Content Warning: The source text and this guide depict racism, sexism, enslavement, murder, child loss, domestic violence, and death by suicide.

Nnu Ego is the protagonist of The Joys of Motherhood, and the novel centers on her experiences as a mother. Compared to her own haughty mother, Nnu Ego is described as being “more polite, less abusive and aggressive” and is noted for having “a singleness of purpose, wanting one thing at a time, and wanting it badly” (36). From the start, the thing Nnu Ego wants most is to become a mother—she particularly wants sons, as this is considered the crowning achievement for women in traditional Ibo society in the early part of the 20th century. It is Nnu Ego’s consistent pursuit of this goal that provides movement and direction to the narrative.

Nnu Ego’s transformation through the novel follows a journey from naivete and innocence to wisdom through painful experiences. Her early marriage to Amatokwu is marred by disappointment at her inability to conceive a child, even though she and Amatokwu get along reasonably well apart from that issue. Arriving in Lagos, Nnu Ego finds Nnaife repulsive and far from the masculine ideal embodied by men like Amatokwu.