Tioluwani Esther AGBOOLA

This study explores how power and corruption are portrayed in Naomi Alderman’s The Power (2016) and Okey Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain (2000). Although these novels come from very different worlds, one from a futuristic, feminist setting and the other from a postcolonial African society, both reveal how the abuse of power leads to moral decay and injustice. In Alderman’s The Power, women gain a new biological ability that allows them to dominate men, turning traditional gender roles upside down. However, this new dominance soon exposes how easily power can corrupt anyone, regardless of gender. In Ndibe’s Arrows of Rain, power is shown through political oppression, censorship, and the silencing of truth in a corrupt postcolonial state. Together, the two novels raise an important question: is corruption caused by who holds power, or by the systems that allow power to go unchecked? This study uses feminist theory (especially Judith Butler’s idea of gender as performance) to analyse how Alderman questions gender and power, and postcolonial theory (drawing from Frantz Fanon’s writings) to explore Ndibe’s critique of leadership and institutional violence. By comparing both texts, the research shows that power, when not balanced by justice or accountability, always leads to corruption and oppression. The findings highlight that true freedom or equality cannot exist unless societies challenge the structures that sustain inequality and abuse.