glossary of Anowa quotes to memorise

Osam: "lying in his chair smoking"

Badua on Anowa marrying: "refused to marry six years after puberty"

Badua on what she wants Anowa to be/do: "human woman"

Badua on Kofi: "this fool, good-for-nothing cassava-man"

Badua on priestesses: "my only daughter shall not be a priestess"

Osam on fate: "the yam that will burn shall burn boiled or roasted"

Osam on patriarchal society: "this is your family drum, beat it my wife"

Osam on how Badua wanted Anowa to get married so badly: "get married to…the devil himself…spread your rich cloth…sacrifice an elephant"

Anowa disrespect: "scrapes her teeth noisily"

Badua on marriages: "marriage is like a piece of cloth…its beauty passes"

Anowa on her marriage: "remove your witch's mouth from our marriage"

Anowa when leaving Yebi: "I shall walk so well that I will not find my feet back here again"

On the highway phase 2: "thunder and lightning"

Kofi's loving nature: "I cannot afford to lose you"

Kofi to Anowa: "you ought to be born a man"

Anowa on having children: "worried of not seeing signs of a baby yet"

Kofi's soliloquy: "I shall be the new husband and you the new wife"

Anowa's fate and likes: "your soul is too restless"

Anowa on slavery: "We shall not buy men"

Badua on women: "a good woman does not have a brain or a mouth"

Anowa priestess: "hovering on the outer fringes of life, always searching for something…"

Old woman on Anowa: "She is a witch, She is a devil, She is everything that is evil"

Old Man on money making and slavery: "money making is like a god possessing a priest"

Description of Kofi's house and rich stuff: "furniture is…foreign…opulent"

Anowa after being rich: "aged and forlorn in her old clothes. She is still bare-footed"

Slavery (nana): "no one talks of these things anymore"

Anowa's dream: "screaming…burning…sweating"

Anowa on Kofi and her relationship: "Darkness has overtaken us already"

Anowa on Kofi being impotent: "you have exhausted your masculinity acquiring slaves and wealth"

Death of Kofi and Anowa: "there is a sudden gun-shot off stage"

Old Man/Old Woman End commentary: "It is men who make men mad"

Anowa monologue: "someone should have taught me how to grow up to be a woman"

Kofi at the end during the fight with Anowa: "Everyone said you were a witch. I should have believed them"

prologue: how is Anowa introduced by the chorus?: "the unfortunate Anowa"

prologue: description of Anowa's birth?: "out of a womb can always come a disparate breed"

prologue: description of Anowa's strange behaviour?: "She listens to her own tales Laughs at her own jokes and follows her own advice"

prologue: one trait that marks Anowa out as different?: "unusual beauty… [clouding] her vision of the world"

prologue: chorus's metaphor to describe Anowa?: "a dainty little pot… to set in a nobleman's corner"

significance of Anowa being a born priestess?: "she doesn't fit with traditional values for women"

phase 1: what are Badua's wishes for Anowa?: "I want my child / to be a human woman"

phase 1: what does Anowa say to Badua before she leaves?: "We shall not be coming back here to Yebi. Not for a long long time, Mother, not for a long long time."

phase 1: how does Badua describe Kofi?: "this good-for-nothing cassava male, this watery male of all watery males"

phase 1: what does Anowa think her future with Kofi will be like?: "I'm going to help him do something with his life."

phase 2: what is one of the first things Kofi says in this phase?: "It is a fearful night"

phase 2: what does Kofi tell Anowa after seeing that she is less tired than him?: "You ought to have been born a man"

phase 2: what does Anowa reveal when Kofi worries about her health?: "my mother told me that she has never been sick"

phase 2: what ironic thing does Kofi say after they argue?: "Anowa, I shall be the new husband, and you the new wife"

phase 2: what happens in the stage directions during Kofi and Anowa's fight?: "pathetic fallacy - an intense thunderstorm"

phase 2: what does Anowa say in her sleep after she and Kofi fight?: "The storm has ruined the whole corn field. Every stalk is down."

phase 2: how does Anowa contradict herself regarding Kofi?: "when Kofi tells Anowa to look after the house, Anowa refuses, but tells him she will find him another wife to do that instead"

phase 2: how does Kofi ironically insult Anowa for having no children?: "this is because you have no children. women who have children can always see themselves in the future"

phase 2: Anowa's contradictory attitude towards traditional gender roles: "a good woman does not have a brain or a mouth"

phase 2: how does Anowa respond when Kofi suggests she rest?: "How can a human being rest all the time? I cannot."

phase 2: how does Kofi describe Anowa's individualism?: "An illness that turns to bile all the good things of here-under-the-sun"

phase 2: what shows Kofi's power over Anowa?: "interrupts her more; 'Stop it!'"

phase 3: ironically, how is Kofi described by everyone now?: "Nana - a wise elder"

phase 3: what does Anowa see every time slavery is mentioned?: "I see a woman who is me and a bursting of a ripe tomato or a swollen pod"

phase 3: how does Anowa, contradictorily, show that she wants to be normal but cannot be?: "Why didn't someone teach me how to grow up to be a woman?"

phase 3: how is Kofi's power over Anowa shown in this phase?: "[There is a sudden gun-shot off stage, followed by a stillness.]"

phase 3: how does the old woman react to Kofi's death?: "Let the gods forgive me for speaking ill of the dead, but Anowa ate Kofi Ako up!"

phase 3: how does the old man explain the tragedy of Anowa in his final speech before the play ends?: "It is men who make men mad. Who knows if Anowa would have been a better woman, a better person if we had not been what we are?"