A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE REPRESENTATION OF MALE AND FEMALE IN SEFI ATTA’S NOVELSEVERYTHING GOOD WILL COMEAND SWALLOW: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL APPROACH

F. AGBACHI. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) –the broad theory developed by Halliday (1985a)–has emphasised the relevance of language use in context to make three simultaneous meanings known as the interpersonal (realized through mood patterns), the experiential (realized through transitivity patterns) and the textual (realized through theme patterns). In this paper, the focus is on the transitivity choices drawn on by both male and female participants in Sefi Atta‟s novels Everything Good Will Come and Swallow. This study is an attempt to investigatethe representation of male and female personae both in their differences and similarities through their selection of process types in various circumstancesin two novels written by the same author.The main objective to be reached here is to show how the comparative study of male‟s and female‟s experience both in Everything Good Will Come and Swallow elicits the authorial ideology. Before dealing with the practical analysis of transitivity patterns and the interpretation derived from this analysis, the theoretical framework provides an overview of the theory.

-Behavioural processes with their related participants: Behaver and Behaviour / Phenomenon; -Verbal processes with their implicated participants: Sayer, Receiver and Verbiage; -Existential processes with their implicated participant: Existent; -Relational processes with their related participants: Carrier and Attribute; Token and Value; Possessor and Possessed.
The circumstances -expressed either through the adverbial groups or the prepositional groups-can occur with any process type to show extent (duration, distance); location (time, place); manner (means, quality, comparison); cause; matter; role and accompaniment. The transitivity theory as developed by Halliday and being applied by scholars and students constitutes relevant theoretical backgrounds and practical analyses for the understanding of what language is, how it functions and how it is structured to make meanings about experience. Instances of transitivity analysis of a literary work are: Koussouhon (2013). Koussouhon and Allagbe (2013); Koussouhon and Koutchade (2011).

Transitivity analysis of the excerpts from Everything Good Will Come and Swallow:-
The transitivity analysis of the excerpts from Sefi Atta"sEverything Good Will Come andSwallow requires the identification of the different process types and the statistical data related to them so as to see how the experiential meaning is realized in these novels and how far this meaning contributes to the understanding of male and female characters" experience (refer to Tables N°1, N°2 and N°3).

Enitan
Enitan " Among the main participants initiating the process types in Everything Good Will Come (Sheri, Enitan, her father, mother and husband), the narrator and the female character Enitan (58.46%) is naturally the initiator of most of the actions expressed by the process types.  Table N°3:Gendered distribution of the process types in the excerptsfrom Everything Good Will Come The gendered distribution of the process types in the overall excerpts -from Everything Good Will Come-clearly reveals that thefemale characters (46.55%) are the most expressive gender through the process types while themale characters (23.22%) rank second and people of unspecified gender occur the least. Besides, female characters are respectively predominant with mental processes (61.54%), behavioural processes (55%), verbal processes (53.69%) and material processes (43.65%). This is to show that female characters and especially the narrator Enitan are mostly involved both in psychological and physiological actions about women"s plight, human conditions, which lead them to say things about some concrete and tangible actions to be undertaken by women themselves and all human beings. It is worth mentioning that other participants (14.02%), which refer to animals and things initiating the process types, are not included in this study. The gendered distribution of the process types in the overall excerpts -from Swallow-displays thefemale characters (51.56%) as the most expressive gender throughout all the process types and themale characters (22.69%) occur second in rank whereas the people of unspecified gender occur the least. Thus, Sefi Atta"s Swallow has diversely expressed gender roles in order to convey a specific message about them. It is worth noticing that thefemale characters are mostly associated with mental processes (71.43%), behavioural processes (66.62%), verbal processes (58.59%) and causative processes (53.33%). As a result, thefemale characters and particularly Tolani -one of the narrators-are predominantly implicated both in psychological and physiological actions about women"s plight, drug-dealing, human conditions, which lead them to say things in one way or the other and to become some agents of their own ruin or restoration.

Material processes:-
NB: The participants initiating the process types appear in brackets and they are labelled according to the keys displayed in the appendices. The clauses that come next, are sorted out in a numerical order for the comparative analysis.
 Similarities: 1-Entire books dedicated(Unsp) to the salvation of African women"s genitals 2-[but my aunt (F) used her so-called powers.] She (F) protected women and children in our town with the help of women of her co-op  Clauses (1, 2) from the two novels,show people"s or women"s actions for underprivileged people (women and children). 6-that nothing a woman (Female) does[ justifies rape] 7-He (M) will give us drugs [(F) to swallow … but I (Tol) did not take risks with mine]  Clauses (6, 7) from the two novels, denounce people"s or men"s practices towards women: rape and drugsmuggling. In Clauses (10, 11, 12) from the two novels, the narrator Enitan is acting as an emancipated and less submissive woman while the narrator Tolanias an indecisive and submissive woman.
Mental processes:- Similarities: 13-and I (Eni)no longer imagined prison cells because I"d seen the inside of one 14-I (Tol) couldn't imagine going to the hospital [she (F) worked in]  Clauses(13, 14) from the two novels, indicate Enitan"s refusal to imagine prison cells because she has a negativeperception of them andTolani"sinability to imaginegoing to a public hospital because she has a bad experience of it.
15-I (Eni)viewed the world with a bad squint, a travelling eye 16-after that, (Eni)seeing struggles [I (Eni) could do little about] 17-then I (Tol) saw[how my mother (Tol"m) struggled after he died]  Clauses(15, 16, 17) from the two novels, denote Enitan"s and Tolani"s perception of the world and its "struggles".

18-I (Eni)blamed myself for putting my child at risk for another miscarriage 19-I (Tol) blamed myself [I (Tol) should have stopped Rose and could have]
 Clauses(18,19) from the two novels, express Enitan"sself-incrimination for her child"s life and Tolani"s selfincrimination for her girlfriend"s death. 20-and yes, people (Unsp)should be allowed to say what [they (Unsp) want] 21-Women were not (M) allowed (F) to form secret societies as men did  Clauses(20, 21) from the two novels, claim freedom of thought or action for people and especially women.

22-Parents (Unsp)allow him (Male) to do [what he (Male) wants]
23-What kind of man (M) would allow his wife (F) to ride a motorcycle [when only men (M) were allowed to?] In clauses (22, 23) from the two novels, "parents and "man" are respectively the carefree agents of their son"s wrongdoings or deviations and his spouse"s motorbike riding within a patriarchal or conservative society.  [(Tol) to be one of those women who ends up old and dry because a man disappointed her]  Clauses(24,25) from the two novels, express Enitan"s wish for marital life as an authoritarian wife while Tolani"s wish for marital life depicts her as a submissive wife ready for compromise on a lifelong relationship.

26-I (Eni) only knew how [(Eni) to think for myself]
27-I (Tol) don't know anything about any women"s liberation  Clauses(26,27) from the two novels, express cognition aboutEnitan"sself-reliance, which contrasts withTolani"s lack of cognition or her reliance on others for "women"s liberation".  (30,31,32,33,34) from Everything Good Will Come, denoteEnitan"s beliefs and hope for Africa and especially her motherland as an intrepid woman.On the contrary,clauses (35,36,37,38,39) from Swallow, present Tolani"s perception and cognition about herself -not others-as the agent of her girlfriend"s deathandexpress Tolani"s lack of belief in her father"s death as a desperate woman.
40-[At dawn I (Eni) forced myself] (Eni)to imagine my father 41-My spirit will not allow me (Tol) to be a smuggler In clauses (40, 41) from the two novels, while Enitan is the agent who causes herself to imagine her father in custody,Tolani"s spirit (or herself) appears as the opposite agent who psychologically causes her not to be a smuggler.  (44,45,46,47,48,49,50) from the two novels,denounce women"s attitudes towards men and vice versa and the bad treatment inflicted on people. 51-I (Eni)cried[until I (Eni) soaked my pillow. Nothing is worse than the loss of a child,even if the child (Unsp) is never born] 52-I (Tol)'d cried over my own loss, my own rage 53-and (Tol) cried, [although I (Tol)"d heard her stories before]  Clauses (51, 52, 53) from the two novels, showEnitan"sattitude of cry for hermiscarriageand Tolani"s attitude of cry for hergirlfriend"s loss and her mother"s life story.
 Differences: 54-I (Eni)was not looking for a compromise 55-You (Tol) look[as if you (Tol)"re possessed]  Clauses (54, 55) from the two novels, contrastTolani"s attitude, which favours compromise or "possession"with Enitan"s attitude, which allows no compromise. 56-We (Unsp)will always have to look within for our own solutions Only clause (56) from Everything Good Will Comedefines Africans" best attitude for the sustainable development of Africa as follows: "look within for our own solutions".
Verbal processes:- Similarities: 57-People (Unsp)talked about the influence of Western culture 58-People (Unsp) talked nonstop about corruption  In clauses (57, 58) from the two novels, people are the sayers of something about "the influence of Western culture" or "corruption". 59-From childhood, people (Unsp)had told me [I (Eni) couldn"t do this or that, because no one would marry me and I would never become a mother] 60-They (Unsp) also said[my aunt (F) had offended the witch"s spirit by converting to Christianity so the witch (F) punished my aunt by killing off her husband and unborn children] In clauses (59, 60) from the two novels, two women (Enitan and Tolani"s mother"s aunt) are the victims of people"s saying about their fate -they will remain barren and single for the rest of their life.

61-I (Eni)told her about my own life 62-after I (Tol)'d told him all [that had happened to Rose]
In clauses (61, 62) from the two novels,Enitan or Tolani is the sayer of something to someone about her life or someone else"s life.

63-The first person (Male) to tell me [my virginity (Thing) belonged to me was the boy (Male) who took it] 64-OC (M) says [he (M) will take care of me anyway]
 In clauses (63, 64) from the two novels,Enitan or Tolani"s girlfriend is the receiver of flattering or seductive words from a man.

65-My husband (Eni"h)asked why [I (Eni) was leaving him]
66-[Are we (Unsp) still together?] he (Tol"b) asked In clauses (65, 66) from the two novels,Enitan"s husband orTolani"s boyfriend questions his relationship with Enitan or Tolani at a breaking point or breakup.  (71) from Everything Good Will Comepresents Enitan as the receiver of no "act of subordination" to amanwhereas clause (72)questions Tolani"ssolemn sayingin retaliation fora man"s abuse, which-as a submissive woman-she hasnever fulfilled.
Causative processes:- Similarities: 73-A few greedy people (Unsp)won't let us (Unsp) get there 74-The new Oba (M) should not be forcing women into marriage  In clauses (73, 74) from the two novels, the agent "a few greedy people" or "the new Oba" won"t let the majority including "women" perform their actions or achieve their goal (such as "marriage"). 75-Just seeing her made me (Eni) feel guilty 76-and she (Tol"g)'d made me (Tol) feel as worthless as spit 77-It made me sad [(Tol) to think thatthis was how our relationship ended] In clauses (75, 76, 77), Enitan"s mother, Tolani"s girlfriend and the circumstance of her breakup with Sanwounintentionally makeEnitan feel "guilty" andTolani "sad".
 Differences: 78-[and I (Eni"f) don"t think] you (Eni) should be making yourself so available to a man 79-[You (Tol"b) think] I (Tol) will let you go (Tol"b) as easy as that?  In clauses (78, 79) from the two novels, Enitan is the agent who makes herself "available to a man" while Tolani is the one who does not make herself easygoing to a man.
Existential processes:- Similarities: As existential processes simply state that something exists somewhere, the clauses in the overall excerpts from Everything Good Will Come(92.86%) and Swallow(100%) do not simply state that a male or female exist somewhere -except for one (01) clause.
 Differences: 80-There (Unstressed) are people there [in a campaign] Only in clause (80) fromEverything Good Will Come, people are simply stated to exist somewhere.

Relational processes:- Similarities:
Intensive Attributive /Intensive Identifying / Circumstantial Relational / Possessive Relational processes 81-and my mother (Eni"m)was strict 82-She (Tol"m) was almost a man In clauses (81, 82)from the two novels,Enitan"s mother and Tolani"s mother are respectively qualified as "strict" and defined as "almost a man". 83-Your friend (Sheri) is pregnant 84-Your friend (Tol"g) is dead In clauses (83, 84)from the two novels,Enitan"s friend and Tolani"s friend are respectively qualified in the news as "pregnant" and "dead". 85-I (Eni)was desperate enough 86-What! Why are you (Tol) so desperate?  In clauses (85, 86) from the two novels, both Enitan and Tolani were qualified asdeeply desperateat a time in their story. 87-Your life (Eni)means nothing to them 88-I (Tol) was the enemy Clauses (87, 88) from the two novels, defineEnitan"s life as "nothing to them" and Tolani as "the enemy". 89-He (Eni"h)is the head of the house 90-I (Tol"b)'m the only son in my family In clauses (89, 90) from the two novels, Enitan"s husband and Tolani"s boyfriend are defined respectively as "the head" of his house and "the only son" in his family. 91-a friend of yours (Sheri) is in trouble 92-I (Tol"m) was in trouble Clauses (91, 92) from the two novels, qualify the circumstance of Enitan"s girlfriend"s and Tolani"s mother"s life: they are "in trouble". 93-he (Eni"f)had no time (for Enitan) 94-Rose (Tol"g) had no time for Ignatius Clauses (93, 94) from the two novels, present Enitan"s father and Tolani"s girlfriend respectively as the possessor of "no time" for Enitan and Ignatius.

 Differences:
Intensive Attributive / Intensive Identifying / Circumstantial Relational / Possessive Relational processes 95-She (F)'s beautiful 96-Now, I (Eni)was a mother 97-Our men (M) are free 98-She (Tol"g) was a bad investment, a liability 99-I (Tol) was a failure, a complete one 100-I (Tol) was not that desperate now, just grateful for his kindness 101-You (Tol)'ll be a lonely old woman While clauses (95, 96, 97) from Everything Good Will Come, end on an optimistic note by qualifying or definingEnitanas "a mother", her daughter as "beautiful",men as "free", clauses (98, 99, 100, 101) from Swallow rather end on a pessimistic note by qualifying or definingTolani as a complete failure, a desperate woman, "a lonely old woman" in the future andher girlfriend as "a bad investment".
102-Good women (F) were at home 103-but the women (F) still appeared in the news-papers [They (F) swallowed drugs,hid (F) drugs in their private parts] While clause (102) from Everything Good Will Come, qualifies the circumstance of good women -at homeclause (103) from Swallow, qualifies the circumstance of bad women or drug smugglers -in the news-papers.

Discussion of findings:-
This study on the excerpts from Sefi Atta"s Everything Good Will Come and Swallowshowskey findings about male and female characters" experience owing to the grammar of experiential meanings. The Distribution of the main participants initiating the process types in the excerpts from Everything Good Will Come and Swallow has revealed that the female narratorsEnitan (58.46%) and Tolani (45.16%) are the initiators of most of the actions expressed by the process types.Moreover,the gendered distribution of the process types in the excerpts from Everything Good Will Come, displaysthe female characters (46.55%) as the most expressive gender with thevarious rates ofmental processes (61.54%), behavioural processes (55%), verbal processes (53.69%) and material processes (43.65%) while the excerpts from Swallow depict the female characters (51.56%) as the most expressive gender with high rates ofmental processes (71.43%), behavioural processes (66.62%), verbal processes (58.59%) and causative processes (53.33%).ThoughSefi Atta uses -in the two novels-similar processes of mental reactions, physiological and psychological behaviour and verbal actionsundertaken by the female characters, the rates of material processes in Everything Good Will Come andcausative constructions in Swallowhelp to draw the distinction between them in terms of the representation of female"s experience. This entails thatEverything Good Will Comerepresents the female characters as the initiators of concrete and tangible actions about their plights whileSwallow depicts them as the agents oftheir own ruin or restoration.
In order toshow how the comparative study of male"s and female"s experience both in Everything Good Will Come and Swallow elicits the authorial ideology, this study investigates the representation of male and female personae in their differences as well as similarities through their selection of process types in various circumstances-in these novels.Sefi Atta uses in a similar way material processes in Everything Good Will Come and Swallow to depict people"s or women"s actions for underprivileged people, people"s actions against corruption, fighting, divisions and killings in Nigeria, to denounce men"s practices towards women and present the narrators Enitan and Tolani respectively as the victims of rape or sexual harassment.Contrastively, both novels elicit the narrator Enitan"s action as an emancipated and less submissive woman while the narrator Tolani is acting as an indecisive and submissive woman.Sefi Atta also usesalongsidemental processes inthese novels to point out Enitan"s refusal to imagine prison cells and Tolani"s inability to imagine going to a public hospital, their perception of the world and its "struggles", their self-incrimination for their child"s life or girlfriend"s death, people"s claim of freedom of thought or action. These are also used to point out the carefree agents of their relatives" wrongdoings or deviations. Both novels distinctively express Enitan"sand Tolani"s wish for marital life, their self-reliance or reliance on others, their beliefs and hope for Africa and Nigeria or their lack of belief. Regarding behavioural processes, in a parallel way, she denounces -in these novels-women"s attitudes towards men and vice versa, the bad treatment inflicted on peopleand reveals Enitan"sand Tolani"s attitude of cry respectively forher miscarriage and her girlfriend"s loss or her mother"s life story. Paradoxically, Tolani"s attitude contrasts with Enitan"sattitude to compromise and besides,only Everything Good Will Comepoints out Africans" best attitude for the sustainable development of Africa: "look within for our own solutions".Concerning verbal processes, Sefi Atta presents in the same waypeople as the sayers of something about "the influence of Western culture" or "corruption",Enitan and Tolani"s mother"s aunt as the victims of people"s saying about their fate,Enitan or Tolanias the sayer of something to someone about her life or someone else"s life,Enitan or Tolani"s girlfriend as the receiver of flattering or seductive words from a man, and Enitan"s husband or Tolani"s boyfriend as the sayer of something about their relationship at a breaking point. She adversely displays people as the critical sayers of something done overtly and successfully about "injustices" or something done unsuccessfully about "corruption", Enitan as the "receiver" of no "act of subordination" to a man or Tolani as the "sayer" of something -in retaliation for a man"s abuse-she would never fulfil because of her submissive attitude. As to causative processes, theyare used alike bySefi Atta to denote the few agents of underdevelopment or the obstacles to the majority"s developing actions,the agents of Enitan"s guilt and Tolani"s sadness.Antagonistically, she displays Enitan as the agent who makes herself "available to a man" and Tolani as the one who does not.Identically, Sefi Atta resorts to existential processes in Everything Good Will Come (92.86%) and Swallow (100%) tosimply state that things exist somewhere. Except for one clause -in the excerpts from Everything Good Will Come-in which people are simply stated to exist somewhere. As far as relational processes are concerned, Sefi Atta usesthem alongsidetoqualify or defineEnitan"s and Tolani"s mothers as "strict" or "almost a man"; Enitan"s and Tolani"s friend as "pregnant" or "dead";Enitan and Tolani as desperate at a time in their story; the younger generation as "more traditional"; Enitan"s girlfriend"s and Tolani"s mother"s life as "in trouble". She also uses them in similar way to defineEnitan"s life as "nothing to them" and Tolani as "the enemy"; Enitan"s husband and Tolani"s boyfriend as "the head" of his house or "the only son" in his family and to positEnitan"s father and Tolani"s girlfriend as the possessor of "no time" for Enitanor Ignatius. Contradictorily,Sefi Atta qualifies the circumstance of good women as "at home"and ends Everything Good Will Come on an optimistic note by qualifying or definingEnitan as "a mother", her daughter as "beautiful", men as "free", her future as "good". In contrast, shequalifies the circumstance of bad women or drug smugglers as "in the news-papers" and endsSwallow on a rather pessimistic note by qualifying or definingTolani as a complete failure, a "desperate" woman, "a lonely old woman" in the future and her girlfriend as "a bad investment".

Conclusion:-
This paper has revealed how two novels written by the same author can be analysed from a systemic functional linguistic perspective to point out the representation of male and female personae both in their differences and similarities. Transitivity patterns in Sefi Atta"s Everything Good Will Come and Swallow have contributed -through the different process types, participants and circumstances-to elicit the authorial ideologyabout gender roles.