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Essay Veronica - Why Doesnt Veronica Leave For The City?

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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, Okeké 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 …show more content…

She is still surviving in the squalor of a village of which Okeké had once lived. Her expectations had always been the same. The low expectations Veronica has for herself, compared to the high expectations Okeké 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. Okeké says,

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

A secretary has a feminine job as where a doctor, which Okeké 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 Okeké, 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 Okeké 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

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