SECTION E: African Prose AMMA DARKO: Faceless Discuss parental negligence in the novel.

Answer Details

Parental negligence is one of the dominant themes of Amma Darko's Faceless. The novel traces how the failure of parents, especially the failure to protect and provide for children, drives young girls onto the streets and into exploitation, abuse and even death.

Maa Tsuru's failure as a mother. Maa Tsuru, mother of Baby T and Fofo, is the chief example of parental negligence. Overwhelmed by poverty, weakness and a belief that she is cursed, she fails to protect her children. She allows the men in her life to dominate the household and does little to shield her daughters, so that her children are left exposed to the dangers of the streets.

Sacrificing children to survive. The gravest instance is the fate of Baby T. Instead of being nurtured and defended, Baby T is effectively handed over and drawn into child prostitution, ending in her murder. Her mother's inability or unwillingness to save her shows how parental neglect can be fatal.

The absence and irresponsibility of fathers. The men who should be fathers, figures such as Kwei and Kpakpo, are irresponsible, exploitative or absent. Rather than caring for the children, they use the household for their own ends and add to the burden on Maa Tsuru, deepening the children's neglect.

Poverty and superstition as excuses. Darko shows that poverty and the superstitious belief in a family curse are used to explain, and partly to excuse, the parents' failure. Yet the novel makes clear that these do not remove the responsibility parents owe their children.

Contrast with responsible care. Against this negligence Darko sets the caring, protective household of Kabria and the work of the NGO MUTE, which rescues Fofo. This contrast underlines what proper parental and social responsibility should look like and how far Maa Tsuru's family falls short.

Conclusion. Through Maa Tsuru's helplessness, the fathers' irresponsibility and the tragic fate of Baby T, Faceless presents parental negligence as a root cause of the suffering of street children, and pleads for greater responsibility from parents and society towards the vulnerable child.