Faceless

This study examines how unconscious fears, trauma, and repression shape female identity in Amma Darko’s Faceless and Bayo Adebowale’s Lonely Days. Using the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, complemented by feminist perspectives, the research investigates how internal psychological conflicts mirror the external realities of patriarchal societies. The analysis demonstrates that both authors employ narrative realism, imagery, and interior monologue to reveal how women internalise fear, pain, and silence as mechanisms of survival. In Faceless, Fofo and Maa Tsuru represent the psychological consequences of abandonment, social neglect, and sexual exploitation, while in Lonely Days, Yaremi embodies the trauma and repression caused by widowhood and cultural marginalisation. The study finds that these psychological experiences, though destructive, ultimately inspire self-awareness and resistance. The research concludes that Darko and Adebowale portray African womanhood as both wounded and resilient. Through psychoanalytic interpretation, the study establishes that women’s repressed emotions and fears become instruments of identity reconstruction and liberation within oppressive social structures. Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Unconscious Fears, Trauma, Repression, Female Identity, Patriarchy, Faceless, Lonely Days.