Mother-Daughter Conflict in Cursed Daughters: Cycles of Control and Misunderstanding

Thematic Claim: Love, Fear, and the Repeating Pattern

The central mother-daughter conflict in Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Cursed Daughters is rooted in a paradox: mothers who have been wounded by the family curse try to protect their daughters by controlling them, yet their control often mirrors the very forces that caused their own suffering. This cycle of misunderstanding – where love becomes surveillance, tradition becomes weapon, and silence becomes betrayal – perpetuates the curse across generations. The novel shows that breaking free requires not just rebellion, but claiming ownership over one’s own story and body.

The First Link: Bunmi, Monife, and the Drowning of Autonomy

The tragedy of Monife’s suicide in the Prologue is the novel’s emotional anchor. Monife drowns at Elegushi Beach after being betrayed by Golden Boy, leaving a note that hopes his heart will break. Her mother, Bunmi Falodun, embodies a strict, tradition-bound approach to motherhood. In Chapter 61, we learn that Bunmi’s own marriage collapsed when her husband fell in love with another woman; despite her attempts to be the perfect wife – cooking, cleaning, deferring – the curse “won.” This failure fuels Bunmi’s rigid expectations for Monife: she expects her daughter to marry well, behave properly, and never bring shame.

Yet Bunmi’s attempts to shape Monife only drive her daughter toward secrecy and despair. Monife’s relationship with Golden Boy is conducted in hiding, and when Golden Boy’s mother dismisses her as unworthy (Chapter 48), Monife is left without maternal support. The water and the ocean become symbols of this swallowed pain: Monife, once a joyful swimmer, now joins the cold, joyless waters that take her life. Bunmi’s love was real but expressed as policing rather than listening, leaving Monife no safe place to land.

Ebun and Eniiyi: Fear Disguised as Discipline

The conflict deepens with Ebun Falodun and her daughter Eniiyi. Ebun, herself the daughter of Kemi Falodun, grew up in the shadow of the curse. Kemi was married off at seventeen, later abused, and eventually fled to her grandfather’s house with baby Ebun (Chapter 35). Ebun internalises a fierce independence – she studies to become a chartered accountant – but her trauma resurfaces when Eniiyi begins to resemble her dead cousin Monife.

From Eniiyi’s toddler years, Ebun sees Monife’s eyes in her daughter (Chapter 36). She reacts with alarm: she tears Eniiyi’s drawing of “small me and big me,” forces swimming lessons to prevent drowning (Chapter 67), and forbids talk of reincarnation after a family meeting (Chapter 71). Each action is driven by genuine fear – that Eniiyi will inherit Monife’s fate – but the execution is harsh and alienating. The iroko tree becomes a haunting symbol of this fear: young Eniiyi sleepwalks to the tree and stares into the void (Chapter 37), and Ebun, watching in dread, cannot bridge the distance between them.

The conflict peaks when Eniiyi, now an adult, brings home Zubby. Ebun drops the tea tray upon hearing his full name and orders him to leave (Chapter 81). She gives vague excuses about his Igbo ethnicity and his family being “not good people,” but refuses to explain further (Chapter 82). Eniiyi sees through the evasion and defiantly declares, “He is mine and I am his” – echoing the language of commitment that Ebun fears will lead to disaster. The mother’s secretive control replicates Bunmi’s pattern, and Eniiyi’s rebellion mirrors Monife’s, but with a different outcome: Eniiyi does not break; she walks out.

Generational Echoes: Kemi, Afoke, and the Curse’s Architecture

The novel’s interwoven chapters on the Falodun family curse provide the historical context for these conflicts. Kemi was handed over by her mother Afoke, who herself was driven by terror of the curse. Afoke (Chapter 75) seduced her sister’s boyfriend out of desperation, only to be cast out for gambling. The curse – a death blow pronounced by Feranmi’s co-wife – targets daughters, ensuring that “no man will call your house home.” Each mother in the chain reacts to this threat with a different form of control: Afoke clings aggressively to men; Kemi survives through shrewdness; Bunmi submits entirely; and Ebun tries to micromanage her daughter’s choices.

What makes the theme complex is that the curse may be as much a psychological inheritance as a supernatural one. Ebun tells young Monife that she doesn’t believe in curses, and Monife replies, “What if the curse believes in you?” (Chapter 8). The ambiguity allows for both readings: the women become cursed by the very beliefs and behaviors they inherit. The birthmarks and scars that link generations – Eniiyi’s familiar eyes, her left-handedness – are physical reminders that the past is never entirely separate from the present.

Contradiction and Liberation: The Possibility of Breaking the Cycle

The novel does not offer a simple resolution. Ebun’s love for Eniiyi is real, but her refusal to share the truth about Zubby’s family (a secret tied to Monife’s death, perhaps) repeats the pattern of silence that doomed Monife. Eniiyi, however, refuses to be consumed. She rescues a drowning stranger at the beach (Chapter 30), an act that mirrors both Monife’s drowning and her own potential fate. By choosing to swim toward danger rather than sink, she reclaims agency.

The Epilogue delivers the thematic climax: Eniiyi, described as a mermaid, wrestles the curse underwater until it expires in her arms, while simultaneously boarding a plane that skims the ocean. The dual imagery – immersion and flight – suggests that liberation is not about forgetting the curse but confronting it directly. The narrative ends with the declaration that “Eniiyi alone is the owner of her body.” This is the answer to every mother’s attempt to control: the daughter must become her own authority.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the Prologue establish the stakes of the mother-daughter conflict?
   Monife’s suicide is the direct result of feeling trapped: she could not confide in her mother Bunmi, whose rigid expectations left Monife isolated. Bunmi’s own suffering with marriage failure (Chapter 61) made her unable to see her daughter’s pain. The Prologue frames the theme as a matter of life and death.

2. What role does the iroko tree play in Ebun and Eniiyi’s relationship?
   Eniiyi sleepwalks to the ancient iroko tree, a symbol of family roots and the curse’s persistence. Ebun’s witnessing this (Chapter 37) fills her with dread because she interprets it as a sign that Monife’s spirit has taken hold. The tree becomes a physical site of the unresolved connection between past and present.

3. How does Ebun’s decision to force swimming lessons reflect her approach to motherhood?
   Ebun makes Eniiyi take harsh lessons so she can “conquer the water” and resist any call from Monife’s watery death. Though motivated by love, the method is painful and controlling (Chapter 67). Eniiyi resents the lessons, and the swimming itself becomes a site of resistance that she eventually reclaims.

4. Why is Monife’s phrase “He is mine and I am his” so significant when Eniiyi repeats it?
   The phrase echoes Monife’s devotion to Golden Boy, which led to her ruin. When Eniiyi says it to Ebun (Chapter 82), Ebun reacts with the shock of recognition, fearing a repeat of Monife’s tragedy. However, Eniiyi’s relationship with Zubby is built on mutual respect, not secrecy, suggesting that the same words can have a different ending.

5. In what way does the Epilogue resolve or complicate the theme of maternal control?
   Eniiyi’s defeat of the curse underwater symbolises her claiming ownership of her body and destiny. The mother figure is absent from this victory; Eniiyi must alone conquer the inherited weight. The resolution affirms that while mothers’ fears are understandable, only the daughter can break the cycle – and that requires leaving behind the family home for a new horizon.