Aminata Sow Fall’s Douceur du bercail is considered a novel of female development because its plot revolves around an adult heroine who is struggling with patriarchal hegemonies leading to emotional growth or character development. This brand position generally includes imaginary or mystic features in anticipation for optimistic ending. Epiphany is a vital concept that is yet to be understood as a narrative device in this literary work specifically, and in contemporary francophone African women novels. Several scholars have examined gender issues in Aminata Sow Fall’s Douceurs du bercail (1998) to the neglect of epiphany as demonstrated by the fictional protagonist. This paper is a study aimed at synthesizing how “epiphany” with or without its scriptural allusion, enhances rapid and positive transformational changes in the reconstruction of the heroine’s identity. Epiphany is conceptualised as a literary device and its manifestation is brought to the fore through the protagonist in Aminata Sow Fall’s Douceurs du bercail. The novel is subjected to close reading as a method of collecting data. This article raises a fundamental question: Can a woman dwelling in male-dominated society still reconstruct her identity when marriage and motherhood roles are successful at first, and they experience failure later? Thus, ‘epiphany’ is emphasised as an instrument of transformation in the hand of the novelist to trigger the heroine’s struggle for the reconstruction of her identity. This paper then concludes that epiphany enhances development that leads to positive ends. Ignorance makes way for wisdom, and life-changing indices have the greatest influence on the life of the fictional heroine.
Keywords: Identity formation, Novel of female development, epiphany, transformational experience.
