A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA AS A ..., Lecture notes of Dance

Download A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA AS A ... and more Lecture notes Dance in PDF only on Docsity! A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA AS A DRAMATIST, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIS ENGAGEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY ISSUES by MAJAHANA JOHN CHONSI LUNGA submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject ENGLISH at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: MR D. LEVEY NOVEMBER 1994 SUMMARY A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA AS A DRAMATIST, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIS ENGAGEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY ISSUES This dissertation is mainly on Wole Soyinka as a dramatist. It aims to show that Soyinka, far from being an irrelevant artist as some of his fiercest critics have alleged, is a deeply committed writer whose works are characterised by a strong sense of concern with basic human values of right and wrong, good and evil. Furthermore, the dissertation shows that although Soyinka is not an admirer of Marxist aesthetics, he is certainly not in the art-for-art's-sake camp either, I because he is fully aware of the utilitarian value of literature. Soyinka's works are much influenced by his social and historical background, and the dissertation shows that Soyinka's socio-political awareness pervades all these works, although it will be seen that in the later plays there is a sharpened political awareness. Although largely concerned with his own country's issues, Soyinka also emerges as a keen observer of humanity universally. * * * * * * * * * * * KEY TERMS DESCRIBING THE TOPIC OF THE DISSERTATION Wole Soyinka; critical analysis, evaluation, interpretation, criticism, critique, critic; drama, dramatic, dramatist; engagement, preoccupation, commitment, engage, committed writer; ideology; contemporary, colonial, pre-colonial, post­ colonial, post-independence, traditional; themes, issues, concerns; art, artist, Marxism, Marxist aesthetics, art-for-art's-sake literature. * INTRODUCTION Some critics, for example Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa and lhechukwu, have alleged that Wole Soyinka is nothing but a literary charlatan "who delights in masquerading as the authentic and quintessential African literary force" ( 1982: 208). These same critics go on to accuse Soyinka of "cultural servitude" because of his "Euromodernist" style which makes his works "obscure" and "privatist" (Ibid. : 249). The primary aim of this dissertation is to show that Wale Soyinka, contrary to the views of the Chinweizus, is a committed writer who is deeply and consistently preoccupied with c.?ntemporary socio-political issues. That part of this dissertation's title which refers to "engagement in contemporary issues" should be briefly explained. "Engagement" in this discu'Ssion connotes the same as "commitment", a concept which is explained in Gray's definition of a "committed writer", who is: [a] writer or artist who sees his work as necessarily serving a political or social programme or set of beliefs, and not merely aimed at achieving literary ends. ( 1984: 49) Gray's definition of a "committed writer", with its extended explanation of "commitment", matches Amuta's definition of "commitment", which denotes "a preoccupation with issues of socio-political contemporaneity" ( 1989: 115). "Contemporary" in this sense will carry approximately the same meaning as "post-colonial", a term which, according to Ashcroft, Griffiths and T1ffin, is understood "to cover all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day" (1989: 2). However, the issues explored by Soyinka are wider than the simply political. One may still ask a further question of the term "commitment": committed to what or to whom? Aristophanes, Swift, Orwell, Haggard, Ngugi, Ruark, Soyinka are all committed writers, but they are not all in one and the same camp. Aristophanes, Haggard and Ruark belong to one group, the rightist, conservative camp, while Swift, Orwell, Ngugi and Soyinka, although differing in their radicalism and revolutionary zeal, can be said to be writers with iconoclastic, sometimes SQCialistic. tendencies. Banham actually says Aidoo, Soyinka and Ngugi stand . - f / 2 together in challenging present-day African politicians (Jones 1984: 171-2), and Michael Thorpe notes that he has compared Soyinka "with such unsparing truth­ tellers as Orwell, Koestler, and Solzhenitsyn" C 1989 : 39). There is some controversy, though, about a writer such as Ekwensi. Peter Nazareth argues (quite rightly) that in Survive the Peace ( 1976), Ekwensi emerges as a political novelist (Gugelberger 1985: 165 - 177). To Amuta, however, Ekwensi is a writer "without any discernible political commitment" whatsoever (Amuta 1989: 64). lyasere also does not think much of Ekwensi's works (Jones 1975: 20). To this writer, Ekwensi is strictly not a committed artist, but Soyinka is. It is~in this light, then, that Soyinka's commitment should be understood. It wi 11 be argued that Soyinka is a social critic who writes because he waots ta articulate ordinary people's aspirations, as he once said: ---·------·----~-~ ....... --·- ... because literature ... has to do with people, ... there is no way in which human relations, social relations, economic situations, the agonies and anguish of people can be avoided in [one's] writing . ... because I deal with human beings, I become infinitely involved in attempting to articulate their problems, their fears, their hopes, using my trade to challenge unacceptable situations in society, using that art as a means in fact of heightening the humane consciousness of people .... (Granqvist and Stotesbury 1989: 68) The theory of literary criticism that will be used in this discussion is based on Amuta's approach, which is expressed as follows: /t ... it is the socio-economic, political and ideoj_ggi~2ll...£Q!ltradictions which define the life and historical experience of the African people that form the basis of a new and more functionally relevant theoretical approach to African literature. C 1989: vii - viii) This approach emphasises the "utilitarian" value of literature, as opposed to "art-for-art's-sake" aesthetics. Amuta's approach is therefore Mar xi st in orienation, as he CAmuta) explains (Ibid.: viii). This writer will adopt Amuta's approach. * * * Akinwade Oluwole Soyinka was born on July 13, 1934, in lsara, western Nigeria, of I jegba parentage. <The information on Soyinka's biography is taken from an assortment of sources, mainly from Moore ( 1978), Jones ( 1988) and from the journals "Contemporary Authors" and "Contemporary Literary Criticism", of various dates and by various authors too many to list here.) A member of the /( r 3 Yoruba-speaking people, Soyinka grew up in a traditional town called Abeokuta. His father, Soditan Ayodele, was a headmaster, and his mother, Eniola, was also a school teacher. Both parents were ·ardent Christians, and Soyinka was brought up on Christian principles. Soyinka started his primary education in 1938 at St Peter's School, Ake, Abeokuta, completing it in 1943, and between 1944 and 1945 he attended Abeokuta Grammar School. From 1946 to 1950 he attended Government College, Ibadan, where he completed his high school education. From there he moved to University College in Ibadan, where he studied English, History and Greek, completing his degree in 1954. He then furthered his education at the School of English, University of Leeds, where he obtained a B.A. Honours Degree in English in 1957. During his stay in England, Soyinka spent eighteen months as a script reader at the Royal Court Theatre in London, a probable source of inspiration for his deep interest in theatre work (Moore 1978 :7). Soyinka is a prolific writer, primarily of plays, as can be seen from the list of his works below. (Only those that will be discussed, or referred to, in this discussion, are included. Some of his other works were never published, and those are not included here. ) Five novels have been published by Soyinka: The Interpreters ( 1965), The Man Died ( 1972), Season of Anomy ( 1973), Ake: The Years of Childhood ( 1981) and lsara: A Voyage Around Essay ( 1989). <The last two are autobiographies.) Two other prose works, collections of essays on criticism, have been published by Soyinka: Myth, Literature and the African World ( 1976) and Art. Dialogue and I Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture C 1988, 1993). • His collections of poems are ldanre and Other Poems ( 1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt C 1972), Ogun Abibiman ( 1976) and Mandela's Earth and Other Poems ( 1988). It is, however, for his dramatic works that Soyinka is renowned, and he has had no less than fifteen full-length plays published: A Dance of the Forests ( 1963), The Lion and the Jewel ( 1963 ), The Swamp Dwellers C 1963), camwood on th_e Leaves ( 1973 ), The Trials of Brother Jero ( 1964 ), The Road ( 1965 ), The Strong I ' ' \. 6 . ., anybody who is as socially and politically committed as I think I am ... . (Soyinka 1984b : xiii) At another time he said: I am a social and political activist and I align myself directly with issues in a way that it's not difficult to define my political ideology .... (Barreca 1985: 35) It is this socio-political commitment that will form the governing framework of this dissertation. And this commitment has been recognised by critics such as Pribic, who cal ls Soyinka "a champion of political freedoms" ( 1990: 421 ). Gibbs, too, similarly comments that "Soyinka was, and is, a kind of unofficial ombudsman in Nigeria; his name ... suggests 'instant redress"' ( 1983 : 30). It is therefore baffling that there are other critics who have alleged that Soyinka's plays lack a "historical perspective", and that ordinary people in Soyinka's plays are marginalised (Ngugi 1972: 65 - 66). Even more puzzling is the notion that Soyinka remained an uncommitted writer unti 1 the late sixties (Utudjian 1984 :36). These critics ignore the fact that "Soyinka's first attempt at writing a play, in the 1950s, was based on his resentment of South African apartheid" (de Kock 1987: 134 ). A Dance of the Forests, one of Soyinka's earliest plays, is also one of his strongest political statements. Perhaps these same critics are unaware of Soyinka's belief in "one of the social functions of literature: the visionary reconstruction of the past for the purposes of a social directlon" (Soyinka· 1976a : 106). This dissertation will show that Soyinka is aware of "the political and social role of literature" (Cooper 1992: 2). It should also be noted that as early as 1967, Soyinka spelt out quite categorically ~~.- '--~~ what he regarded as the role of the writer in society. Castigating the African writer for doing nothing to condemn human failures, Soyinka argued that the African writer had not responded to the political moment of his society. He declared: It seems to me that the time has now come when the African writer must have courage to determine what alone can be salvaged from the recurrent cycle of human stupidity. (Soyinka 1993a: 19) He concluded his speech by spelling out the role of the artist, whom he called upon to act "as the record of the mores and experience of his society and as the voice o \ vision in his own time" ( Ibid.: 20 ). \ I 7 So it can be seen that Soyinka's vision of literature tallies with Amuta's theory of African literature, namely that this literature must not be art for art's sake. Instead, it must address the socio-economic, political and ideological contradictions of society (Amuta 1989: vii). With these points in mind, Soyinka's socio-political involvement should not be in doubt. And yet the Chinweizus-talk of Soyinka as if he is totally irrelevant to modern society. They even see Soyinka's success as having been engineered by his "British manipulators and promoters". They claim: Soyinka's success has wasted for us a generation of opportunities for our cultural liberation. This lamentable waste should indicate the enormity of our loss from that cultural coup in which Wole Soyinka ... played so quisling a role. (Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa and lhechukwu 1982: 208, 249) The Chinweizus have a powerful ally in Ngugi, who, some years ago, claimed that his book, Decolonising the Mind, would be his last to be written in English. After this book, he declared he would write only in Gikuyu and Kiswahili (Ngugi 1986a: xiv). But this has not been the case, as only two articles, "Imperialism of Language: English a Language of the World?" and "Many Years[sic] Walk to Freedom: Welcome Home Mandela" in Moving the Centre are translated from the Gikuyu (Ngugi 1993: xiii, 41 ). This demonstrates the impracticability of Ngugi's approach. But to Ngugi, writing in English, or any European language for that matter, is a sign of cultural imperialism. According to him, Africans cannot claim to be free when they write in other peoples' languages. Ngugi politicises the whole issue and sees it as part of the struggle against imperialism. He wants Africans to do for their languages "what Spencer, Milton and Shakespeare did for English; What Pushkin and Tolstoy did for Russian; indeed what all writers in world history have done for their languages" CNgugi 1986a : 29). Soyinka finds this language debate baffling and boring, and actually dismisses the whole issue as "rubbish" (Granqvist and Stotesbury 1989: 72). His argument is convincing, especially in the Nigerian context, which should then be extended to the whole continent of Africa. Where there are multitudes of languages, such as in Nigeria, "it would be ridiculous to limit oneself to producing in only one of those languages because that way you are not reaching the rest of the community" (Gibbs 1987: 62). Soyinka goes on to argue that a single language such as English can 8 actually be a unifying factor, whereas writing in one's own local language is tantamount to "preaching sectional superiority" (Gullidge 1987: 516). It should be noted that Soyinka recognises the importance of indigenous languages, which are as important as any other language. He himself has written in Yoruba, but feels that he can reach more people through English, since it is the language in use by most people in Nigeria. It is the common language between the lbos, the Efiks, the Hausa, the Yoruba, the lbibio and about, at the last count at least, close to some hundred different languages within an entity which we are trying to call a single nation. ... I want to be able to speak to the Ngugi wa Thiong'os, the Taban lo L iyongs, the Nurrudin Farahs." (Granqvist and Stotesbury 1989: 69) While critics such as Maduakor, Amuta, Ngara, Gibbs, Katrak and Jones, to mention only a few, evaluate Soyinka's works objectively, employing sound, convincing and academic arguments to prove their point, the same cannot be said of critics such as Geoffrey Hunt, the Chinweizus, Frank Rich and Michael Thorpe. Employing their bolekaja criticism which is characterised by an "aggressive tone and [aJ filibustering [style]" CNgara 1990: 8), the Chinweizus, for example, completely misinterpret Soyinka's poems "To My First White Hairs" (Chinweizu 1988: xxii - xxvi) and "Massacre, October '66" (Soyinka 1993a: 229). Furthermore, some of Soyinka's detractors are too scathing in their criticism of his writings. The Chinweizus, for example, sound personal, unacademic and misleading in their attacks. One can be forgiven for thinking that some of these critics are jealous and envious of Soyinka's numerous awards. The impression may have been created that Soyinka has no faults. Obviously, this is not the case, as de Kock notes: ... Soyinka is a highly adventurous writer who does sometimes commit excesses and who often falls short of perfection. What matters more, and what is so compelling about his role as a writer within an often convulsive political environment, is his resistance to tyranny and his use of art as a weapon to provide the moral vision and judgement so entirely lacking in that environment. ( 1987 : 131) In recent years, Soyinka's challenges to the authorities concerning unacceptable situations have been characterised by a no-holds-barred approach. Lamenting the fate of artists "in so-caUed independent, even democratic times" at the hands of 1 1 Chapter WOLE SOYINKA'S NON-DRAMATIC CREATIVE WORKS This chapter will be divided into two parts. In Part One Soyinka's five novels will be discussed. These are: The Interpreters ( 1965), The Man Died C 1972), Season of Anomy ( 1973), Ake: The Years of Childhood ( 1981) and I sara: A Voyage Around Essay ( 1989). In Part Two the four poetical texts will be discussed: ldanre and Other Poems ( 1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt ( 1972), Oqun Abibiman ( 1976) and Mandela's Earth and Other Poems ( 1988). All these works wi 11 be discussed very briefly, as a prelude to the main focus of the dissertation on Wole Soyinka as a dramatist. It is felt that a discussion of Soyinka which does not take into account "the totality of his work and output" (Nkosi 1981 : 190) may fail to adequately show Soyinka's main concerns. THE NOVELS The Interpreters ( 1965) falls in the group of novels termed by Amuta "the nove l[sJ of post-colonial disenchantment" ( 1989: 127). Included in.this group are other novels such as Achebe's A Man of the People ( 1966), Armah's The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born ( 1968) and Serumaga's Return to the Shadows ( 1969). In all these works, "and many others like them" (Lazarus 1990 : 204 ), the authors' major concerns are post-independence problems within their specific countries (Larson 1972 : 224). Ogungbesan similarly observes a "mood of disenchantment immediately after independence" ( 1979: vii), a view which is also shared by Davidson ( 1992 : 197). Soyinka's concern in The Interpreters is clearly the situation of his own newiy independent Nigeria in the early 1960s, and it is a disturbing picture that is portrayed in this satirical work, which exposes evils such as corruption, bribery, tribal ism, racism and immorality. "The interpreters" in this novel are young people who hold very lofty ideals about themselves and their country. They are the cream, as it were, of their society. 12 They constitute a group loosely centred upon the university city of Ibadan in the early years of Nigerian independence. Influenced in various ways by their contacts with the west, and pursuing their personal visions, they are in the process of evaluating their contemporaries and the new cosmopolitan society which is emerging. (Moody, Gunner and Finnegan 1984:344) As these young people interact with various members of the society, a number of issues are touched upon. Chief Winsala and Sir Derin are two characters who are used by Soyinka to show how corrupt some apparently respectable personalities can be, and to demonstrate that the rest of society may never know the truth about the extent of this corruption. These two eminent men are seen following Sagoe, one of the interpreters, and trying to extort fifty pounds from him. Having been on the board that interviewed Sagoe for a job a few days earlier, the two men want Sagoe to bribe them with fifty pounds so that they can help Sagoe get the job. They tell Sagoe that everything is in his hands (Soyinka ( 1965a : 84). Ironically, when the corrupt Sir Derin dies, voluminous praises are sung at his funeral: "his life our inspiration, his idealism our hopes, the survival of his spirit in our midst the hope for a future Nigeria, for moral irridentism [sic] and national rejuvenescence" (Ibid.: 113). The platitudes make the point. Soyinka uses Dehinwa·s mother to lampoon tribalism and regionalism: evils which have led to many terrible wars in Africa. Dehinwa's mother and aunt have travelled all the way from Lagos because it has been rumoured that Dehinwa is dating a man from the "wrong" tribe. They have come to "talk sense" into Dehinwa, because to them she is obviously wrong to fall in love with a Northerner. They wonder whether good-looking, decent men cannot be found in Ibadan that she must fall in love with a GambarUThe latter is obviously a pejorative term for Hausas.) Dehinwa's mother makes it clear that she (being Yoruba) does not want a Hausa grandson (Ibid.: 37). The issue of immorality also features prominently in The Interpreters, especially through Egbo's relationship with the unnamed girl whom he impregnates. Later the girl wants to abort the foetus, so she goes to a Dr Lumoye who makes advances to her. She is to pay in kind before he will perform the abortion but when she refuses his advances, he turns her out of his surgery. Afterwards he i.s heard speaking disparagingly of people like her. According to Dr Lumoye and Professor Oguazor such people deserve no sympathy because this young generation is too morally corrupt 13 CI bid. : 250 ). The hypocrisy of the educated men is too plain to need further comment. It should be noted that "the interpreters", for all their frustration and dissatisfaction with their society, are themselves a great disappointment to the reader because they do nothing to correct the corrupt situation which they rightly criticise. This is one of the reasons why Soyinka is often criticised, for example, by Ngugi, who says it is not enough for an artist to merely highlight society's weaknesses. The artist must suggest solutions to the failures CNgugi 1972: 65- 66). Ngugi's critique would be acceptable if there were proof that Soyinka is holding up "the interpreters" as mode ls. They are certainly not to be taken as models because each has serious shortcomings (d'Almeida 1981 : 19). Instead, these "interpreters" are also Soyinka's objects of attack. Sagoe, for example, is soon corrupted by the rotten system that he has been criticising. He betrays his profession when he decides he will have to keep silent and not publish unsavoury articles, which is, as he says, the way to survive in his country. Bandele is a hopelessly lazy lecturer who takes a long time to return his students' assignments. Kola and Egbo have a violent streak in them. Egbo even exploits a young university student and ends up impregnating her, although he will not marry her. Perhaps Soyinka is trying to show that high ideals and good intentions alone are not enough for those who want to be champions against evil in society. It is easy to criticise but it is certainly more difficult actually to do something to correct the wrongs. It is not necessary to consider all the themes dealt with in The Interpreters. because it is enough to note that the themes so far ref erred to are the contemporary issues of the topic of this dissertation. * * * The Man Died C 1972), Soyinka's "powerful prison diary" (King 1988 : 340), is an angry account of his twenty-seven months in detention between 196 7 and 1969. If there is any piece of writing by Soyinka which is most forthright in its themes, this is it. In this novel, Soyinka, who is also the narrator, graphically captures post­ independence Africa, now gone a stage further than the corruption exposed in The Interpreters. The dismay and disillusionment of The Interpreters have degenerated to physical and psychological torture by those in power. While "the interpreters" 16 their types, their mutations. To seek the power to destroy them is to fu.lf i l a moral task. (Soyinka 1972a: 228) Soyinka's intense hatred of oppressors, and his great desire to destroy them, as he puts it in the above quotation, is probably the reason why some critics, for example Rene, regard him as a committed writer: "he is a committed writer in the sense that he fights for freedom; his '-ism' is humanism" ( 1990: 80 ). Finally, it should be noted that much of The Man Died corresponds in essence with Barbara Harlow's Resistance Literature, especially where she talks of the dystopia that has characterised the post-independence era in countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya ( 1987: 154-169). Harlow indeed mentions that works such as The Man Died , "the prison memoirs of Third World political detainees", are strongly emerging as a distinct literary genre, with an identifiable "literary and ideological solidarity" which is a product of "particular conditions of the social and political structures within which they are produced" (Ibid.: 148). It should also be observed that in his own prison memoir, Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary ( 1981 ), Ngugi quotes from The Man Died: "no matter how cunning a prisoner, the humanitarian act of courage among his gaolers plays a key role in his survival" (Ngugi 1981 : 5). Ngugi is referring to the kindness of some of the prison guards. In Soyinka's case, one warder would smuggle bits of newspaper (Soyinka 1972a: 233-4), and in Ngugi's case one warder liked talking to him, and even told Ngugi about the outside world. Ngugi remarks: "This warder is a good illustration of the truth of that observation" ( 1981 : 5). Ngugi's citation of The Man Died (Ngugi 1981 : 5), Kariuki's Mau Mau Detainee (I bid. : 69, 95-6) and the Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish (Ibid.: 1) is further testimony of Soyinka's contribution to the literature of the struggle for freedom, and of his engagement in contemporary issues. * * * Season of Anomy (1973) can be said to be an extension of both The Interpreters and The Man Died. The frustrated and disillusioned young intellectuals in The Interpreters merely engage in passive criticism of their corrupt society but do not offer any concrete suggestions to change the status quo. In The Man Died. the narrator (Soyinka) spells out his desire that tyrants must be removed from power by being destroyed (Soyinka 1972a : 228). In Season of Anomy there are moves to destroy the evil men of power. It is therefore possible to think of this novel as 17 Soyinka's reaction to Marxist critics such as Ngugi who have repeatedly accused Soyinka of not going "far enough" in his works. Maduakor's observation on this matter is as follows: Marxist critics of African literature have castigated Soyinka for presenting in his works elitist effeminate heroes who pay lip service to social change. In Season of Anomy Soyinka endeavors to accommodate the views of this school of thought by offering two characters, Ofeyi and the Dentist, who believe in revolutionary action as a means of effecting changes in society (though they differ in their methods). ( 1987: 107-8) "Anomy", sometimes written as "anomie", is the lawlessness which results from the absence of rules of conduct. In Season of Anomy this lawlessness comes about because of the antagonism between two diametrically opposed forces, the forces of progress against the forces of repression. This lawlessness sweeps the entire country. "It is this lawlessness which is symbolized by the title of the book" CNgara 1982 : 1O1 ). Although Season of Anomy is not a duplication of The Man Died, it is clear that the two works deal with several similar issues, namely: repression, lawlessness, greed, corruption and tribalism. It is also possible to say that as The Man Died was being written, Soyinka was already thinking of Season of Anomy, as "anomy" is mentioned at least twice in The Man Died, when Soyinka talks of the "Social Anomy of 1966" and "a state of anomy" (Soyinka 1972a: 93, 120). This implies that the two books were inspired by similar events, but mainly by the Nigerian Civil War, and they were probably conceived while Soyinka was in prison. Season of Anomy is an angrier work than either The Interpreters or The Man Died, and the book sounds like Soyinka's call to arms to all revolutionaries, to rise against their oppressors. This seems to be Soyinka's earliest indications of his socialistic inclinations (Ngara 1982: 99), which he has since stated in clear and categorical terms, for example in an interview where he said that he had frequently declared his stance as a socialist, "allied to the most left-leaning political parties of [his] own society" CBorreca 1985 :35). This novel is characterised by a confrontation between two antithetical forces: on the one hand, the forces of darkness, death and destruction, represented by the Cartel and its allies, the chiefs and the army. On the other hand there are the forces of enlightenment, progress and liberation, symbolized by the communalistic ideas of Aiyero. The Cartel, "a superstructure of robbery, indignities and murder" 18 (Soyinka 1973b: 27), must be toppled from power, and Ofeyi and the Dentist, with the help of the Aiyero men, work out strategies to carry out this task. These are the forces that will restore sanity to the land, and the Dentist is actually a trained assassin, a guerilla with radical ideas. He strongly believes in killing terrible rulers such as Chiefs Biga, Batoki and Zaki, and the Commander-in-Chief, the props of the capitalist Cartel. This is clearly a warning to right-wing regimes, especially military ones, that they should expect confrontation from progressive forces. Citing instances of brutality, repression, greed, corruption and tribalism in Season of Anomy would be mere repetition of what has already been mentioned. What is important, though, is to note that even today, issues such as the link between liberation and socialism are still being generally discussed in academic circles, and these issues are highlighted in Season of Anomy. Although at the end of Season of Anomy total liberation is still a long way away, there is one consolation; the seeds of liberation have been sown. There is hope: if only because men like [sic} Suberu who have blindly been the allies of repressive forces become aware of their sordid roles as ·privileged slaves· and reject it [sic] altogether. It it is only when many more will go through the same kind of awareness that the season of anomy will die to give birth to a season of harmony. (d'Almeda 1981 : 23) Finally, as with The Man Died. the issues in Season of Anomy correspond closely with liberation struggles from Palestine, El Salvador, Nicaragua and South Africa, which are discussed in Harlow's chapter, "Narratives of Resistance" (Harlow 1987: 75-116 ). This shows that Soyinka is not only an African but also a world writer who is concerned with human problems everywhere. * * * Ake: The Years of Childhood ( 1981) is Soyinka's autobiographical account of his first eleven years in Ake (Gibbs 1987: 56), a small town in Nigeria where he (Soyinka) spent his childhood. This book's "primary value is for the light it throws on the young Soyinka's view of the world and the early impressions which formed the imaginative storehouse that was to produce the later works" (Jones 1988: 32). The book should be studied by the Soyinka scholar, because it sheds further light on some of the factors which influenced the young Wole who later became the controversial literary giant that Soyinka is today. 21 is supported in this view by Schipper, who says: "In African countries art and society seem to be more strongly intertwined than in the West" ( 1989: 62). Looked at in this way, the final chapters of Ake: The Years of Childhood. chapters thirteen to the end, can be seen as "Soyinka's guerilla attacks on colonial power" (Crehan, Haney 11 and Lindeborg 1990: 56). What starts as a harmless women's club, first focusing on adult literacy, is soon transformed into a discussion group which deals with issues such as "hygiene, community development, self-help programmes, market and commodity prices" (Soyinka 1981 a: 180-1 ). But the club is further transformed into a powerful political movement whose aim is to drive out the "tormentors" and "bloodsuckers" who have made life intolerable for the Egba women as they are harassed, arrested and tortured by the tax people (I bid. : 182-3 ). These bloodsuckers are the local police, the market wardens, the chiefs, the Kabiyesi (the local king), who are all working under the District Officer, the powerful representative of the colonial government. Organised as close comrades (Ibid.: 183 ), the angry women confront the local king, whom they insult with a new song, and force him to abdicate (Ibid.: 223). The District Officer is told a few truths about racism by Mrs. Kuti, the impressive leader of the women (Ibid. : 224-7). The oppressed people have had enough, and they will not take any more. In The Interpreters. the idealistic young people merely expose the faults of the corrupt leaders. In The Man Died there is a call to destroy these evil leaders (Soyinka 1972a: 228) and in Season of Anomy Ofeyi and the Dentist are in the forefront of revolutionary action against the despotic authorities. Ake: The Years of Childhood. in addition to highlighting the theme of the brutal treatment of children, also takes up the idea of the fight against repression. Since lsara: A Voyage Around Essay. the novel to be discussed next, also deals with themes similar to those in Ake: The Years of Childhood. it can be argued that there is a persistent socio-political thread that runs through these Soyinka works. * * * The last of Soyinka's novels to be discussed is lsara: A Voyage Around Essay ( 1989). This novel is written in the same vein as Ake: The Years of Childhood. lsara: A Voyage Around Essay is about young Soyinka in his father's village, lsara. Soyinka explains in the author's note that he borrowed the book's subtitle from John Mortimer's play, A Voyage Round My Father. "Essay" is from the initials of Soyinka's father's names, Soditan Akinyode, S.A. (Gullidge 1987: 511 ). The book 22 takes the reader back to the late 1920s, and covers the early years of British colonialism in Nigeria, stopping during the 1940s . Soyinka's belief that the past, the present and the future are inseparably linked is also extended to explain the link between the dead, the living and t~e unborn. This view is clearly. stated in Myth, Literature and the African World ( 1976: 10). Although written well after the other works, lsara: A Voyage Around Essay should be seen as a completion of the cyclic link in Ute lives of Nigerians. Soyinka affords his readers an opportunity to see the seeds of the thoughts, feelings and actions of modern Nigerians (Soyinka 1989: vi). This novel deals wit.ha wide range of themes, both political and social. One of these is the theme of the brutal treatment of children where they are savagely whipped at school (Ibid.: 4, 110, 112, 132 ). This harsh treatment is practised even in the home where children are reminded that they have no right to ask questions (Ibid.: , 16).~ This theme features prominently in Ake: The Years of Childhood, as well as in The Interpreters. as already discussed above. Soyinka also reveals the senselessness of xenophobia. This is a theme that has already been alluded to in The Interpreters. Sagoe, a Northerner, is called a gambari, which is an insulting term for a Hausaman (Soyinka 1965a: 37, 254). In lsara: A Voyage Around Essay Damian, an outsider, is also addressed pejoratively: "this kobokobo beggar" (Soyinka 1989 : 23) and "Edo-al ien" (I bid. : 255). In the end, though, Damian is accepted in the society when he has proved himself a hard worker. Soyinka here emphasizes the need to tolerate outsiders. The ugly face of factional fighting is shown when rival groups clash over the choice of a new king. Cutlasses are flashed, people are beaten up and lives are lost during these clashes (Ibid.: 217, 227). Soyinka's hatred of unnecessary wars and irresponsible soldiers is evident in this novel. The soldiers are seen looting shops, raiding government warehouses and urinating in public after a night of heavy drinking. Soyinka talks of war bringing out the worst in everyone. He refers to soldiers as a menace, and observes that because of war, people become corrupt, since everyone thinks of making as much money as quickly as possible (Ibid.: 69, 188, 189). The issues of racialism and colonialism are also raised in this novel. Soyinka has 23 stated that the colonial process was, on reflection, a most humiliating and insulting experience (Gull idge 1987: 523 ). One example of this insulting attitude is a statement from a colonialist who says that everyone knows that the West African Negro is not yet ready to govern himself (Soyinka 1989: 156). It is known that the main purpose of establishing colonies was not to train the colonized in self­ government, as JanMohamed ( 1985 : 62) and Davidson ( 1992 : 11. 201) confirm. And so the statement from the colonialist that everyone knows that the West African Negro is not yet ready for independence merely exposes the vacuity behind colonialism. Looked at in this way, the book can be said to contain Soyinka's attacks on colonialism. And finally Soyinka exposes charlatanism as epitomised in Ray Gunnar, who exploits the gullible West African youths. Gunnar sets up a bogus correspondence school in England, claiming to offer a wide range of courses. In the process "professor" Gunnar makes plenty of money by cheating his prospective "students" (Soyinka 1989: 178). Gunnar represents fake political and religious leaders, those who live off the gullibility of the people whose cause they claim to champion. The theme of gullibility will be encountered in the discussion of several plays later in this dissertation. * * * Soyinka's Four Poetical Works In this section, Soyinka's four volumes of poetry will be discussed, namely: ldanre and Other Poems ( 1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt ( 1972), Ogun Abibiman ( 1976) and Mande la's Earth and Other Poems ( 1988). As in the case of the novels, the discussion will be very brief, and an attempt will be made to demonstrate that even in his poems, Soyinka sti 11 emerges as a committed writer who is preoccupied with contemporary issues. The section of ldanre and Other Poems entitled "October '66" contains five short poems which Maduakor says "were inspired by the civil disturbances that rocked the foundations of Nigeria in the sixties and which led to the civil war that lasted from 1967 - 1970. They deal, therefore, with war and its savagery" ( 1987 : 30). Soyinka again shows a sensitivity to issues surrounding himself, which leads to Jones's calling him "a serious poet concerned with grave issues which face him as a 26 The civilian further talks of his "quandry" [sic] and the soldier's "plight" and "confusion". All these are a result of the war. But in the end the civilian makes it clear that he understands the soldier's predicament; the soldier is nothing but a victim of circumstance, because the answer to the question at the very end of the poem, querying whether the soldier knows what the war is all about, is most likely that he does not (Jones 1988 : 180 ). "For Fajuyi" is also based on an actual event, the death of Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi. This poem gives a concrete example of the wastefulness of war, because Fajuyi "was Soyinka's ideal soldier, a true nationalist and a dedicated socialist " CMaduakor 1987: 32, 33). The poem makes it clear that men of the ilk of Fajuyi are not common, as very few of them are produced at any given time. The narrator calls those who killed Fajuyi "weeds", and this leaves the readers in no doubt about Soyinka's disgust with these murderers. The "October '66" poems have eloquently shown the savagery of war. ) * * * A Shuttle in the Crypt ( 1972) is a collection of poems written by Soyinka while he was in prison between August 1967 and October 1969. The poems do not record Soyinka's prison experiences as such, which are recorded in The Man Died. In A Shuttle in the Crypt Soyinka chronicles the thoughts that came to his mind as he sat, lonely, for months and months in a tiny cell (the crypt). Imprisonment without trial is an unjust action and is an issue which is often raised by human rights groups such as Amnesty International. In A Shuttle in the Crypt this injustice is highlighted in "Four Archetypes", especially in the poems "Joseph" and "Gulliver". These archetypes are used by Soyinka as metaphors for injustice. Joseph is the Biblical character who was thrown into jail on trumped up charges by Potiphar's wife. She tried to lure Joseph to bed but when Joseph refused, she accused Joseph of trying to violate her honour (Genesis 39: 1- 23). In "Gulliver" (taken from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels), Gulliver is someone who abhors unjust war. He refuses to help the Lilliputian king in his plan to completely crush the enemy, and the king hatches a plan to punish Gulliver. Fortunately, Gulliver escapes. 27 In some respects, Soyinka is like Joseph and Gulliver. He was imprisoned on a wrong charge when he angered the Nigerian authorities by speaking against the war with the lbos (Maduakor 1987: 37). As if imprisonment without trial were not bad enough, some prisoners are at times subjected to inhuman treatment, perhaps until they die in prison. In "Chimes of Silence" readers are presented with examples of ill-treatment of prisoners. This is also the case in "Wailing Wall" and "Purgatory" (Soyinka 1972b: 34, 38). In all this savage treatment of fellow human beings, where some are even hanged with reckless abandon, Soyinka clearly states that such deeds are unjust. He says so explicitly in "Procession": Let no man speak of justice, guilt. Far away, blood-stained in their Tens of thousands, hands that damned . These wretches to the pit triumph (I bid. : 41) Lastly, in "Live Burial" we see a conti.nuation of the ill-treatment on prisoners, but this time the prisoner is Soyinka himself. He is kept in a cell that is Sixteen paces By twenty-three. They hold Siege against humanity And Truth Employing time to drill through to his sanity (Ibid. : 60 ) Later, readers learn of an official medical report about the prisoner, that he sleeps and eats well, and that his doctors have found nothing wrong with his health. The report is of course untrue. "Flowers for my Land" has many images of war and destruction: "death", "horror", "scavengers", "ordure'', and the country itself is called a "garden of decay". The point is clear, that Soyinka sees war as cruel, hence his belief that it should be the very last resort: a stand he takes in Ogun Abibiman. * * * 28 Oqun Abibiman( 1976) is "a long poetic tribute to the struggle for liberation on the African continent" (Zell, Bundy and Coulon 1983: 488). According to Ngara, this poem "shows a definite development [in Soyinka's works) in the direction of a committed Pan-Africanism" ( 1990 : 96). Ngara continues: "Ogun Abibiman reflects a new and genuine Africa-centred consciousness in Soyinka. This is an important step in writing socially committed literature" (Ibid.: 102). Amuta also expresses a similar view ( 1989: 67). The poem is dedicated to the memory of the dead and the maimed of Soweto, and was written as a celebration of Samora Machel's declaration of war against the then minority regime of Ian Smith. It is a different kind of war, as far as Soyinka is concerned. This is a war in defence of liberty, the only kind of war Soyinka will support (Soyinka 1972a: 49). According to Jones ( 1988: 3-14), in Yoruba mythology, Ogun is the god of war and creativity. "Abibiman" means Black People. The poem is therefore a call to the oppressed Blacks to take up arms and fight for their liberty and right to self­ determination. In this fight, the process of liberation will be bloody and painful (Booth 1981: 170). Who le stretches of land will writhe from end to end. Farmlands will be deserted and there will be mass starvation (Soyinka 1976b : 1, 3). The war that Ogun is being asked to lead has been embarked on as a last resort, because other forms of trying to gain liberation have failed. These include sanctions, dialogue, protests and diplomacy (Soyinka 1976b: 6). * * * Mandela's Earth and Other Poems (1988) continues the theme of liberation as expressed in Ogun Abibiman. The outside cover of the text introduces this volume as follows: "The poems on Mandela comment on one another, deepening our response to the nature of political immolation". Mandela needs no introduction. He was once referred to as the world's most famous political prisoner - he spent 27 years in prison - and is now (November 1994) the President of South Africa, having been elected to that post after South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994. So in Mandela's Earth and Other Poems. Soyinka deals with the politics of South Africa, and by implication about Africa more generally. 31 Chapter 2 WOLE SOYINKA'S PLAYS OF THE SIXTIES This chapter will be divided into two parts. In Part One, Soyinka's earliest plays will be discussed. These are: The Lion and the Jewel ( 1963), The Swamp Dwellers ( 1963), Camwood on the Leaves( 1973), The Trials of Brother Jero ( 1964) and A Dance of the Forests ( 1963). The first two plays were staged as early as 1958, while the last three were all written in 1960. In Part Two of the chapter, The Strong Breed ( 1964), The Road ( 1965) and Kongi's Harvest ( 1967) will be discussed. These three plays mark the end of Soyinka's dramatic output in the 1960s. The grouping of the plays in the above way is more chronological than thematic, but it will be shown that in the first four plays, Soyinka's main concerns are non­ political. Only A Dance of the Forests deals with, among other themes, political issues. This is important to point out because Soyinka is sometimes thought of only as a political writer. It should be stressed that Soyinka's engagement with contemporary issues is much wider, and to focus only on his political themes is to limit him unnecessarily. The late fifties and early sixties saw the demise of colonial rule in most parts of Africa. The colonial period had seen the building of modern towns and cities, as well as the introduction of formal education. Afterwards, this westernization and urbanisation put some of the old, traditional values under pressure. It is against this backdrop that plays such as The Lion and the Jewel and The Swamp Dwellers should be approached. Moore observes that these two plays deal with nearly the same material ( 1976: 26). It is for this reason that they will be discussed one after the other. lrele talks of "Soyinka's social concern first [finding] expression in his work through the satirical vein of his early comedies, such as The Lion and the Jewel and The Trials of Brother Jero" ( 1981 : 198). Considered together with Camwood on the Leaves. these four plays can be said to have something in common. Each one of them has a charlatan, as will be shown below. It is significant that A Dance of the Forests was written specifically to comment on Nigerian Independence in 1960. 32 * * * When Geoffrey Hunt talks of Soyinka's "sudden detachment from his indigenous society" (Gugelberger 1985: 67), he is probably not aware that Soyinka's plays were inspired by "the fundamental truths of his community" CKatrak 1986: 10). For example, an article about Charlie Chaplin at sixty years of age, marrying a young wife of seventeen, triggered off The Lion and the Jewel. This is how Baroka came into existence, as Soyinka himself explains: I knew that some of these old men had actually won these new wives against the stiff competition of some younger men, some of them school teachers who came to the villages. Lakunle was based on those who thought: 'This girl has got to be impressed by my canvas shoes.' Mind you, the younger men didn't speak the language ·that those girls understood and they were beaten by the old men. That's how The Lion and the Jewel came to be written. (Gibbs 1987 : 67) It should be stressed, right away, that some critics have completely misinterpreted not only The Lion and the Jewel but also other works of Soyinka. This has been caused by "the extravagant delusion that Soyinka believes in a full-hearted espousal of African values" (Gates 1984: 47). Probyn, for example, says that Soyinka is "simultaneously a traditionalist and a pathfinder" ( 1981 : 5). Blishen, too, says "Soyinka is not a writer who believes that 'progress' is always a good thing. As a small example, he shares Baroka's view that modern roads are 'murderous"' ( 1975: 11-12). This implies that Baroka speaks for Soyinka, hence the wrong notion that Soyinka is on the side of traditional values in The Lion and the Jewel. Then there is Geoffrey Hunt who claims that Soyinka is a romanticist with a "nostalgia for the security of traditional values". Hunt even goes on to quote Peter Nazareth to prove the claim that Soyinka wants traditional ways of life to be retained, and, according to Hunt, The Lion and the Jewel is a Negritude play which extols the African past (Gugelberger 1985: 65-71 ). These are grossly misleading interpretations because Soyinka does not believe in glorifying the past, as he stated as early as 1967: "The African writer needs an urgent release from the fascination of the past" (Soyinka 1993a : 18). Furthermore, it will be shown that in all the plays which do refer to the past, or to traditional customs, plays such as A Dance of the Forests. The Swamp Dwellers. The Strong Breed, Death and the King's Horseman. Soyinka is in fact very critical of the 33 African past itself and the traditional customs in these plays. If Soyinka had wanted to show the superiority of traditional forces over modern ones he would have written a different play from The Lion and the Jewel. The Lion and the Jewel was written in about 1957, while Soyinka was still a student at the University of Leeds (King 1988: 341). The play was staged in London in 1958 (Pribic 1990: 420). Although Soyinka was physically in England, spiritually he must have been in his country, Nigeria, because it is easy to see the connection between his criticism of priggish western-educated young people in early poems such as "The Immigrant" and ''. .. And the Other Immigrant" on the one hand, and in The Lion and the Jewel on the other. Goodwin's reference to the immigrant as "foolishly complacent" ( 1982: 108) would be appropriate for Lakunle, the self­ styled messiah of I lujinle in The Lion and the Jewel. In an interview a few years ago, Soyinka was asked whether The Lion and the Jewel shows the clash of Western culture and traditional culture. His answer was: No. There is no clash because there is no Western culture there. What you have is a misconceived, very narrow and very superficial concept of Western culture as stated by Lakunle. You also have the old man defending his turf against any encroachment from outside. Lakunle is not a representative of Western culture,... . (Gibbs 1987 : 79) It is important to emphasize that Baroka himself does not represent traditional culture in this play. The fact that the play appeared when many writers were agonizing about their being torn between two cultures should not mean that The Lion and the Jewel is about a culture clash (Gibbs 1987: 80 ). This simple play is set in a small village and concerns a young man who thinks that because of his (little) education he is a beacon of progress in his entire village. Lakunle is only a primary school teacher, and it would not be too far-fetched to imagine that he is probably untrained. It is likely that Lakunle is teaching in a bush school because he could not get a job in a town. Being such an admirer of Lagos and Ibadan, he would have taken full advantage of his qualifications to work and live there. But now he is a comic figure whose head is stuffed with all sorts of ideas about progress and civilisation. He sees himself as the leader in the crusade against backwardness, and boasts: 36 clothes would simply make him more of a clown than a townsman. Also, his ideas about being modern would not make sense to real city dwellers. The solution for Lakunle lies in his changing his whole outlook on life. He needs real education: that 1s learning how to live with other people, not his shallow book education. Even when Lakunle thinks he means well, he ends up being extremely offensive. He tells Sidi that women have a smaller brain than men; that is why they are called the weaker sex. All this is in his books, he says (Ibid.: 4). Lakunle is not aware that he is displaying anti-feminine sentiments. But in Sidi he finds more than his match: she tells him that he is really nothing but the madman of the village who calls himself a teacher. His big, loud words mean nothing. They merely make people laugh and choke in their cups (Ibid.: 4 ). Again Sidi asks him: The weaker sex, is it? Is it a weaker breed who pounds the yam Or bends all day to plant the millet With a child strapped to her back? ( Ibid.: 4) This is clear, powerful thinking by Sidi, and Lakunle cannot find any sound argument to counter Sidi's logic. It is becoming clear that Sidi and Lakunle are incompatible, for Sidi deserves better than Lakunle. She would not be happy if she were to be married to Lakunle, whose idea of being civilized means rejecting all traditional customs and habits. He tells Sidi: Together we shall sit at table - Not on the floor - and eat Not with fingers, but with knives And forks, and breakable plates Like civilized beings. (Ibid. : 8) He will walk side by side and arm in arm with his wife. He will provide her with high-heeled shoes and lipstick. She will have to learn dances such as the waltz and fox-trot. He continues: And we'll spend the week-end in night-clubs at Ibadan. Oh I must show you the grandeur of towns We'll live there if you like or merely pay visits. So choose. Be a modern wife, look me in the eye And give me a little kiss - like this. (Kisses her.) (Ibid.: 9) 37 It has already been pointed out that Lakunle would not fit in the city simply because he has a totally wrong concept of city life. Ball-room dancing, night-clubs, kissing in public are surely not marks of civilization. When Sidi tells him she does not like kissing because to her it is so unclean, Lakunle replies that she is uncivilized and primitive. All educated men, and all Christians, kiss their wives. "It is the way of civilized romance" (Ibid. : 9). The absurdity is too obvious to demand comment. Sidi then leaves Lakunle, quite understandably so, for the Bale, although it must be pointed out that she does not know what the outcome will be when she first goes to the Bale's palace. Sidi has been driven by self-pride to go and taunt the Bale, for she has been told by Sadiku that the Bale is now impotent. When Sidi rudely and proudly says: Sadiku, I am young and brimming; he is spent. I am the twinkle of a jewel But he is the hind-quarters of a lion! (Ibid. : 23 ) it is as if she has learnt this pride and vanity from Lakunle. Such arrogance and haughtiness take away all the admiration and support Sidi may have gained so far. The Bale is not known as "the fox" for nothing. He is shown as defeating plans to build a railway through llujinle, and Sidi falls into the Bale's trap. She is finally seduced by Baroka. Her hubristic behaviour could only end in this "disaster". But the "disaster" is temporary, as Sidi finally decides to marry Baroka. She says to Lakunle: Why do you think that after him I could endure the touch of another man? I who have felt the strength The perpetual youthful zest Of the panther of the trees? And would I choose a watered-down A beardless version of unripened man? (Ibid.: 63) It seems as if the wheel has turned for Lakunle. The proud "scholar" who was insulting everyone at the beginning is now on the receiving end. He is pushed to the ground, told to get out of the way, and called a "book-nourished shrimp" (Ibid.: 63 ). In the end Lakunle fails in his mission to "civilize" the village. He loses to a more mature rival, the Bale, who, though not wholly admirable, is at least level-headed 38 and understands the world around himself. The Bale's physical strength (shown when he defeats the wrestler, and also from Sidi's testimony) is symbolic of his superiority over Lakunle, who is actua ly so weak physically that he is thrown to the ground by Sidi on more than one occ sion (Ibid. : 4, 63). Lakun le's ideas would only bring chaos to the village. Under B roka, the situation is not perfect, but there is stability. Unlike Lakunle who has no respect for th old order, the Bale sees the need for the young and the old to come together. He sa s: The proof of wisdom is th wish to learn Even from children. And t e haste of youth Must learn its temper fro the gloss Of ancient leather, from a strength Knit close along the grain. The school teacher And I, must learn one fro the other .... The old must flow into t e new .... (Ibid.: 53-4) Although the Bale here seems to speak f r Soyinka, it would be incorrect to conclude that this is the case right through the p ay. The dramatist, it must be remembered, wanted to portray old men (not necessa ily representing traditional life) in a more positive light than the confused young en. Baroka, then, is not representative of traditional culture, just as Lakunle d es not represent modern culture. Again, Soyinka explains: Baroka himself does not epresent any culture as such. He is somebody exploiting cert in aspects of his culture for the benefit of Number One, B roka. ... [H]e represents a last ditch defence against external intervention in his little pocket. (Gibbs 1987: 80) Lakunle, Soyinka again explains, is a c ricature (Gibbs 1987: 73). Soyinka even goes to the extent of saying that anyone who interprets Lakun le to cepresent an educated African is actually insulting Africans, as Hunt says (Gugelberger 1985: 72). Lakunle "is nothing but an object f fun. Only Geoffrey Hunt in his innocence or obsessive hate - only Mr Hunt co ld propose, to an African community, the figure of Lakunle as representative of he educated 'progressive"' (Soyinka 1993a: 283). 41 It ruins them. The city ruins them. What do they seek except money? (Ibid. : 10) An example of the dehumanising effect of the city on the youths is the case of Gonushi's son, who left his wife and children and has not been heard of since (Ibid.: 11 ). Another example of a person who has been corrupted by the city is Awuchike, lgwezu's twin brother. Precisely what Awuchike did to lgwezu is not mentioned, but lgwezu says that for a while they lived together. Then lgwezu talks of meeting the harshness of the city and the nakedness of its hostility. He later saw its knife sever the ties and the love of kinship, and turn brother against brother... . (Ibid. : 30) Awuchike apparently did everything possible to frustrate his own brother's progress, even going to the extent of stealing his wife. The past is so painful for lgwezu that he feels it is even better not to talk about what happened. The wound heals quicker if it is left unopened. What took place is not worth the memory... . (Ibid.: 32) The young people are attracted to the city, but the city "kills" them. That is why lgwezu says of his brother: He is dead. (Ibid.: 30) Awuchike is dead to you and to this house. Let us not raise his ghost. (Ibid.: 32) This, then, is the dilemma of the new generation. The village is no place in which to continue 1 iving. It is therefore understandable that the youths migrate into the city, but that the city dehumanizes these youths. In the end, the better course of action is unclear. Perhaps it could be hoped that when lgwezu returns to the city, he will now be a wiser person, through his contact with the Beggar. He will probably avoid the mistakes that have been made by the other youths. Interpreted in this way, lgwezu's leaving, on the advice of the Beggar, is therefore a positive move. When I gwezu says to the Beggar: You sightless ones are known to be gifted with more than human wisdom. (Ibid.: 36) 42 he more than sums up the Beggar's role in this play. It is the blind man who "sees" that the Kadiye is a charlatan. The Beggar infuses a new spirit into lgwezu, a spirit of rebellion and inquisitiveness, and through this spirit, the traditional conservatism of the village is challenged. It is for this reason that Jones says this play is "an examination of a society in a state of change" ( 1988: 39). The point should be stressed that, unlike its contemporary, The Lion and the Jewel. The Swamp Dwellers has a sadder and gloomier mood, perhaps because this time the dilemma facing the society is more complex than in The Lion and the Jewel. lgwezu raises very significant issues and deserves to be taken more seriously than Lakunle, who is just a figure of fun, and who should be dismissed with the contempt that he deserves. This is why Lakunle should be viewed as a harmless charlatan, unlike the Kadiye. As a priest, a holy man and Servant of the Serpent of the Swamp, the Kadiye is highly respected in the village. Through him the villagers offer sacrifices that should ensure prosperity and good fortune for their village. But it is gradually revealed that the Kadiye is nothing but a corrupt and greedy leader. When the Kadiye approaches, Makuri orders his wife to make the place fit to receive him. She must clean away all the litter, and most importantly, she must see that there is some brew for him (Ibid.: 18). The Kadiye is described as "a big voluminous creature ... , smooth-faced" (Ibid.: 19). This contrasts with the description of the Beggar: "the blind man is tall and straight" (Ibid.: 12). While the Kadiye is called "a creature", the Beggar is called a "man". Soyinka suggests that the priest is to be held in contempt while the Beggar is to be respected. It would seem that even Makuri, deep in his heart, has no respect for the Kadiye. Soon after the Kadiye has left the house, Makuri calls him "The pot-bellied pig!" and wishes lgwezu could, while shaving him, slash his chin (Ibid.: 23). While the Kadiye is insulted, the Beggar has his feet washed, wiped dry and rubbed with ointment (Ibid.: 24). This action symbolizes the total acceptance of the Beggar into the community. lgwezu's conversation with the Beggar is full of questions, and in this way the truth about the Kadiye gradually emerges. For example: IGWEZU: ... Is it not strange that his skin is tender? Is it not strange that he is smooth and well-preserved? 43 BEGGAR:[eagerly:] Is he fat, master? When he spoke, I detected a certain bulk in his voice. IGWEZU: Ay, he is fat. He rolls himself like a fat and greasy porpoise. <Ibid. : 28 ) A short while later, the Beggar asks: How does the Serpent fare in times of dearth? Does he thrive on poisonous crabs? Does he drink the ooze of the mire? (Ibid.: 29) The point being made is that the Kadiye has a tender and well-preserved skin simply because he cheats the villagers. In times of dearth the Kadiye lives well and is well­ kept and nourished by the food that he squeezes from the suffering peasants. Earlier, before the arrival of lgwezu, the Beggar has asked Makuri about the possibility of taking a piece of land and redeeming it from the swamp. If a man is willing to drain the filth away and make the land yield coco-yams and lettuce - will they let him? (Ibid.: 17) This question has shocked Makuri because such a deed would be taking land awa.; from the Serpent. It would be challenging the authority of the Kadiye. Later, the Beggar asks lgwezu: Do you serve the Serpent, Master? Do you believe with the old man that the land may not be redeemed? That the rotting swamps may not be purified? (I bid.: 29) The Beggar is questioning the Kadiye's supremacy in land matters. lgwezu is, at the same time, being challenged to see that the Kadiye has no right to have such a firm hold on land issues. So the Beggar teaches lgwezu, it can be said, to question many of the village's long-held archaic and superstitious traditions. While lgwezu and the Beggar expose the Kadiye's greed and corruption, Makuri and Alu are shocked beyond description. Makuri calls the Beggar's questions about reclaiming the land "profanities" (Ibid.: 17) and "sacrilege" (Jbid.: 30). Alu urges her son to speak better of the holy man (Ibid,: 28). Later, Alu cannot take what is being said, so she slowly goes out of the room (Ibid. : 36). lgwezu asks the Kadiye many questions, all meant to challenge him about the whole notion of the sacrifices that the villagers have been making. To lgwezu it is clear that 46 This play deals with at least two themes. It is a vitriolic attack on child abuse, and also on hypocrisy. Reverend Erinjobi, the doctrinaire pastor, treats his son, Isola, so harshly that the young man is forced to revolt against his father's authority and religion. Erinjobi actually terrorises everyone in his family, including his very young children and his wife, Moji. I so la's "crime" is that he has impregnated a young girl, Morounke. Mr and Mrs. Olumorin, the girl's parents, are equally vicious in their condemnation of Isola. Only one person remains sensible in this sea of insanity, and that is Moji, the boy's mother. When Isola finally shoots his father, it can be understood that the young man's patience has been stretched to the limit. Erinjobi is a terror to everyone in his family. This status is ironic, because love and happiness should flow in the house of a minister of religion, especially. In Erinjobi's house fear and hatred abound. Even his little children are aware that they must not make any noise within the house. They walk about with "timid footsteps", and try to ensure that the baby's cries do not go out of contro 1 (Soyinka 1984b: 89). When Erinjobi suddenly opens a door, Moji is so terrified that she gasps and says: God help me now, he's here. Sobbing_. she pleads earnestly, trying not to be heard My son, before he gets here .... (Ibid. : 90) The way in which Moj i is struck by terror as Erinjobi comes closer and closer is shown by her near-panicky state when she struggles to complete her sentences before Erinjobi bellows orders that she should go downstairs. She desperately tries to protect her son. He i·s not being stubborn, Reverend. You mustn't think he is not repentant. He is merely praying in his room. Praying for forgiveness. (Ibid.: 90 -91) Mo ji's pleas for mercy on her son fa l1 on deaf ears. Instead, on being annoyed by the distressed cries of a baby, Erinjobi orders all of the children to go downstairs . ... Go to your mother's room and shut the door. I don't want a sound from any of you, is that clear? Not a sound. (Ibid.: 91) Such, then, is the harshness of Erinjobi to his wife and children. In his presence, they are miserable and confused. But his hard-heartedness is displayed more clearly when Erinjobi disowns his son. ---------47 MOJI. He is y'our son, Reverend ... ERINJOBI. My son? I disown him. He is no son of mine - nor yours! (Ibid.: 91) Except for a very brief period at the end of the play where Erinjobi calls Isola "son", the pastor calls Isola by many abominable names: a "creature" (Ibid. : 91 ), "that creation of the devil" (Ibid.: 92), "a thief and adulterer" (Ibid.: 102), "this son of evil" (Ibid.: 109), "you child of the devil" (Ibid.: 118), "worthless child" (Ibid.: 119), "godless child" (Ibid.: 121), "lost child" (Ibid.: 123) and "this fornicator" (Ibid.: 123). Erinjobi also shows excessive hatred for his son in statements such as: "I have sworn that he will not spend another night under my roof" (Ibid.: 102) and "Oh, cursed be the day when I mistook that child for my son" ( Ibid. : 113 ). These are bitter insults indeed, but Erinjobi's heartlessness towards Isola is not confined to mere words. The minister is shown violently assaulting his son. The boy's life is an endless nightmare and Soyinka brings this quality out by showing Isola re-living his past in dreams. For instance, Erinjobi is angered that his son has been associating with "pagans" and dancing with the "egungun''. Erinjobi reacts with typical cruelty to this abomination. The pastor's son, eating and drinking sordid pottages with pagans of the town ... (Hitting him.) Is that the bad name you're bent on giving me you worthless child?(He hits him again.) Is it? Is it? 'Is it' Is it' [sic] is heard over and over again accompanied by a blow, gaining in intensity with each repetition. !SOLA gets more and more restless, groaning ... (]bid.: 119) Having been beaten so frequently, Isola decides to challenge his father's authority. He deliberately provokes Erinjobi, at times when Erinjobi is away, but also in his hearing. For example, when Erinjobi calls him, Isola answers as if he is being called by Morounke. This enrages Erinjobi, who rains repeated blows on his son. Shortly after this, Erinjobi is shown pulling Isola so roughly that the boy falls (Ibid.: 121 ). In spite of Moji's pleas for mercy, Erinjobi disgraces his son by dragging him along the street. His words are a crushing blow to the boy's self-respect. ... I knew you were damned the moment you began to fol low the masqueraders ... Oh you were damned from the start .. . playing with gutter children ... singing heathen songs .. . slipping out at night and nobody knowing what bestiality you would commit before the break of day! (Ibid.: 122 -3) 48 It should be noted that in Ake: The Years of Childhood, the young Wo le is warned by his mother of grave consequences if his father hears that Wole is planning to go and · watch egungun (Soyinka 1972a : 32). Again, Erinjobi disgracing his son by dragging him along the street echoes the humiliation of the bed-wetting girl in Ake: The Years of Childhood (Ibid.: 86-89). These incidents underscore Soyinka's consistency in exposing child abuse. Morounke's parents can be forgiven for being angry with Isola at his having impregnated their daughter. However, their insults towards Isola, which are no different from Erinjobi's, cannot be condoned. To Mrs. Olumorin Isola is a "depraved son" with "godforsaken ways" (Soyinka 1984b : 110). She also calls him a "murderer" who must give her back her Morounke before the Lord curses him for his" wickedness" (Ibid.: 111 ). Isola is also "a child stealer" and a "kidnapper" Cl bid.: 113), "a shameless boy", "the devil's own offspring" (Ibid.: 125). Only Moji seems to understand the problems associated with growing up. She speaks much sense: A child's mistake ... he has deserved no curses, only correction. (Ibid.: 113) She alone seems to understand that two wrongs do not make a right. She tells Mrs. Olumorin: But my son is cornered there still, and you are turning him into an animal. (Ibid. : 134) Faced with such lack of love and unreasonableness, both Isola and Morounke have no choice but to turn against their parents. Isola begins to see his father as a troublesome snake, the boa. Erinjobi's cruelty is further shown when the wicked snake is seen picking up baby tortoises and dashing them against the rock. At the same time that lso la equates Erinjobi with the evil snake, he cal ls the mother tortoise by his own mother's name, Moji. Again, this action is symbolic. Moji and the tortoise are epitomes of suffering mothers. The tortoise is tortured by the snake which kills her children by smashing them on a rock, while Moji watches in helpless terror as Erinjobi brutalizes her children, especially I so la. Moj i is to the tortoise as Erinjobi is to the snake. In the end, Isola finds he has to kill the snake if he is to have any peace. 51 Brother Jero exposes himself in various ways. Sometimes he makes accusing pronouncements about other people, but these accusations are really truer of Brother Jero than of their targets. For instance, he refers to the other "prophets" he sees on the beach as "Charlatans!" (I bid. : 54). Yet he is a charlatan too, perhaps an even worse one. He also shouts to Chume: "Apostate!" 'Traitor!''. But if there is one person who is guilty of betraying the Christian faith, Brother Jero is that person. And a little while later, he calls Chume: "sinner ... harbourer of Ashtoreth ... Protector of Baal" (Ibid.: 58). By his own admission, BrotherJero is a womanizer. He states clearly he has one weakness - women (Ibid.: 47). He later prays that his love and lust for the daughters of Eve should be torn from his heart (Ibid.: 56). So it is Brother Jero, not Chume, who is possibly the greater sinner. Thus, in trying to accuse others, BrotherJero only condemns himself. Sometimes Brother Jero's statements are unintentionally ironic, such as when he talks of himself as "a man of God" (Ibid.: 55). With the womanizing, lying and cheating in his life, he is far from being "a man of God". And when Amope demands her money from him, he complains: One pound eight for this little cape. It is sheer robbery. (Ibid.: 55) Amope, not Brother Jero, should be complaining of "sheer robbery". And when he calls the young girl who goes swimming every morning "Dirty-looking thing" (Ibid.: 55), it is obvious he thinks the exact opposite. Similarly, "the Velvet-hearted Jeroboam" (Ibid.: 54) should be understood to mean something rather different; perhaps "the silver-tongued" Jeroboam. But sometimes there is no attempt at all by Brother Jero to disguise his meaning. He addresses the audience directly and squarely, and means what he says. This happens in several parts of the play. For instance, he explains why he must get a new name, "Immaculate Jero, Articulate Hero of Christ's Crusade" (Ibid. : 54). This has been his ambition, he says. You've got to have a name that appeals to the imagination - because the imagination is a thing of the spirit - it must catch the imagination of the crowd. Yes, one must move with modern times. Lack of colour gets one nowhere even in the Prophet's business. (lb id. : 54) There is no beating about the bush as far as his intentions are concerned. Brother Jero intends to use a colourful outward appearance to capture as many victims as possible. He calls himself "Brother", a term which is meant to indicate his equality 52 with his fellow religionists. His name, "Jeroboam", has been carefully chosen.This is the name of the king of northern Israel in about the tenth century B.C. and sounds suitably religious. The cape he bought from Amope is also meant to enhance his. outward appearance and hide the reality that Brother Jero is a crook. He is also direct about his job, which he calls first a "trade" (Ibid.: 45), and then a "business" (Ibid : 54). His followers and fellow-worshippers are to him "customers" and he sees himself as a "shop-keeper". I am glad I got here before any customers - I mean worshippers, - well, customers if you like. I always get that feeling every morning that I am a shop-keeper waiting for customers. (Ibid.: 55) "Trade", "business", "customers" and "shop-keeper" are all words associated with the commercial, money-making world. BrotherJero is directly indicating that he is looking for money. He is not interested in preaching and spreading the word of God. Brother Jero's relationship with his key disciple, Chume, is based on the leader exploiting the vanity of his pupil. The former is insincere about God, but the latter believes everything that Brother Jero says about God. This insincerity of Brother Jero emerges when he refers to Chume as "too crude" (Ibid.: 57). This is after Chume has joined Jero in prayer and both have been saying: "Abraka, Abraka, Hebra, Hebra, Hebra, ... " (Ibid.: 56). After pretending he had known it was Chume, Jero later makes it clear he knew that it was Chume the moment he (Chume) opened his mouth. Only Brother Chume reverts to that animal jabber when he gets his spiritual excitement. And that is much too often for my liking. (Ibid. : 57) BrotherJero has also fooled all his followers, including Chume, into believing that he (Jero) sleeps on the beach, and that he is something of an ascetic (Ibid: 57). All thi5"is proof of Jero's two-facedness. The impression may have been created that Jero succeeds in cheating everyone. He does not. Amope is one such person who is not fooled: for instance she wonders how Jero can call himself a man of God (Ibid. : 51 ). Jero later tries to escape from Amope by saying he must go and get the money from the post office. Amope is not impressed by this and she cal ls Jero a "bearded debtor" (Ibid. : 51 ), "A thief of a 53 Prophet" (Ibid.: 53), and "that good-for-nothing" (Ibid.: 68). Chume himself finally wakes up to the truth and calls Jero "Adulterer! Woman-thief!" (Ibid.: 76) Brother Jero, in spite of the numerous indications that he is a false prophet, nevertheless manages to thrive. This is because there are many gullible people who find themselves easy prey to tricksters such as Brother Jero. These are not only people such as Chume, or the Penitent (Ibid.: 62), or the Woman Bystander (Ibid.: 72), but also people such as the Member of the Federal House. In a speech full of irony, the Member first tells Jero to go away. Go and practice [sic] your fraudulence on another person of greater gullibility. (Ibid.: 73) However, Jero's velvet tongue soon wins him over. In the past, Jero has won "customers" by promising them that something wonderful will happen in future. For instance, one man has been promised he wi 11 be a chief in his own village. Another man has been promised that he wi 11 be the first Prime Minister of the new Mid­ North-East-State, when it is created (Ibid. : 60). One woman has been coming because she is barren. The Member is promised he will be Minister for War. Soyinka suggests that as long as there are dissatisfied members of society, and there will always be, as long as there are nincompoops such as the Member, and as long as there are scoundrels such as Brother Jero, charlatanism wi 11 always thrive. And the fact that when the play ends Jero appears to the Member as an angel (Ibid: 77) suggests an elevated status for the prophet. The play ends on a victory note for charlatans - and the audience has been shown why this is so. It is tempting to dismiss BrotherJero as merely a charlatan, much like Lakunle, since both characters are extremely amusing caricatures, but it would be wrong to do so. Lakunle is a false leader, and, as expected, nobody follows him. Brother Jero, however, has a taint of villainy in his character. He ruthlessly exploits the gullibility of his community, and is cunning enough to outmanoeuvre and make Chume suffer. As Jones notes, "Brother Jero ends the play a more sinister figure than he began" ( 1988 : 83). Having tasted power, Brother Jero can only be corrupted by this power, an eventuality which will come to pass in Jero's Metamorphosis. The fact that Soyinka wrote The Trials of Brother Jero after carefully observing revivalist churches is further evidence of his social awareness, a point which is 56 The Dead Ones have come as guests of the Living Ones in their feast, the Gathering of the Tribes. But the Dead Ones are rejected by the humans. Rola, in particular, is scathing in her condemnation of Dead Man. You look disgusting ... What a nerve you have. Do you think because you are out of town you, in your condition, can stop me and talk to me? (Ibid.: 4) Later, she calls the Dead "obscenities" (Ibid: 8). This rejection of their ancestors by the humans is symbolic of self-denial, a rejection of one's past and history. The humans will have nothing to do with their ancestors (their past), and in that way they deny themselves the chance of being shown their past deeds, mistakes included. This means that the humans will have no chance of learning the truth about their history. The point being made is that without being in contact with the past, the humans cannot reconstruct their present and their future. Once the Dead Ones have been snubbed, they move away and the Town Dwellers take the stage. Rola and Adenebi reveal themselves as selfish individuals who do not want to have much to do with their relatives. ADENEBI: ... You start your own family, expect to look after your wife and children, lead - you know - a proper family life. Privacy ... very important ... some measure of privacy. But how do you manage that when a lot of brats are delivered at your door because their great grandparents happen to have been neighbours of your great grand-uncles. ROLA: This whole family business sickens me. Let everybody lead their own lives. (Ibid.: 5 - 6) It is frequently said that the family is the most basic unit of human society, and that without the family unit, human society would not survive. The fact that 1994 was declared "The Year of the Family" by the United Nations, for example, underscores its importance. The kind of selfishness being suggested by Adenebi, and the total rejection of the family by Rola, are therefore to be condemned by any civilised society, because without the family, and without relatives, human beings cannot survive. Adenebi and Rola are therefore proposing a recipe for disaster, and the course of the play bears this out. Obanegi, alone among the Town Dwellers, seems to be the voice of reason. It is through answers to his questions that the unpleasant side of human nature is revealed. As a filing clerk for the courts he knows much about people's history 57 (Ibid.: 15). His favourite area of investigation is passenger lorries, which explains why he knows about two infamous lorries, the Chimney of Ereko and the Incinerator. It is the Incinerator that has been in the news lately. Initially built to carry only forty people, the Incinerator has been involved in a ghastly smash in which sixty five people have been killed, with only five survivors. People are wondering how seventy passengers could fit in a vehicle that was supposed to carry only forty. Obanegi makes it clear that one of Adenebi's office workers took a bribe to change the capacity to seventy: One of your office workers took a bribe. A real substantial bribe. And he changed the capacity to seventy. (Ibid.: 16) Demoke and Rola sound shocked by this, but not Adenebi. When Obane ji wants to find out more about this vehicle from Adenebi, he (Adenebi) becomes edgy and defensive. OBANEJI: Mr. Adenebi. What office do you hold in the council? ADENEBI: [angrily.] What do you imply? OBANEJI: You misunderstand me. I only meant, are you in a position to find out something for me? ADENEBI: [warily.] That depends. I am only the official Orator to the Council, but ... OBANEJI: You do wield some authority. ADENEBI: Yes. Certainly. OBANEJI: You see, I want to close my files on this particular lorry the Incinerator. And my records won't be complete unless I have the name of the man who did it - you know, the one who took the bribe. Do you think you can help me there? ADENEBI: Since you are so clever and so knowledgeable, why don't you find that yourself? OBANEJI: Please ... it is only for the sake of records ... ADENEBl:Then to hell with your records. Have you no feeling for those who died? Are you just an insensitive, inhuman block? (Ibid.: 17) The fact that Adenebi reacts, first angrily, then warily, and then angrily again, leading to his outburst, is a clear pointer to his guilt. Adenebi has judged and condemned himself as the corrupt council officer who accepted the bribe to change the capacity of the vehiqle from forty to seventy passengers. Obaneji continues to ask his probing questions, and through the answers more information is revealed about the other members of the community, Demoke and Rola. Demoke confesses his terrible crime, the murder of his apprentice carver, and adds that he would not mind dying in that same way as well. Rola, too,-is not ashamed 58 to reveal her true nature. As a prostitute, her wish is to die at the hands of a man. She would not mind being strangled by a man, as long as this is in the act of love­ making. She has actually.had some of her lovers killed, so she too, like Demoke, is a murderer. Ro la and Demoke tell the truth about themselves. Redemption and regeneration, the dramatist implies, belong to those who are honest, Rola and Demoke. It is no wonder that Adenebi decides to part ways with his erstwhile companions. ADENEBI: [rjses.] j think I must leave your company. He talks like a lost lunatic arid you are worse than the devil. I don't want to be involved in your types. (Ibid.: 25) Demoke goes a step further than Ro la in truthfulness because when the Dead Pair appear again, he boldly approaches Dead Man. Demoke wants to find out whether Oremole, the carver that he killed, accuses him in the land of the dead (Ibid: 25). The point being made here is that the truth, no matter how unpalatable, must be spoken. Demoke is an admirable, though uncomfortable, character because of his truthfulness. This hatred of the truth, the fear of being exposed for what they are in reality, is the very reason why the living drive away their guests from the underworld. It is Old Man who says many unpleasant things about these visitors. For instance: These guests we were sent are slaves and lackeys. They have only come to undermine our strength. To preach to us how ignoble we are. They are disgruntled creatures who have come to accuse their superiors as if this were a court of law. We have courts for the oppressed. Let them go somewhere else. (Ibid. : 33) So the Dead must be chased away because the Living do not want to be associated with what they see as the evi 1 past. According to Adenebi they had wanted The builders of empires. The descendants of our great nobility. (Ibid.: 32) The point being made here is that, too often, the African past has been presented only in glowing terms, to the total exclusion of the ugly component. Such a presentation is wrong. The evi 1 part should not be hidden away. The negritudinists, in particular, were very fond of idealizing African history. This is what has made Soyinka say: The African writer needs an urgent release from the fascination 61 Now, the Historian happens to be the same person as Adenebi. In his present life, this man has been accepting bribes at his work place to change the capacity of a lorry from forty to seventy passengers. This shows that Adenebi has the same qualities in both lives - dishonesty and corrupt ion. Madam Tortoise (Rola) is seen trying to seduce the Warrior. She calls Mata Kharibu a fool, and asks the Warrior whether he has no wish to sit where the emperor sits. I can save you. I can save you alone, or with your men. Choose. Choose. Why should a man be wasted? Why must you waste yourself for a fool like Kharibu? Choose, and Jet me be with you. (Ibid.: 64) When she fails to seduce the Warrior, she orders that he be gelded before being finally sold into slavery. So Madame Tortoise, too, is the same evil person in her present life as she was in her other life. Demoke too (Court Poet) has not changed. These correspondences demonstrate the repetitive pattern of human weakness: a hundred generations will not make any difference. Rene calls this repetitive pattern "the cyclical vision of history" ( 1990: 69). Soyinka has argued that African gods can be used to explain African society. Wherever these gods are used, they are "a projection of man's conflict with forces which challenge his efforts to harmonise with his environment, physical, social and psychic" (Soyinka 1976a: 1 ). He further explains that these gods have symbolic roles: "their symbolic roles are identified by man as the role of an intermediary quester, an explorer into territories of 'essence-ideal' around whose edges man fearfully skirts" (Ibid.). The spirits in this play are children of Forest Head. Spirits such as Murete and Eshuoro can be taken to represent humans, just as animals in African folk tales represent human beings (Schipper 1982: 38). So, the vices that are seen in these spirits can be said to be human vices. Eshuoro, for instance, stands for vengefulness,spitefulness and destructiveness; he is a bitter spirit whose sole aim is to seek vengeance. The moment he comes in, he immediately quarrels with Murete, scolding and insulting him. He also tortures Murete, and at one time he (Eshuoro) even wishes to smash Murete with a tree branch (Soyinka 1963a: 48). Eshuoro, furthermore, threatens vengeance on Demoke, for killing Oremole. Before he rushes out, he vows: I'll be revenged. Eshuoro, I, I'll be revenged, I'll be revenged .... (Ibid. : 49) 62 Later, this same Eshuoro is seen quarrelling with Ogun, who is protecting Demoke. Eshuoro wants to avenge Oremole, who was killed by Demoke. Eshuoro actually wants to throttle Ogun. They are separated by Forest Head, who scolds them: Soon, I will not tell you from the humans, so closely have their habits grown on you .... Take care how you tempt my vanity. Eshuoro, you came to bathe in blood, Ogun, you to defend the foibles of your ward. (Ibid.: 67) It seems there is nothing but bad behaviour everywhere,from humans and from gods. As Pribic mentions, Soyinka's understanding of the Yoruba (and African) world view is that humans and gods co-exist ( 1990: 420), and this view is clearly expressed in A Dance of the Forests. This pessimism about human nature is reinforced by the birth of the Half-Child and the appearance of other child monstrosities. The Half-Child symbolizes the incompleteness of man, as well as the (abortive) independence of the new nation (Nigeria) that was being born when the play was written and produced. It is an ugly future that is being forecast. The past has been shown to have been a-not-too-rosy one, and indications are that matters will continue as they were. The down-trodden will continue to suffer, as Ant Leader explains when being questioned by Forest Head: We take our colour from the loam ... , and they tread us Underfoot. ... The world is old But the rust of a mill ion years Has left the chains unloosened. (Soyinka 1963a : 77) Independence may have come, but the nature of leaders is such that there will be no improvement in the lives of the common people. This is what drives Forest Head to say: Trouble me no further. The fooleries of beings whom I have fashioned closer to me weary and distress me. Yet I must persist, knowing that nothing is ever altered. (Ibid.: 83) In spite of being lumped with "obscurantist" literature (Amuta 1983 : 58), "A Dance of the Forests is a good illustration of the principles Soyinka set forth before and after the play was written and staged ... [he has] repeatedly demonstrated that he would not compromise about truth and freedom, and like [the Warrior] ... [he has] had to pay dearly for this firm stand" <Rene 1990: 83). When A Dance of the Forests was staged in Nigeria, it proved very popular, even with "the masses". This pop~larity greatly pleased Soyinka, as he commented: What I found personally gratifying, and what I consider the validity 63 of my work, was that the so-called illiterate group of the community - the stewards, the drivers ... the really uneducated non-academic world ... they were coming to see the play every night ... if you allowed them. They felt the thing through all the way, and they came night after night and enjoyed it tremendously. (Soyinka 1993a: 256) It can therefore be said that some of the "obscurantist" charges which are often levelled at Soyinka have little substance and need to be reviewed. Nkosi, indeed, warns against "the kind of criticism which rests purely on the fact that Soyinka is 'difficult'" (1981: 189). A statement such as Soyinka "ignores the urgent and simple needs of his people" (Booth 1981 : 119), a clear echo of Ngugi's charge that Soyinka "ignores the creative struggle of the masses" (Ngugi 1972: 65) does not sound convincing, especially in the light of the reaction of the ordinary people to A Dance of the Forests. Soyinka's condemnation of his society's evils has continued in the discussion of the five plays in Part One of this chapter. In Chapter One, themes such as child abuse, charlatanism, gullibilty, to mention only a few, were highlighted. The same themes, and others, have featured in this section. Soyinka's concern with repression, and his condemnation of certain still current barbaric traditional customs, themes which were apparent in Chapter One, will emerge again in the next section in the discussioo of plays such as Kongi's Harvest and The Strong Breed: similar and consistent social and political themes pervade Soyinka's work. * * * * * * * * * * * * PART TWO SOYINKA'S PLAYS OF THE SIXTIES One critic has surmised: "It is possible that Soyinka unconsciously believes in the invincibi 1 ity of decadent traditions" (Ahmed 1984: 121). Such an assessment could only have been made after a very superficial reading and simplistic interpretation of Soyinka's works. It is unfortunate that there is no evidence provided by Ahmed to back his claim. Indeed, no matter which work one chooses, one will find that, if anything, Soyinka is against decadent traditions. This standpoint is true in plays such as A Dance of the Forests. The Swamp Dwellers. and Camwood on the Leaves. This will be the case in The Strong Breed. To suggest that Soyinka is a secret admirer of decadent traditions is to accuse the man of insensitivity to his society's problems and aspirations. On the contrary, this dissertation argues that the consistent thread 'in Soyinka's writing is his social and political commitment (Jones 1988: 11 - 12). 66 Does it really have meaning to use one as unwilling as that. [sic] (Ibid.: 99) It can be concluded, therefore, that Eman sees the way the ritual is practised in his village as much better than the way it is practised in this village. Here, the custom "seems more cowardly and less morally respect ab le than that of Eman' s people" (Booth 1992 : 15). Because Eman cannot stand the idea that I fada has been farced to be the carrier, he decides to take the poor boy's place. This deed is something only the strong can do. Eman is not aware of the fact that he belongs to "the strong breed", and no matter what he does, he cannot rebel against his family calling. One of the mental flashbacks in this play makes this clear, in the meeting between Eman and his father. Eman is told that even if he says he is "unfitted" to do the work of a carrier he will find himself doing the job. OLD MAN: Your own blood will betray you son, because you cannot hold it back. If you make it do less than this, it will rush to your head and burst it open. I say what I know son. (Soyinka 1969: 105) It can therefore be said that Eman's strong blood makes him rush to lfada's rescue, but Jaguna's taunting words may also have incited Eman to action. This event occurs after Eman has exposed the flaws in the way the village carries out this ritual. JAGUNA: You see, it is easy to talk. You say there are no men in this village because they cannot provide a willing carrier. And yet I heard Oroge tell you we only use strangers. There is only one other stranger in the village, but I have not heard him offer himself [spits.] It is so easy to talk is it not? (Ibid.: 99) These words sting Eman. The suggestion that he is a coward who only talks but does nothing forces him to take lfada's place as the carrier of the society's sins. Eman, though, is later seen trying to escape from the villagers. This action is somewhat puzzling, but it should be remembered that though earlier Eman has talked of his unsuitability for the task his father has told him of his strong blood (Ibid.: 104- 105). Eman's moral superiority is also highlighted in his relationship with his tutor, a lecherous old man who loves "pinching the girls' bottoms" (Ibid.: 109). When the tutor finds Omae, Eman's lover, in the initiation camp, he (the tutor) sees an opportunity of satisfying his sexual lust. After asking Eman to go into his hut, the tutor advances on the girl: ... now now my 1 ittle daughter, you need not be afraid of me. 67 OMAE: [spiritedly.] I am not. TUTOR: Good. Very good. We ought to be friendly. [His voice becomes leering] Now this is nothing to worry you my daughter ... a very small thing indeed. Although of course if I were to let it slip that your young Eman had broken a strong taboo, it might go hard on him you know. I am sure you would not like that to happen, would you? Clbid.: 111) Efforts to force the girl into his hut fail, and Eman, who has obviously been watching the lecher's advances on Omae, emerges to announce that he is breaking off his initiation and that he is leaving the village. This is reminiscent of the clash between lgwezu and the Kadiye in The Swamp Dwellers. In both plays, the clash is symbolic of the challenge posed to retrogressive traditional practices by new, enlightened forces. This is further proof that Soyinka is not a blind believer in the invincibility of decadent traditions, a point amply expressed in the following quotation: Despite his high regard for traditional African culture, Soyinka has always been prudent in basing the themes of his plays on an idea from the traditional culture. His nostalgia is devoid of sentimentality. He praises and chastises when need be .... (Olorounto 1988: 297) Thus Eman continues his fight against evil when he denounces the tutor. Perhaps the villagers will begin to see the tutor for what he really is, a fake. He is not th~ right man to be teaching the initiates how to become real men (Soyinka 1969: 110). If Eman is the saviour who represents all that is good (Jones 1988: 73), the Girl is his antithesis. She is the play's most sinister character because she is greatly indifferent to sorrow and suffering (Moore 1978 : 51 ). Ogunyemi sees the sick girl as "a miniature of the village" (Jones 1978 : 31 ). These views are correct. The sick girl represents her village, which too can be said to be in need of a cure. At first the Girl is a very sympathetic character, especially when Sunma says of her: She is not a child. She is as evil as the rest of them. (Soyinka 1969: 86) But this sympathy soon disappears when the Girl says to lfada: You have a head like a spider's egg, and your mouth dribbles like a roof. But there is no one else. Would you play? (Ibid.) These are very cruel words. But the Girl does not stop here, as a little while later she tortures If ada further. 68 [ ... with surprising venom.] But just because you are helping me, don't think it is going to cure you. I am the one who will get well at midnight, do you understand? It is my carrier and it is for me alone. (Ibid.: 87) The Girl treats lfada with insensitive cruelty, just as the sick society is treating both lfada and Eman, the two foreigners. The Girl completes her role as a really evil person when, on being asked by Eman to bring him some water to drink, she goes off, seemingly to do so, but really to call Eman's pursuers. She comes back with Jaguna and Oroge, and although he still manages to escape, they have been told of Eman's dire need for water to quench his thirst. They know where to wait for him. Early in the play, Sunma appears as another unpleasant character, especially because of what she says about lfada and the Girl. It later becomes apparent that she is really not on the side of the villagers. Her cruelty results from her frustration at failing to keep Eman out of harm's way. She knows the village will pick a stranger on the eve of the new year to serve as the carrier. Sunma is nervous because of the danger she sees hanging over her lover's head. lfada will only bring the villagers to her house, and to confirm her fears, they do come and take lfada away. Sunma makes it clear that she is not on the villagers' side. She tells Eman it would be better if he left, because the villagers really do not want him. SUNMA: You think they love you? Do you think they care at all for what you - or I- do for them? EMAN: Them? These are your own people. Sometimes you talk as if you were a stranger too. SUNMA: I wonder if I really sprang from here. I know they are evil and I am not. From the oldest to the smallest child, they are nourished in evil and unwholesomeness in which I have no part. (Ibid.: 88) Sunma may sound boastful about her own uprightness, but there is some truth in what she says about her people. She, too, is a symbol of change, because while everyone else hates strangers, she has actually fallen in love with one, and has lived with him amongst her people. When Eman says he will not leave because he has found peace here, she says: I haven't. For a while I thought that too, but I found there could be no peace in the midst of so much cruelty. (Ibid.: 89) When the villagers come for the escaped lfada, Sunma tries to explain to her father, Jaguna, who says that he no longer trusts her (Ibid. : 97) and orders the men to take her 71 poem: "Driving to Lagos one morning a white cockerel flew out of the dusk and smashed itself against my windscreen. A mile further I came across a motor accident and a freshly dead man in the smash" (Soyinka 1967a: 10). In the poem itself, the mother prays: ... Child May you never walk When the road waits, famished. (Ibid.: 11) In The Road. Samson says nearly the same "prayer": May we never walk when the road waits, famished. (Soyinka 1965b: 60) This link between the words in the poem and in the play emphasises Soyinka's concern with the dangers of road travel. The notes for the producer, and the prefatory poem, "Alegemo", are included by Soyinka to simplify matters for readers in their interpretation of The Road. The significant point to make is that the poem brings out one of Soyinka's strongest beliefs about his concept of the Yoruba (and African) world view. This is the 1 ink between the past, present and the future, or between the dead, the 1 iving and the unborn: a theme centra 1 to A Dance of the Forests. Soyinka strongly believes in the influence of the gods on people's lives, and one of his favourite gods is the Yoruba god of destruction and creation, Ogun. It has been said that in the poem "Alegemo", Agemo is the equivalent of Ogun (Maduakor 1987: 197 - 200). This god is also a god of both creation and destruction, just as Ogun is. In a way, the poem prepares the audience for death, which is one of the major themes of the play. One could say that the spirit of Agemo is talking of itself as having come from the dead: My roots have come out in the other world This is a foreshadowing of Murano, who is an embodiment of the suspension of death. The "pathways of the sun" are the movement of the sun from east,resemb ling birth, to the west, resembling death. In the same way, the play opens at dawn, suggesting the dawn of a new era. Unfortunately this era is one characterised by chaos and confusion. This disorder is conveyed by the coming into view of the road-side shack. Right from the start, Soyinka makes it clear that he is portraying a society in which values have been turned upside down: a point which emerges in the very first stage directions. The play will take place in a road-side "shack", the fence is "ragged", the church has a "tightly shut stained-glass" window. The mammy-waggon is "lop-sided" and "minus its wheels". 72 All these are symbolic of a society that has been ruined by man. Both the secular and the religious worlds are being criticised by Soyinka. The fact that the church window is closed and stained is a criticism of the Christian church's lack of transparency. A further indication that things have fallen apart is the ill-spelling: AKSIDENT STORE - ALL PART AVAILEBUL (for ACCIDENT STORE - ALL PARTS AVAILABLE).The proprietor of this store is himself muddled, with lop-sided ideas about life and death. Prof es so r's store mirrors its owner and the owner mirrors the store. Each is symptomatic of a breakdown in society's values. Professor's philosophy has no wheels and cannot therefore take him anywhere. The layabouts are almost dead with sleep because of the previous night's carousing. They "are sprawled on the floor and on benches" , "among rubble of worn tyres, hubs, twisted bumpers etc" (Soyinka 1965b: 1 ). Samson is seen going out and urinating against the wall (Ibid.). One can imagine the nauseating sanitary conditions around the store. The picture Soyinka paints is one of a society which "literally lacks direction and common purpose. It has the road, it lacks a driver" (Probyn 1981: 51 ). Right from the start, Soyinka indicates his displeasure with his society. The play was written at a time when Nigerian independence was proving more and more disappointing, and one critic sums up the whole issue thus: While Soyinka has over the years actively protested real road conditions in Africa, figuratively he speculates in the play where Nigeria is headed on the road of independence, .... The early 1960s were characterised by political turmoil, and it turned out that Nigeria was veering toward a disastrous wreck in the form of a civil war, 196 7 -70. Jn The Road. Soyinka predicts that crash. (Phillips 1990: 140) It is with the above quotation in mind that The Road should be discussed. Jones rightly terms the play an unflattering satire about nearly all aspects of Nigerian life ( 1988: 98). It becomes very difficult to talk of a single theme for this play because practically every character seems to be a vehicle for a theme, or themes. At the heart of the play is the enigmatic Professor whose life is dominated by a quest for something he cal ls the Word. Just as the Professor himself, with his ironical name, can be dismissed as nothing but a madman, his search for the Word can similarly be given short shrift as much ado about nothing. The only point at which the Professor can be 73 taken seriously is when he is seen as a vehicle of satire concerning a corrupt society (Jones 1988 : 91 ). As with Lakunle in The Lion and the Jewel. the Professor's first appearance strikes the audience because of the clothes he is wearing. His "Victorian outfit - tails, top-hat etc., all threadbare and shiny at the lapels from much ironing" (Soyinka 1965b: 8), the pocket-watch and his monocle, all symbolise the incongruity of the man and all that he represents to his society. The people around the Professor think he is mad. Salubi, for instance, refers to him as "that madman" who makes "abracadabra with spirits" (Ibid.: 4, 5). Samson says he cannot understand the man because he sleeps in the church yard with dead bodies (Ibid.: 5). Say Tokyo Kid sees the Professor as "that crazy guy" who is "gonna go too far" one of these days (Ibid: 25). Everything the Professor says is crazy talk, and Salubi further says that once the police catch him, they will throw the Professor in the lunatic asylum of the prison (Ibid.: 32). Lastly, Samson actually tells the Professor: I always thought you weren't as mad as people thought. ... You are a very confusing person Professor. I can't follow you at all. (Ibid.: 63) The Professor is therefore perceived as mad by those around him. And since he is also the leader of the layabouts, Soyinka seems to be burlesqueing African leaders soon after the attainment of independence in the 1960s. The layabouts have been referred to as "symbols of a purposeless existence" (Jones 1988: 91 ). The Professor can then be seen as a parody of a political leader, and Phillips corroborates this view by referring to the Professor as "a kind of political tyrant" ( 1990: 148). There is nothing in the Professor's actions which is admirable. He failed as a lay-reader and Sunday Schoo 1 teacher. He was excommunicated for embezzling church funds, but even before he was caught stealing from the church, his conduct had displeased the bishop. For example, one Palm Sunday he taught his pupils that the palm is a symbol of the ever-abundance of palm wine, "a covenant that the world shall not perish from thirst" (Soyinka 1965b: 89). In the end the Professor was dismissed for blasphemy (Ibid. : 69). Having failed in the church, the Professor starts a new life both as a leader of the layabouts and as a businessman dealing in second-hand motor car spare parts. To maintain a hold on his followers he assumes his philosopher charade. It is not clear whether he genuinely believes in his mission, or whether he is merely using his 76 The other characters, it can be suggested, are either vehicles of, or butts for, Soyinka's satire of his society. Everyone except Murano is guilty of one vice or another. Samson, Kotonu and Salubi symbolise skilled but unemployed members of society, symbols of a society on a road to nowhere. Their existence is purposeless, as they spend their time doing nothing and preying on one another. Samson's Biblical name is both symbolic and ironic. He was God's champion against the pagan Philistines. In the play he is called Champion Tout of Motor Parks, but his glory is in the past. Now, just as with Kotonu and Salubi, he has been condemned to frustration and inactivity. His major role is in the parodies that he plays. Firstly, he plays the African millionaire. He dishes out money to police officers so that they do not arrest his drivers. This is most impressively done and the scene starts with a kind of prayer: Give us this day our daily bribe. Amen. (Soyinka 1965b: 6) And then in perfect order, officers first, the policemen, from the Superintendent down to the newest recruit, receive their bribes. This is institutionalized corruption, and the implication is that society's law enforcers are all corrupt. If that is the case, then the rest of the society is rotten. Then Salubi remarks that money is power. Samson then demonstrates how thes~ rich and powerful men "enjoy" life. Now I want you to take the car - the long one - and drive along the Marina at two o'clock. All the fine fine girls just coming from offices, the young and tender faces fresh from school - give them lift to my house. Old bones like me put fresh tonic in his blood.( Ibid.: 8) The Professor has been shown as a forger of licences, a fact already familiar to Particulars-Joe, the uniformed policeman who finds Say Tokyo Kid and his gang dragging on the hemp, and instead of arresting these law-breakers, actually joins them in the hemp-smoking. It is no wonder The Gang sing: You police are all the same ... Taking bribes is all you know .... (Ibid.: 79) Soyinka has depicted a society where even thugs know that the pol ice are corrupt. There is also collaboration among criminals, as Tokyo Kid has been seen fraternising with 77 Particulars-Joe, and Particulars-Joe is seen discussing the criminal world with the Professor. PROFESSOR: How is the criminal world my friend? PARTICULARS-JOE: More lucrative everyday Professor. (Ibid. : 75) Particulars-Joe has also been a friend to Sergeant Burma. These two were in the front together during the Burma campaign, and through them Soyinka exposes the fallacy that there may be valid reasons for starting a war. (Although war in the cause of uprooting evil systems such as apartheid is justifiable, according to Soyinka.) It is Particulars­ Joe who makes the point: ... It is peaceful to fight a war which one does not understand, to kill human beings who never seduced your wife or poisoned your water... . (I bid. : 81 - 82) In A Dance of the Forests the Warrior is severely punished because he refuses to fight a war which he thinks has no justification. Soyinka himself was imprisoned for over two years for criticising the Nigerian government when it decided to go to war against the lbos in 1967 (Schipper 1982 : 137). In Sergeant Burma the evil effects of war on a person's soul are typified. War dehumanises people, and this is the reason why Samson tells Kotonu: ... You cannot pretend to be an out-and-out cannibal like Sergeant Burma. (Soyinka 1965b: 20) Later, Kotonu says: Sergeant Burma was never moved by these accidents. He told me himself how once he was stripping down a crash victim and found that the driver was an old comrade from the front. He took him to the mortuary but first he stopped to remove all the tyres. SAMSON: He wasn't human. (Ibid. : 21 ) The point that Soyinka is making is too obvious to demand further comment. Suffice it to say that Soyinka has done in The Road what he once said he would always do: use his trade to challenge unacceptable situations in society (Granqvist & Stotesbury 1989: 69). Finally, it should be noted that Professor's death is beneficial to his community as society has been rid of an evil man, much in the same way as Reverend Erinjobi's death 78 is a blessing to his community. Soyinka clearly detests oppressive leaders, a point which also emerges in Kongi's Harvest. the next play to be discussed. * * * Kongi's Harvest ( 1967) was written after some African states had achieved nationhood. Some of these countries were gradually sliding into the grip of despots, notably Ghana, under Nkrumah, and Malawi, under Banda (Moore 1978 : 62 , Ahmed 1984: 122). Being the socially and politically committed man that he is (Soyinka 1984(b): xiii), Soyinka found himself being forced to assume "an increasingly public role as a champion of political freedoms" (Pribic 1990 : 421 ). Kongi's Harvest is therefore one of Soyinka's plays which comes "closest to a direct comment upon the contemporary political scene in Africa". The play is a satirical comedy upon the emergent style and rhetoric of African dictatorship (Moore 1978 : 61 ). Kongi is the President of an imaginary state, lsma, so called because the nation's word factory, the Reformed Aweri Fraternity, churns out "ism" after "ism" as precepts to be used as guiding principles in running the country. Kongi wants to preside over a New Yam ceremony, a ritual hitherto the preserve of the traditional ruler, the Oba, to mark the start of a new harvest season. But the "harvest" in the title of the play is ironic because in the end Kongi's despotic rule leads to chaos and the disintegration of the nation. Soyinka prepares the readers for this disaster by prefacing the play with a section entitled "Hemlock". Hemlock is the poisonous plant, a brew of which the Greek philosopher, Socrates, drank to end his life. Kongi has sowed hemlock on the land and the harvest will be bitter. This result ties up with Danlola's words at the end of this section: ... disaster Is the only certainty we know. (Soyinka 1967b: 10) It is in this negative sense that "harvest" is used, for Kongi's actions will yield nothing but confusion and misery. In addition to the new yam, he will be presented with a man's head, a direct outcome of his repression. Danlola's first appearance is as a prisoner of Kongi, but he is taking part in a royal dance to a song which seems to be mocking Kongi's new regime, and at the same time challenging it to a fight. The opening lines of the anthem are: The pot that wi 11 eat fat 81 lend him CKongi) strength. He only calms down when the Secretary assures him that he is actually more than that - he isa benevolent Spirit of Harvest, and the year will be known as the year of Kongi ·s Harvest. Everything shal 1 date from that year. KONGl:[rapt in the idea.] You mean, things like 200 K.H. SECRETARY: A.H. my Leader. After the Harvest. In a thousand years, one thousand A.H. And last year shall be ref erred to as 18.H. ... KONG!: No, K.H. is less ambiguous. The year of Kongi's Harvest. Then for the purpose of back-dating, B.K.H. Before Kongi's Harvest. (Ibid.: 37) The scheme will of course place Kongfs status on a par with that of Christ, whose life is used for dating in the Christian calendar, Before Christ CB.C.) and Anno Domini CAD.). Kongi has also made sure that the country's major structures are named after him: Kongi Terminus, Kongi University, Kongi Dam, Kongi Refineries, Kongi Airport, etc. (Ibid.: 64). Kongi himself says he is everything and everyone in lsma (I bid. : 81 ) .. Not satisfied with all the political power he has bestowed on himself, Kongi works tirelessly to divest Oba Danlola of his spiritual power. But Danlola is a stubborn old man who is unwilling, naturally, to surrender to Kongi. Dan lo la is prevailed upon by his nephew, Daodu, and his lover, Segi, to submit to Kongi's request. Segi and Daodu complement Danlola as Kongi's opponents. Segi's father is one of the five men awaiting execution, and Daodu is Sarumi's son and heir to Danlola. On the surface of things, then, Kongi has some quite formidable opposition. The antithetical polarisation between Kongi and the Segi/Daodu alliance is emphasised by the stage craft of "First Part". Indeed it has been suggested that while Kongi and his henchmen stand for death, darkness and destruction, the Segi/Daodu camp is symptomatic of progress, life and growth (Jones 1988: 100). This is borne out by the lighting when each camp comes into view. For example, "Kongi is seen dimly in his own cell" (Soyinka 1967b: 11 ), but Segi and Daodu are surrounded by coloured lights (Ibid.: 13). Kongi is a prisoner of his political system but Segi and Daodu are dancing to vigorous music. And when the Secretary and his two spies enter the night club, they pollute the jovial atmosphere. These representatives of Kongi's hated regime are unwelcome in the night club. Daodu's opposition to Kongi is pushed a step further by the fact that he CDaodu) has set up a thriving farming venture to rival Kongi's not-so-successful state cooperatives. The 82 yam that is to be presented to Kongi at the festival is from one of Daodu's farms, which won the New Yam competition. Segi has been appointed the leader of the Women's Corps, who have also decided to ally themselves with Daodu's Farm Settlement, and these will now form a strong counter to Kong i's Carpenters' Br~gade, which has been weakened by desert ions. At the presentation ceremony, the rebellious women show remarkable courage, taunting Kongi with the words of their song: Oh here is a new wonder of wonders Kongi they say, will eat the king's yam [sicJ (Ibid.: 74) At the same time the women "curtsey to the seated obas, [andJ perform a brief insulting gesture as they dance past the Reformed Aweri" (Ibid.). When Daodu finally stands up to speak, his speech is full of venom. Echoing Dan lo la's anthem in "Hemlock", Daodu calls on all the world to denounce "all Prophets of Agony" (the Kongis of this world). He appeals to freedom fighters to recognise "that pain may be endured in the pursuit of ending pain and fighting terror" (Ibid.: 79). And in an open challenge to Kongi, Daodu continues: So let him, the Jesus of lsma, let him, who has assumed the mantle of Messiah, accept from my farming settlement this gift of soil and remember that a human life once buried cannot, like this yam sprout anew. Let him take from the palm only its wine and not crucify lives upon it. Unfortunately, these words do not seem to have any effect on Kongi. It has already been hinted that one of the vices of the new regime is its insensitivity to people's feelings. The regime spews its propaganda With government rediffusion sets Which talk and talk and never Take a lone word in reply. (Ibid.: 2) At this point, when Daodu expects something to happen, possibly the assassination of Kongi, Segi's father is shot dead outside. Things go wrong and Daodu's last words are: We failed again. (Ibid.: 81) After the dismal failure of the plan to unseat Kongi, indications are that all his opponents will run away to a neighbouring country. The iron grating that descends and hits the 83 ground with a loud clang at the end of the play is suggestive of the iron grip that Kongi has on lsma. With the leaders of the opposition in exile, it can be assumed that Kongi's paranoid schizophrenia will only worsen. This is why Olorounto sees Kongi as another fitting example of the "modern trickster with immeasurable capacity for deceit, incorrigible moral degeneration and political tyranny" ( 1988: 300). Kongi's Harvest can be said to be one of the first of Soyinka's plays to point quite clearly to the evils of totalitarianism in Africa. Later plays such as Madmen and Specialists. Jero's Metamorphosis, Opera Wonyosi and A Play of the Giants continue in a similar vein. In the eight plays that were discussed in this chapter, Soyinka's themes have covered the whole spectrum of humanity. Man's foibles have been lampooned in nearly every play. Soyinka has shown himself a consistently politically and socially committed writer who is concerned with what happens around him. 86 that their father is suffering from "mind sickness", and so he had to be locked up, for his own sake. The Mendicants, too, are said to be insane (Soyinka 1971 : 31, 37, 38 ). The "specialists" are, again, Dr Bero and his co-leaders. Before Bero even appears, the Mendicants mention that he is a specialist who is known as always achieving his goals. They say he is a specialist in extracting the truth, and the audience is then shown how this is achieved, by torturing a suspect until he faints (Ibid.: 14- 15). Later, Bero himself boasts: ... The Specialist they called me, and a specialist is - well a specialist. You analyse, you diagnose, you - ( He aims an imaginary gun.) - prescribe. (Ibid.: 31-32) Dr Bero and the other leaders are straightaway characterised as specialists in torture and brutality. They know everything, it seems, and they have solutions to every problem. Once they have decided on a course of action, they dictate it to everyone else. If anyone tries to oppose them, that person is shot. Madmen and Specialists aims to portray the worst in human nature, and Dr Bero is arguably one of the most obnoxious characters ever created by Soyinka. The first mention of Bero is in reference to his home and surgery, and it is indicated that this surgery is "down in a cellar" (Soyinka 1971: 7). The location of the surgery underground immediately brings to mind Hades, the underworld, and from the outset Bero is associated with death. Next, barks and herbs (Ibid.: 7) are juxtaposed with horribly deformed beggars. This positioning is to show the audience how awry life has become, and also demonstrates Bero's metamorphosis: from a healer to a destroyer of life. (The herbs and barks represent his former vocation as a doctor, and the Mendicants represent the damage that Bero and the other leaders have caused.) When Bero joined the war, he was in the Medical Corps but he later switched jobs, to become the head of the Intelligence Section (Ibid.: 31 ). In his new vocation Bero has become a completely transformed person (hence the term metamorphosis). He has swapped his doctor's paraphernalia for a swagger-stick, braids and buttons (Ibid.: 10, 23). And a revolver is now part of him because he carries and flashes it any time he is annoyed (Ibid.: 56, 66, 76, 77). Bero's metamorphosis has made him power hungry, callous and cruel. Goyi feels that Si Bero, his sister, must be pitied for having such a monster of a brother. And from A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA AS A DRAMATIST, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIS ENGAGEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY ISSUES by MAJAHANA JOHN CHONSI LUNGA submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject ENGLISH at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: MR D. LEVEY NOVEMBER 1994 SUMMARY A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF WOLE SOYINKA AS A DRAMATIST, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIS ENGAGEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY ISSUES This dissertation is mainly on Wole Soyinka as a dramatist. It aims to show that Soyinka, far from being an irrelevant artist as some of his fiercest critics have alleged, is a deeply committed writer whose works are characterised by a strong sense of concern with basic human values of right and wrong, good and evil. Furthermore, the dissertation shows that although Soyinka is not an admirer of Marxist aesthetics, he is certainly not in the art-for-art's-sake camp either, I because he is fully aware of the utilitarian value of literature. Soyinka's works are much influenced by his social and historical background, and the dissertation shows that Soyinka's socio-political awareness pervades all these works, although it will be seen that in the later plays there is a sharpened political awareness. Although largely concerned with his own country's issues, Soyinka also emerges as a keen observer of humanity universally. * * * * * * * * * * * KEY TERMS DESCRIBING THE TOPIC OF THE DISSERTATION Wole Soyinka; critical analysis, evaluation, interpretation, criticism, critique, critic; drama, dramatic, dramatist; engagement, preoccupation, commitment, engage, committed writer; ideology; contemporary, colonial, pre-colonial, post­ colonial, post-independence, traditional; themes, issues, concerns; art, artist, Marxism, Marxist aesthetics, art-for-art's-sake literature. * INTRODUCTION Some critics, for example Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa and lhechukwu, have alleged that Wole Soyinka is nothing but a literary charlatan "who delights in masquerading as the authentic and quintessential African literary force" ( 1982: 208). These same critics go on to accuse Soyinka of "cultural servitude" because of his "Euromodernist" style which makes his works "obscure" and "privatist" (Ibid. : 249). The primary aim of this dissertation is to show that Wale Soyinka, contrary to the views of the Chinweizus, is a committed writer who is deeply and consistently preoccupied with c.?ntemporary socio-political issues. That part of this dissertation's title which refers to "engagement in contemporary issues" should be briefly explained. "Engagement" in this discu'Ssion connotes the same as "commitment", a concept which is explained in Gray's definition of a "committed writer", who is: [a] writer or artist who sees his work as necessarily serving a political or social programme or set of beliefs, and not merely aimed at achieving literary ends. ( 1984: 49) Gray's definition of a "committed writer", with its extended explanation of "commitment", matches Amuta's definition of "commitment", which denotes "a preoccupation with issues of socio-political contemporaneity" ( 1989: 115). "Contemporary" in this sense will carry approximately the same meaning as "post-colonial", a term which, according to Ashcroft, Griffiths and T1ffin, is understood "to cover all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day" (1989: 2). However, the issues explored by Soyinka are wider than the simply political. One may still ask a further question of the term "commitment": committed to what or to whom? Aristophanes, Swift, Orwell, Haggard, Ngugi, Ruark, Soyinka are all committed writers, but they are not all in one and the same camp. Aristophanes, Haggard and Ruark belong to one group, the rightist, conservative camp, while Swift, Orwell, Ngugi and Soyinka, although differing in their radicalism and revolutionary zeal, can be said to be writers with iconoclastic, sometimes SQCialistic. tendencies. Banham actually says Aidoo, Soyinka and Ngugi stand . - f / 2 together in challenging present-day African politicians (Jones 1984: 171-2), and Michael Thorpe notes that he has compared Soyinka "with such unsparing truth­ tellers as Orwell, Koestler, and Solzhenitsyn" C 1989 : 39). There is some controversy, though, about a writer such as Ekwensi. Peter Nazareth argues (quite rightly) that in Survive the Peace ( 1976), Ekwensi emerges as a political novelist (Gugelberger 1985: 165 - 177). To Amuta, however, Ekwensi is a writer "without any discernible political commitment" whatsoever (Amuta 1989: 64). lyasere also does not think much of Ekwensi's works (Jones 1975: 20). To this writer, Ekwensi is strictly not a committed artist, but Soyinka is. It is~in this light, then, that Soyinka's commitment should be understood. It wi 11 be argued that Soyinka is a social critic who writes because he waots ta articulate ordinary people's aspirations, as he once said: ---·------·----~-~ ....... --·- ... because literature ... has to do with people, ... there is no way in which human relations, social relations, economic situations, the agonies and anguish of people can be avoided in [one's] writing . ... because I deal with human beings, I become infinitely involved in attempting to articulate their problems, their fears, their hopes, using my trade to challenge unacceptable situations in society, using that art as a means in fact of heightening the humane consciousness of people .... (Granqvist and Stotesbury 1989: 68) The theory of literary criticism that will be used in this discussion is based on Amuta's approach, which is expressed as follows: /t ... it is the socio-economic, political and ideoj_ggi~2ll...£Q!ltradictions which define the life and historical experience of the African people that form the basis of a new and more functionally relevant theoretical approach to African literature. C 1989: vii - viii) This approach emphasises the "utilitarian" value of literature, as opposed to "art-for-art's-sake" aesthetics. Amuta's approach is therefore Mar xi st in orienation, as he CAmuta) explains (Ibid.: viii). This writer will adopt Amuta's approach. * * * Akinwade Oluwole Soyinka was born on July 13, 1934, in lsara, western Nigeria, of I jegba parentage. <The information on Soyinka's biography is taken from an assortment of sources, mainly from Moore ( 1978), Jones ( 1988) and from the journals "Contemporary Authors" and "Contemporary Literary Criticism", of various dates and by various authors too many to list here.) A member of the /( r 3 Yoruba-speaking people, Soyinka grew up in a traditional town called Abeokuta. His father, Soditan Ayodele, was a headmaster, and his mother, Eniola, was also a school teacher. Both parents were ·ardent Christians, and Soyinka was brought up on Christian principles. Soyinka started his primary education in 1938 at St Peter's School, Ake, Abeokuta, completing it in 1943, and between 1944 and 1945 he attended Abeokuta Grammar School. From 1946 to 1950 he attended Government College, Ibadan, where he completed his high school education. From there he moved to University College in Ibadan, where he studied English, History and Greek, completing his degree in 1954. He then furthered his education at the School of English, University of Leeds, where he obtained a B.A. Honours Degree in English in 1957. During his stay in England, Soyinka spent eighteen months as a script reader at the Royal Court Theatre in London, a probable source of inspiration for his deep interest in theatre work (Moore 1978 :7). Soyinka is a prolific writer, primarily of plays, as can be seen from the list of his works below. (Only those that will be discussed, or referred to, in this discussion, are included. Some of his other works were never published, and those are not included here. ) Five novels have been published by Soyinka: The Interpreters ( 1965), The Man Died ( 1972), Season of Anomy ( 1973), Ake: The Years of Childhood ( 1981) and lsara: A Voyage Around Essay ( 1989). <The last two are autobiographies.) Two other prose works, collections of essays on criticism, have been published by Soyinka: Myth, Literature and the African World ( 1976) and Art. Dialogue and I Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture C 1988, 1993). • His collections of poems are ldanre and Other Poems ( 1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt C 1972), Ogun Abibiman ( 1976) and Mandela's Earth and Other Poems ( 1988). It is, however, for his dramatic works that Soyinka is renowned, and he has had no less than fifteen full-length plays published: A Dance of the Forests ( 1963), The Lion and the Jewel ( 1963 ), The Swamp Dwellers C 1963), camwood on th_e Leaves ( 1973 ), The Trials of Brother Jero ( 1964 ), The Road ( 1965 ), The Strong I ' ' \. 6 . ., anybody who is as socially and politically committed as I think I am ... . (Soyinka 1984b : xiii) At another time he said: I am a social and political activist and I align myself directly with issues in a way that it's not difficult to define my political ideology .... (Barreca 1985: 35) It is this socio-political commitment that will form the governing framework of this dissertation. And this commitment has been recognised by critics such as Pribic, who cal ls Soyinka "a champion of political freedoms" ( 1990: 421 ). Gibbs, too, similarly comments that "Soyinka was, and is, a kind of unofficial ombudsman in Nigeria; his name ... suggests 'instant redress"' ( 1983 : 30). It is therefore baffling that there are other critics who have alleged that Soyinka's plays lack a "historical perspective", and that ordinary people in Soyinka's plays are marginalised (Ngugi 1972: 65 - 66). Even more puzzling is the notion that Soyinka remained an uncommitted writer unti 1 the late sixties (Utudjian 1984 :36). These critics ignore the fact that "Soyinka's first attempt at writing a play, in the 1950s, was based on his resentment of South African apartheid" (de Kock 1987: 134 ). A Dance of the Forests, one of Soyinka's earliest plays, is also one of his strongest political statements. Perhaps these same critics are unaware of Soyinka's belief in "one of the social functions of literature: the visionary reconstruction of the past for the purposes of a social directlon" (Soyinka· 1976a : 106). This dissertation will show that Soyinka is aware of "the political and social role of literature" (Cooper 1992: 2). It should also be noted that as early as 1967, Soyinka spelt out quite categorically ~~.- '--~~ what he regarded as the role of the writer in society. Castigating the African writer for doing nothing to condemn human failures, Soyinka argued that the African writer had not responded to the political moment of his society. He declared: It seems to me that the time has now come when the African writer must have courage to determine what alone can be salvaged from the recurrent cycle of human stupidity. (Soyinka 1993a: 19) He concluded his speech by spelling out the role of the artist, whom he called upon to act "as the record of the mores and experience of his society and as the voice o \ vision in his own time" ( Ibid.: 20 ). \ I 7 So it can be seen that Soyinka's vision of literature tallies with Amuta's theory of African literature, namely that this literature must not be art for art's sake. Instead, it must address the socio-economic, political and ideological contradictions of society (Amuta 1989: vii). With these points in mind, Soyinka's socio-political involvement should not be in doubt. And yet the Chinweizus-talk of Soyinka as if he is totally irrelevant to modern society. They even see Soyinka's success as having been engineered by his "British manipulators and promoters". They claim: Soyinka's success has wasted for us a generation of opportunities for our cultural liberation. This lamentable waste should indicate the enormity of our loss from that cultural coup in which Wole Soyinka ... played so quisling a role. (Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa and lhechukwu 1982: 208, 249) The Chinweizus have a powerful ally in Ngugi, who, some years ago, claimed that his book, Decolonising the Mind, would be his last to be written in English. After this book, he declared he would write only in Gikuyu and Kiswahili (Ngugi 1986a: xiv). But this has not been the case, as only two articles, "Imperialism of Language: English a Language of the World?" and "Many Years[sic] Walk to Freedom: Welcome Home Mandela" in Moving the Centre are translated from the Gikuyu (Ngugi 1993: xiii, 41 ). This demonstrates the impracticability of Ngugi's approach. But to Ngugi, writing in English, or any European language for that matter, is a sign of cultural imperialism. According to him, Africans cannot claim to be free when they write in other peoples' languages. Ngugi politicises the whole issue and sees it as part of the struggle against imperialism. He wants Africans to do for their languages "what Spencer, Milton and Shakespeare did for English; What Pushkin and Tolstoy did for Russian; indeed what all writers in world history have done for their languages" CNgugi 1986a : 29). Soyinka finds this language debate baffling and boring, and actually dismisses the whole issue as "rubbish" (Granqvist and Stotesbury 1989: 72). His argument is convincing, especially in the Nigerian context, which should then be extended to the whole continent of Africa. Where there are multitudes of languages, such as in Nigeria, "it would be ridiculous to limit oneself to producing in only one of those languages because that way you are not reaching the rest of the community" (Gibbs 1987: 62). Soyinka goes on to argue that a single language such as English can 8 actually be a unifying factor, whereas writing in one's own local language is tantamount to "preaching sectional superiority" (Gullidge 1987: 516). It should be noted that Soyinka recognises the importance of indigenous languages, which are as important as any other language. He himself has written in Yoruba, but feels that he can reach more people through English, since it is the language in use by most people in Nigeria. It is the common language between the lbos, the Efiks, the Hausa, the Yoruba, the lbibio and about, at the last count at least, close to some hundred different languages within an entity which we are trying to call a single nation. ... I want to be able to speak to the Ngugi wa Thiong'os, the Taban lo L iyongs, the Nurrudin Farahs." (Granqvist and Stotesbury 1989: 69) While critics such as Maduakor, Amuta, Ngara, Gibbs, Katrak and Jones, to mention only a few, evaluate Soyinka's works objectively, employing sound, convincing and academic arguments to prove their point, the same cannot be said of critics such as Geoffrey Hunt, the Chinweizus, Frank Rich and Michael Thorpe. Employing their bolekaja criticism which is characterised by an "aggressive tone and [aJ filibustering [style]" CNgara 1990: 8), the Chinweizus, for example, completely misinterpret Soyinka's poems "To My First White Hairs" (Chinweizu 1988: xxii - xxvi) and "Massacre, October '66" (Soyinka 1993a: 229). Furthermore, some of Soyinka's detractors are too scathing in their criticism of his writings. The Chinweizus, for example, sound personal, unacademic and misleading in their attacks. One can be forgiven for thinking that some of these critics are jealous and envious of Soyinka's numerous awards. The impression may have been created that Soyinka has no faults. Obviously, this is not the case, as de Kock notes: ... Soyinka is a highly adventurous writer who does sometimes commit excesses and who often falls short of perfection. What matters more, and what is so compelling about his role as a writer within an often convulsive political environment, is his resistance to tyranny and his use of art as a weapon to provide the moral vision and judgement so entirely lacking in that environment. ( 1987 : 131) In recent years, Soyinka's challenges to the authorities concerning unacceptable situations have been characterised by a no-holds-barred approach. Lamenting the fate of artists "in so-caUed independent, even democratic times" at the hands of 1 1 Chapter WOLE SOYINKA'S NON-DRAMATIC CREATIVE WORKS This chapter will be divided into two parts. In Part One Soyinka's five novels will be discussed. These are: The Interpreters ( 1965), The Man Died C 1972), Season of Anomy ( 1973), Ake: The Years of Childhood ( 1981) and I sara: A Voyage Around Essay ( 1989). In Part Two the four poetical texts will be discussed: ldanre and Other Poems ( 1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt ( 1972), Oqun Abibiman ( 1976) and Mandela's Earth and Other Poems ( 1988). All these works wi 11 be discussed very briefly, as a prelude to the main focus of the dissertation on Wole Soyinka as a dramatist. It is felt that a discussion of Soyinka which does not take into account "the totality of his work and output" (Nkosi 1981 : 190) may fail to adequately show Soyinka's main concerns. THE NOVELS The Interpreters ( 1965) falls in the group of novels termed by Amuta "the nove l[sJ of post-colonial disenchantment" ( 1989: 127). Included in.this group are other novels such as Achebe's A Man of the People ( 1966), Armah's The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born ( 1968) and Serumaga's Return to the Shadows ( 1969). In all these works, "and many others like them" (Lazarus 1990 : 204 ), the authors' major concerns are post-independence problems within their specific countries (Larson 1972 : 224). Ogungbesan similarly observes a "mood of disenchantment immediately after independence" ( 1979: vii), a view which is also shared by Davidson ( 1992 : 197). Soyinka's concern in The Interpreters is clearly the situation of his own newiy independent Nigeria in the early 1960s, and it is a disturbing picture that is portrayed in this satirical work, which exposes evils such as corruption, bribery, tribal ism, racism and immorality. "The interpreters" in this novel are young people who hold very lofty ideals about themselves and their country. They are the cream, as it were, of their society. 12 They constitute a group loosely centred upon the university city of Ibadan in the early years of Nigerian independence. Influenced in various ways by their contacts with the west, and pursuing their personal visions, they are in the process of evaluating their contemporaries and the new cosmopolitan society which is emerging. (Moody, Gunner and Finnegan 1984:344) As these young people interact with various members of the society, a number of issues are touched upon. Chief Winsala and Sir Derin are two characters who are used by Soyinka to show how corrupt some apparently respectable personalities can be, and to demonstrate that the rest of society may never know the truth about the extent of this corruption. These two eminent men are seen following Sagoe, one of the interpreters, and trying to extort fifty pounds from him. Having been on the board that interviewed Sagoe for a job a few days earlier, the two men want Sagoe to bribe them with fifty pounds so that they can help Sagoe get the job. They tell Sagoe that everything is in his hands (Soyinka ( 1965a : 84). Ironically, when the corrupt Sir Derin dies, voluminous praises are sung at his funeral: "his life our inspiration, his idealism our hopes, the survival of his spirit in our midst the hope for a future Nigeria, for moral irridentism [sic] and national rejuvenescence" (Ibid.: 113). The platitudes make the point. Soyinka uses Dehinwa·s mother to lampoon tribalism and regionalism: evils which have led to many terrible wars in Africa. Dehinwa's mother and aunt have travelled all the way from Lagos because it has been rumoured that Dehinwa is dating a man from the "wrong" tribe. They have come to "talk sense" into Dehinwa, because to them she is obviously wrong to fall in love with a Northerner. They wonder whether good-looking, decent men cannot be found in Ibadan that she must fall in love with a GambarUThe latter is obviously a pejorative term for Hausas.) Dehinwa's mother makes it clear that she (being Yoruba) does not want a Hausa grandson (Ibid.: 37). The issue of immorality also features prominently in The Interpreters, especially through Egbo's relationship with the unnamed girl whom he impregnates. Later the girl wants to abort the foetus, so she goes to a Dr Lumoye who makes advances to her. She is to pay in kind before he will perform the abortion but when she refuses his advances, he turns her out of his surgery. Afterwards he i.s heard speaking disparagingly of people like her. According to Dr Lumoye and Professor Oguazor such people deserve no sympathy because this young generation is too morally corrupt 13 CI bid. : 250 ). The hypocrisy of the educated men is too plain to need further comment. It should be noted that "the interpreters", for all their frustration and dissatisfaction with their society, are themselves a great disappointment to the reader because they do nothing to correct the corrupt situation which they rightly criticise. This is one of the reasons why Soyinka is often criticised, for example, by Ngugi, who says it is not enough for an artist to merely highlight society's weaknesses. The artist must suggest solutions to the failures CNgugi 1972: 65- 66). Ngugi's critique would be acceptable if there were proof that Soyinka is holding up "the interpreters" as mode ls. They are certainly not to be taken as models because each has serious shortcomings (d'Almeida 1981 : 19). Instead, these "interpreters" are also Soyinka's objects of attack. Sagoe, for example, is soon corrupted by the rotten system that he has been criticising. He betrays his profession when he decides he will have to keep silent and not publish unsavoury articles, which is, as he says, the way to survive in his country. Bandele is a hopelessly lazy lecturer who takes a long time to return his students' assignments. Kola and Egbo have a violent streak in them. Egbo even exploits a young university student and ends up impregnating her, although he will not marry her. Perhaps Soyinka is trying to show that high ideals and good intentions alone are not enough for those who want to be champions against evil in society. It is easy to criticise but it is certainly more difficult actually to do something to correct the wrongs. It is not necessary to consider all the themes dealt with in The Interpreters. because it is enough to note that the themes so far ref erred to are the contemporary issues of the topic of this dissertation. * * * The Man Died C 1972), Soyinka's "powerful prison diary" (King 1988 : 340), is an angry account of his twenty-seven months in detention between 196 7 and 1969. If there is any piece of writing by Soyinka which is most forthright in its themes, this is it. In this novel, Soyinka, who is also the narrator, graphically captures post­ independence Africa, now gone a stage further than the corruption exposed in The Interpreters. The dismay and disillusionment of The Interpreters have degenerated to physical and psychological torture by those in power. While "the interpreters" 16 their types, their mutations. To seek the power to destroy them is to fu.lf i l a moral task. (Soyinka 1972a: 228) Soyinka's intense hatred of oppressors, and his great desire to destroy them, as he puts it in the above quotation, is probably the reason why some critics, for example Rene, regard him as a committed writer: "he is a committed writer in the sense that he fights for freedom; his '-ism' is humanism" ( 1990: 80 ). Finally, it should be noted that much of The Man Died corresponds in essence with Barbara Harlow's Resistance Literature, especially where she talks of the dystopia that has characterised the post-independence era in countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya ( 1987: 154-169). Harlow indeed mentions that works such as The Man Died , "the prison memoirs of Third World political detainees", are strongly emerging as a distinct literary genre, with an identifiable "literary and ideological solidarity" which is a product of "particular conditions of the social and political structures within which they are produced" (Ibid.: 148). It should also be observed that in his own prison memoir, Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary ( 1981 ), Ngugi quotes from The Man Died: "no matter how cunning a prisoner, the humanitarian act of courage among his gaolers plays a key role in his survival" (Ngugi 1981 : 5). Ngugi is referring to the kindness of some of the prison guards. In Soyinka's case, one warder would smuggle bits of newspaper (Soyinka 1972a: 233-4), and in Ngugi's case one warder liked talking to him, and even told Ngugi about the outside world. Ngugi remarks: "This warder is a good illustration of the truth of that observation" ( 1981 : 5). Ngugi's citation of The Man Died (Ngugi 1981 : 5), Kariuki's Mau Mau Detainee (I bid. : 69, 95-6) and the Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish (Ibid.: 1) is further testimony of Soyinka's contribution to the literature of the struggle for freedom, and of his engagement in contemporary issues. * * * Season of Anomy (1973) can be said to be an extension of both The Interpreters and The Man Died. The frustrated and disillusioned young intellectuals in The Interpreters merely engage in passive criticism of their corrupt society but do not offer any concrete suggestions to change the status quo. In The Man Died. the narrator (Soyinka) spells out his desire that tyrants must be removed from power by being destroyed (Soyinka 1972a : 228). In Season of Anomy there are moves to destroy the evil men of power. It is therefore possible to think of this novel as 17 Soyinka's reaction to Marxist critics such as Ngugi who have repeatedly accused Soyinka of not going "far enough" in his works. Maduakor's observation on this matter is as follows: Marxist critics of African literature have castigated Soyinka for presenting in his works elitist effeminate heroes who pay lip service to social change. In Season of Anomy Soyinka endeavors to accommodate the views of this school of thought by offering two characters, Ofeyi and the Dentist, who believe in revolutionary action as a means of effecting changes in society (though they differ in their methods). ( 1987: 107-8) "Anomy", sometimes written as "anomie", is the lawlessness which results from the absence of rules of conduct. In Season of Anomy this lawlessness comes about because of the antagonism between two diametrically opposed forces, the forces of progress against the forces of repression. This lawlessness sweeps the entire country. "It is this lawlessness which is symbolized by the title of the book" CNgara 1982 : 1O1 ). Although Season of Anomy is not a duplication of The Man Died, it is clear that the two works deal with several similar issues, namely: repression, lawlessness, greed, corruption and tribalism. It is also possible to say that as The Man Died was being written, Soyinka was already thinking of Season of Anomy, as "anomy" is mentioned at least twice in The Man Died, when Soyinka talks of the "Social Anomy of 1966" and "a state of anomy" (Soyinka 1972a: 93, 120). This implies that the two books were inspired by similar events, but mainly by the Nigerian Civil War, and they were probably conceived while Soyinka was in prison. Season of Anomy is an angrier work than either The Interpreters or The Man Died, and the book sounds like Soyinka's call to arms to all revolutionaries, to rise against their oppressors. This seems to be Soyinka's earliest indications of his socialistic inclinations (Ngara 1982: 99), which he has since stated in clear and categorical terms, for example in an interview where he said that he had frequently declared his stance as a socialist, "allied to the most left-leaning political parties of [his] own society" CBorreca 1985 :35). This novel is characterised by a confrontation between two antithetical forces: on the one hand, the forces of darkness, death and destruction, represented by the Cartel and its allies, the chiefs and the army. On the other hand there are the forces of enlightenment, progress and liberation, symbolized by the communalistic ideas of Aiyero. The Cartel, "a superstructure of robbery, indignities and murder" 18 (Soyinka 1973b: 27), must be toppled from power, and Ofeyi and the Dentist, with the help of the Aiyero men, work out strategies to carry out this task. These are the forces that will restore sanity to the land, and the Dentist is actually a trained assassin, a guerilla with radical ideas. He strongly believes in killing terrible rulers such as Chiefs Biga, Batoki and Zaki, and the Commander-in-Chief, the props of the capitalist Cartel. This is clearly a warning to right-wing regimes, especially military ones, that they should expect confrontation from progressive forces. Citing instances of brutality, repression, greed, corruption and tribalism in Season of Anomy would be mere repetition of what has already been mentioned. What is important, though, is to note that even today, issues such as the link between liberation and socialism are still being generally discussed in academic circles, and these issues are highlighted in Season of Anomy. Although at the end of Season of Anomy total liberation is still a long way away, there is one consolation; the seeds of liberation have been sown. There is hope: if only because men like [sic} Suberu who have blindly been the allies of repressive forces become aware of their sordid roles as ·privileged slaves· and reject it [sic] altogether. It it is only when many more will go through the same kind of awareness that the season of anomy will die to give birth to a season of harmony. (d'Almeda 1981 : 23) Finally, as with The Man Died. the issues in Season of Anomy correspond closely with liberation struggles from Palestine, El Salvador, Nicaragua and South Africa, which are discussed in Harlow's chapter, "Narratives of Resistance" (Harlow 1987: 75-116 ). This shows that Soyinka is not only an African but also a world writer who is concerned with human problems everywhere. * * * Ake: The Years of Childhood ( 1981) is Soyinka's autobiographical account of his first eleven years in Ake (Gibbs 1987: 56), a small town in Nigeria where he (Soyinka) spent his childhood. This book's "primary value is for the light it throws on the young Soyinka's view of the world and the early impressions which formed the imaginative storehouse that was to produce the later works" (Jones 1988: 32). The book should be studied by the Soyinka scholar, because it sheds further light on some of the factors which influenced the young Wole who later became the controversial literary giant that Soyinka is today. 21 is supported in this view by Schipper, who says: "In African countries art and society seem to be more strongly intertwined than in the West" ( 1989: 62). Looked at in this way, the final chapters of Ake: The Years of Childhood. chapters thirteen to the end, can be seen as "Soyinka's guerilla attacks on colonial power" (Crehan, Haney 11 and Lindeborg 1990: 56). What starts as a harmless women's club, first focusing on adult literacy, is soon transformed into a discussion group which deals with issues such as "hygiene, community development, self-help programmes, market and commodity prices" (Soyinka 1981 a: 180-1 ). But the club is further transformed into a powerful political movement whose aim is to drive out the "tormentors" and "bloodsuckers" who have made life intolerable for the Egba women as they are harassed, arrested and tortured by the tax people (I bid. : 182-3 ). These bloodsuckers are the local police, the market wardens, the chiefs, the Kabiyesi (the local king), who are all working under the District Officer, the powerful representative of the colonial government. Organised as close comrades (Ibid.: 183 ), the angry women confront the local king, whom they insult with a new song, and force him to abdicate (Ibid.: 223). The District Officer is told a few truths about racism by Mrs. Kuti, the impressive leader of the women (Ibid. : 224-7). The oppressed people have had enough, and they will not take any more. In The Interpreters. the idealistic young people merely expose the faults of the corrupt leaders. In The Man Died there is a call to destroy these evil leaders (Soyinka 1972a: 228) and in Season of Anomy Ofeyi and the Dentist are in the forefront of revolutionary action against the despotic authorities. Ake: The Years of Childhood. in addition to highlighting the theme of the brutal treatment of children, also takes up the idea of the fight against repression. Since lsara: A Voyage Around Essay. the novel to be discussed next, also deals with themes similar to those in Ake: The Years of Childhood. it can be argued that there is a persistent socio-political thread that runs through these Soyinka works. * * * The last of Soyinka's novels to be discussed is lsara: A Voyage Around Essay ( 1989). This novel is written in the same vein as Ake: The Years of Childhood. lsara: A Voyage Around Essay is about young Soyinka in his father's village, lsara. Soyinka explains in the author's note that he borrowed the book's subtitle from John Mortimer's play, A Voyage Round My Father. "Essay" is from the initials of Soyinka's father's names, Soditan Akinyode, S.A. (Gullidge 1987: 511 ). The book 22 takes the reader back to the late 1920s, and covers the early years of British colonialism in Nigeria, stopping during the 1940s . Soyinka's belief that the past, the present and the future are inseparably linked is also extended to explain the link between the dead, the living and t~e unborn. This view is clearly. stated in Myth, Literature and the African World ( 1976: 10). Although written well after the other works, lsara: A Voyage Around Essay should be seen as a completion of the cyclic link in Ute lives of Nigerians. Soyinka affords his readers an opportunity to see the seeds of the thoughts, feelings and actions of modern Nigerians (Soyinka 1989: vi). This novel deals wit.ha wide range of themes, both political and social. One of these is the theme of the brutal treatment of children where they are savagely whipped at school (Ibid.: 4, 110, 112, 132 ). This harsh treatment is practised even in the home where children are reminded that they have no right to ask questions (Ibid.: , 16).~ This theme features prominently in Ake: The Years of Childhood, as well as in The Interpreters. as already discussed above. Soyinka also reveals the senselessness of xenophobia. This is a theme that has already been alluded to in The Interpreters. Sagoe, a Northerner, is called a gambari, which is an insulting term for a Hausaman (Soyinka 1965a: 37, 254). In lsara: A Voyage Around Essay Damian, an outsider, is also addressed pejoratively: "this kobokobo beggar" (Soyinka 1989 : 23) and "Edo-al ien" (I bid. : 255). In the end, though, Damian is accepted in the society when he has proved himself a hard worker. Soyinka here emphasizes the need to tolerate outsiders. The ugly face of factional fighting is shown when rival groups clash over the choice of a new king. Cutlasses are flashed, people are beaten up and lives are lost during these clashes (Ibid.: 217, 227). Soyinka's hatred of unnecessary wars and irresponsible soldiers is evident in this novel. The soldiers are seen looting shops, raiding government warehouses and urinating in public after a night of heavy drinking. Soyinka talks of war bringing out the worst in everyone. He refers to soldiers as a menace, and observes that because of war, people become corrupt, since everyone thinks of making as much money as quickly as possible (Ibid.: 69, 188, 189). The issues of racialism and colonialism are also raised in this novel. Soyinka has 23 stated that the colonial process was, on reflection, a most humiliating and insulting experience (Gull idge 1987: 523 ). One example of this insulting attitude is a statement from a colonialist who says that everyone knows that the West African Negro is not yet ready to govern himself (Soyinka 1989: 156). It is known that the main purpose of establishing colonies was not to train the colonized in self­ government, as JanMohamed ( 1985 : 62) and Davidson ( 1992 : 11. 201) confirm. And so the statement from the colonialist that everyone knows that the West African Negro is not yet ready for independence merely exposes the vacuity behind colonialism. Looked at in this way, the book can be said to contain Soyinka's attacks on colonialism. And finally Soyinka exposes charlatanism as epitomised in Ray Gunnar, who exploits the gullible West African youths. Gunnar sets up a bogus correspondence school in England, claiming to offer a wide range of courses. In the process "professor" Gunnar makes plenty of money by cheating his prospective "students" (Soyinka 1989: 178). Gunnar represents fake political and religious leaders, those who live off the gullibility of the people whose cause they claim to champion. The theme of gullibility will be encountered in the discussion of several plays later in this dissertation. * * * Soyinka's Four Poetical Works In this section, Soyinka's four volumes of poetry will be discussed, namely: ldanre and Other Poems ( 1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt ( 1972), Ogun Abibiman ( 1976) and Mande la's Earth and Other Poems ( 1988). As in the case of the novels, the discussion will be very brief, and an attempt will be made to demonstrate that even in his poems, Soyinka sti 11 emerges as a committed writer who is preoccupied with contemporary issues. The section of ldanre and Other Poems entitled "October '66" contains five short poems which Maduakor says "were inspired by the civil disturbances that rocked the foundations of Nigeria in the sixties and which led to the civil war that lasted from 1967 - 1970. They deal, therefore, with war and its savagery" ( 1987 : 30). Soyinka again shows a sensitivity to issues surrounding himself, which leads to Jones's calling him "a serious poet concerned with grave issues which face him as a 26 The civilian further talks of his "quandry" [sic] and the soldier's "plight" and "confusion". All these are a result of the war. But in the end the civilian makes it clear that he understands the soldier's predicament; the soldier is nothing but a victim of circumstance, because the answer to the question at the very end of the poem, querying whether the soldier knows what the war is all about, is most likely that he does not (Jones 1988 : 180 ). "For Fajuyi" is also based on an actual event, the death of Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi. This poem gives a concrete example of the wastefulness of war, because Fajuyi "was Soyinka's ideal soldier, a true nationalist and a dedicated socialist " CMaduakor 1987: 32, 33). The poem makes it clear that men of the ilk of Fajuyi are not common, as very few of them are produced at any given time. The narrator calls those who killed Fajuyi "weeds", and this leaves the readers in no doubt about Soyinka's disgust with these murderers. The "October '66" poems have eloquently shown the savagery of war. ) * * * A Shuttle in the Crypt ( 1972) is a collection of poems written by Soyinka while he was in prison between August 1967 and October 1969. The poems do not record Soyinka's prison experiences as such, which are recorded in The Man Died. In A Shuttle in the Crypt Soyinka chronicles the thoughts that came to his mind as he sat, lonely, for months and months in a tiny cell (the crypt). Imprisonment without trial is an unjust action and is an issue which is often raised by human rights groups such as Amnesty International. In A Shuttle in the Crypt this injustice is highlighted in "Four Archetypes", especially in the poems "Joseph" and "Gulliver". These archetypes are used by Soyinka as metaphors for injustice. Joseph is the Biblical character who was thrown into jail on trumped up charges by Potiphar's wife. She tried to lure Joseph to bed but when Joseph refused, she accused Joseph of trying to violate her honour (Genesis 39: 1- 23). In "Gulliver" (taken from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels), Gulliver is someone who abhors unjust war. He refuses to help the Lilliputian king in his plan to completely crush the enemy, and the king hatches a plan to punish Gulliver. Fortunately, Gulliver escapes. 27 In some respects, Soyinka is like Joseph and Gulliver. He was imprisoned on a wrong charge when he angered the Nigerian authorities by speaking against the war with the lbos (Maduakor 1987: 37). As if imprisonment without trial were not bad enough, some prisoners are at times subjected to inhuman treatment, perhaps until they die in prison. In "Chimes of Silence" readers are presented with examples of ill-treatment of prisoners. This is also the case in "Wailing Wall" and "Purgatory" (Soyinka 1972b: 34, 38). In all this savage treatment of fellow human beings, where some are even hanged with reckless abandon, Soyinka clearly states that such deeds are unjust. He says so explicitly in "Procession": Let no man speak of justice, guilt. Far away, blood-stained in their Tens of thousands, hands that damned . These wretches to the pit triumph (I bid. : 41) Lastly, in "Live Burial" we see a conti.nuation of the ill-treatment on prisoners, but this time the prisoner is Soyinka himself. He is kept in a cell that is Sixteen paces By twenty-three. They hold Siege against humanity And Truth Employing time to drill through to his sanity (Ibid. : 60 ) Later, readers learn of an official medical report about the prisoner, that he sleeps and eats well, and that his doctors have found nothing wrong with his health. The report is of course untrue. "Flowers for my Land" has many images of war and destruction: "death", "horror", "scavengers", "ordure'', and the country itself is called a "garden of decay". The point is clear, that Soyinka sees war as cruel, hence his belief that it should be the very last resort: a stand he takes in Ogun Abibiman. * * * 28 Oqun Abibiman( 1976) is "a long poetic tribute to the struggle for liberation on the African continent" (Zell, Bundy and Coulon 1983: 488). According to Ngara, this poem "shows a definite development [in Soyinka's works) in the direction of a committed Pan-Africanism" ( 1990 : 96). Ngara continues: "Ogun Abibiman reflects a new and genuine Africa-centred consciousness in Soyinka. This is an important step in writing socially committed literature" (Ibid.: 102). Amuta also expresses a similar view ( 1989: 67). The poem is dedicated to the memory of the dead and the maimed of Soweto, and was written as a celebration of Samora Machel's declaration of war against the then minority regime of Ian Smith. It is a different kind of war, as far as Soyinka is concerned. This is a war in defence of liberty, the only kind of war Soyinka will support (Soyinka 1972a: 49). According to Jones ( 1988: 3-14), in Yoruba mythology, Ogun is the god of war and creativity. "Abibiman" means Black People. The poem is therefore a call to the oppressed Blacks to take up arms and fight for their liberty and right to self­ determination. In this fight, the process of liberation will be bloody and painful (Booth 1981: 170). Who le stretches of land will writhe from end to end. Farmlands will be deserted and there will be mass starvation (Soyinka 1976b : 1, 3). The war that Ogun is being asked to lead has been embarked on as a last resort, because other forms of trying to gain liberation have failed. These include sanctions, dialogue, protests and diplomacy (Soyinka 1976b: 6). * * * Mandela's Earth and Other Poems (1988) continues the theme of liberation as expressed in Ogun Abibiman. The outside cover of the text introduces this volume as follows: "The poems on Mandela comment on one another, deepening our response to the nature of political immolation". Mandela needs no introduction. He was once referred to as the world's most famous political prisoner - he spent 27 years in prison - and is now (November 1994) the President of South Africa, having been elected to that post after South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in April 1994. So in Mandela's Earth and Other Poems. Soyinka deals with the politics of South Africa, and by implication about Africa more generally. 31 Chapter 2 WOLE SOYINKA'S PLAYS OF THE SIXTIES This chapter will be divided into two parts. In Part One, Soyinka's earliest plays will be discussed. These are: The Lion and the Jewel ( 1963), The Swamp Dwellers ( 1963), Camwood on the Leaves( 1973), The Trials of Brother Jero ( 1964) and A Dance of the Forests ( 1963). The first two plays were staged as early as 1958, while the last three were all written in 1960. In Part Two of the chapter, The Strong Breed ( 1964), The Road ( 1965) and Kongi's Harvest ( 1967) will be discussed. These three plays mark the end of Soyinka's dramatic output in the 1960s. The grouping of the plays in the above way is more chronological than thematic, but it will be shown that in the first four plays, Soyinka's main concerns are non­ political. Only A Dance of the Forests deals with, among other themes, political issues. This is important to point out because Soyinka is sometimes thought of only as a political writer. It should be stressed that Soyinka's engagement with contemporary issues is much wider, and to focus only on his political themes is to limit him unnecessarily. The late fifties and early sixties saw the demise of colonial rule in most parts of Africa. The colonial period had seen the building of modern towns and cities, as well as the introduction of formal education. Afterwards, this westernization and urbanisation put some of the old, traditional values under pressure. It is against this backdrop that plays such as The Lion and the Jewel and The Swamp Dwellers should be approached. Moore observes that these two plays deal with nearly the same material ( 1976: 26). It is for this reason that they will be discussed one after the other. lrele talks of "Soyinka's social concern first [finding] expression in his work through the satirical vein of his early comedies, such as The Lion and the Jewel and The Trials of Brother Jero" ( 1981 : 198). Considered together with Camwood on the Leaves. these four plays can be said to have something in common. Each one of them has a charlatan, as will be shown below. It is significant that A Dance of the Forests was written specifically to comment on Nigerian Independence in 1960. 32 * * * When Geoffrey Hunt talks of Soyinka's "sudden detachment from his indigenous society" (Gugelberger 1985: 67), he is probably not aware that Soyinka's plays were inspired by "the fundamental truths of his community" CKatrak 1986: 10). For example, an article about Charlie Chaplin at sixty years of age, marrying a young wife of seventeen, triggered off The Lion and the Jewel. This is how Baroka came into existence, as Soyinka himself explains: I knew that some of these old men had actually won these new wives against the stiff competition of some younger men, some of them school teachers who came to the villages. Lakunle was based on those who thought: 'This girl has got to be impressed by my canvas shoes.' Mind you, the younger men didn't speak the language ·that those girls understood and they were beaten by the old men. That's how The Lion and the Jewel came to be written. (Gibbs 1987 : 67) It should be stressed, right away, that some critics have completely misinterpreted not only The Lion and the Jewel but also other works of Soyinka. This has been caused by "the extravagant delusion that Soyinka believes in a full-hearted espousal of African values" (Gates 1984: 47). Probyn, for example, says that Soyinka is "simultaneously a traditionalist and a pathfinder" ( 1981 : 5). Blishen, too, says "Soyinka is not a writer who believes that 'progress' is always a good thing. As a small example, he shares Baroka's view that modern roads are 'murderous"' ( 1975: 11-12). This implies that Baroka speaks for Soyinka, hence the wrong notion that Soyinka is on the side of traditional values in The Lion and the Jewel. Then there is Geoffrey Hunt who claims that Soyinka is a romanticist with a "nostalgia for the security of traditional values". Hunt even goes on to quote Peter Nazareth to prove the claim that Soyinka wants traditional ways of life to be retained, and, according to Hunt, The Lion and the Jewel is a Negritude play which extols the African past (Gugelberger 1985: 65-71 ). These are grossly misleading interpretations because Soyinka does not believe in glorifying the past, as he stated as early as 1967: "The African writer needs an urgent release from the fascination of the past" (Soyinka 1993a : 18). Furthermore, it will be shown that in all the plays which do refer to the past, or to traditional customs, plays such as A Dance of the Forests. The Swamp Dwellers. The Strong Breed, Death and the King's Horseman. Soyinka is in fact very critical of the 33 African past itself and the traditional customs in these plays. If Soyinka had wanted to show the superiority of traditional forces over modern ones he would have written a different play from The Lion and the Jewel. The Lion and the Jewel was written in about 1957, while Soyinka was still a student at the University of Leeds (King 1988: 341). The play was staged in London in 1958 (Pribic 1990: 420). Although Soyinka was physically in England, spiritually he must have been in his country, Nigeria, because it is easy to see the connection between his criticism of priggish western-educated young people in early poems such as "The Immigrant" and ''. .. And the Other Immigrant" on the one hand, and in The Lion and the Jewel on the other. Goodwin's reference to the immigrant as "foolishly complacent" ( 1982: 108) would be appropriate for Lakunle, the self­ styled messiah of I lujinle in The Lion and the Jewel. In an interview a few years ago, Soyinka was asked whether The Lion and the Jewel shows the clash of Western culture and traditional culture. His answer was: No. There is no clash because there is no Western culture there. What you have is a misconceived, very narrow and very superficial concept of Western culture as stated by Lakunle. You also have the old man defending his turf against any encroachment from outside. Lakunle is not a representative of Western culture,... . (Gibbs 1987 : 79) It is important to emphasize that Baroka himself does not represent traditional culture in this play. The fact that the play appeared when many writers were agonizing about their being torn between two cultures should not mean that The Lion and the Jewel is about a culture clash (Gibbs 1987: 80 ). This simple play is set in a small village and concerns a young man who thinks that because of his (little) education he is a beacon of progress in his entire village. Lakunle is only a primary school teacher, and it would not be too far-fetched to imagine that he is probably untrained. It is likely that Lakunle is teaching in a bush school because he could not get a job in a town. Being such an admirer of Lagos and Ibadan, he would have taken full advantage of his qualifications to work and live there. But now he is a comic figure whose head is stuffed with all sorts of ideas about progress and civilisation. He sees himself as the leader in the crusade against backwardness, and boasts: 36 clothes would simply make him more of a clown than a townsman. Also, his ideas about being modern would not make sense to real city dwellers. The solution for Lakunle lies in his changing his whole outlook on life. He needs real education: that 1s learning how to live with other people, not his shallow book education. Even when Lakunle thinks he means well, he ends up being extremely offensive. He tells Sidi that women have a smaller brain than men; that is why they are called the weaker sex. All this is in his books, he says (Ibid.: 4). Lakunle is not aware that he is displaying anti-feminine sentiments. But in Sidi he finds more than his match: she tells him that he is really nothing but the madman of the village who calls himself a teacher. His big, loud words mean nothing. They merely make people laugh and choke in their cups (Ibid.: 4 ). Again Sidi asks him: The weaker sex, is it? Is it a weaker breed who pounds the yam Or bends all day to plant the millet With a child strapped to her back? ( Ibid.: 4) This is clear, powerful thinking by Sidi, and Lakunle cannot find any sound argument to counter Sidi's logic. It is becoming clear that Sidi and Lakunle are incompatible, for Sidi deserves better than Lakunle. She would not be happy if she were to be married to Lakunle, whose idea of being civilized means rejecting all traditional customs and habits. He tells Sidi: Together we shall sit at table - Not on the floor - and eat Not with fingers, but with knives And forks, and breakable plates Like civilized beings. (Ibid. : 8) He will walk side by side and arm in arm with his wife. He will provide her with high-heeled shoes and lipstick. She will have to learn dances such as the waltz and fox-trot. He continues: And we'll spend the week-end in night-clubs at Ibadan. Oh I must show you the grandeur of towns We'll live there if you like or merely pay visits. So choose. Be a modern wife, look me in the eye And give me a little kiss - like this. (Kisses her.) (Ibid.: 9) 37 It has already been pointed out that Lakunle would not fit in the city simply because he has a totally wrong concept of city life. Ball-room dancing, night-clubs, kissing in public are surely not marks of civilization. When Sidi tells him she does not like kissing because to her it is so unclean, Lakunle replies that she is uncivilized and primitive. All educated men, and all Christians, kiss their wives. "It is the way of civilized romance" (Ibid. : 9). The absurdity is too obvious to demand comment. Sidi then leaves Lakunle, quite understandably so, for the Bale, although it must be pointed out that she does not know what the outcome will be when she first goes to the Bale's palace. Sidi has been driven by self-pride to go and taunt the Bale, for she has been told by Sadiku that the Bale is now impotent. When Sidi rudely and proudly says: Sadiku, I am young and brimming; he is spent. I am the twinkle of a jewel But he is the hind-quarters of a lion! (Ibid. : 23 ) it is as if she has learnt this pride and vanity from Lakunle. Such arrogance and haughtiness take away all the admiration and support Sidi may have gained so far. The Bale is not known as "the fox" for nothing. He is shown as defeating plans to build a railway through llujinle, and Sidi falls into the Bale's trap. She is finally seduced by Baroka. Her hubristic behaviour could only end in this "disaster". But the "disaster" is temporary, as Sidi finally decides to marry Baroka. She says to Lakunle: Why do you think that after him I could endure the touch of another man? I who have felt the strength The perpetual youthful zest Of the panther of the trees? And would I choose a watered-down A beardless version of unripened man? (Ibid.: 63) It seems as if the wheel has turned for Lakunle. The proud "scholar" who was insulting everyone at the beginning is now on the receiving end. He is pushed to the ground, told to get out of the way, and called a "book-nourished shrimp" (Ibid.: 63 ). In the end Lakunle fails in his mission to "civilize" the village. He loses to a more mature rival, the Bale, who, though not wholly admirable, is at least level-headed 38 and understands the world around himself. The Bale's physical strength (shown when he defeats the wrestler, and also from Sidi's testimony) is symbolic of his superiority over Lakunle, who is actua ly so weak physically that he is thrown to the ground by Sidi on more than one occ sion (Ibid. : 4, 63). Lakun le's ideas would only bring chaos to the village. Under B roka, the situation is not perfect, but there is stability. Unlike Lakunle who has no respect for th old order, the Bale sees the need for the young and the old to come together. He sa s: The proof of wisdom is th wish to learn Even from children. And t e haste of youth Must learn its temper fro the gloss Of ancient leather, from a strength Knit close along the grain. The school teacher And I, must learn one fro the other .... The old must flow into t e new .... (Ibid.: 53-4) Although the Bale here seems to speak f r Soyinka, it would be incorrect to conclude that this is the case right through the p ay. The dramatist, it must be remembered, wanted to portray old men (not necessa ily representing traditional life) in a more positive light than the confused young en. Baroka, then, is not representative of traditional culture, just as Lakunle d es not represent modern culture. Again, Soyinka explains: Baroka himself does not epresent any culture as such. He is somebody exploiting cert in aspects of his culture for the benefit of Number One, B roka. ... [H]e represents a last ditch defence against external intervention in his little pocket. (Gibbs 1987: 80) Lakunle, Soyinka again explains, is a c ricature (Gibbs 1987: 73). Soyinka even goes to the extent of saying that anyone who interprets Lakun le to cepresent an educated African is actually insulting Africans, as Hunt says (Gugelberger 1985: 72). Lakunle "is nothing but an object f fun. Only Geoffrey Hunt in his innocence or obsessive hate - only Mr Hunt co ld propose, to an African community, the figure of Lakunle as representative of he educated 'progressive"' (Soyinka 1993a: 283). 41 It ruins them. The city ruins them. What do they seek except money? (Ibid. : 10) An example of the dehumanising effect of the city on the youths is the case of Gonushi's son, who left his wife and children and has not been heard of since (Ibid.: 11 ). Another example of a person who has been corrupted by the city is Awuchike, lgwezu's twin brother. Precisely what Awuchike did to lgwezu is not mentioned, but lgwezu says that for a while they lived together. Then lgwezu talks of meeting the harshness of the city and the nakedness of its hostility. He later saw its knife sever the ties and the love of kinship, and turn brother against brother... . (Ibid. : 30) Awuchike apparently did everything possible to frustrate his own brother's progress, even going to the extent of stealing his wife. The past is so painful for lgwezu that he feels it is even better not to talk about what happened. The wound heals quicker if it is left unopened. What took place is not worth the memory... . (Ibid.: 32) The young people are attracted to the city, but the city "kills" them. That is why lgwezu says of his brother: He is dead. (Ibid.: 30) Awuchike is dead to you and to this house. Let us not raise his ghost. (Ibid.: 32) This, then, is the dilemma of the new generation. The village is no place in which to continue 1 iving. It is therefore understandable that the youths migrate into the city, but that the city dehumanizes these youths. In the end, the better course of action is unclear. Perhaps it could be hoped that when lgwezu returns to the city, he will now be a wiser person, through his contact with the Beggar. He will probably avoid the mistakes that have been made by the other youths. Interpreted in this way, lgwezu's leaving, on the advice of the Beggar, is therefore a positive move. When I gwezu says to the Beggar: You sightless ones are known to be gifted with more than human wisdom. (Ibid.: 36) 42 he more than sums up the Beggar's role in this play. It is the blind man who "sees" that the Kadiye is a charlatan. The Beggar infuses a new spirit into lgwezu, a spirit of rebellion and inquisitiveness, and through this spirit, the traditional conservatism of the village is challenged. It is for this reason that Jones says this play is "an examination of a society in a state of change" ( 1988: 39). The point should be stressed that, unlike its contemporary, The Lion and the Jewel. The Swamp Dwellers has a sadder and gloomier mood, perhaps because this time the dilemma facing the society is more complex than in The Lion and the Jewel. lgwezu raises very significant issues and deserves to be taken more seriously than Lakunle, who is just a figure of fun, and who should be dismissed with the contempt that he deserves. This is why Lakunle should be viewed as a harmless charlatan, unlike the Kadiye. As a priest, a holy man and Servant of the Serpent of the Swamp, the Kadiye is highly respected in the village. Through him the villagers offer sacrifices that should ensure prosperity and good fortune for their village. But it is gradually revealed that the Kadiye is nothing but a corrupt and greedy leader. When the Kadiye approaches, Makuri orders his wife to make the place fit to receive him. She must clean away all the litter, and most importantly, she must see that there is some brew for him (Ibid.: 18). The Kadiye is described as "a big voluminous creature ... , smooth-faced" (Ibid.: 19). This contrasts with the description of the Beggar: "the blind man is tall and straight" (Ibid.: 12). While the Kadiye is called "a creature", the Beggar is called a "man". Soyinka suggests that the priest is to be held in contempt while the Beggar is to be respected. It would seem that even Makuri, deep in his heart, has no respect for the Kadiye. Soon after the Kadiye has left the house, Makuri calls him "The pot-bellied pig!" and wishes lgwezu could, while shaving him, slash his chin (Ibid.: 23). While the Kadiye is insulted, the Beggar has his feet washed, wiped dry and rubbed with ointment (Ibid.: 24). This action symbolizes the total acceptance of the Beggar into the community. lgwezu's conversation with the Beggar is full of questions, and in this way the truth about the Kadiye gradually emerges. For example: IGWEZU: ... Is it not strange that his skin is tender? Is it not strange that he is smooth and well-preserved? 43 BEGGAR:[eagerly:] Is he fat, master? When he spoke, I detected a certain bulk in his voice. IGWEZU: Ay, he is fat. He rolls himself like a fat and greasy porpoise. <Ibid. : 28 ) A short while later, the Beggar asks: How does the Serpent fare in times of dearth? Does he thrive on poisonous crabs? Does he drink the ooze of the mire? (Ibid.: 29) The point being made is that the Kadiye has a tender and well-preserved skin simply because he cheats the villagers. In times of dearth the Kadiye lives well and is well­ kept and nourished by the food that he squeezes from the suffering peasants. Earlier, before the arrival of lgwezu, the Beggar has asked Makuri about the possibility of taking a piece of land and redeeming it from the swamp. If a man is willing to drain the filth away and make the land yield coco-yams and lettuce - will they let him? (Ibid.: 17) This question has shocked Makuri because such a deed would be taking land awa.; from the Serpent. It would be challenging the authority of the Kadiye. Later, the Beggar asks lgwezu: Do you serve the Serpent, Master? Do you believe with the old man that the land may not be redeemed? That the rotting swamps may not be purified? (I bid.: 29) The Beggar is questioning the Kadiye's supremacy in land matters. lgwezu is, at the same time, being challenged to see that the Kadiye has no right to have such a firm hold on land issues. So the Beggar teaches lgwezu, it can be said, to question many of the village's long-held archaic and superstitious traditions. While lgwezu and the Beggar expose the Kadiye's greed and corruption, Makuri and Alu are shocked beyond description. Makuri calls the Beggar's questions about reclaiming the land "profanities" (Ibid.: 17) and "sacrilege" (Jbid.: 30). Alu urges her son to speak better of the holy man (Ibid,: 28). Later, Alu cannot take what is being said, so she slowly goes out of the room (Ibid. : 36). lgwezu asks the Kadiye many questions, all meant to challenge him about the whole notion of the sacrifices that the villagers have been making. To lgwezu it is clear that 46 This play deals with at least two themes. It is a vitriolic attack on child abuse, and also on hypocrisy. Reverend Erinjobi, the doctrinaire pastor, treats his son, Isola, so harshly that the young man is forced to revolt against his father's authority and religion. Erinjobi actually terrorises everyone in his family, including his very young children and his wife, Moji. I so la's "crime" is that he has impregnated a young girl, Morounke. Mr and Mrs. Olumorin, the girl's parents, are equally vicious in their condemnation of Isola. Only one person remains sensible in this sea of insanity, and that is Moji, the boy's mother. When Isola finally shoots his father, it can be understood that the young man's patience has been stretched to the limit. Erinjobi is a terror to everyone in his family. This status is ironic, because love and happiness should flow in the house of a minister of religion, especially. In Erinjobi's house fear and hatred abound. Even his little children are aware that they must not make any noise within the house. They walk about with "timid footsteps", and try to ensure that the baby's cries do not go out of contro 1 (Soyinka 1984b: 89). When Erinjobi suddenly opens a door, Moji is so terrified that she gasps and says: God help me now, he's here. Sobbing_. she pleads earnestly, trying not to be heard My son, before he gets here .... (Ibid. : 90) The way in which Moj i is struck by terror as Erinjobi comes closer and closer is shown by her near-panicky state when she struggles to complete her sentences before Erinjobi bellows orders that she should go downstairs. She desperately tries to protect her son. He i·s not being stubborn, Reverend. You mustn't think he is not repentant. He is merely praying in his room. Praying for forgiveness. (Ibid.: 90 -91) Mo ji's pleas for mercy on her son fa l1 on deaf ears. Instead, on being annoyed by the distressed cries of a baby, Erinjobi orders all of the children to go downstairs . ... Go to your mother's room and shut the door. I don't want a sound from any of you, is that clear? Not a sound. (Ibid.: 91) Such, then, is the harshness of Erinjobi to his wife and children. In his presence, they are miserable and confused. But his hard-heartedness is displayed more clearly when Erinjobi disowns his son. ---------47 MOJI. He is y'our son, Reverend ... ERINJOBI. My son? I disown him. He is no son of mine - nor yours! (Ibid.: 91) Except for a very brief period at the end of the play where Erinjobi calls Isola "son", the pastor calls Isola by many abominable names: a "creature" (Ibid. : 91 ), "that creation of the devil" (Ibid.: 92), "a thief and adulterer" (Ibid.: 102), "this son of evil" (Ibid.: 109), "you child of the devil" (Ibid.: 118), "worthless child" (Ibid.: 119), "godless child" (Ibid.: 121), "lost child" (Ibid.: 123) and "this fornicator" (Ibid.: 123). Erinjobi also shows excessive hatred for his son in statements such as: "I have sworn that he will not spend another night under my roof" (Ibid.: 102) and "Oh, cursed be the day when I mistook that child for my son" ( Ibid. : 113 ). These are bitter insults indeed, but Erinjobi's heartlessness towards Isola is not confined to mere words. The minister is shown violently assaulting his son. The boy's life is an endless nightmare and Soyinka brings this quality out by showing Isola re-living his past in dreams. For instance, Erinjobi is angered that his son has been associating with "pagans" and dancing with the "egungun''. Erinjobi reacts with typical cruelty to this abomination. The pastor's son, eating and drinking sordid pottages with pagans of the town ... (Hitting him.) Is that the bad name you're bent on giving me you worthless child?(He hits him again.) Is it? Is it? 'Is it' Is it' [sic] is heard over and over again accompanied by a blow, gaining in intensity with each repetition. !SOLA gets more and more restless, groaning ... (]bid.: 119) Having been beaten so frequently, Isola decides to challenge his father's authority. He deliberately provokes Erinjobi, at times when Erinjobi is away, but also in his hearing. For example, when Erinjobi calls him, Isola answers as if he is being called by Morounke. This enrages Erinjobi, who rains repeated blows on his son. Shortly after this, Erinjobi is shown pulling Isola so roughly that the boy falls (Ibid.: 121 ). In spite of Moji's pleas for mercy, Erinjobi disgraces his son by dragging him along the street. His words are a crushing blow to the boy's self-respect. ... I knew you were damned the moment you began to fol low the masqueraders ... Oh you were damned from the start .. . playing with gutter children ... singing heathen songs .. . slipping out at night and nobody knowing what bestiality you would commit before the break of day! (Ibid.: 122 -3) 48 It should be noted that in Ake: The Years of Childhood, the young Wo le is warned by his mother of grave consequences if his father hears that Wole is planning to go and · watch egungun (Soyinka 1972a : 32). Again, Erinjobi disgracing his son by dragging him along the street echoes the humiliation of the bed-wetting girl in Ake: The Years of Childhood (Ibid.: 86-89). These incidents underscore Soyinka's consistency in exposing child abuse. Morounke's parents can be forgiven for being angry with Isola at his having impregnated their daughter. However, their insults towards Isola, which are no different from Erinjobi's, cannot be condoned. To Mrs. Olumorin Isola is a "depraved son" with "godforsaken ways" (Soyinka 1984b : 110). She also calls him a "murderer" who must give her back her Morounke before the Lord curses him for his" wickedness" (Ibid.: 111 ). Isola is also "a child stealer" and a "kidnapper" Cl bid.: 113), "a shameless boy", "the devil's own offspring" (Ibid.: 125). Only Moji seems to understand the problems associated with growing up. She speaks much sense: A child's mistake ... he has deserved no curses, only correction. (Ibid.: 113) She alone seems to understand that two wrongs do not make a right. She tells Mrs. Olumorin: But my son is cornered there still, and you are turning him into an animal. (Ibid. : 134) Faced with such lack of love and unreasonableness, both Isola and Morounke have no choice but to turn against their parents. Isola begins to see his father as a troublesome snake, the boa. Erinjobi's cruelty is further shown when the wicked snake is seen picking up baby tortoises and dashing them against the rock. At the same time that lso la equates Erinjobi with the evil snake, he cal ls the mother tortoise by his own mother's name, Moji. Again, this action is symbolic. Moji and the tortoise are epitomes of suffering mothers. The tortoise is tortured by the snake which kills her children by smashing them on a rock, while Moji watches in helpless terror as Erinjobi brutalizes her children, especially I so la. Moj i is to the tortoise as Erinjobi is to the snake. In the end, Isola finds he has to kill the snake if he is to have any peace. 51 Brother Jero exposes himself in various ways. Sometimes he makes accusing pronouncements about other people, but these accusations are really truer of Brother Jero than of their targets. For instance, he refers to the other "prophets" he sees on the beach as "Charlatans!" (I bid. : 54). Yet he is a charlatan too, perhaps an even worse one. He also shouts to Chume: "Apostate!" 'Traitor!''. But if there is one person who is guilty of betraying the Christian faith, Brother Jero is that person. And a little while later, he calls Chume: "sinner ... harbourer of Ashtoreth ... Protector of Baal" (Ibid.: 58). By his own admission, BrotherJero is a womanizer. He states clearly he has one weakness - women (Ibid.: 47). He later prays that his love and lust for the daughters of Eve should be torn from his heart (Ibid.: 56). So it is Brother Jero, not Chume, who is possibly the greater sinner. Thus, in trying to accuse others, BrotherJero only condemns himself. Sometimes Brother Jero's statements are unintentionally ironic, such as when he talks of himself as "a man of God" (Ibid.: 55). With the womanizing, lying and cheating in his life, he is far from being "a man of God". And when Amope demands her money from him, he complains: One pound eight for this little cape. It is sheer robbery. (Ibid.: 55) Amope, not Brother Jero, should be complaining of "sheer robbery". And when he calls the young girl who goes swimming every morning "Dirty-looking thing" (Ibid.: 55), it is obvious he thinks the exact opposite. Similarly, "the Velvet-hearted Jeroboam" (Ibid.: 54) should be understood to mean something rather different; perhaps "the silver-tongued" Jeroboam. But sometimes there is no attempt at all by Brother Jero to disguise his meaning. He addresses the audience directly and squarely, and means what he says. This happens in several parts of the play. For instance, he explains why he must get a new name, "Immaculate Jero, Articulate Hero of Christ's Crusade" (Ibid. : 54). This has been his ambition, he says. You've got to have a name that appeals to the imagination - because the imagination is a thing of the spirit - it must catch the imagination of the crowd. Yes, one must move with modern times. Lack of colour gets one nowhere even in the Prophet's business. (lb id. : 54) There is no beating about the bush as far as his intentions are concerned. Brother Jero intends to use a colourful outward appearance to capture as many victims as possible. He calls himself "Brother", a term which is meant to indicate his equality 52 with his fellow religionists. His name, "Jeroboam", has been carefully chosen.This is the name of the king of northern Israel in about the tenth century B.C. and sounds suitably religious. The cape he bought from Amope is also meant to enhance his. outward appearance and hide the reality that Brother Jero is a crook. He is also direct about his job, which he calls first a "trade" (Ibid.: 45), and then a "business" (Ibid : 54). His followers and fellow-worshippers are to him "customers" and he sees himself as a "shop-keeper". I am glad I got here before any customers - I mean worshippers, - well, customers if you like. I always get that feeling every morning that I am a shop-keeper waiting for customers. (Ibid.: 55) "Trade", "business", "customers" and "shop-keeper" are all words associated with the commercial, money-making world. BrotherJero is directly indicating that he is looking for money. He is not interested in preaching and spreading the word of God. Brother Jero's relationship with his key disciple, Chume, is based on the leader exploiting the vanity of his pupil. The former is insincere about God, but the latter believes everything that Brother Jero says about God. This insincerity of Brother Jero emerges when he refers to Chume as "too crude" (Ibid.: 57). This is after Chume has joined Jero in prayer and both have been saying: "Abraka, Abraka, Hebra, Hebra, Hebra, ... " (Ibid.: 56). After pretending he had known it was Chume, Jero later makes it clear he knew that it was Chume the moment he (Chume) opened his mouth. Only Brother Chume reverts to that animal jabber when he gets his spiritual excitement. And that is much too often for my liking. (Ibid. : 57) BrotherJero has also fooled all his followers, including Chume, into believing that he (Jero) sleeps on the beach, and that he is something of an ascetic (Ibid: 57). All thi5"is proof of Jero's two-facedness. The impression may have been created that Jero succeeds in cheating everyone. He does not. Amope is one such person who is not fooled: for instance she wonders how Jero can call himself a man of God (Ibid. : 51 ). Jero later tries to escape from Amope by saying he must go and get the money from the post office. Amope is not impressed by this and she cal ls Jero a "bearded debtor" (Ibid. : 51 ), "A thief of a 53 Prophet" (Ibid.: 53), and "that good-for-nothing" (Ibid.: 68). Chume himself finally wakes up to the truth and calls Jero "Adulterer! Woman-thief!" (Ibid.: 76) Brother Jero, in spite of the numerous indications that he is a false prophet, nevertheless manages to thrive. This is because there are many gullible people who find themselves easy prey to tricksters such as Brother Jero. These are not only people such as Chume, or the Penitent (Ibid.: 62), or the Woman Bystander (Ibid.: 72), but also people such as the Member of the Federal House. In a speech full of irony, the Member first tells Jero to go away. Go and practice [sic] your fraudulence on another person of greater gullibility. (Ibid.: 73) However, Jero's velvet tongue soon wins him over. In the past, Jero has won "customers" by promising them that something wonderful will happen in future. For instance, one man has been promised he wi 11 be a chief in his own village. Another man has been promised that he wi 11 be the first Prime Minister of the new Mid­ North-East-State, when it is created (Ibid. : 60). One woman has been coming because she is barren. The Member is promised he will be Minister for War. Soyinka suggests that as long as there are dissatisfied members of society, and there will always be, as long as there are nincompoops such as the Member, and as long as there are scoundrels such as Brother Jero, charlatanism wi 11 always thrive. And the fact that when the play ends Jero appears to the Member as an angel (Ibid: 77) suggests an elevated status for the prophet. The play ends on a victory note for charlatans - and the audience has been shown why this is so. It is tempting to dismiss BrotherJero as merely a charlatan, much like Lakunle, since both characters are extremely amusing caricatures, but it would be wrong to do so. Lakunle is a false leader, and, as expected, nobody follows him. Brother Jero, however, has a taint of villainy in his character. He ruthlessly exploits the gullibility of his community, and is cunning enough to outmanoeuvre and make Chume suffer. As Jones notes, "Brother Jero ends the play a more sinister figure than he began" ( 1988 : 83). Having tasted power, Brother Jero can only be corrupted by this power, an eventuality which will come to pass in Jero's Metamorphosis. The fact that Soyinka wrote The Trials of Brother Jero after carefully observing revivalist churches is further evidence of his social awareness, a point which is 56 The Dead Ones have come as guests of the Living Ones in their feast, the Gathering of the Tribes. But the Dead Ones are rejected by the humans. Rola, in particular, is scathing in her condemnation of Dead Man. You look disgusting ... What a nerve you have. Do you think because you are out of town you, in your condition, can stop me and talk to me? (Ibid.: 4) Later, she calls the Dead "obscenities" (Ibid: 8). This rejection of their ancestors by the humans is symbolic of self-denial, a rejection of one's past and history. The humans will have nothing to do with their ancestors (their past), and in that way they deny themselves the chance of being shown their past deeds, mistakes included. This means that the humans will have no chance of learning the truth about their history. The point being made is that without being in contact with the past, the humans cannot reconstruct their present and their future. Once the Dead Ones have been snubbed, they move away and the Town Dwellers take the stage. Rola and Adenebi reveal themselves as selfish individuals who do not want to have much to do with their relatives. ADENEBI: ... You start your own family, expect to look after your wife and children, lead - you know - a proper family life. Privacy ... very important ... some measure of privacy. But how do you manage that when a lot of brats are delivered at your door because their great grandparents happen to have been neighbours of your great grand-uncles. ROLA: This whole family business sickens me. Let everybody lead their own lives. (Ibid.: 5 - 6) It is frequently said that the family is the most basic unit of human society, and that without the family unit, human society would not survive. The fact that 1994 was declared "The Year of the Family" by the United Nations, for example, underscores its importance. The kind of selfishness being suggested by Adenebi, and the total rejection of the family by Rola, are therefore to be condemned by any civilised society, because without the family, and without relatives, human beings cannot survive. Adenebi and Rola are therefore proposing a recipe for disaster, and the course of the play bears this out. Obanegi, alone among the Town Dwellers, seems to be the voice of reason. It is through answers to his questions that the unpleasant side of human nature is revealed. As a filing clerk for the courts he knows much about people's history 57 (Ibid.: 15). His favourite area of investigation is passenger lorries, which explains why he knows about two infamous lorries, the Chimney of Ereko and the Incinerator. It is the Incinerator that has been in the news lately. Initially built to carry only forty people, the Incinerator has been involved in a ghastly smash in which sixty five people have been killed, with only five survivors. People are wondering how seventy passengers could fit in a vehicle that was supposed to carry only forty. Obanegi makes it clear that one of Adenebi's office workers took a bribe to change the capacity to seventy: One of your office workers took a bribe. A real substantial bribe. And he changed the capacity to seventy. (Ibid.: 16) Demoke and Rola sound shocked by this, but not Adenebi. When Obane ji wants to find out more about this vehicle from Adenebi, he (Adenebi) becomes edgy and defensive. OBANEJI: Mr. Adenebi. What office do you hold in the council? ADENEBI: [angrily.] What do you imply? OBANEJI: You misunderstand me. I only meant, are you in a position to find out something for me? ADENEBI: [warily.] That depends. I am only the official Orator to the Council, but ... OBANEJI: You do wield some authority. ADENEBI: Yes. Certainly. OBANEJI: You see, I want to close my files on this particular lorry the Incinerator. And my records won't be complete unless I have the name of the man who did it - you know, the one who took the bribe. Do you think you can help me there? ADENEBI: Since you are so clever and so knowledgeable, why don't you find that yourself? OBANEJI: Please ... it is only for the sake of records ... ADENEBl:Then to hell with your records. Have you no feeling for those who died? Are you just an insensitive, inhuman block? (Ibid.: 17) The fact that Adenebi reacts, first angrily, then warily, and then angrily again, leading to his outburst, is a clear pointer to his guilt. Adenebi has judged and condemned himself as the corrupt council officer who accepted the bribe to change the capacity of the vehiqle from forty to seventy passengers. Obaneji continues to ask his probing questions, and through the answers more information is revealed about the other members of the community, Demoke and Rola. Demoke confesses his terrible crime, the murder of his apprentice carver, and adds that he would not mind dying in that same way as well. Rola, too,-is not ashamed 58 to reveal her true nature. As a prostitute, her wish is to die at the hands of a man. She would not mind being strangled by a man, as long as this is in the act of love­ making. She has actually.had some of her lovers killed, so she too, like Demoke, is a murderer. Ro la and Demoke tell the truth about themselves. Redemption and regeneration, the dramatist implies, belong to those who are honest, Rola and Demoke. It is no wonder that Adenebi decides to part ways with his erstwhile companions. ADENEBI: [rjses.] j think I must leave your company. He talks like a lost lunatic arid you are worse than the devil. I don't want to be involved in your types. (Ibid.: 25) Demoke goes a step further than Ro la in truthfulness because when the Dead Pair appear again, he boldly approaches Dead Man. Demoke wants to find out whether Oremole, the carver that he killed, accuses him in the land of the dead (Ibid: 25). The point being made here is that the truth, no matter how unpalatable, must be spoken. Demoke is an admirable, though uncomfortable, character because of his truthfulness. This hatred of the truth, the fear of being exposed for what they are in reality, is the very reason why the living drive away their guests from the underworld. It is Old Man who says many unpleasant things about these visitors. For instance: These guests we were sent are slaves and lackeys. They have only come to undermine our strength. To preach to us how ignoble we are. They are disgruntled creatures who have come to accuse their superiors as if this were a court of law. We have courts for the oppressed. Let them go somewhere else. (Ibid. : 33) So the Dead must be chased away because the Living do not want to be associated with what they see as the evi 1 past. According to Adenebi they had wanted The builders of empires. The descendants of our great nobility. (Ibid.: 32) The point being made here is that, too often, the African past has been presented only in glowing terms, to the total exclusion of the ugly component. Such a presentation is wrong. The evi 1 part should not be hidden away. The negritudinists, in particular, were very fond of idealizing African history. This is what has made Soyinka say: The African writer needs an urgent release from the fascination 61 Now, the Historian happens to be the same person as Adenebi. In his present life, this man has been accepting bribes at his work place to change the capacity of a lorry from forty to seventy passengers. This shows that Adenebi has the same qualities in both lives - dishonesty and corrupt ion. Madam Tortoise (Rola) is seen trying to seduce the Warrior. She calls Mata Kharibu a fool, and asks the Warrior whether he has no wish to sit where the emperor sits. I can save you. I can save you alone, or with your men. Choose. Choose. Why should a man be wasted? Why must you waste yourself for a fool like Kharibu? Choose, and Jet me be with you. (Ibid.: 64) When she fails to seduce the Warrior, she orders that he be gelded before being finally sold into slavery. So Madame Tortoise, too, is the same evil person in her present life as she was in her other life. Demoke too (Court Poet) has not changed. These correspondences demonstrate the repetitive pattern of human weakness: a hundred generations will not make any difference. Rene calls this repetitive pattern "the cyclical vision of history" ( 1990: 69). Soyinka has argued that African gods can be used to explain African society. Wherever these gods are used, they are "a projection of man's conflict with forces which challenge his efforts to harmonise with his environment, physical, social and psychic" (Soyinka 1976a: 1 ). He further explains that these gods have symbolic roles: "their symbolic roles are identified by man as the role of an intermediary quester, an explorer into territories of 'essence-ideal' around whose edges man fearfully skirts" (Ibid.). The spirits in this play are children of Forest Head. Spirits such as Murete and Eshuoro can be taken to represent humans, just as animals in African folk tales represent human beings (Schipper 1982: 38). So, the vices that are seen in these spirits can be said to be human vices. Eshuoro, for instance, stands for vengefulness,spitefulness and destructiveness; he is a bitter spirit whose sole aim is to seek vengeance. The moment he comes in, he immediately quarrels with Murete, scolding and insulting him. He also tortures Murete, and at one time he (Eshuoro) even wishes to smash Murete with a tree branch (Soyinka 1963a: 48). Eshuoro, furthermore, threatens vengeance on Demoke, for killing Oremole. Before he rushes out, he vows: I'll be revenged. Eshuoro, I, I'll be revenged, I'll be revenged .... (Ibid. : 49) 62 Later, this same Eshuoro is seen quarrelling with Ogun, who is protecting Demoke. Eshuoro wants to avenge Oremole, who was killed by Demoke. Eshuoro actually wants to throttle Ogun. They are separated by Forest Head, who scolds them: Soon, I will not tell you from the humans, so closely have their habits grown on you .... Take care how you tempt my vanity. Eshuoro, you came to bathe in blood, Ogun, you to defend the foibles of your ward. (Ibid.: 67) It seems there is nothing but bad behaviour everywhere,from humans and from gods. As Pribic mentions, Soyinka's understanding of the Yoruba (and African) world view is that humans and gods co-exist ( 1990: 420), and this view is clearly expressed in A Dance of the Forests. This pessimism about human nature is reinforced by the birth of the Half-Child and the appearance of other child monstrosities. The Half-Child symbolizes the incompleteness of man, as well as the (abortive) independence of the new nation (Nigeria) that was being born when the play was written and produced. It is an ugly future that is being forecast. The past has been shown to have been a-not-too-rosy one, and indications are that matters will continue as they were. The down-trodden will continue to suffer, as Ant Leader explains when being questioned by Forest Head: We take our colour from the loam ... , and they tread us Underfoot. ... The world is old But the rust of a mill ion years Has left the chains unloosened. (Soyinka 1963a : 77) Independence may have come, but the nature of leaders is such that there will be no improvement in the lives of the common people. This is what drives Forest Head to say: Trouble me no further. The fooleries of beings whom I have fashioned closer to me weary and distress me. Yet I must persist, knowing that nothing is ever altered. (Ibid.: 83) In spite of being lumped with "obscurantist" literature (Amuta 1983 : 58), "A Dance of the Forests is a good illustration of the principles Soyinka set forth before and after the play was written and staged ... [he has] repeatedly demonstrated that he would not compromise about truth and freedom, and like [the Warrior] ... [he has] had to pay dearly for this firm stand" <Rene 1990: 83). When A Dance of the Forests was staged in Nigeria, it proved very popular, even with "the masses". This pop~larity greatly pleased Soyinka, as he commented: What I found personally gratifying, and what I consider the validity 63 of my work, was that the so-called illiterate group of the community - the stewards, the drivers ... the really uneducated non-academic world ... they were coming to see the play every night ... if you allowed them. They felt the thing through all the way, and they came night after night and enjoyed it tremendously. (Soyinka 1993a: 256) It can therefore be said that some of the "obscurantist" charges which are often levelled at Soyinka have little substance and need to be reviewed. Nkosi, indeed, warns against "the kind of criticism which rests purely on the fact that Soyinka is 'difficult'" (1981: 189). A statement such as Soyinka "ignores the urgent and simple needs of his people" (Booth 1981 : 119), a clear echo of Ngugi's charge that Soyinka "ignores the creative struggle of the masses" (Ngugi 1972: 65) does not sound convincing, especially in the light of the reaction of the ordinary people to A Dance of the Forests. Soyinka's condemnation of his society's evils has continued in the discussion of the five plays in Part One of this chapter. In Chapter One, themes such as child abuse, charlatanism, gullibilty, to mention only a few, were highlighted. The same themes, and others, have featured in this section. Soyinka's concern with repression, and his condemnation of certain still current barbaric traditional customs, themes which were apparent in Chapter One, will emerge again in the next section in the discussioo of plays such as Kongi's Harvest and The Strong Breed: similar and consistent social and political themes pervade Soyinka's work. * * * * * * * * * * * * PART TWO SOYINKA'S PLAYS OF THE SIXTIES One critic has surmised: "It is possible that Soyinka unconsciously believes in the invincibi 1 ity of decadent traditions" (Ahmed 1984: 121). Such an assessment could only have been made after a very superficial reading and simplistic interpretation of Soyinka's works. It is unfortunate that there is no evidence provided by Ahmed to back his claim. Indeed, no matter which work one chooses, one will find that, if anything, Soyinka is against decadent traditions. This standpoint is true in plays such as A Dance of the Forests. The Swamp Dwellers. and Camwood on the Leaves. This will be the case in The Strong Breed. To suggest that Soyinka is a secret admirer of decadent traditions is to accuse the man of insensitivity to his society's problems and aspirations. On the contrary, this dissertation argues that the consistent thread 'in Soyinka's writing is his social and political commitment (Jones 1988: 11 - 12). 66 Does it really have meaning to use one as unwilling as that. [sic] (Ibid.: 99) It can be concluded, therefore, that Eman sees the way the ritual is practised in his village as much better than the way it is practised in this village. Here, the custom "seems more cowardly and less morally respect ab le than that of Eman' s people" (Booth 1992 : 15). Because Eman cannot stand the idea that I fada has been farced to be the carrier, he decides to take the poor boy's place. This deed is something only the strong can do. Eman is not aware of the fact that he belongs to "the strong breed", and no matter what he does, he cannot rebel against his family calling. One of the mental flashbacks in this play makes this clear, in the meeting between Eman and his father. Eman is told that even if he says he is "unfitted" to do the work of a carrier he will find himself doing the job. OLD MAN: Your own blood will betray you son, because you cannot hold it back. If you make it do less than this, it will rush to your head and burst it open. I say what I know son. (Soyinka 1969: 105) It can therefore be said that Eman's strong blood makes him rush to lfada's rescue, but Jaguna's taunting words may also have incited Eman to action. This event occurs after Eman has exposed the flaws in the way the village carries out this ritual. JAGUNA: You see, it is easy to talk. You say there are no men in this village because they cannot provide a willing carrier. And yet I heard Oroge tell you we only use strangers. There is only one other stranger in the village, but I have not heard him offer himself [spits.] It is so easy to talk is it not? (Ibid.: 99) These words sting Eman. The suggestion that he is a coward who only talks but does nothing forces him to take lfada's place as the carrier of the society's sins. Eman, though, is later seen trying to escape from the villagers. This action is somewhat puzzling, but it should be remembered that though earlier Eman has talked of his unsuitability for the task his father has told him of his strong blood (Ibid.: 104- 105). Eman's moral superiority is also highlighted in his relationship with his tutor, a lecherous old man who loves "pinching the girls' bottoms" (Ibid.: 109). When the tutor finds Omae, Eman's lover, in the initiation camp, he (the tutor) sees an opportunity of satisfying his sexual lust. After asking Eman to go into his hut, the tutor advances on the girl: ... now now my 1 ittle daughter, you need not be afraid of me. 67 OMAE: [spiritedly.] I am not. TUTOR: Good. Very good. We ought to be friendly. [His voice becomes leering] Now this is nothing to worry you my daughter ... a very small thing indeed. Although of course if I were to let it slip that your young Eman had broken a strong taboo, it might go hard on him you know. I am sure you would not like that to happen, would you? Clbid.: 111) Efforts to force the girl into his hut fail, and Eman, who has obviously been watching the lecher's advances on Omae, emerges to announce that he is breaking off his initiation and that he is leaving the village. This is reminiscent of the clash between lgwezu and the Kadiye in The Swamp Dwellers. In both plays, the clash is symbolic of the challenge posed to retrogressive traditional practices by new, enlightened forces. This is further proof that Soyinka is not a blind believer in the invincibility of decadent traditions, a point amply expressed in the following quotation: Despite his high regard for traditional African culture, Soyinka has always been prudent in basing the themes of his plays on an idea from the traditional culture. His nostalgia is devoid of sentimentality. He praises and chastises when need be .... (Olorounto 1988: 297) Thus Eman continues his fight against evil when he denounces the tutor. Perhaps the villagers will begin to see the tutor for what he really is, a fake. He is not th~ right man to be teaching the initiates how to become real men (Soyinka 1969: 110). If Eman is the saviour who represents all that is good (Jones 1988: 73), the Girl is his antithesis. She is the play's most sinister character because she is greatly indifferent to sorrow and suffering (Moore 1978 : 51 ). Ogunyemi sees the sick girl as "a miniature of the village" (Jones 1978 : 31 ). These views are correct. The sick girl represents her village, which too can be said to be in need of a cure. At first the Girl is a very sympathetic character, especially when Sunma says of her: She is not a child. She is as evil as the rest of them. (Soyinka 1969: 86) But this sympathy soon disappears when the Girl says to lfada: You have a head like a spider's egg, and your mouth dribbles like a roof. But there is no one else. Would you play? (Ibid.) These are very cruel words. But the Girl does not stop here, as a little while later she tortures If ada further. 68 [ ... with surprising venom.] But just because you are helping me, don't think it is going to cure you. I am the one who will get well at midnight, do you understand? It is my carrier and it is for me alone. (Ibid.: 87) The Girl treats lfada with insensitive cruelty, just as the sick society is treating both lfada and Eman, the two foreigners. The Girl completes her role as a really evil person when, on being asked by Eman to bring him some water to drink, she goes off, seemingly to do so, but really to call Eman's pursuers. She comes back with Jaguna and Oroge, and although he still manages to escape, they have been told of Eman's dire need for water to quench his thirst. They know where to wait for him. Early in the play, Sunma appears as another unpleasant character, especially because of what she says about lfada and the Girl. It later becomes apparent that she is really not on the side of the villagers. Her cruelty results from her frustration at failing to keep Eman out of harm's way. She knows the village will pick a stranger on the eve of the new year to serve as the carrier. Sunma is nervous because of the danger she sees hanging over her lover's head. lfada will only bring the villagers to her house, and to confirm her fears, they do come and take lfada away. Sunma makes it clear that she is not on the villagers' side. She tells Eman it would be better if he left, because the villagers really do not want him. SUNMA: You think they love you? Do you think they care at all for what you - or I- do for them? EMAN: Them? These are your own people. Sometimes you talk as if you were a stranger too. SUNMA: I wonder if I really sprang from here. I know they are evil and I am not. From the oldest to the smallest child, they are nourished in evil and unwholesomeness in which I have no part. (Ibid.: 88) Sunma may sound boastful about her own uprightness, but there is some truth in what she says about her people. She, too, is a symbol of change, because while everyone else hates strangers, she has actually fallen in love with one, and has lived with him amongst her people. When Eman says he will not leave because he has found peace here, she says: I haven't. For a while I thought that too, but I found there could be no peace in the midst of so much cruelty. (Ibid.: 89) When the villagers come for the escaped lfada, Sunma tries to explain to her father, Jaguna, who says that he no longer trusts her (Ibid. : 97) and orders the men to take her 71 poem: "Driving to Lagos one morning a white cockerel flew out of the dusk and smashed itself against my windscreen. A mile further I came across a motor accident and a freshly dead man in the smash" (Soyinka 1967a: 10). In the poem itself, the mother prays: ... Child May you never walk When the road waits, famished. (Ibid.: 11) In The Road. Samson says nearly the same "prayer": May we never walk when the road waits, famished. (Soyinka 1965b: 60) This link between the words in the poem and in the play emphasises Soyinka's concern with the dangers of road travel. The notes for the producer, and the prefatory poem, "Alegemo", are included by Soyinka to simplify matters for readers in their interpretation of The Road. The significant point to make is that the poem brings out one of Soyinka's strongest beliefs about his concept of the Yoruba (and African) world view. This is the 1 ink between the past, present and the future, or between the dead, the 1 iving and the unborn: a theme centra 1 to A Dance of the Forests. Soyinka strongly believes in the influence of the gods on people's lives, and one of his favourite gods is the Yoruba god of destruction and creation, Ogun. It has been said that in the poem "Alegemo", Agemo is the equivalent of Ogun (Maduakor 1987: 197 - 200). This god is also a god of both creation and destruction, just as Ogun is. In a way, the poem prepares the audience for death, which is one of the major themes of the play. One could say that the spirit of Agemo is talking of itself as having come from the dead: My roots have come out in the other world This is a foreshadowing of Murano, who is an embodiment of the suspension of death. The "pathways of the sun" are the movement of the sun from east,resemb ling birth, to the west, resembling death. In the same way, the play opens at dawn, suggesting the dawn of a new era. Unfortunately this era is one characterised by chaos and confusion. This disorder is conveyed by the coming into view of the road-side shack. Right from the start, Soyinka makes it clear that he is portraying a society in which values have been turned upside down: a point which emerges in the very first stage directions. The play will take place in a road-side "shack", the fence is "ragged", the church has a "tightly shut stained-glass" window. The mammy-waggon is "lop-sided" and "minus its wheels". 72 All these are symbolic of a society that has been ruined by man. Both the secular and the religious worlds are being criticised by Soyinka. The fact that the church window is closed and stained is a criticism of the Christian church's lack of transparency. A further indication that things have fallen apart is the ill-spelling: AKSIDENT STORE - ALL PART AVAILEBUL (for ACCIDENT STORE - ALL PARTS AVAILABLE).The proprietor of this store is himself muddled, with lop-sided ideas about life and death. Prof es so r's store mirrors its owner and the owner mirrors the store. Each is symptomatic of a breakdown in society's values. Professor's philosophy has no wheels and cannot therefore take him anywhere. The layabouts are almost dead with sleep because of the previous night's carousing. They "are sprawled on the floor and on benches" , "among rubble of worn tyres, hubs, twisted bumpers etc" (Soyinka 1965b: 1 ). Samson is seen going out and urinating against the wall (Ibid.). One can imagine the nauseating sanitary conditions around the store. The picture Soyinka paints is one of a society which "literally lacks direction and common purpose. It has the road, it lacks a driver" (Probyn 1981: 51 ). Right from the start, Soyinka indicates his displeasure with his society. The play was written at a time when Nigerian independence was proving more and more disappointing, and one critic sums up the whole issue thus: While Soyinka has over the years actively protested real road conditions in Africa, figuratively he speculates in the play where Nigeria is headed on the road of independence, .... The early 1960s were characterised by political turmoil, and it turned out that Nigeria was veering toward a disastrous wreck in the form of a civil war, 196 7 -70. Jn The Road. Soyinka predicts that crash. (Phillips 1990: 140) It is with the above quotation in mind that The Road should be discussed. Jones rightly terms the play an unflattering satire about nearly all aspects of Nigerian life ( 1988: 98). It becomes very difficult to talk of a single theme for this play because practically every character seems to be a vehicle for a theme, or themes. At the heart of the play is the enigmatic Professor whose life is dominated by a quest for something he cal ls the Word. Just as the Professor himself, with his ironical name, can be dismissed as nothing but a madman, his search for the Word can similarly be given short shrift as much ado about nothing. The only point at which the Professor can be 73 taken seriously is when he is seen as a vehicle of satire concerning a corrupt society (Jones 1988 : 91 ). As with Lakunle in The Lion and the Jewel. the Professor's first appearance strikes the audience because of the clothes he is wearing. His "Victorian outfit - tails, top-hat etc., all threadbare and shiny at the lapels from much ironing" (Soyinka 1965b: 8), the pocket-watch and his monocle, all symbolise the incongruity of the man and all that he represents to his society. The people around the Professor think he is mad. Salubi, for instance, refers to him as "that madman" who makes "abracadabra with spirits" (Ibid.: 4, 5). Samson says he cannot understand the man because he sleeps in the church yard with dead bodies (Ibid.: 5). Say Tokyo Kid sees the Professor as "that crazy guy" who is "gonna go too far" one of these days (Ibid: 25). Everything the Professor says is crazy talk, and Salubi further says that once the police catch him, they will throw the Professor in the lunatic asylum of the prison (Ibid.: 32). Lastly, Samson actually tells the Professor: I always thought you weren't as mad as people thought. ... You are a very confusing person Professor. I can't follow you at all. (Ibid.: 63) The Professor is therefore perceived as mad by those around him. And since he is also the leader of the layabouts, Soyinka seems to be burlesqueing African leaders soon after the attainment of independence in the 1960s. The layabouts have been referred to as "symbols of a purposeless existence" (Jones 1988: 91 ). The Professor can then be seen as a parody of a political leader, and Phillips corroborates this view by referring to the Professor as "a kind of political tyrant" ( 1990: 148). There is nothing in the Professor's actions which is admirable. He failed as a lay-reader and Sunday Schoo 1 teacher. He was excommunicated for embezzling church funds, but even before he was caught stealing from the church, his conduct had displeased the bishop. For example, one Palm Sunday he taught his pupils that the palm is a symbol of the ever-abundance of palm wine, "a covenant that the world shall not perish from thirst" (Soyinka 1965b: 89). In the end the Professor was dismissed for blasphemy (Ibid. : 69). Having failed in the church, the Professor starts a new life both as a leader of the layabouts and as a businessman dealing in second-hand motor car spare parts. To maintain a hold on his followers he assumes his philosopher charade. It is not clear whether he genuinely believes in his mission, or whether he is merely using his 76 The other characters, it can be suggested, are either vehicles of, or butts for, Soyinka's satire of his society. Everyone except Murano is guilty of one vice or another. Samson, Kotonu and Salubi symbolise skilled but unemployed members of society, symbols of a society on a road to nowhere. Their existence is purposeless, as they spend their time doing nothing and preying on one another. Samson's Biblical name is both symbolic and ironic. He was God's champion against the pagan Philistines. In the play he is called Champion Tout of Motor Parks, but his glory is in the past. Now, just as with Kotonu and Salubi, he has been condemned to frustration and inactivity. His major role is in the parodies that he plays. Firstly, he plays the African millionaire. He dishes out money to police officers so that they do not arrest his drivers. This is most impressively done and the scene starts with a kind of prayer: Give us this day our daily bribe. Amen. (Soyinka 1965b: 6) And then in perfect order, officers first, the policemen, from the Superintendent down to the newest recruit, receive their bribes. This is institutionalized corruption, and the implication is that society's law enforcers are all corrupt. If that is the case, then the rest of the society is rotten. Then Salubi remarks that money is power. Samson then demonstrates how thes~ rich and powerful men "enjoy" life. Now I want you to take the car - the long one - and drive along the Marina at two o'clock. All the fine fine girls just coming from offices, the young and tender faces fresh from school - give them lift to my house. Old bones like me put fresh tonic in his blood.( Ibid.: 8) The Professor has been shown as a forger of licences, a fact already familiar to Particulars-Joe, the uniformed policeman who finds Say Tokyo Kid and his gang dragging on the hemp, and instead of arresting these law-breakers, actually joins them in the hemp-smoking. It is no wonder The Gang sing: You police are all the same ... Taking bribes is all you know .... (Ibid.: 79) Soyinka has depicted a society where even thugs know that the pol ice are corrupt. There is also collaboration among criminals, as Tokyo Kid has been seen fraternising with 77 Particulars-Joe, and Particulars-Joe is seen discussing the criminal world with the Professor. PROFESSOR: How is the criminal world my friend? PARTICULARS-JOE: More lucrative everyday Professor. (Ibid. : 75) Particulars-Joe has also been a friend to Sergeant Burma. These two were in the front together during the Burma campaign, and through them Soyinka exposes the fallacy that there may be valid reasons for starting a war. (Although war in the cause of uprooting evil systems such as apartheid is justifiable, according to Soyinka.) It is Particulars­ Joe who makes the point: ... It is peaceful to fight a war which one does not understand, to kill human beings who never seduced your wife or poisoned your water... . (I bid. : 81 - 82) In A Dance of the Forests the Warrior is severely punished because he refuses to fight a war which he thinks has no justification. Soyinka himself was imprisoned for over two years for criticising the Nigerian government when it decided to go to war against the lbos in 1967 (Schipper 1982 : 137). In Sergeant Burma the evil effects of war on a person's soul are typified. War dehumanises people, and this is the reason why Samson tells Kotonu: ... You cannot pretend to be an out-and-out cannibal like Sergeant Burma. (Soyinka 1965b: 20) Later, Kotonu says: Sergeant Burma was never moved by these accidents. He told me himself how once he was stripping down a crash victim and found that the driver was an old comrade from the front. He took him to the mortuary but first he stopped to remove all the tyres. SAMSON: He wasn't human. (Ibid. : 21 ) The point that Soyinka is making is too obvious to demand further comment. Suffice it to say that Soyinka has done in The Road what he once said he would always do: use his trade to challenge unacceptable situations in society (Granqvist & Stotesbury 1989: 69). Finally, it should be noted that Professor's death is beneficial to his community as society has been rid of an evil man, much in the same way as Reverend Erinjobi's death 78 is a blessing to his community. Soyinka clearly detests oppressive leaders, a point which also emerges in Kongi's Harvest. the next play to be discussed. * * * Kongi's Harvest ( 1967) was written after some African states had achieved nationhood. Some of these countries were gradually sliding into the grip of despots, notably Ghana, under Nkrumah, and Malawi, under Banda (Moore 1978 : 62 , Ahmed 1984: 122). Being the socially and politically committed man that he is (Soyinka 1984(b): xiii), Soyinka found himself being forced to assume "an increasingly public role as a champion of political freedoms" (Pribic 1990 : 421 ). Kongi's Harvest is therefore one of Soyinka's plays which comes "closest to a direct comment upon the contemporary political scene in Africa". The play is a satirical comedy upon the emergent style and rhetoric of African dictatorship (Moore 1978 : 61 ). Kongi is the President of an imaginary state, lsma, so called because the nation's word factory, the Reformed Aweri Fraternity, churns out "ism" after "ism" as precepts to be used as guiding principles in running the country. Kongi wants to preside over a New Yam ceremony, a ritual hitherto the preserve of the traditional ruler, the Oba, to mark the start of a new harvest season. But the "harvest" in the title of the play is ironic because in the end Kongi's despotic rule leads to chaos and the disintegration of the nation. Soyinka prepares the readers for this disaster by prefacing the play with a section entitled "Hemlock". Hemlock is the poisonous plant, a brew of which the Greek philosopher, Socrates, drank to end his life. Kongi has sowed hemlock on the land and the harvest will be bitter. This result ties up with Danlola's words at the end of this section: ... disaster Is the only certainty we know. (Soyinka 1967b: 10) It is in this negative sense that "harvest" is used, for Kongi's actions will yield nothing but confusion and misery. In addition to the new yam, he will be presented with a man's head, a direct outcome of his repression. Danlola's first appearance is as a prisoner of Kongi, but he is taking part in a royal dance to a song which seems to be mocking Kongi's new regime, and at the same time challenging it to a fight. The opening lines of the anthem are: The pot that wi 11 eat fat 81 lend him CKongi) strength. He only calms down when the Secretary assures him that he is actually more than that - he isa benevolent Spirit of Harvest, and the year will be known as the year of Kongi ·s Harvest. Everything shal 1 date from that year. KONGl:[rapt in the idea.] You mean, things like 200 K.H. SECRETARY: A.H. my Leader. After the Harvest. In a thousand years, one thousand A.H. And last year shall be ref erred to as 18.H. ... KONG!: No, K.H. is less ambiguous. The year of Kongi's Harvest. Then for the purpose of back-dating, B.K.H. Before Kongi's Harvest. (Ibid.: 37) The scheme will of course place Kongfs status on a par with that of Christ, whose life is used for dating in the Christian calendar, Before Christ CB.C.) and Anno Domini CAD.). Kongi has also made sure that the country's major structures are named after him: Kongi Terminus, Kongi University, Kongi Dam, Kongi Refineries, Kongi Airport, etc. (Ibid.: 64). Kongi himself says he is everything and everyone in lsma (I bid. : 81 ) .. Not satisfied with all the political power he has bestowed on himself, Kongi works tirelessly to divest Oba Danlola of his spiritual power. But Danlola is a stubborn old man who is unwilling, naturally, to surrender to Kongi. Dan lo la is prevailed upon by his nephew, Daodu, and his lover, Segi, to submit to Kongi's request. Segi and Daodu complement Danlola as Kongi's opponents. Segi's father is one of the five men awaiting execution, and Daodu is Sarumi's son and heir to Danlola. On the surface of things, then, Kongi has some quite formidable opposition. The antithetical polarisation between Kongi and the Segi/Daodu alliance is emphasised by the stage craft of "First Part". Indeed it has been suggested that while Kongi and his henchmen stand for death, darkness and destruction, the Segi/Daodu camp is symptomatic of progress, life and growth (Jones 1988: 100). This is borne out by the lighting when each camp comes into view. For example, "Kongi is seen dimly in his own cell" (Soyinka 1967b: 11 ), but Segi and Daodu are surrounded by coloured lights (Ibid.: 13). Kongi is a prisoner of his political system but Segi and Daodu are dancing to vigorous music. And when the Secretary and his two spies enter the night club, they pollute the jovial atmosphere. These representatives of Kongi's hated regime are unwelcome in the night club. Daodu's opposition to Kongi is pushed a step further by the fact that he CDaodu) has set up a thriving farming venture to rival Kongi's not-so-successful state cooperatives. The 82 yam that is to be presented to Kongi at the festival is from one of Daodu's farms, which won the New Yam competition. Segi has been appointed the leader of the Women's Corps, who have also decided to ally themselves with Daodu's Farm Settlement, and these will now form a strong counter to Kong i's Carpenters' Br~gade, which has been weakened by desert ions. At the presentation ceremony, the rebellious women show remarkable courage, taunting Kongi with the words of their song: Oh here is a new wonder of wonders Kongi they say, will eat the king's yam [sicJ (Ibid.: 74) At the same time the women "curtsey to the seated obas, [andJ perform a brief insulting gesture as they dance past the Reformed Aweri" (Ibid.). When Daodu finally stands up to speak, his speech is full of venom. Echoing Dan lo la's anthem in "Hemlock", Daodu calls on all the world to denounce "all Prophets of Agony" (the Kongis of this world). He appeals to freedom fighters to recognise "that pain may be endured in the pursuit of ending pain and fighting terror" (Ibid.: 79). And in an open challenge to Kongi, Daodu continues: So let him, the Jesus of lsma, let him, who has assumed the mantle of Messiah, accept from my farming settlement this gift of soil and remember that a human life once buried cannot, like this yam sprout anew. Let him take from the palm only its wine and not crucify lives upon it. Unfortunately, these words do not seem to have any effect on Kongi. It has already been hinted that one of the vices of the new regime is its insensitivity to people's feelings. The regime spews its propaganda With government rediffusion sets Which talk and talk and never Take a lone word in reply. (Ibid.: 2) At this point, when Daodu expects something to happen, possibly the assassination of Kongi, Segi's father is shot dead outside. Things go wrong and Daodu's last words are: We failed again. (Ibid.: 81) After the dismal failure of the plan to unseat Kongi, indications are that all his opponents will run away to a neighbouring country. The iron grating that descends and hits the 83 ground with a loud clang at the end of the play is suggestive of the iron grip that Kongi has on lsma. With the leaders of the opposition in exile, it can be assumed that Kongi's paranoid schizophrenia will only worsen. This is why Olorounto sees Kongi as another fitting example of the "modern trickster with immeasurable capacity for deceit, incorrigible moral degeneration and political tyranny" ( 1988: 300). Kongi's Harvest can be said to be one of the first of Soyinka's plays to point quite clearly to the evils of totalitarianism in Africa. Later plays such as Madmen and Specialists. Jero's Metamorphosis, Opera Wonyosi and A Play of the Giants continue in a similar vein. In the eight plays that were discussed in this chapter, Soyinka's themes have covered the whole spectrum of humanity. Man's foibles have been lampooned in nearly every play. Soyinka has shown himself a consistently politically and socially committed writer who is concerned with what happens around him. 86 that their father is suffering from "mind sickness", and so he had to be locked up, for his own sake. The Mendicants, too, are said to be insane (Soyinka 1971 : 31, 37, 38 ). The "specialists" are, again, Dr Bero and his co-leaders. Before Bero even appears, the Mendicants mention that he is a specialist who is known as always achieving his goals. They say he is a specialist in extracting the truth, and the audience is then shown how this is achieved, by torturing a suspect until he faints (Ibid.: 14- 15). Later, Bero himself boasts: ... The Specialist they called me, and a specialist is - well a specialist. You analyse, you diagnose, you - ( He aims an imaginary gun.) - prescribe. (Ibid.: 31-32) Dr Bero and the other leaders are straightaway characterised as specialists in torture and brutality. They know everything, it seems, and they have solutions to every problem. Once they have decided on a course of action, they dictate it to everyone else. If anyone tries to oppose them, that person is shot. Madmen and Specialists aims to portray the worst in human nature, and Dr Bero is arguably one of the most obnoxious characters ever created by Soyinka. The first mention of Bero is in reference to his home and surgery, and it is indicated that this surgery is "down in a cellar" (Soyinka 1971: 7). The location of the surgery underground immediately brings to mind Hades, the underworld, and from the outset Bero is associated with death. Next, barks and herbs (Ibid.: 7) are juxtaposed with horribly deformed beggars. This positioning is to show the audience how awry life has become, and also demonstrates Bero's metamorphosis: from a healer to a destroyer of life. (The herbs and barks represent his former vocation as a doctor, and the Mendicants represent the damage that Bero and the other leaders have caused.) When Bero joined the war, he was in the Medical Corps but he later switched jobs, to become the head of the Intelligence Section (Ibid.: 31 ). In his new vocation Bero has become a completely transformed person (hence the term metamorphosis). He has swapped his doctor's paraphernalia for a swagger-stick, braids and buttons (Ibid.: 10, 23). And a revolver is now part of him because he carries and flashes it any time he is annoyed (Ibid.: 56, 66, 76, 77). Bero's metamorphosis has made him power hungry, callous and cruel. Goyi feels that Si Bero, his sister, must be pitied for having such a monster of a brother. And from 87 what the Mendicants say, it becomes obvious that Bero will not hesitate to kill anyone who tries to obstruct him in his work: BLINDMAN. I know what he means. (He points an imaginary gun.) All in the line of duty. (Ibid.: 10 - 11) When Si Bero wants to wash Bero's feet with palm wine in a ceremonial cleansing act, Bero refuses. BERO. (stepping back to prevent her from taking off his boots). Bare feet, wet earth. We've wetted your good earth with something more potent than that you know. SI BERO. Not you. Neither you nor Father. You had nothing to do with it. On the contrary. (Ibid.: 28) Bero has changed so much that he even boasts of the blood that he has spilt. Later, he makes it clear to his sister that he has now joined the Big Braids (Ibid.: 31 ), and that what he seeks is total control of everything . ... Control, sister, control. Power comes from bending Nature to your will. Cl bid.: 31) He next tells his sister that the first step to gaining ultimate power was when he started eating human flesh . ... It was the first step to power you understand. Power in its purest sense. The end of inhibitions. The conquest of the weakness of your too human flesh with all its sentiments. (Ibid.: 36) Therefore, Bero is now not only a killer, but also a cannibal who actually finds human flesh delicious. This causes the Priest to run away from him (Ibid.: 35), and then his sister (Ibid.: 40). Bero's encounter with the Earth Mothers deepens the audience's negative impression of him. He is seen "holstering a revolver" (Ibid.: 56), and when the Old Women want him to pay them, he insults one of them . ... What is a thing like you still doing alive? ... I am giving you warning to clear out of here. Pick up your lice and rags and get out. (Ibid.: 56, 57) After their conversation, lya Agba calls Bero "young fool" because she has seen that his journey to damnation is irreversible. 88 So it can be said that when Bero started eating human flesh, he signed his pact with the devil. This is the time he joined a new religion, As. From the Mendicants' prayer: As - Was - Is - Now - As Ever Shall Be - (I bid. : 40) it emerges that this system has been in existence from time immemorial; it is here today and it will always be there. It is part of man's degenerate nature; what Eshuoro mentions in A Dance of the Forests when he talks of humans always wreaking havoc on their own heads (Soyinka 1963a : 47). The obstinate and pervasive nature of As is man's recurrent inhumanity and corruption. This evi 1 system encompasses all forms of dictatorship, oppression, exploitation, social injustice, blind pursuit of self-interest and any other imaginable abominations (Maduakor 1987: 229). Further insight into As is provided by Aafaa's alphabetised explanation of the system from A to I. As with any system of belief, those who believe in As have to undergo some form of mental adjustment. Adjustment of Ego to the Acceptance of As is what Bero and his fellow murderers did when they decided to start eating human flesh. They closed their minds to any reasoning: this is Blindness in As. Having blindly accepted the system, the converts then show Contentment, full satisfaction with As, no matter what the consequences. D in As stands for Destiny, which means that As is an end .in itself. As has a target: it aims at achieving a goal: the attainment of total power by the rulers, and the total oppression of the victims. D also stands for Duty. Nobody, nothing, can stand in the way of one who is on As duty. Blindman has already parodied Bero on duty. D in addition stands for Divinity. This means that As is regarded by its adherents as a holy religion. E stands for Epilepsy: As is a sickness which renders its victims insensible to their actions. F stands for Fart. Metaphorically, As stinks. It is a nauseating system. G stands for God, who is the same as D. This God is the new god as well as the old god (Soyinka 1971 : 36). But now Aafaa explains I before H. I stands for I am I: proof of the absolute power that Bero and the other leaders have acquired. No one can quest ion their authority. This is the trademark of all tyrants. Finally, Aafaa glosses H. "Humanity! Humanity the Ultimate Sacrifice of As, the eternal oblation on the altar of As" (Ibid.: 52). This statement means what it says. In an As system, humanity suffers. It is a callous system where human 1 ives count for nothing. Aafaa puts H last because he wants the audience to remember his explanation of H longer than the other explanations. The erosion of human dignity is this play·s target, and there is abundant proof of As in operation. 91 of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brain-workers. The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for yoursake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!' ... (Orwell 1945:24) And so the lies continue. Firstly, it can be seen that the soldiers stay on in power not because the populace want them to rule for those long periods, but rather because the people are so cowed that they are not able to voice their displeasure. Secondly, the soldiers, just like the pigs, are in power for their own selfish ends. Soyinka also criticises the ruthless treatment that is sometimes meted out to those people who are suspected to be subversives. This is shown by the Mendicants when they burlesque a torture scene. Firstly, Aafaa lunges for Goyi's crotch, which the latter tries to protect. Aafaa says Goyi has no further use for his genitals, and Cripple wonders whether Bero would torture his father that way. Aafaa then assumes Bero's role. He becomes a specialist in extracting the truth, and keeps on pushing the needle.upwards until Goyi faints. When Goyi tries to use the conveniences he finds he is unable to do so. His torturers laugh at him. Aafaa asks him: ... What's the matter? No wan' pee-pee? Pee-pee pee-pee? No more pee-pee? I know what it is. (Soyinka 1971 : 15) Goyi cannot pass water because of the pain he has endured. This torture is reminiscent of the suffering inflicted on Dr Arigbede and other victims in The Man Died , when they had broomstick switches driven up their penises (Soyinka 1972a : vii). Later, Bero tells his father what nearly happened to him: They would have killed you, you know that? If I hadn't had you hidden away they would have killed you slowly . ... They wanted to kill you, mutilate you, hang you upside down then stuff your mouth with your own genitals. (Soyinka 1971 : 49) The leaders are heartless, truly specialists in torture and other sadisms (Amuta 1988: 120). 92 One of the strengths of Madmen and Specialists. especially in terms of socio-political commitment, can be said to be the way in which words are used throughout the play. Even single words, which at first may seem to mean absolutely nothing, are later found to be loaded with meanings which express the themes of the play. Aafaa's attempt to explain As alphabetically is a case in point. This distortion of meaning is what the Mendicants achieve on several occasions. For example, when they recall the visit of the First Lady to the Home of the Disabled, Aafaa changes "disabled" to "de-balled". This will remind the audience of what Bero has said earlier in his conversation with the Priest: ... Human flesh is delicious. Of course, not all parts of the body. I prefer the balls myself. (Soyinka 1971 : 35) It would seem that the President was some sort of pedant, but Aafaa changes "pedant" to "pendant", then calls the Head of State a "bloody pendant". "Bloody" suggests that the man's hands are dripping with the blood of his victims. He is hanging round people's necks like the proverbial millstone, so that everyone would obviously wish to get rid of him. The First Lady is said to have been "gushpillating": a creation of Cripple's, perhaps from a combination of "gush" and "palpitating". She is a corpulent creature, and so perhaps sweat is gushing from her body, which is quivering at the same time. The picture is that of someone who is too fat from eating too much - a consequence of the benefits of leadership in an As system! Again, certain words trigger others, which can ultimately be associated with some of the evils of As. Thus "smoke" immediately echoes "smoke-screen". This reminds Old Man of other words: "pronouncements", "manifestos" and "charades". Blindman is in turn reminded of expressions such as "running water", "running mouths" and "election promises" (Soyinka 1971: 64). All these words refer to the lies and cheap promises made by politicians as they canvass for votes. In the end the sufferers are the people who choke in silence. Through this verbal theatrics (Maduakor 1987: 236) Soyinka manages to attack as many evils of As as possible, without having to rely on a story or plot structure for the play. Even "neutral " words are manipulated to trigger other words with sinister ideas, and in this way the play succeeds in maintaining its sinister undertones. For example: OLD MAN .... A lamp has its uses. AAFAA So electricity. GOY!. CRIPPLE. AAFAA. OLDMAN. 93 Bleeah. Election promises. What we want is individual manifestos. Manifesto for every freak? General Electric! Electrocutes. Electric chair. Electrodes on the nerve-centres - your favourite pastime, I believe? Tell me something. What hasn't been abused? (Soyinka 1971 : 66) On the surface, this exchange sounds like drivel, but it is a bitter condemnation of the practice of making election promises which are never fulfilled. The Old Man then mentions other forms of torture used by the specialists in brutality. The audience has already been shown a suspect being tortured with a needle (Ibid.: 15), and also a prisoner being tortured psychologically (Ibid.: 46-8). This time it is physical torture again, but now using electricity. No wonder Old Man asks what hasn't been abused. It is worth noting that Bero is so deeply unsettled when he is reminded of his cruelty that he takes out his gun. He has to suppress an urge to shoot his father: the truth hurts. Ironically, Bero himself joins in the "game", as the references to electricity cause him to mention lightning. When his father asks him whether lightning can strike him, Bero says yes. This enables Old Man to score another point against the leaders. In spite of all the power they surround themselves with, these despots are not immortal. OLD MAN. (quiet [sic] triumphant smile). Then you're not omnipotent. You can't do a flood and you - (Pause) - can't always dodge lightning. Why do you ape the non-existent one who can? Why do you ape nothing? BERO. You tax my patience. Better watch out in future. OLD MAN (quietly). The future? BERO. The future, yes. The End ... OLD MAN. Justifies the meanness. BERO (again, angry reaction. He controls himself). (Soyinka 1971 : 66) In The Road the Professor has been seeking, vainly, a way of cheating death, and Kongi has also been trying to immortalize himself. Bero himself has talked of bending Nature and controlling lives (Soyinka 1971: 31, 63). Old Man's wisdom brings the truth too close for comfort. No human being, no matter how powerful he thinks he is, can become God. Naturally, Bero is angered by this simple statement of fact, especially when Old Man goes on to remind Bero that leaders like him achieve their goals through cruelty (meanness).