Troubled Childhood in Africa: The Example of Amma Darko’s Faceless

Abstract

The child has found expression in African narratives from its emergence, but critics have not paid sufficient attention to this subject as most of them seem to consider it trivial. There are several critical works on Amma Darko’s Faceless, but the troubled condition of the child in society as demonstrated in this novel has not been given the needed critical attention. Thus, this paper seeks to address troubled childhood in this narrative. The paper examines the burden of African child particularly the traumatic effect of such ACE (adverse childhood experiences) on the child and society. In addressing the fate of the child, trauma theory is deployed in the analysis of the novel because the distressed child finds expression in the mental/emotional state of literary personages in the novel. The child in this society is treated as an object to be exploited and the exploitation of the naiveté and innocence of the child leads to incalculable human problems because the child suffers psychological pains from her ill-treatment. The psychological pains are often acted out in traits that are detrimental to society. These children often grow up to be criminally minded and irresponsible adults. From the novel, the way to build a good society is to avoid the dehumanization and exploitation of the child and nurture the child with love and care.

Keywords: Childhood, Trauma, Dissociation and Society