Assignment :- 14 Human relationships in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dweller
Name :- Rathod Nikita p.
Roll No :- 21
Enrolment no :- 2060108420190038
Semester :- M. A. Semester - 4
Paper no :- 14 (The African Literature)
Assignment Topic :- Human relationships in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dweller
Year :- 2018-2020
Email-id :- nikitarathod0101@gmail.com
Words :- 1623
Submitted to :- Smt. S.B.Gardi Department of English. Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
(1) Human relationships in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers
=> The characters in The Swamp Dwellers fell into three groups: the parents Makuri and Alo-conservative, the corrupt priest Kadiye, who beguiles his superstitious followers; and the two positive individuals Igwezu and the Beggar, moving, wondering, seeking and then uncertain what they have found. It is a play of mood and atmosphere, constructed so as to provide the audience with ample opportunity to make comparisons and reach judgment. Soyinka makes his points through implied contrasts and comparisons. In the play, there is contrast between twin brothers, father and son, between mother- in law and daughter- in- law, between the Beggar and host, comparison between Igwezu and the Beggar and the final contrast between the Beggar and the Priest Kadiye.
Two Brothers
The most obvious contrast is that between the twins brothers, who look alike but behave differently Awuchike has left home for ten years and lives in town. There he deals in timbers and thrives fast. But he never thinks of his poor old parents. Besides, he does not even communicate with his parents, as a result his mother thinks that, he died in swamp drowning, though his father knows that he is still alive in town and earning money there. He is dead to his parents and family responsibility/ whereas, Igwezu is quite opposite to him. He also goes to town with his wife to seek his fortune. He promised that, with first earned money, he will send a swivel chair for his father and he fulfils his promise. He communicates with his parents and looks after them. After all, Awuchike is callous, self centered, egoster, nonchalant, unmindful, undutiful ad disobedient towards parents but Igwezu is obedient, dutiful towards his parents.
Contrast between mother- in law and daughter- in- law
There is a contrast between the women in the family. Igwezus mother Alu is faithful and loyal to his father Makuri. Alu and Makuri lead their conjugal life in subsistence level. Makuri makes basket with rushes and Alu works at her adire cloth. Makuri is also an occasional barer. After all, they live from hand to mouth. In youth, Alu was very beautiful. A group of crocodile traders visited the Swamp and offered Alu to leave for city with them but Alu checked the temptation and rejected their offers. Throughout her life, she shares the well and woe of her husband and remains faithful. Makuri never feels tension for her sake. Besides, she loves the swamp region and never expresses any wish to leave for city. But Igwezus wife is reversed to Alu. Her condition before wedding was that, she must have to be taken to town after marriage. She does not like rustic life, careless about Igwezus parens. Besides, whenever he begins their urban life, Igwezus wife leaves him for wealthy Awuchike. The contrasting point between these two women is that, one is faithful and consistent to husband and another is inconsistent and unfaithful, one is materialistic, another is simple and honest.
Beggar in comparison to Igwezu
The blind beggar offers a comparison to Igwezu. The beggar loses his crops to locust and leaves his home in Bukanji, walks to the south passing through the city, searching for land to cultivate. Igwezu also loses his crops to flood leaves his home in Swamp and takes shelter in town. That is both experience misfortune but both are resolved to earn their livelihood by labor. They are unlike Awchike and Kadiye.
Contrast between Makuri and the beggar
There is a contrast between Makuri and the beggar. Though Makuri has eyesight, he cannot detect the mystery that his family is being beguiled, deceived by the corrupt Priest. But though the beggar is deprived of eyesight, his spiritual light is so powerful and penetrative that, he can detect the bulk of the Priest out of his voice. This means that, he can guess that the Priest is consuming their fresh crops by means of false rituals.
Beggar contrasts to the Priest Kadiye
The blind beggar also offers a contrast to the Priest Kadiye. Though he is regarded as beggar, actually, he does not believe in begging. Rather he believes in the virtue of diligence- this is how he leaves his home and gets out in search of a cultivable land. When the servant of the priest gives a coin, the beggar keeps his bowl upside down. The beggar is not superstitious. He can not believe that, there is any supernatural being in the name a serpent God, who possesses land. But, the priest whose head is bold, skin-tender, looks like greasy porpoises begs his in sophisticated form. He takes goats, ores and other sacrifices offered by the simple minded villagers. They offer the sacrifice to appease the God and want protection at their lives and crops. But the priest consumes when Igwezu asks, Why are you so fat? He leaves Makuris house. After all, the beggar wants to earn his livelihood by labor while the priest earns his livelihood by false bait and deception. The Beggar deceives none rather raises optimistic views in Igwezu but he priest deceives all.
Contrast between town and country
Finally there is a contrast between town and country. Life in town is source of pain, disappointment and frustration. It is a greed dominated place and only hard- hearted people prosper. But life in country is blend & sorrow and happiness. In village, the family is integrated, people are simple minded, hospitable, capable of being deceived very easily. Besides, the country people are the puppet at the hand of nature. Nature shatter their hope again offers the victim an optimism.
To conclude, through the typical characterization Wole Soyika brings to our notice the attitude, culture and life style of Nigerian people. Besides he shows how the overall economic growth affects the subsistence economy of Nigeria.
In The Swamp Dwellers Wole Soyinka shows that the arrival of modernity and industrialization in the Niger Delta region has a serious effect on the environment as well as on the family relationship and the relationship between the humans and their environment. The strong and respectful bond between the swamp dwellers and the swamp has been taken over by the arrival of the urban and capitalist forces. The Swamp Dwellers focuses on the conflict between the rural and the urban forces, the former being the symbol of honest living and honest thinking and the latter being the symbol of corruption, materialism and dishonesty. The swamp dwellers have lived in close contact with nature and have deep respect for their dwelling place and their environs until this rural, innocent forces are thwarted by the hard-hearted, materialistic urban forces. Traditionally, the swamp dwellers hold a philosophy to life that is quitessentially nature sensetive and nature protective.
The Swamp Dwellers narrates the story of an old, poor couple and their two sons living in the remote area of the Niger Delta region. The play opens with the old couple Makuri and Alu awaiting for their son Igwezu, who has returned from the city and gone to the swamp in order to calculate the damage done to his crops by the floods. It is from the conversation between Alu and Makuri we come to know that Igwezu is their younger son and they have another son named Awuchicke who went missing after he had gone to the city some ten years ago.
In The Swamp Dwellers, we see two different attitudes to the swamp by Igwezu and Awuchike, the twin brothers of the Makuri family. Igwezu shows the sign of a strong bond to his community. He has gone to the city, but still keeps his good connection with the swamp and his family. The swamp is the source of comfort as well as frustration for him. He has bought a barbers chair for his father with the first income in the city. The swamp waits for him with crop failure and starvation , but still he returns to the swamp. His return towards the swamp must be read, then, as an active, positive choice and not a retreat to the relative safety of his village. His negotiations with land and his decision to return to the swamp constitute his attitude to it. He has a strong attachment to the swamp, which offers him nothing but frustration. Awuchike, on the 10 other hand, shows a negative attitude to the social bond and his community. After he has gone to the city, he cuts off all his relationships not only with his community but also with his own parents. His parents wait for his return to the swamp or at least the news about his whereabouts. But he totally cuts off his relationship with his community. He even breaks the family tie by snatching away Igwezus wife Desala from his brother Igwezu.
Conclusion :-
In story both brother creates different example. One believes in change and another brother is not accepts change and he fails in the city, and in the story tradition and modernity is there. And Igwezu get failure in the city. Awuchike get success the city and because he accepts change. And he never returns in his village. And he becomes part of city. And Igwezu losts everything in his city. He losts his wife in the city. His wife is goes with Awuchike. So bothers but both are completely different.
Work- Cited :-
Articles, Literary. Wole Soyinkas Art of Characterization in the Play The Swamp Dwellers. 14 October 2012. 09 March 2020 <https://literacle.com/wole-soyinkas-art-of-characterization-in-the-play-the-swamp-dwellers/>.
Nuri, Mohammad Ataullah. The Human-environment Relationship in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers. 2018. 09 March 2020 <https://www.academia.edu/40688330/The_Human-environment_Relationship_in_Wole_Soyinkas_The_Swamp_Dwellers>.
Name :- Rathod Nikita p.
Roll No :- 21
Enrolment no :- 2060108420190038
Semester :- M. A. Semester - 4
Paper no :- 14 (The African Literature)
Assignment Topic :- Human relationships in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dweller
Year :- 2018-2020
Email-id :- nikitarathod0101@gmail.com
Words :- 1623
Submitted to :- Smt. S.B.Gardi Department of English. Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.
(1) Human relationships in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers
=> The characters in The Swamp Dwellers fell into three groups: the parents Makuri and Alo-conservative, the corrupt priest Kadiye, who beguiles his superstitious followers; and the two positive individuals Igwezu and the Beggar, moving, wondering, seeking and then uncertain what they have found. It is a play of mood and atmosphere, constructed so as to provide the audience with ample opportunity to make comparisons and reach judgment. Soyinka makes his points through implied contrasts and comparisons. In the play, there is contrast between twin brothers, father and son, between mother- in law and daughter- in- law, between the Beggar and host, comparison between Igwezu and the Beggar and the final contrast between the Beggar and the Priest Kadiye.
Two Brothers
The most obvious contrast is that between the twins brothers, who look alike but behave differently Awuchike has left home for ten years and lives in town. There he deals in timbers and thrives fast. But he never thinks of his poor old parents. Besides, he does not even communicate with his parents, as a result his mother thinks that, he died in swamp drowning, though his father knows that he is still alive in town and earning money there. He is dead to his parents and family responsibility/ whereas, Igwezu is quite opposite to him. He also goes to town with his wife to seek his fortune. He promised that, with first earned money, he will send a swivel chair for his father and he fulfils his promise. He communicates with his parents and looks after them. After all, Awuchike is callous, self centered, egoster, nonchalant, unmindful, undutiful ad disobedient towards parents but Igwezu is obedient, dutiful towards his parents.
Contrast between mother- in law and daughter- in- law
There is a contrast between the women in the family. Igwezus mother Alu is faithful and loyal to his father Makuri. Alu and Makuri lead their conjugal life in subsistence level. Makuri makes basket with rushes and Alu works at her adire cloth. Makuri is also an occasional barer. After all, they live from hand to mouth. In youth, Alu was very beautiful. A group of crocodile traders visited the Swamp and offered Alu to leave for city with them but Alu checked the temptation and rejected their offers. Throughout her life, she shares the well and woe of her husband and remains faithful. Makuri never feels tension for her sake. Besides, she loves the swamp region and never expresses any wish to leave for city. But Igwezus wife is reversed to Alu. Her condition before wedding was that, she must have to be taken to town after marriage. She does not like rustic life, careless about Igwezus parens. Besides, whenever he begins their urban life, Igwezus wife leaves him for wealthy Awuchike. The contrasting point between these two women is that, one is faithful and consistent to husband and another is inconsistent and unfaithful, one is materialistic, another is simple and honest.
Beggar in comparison to Igwezu
The blind beggar offers a comparison to Igwezu. The beggar loses his crops to locust and leaves his home in Bukanji, walks to the south passing through the city, searching for land to cultivate. Igwezu also loses his crops to flood leaves his home in Swamp and takes shelter in town. That is both experience misfortune but both are resolved to earn their livelihood by labor. They are unlike Awchike and Kadiye.
Contrast between Makuri and the beggar
There is a contrast between Makuri and the beggar. Though Makuri has eyesight, he cannot detect the mystery that his family is being beguiled, deceived by the corrupt Priest. But though the beggar is deprived of eyesight, his spiritual light is so powerful and penetrative that, he can detect the bulk of the Priest out of his voice. This means that, he can guess that the Priest is consuming their fresh crops by means of false rituals.
Beggar contrasts to the Priest Kadiye
The blind beggar also offers a contrast to the Priest Kadiye. Though he is regarded as beggar, actually, he does not believe in begging. Rather he believes in the virtue of diligence- this is how he leaves his home and gets out in search of a cultivable land. When the servant of the priest gives a coin, the beggar keeps his bowl upside down. The beggar is not superstitious. He can not believe that, there is any supernatural being in the name a serpent God, who possesses land. But, the priest whose head is bold, skin-tender, looks like greasy porpoises begs his in sophisticated form. He takes goats, ores and other sacrifices offered by the simple minded villagers. They offer the sacrifice to appease the God and want protection at their lives and crops. But the priest consumes when Igwezu asks, Why are you so fat? He leaves Makuris house. After all, the beggar wants to earn his livelihood by labor while the priest earns his livelihood by false bait and deception. The Beggar deceives none rather raises optimistic views in Igwezu but he priest deceives all.
Contrast between town and country
Finally there is a contrast between town and country. Life in town is source of pain, disappointment and frustration. It is a greed dominated place and only hard- hearted people prosper. But life in country is blend & sorrow and happiness. In village, the family is integrated, people are simple minded, hospitable, capable of being deceived very easily. Besides, the country people are the puppet at the hand of nature. Nature shatter their hope again offers the victim an optimism.
To conclude, through the typical characterization Wole Soyika brings to our notice the attitude, culture and life style of Nigerian people. Besides he shows how the overall economic growth affects the subsistence economy of Nigeria.
In The Swamp Dwellers Wole Soyinka shows that the arrival of modernity and industrialization in the Niger Delta region has a serious effect on the environment as well as on the family relationship and the relationship between the humans and their environment. The strong and respectful bond between the swamp dwellers and the swamp has been taken over by the arrival of the urban and capitalist forces. The Swamp Dwellers focuses on the conflict between the rural and the urban forces, the former being the symbol of honest living and honest thinking and the latter being the symbol of corruption, materialism and dishonesty. The swamp dwellers have lived in close contact with nature and have deep respect for their dwelling place and their environs until this rural, innocent forces are thwarted by the hard-hearted, materialistic urban forces. Traditionally, the swamp dwellers hold a philosophy to life that is quitessentially nature sensetive and nature protective.
The Swamp Dwellers narrates the story of an old, poor couple and their two sons living in the remote area of the Niger Delta region. The play opens with the old couple Makuri and Alu awaiting for their son Igwezu, who has returned from the city and gone to the swamp in order to calculate the damage done to his crops by the floods. It is from the conversation between Alu and Makuri we come to know that Igwezu is their younger son and they have another son named Awuchicke who went missing after he had gone to the city some ten years ago.
In The Swamp Dwellers, we see two different attitudes to the swamp by Igwezu and Awuchike, the twin brothers of the Makuri family. Igwezu shows the sign of a strong bond to his community. He has gone to the city, but still keeps his good connection with the swamp and his family. The swamp is the source of comfort as well as frustration for him. He has bought a barbers chair for his father with the first income in the city. The swamp waits for him with crop failure and starvation , but still he returns to the swamp. His return towards the swamp must be read, then, as an active, positive choice and not a retreat to the relative safety of his village. His negotiations with land and his decision to return to the swamp constitute his attitude to it. He has a strong attachment to the swamp, which offers him nothing but frustration. Awuchike, on the 10 other hand, shows a negative attitude to the social bond and his community. After he has gone to the city, he cuts off all his relationships not only with his community but also with his own parents. His parents wait for his return to the swamp or at least the news about his whereabouts. But he totally cuts off his relationship with his community. He even breaks the family tie by snatching away Igwezus wife Desala from his brother Igwezu.
Conclusion :-
In story both brother creates different example. One believes in change and another brother is not accepts change and he fails in the city, and in the story tradition and modernity is there. And Igwezu get failure in the city. Awuchike get success the city and because he accepts change. And he never returns in his village. And he becomes part of city. And Igwezu losts everything in his city. He losts his wife in the city. His wife is goes with Awuchike. So bothers but both are completely different.
Work- Cited :-
Articles, Literary. Wole Soyinkas Art of Characterization in the Play The Swamp Dwellers. 14 October 2012. 09 March 2020 <https://literacle.com/wole-soyinkas-art-of-characterization-in-the-play-the-swamp-dwellers/>.
Nuri, Mohammad Ataullah. The Human-environment Relationship in Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers. 2018. 09 March 2020 <https://www.academia.edu/40688330/The_Human-environment_Relationship_in_Wole_Soyinkas_The_Swamp_Dwellers>.
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