond to Mama’s spirit and overpower her oppressors, symbolically and literally.
Themes
Just as Big Daddy is about to pounce at Adunni, the door opens to reveal Big Madam standing in the doorway. Big Daddy zips his pants and flees. Big Madam looks vacant as she picks up Big Daddy’s phone and looks at it in horror. She falls to the floor as she cries, “Chief, ha! Caroline! Baby love? No!” Adunni wants to comfort Big Madam, but Big Madam remains unreachable as she continues to weep and stare into the phone.
Big Madam appears before Big Daddy can rape Adunni; this is the first time she has directly interfered in his inappropriate behavior. Big Madam seems to read the name “Caroline” and the words “baby love” on Big Daddy’s phone, which suggests that Big Daddy is having an affair with Caroline Bankole. Caroline is likely also woman Adunni overhead Big Daddy speaking with in Chapter 39, though Adunni does not make the connection at this time.
Themes
