Veronica By Adewale Maja Pearce

Veronica - Why Doesn't Veronica Leave For The City?

The city is an elegant place to live. It calls to the people from the inferior village life. The well led life followed by the city people offers many opportunities compared to the hopelessness of village surroundings. It offers hope, the chance to be independent, the chance of a job. In the story Veronica by Adewale Maja-Pearce, Okekй the ever lasting friend of Veronica is drawn by the attraction of the city for the opportunities he sees for himself. Veronica on the other hand does not desire to leave their decomposing village for the city. She decides this for a number of reasons.

One of the reasons why Veronica decides not to go to the city is due to her lack of education. She feels that the city has nothing to offer her and her place is the village. She says,

'What will I do when I get there, I have no qualifications not even a standard six'

She is aware that she needs qualifications to succeed in the city and without them, she sees no point in going.

Another reason associated with this is to do with Veronica's expectations. If Veronica's expectations were not so low, she may have gone to the city with Okekй. Veronica says,

'They are my family that is enough'

This line is an example of Veronica's low expectations. She feels her family is enough and she needs nothing else. Another example of Veronicas low expectations is when Okekй comes back after ten years to find Veronica with a child a husband. Another example is,

'God has blessed us with a son. Is that not enough?'

This show's Veronica is still the same after the distant period that the two had been apart. She is still surviving in the squalor of a village of which Okekй had once lived. Her expectations had always been the same. The low expectations Veronica has for herself, compared to the high expectations Okekй has for himself throughout the story, show that it is a male dominated society.

If Veronica had gone to the city the opportunities open to women are very different to the opportunities open to men. Okekй says,

'You could go to night school and become a secretary'

A secretary has a feminine job as where a doctor, which Okekй became, is a masculine job.

This leads to a very important point about the difference between the roles of men and women. This is a major part through the story Veronica. If Veronica had been male, she would have gone to the city as a child to go to school. This would have put her in a similar position to Okekй, but due to the roles of men and women Veronica was forced to live the desperate life of a suffering young woman in a deteriorating village. During the conversation between Okekй and Veronica, numerous reasons arouse in association with the roles of men and women. Veronica says,

'I have no qualifications'

One of the reasons why Veronica has such a lack in education is because she is female. Veronica also says,

'I have to go and cook, my father will be home soon'

Veronica being a typical female in the society had to do the cooking for her family.

This leads to another point about why Veronica does not leave for the city with Okekй. Veronica did not wish to leave behind her family. Veronica led her life taking orders from her brute of a father, and from an early age, he beat her. Veronica was very weak just like her