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Freshwater is an extraordinary novel that revolves around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who constructs different identities within her because of her slight physical deformity. The novel explores the metaphysics of mental health-related issues that identify and push the reader into the mystery of being and self. Although Ada is the protagonist, the novel depicts her as one with a limiting voice to show the control of other speakers over her. The limited voice of Ada in the novel reflects her lack of control over the different selves that lead to her fractured existence and a disconnect with her true identity.
Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater explores the question of the liminal space that exists between the self and the other (Le Duff and Bobeica 5). In the above case, Ada, the protagonist, explores new identities between herself and in the context of Nigerian culture. When she grows up, she moves to America for college, and the group of selves within her move too and look for higher power and control. These selves take more control over her life and push Ada into the background.
The narration is based on not the perspective of Ada but those various selves within her. Those multiple entities with her both support her and make her suffer as well as dependent on them.
The most drastic changes in Ada’s life take place under the influence of God Ashugara and St. Vincent (Albano 114). The presence of both Gods shows how Ada deals with her sexuality. While the lustful Ashugara leads her to engage in multiple sexual relationships, St. Vincent's domination makes her feel a repulsion for her own body. Both Gods manipulate Ada, and she no longer has control over her body. As she grows, many spirits reside within her and fight for her soul and comfort.
When Ada goes viral with her sex life, her own id shrinks in these moments of wildness. She allows her expressive alter ego to deal with those particulars of intimacy, while she cut herself off from her own body. Somewhere along the journey of her life, the many spirits that possess her leave her with conflicting emotions. Ada tries to suppress her true self as those multiple parts of her consciousness and subconsciousness fight each other. Her voice gets lost in those conflicts, and she loses touch with her real self. Her story involves loneliness, depression, and the inclination to self-harm.
She gives herself completely to the spirits and believes in her splitting it into pieces as she thinks that this is what happens if you are not able to contain the god matter. Ada experiences bring to light those dark emotions and confusions within her. What she needed to do was align her inner and outer selves, however, the spirits customize her body to suit their nature. Ada lives with the demons and gives them space within her body. Those entities within her live in a closed room inside her head where nobody can see them. When she looks at her behavior like symptoms of abnormal behavior, she feels like she is betraying those spirits within her. The most striking of all voices is not the voice of Ada but the voice of the “we” the ogbanje, that carries a foreign presence but are human enough.
Those spirits and their siblings sabotage Ada’s voice, and it is a constant challenge for her to navigate life, and live a normal human. The plot combines the human and spiritual side of beings and how it can be dangerous to live within that liminal space that exists between the self and this alternate reality.
Freshwater takes on challenging topics like mental illness, identity, suicide, sexual assault, and more with a deliberate and exacting style of writing. The rich language of the novel captures the psychological experiences of the tensions that play between mind, body, and the development of the self during adolescence. Ada’s voice is stifled because the spirits take control of her body and use it as a vessel for their wicked manipulations through Ada. For Ada, her body should remain separate from her and obedient to the spirits that reside inside her. Those volatile and contradictory voices control her and sideline her own voice and identity.
Albano, Alessandra. "Freshwater: The Destabilizing Voice of Mental Illness." San Francisco. vol. 19, No. 1, 2019, pp. 114-115.
Emezi, Akwaeke. "Freshwater." Grove Press. vol. 1, No. 1, 2018, pp. 1-240.
Le Duff, Pierre and Bobeica, Cezara. "Negotiating, Subverting, Reconfiguring Borders in the English-Speaking World." Transatlantica. vol. 1, No. 1, 2018, pp. 1-6.
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