ANALYSING SUICIDE IN WALE OGUNYEMI’S THE VOW
6.4. Exploring the thematic dimensions: Ogunyemi’s the Vow in perspective 1 War made unspeakable: lamentations and condemnations in The Vow
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The ghost of the king’s father appears to torment the palace due to the indecision of the king. The king’s wife, Olori pleads for forgiveness from the ghost because she was not consulted in the whole affair. Despite that, the king refuses to go back to his decision due to the promise he had made that his yes shall be yes and his no a rigid no. He would rather commit suicide than go against his decision and the earlier oath he had taken before the shrine. End of play
6.4. Exploring the thematic dimensions: Ogunyemi’s the Vow in perspective
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Aminu, a character in The Vow introduces into the play a nostalgic confrontation of resentment when he challenges the king:
Aminu: While you were resting your head in the palace and making merry, my son – my only son – my only child – was shot on the farm which belonged to our forefathers.
The one which due to your father’s lack of words was taken from us in battle by Waya people- (Ogunyemi, 1985, p. 2).
It is important to note here that during the Nigerian civil war, the people of Biafra resorted to a propaganda war where they showed the pain, suffering, hunger and cruelty that the people of Biafra faced at the hands of the Nigerian state who decided to shut-down all the ports of entry, by sea, air and land to the eastern region. There was no way that the people of the Eastern region who were seeking for succession, could get food or arms. So what they had to do was to resort to propaganda by appealing to the conscience of the international world.
Aminu, laments of what had happened and what still threatens their existence.
His son is badly wounded from one of the attacks carried out by the people of Waya. To create a convincing emotion to the king regarding the brutality of the fight, Aminu decides to visit the king’s palace uninvited and panting heavily to reveal the state of seriousness and urgency of his message. His act is intended to provoke the king’s decision to pronounce war. However, despite Aminu’s intention to call for war, the king restrains himself because he does not intend to engage in a bloody war that will have a long-term effect on his people and during his tenure as king. He makes his decision clear to Aminu when he responds:
Aminu: …But let me tell you, that if a man feels too small to find out the cause of his father’s death and runs from it, what killed that father will, in turn, be his death. Unless you do this, it is war with Waya!
King: Silence! I want no war and that is final!
We’ve had enough of wars and sieges and it is high time we learnt to live together in peace. Remember the war of Ijaye – it was tough and sad when brothers held weapons against brothers.
Remember Kiriji? For nine years there was blood – and that did no one any good. I do not want this unfortunate thing repeated, so I entreat you all in the name of all that’s good, to go back to your
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homes and think no more of war but of peace instead (Ogunyemi, 1985, p.16).
The King’s response depicts the reality of war and its after-effects. In supporting this, he provides ample examples of other wars fought in the past like the Ijaye and Kiriji and how it led to the loss of lives and property. Engaging in another war will be irrelevant and unprofitable. He therefore charges Aminu not to think of war but rather peace. This resolution was what also happened in the reality of the war between Nigeria and Biafra. After the loss of thousands of lives, the Biafran government, headed by its commander-in-chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, agreed to end the war. In doing that, he categorically said that, with such human loss there would be no need for a second war. He in that moment, enjoined the people of Biafra to be peaceful and to go on with their normal activities.
The play therefore, does not encourage any sort of war and, it does not support any conflict. In as much as war formed the foundation of the play, it became apparent that this faced condemnation from a successor power whose interest was to protect the community from participating in anything that would distort the peaceful political atmosphere. The play can be classified as a post-war play, which attempted to distance itself from the struggles of secession for land reclamation by providing a new leadership.
The theme of war evidenced in the play is that which only aims at recalling a sense of nostalgia manifested by one act of violence by Aminu. To try and bring back a memory, Aminu delves back into the past with the aim of strengthening his feelings and of making his request for war louder. Ogunyemi however, silences this phenomenon in an attempt to focus on the actual story he intends to represent.
6.4.2. Conflicting the conflict: culture in contradiction in Ogunyemi’s The Vow The value of every society lies largely in how culture is defined, perceived and received by its people. Culture is a functional and fundamental vehicle that identifies people as unique entities in the universe. Among the Yoruba people of South-West Nigeria, their cultural practices define their worldview and perception of the universe. The Yoruba understanding of life as well as the role
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of man in uniting the world of the living, dead and unborn, becomes very central. The definition for conflict is “a state of open, often prolonged fighting;
a battle or war. Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot”
(Destercke & Burger 2013, p.50). This definition is represented in The Vow in many ways. The main conflict in the play is between the king and his subjects.
Conflict is explored and created in a number of different ways. The king, who represents the main character of the play experiences different forms of conflict;
from his chiefs to his only son who is diametrically opposed to his decision. The king, his chiefs and the son experience an internal and external conflict. The internal conflict is concerned with the king’s decision to select a bride for his son before his return from America. He considers this decision a traditional practice, which must not be challenged. However, the chiefs and some of the elders of council consider the decision of the king as improper and not a modern way of practice. Otunba, one of the chiefs says that;
OTUNBA: We are all victims of contracted marriages with which we have managed to cope. We are still enjoying them because we are of age; we have seen much of life and know how to handle difficult problems. With your son, Kabiyesi, I am afraid it will go hard if he is forced on a woman or a woman forced on him (Ogunyemi, 1985, p. 8).
However, this reaction of Otunba faces a counter view from the king who sees nothing wrong with getting a bride for his son. In fact, he substantiates his opinion when he says;
KING: with some years of experience as a book man, five years to be exact, we needn’t exercise any fear as to his ability to cope with every type of woman. You all know the ways of the book people, which I think he should have adopted by now, with regard to keeping their quarrels within the four corners of their room (Ogunyemi, 1985, p. 8).
This statement by the king reveals an element of recognition that he was educated himself. We notice this in his reference to “… some years of experience as a book man”, however his supposed education alienates him from
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the understanding of the principles of marriage which the elders try to clarify.
It could be understood that his thoughts are influenced by his attempt to justify his action by making it sound like educated people are known “with regard to keeping their quarrels within the four corners of their room”. This seems not to be the case and it only compounds the internal conflict between him and his people.
The external conflict is between the king and his son, Adubi. The king is infuriated with the son’s marriage to a white woman, Joy. As far as he is concerned, the marriage is illegal and did not receive his consent and blessings.
He therefore insists on the termination of the marriage and proposes what he terms ‘a proper marriage’ to a native of the land. The king and the son therefore have to make choices that will affect themselves and the community. Deception and cultural conflict play a major role in the play.
While the inner conflict of the king increases, he frowns at any chief or elder that appears to be against him. With the power and authority as king, he uses his position to enforce his decision on the chiefs irrespective of their individual resentment to his decision. Far from the king’s efforts to enforce his decision on the chiefs is concerned, he again demonstrates a disquieting approach by selecting another man’s bride for his son. Despite the controversial discontent of the entire community as well as his council of chiefs, he proceeds by having Kaka arrested. Kaka is the betrothed groom to Tola, who he wants as a bride for his son. The act of the king creates a sense of internal and external disquiet from the community members who are not in support of his decision.
The conflict in the play, The Vow is constantly experienced as the king plays on the minds of all the characters and seeks to use his position to manipulate them in order to achieve his aim. He (the king) therefore becomes the reason for a series of conflicts, which translates, to most of what transpires in the play. The son who is bent on adhering to his foreign marriage frowns on his father’s motives. Moreover, the king refuses to bend to the son’s insistence in an effort to go against him and prefers to die rather than see his son go against his decision.
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6.5. Ancestors, elders and power in traditional African societies: Ogunyemi’s