OF WHAT SEX IS THE TEXT? A NEW READING OF GENDER CHARACTERIZATION AS A TROPE OF HARMONY, COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE AND JOINT HEROISM IN GABRIEL OKARA'S THE VOICE

Abstract

This paper is a new reconstruction of gender meanings on Gabriel Okara'ｓ post-colonial African fiction, The Voice. While it is common to ascribe masculine interpretations to most early post colonial writings, this author argues that Okara'ｓ agenda in this novel is to propagate a bisexual, co-sexual and joint gender heroism thesis as the best and most harmonious approach to a true post-colonial African nationalism. The search for "it"(the neuter pronoun as metaphor for the essence of truth, justice, gender equality and fairness) by the male messiah-hero is invigorated by the physical, logistic and spiritual support of the misunderstood female mother figure. In the tale of a strong bond between the two main characters to search "it"and "The thing between us, " Okara uses a genderless pronoun and a generic noun, respectively. This desexation in language, style and themes in The Voice can be understood and appropriated for the contemporary search for an African epistemology.