BEYOND THE VEIL: INSINUATION, DIVULGENCE AND
THE YORUBA EXPERIENCE IN BEN OKRI’S THE
FAMISHED ROAD
Dr. C. Usha Nandhini
Assistant
Professor and Head
Department of English
Government Arts and Science College, Idappadi
Abstract:
This
paper adopts the adventures of Azaro who is an abiku or spirit-child. This
abiku is a form of Yoruba myth (According to the mythical belief, the abiku is
originated to Yoruba, where a child born dies before the age of twelve or
before the attainment of puberty and the spirit of that child returns to the
same mother many times to be born again). The story is full of reference to
mythology. Every culture has an origin myth, likewise Okri draws specifically,
on the myth of Yoruba culture. The colonization process had the greatest
detrimental consequences on African literature is always inseparable. The
indigenous people are therefore unable to move forward from their traumatic
past. African literary authors have incorporated the traumatic past into their
rich oral culture. African oral traditions, gender identities, and nationalism
are all covered in postcolonial African literature. The distinctive elements
that Ben Okri uses in his seminal work, The Famished Road, are examined in this
article. The purpose of the paper is to assess how much these characteristics
exemplify the goal of postcolonial literature. This article explores
postcolonial characteristics such as nationalism and hybridity. In addition,
Okri considers the issues of identity crisis, corruption, cultural
fragmentation, change, problematic of post-colonial identity, alienation and
exilewith cultural background.
Keywords: Yoruba,
Culture, Post-colonialism and Theory, Post-colonial Societies,
Political Corruption.
Africa has a long literary tradition. African Literature
was primarily oral and passed from one generation to the next through
memorization and recitation. Works written in African languages and traditional
oral texts went virtually acknowledged until the late 20th century,
but today they are receiving increased recognition. Many scholars prefer to
speak of African literatures, rather than African literature, to emphasize the
different literary tradition of the term encompasses.
Modern African Literatures have been influenced to a
remarkable degree by the continent’s long tradition of oral artistry. Before
the spread of literacy in the late 20th century, texts were
preserved in memory and performed or recited. These traditional texts served
many of the same purposes that written texts serve in literate societies-
entertainment, instruction and commemoration, for example. Africa’s oral
literature takes the form of prose, verse and proverb and texts vary in length
from the epic, which might be performed over the course of several days, to
single-sentence formulations such as the proverb. The collective body of oral
texts is variously described as folklore, verbal art, and oral literature or
more recently orative.
Okri, as a story teller, attempts to pass to
the readers what is good in his tradition and the traumatic experience of
colonization and its effects on African culture. His writings endeavour to
highlight the unique and novel potentialities of the man of Africa and Nigerian
experience, its rich culture and mythology.
Ben Okri, of Urhobo descent, from Nigeria is known for
works that focus on life in modern-day Nigeria. His tales depict the problems
which beset his homeland, particularly poverty, famine and political
corruption. Okri parallel the relationship between the natural and spiritual
world in his writings, combining western literary techniques with the elements
of traditional African folklore and myth.
Okri has additionally received praise for his use of
elements of Magical Realism, a western literary technique notably to uplift the
detailed analysis of his writings. Okri prefers to talk about how reading has
influenced his writings. He started by reading African, Classical and European
myths and he continued reading from his father’s library. It is evidently found
that Okri has amalgamated a multi-cultural aspect of study right from his young
age.
For a writer childhood memory are pure essence of
writing. It forms a perfect influence for best exploration. Noting many
similarities strongly from his childhood, Okri developed a world view that
combines African and European traditions. Ben Okri revisits literary styles,
genres and tradition and finds extraordinary new ways to express them with
greater imagination. Okri through his writings criticises the widespread of
corruption and violence in contemporary Nigeria, and explores the ongoing
cultural confrontation between foreign and indigenous tradition in postcolonial
Africa.
Many of the African writers
write and speak about the collective identity as a whole, but Okri speaks the
individual growth equally concentrating on the community growth. An individual’s persistent fight for his identity will
stand collectively for the community’s identity. Particularly in the colonised
nation, the problem becomes more implicit and explicit which is visible in The Famished Road trilogy sequence. The
fictional trilogy concerns the effects faced by the people. The nation is on
the edge of dislocation and broken thoughts of people.
The
Famished Road
records the adventures of Azaro who is an abiku or spirit-child. This abiku is
a form of Yoruba myth (According to the mythical belief, the abiku is
originated to Yoruba, where a child born dies before the age of twelve or
before the attainment of puberty and the spirit of that child returns to the
same mother many times to be born again). The story is full of reference to
mythology. Every culture has an origin myth, likewise Okri draws specifically
on the myth of Yoruba culture. Azaro decides to stay among the living to face
the hard life and rejoice with loved ones of the living.
Azaro’s father carries heavy loads in the
market place, works as a labourer and earns by it. Every day he returns home
with full of exhaustion caused by his labour, but still he strives with courage
to hold on his dreams of a better life. Azaro’s mother works by selling goods
as a hawker and scrapes out only the tiniest amount from her workforce. His
parents represent, like so many of the working poor in Nigeria, who struggles
to make ends meet.On the
whole the entire family lives only a hand-to-mouth existence in the most
terrible poverty. Creditors harass them, the Landlords raises the rent of the
houses. Political burglars and rich thugs oppress and torment them. Poverty is
equalled with oppression, which contains many factors to be discussed,
harassing landlord who raises the house rents and calls police to create
confusion among the ghetto people.
When it was so dark that one couldn’t see the
far corners of the sky and the forest lacked all definition, the landlord
turned up and immediately started ranting. He threw himself on the ground.
Rolling and thrashing, he unleashed a violent torrent of curses on us…
‘Everyone must stay here1’ the landlord said, screaming in the dark. He hurried
away and returned an hour later with three policemen. They fell on us and
flogged us with whips and cracked our skulls with batons. (TFR 12)
With the advent of science and technology,
the humans are forced to reject the myth. The reason understood for the
rejection is that, myth is a product of superstitious and primitive minds.
Initially humans use mythology and rituals to institute an identity and
recognition for their community, their identity and comprehensive understanding
of their place in the universe. Myth is a universal pattern structured
according to the individual’s tradition and culture. Myth act as a tool to
maintain the tradition of the culture and reflect what is most important in
people’s lives. The myth of a particular community is read not only to learn
and receive knowledge about their culture and origination, but to discover the
inner thought of what is/was in the hearts and minds of the mythmakers.
The functions of myth are necessary to
evaluate the growth and development of civilization. Myths exist in every
society, as they stand as the basic element of human culture. The myth
functions a key role in teaching moral lessons and explaining the historical
events. Authors of great literary works have taken their stories and themes
from myths. In literature mythical symbols leads to aesthetic creativity. By
appreciating the stories, myths and dreams in literature, one can understand
its culture deeply and in a much better way.
Myth is an evidence for social evolution.
From the words of Baz Luhrmann, the pervasive significance of myth is
extensively opened to the mind, “The ugly duckling is a misunderstood universal
myth. It’s not about turning into a blonde Barbie dollor becoming what you
dream of being; it’s about self-revelation, becoming who you are”.
Correspondingly myths are the way which makes sense in a senseless world. It is
structured pattern that shapes the significance of human existence.
The description about the myth and its
functions determines the acceptance of everything everyone. Likewise
reconciling the myth of Nigerian people gives a glimpse into their ways of life
and worldviews. The unveiling of wonder and the realization
of ordinary events in an extraordinary light drives every attribute of Okri’s
novel. His characters are archetypes, which at first adhere to traditional
roles until inspired or shocked into diverse strengths and weaknesses. Okri
explores the complexities of human character and how it transforms under the
pressures and victories of existence, rendering the unpredictable.
Okri’s flourishing works of art resonates with a kind of
universalism which haunts its readers with ancient traditions, while retaining
a strong sense of intellectualism.
Okri in his Booker award winning novel The Famished Road and the following
sequels Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches streamingly uses the
technique of fantasy and realism (marvellous realism or magical realism)
amalgamated with the traditional perceptions of Yoruba; here the traditional
insight speaks abouta being known as abiku, which stands as an important role
to expansively tell about political allegories. The narrative is intriguingly
post-modern in nature. Okri adapted the techniques of writing by returning to
the themes and structures of traditional Yoruba mythology.
Yoruba, is one of the dominant cultures in
Nigeria having the exuberant flavour of Oral Literature. And the curious fact
to be noted onOkri’s use of this mythology and techniques is that he is not a
Yoruba himself. Though he is of a Nigerian descent, he spent his early years in
England. So only through reading of Nigerian literature he could establish
largely in his writings. Yoruba people highly believed in the Gods of the Sky
and Earth, Nature and Ancestral Spirits, and Divination and Societies.
Prevalent of the myth of eternal, return
under the light of Yoruba culture shows the weight of history and creates a
fact that life has significance and deeper connection with the past. The better
notion of abiku is aesthetically analysed. Similarly, Okri’s use of the Yoruba
myth of the abiku allows the readers to focus on two views. It makes a better
comparison of the protagonist family’s present cruel circumstances to an ideal
that lies beyond them. Secondly, it gives the novel a matter of eloquent and
motivation not for a small community of readers but for a world-wide view.
Shifting the thoughts towards the historical
reference, Okri has keenly given the reason for the protagonist’s change of
name as Azaro. After birth he was named and called Lazaro or Lazarus. As it is
historically the miracle of Jesus who brings Lazarus of Bethany back to life
four days after his burial. Likewise, in the beginning of the second chapter
Azaro almost dies due to illness. Due to illness, he spent most of the time in
the spirit world. When he woke up he was in a coffin, with all his surroundings
weeping fiercely. That’s because his parents thought he is dead, and that’s the
moment his parents named him Azaro, wanting to avoid the tale of Lazarus.
When I woke up I found myself in a coffin. My
parents had given me up for dead… Because of my miraculous recovery they named
me a second time and threw a party which they couldn’t afford. They named me
Lazaro…and as many were uneasy with the connection between Lazaro and Lazarus,
Mum shortened my name to Azaro. (TFR 9)
The observation of myth in a work of art illuminates
socio-political implications behind the literary work. Often myth is a
recognition of the people and the race. Myth is a study of anthropological
approach inside which myth acts as an expression of the significance of a
particular people. Myth is seen in the form of episodes to illuminate the
cultural difference between two zones. At the evolutionary (final) stage it
expresses the visions of human life, social and political conditions.
Probably out of these major reasons why Okri
has combined myth and social realism in the same series, instead of turning the
latter only, is that he does not wish to reduce the complexity of Africa to the
socio-political problems that ravage the continent. In detail it speaks about
the first section of precolonial era and the later section of postcolonial era.
Okri is aware of the importance that these problems have for the future of
Africa and he has chosen to introduce them into the story. Only with the
adequacy of social realism, Okri cannot portray the actuality of the African
land. So Okri has used some iconic figures of a society who would elevate the
social realism through his actions. To convey this message, he uses the
character of the photographer, who stands for the artist in general. The
photographer tries to capture what he sees.
He pinned up some of the pictures of the
celebration of my homecoming. Beside them were the lurid photographs of the
chaos unleashed when the politicians came around with their rotten milk. The
rest of the cabinet was taken up with images of defiant women, milk heaps,
street inhabitants pouring away the milk against a grainy backdrop of poverty.
(TFR 167)
It is witnessed that the crude reality of the
ghetto is captured by the emerging iconic figure called Photographer. He is
publicizing the entire happenings of the ghetto in the trilogy. He is simply
called throughout all the three series as ‘photographer’. “After a while we
forgot his name and he became known to us simply as ‘the photographer’” (TFR 167).
In Okri’s text, myth and fantasy are valuable
principles in the education of the protagonist. Stories touch the part of a
person’s consciousness associated with the magical happening and creativity of
childhood. Stories enhances the cultural understanding and their roots. It taps
the mind of a person and conveys the deeper message touching a person’s heart
and emotion. Meaningfully Azaro’s parents try to teach him the lessons of life
through the use of parables and fantastic stories as a mode of their own
culture of tale telling which includes the fable of the king of the road and
the origin and many. Throughout all the three novels Okri has skilfully
mentioned the art of storytelling which creates a deeper bond between the
protagonist and his Dad.
‘The King of the Road had a huge stomach and
nothing he ate satisfied him. So, he was always hungry. Anyone who wanted to
travel on the road had to leave him a sacrifice or he would not allow them to
pass. Sometimes he would even eat them up… ‘For a long time, people gave him
sacrifices and he allowed them to travel on the roads. (TFR 299)
We heard stories of children who were born
blind. We heard stories of hawkers who went down the streets, selling their
wares, with children leading them. (SOE 231)
There were tales of exile and war, the birth
and descent of the gods, the hubris of mankind, the flood, and the cycle of
vanities. (IR 103)
Life is a journey, in which one’s character is shaped by
the experiences they encompass, and their life choices are affected according
to the nature of these experiences. The environment a person has been exposed
to and can relate with, also influences one’s disposition and determines the
essential qualities a person may possess. Messages of a text or a work of art
are often unclear at first glance, yet through the incorporation of the Nigerian
environment in The Famished Road,
many messages are revealed to the readers that shape the understanding and
interpretation of a text in a new perspective.
This artifice of Azaro enables Okri to
preserve the notion of journey as a positive experience for the development of
the hero. Speaking about the importance of myth, it is a valuable form of
knowledge and interrogating the geopolitical status of its past. Azaro’s myth
of abiku is used as a tool to investigate the incomplete history of his nation.
Journey plays a vital role in Azaro’s
experience, he takes a short journey within his ghetto and comes to know about
the hardships of his society. He reaffirms this kind of discoveries with his
father, with his mother and finally the entire society. It shows the true
quality of a protagonist with fine evolution. Journeys are many in number in
all the three novels, through the mode of journey Okri gives a complete picture
of Nigeria and its environment through the omniscient view of the protagonist
Azaro.
…as we made the journey through the streets.
There were lamps burning along the roadsides. There were voices everywhere.
There were movements and voices everywhere… The world kept changing. The road
began to move. It behaved like a river, and it flowed against the direction of
our journey. (TFR 200, 376)
The way in which Okri adapts the motif of the
journey can be useful to determine, the process of evolution as it corresponds
with bildungsroman. Azaro through his journey develops himself to be a selfless
individual, who care much for other people. The sympathy that the protagonist
feel towards the community increases progressively throughout the narrative.
Azaro’s compassion towards other characters can be noticed when he describes
the work conditions at the garage where his father earns a living for his
survival. “Dad worked hard carrying heavy loads at the garage and marketplaces
and he earned very little money. Out of what he earned he paid the creditors,
who came to our room every evening to remind us that they were still alive” (TFR 93). It is all the journey, which
makes a philosophy that world is no longer a strange and alien place.
Okri uses the nightmarish images and
fantastic twists of reality to portray the bizarre social and political
conditions inside his native Nigeria. When compared to his first two novels, it
is found with an indigenizing of form and content. As said above these selected
novels are completely departed from Conventional Realism, it is more
multi-faceted in nature. The world that Okri shows under multi-dimensional
reality is more bewildering in nature.
The characters shown in these novels live in
a bewildering world. It can be well linked with the quotes of a famous
Physicist, Cosmologist, late Stephen William Hawking. As the saying goes, “We
find ourselves in a bewildering world. We want to make sense of what we see
around us and ask: What is the nature of the Universe? What is our place in it
and Where did it and we come from? Why is it the way it is?”
The Realism, Okri has handled in these three
novels is the nature of the reality than he has done hitherto. The Realism,
Okrihas handled, portrays the textual formulation, the myth that he carries are
unique potentialities of the traditional element. All these qualities are
correlated one within the other, exposition of judgement is needed.
Change in society connects the novel with the
reader with universal mode of individual identity. The mould of African and
Nigerian sensibility is done with the aid of vision in various aspects. Therefore,
the Yoruba myth successively stands as crucial, phenomenal, necessary and
significant phase in Okri’sThe Famished
Road. Hold of vision in one’s mind is a great sign of human evolution, this
kind of works of art creates a society under change and a society heading
towards a new political order and modernisation.
Works Cited
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Heinle: Thomson, 1999.
Barry, Peter. Beginning
Theory. Manchester U P, 1995.
Hawking,
Stephen Williams. “Stephen Hawking Quotes”, Good
reads,
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/557696-we-find-ourselves-in-a-bewildering-world-we-want-to
Accessed on 18 Feb. 2025.
Jung,
Carl Gustav. Modern Man in Search of a
Soul, translated by W. S. Dell, Cary F. Baynes, Routledge, 2001.
Okri, Ben. The Famished Road. Vintage Publishers,
1991.
---. Songs of Enchantment. Vintage
Publishers, 1993.
--- . Infinite Riches. Vintage
Publishers, 1998.
Wikipedia
contributors. “Ben Okri.”Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 31 Jan. 2025,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben Okri, Accessed
16 Feb.
2025.
Wikipedia
contributors. “Magical Realism”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. 04
Jan. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism
Accessed 05 Feb.2025.