A Reread of 3 Great African Classics
The Power of Storytelling: A Time-travel Through My Favorite African Classics and Their Historical Contexts
The ConcubineโโโElechiย Amadi
In The Concubine, famous Nigerian writer, Elechi Amadi tells about life in Nigeria before the arrival of White men.
Despite my awareness that one should not judge a book by its cover, I still had to scour the internet for an image of the original cover on the edition I purchased and read for the first time in 1984.โ
This is a love story with a sweet-to-bitter ending.
Beautiful, virtuous, and flawless in character, Ihuoma was (as divined by the medicine-man) the wife of the Seaโ King.
Against his wishes, she reincarnated through birth to live with humans. Unknown to her and her denizen of adoring suitors, the Sea King will not permit her to marry any mortal man.ย
Hear her,
โThese things are strange and almost funny. I certainly donโt feel like a daughter of the sea.โ
Ekwueme, the hero of the story died on the evening penultimate to the consummation of marriage with his lovely heroine, the unassuming Sea Goddess in a human formโโโIhuoma.ย
These depressing deaths did not distract from this delightsome story of typical pre-colonial African society.ย
For long, she tried to shoo off her relentless lover because of tradition and propriety.
โNnenda, my sister, you are a woman as I am. We donโt often make mistakes as regards menโs feelings, do we? Ekwuemeโs advances, though not very frequent, are very serious. He almost frightens me. Do you know that in the last three days he has been coming to chat with me at the farm?โ
โNo indeed.โ
โWell, you now see what I mean. Worse still, he has not been getting on well with his wife. People will heap blame on me on the least suspicion. Then I think I should die.โ
โDonโt talk so, my sister. I will speak to him.โ
โMake him realize that I do not hate him. Indeed, he ought to have realized that by now. Tell him I respect and admire him but that anything beyond that will bring shame on us both.โ
โI will do that,โ Nnenda said, supporting her chin in her left palm. Evidently, she was sharing her friendโs embarrassment to the full.
โOr do you think I am being unduly stem?โ Ihuoma asked, those tiny creases appearing on her brow.
โAt first I thought so,โ Nnenda said.
โNo. He is still pestering me. It will lead to no good Ahurole is my village girl. Why should I come between her and Ekwueme?
Besides I canโt bear to be the subject of any unpleasant gossip in this village. I have told him I canโt marry him. I canโt be his mistress either. The matter should end there. Tell him that please.โ
As her prestige mounted its maintenance became more trying. She became more sensitive to criticism and would go to any lengths to avoid it.
The women adored her. Men were awestruck before her.
She was becoming something of a phenomenon. But she alone knew her internal struggles. She knew she was not better than anyone else. She thought her virtues were the products of chance.
As the days went by she began to loathe her so-called good manners. She became less delighted when people praised her. It was as if they were confining her to an ever-narrowing prison.
While Ihuoma resisted all his advances carrying herself with grace, and dignity, Ekwueme was daring in pursuit of her hand in marriage despite the ominous warning about the unseen Sea King.ย
Dede (father), I do not know whether you believe this or not It does not matter. One thing is clear, I shall marry Ihuoma.
She is a human being and if marrying a woman like her is a fatal mistake I am prepared to make it.
If I am her husband for a day before my death my soul will go singing happily to the spirit world. There also I shall be prepared to dare the wrath of four hundred Sea Kings for her sake.
Our heroine is in the class of other remarkable women from my favorite classic novels. These include Tess in Thomas Hardyโs, Tess of the DโUrbervilles, Margaret in George Eliotโs, The Mill on the Floss, and Scarlett in Margaret Mitchellโs, Gone with the Wind.
Against the odds and norms that disallow their marriage, Ihuoma and Ekwueme fell in love.
Ekwueme tried to placate the Sea King on the day before the marriage. Unfortunately, he died in a fluke accident that could only have been caused by the implacable Sea King (though not stated as such in the novel).ย
The Concubine showcases the life of mortals as influenced by forces and factors often beyond human understanding or control.
The novel depicts a society where traditional rules and culture regulate, strengthen, and help to bind the people together.
The two loversโ path to love and happiness was bestrewed with loss and death, yet they had the courage to pursue it. For me, that is the greatest lesson.
Things Fall ApartโโโChinuaย Achebe
On that day, our Literature in English teacher called me to read Chinua Achebeโs Things Fall Apart to the class.
While reading, I pronounced the sound of the gong as โgo-mareโ instead of its onomatopoetic โgomeโ sound. The entire class erupted in laughter.
Forty-two years later, some of my former classmates still recall and poke fun at my โgo-mareโ moment to our common amusement.
Chinua Achebeโs Things Fall Apart tells the story of the protagonist, Okonkwo who rose from abject poverty to become a heroic warrior and leader of his clan, Umuofia.
The novel is a broadstrokes overview of the clashes of African societies with European colonizers in the 19th century.
In the first part of this non-put-off-able novel, we see Okonkwoโs determination to rise in life and be everything opposite to his heritage of an indolent, poor, untitled father.
โWhen Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. Any wonder then that his son Okonkwo was ashamed of him?
Fortunately, among these people, a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his fatherโ
โAnd so although Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time. Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings.โ
The flip side of Okonkwoโs aforementioned mindset ultimately turned out to be his undoing.
โHe was afraid of being called weakโ is a key to understanding Okonkwo and this novel.
โOkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.
Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.
It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw.โ
โOkonkwoโs fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.โ
Afraid of being called weak, he was one of the killers of Ikemefuna, his household slave boy who called him โfatherโ.
โOgbuefi Ezeudu came in. Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia. He had been a great and fearless warrior in his time, and was now accorded great respect in all the clan.
He refused to join in the meal, and asked Okonkwo to have a word with him outside. And so they walked out together, the old man supporting himself with his stick.
When they were out of earshot, he said to Okonkwo: โThat boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death.โ
Okonkwo was surprised, and was about to say something when the old man continued: โYes, Umuofia has decided to kill him.
The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father.โ
Going against the warning of his more astute elder, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, Okonkwo committed this sacrilegious evil.
โAs the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow.
The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, โMy father, they have killed me!โ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.โ
After this incident, Okonkwoโs previously unassailable influence began to wane.
The old man, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, whose advice he rejected died and was to be buried with befitting rites by the clan.
At the burial ceremony, Okonkwoโs loaded gun accidentally discharged and killed the late chiefโs son.
As a punishment for this inadvertent crime, Okonkwo was banished from his fatherโs clan. He fled to live with his motherโs clan in exile for seven years.
On returning to Umuofia, he discovered that his influence had waned. His brave people were being assailed by British colonizers while their ancient traditions were being overturned by Christian missionaries and their โgreat Godโ.
Okonkwo tried to rouse his people against the colonizers but fell flat.
To his question, โDoes the white man understand our custom about land?โ came the timeless reply of another elder.
โHow can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad, and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad.
How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us?
The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.โ
On Trial for My CountryโโโStanlakeย Samkange
I graduated from high school in 1983 and secured my first job in a noisy streetside music shop in 1984. On Trial for My Country is the second of the first two books I bought from my first salary.
Stanley Samkangeโs nivel is a semi-historical tale of the events that led to the creation of Rhodesia (the forerunner of modern Zimbabwe) in 18th Century.
The author retold the epic story of how the last king of The Matabeles (in modern Zimbabwe) was deposed and his nation overran and usurped by Cecil Rhodes after whom the country was named before independence.
The author told the story as one taken in a trance to witness the reckoning of events at two afterlife courts simultaneously.
In the first afterlife court, Lobengula was summoned befire his father to recount how and why he allowed his country and people to be taken over by the British through the arrowhead of Cecil Rhodes.
I told them that just as no two bulls can live in one kraal no two kings can rule in one country; and there would be no peace if whitemen were brought to live in the same country with blackmen.
I told them to return whence they came. They did.
No whiteman ever dug gold in my country as long as I lived. I never saw the great rush of whitemen to dig gold in my country that I had been told about.
โWhat witch, what wizard and what medicines then, could have made you sell my people, my cattle, and my land to these whitemen?
No one knew the ways of witches and wizards better than you who ate and slept with them for many moons in the Matopo Hills. How, then, could anyone bewitch you to sell your birthright and lose your manhood? Speak, Lobengula.โ
While Lobengula was being grilled in the courts of his father who reigned before him, Cecil Rhodes was being questioned by his own father in his church in far away England.
โWhat have you done to thank the Lord for all these blessings?
Some say you have, instead, unscrupulously dealt with other men and cheated them out of their money and land. Indeed, others say, as in the case of a Boer named Grobler, you planned the death of many and through your recklessness and greed for fame and fortune, caused even many more to die in unnecessary adventures, raids and wars.
โAnd more specifically, it is charged that by wile, guile, and other dishonourable methods such as corrupting a minister of the Gospel you drove an African monarch named Lobengula out of his country, usurped his land, burnt his kraals, massacred his people, took their cattle, and enslaved those of his subjects who survived.
โThese are grievous allegations which, if true, would remove from your life the honour and glory of success for which men admire and praise you.
In your youth you were taught to live according to the law of Christ, the law of love, purity, honesty, and unselfishness.
As a Christian, by this law you will be judged. Can you say that in your dealings with other men, particularly the Matebele King Lobengula, whose country now bears your n,ame, you dealt justly and honestly?
Are these charges against you true? Say now in this the Lordโs House, before your Father in Heaven as well as your father on earth and this congregation whether these evil things we hear about you are true or false.โ
We now see the imperious Cecil John Rhodes defending himself before his father for his ruthlessness at dispossessing the African King, Lobengula and subjugating his people (the Amandebele). In the course of his defense, we read of Rhodes Creed
โIn this parish, I was also taught that while on earth, I had a duty not only to my God but also to my Queen and my Country and that I was duty bound to seize every opportunity to enlarge my Queenโs Dominions.
It was not always easy to reconcile oneโs duty to God with oneโs duty to Queen and Country.
Since I am being accused of recklessness and greed for fame and fortune, it may be helpful if, at this stage, I give you my creed.
I have been asked, โIn what is your strongest belief?โ I do not hesitate to replyโโโin power.
But there is a force that drives one on and one cannot evade it if one would.
โI believe that we, the British, are the first race in the world, and the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.
Every acre added to our territory provides for the birth of more of the British race, who otherwise would not be brought into existence.
Added to which the absorption of the greater part of the world, under our rule, simply means the end of all wars.
โI believe that the English-speaking race, whether British, American, Australian or South African, is the type of race which does now and is likely to continue to do in the future, the most practical and effective work to establish justice, to promote liberty and to ensure peace over the widest possible area of this planet.
Therefore, if there be a God and He cares anything about what I do, I think it is clear that He would like me to do what He is doing Himself, and as He is manifestly fashioning the English-speaking race as a chosen instrument by which He will bring in a State of Society based on justice, liberty and peace, He must obviously wish me to do what I can to give as much scope and power to the race as possible.
This historical fiction tells of how the British led by Cecil John and his company, British South African Company used treachery, subterfuge, deception to conquer and plunder the Amandebele people and their king, Lobengula.
The story also gives a birdโs eye view of the resilience, resistance, and bravery of the Amandebele people in the face of a cunning and superior force.
The politics and policies of the colonialists touched the lives of Africans. In it, we see how the colonialists also compromised some missionaries and used them to achieve their expansionist goals.
Sources
ยฉElechi Amadi, The Concubine, Heinemann - African Writers Series, 1966
ยฉChinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Heinemann - African Writers Series, 1958
ยฉStanlake Samkange, On Trial for My Country, Heinemann African Writers Series, 1966
Thank you for reading.
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