pper ofUhamiri. Since then she has not got another child.Two, Nwanyafor Ojimba, she has no child at all.Three, Uzoechi Negenege, no child. They are allover the place. Why do we bother ourselves count-ing them.' (162)Efuru's mother only had Efuru, and Efuru losses Ogonim, her only child. Uhamari, The Lake Goddess, is barren and her state justifies the others. The fact that she does not have any children and is very wealthy, have a structural and thematic relevance to the lives and experiences on Efuru. The concern shown by mothers and elders in Igbo society underscores how seriously they take the socialization of young people to proper behavior. Women always express these concerns and they also enforce the code. This means that women are kind of the custodians of tradition. They also guard these traditions to kind of a ridiculous extent when you think about it. An example is when Ajanupu insists that Nkonyeni should greet her and Efuru warmly, than how she had originally greeted them (174), and the time that Omirima censures her daughter-in-law for trying to protect her children from yaws by sending Omirima's daughter away (174).I think that what Flora Nwapa is trying to convey in Efuru is that children alone do not bring about happiness or self-fulfillment to women. In Efuru, Uhamiri is said to be happy even though she doesn't have a child. She is probably consoling those women in Igbo society that cannot have children and are barren, by relating how happy The Lake Goddess is even though she cannot have children. It is as if Flora Nwapa is saying that there are other factors to happiness. Companionship and love in marriage are as important as motherhood, if not even more. Originally, a marriage fails or succeeds depending on the circumstances that affect it. Childlessness, in Igbo society and in "Efuru", is one aspect to a marriage that fails but there are other aspects to consider, like neglect, incompatibility, lack of trust, and unf...
