A REFLECTION ON OMOJUWURA'S "SEVEN MONTHS IN HELL"

"That women are regarded as weaker vessels does not make them objects of abuse, it indicates that, they need more care and love"
Omojuwura

I will define domestic violence as the force unleashed by one against the other in the home in other to kill or hurt him or her. Domestic violence is one major theme of Omojuwura's 'Seven Months in Hell'. A'ponle who defiles the warning of her family and friends to marry Adegbenro comes to the reality that she has married her monster, a man who subjects her to domestic violence and the humiliation of his family.
Domestic violence causes negative changes on the victim and it most times cut across every area of their lives. Physically a woman that is subjected to violence may get hurt, become disabled, have miscarriage or die. A'ponle experiences this, she loses her two unborn children to heavy punches from the husband within seven months.

"He pounced on her and gave her beating of her life. There after, A'ponle noticed the flow of blood. She had a miscarriage of her first child.''. Pg.18
"The beating continued until she loss another unborn child to painful punches one early morning. She almost died." Pg. 18

Emotionally domestic violence can make woman unhappy, bitter and aggressive.

"Just seven months, her life had become miserable. She dwelt in hell, to her, the husband she married was the real devil, no one could convince her against that and she was the tormented." " Her joy was taken from her" Pg18 and 19

When she is pushed to the wall she turns back to defend her life. This happens to Adegbenro, the husband of A'ponle, one morning when he wants to beat her, she runs to the back of the door that leads to the backyard and gets a pestle she uses to pound yam, with the aim of hitting it on Adegbenro's head, if he dares come near her to beat her. If he has not run for his life by walking out hurriedly, she may have ended up killing him. We hear the news of such reaction from wives to their husbands from time to time, some of these one might had been pushed to the wall by domestic violence and they reacted back negatively. They do unimaginable things possibly to get rid their husbands who have become much of a beast threating their existence so they could to get peace.
A woman subjected to domestic violence can be psychologically disturbed. She may begin to see herself below others, evaluating herself as of less value(low self esteem). She may begin to experience depression and anxiety. She becomes fearful not knowing what she may get next from her abuser. A'ponle got to this point when she thinks through her life, all the warning given to her, her stand to marry the one she loved and the hell she get herself into. All she can do is to cry. Sometimes, crying is a symbol of hopelessness. Psychologically she has been won.

"She cried her not taken to warning. After she had cried alone and got tired of crying..." pg 19

Domestic violence can limit or kill the cearer or vision of a woman. A'ponle's husband allows her to go to her shade when he wills. He stops her from attending to royals and nobles as she does before.

"She rarely went to work those days, her husband decided whether she would go or not. And who is she to neglect his command?" Pg 22

Her vocation which was thriving before marriage begin to suffer greatly. Apart from the husbands instructions she has to follow, the violence at home drains her spirit, it hinders her from attending to customers as before.


Irrational decisions. Domestic violence had made many women to take unreasonable decisions. Some committed suicide, some had returned the heat on the husband, many of them had done something at one time or the other that is unreasonable. A'ponle takes her decision to escape the hell roasting her undry when she can no longer bear it. She decides to run for her life. The land no longer look like the place to be, she needs her life. She decided to go to a far land not minding what can happen to her on the way. All she want was to escape. Though she informed the elder brother but her fate where she going to she did not know.

" I have taken my decision brother. I can't cope with this any more. I have decided to go on a journey to a far land, beyond the search of Adegbenro and his family. I need my life to be happy, through these seven months, I cannot recall a time I had truly laughed. No happiness, no joy. I got what I didn't expect." Pg 20

Assuming she takes her decision to kill her self, that would have been her end.
Domestic violence also have side effects on the Children. In the case of A'ponle, it is her pregnancies. In some homes, violence unleashed against the mother had released the children to life of fear, it had made them join bad gang, and exposed to vice filled life. It has cut the dream of many children. It is indeed a thing not to entertain in our homes.

SAY NO TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

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'Seven Months in Hell' by Omojuwura, is the story of a young diligent lady, A'ponle, who defiles all warning to marry the one she claims to love. She gets into marriage and gets subjected to violence that make her lose her unborn children, make her unhappy and hinders the progress of her work. When she can no longer bear it, she takes a firm decision to save her life.

Read and enjoy this interesting story and find out how she becomes happy again.

You can get it on,

Amazon,

https://beta.okadabooks.com/book/about/seven_months_in_hell/19379

It is really bad. I wnt advice my worst enemy to remain in an abusive marriage