Language, Loss and Domestic Estrangement: a Semantic Analysis of Westernization in Yambo Ouologuem's to My Husband
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper presents a critical textual analysis of Yambo Ouologuem’s poem “To My Husband”, exploring how postcolonial disillusionment, gendered alienation, and cultural mimicry intersect within a domestic setting. The poem, written as a dramatic monologue, unravels the speaker’s emotional and cultural estrangement following her husband’s symbolic adoption of a Western identity. Through careful examination of poetic devices such as repetition, irony, enjambment, and juxtaposition, the study reveals the thematic tensions between tradition and modernity, intimacy and alienation, indigeneity and colonial mimicry. The poet’s strategic use of diction, cultural symbols, and tonal shifts constructs a compelling critique of Western imperialism’s lingering effects on African identity, marriage, and self-worth. Ultimately, the analysis concludes that Ouologuem’s poem encapsulates the psychological and emotional toll of cultural dislocation and the failure of colonial modernity to deliver meaningful transformation within postcolonial African realities
Authors: Chijioke, Edward (Ph. D), Ugwueze, Edith Nkasiobi, Iloanwusi, Vitalis Chinemerem
Institution: Godfrey Okoye University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7081986574
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