Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Name:
Gohil Devikaba J
Roll
No: 05
Paper
No: 14
Paper
Name: The African Literature
Assignment
Topic: Female Characters in ‘Swamp Dwellers’
Female
characters in Swamp Dwellers:
Probably to me the
greatest singer, female voice, is Billie Holiday. And one of the most moving
for me, I don't know why - maybe it's nostalgia, maybe because my life is one
of constant partying, whatever.
-
Wole Soyinka (Brainy Quote)
Wole Soyinka is the first African writer who is
awarded with Nobel Prize in 1986. He is basically Nigerian play writer and
poet. Soyinka was basically born into Yoruba community and here also he try to
depict the norms and regulations of his community. In this play he focuses on
the problems of the youth of his time. Even today and during his time we can
see the influence of the first world countries on the third world countries. He
tries to bring those issues in his writing. The young people wanted to leave
the village and the community and wanted start a ‘New’ life in the city. His
one of the notable work is ‘Swamp Dwellers’, in which he discuss this issue at
length.
Even the title of this play is very significant one. And
as Derrida use to say that each and every word has free play of the words. Here
also we will find the different free play of the words or particularly the word
‘Swamp’. Swamp means where nothing can grow. Here ‘Nothing can grow’ is also
connected with the mental states, means new ideas. This shows the disturbed and
fragmented mind set of the youth. The second meaning of the word swamp means
the ‘City’. Where once someone goes never comes back. Swamp is a kind of muddy
place where we cannot create a particular impression of a thing. Here Soyinka
tries to give negative connotation to the word ‘City’.
We can compare this play with T.S.Eliot’s ‘The Waste
Land’ where nothing grows and which also tries to depict the disturbed and
fragmented psyche of the youth. At some extend this play is also absurd play like
‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘The Birthday Party’ because as audience we are not
provided the full information of the past of the characters. What next happened
to the characters is also not much clear in the play. Throughout the play we
can see the struggle between the tradition and the modernity because village
and city these both are the opposite pillars and each represents one. But apart
from this we can also see many other conflicts like the generation gap,
fragmented mind set, and the suppression of the female in the male dominated
world. Black are always considered as the inferior to the white people. Soyinka
himself face many problems while writing and that is why it is said that when a
black is writing he will never bring the change into the society rather he will
try to change the mind set of colonizers with aggressive mood.
When black are writing their voice becomes the voice
from the margin and white people are at the centre. And here also if we apply
the theory of Derrida then we have to change the margin and periphery. White
people at periphery and black people at margin. The same way women at the
centre and the men at periphery.
Makuri says
“There wasn’t a woman anywhere more faithful than you.”
Alu: “I never
had a moment of worry in the whole of my life.”
These are some lines taken from the play ‘Swamp
Dwellers’. Alu and Makuri are the husband and wife and they have twin sons
named Igwezu and Awuchike. Apart from there is also another important character
named as Desala. She is the wife of Igwezu. As above mentioned that this play
is much like ‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘The Birthday Party’ and that is why the
past of the characters are not much clear in front of us. We come to know only
as the play moves forward.
Alu:
Alu is the wife of Makuri. She is the
mother of Igwezu and Awuchike. She is aged about sixty. She believes in the
custom of the swamps. (Sites) . If we study the character of
Alu then we come to know that she is the suppressed woman by his own husband.
His husband Makuri always tries to feel inferior to Alu. Alu is like other
female characters ordinary woman who lost her one child in the swamp means in
the city and now she don’t want to lose his other child in the city. She always
tries to fulfil every wishes of his husband as well as his sons. Sometime she
also fight against her husband for his sons. So here we can compare the
character of Alu with Mrs Ramsay in ‘To the Lighthouse’. She is faithful to her
husband and to her duty. And that is how she emerges as the perfect woman in
front of reader’s eye.
As already said that the one of the main theme of the
play is the conflict between the tradition and the modernity. The play writer
has depicted this conflict through the characters also because here Alu stands
for the traditional mode of the time. She is against the current changes of the
society. Because she was not in favour to send his sons to the city. We can say
that she was denying may be because of her motherly love towards her sons.
Throughout the play Awuchike never comes on the stage
but he remain present through the talk of the family. Alu use to remember him a
lot. Because when he went there, in the city he was the different person and
now he is the different person. From the talk of the Igwezu we can assume that
he is now the successful person there and not intended to come back to his
village. But as above mentioned that we can’t say anything about any character
of the play.
Igwezu:
“Awuchike is dead to you and to this house. Let us not raise his ghost in this
house.”
Whenever his mother used to remember Awuchike, Igwezu
used to speak this lines. From this lines we can also see the rivalry between
this twin brothers. There are glimpse of everything not a single thing is
clearly said by the writer. This lines also suggests the success of Awuchike
over there in the city.
Desala:
Throughout the play she never appears on the stage
like Awuchike. She married to Igwezu and went with him to the city but unlike
him she never return to the village. This again indicated the modernity. As I
above mentioned that play writer showed the modernity and traditional way of
living the life through the characters also. Here Desala stands for the modern
way of living the life. Again from the given fragmented information we can
assume that Desala went there with Igwezu but there she married to Awuchike.
May be because he is more successful than Igwezu there. Or there are other
possibilities like Igwezu leaves all alone there in the city. The things are
not much clear. But the chances of her marrying to Awuchike is more because
whenever Alu heard about this she is not ready to accept the reality that
Awuchike kicked his own brother. At some extent Desala becomes the reason for
the rivalry between both the brothers.
But on the other hand we also can’t blame Desala
because as a young girl when she married to Igwezu she also must be having some
young dreams for her life and when she tried to fulfil all her dreams she is
also not wrong. When Kadiye asks Igwezu about his wife Desala he becomes a bit
angry upon Kadiye which shows that now he doesn’t care about Desala. From this
point we come to know about Desala and Igwezu that may be something went wrong
between this husband and wife.
The story is not unfolding ordinary in front of our
eyes. The things are also not much clear about anything and which also shows
the mental state of the characters. And because the things are not much clear
in front of our eyes we have to relay much on the language used by the play
writer. It is said that whenever from the margin, from the periphery the voice
comes it is always harsh and aggressive here also the voice of Alu and Desala
is much harsh and aggressive but unheard by the society.
Conclusion:
We can say that Soyinka is the bitter critic of his
own time and culture. He depicted his culture as it is. He also present the
negative side of his culture. Directly or indirectly through the character of
Desala we compare the twin brothers that who is powerful?
And the relationship between Makuri and Alu is also
broken one. Which also shows that females are the victim in the marriage system.
Sometimes it also happened that Alu becomes so aggressive when Alu says that ‘Catch me if you can’ which again shows
the power of the females. Alu emerges as both the way strong enough as well as
weak enough that she don’t want to lose his second child. And Desala also
emerges as both the way modern enough and independent enough to take her own
decisions. And here we can say that no one can help each-other because at
different level each characters are victim, and one victim can’t help the other
victim.
Works Cited
Brainy Quote. 2001. 18 3 2016.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/wole_soyinka.html>.
Sites, Google. One
Heart. 21 03 2016.
<https://sites.google.com/site/theswampdwellers/home>.
