His Only Wife

“She didn’t have to say that at present my place was being occupied by the Liberian woman, a woman who wasn’t Eli’s wife, who despised his family, who looked down on our ways. She didn’t have to say it because we all knew. It was what kept us up at night, what woke us up with a start at dawn. It was the problem I had been chosen to solve.”

The Ganyos’ reason for arranging Afi and Eli’s marriage is the inciting event of the novel. Afi is not simply marrying Eli to make her mother and new mother-in-law happy. Rather, her new role requires her to amend the Ganyo family’s deeper conflicts. As a result, Muna becomes the antagonist of Afi’s story. Afi is compelled to blame another woman for Eli’s neglect and the Ganyos’ pressures rather than holding Eli responsible due to the way the Ganyos attribute agency over their son’s choices to his lover.

“Look, I’m already tired with all this marriage business—church marriage, marriage in the registrar’s office, traditional marriage. I feel like I need to read a book to understand it all.”

Afi’s work to understand the Dynamics of Arranged Marriage unsettles her narrative world and account. Afi knows that marrying a man she hardly knows is complicated. However, she does not realize all that the union will require of her. Over time, the cultural traditions and gender roles associated with the marriage heighten Afi’s entrapment and threaten to limit her world and identity.

“This is Elikem Ganyo we are talking about. The man whose verandah we are sitting on, whose store I work in. The man whose mother bought you an electric sewing machine. It doesn’t matter whether he knows you or not, he will treat you well. I am your mother; why would I send you somewhere to suffer?”

Afi struggles to voice her concerns about her marriage to Olivia because her mother equates Afi’s openness with disrespect. Olivia is desperate for Afi to accept the Dynamics of Arranged Marriage because she wants Afi to follow tradition, honor her family, and repay their debts to Aunty. Therefore, Olivia complicates Afi’s ability to pursue her personal desires by entrapping her in a traditional marriage.

“In fact, he should have called me to tell me these things himself; after all, I was his wife and he knew my phone number. Instead they had put me in this tower and given me pocket money like a schoolgirl. What was I supposed to do? Just sit in this building and wait?”

Afi’s life in the King’s Court Accra flat is representative of female entrapment. Less than a week after arriving, Afi longs for the freedom and community she once had in Ho. The flat quickly loses its luxurious allure because Afi has no power within this setting. Her relationship with the flat charges her narrative and foreshadows the coming conflicts between her and Eli.

“You just got married; it is better that you spend time at home, getting to know your husband and taking care of him.”

Afi’s first step to self-empowerment is enrolling in fashion school. However, her mother dismisses Afi’s aspirations as frivolous because they do not align with Afi’s new wifely duties. Olivia would prefer that Afi adopt her marriage as her identity rather than pursuing pastimes outside of her new domestic sphere. Olivia’s words encapsulate Afi’s burgeoning frustrations with her new Accra life.

“Was this it? Was this my marriage? The short visit, the awkward conversation? This wasn’t what I had imagined; it certainly wasn’t what I wanted. It is true that I was afraid of messing everything up but I also wanted to be given the chance to try to make it work?”

Afi’s syntax and diction capture her confusion and angst. Whenever Afi is upset, her narration lapses into strings of questions. The accumulation of such interrogative lines enacts Afi’s desperation for both understanding and freedom. She wants more than her marriage is giving her and thus actively seeks answers to her limiting circumstances.

“I sat up straighter at this bit of information; this woman had been educated abroad, in London. I didn’t even know that Ghanaians went abroad to study fashion. I knew that people traveled to study medicine and such, but not fashion design. Sarah was impressive!”

Sarah’s character inspires Afi’s work to liberate and empower herself. Sarah is one of the first women Afi has met who has a career and life independent from a man. Sarah attended school in London, has an established brand and business in Accra, and runs a school that facilitates independence for other young Ghanaian women. Afi is moved by Sarah’s story because Sarah represents the life she wants and the woman she hopes to be. Meeting Sarah and enrolling in her classes propels Afi along her journey to self-discovery.

“I realized that I was embarrassed to tell these people, these managers, and doctors, and World Bankers, and whatever Abraham was, that I was a seamstress’s apprentice and had only begun fashion school. I had always been comfortable with what I did; in fact, I had been proud that I was training with Sarah, a woman who had studied fashion design in London and sewed for the First Lady. But these people’s accomplishments made mine seem insignificant, even laughable, and I suddenly felt small.”

Accra society compounds Afi’s anxieties in her new life. When she marries Eli and leaves Ho, Afi enters an unfamiliar sphere. Her marriage propels her into a new socio-cultural context which complicates the way that she sees and understands herself. When she finds herself in uncomfortable social settings in Accra, Afi retreats into herself instead of owning who she is, what she has accomplished, and everything she dreams of. Scenes like this one underscore how Afi’s environment complicate her journey to self-empowerment.

“I had left her flat feeling like I had known her for a long time. My mother would surely dislike her if they ever met. A person who talks so freely about her own life will talk just as freely about yours, I imagined her saying. Regardless, there was something about Evelyn that intrigued me, so that before I fell asleep, I admitted to myself that I was looking forward to seeing her again and hearing more about her life, and about what she knew about mine.”

Afi’s relationship with Evelyn expands her life and world in Accra. Afi is originally skeptical of Evelyn’s character because she is Richard’s secret girlfriend. However, Afi is intrigued by Evelyn after spending one afternoon with her. Evelyn’s honesty, openness, and boldness inspire Afi to activate these facets of her spirit, too. Evelyn presents an opening for Afi and gives her the allowance to claim her voice and thus her autonomy.

“Instead, he mostly held me close, even when the music was fast, and when he pulled away, it was to show off some Highlife moves. We couldn’t help smiling as we danced and we were still smiling when we arrived home. We were so happy together.”

When Afi falls in love with Eli, her understanding of arranged marriage, cultural tradition, and personal desire change. Because the first weeks of her marriage are isolating and disempowering, Afi does not expect to grow attached to her husband. However, her expectations are subverted once the couple starts to share their life. At the same time, Afi’s newfound happiness with Eli foreshadows further conflicts in their interpersonal dynamic.

“What would I tell my mother? What would I tell his mother? But most importantly, how could I go back to being separated from him?”

Afi’s familial duties constantly abrade her personal desires. Afi wants to love and be loved by Eli but feels powerless to keep Eli close to her. Instead of worrying about her own happiness when Eli leaves the flat to return to Muna, Afi worries about Olivia’s and Aunty’s states of mind. At this juncture of the narrative, she places others’ expectations and desires above her own.

“‘Yes, and she’s coming back soon,’ Evelyn said. ‘They don’t want to tell you. They don’t want to admit that they haven’t been able to get him to leave her. This thing that he’s doing here, I don’t know if he’s also on vacation or what, but don’t be fooled into thinking that he’s left Muna. You just tell him that you want to move into his house and hear what he will tell you.’”

Evelyn’s character is a gateway to the truth for Afi. Evelyn is the first person who speaks openly with Afi, and who does not try to conceal the reality of her marital dynamic. Therefore, Afi gains a new understanding of her relationship with Eli by way of their friendship. Evelyn’s character is a narrative device by which Afi ultimately discovers her need for independence and liberation.

“Then why are you doing it? How can I understand when you haven’t told me anything? Eli, I don’t know what is happening. I don’t know, I don’t know what you want, I don’t know what you want me to do.”

Afi’s speech patterns in this scene convey her desperation. Afi wants to communicate effectively with Eli because she loves and wants to be with him. However, her elliptical and repetitive syntax captures her fear of losing Eli and her inability to take control of her life. Eli has indeed kept Afi from the truth and thus disempowered her within their marriage.

“As long as you are doing her bidding, you won’t have any trouble, but the day that you make a mistake and go against her is the day that you will see hell. My sister, you will see fire!”

Evelyn’s assessment of Aunty’s character changes Afi’s perspective on her family. Afi has respected Aunty for as long as she can remember. Evelyn is the first person who has challenged Aunty’s respectability and purity. In doing so, Evelyn compels Afi to reconsider her world and relationships and to form her own judgments. At the same time, Evelyn’s words foreshadow Afi’s coming decision to stand up to Aunty to make a change in her marriage.

“I had been proud of the fact that I had my own room; how many young people living with their parents in Ho have their own room? All of my cousins shared a room with someone. Even Mawusi, when she came home during the holidays, shared a room with her mother. Now it all seemed shabby; that’s what living in that gilded flat had done to me.”

Afi discovers that her outlook has changed when she returns to Ho. In the past, her life in Ho defined her sense of home. In the present, Afi realizes that her life in Accra has deformed her notions of comfortability and security. She sees the Ho house with new eyes, thus conveying how her character is evolving in accordance with her circumstances.

Because I love him. Living in that flat without him is killing me, Ma. Knowing that he’s with another woman while I lie alone in bed, it is killing me. Sometimes I feel like…I can’t breathe, like I’m going to choke on my sadness and die alone in that bed. I cannot keep living like this.”

Afi learns to stand up for herself to achieve her desires. She articulates her feelings to her mother to express her truth and create the reality she wants. This scene marks a turning point in Afi’s narrative, as she demonstrates her newfound ability to claim her voice and exercise her agency. She finds herself at the Intersection of Tradition and Personal Desire and chooses to pursue the latter instead of ceding to the former.

“What would I do if he took me back to the flat? I would refuse to enter! I would sit in his car and refuse to enter! If he tried to pull me out of the car I would resist, I would make a scene so that everyone in the building, at least those who had their balcony door open, would hear us, as would the security guards at the gate. I would hit and claw at him and curse the entire Ganyo family. Anything but go back into that flat.”

Afi’s internal monologue enacts her fraught relationship with the King’s Court Accra flat. The flat has come to symbolize entrapment and disempowerment for Afi. Living at the flat has stripped her of her agency over her life and precluded her from forming new relationships and chasing her dreams. Therefore, she resists returning to the flat because she is rebelling against Eli’s expectations of her as the demure, obedient wife.

“I don’t care what you know; I owe you nothing more. You wanted to live in this house and I brought you in. You could have been patient like I told you to, but you refused.”

Eli’s responses to Afi’s marital complaints convey his adherence to cultural traditions. Eli does love Afi but wants her to abide by the prescribed expectations for her sex. He indulges in the freedoms of afforded to men in Ghanaian society and therefore wants Afi’s behavior to support his role as the busy and elusive husband. Over time, his character becomes a barrier to Afi’s independence.

“The boutique was thriving. Despite Eli’s objections, I started working six weeks after Selorm was born. Knowing that every day I stayed at home the shop was empty pushed me out of the house.”

Afi’s boutique is symbolic of empowerment and liberation. She devotes her time and energy to the business in the immediate wake of giving birth because she does not want tradition to compromise her personal desires. She refuses to cater her dreams and goals to her maternal duties and domestic expectations.

“We clinked our champagne flutes and laughed. But the irony of the situation was not lost on me. In her story, I was the doctor, the one Aunty approved of, and she was the other woman.”

Afi’s and Evelyn’s respective relationships parallel and inform one another. Evelyn often compares Afi’s marriage to her dynamic with Richard. She does so to encourage Afi to claim autonomy over her life. At this juncture in the novel, however, Afi can see the contradictions in Evelyn’s personal narrative. She wishes that Evelyn could free herself from her relationship but has yet to do the same for herself.

“But now I just stood there staring at Eli and the only thing that I could think was that the Ganyos had lied to me. They had told me she was ugly. But there she was, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.”

Meeting Muna marks a turning point in Afi’s narrative account and character arc. Throughout the novel, Muna is an elusive, marginal character. Despite her absence, Afi perceives her as a constant threat to her happiness. The narrative tension climaxes when Afi accidentally knocks on Muna’s door. The scene not only changes Afi’s perspective on Muna but compels her to demand change in her marriage and ultimately to leave Eli.

“You love us both so you will marry us both, because you’re special and deserve to have everything you want. Everything! But I don’t deserve to have what I want, what I’ve suffered for.”

Afi’s ability to stand up to her husband conveys her self-empowerment. Afi is no longer willing to sacrifice her desires and needs to satisfy her husband. She fundamentally disagrees with Eli’s selfishness and refusal to see her. Therefore, she is articulating the difficulties of her experience and demanding change.

“Let them talk. Am I the first woman to ask for a divorce in this country? Women do it all the time and their lives don’t come to an end. They continue to breathe and work and some of them even manage to find love again. Why should I be any different? I’m still young, my business is doing well, I will work and take care of myself and my son.”

Afi subverts tradition to pursue her desires when she divorces Eli. Despite the associated risks, Afi decides to make a new life for herself. She has learned that she is capable of being independent, and therefore tells Mawusi that divorce does not mean destitution or death. Leaving Eli marks the end of Afi’s marital entrapment and the beginning of her newly empowered life.