His Only Wife

Afi Tekple’s arranged marriage to Eli Ganyo places her character at the Intersection of Tradition and Personal Desire. Afi agrees to marry Eli, a man she does not know, because she wants to please her mother and repay Aunty Ganyo for her kindness to her family. Following tradition makes her feel as if she is “balancing [the] two families like a basin of water, which was full to the brim, on [her] head” (4). Afi has dreams, hopes, and goals of her own, but at the beginning of the novel, her responsibilities to Aunty and Olivia trump her personal desires. The arranged marriage therefore limits Afi’s autonomy over her future. At the same time, following these cultural and familial duties reaffirms Afi’s role as a young Ghanaian woman. Therefore, Afi tries to quell her own dreams to satisfy tradition throughout the first weeks and months of her marriage despite her discomfort and dissatisfaction. Though she tries throughout the novel to find a way to balance conforming to tradition with fulfilling her personal and professional needs, Afi eventually concludes that she must reject tradition to seize happiness.

Throughout Afi’s marriage to Eli, she becomes increasingly emboldened. The more trapped and alienated she feels by her family and relationship, the more she chases her desires.