Autonomy versus Superstition in Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Cursed Daughters

Defining the Thematic Claim

In Cursed Daughters, Oyinkan Braithwaite pits the desire for self-determination against the weight of inherited supernatural belief. The central claim is that autonomy is never fully absolute; it must be wrested from a system of inherited superstitions that shape identity, relationships, and fate. Characters who try to deny the curse—or rationalize it away—find themselves bound by it nonetheless. True liberation comes not from ignoring the superstition but from confronting it on one’s own terms. This struggle plays out across three generations of the Falodun family, where the curse operates both as a supernatural threat and a psychological trap that limits free will.

Tracing the Theme Across the Plot

1. Monife’s Drowning: The Curse as Self‑Fulfilling Prophecy

The Prologue establishes the tension immediately. Monife, once a carefree swimmer, drowns herself at Elegushi Beach after being betrayed by Golden Boy. She hopes “his heart will break,” but her act is one of despair—a surrender to the belief that love will always fail. Ebun later states at the funeral that “love is what killed her cousin,” implying that the curse—which dictates that Falodun women will “love in vain”—has been internalized. Monife’s suicide is both a rejection of autonomy (she ends her own life) and a confirmation of the curse’s power. Yet the narrative refuses to blame only the curse: Golden Boy’s cruelty is human, not supernatural. This early ambiguity—is the curse real or a psychological crutch?—sets the stage.

2. Ebun’s Fight to Raise Eniiyi Without Superstition

Ebun embodies the rationalist stance. She scoffs at the curse, telling her cousin “I don’t believe in curses.” When her mother and aunt insist on a naming ceremony (Chapter VII), Ebun reluctantly eats lizard head and participates in traditional rites. She names her daughter Eniiyi (“person of integrity”) to break the pattern, rejecting names like Motitunde (“I have come again”) that would brand the child a reincarnation. However, her autonomy is constantly undercut. She cannot leave work early, she cannot prevent her aunt from whispering reincarnation stories, and she cannot stop Eniiyi from exploring Monife’s room. When Eniiyi insists “I am her” (referring to Monife), Ebun beats her—a violent attempt to force autonomy through fear. The beating shows that Ebun’s refusal of superstition is itself a form of control, not freedom.

3. Eniiyi’s Underwater Victory: Reclaiming Autonomy Through Confrontation

The Epilogue offers resolution. Eniiyi engages in a symbolic underwater battle with the curse, described as a beast. She wrestles it until it expires in her arms. Simultaneously, she walks through an airplane, finds seat 52A, and the plane takes off—skimming the ocean. The narrative declares: “Eniiyi alone is the owner of her body.” This dual imagery of water (the curse’s domain) and flight (escape) suggests that autonomy is achieved not by denying the curse but by defeating it directly. She does not repress the past; she fights it and then leaves it behind, with only a shadow of the curse remaining. Unlike Monife, who drowned in submission, Eniiyi experiences the ocean as a battleground she wins.

Character and Symbol Connections

Ebun Falodun (character page)

Ebun struggles to define herself outside the family script. She is an auditor—someone who checks errors—but cannot “audit” the curse’s effect on her family. Her violence toward Eniiyi mirrors the violence of the tradition she despises. Her autonomy is compromised by her need to protect her daughter, ironically causing the very harm she fears.

Monife Falodun (character page)

Monife is the ghost who haunts the narrative. Her death is the curse’s most visible victory. She tried to love autonomously but was betrayed. Her drowning links to the symbol of water and the ocean: the ocean is both her grave and, for Eniiyi, the site of rebirth.

Eniiyi Falodun (character page)

Eniiyi is the ultimate agent of change. She listens to the stories of reincarnation from her grand-aunt and explores Mo’s room, embracing the identity her mother rejects. Rather than being destroyed by the superstition, she incorporates it into her own self-understanding and then transcends it. The birthmarks and scars (Eniiyi’s healing scar) physically link her to Monife, but the epilogue shows she writes her own narrative.

The Ankle Bracelet (symbol page)

Though not listed in the evidence for this theme, the ankle bracelet traditionally ties a woman to home and husband. Braithwaite uses it to represent the fetters of expectation. Eniiyi’s final assertion of ownership over her body signifies breaking that chain.

The Iroko Tree (symbol page)

The iroko often stands for ancestral power and permanence. The family tree in Chapter 1 validates the curse’s long lineage; the iroko symbolizes that weight. Eniiyi does not chop it down but learns to coexist with its shadow.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel refuses to take a simple stance. Ebun’s rationalism leads to abuse; the superstitious aunts genuinely love Eniiyi and want to protect her. The curse itself may be real—it manifests in patterns that recur regardless of individual choice. Kemi (Ebun’s mother) marries three times, each relationship ending in disaster; Yemisi is abandoned when pregnant; Bunmi’s husband falls in love with another woman. Yet these outcomes could also be explained by patriarchal structures: women with limited options making desperate choices. The ambiguity is deliberate: can one be autonomous if the belief in a curse shapes reality?

Furthermore, Eniiyi’s victory in the epilogue is not purely secular. She fights the curse in a dreamlike battle—acknowledging its power. Autonomy here means choosing to engage the supernatural rather than deny it. This suggests that superstition is not simply false but a force that must be negotiated.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Ebun’s refusal to believe in the curse paradoxically limit her autonomy?
   Answer: Ebun defines herself in opposition to the curse, but her resistance traps her in a reactive posture—she beats Eniiyi, rejects family rituals, and isolates herself. She is not freely acting but constantly defending. True autonomy would require her to engage the family’s beliefs on her own terms rather than simply negate them.

2. What role does the naming ceremony play in the autonomy versus superstition conflict?
   Answer: The ceremony (Chapter VII) forces Ebun to participate in ritual “fetish practices” she abhors. She eats lizard head and accepts the symbolic items (honey, palm oil) to secure Eniiyi’s well‑being. Though she asserts her choice of name, the ceremony itself subjects her to tradition—showing that autonomy is never complete when embedded in a family legacy.

3. Why does Eniiyi succeed where Monife failed in overcoming the curse?
   Answer: Monife internalized the curse as a prophecy of inevitable betrayal—she drowned in despair. Eniiyi, by contrast, confronts the curse directly in the underwater battle. She does not flee from the reincarnation rumors but incorporates them into her identity and then fights for control. The novel suggests that autonomy requires active struggle, not passive acceptance or denial.

4. Is the curse presented as a real supernatural force or a psychological construct?
   Answer: Braithwaite leaves it ambiguous. The evidence of real, recurring tragedies—Monife’s suicide, Yemisi’s abandonment, Kemi’s abusive marriages—could be explained by social patterns. Yet Eniiyi’s battle in the epilogue is depicted as literal. The novel invites readers to see the curse as both: a real inherited burden and a story that families use to make sense of pain. Autonomy emerges from choosing how to interpret that story.

5. How does water function as a symbol of both submission and liberation?
   Answer: For Monife, the ocean is the site of suicide—submission to the curse. For Eniiyi, the same ocean becomes a battleground where she defeats the curse and then flies away by plane. Water represents the inherited legacy that can drown or be navigated. Eniiyi chooses to swim through it and emerge on the other side, reclaiming her body as her own.

Conclusion

Cursed Daughters does not offer a neat resolution. The theme of autonomy versus superstition remains a dialectic: each character’s attempt to break free is shaped by the very belief system they reject. Ebun’s rationalism is haunted; Monife’s despair is a surrender; Eniiyi’s victory is a synthesis—she uses the curse’s own language (the underwater arena) to claim her body. Braithwaite ultimately argues that autonomy is not the absence of superstition but the power to define one’s relationship with it.