Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi's Fiction [1 ed.] 1527547558, 9781527547551

Citation preview

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction By

Hodabalou Anate

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi's Fiction By Hodabalou Anate This book first published 2023 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2023 by Hodabalou Anate All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-4755-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-4755-1

For Ellzham, Kisito, Edna and Nina and all intellectuals and raisers of consciousness of all places and times who devote, and who have devoted, their lives to the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements .................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One ............................................................................................... 15 Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 41 Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 81 Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change Chapter Four ............................................................................................ 107 Toward the Redefinition of Violence Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 127 Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction Conclusion ............................................................................................... 167 Works Consulted ..................................................................................... 173

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express my sincere gratitude to Professor Ernest N. Emenyonu at the Department of Africana Studies, University of Michigan – Flint where I worked on the manuscript of this book which is an adaptation of my doctoral dissertation.

INTRODUCTION

Since time immemorial, all civilizations worthy of the name have proclaimed that any oppressed people or any conquered nation has the right and even the duty to revolt, to rise up against the oppressors, to rebel against them in order to liberate themselves (Tété-Adjalogo: 49). Of course, the quest for freedom is a human attribute and nature. It is in a similar vein that Napoleon  made this comment: A tout peuple conquis, il faut une révolte, et je regarde une révolte comme un père de famille voit une petite vérole à ses enfants, pourvu qu’elle n’affaiblisse pas trop le malade: c’est une crise salutaire (Napoléon : 64). Any conquered people need to revolt and I view revolt as a father views pox in his children, provided that it does not weaken the patient too much: it is a salutary crisis (My trans.).

In fact, Napoleon I feels it a need or even a must for any conquered people to revolt because revolt is rather salutary to those who experience discrimination, injustice, oppression and violence. Torture, injustice and exploitation are social evils that have always existed and, in this connection, there is a need for their antidote – revolution, activism and struggle – to exist so that we may keep the world going. Kofi Awoonor gives credence to this argument when he contends that: Evil rules the largest impulses of man. It controls and directs large tracts of our world. But it doesn’t mean we must accept it. One must cultivate the will to thwart and frustrate it in all manners and ways… Goodness is compassion, a capacity to forget self for some moments, the will to say no to what not only destroys the beauty of love but also threatens the world’s little hours of calm. … But your task beyond the calm, in spite of the calm, is to fight them- to death, and thereby triumph (Awoonor: 423-424).

Awoonor is right in insisting on the fight against the other bad human side which tends to drown the good side. Indeed, a people that does not do so maintains, perhaps, unconsciously the status quo and ends up being as guilty as their tormentor.

2

Introduction

It is obvious that history is fraught with instances whereby struggles are undertaken by oppressed people to free themselves from the oppressive and exploitative yoke. That said, it is man’s right to fight and free himself from injustice. However, the masses oftentimes need insights into the fact that they have to liberate themselves. As a result, they have to rely on the most enlightened thinkers. For example, the Great French Revolution of 1789 was planned since the sixteenth century by enlightened thinkers of the renaissance, especially by the philosophers and the scholars of the Enlightenment. Also, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 had been prepared by the Russian intelligentsia since the eighteenth century. Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi led his country, India, to independence through a policy which is synonymous with non-violent actions. It is also through that same commitment that Ho Chi Minh succeeded in freeing Vietnam from British domination. Africa was no exception. In fact, Africans in general, and perhaps African enlightened thinkers in particular, have come to join the general struggle against oppression and imperialist domination, with the idea that they could fight to free themselves from the colonial oppressor if other peoples around the world did the same, especially if they, as Africans, had been able to fight alongside Britain and France against the hegemony of Germany. Actually, African nationalism and pan-Africanism began in the New World, and W.E.B Dubois and Marcus Garvey are believed to be “the first major link between political consciousness and literary awakening” (Legun: 65). As a matter of fact Dubois was an unashamed progressive, a man whose ideas affected a whole generation of African progressives, including (…) Kwame Nkrumah. His ideas embraced not only a global agenda of emancipation for all oppressed peoples, but more specially, addressed the liberation and unification of Africa under the banner of Pan-africanism (Awoonor: 237).

It is important to note that the interest in the ways in which the business of one’s country is run is a good starting point for anyone who wants to achieve political maturity. This interest is known as political consciousness. At times, it takes eye-openers to speed up the process in the sense that they “are morally bound to show some concern for human beings in general” (Primoratz: 188) due to the fact that they are endowed with more insights. As an illustration of the interconnectedness of political consciousness and early literary awakening, many accounts, such as Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Equiano) describing

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

3

the cruelties of western oppressors in order to raise the awareness of African readers and nurse the colonial revolt, were published. This link between politics and literature is also underscored in Chidi Amuta’s pronouncements that: Politics and issues of a fundamentally political nature have always occupied a central position in African literature. The griots and bards of ancient Africa who used their art to uphold or subvert the feudal status quo: Olaudah Equiano and his fellow freed slaves who deployed their nascent literary skills in the service of the anti-slavery cause; anti-colonial writers like Casely Hayford, David Diop, Leopold Senghor and Chinua Achebe who used literature to challenge the supremacist mythology of colonialism; post-colonial writers like Armah, Serumaga, Aidoo and Ba using their art to pierce the hypocrisy and flatulence of the black elite… (Amuta: 56).

What stems from Amuta’s observation is that in contemporary Africa, creative writers as well as their imaginative outputs are important elements in the struggle for freedom and justice. In other words, artists have not been on the margin of this awakening. Accordingly, throughout the history of African literature, artists-intellectuals have always been committed to the cause of human welfare. Thereupon, Shatto Arthur Gakwandi had pointed out that: Human suffering is a subject matter common to literature of all cultures. In the African context, colonial oppression  the suffering of the subject and the brutality of the conqueror  has attracted the imagination of many artists and it is perhaps the recurrence of this theme that earned African literature the once popular label of ‘protest literature (Gakwandi: 21).

In the above statement, Gakwandi is expressing the idea of the universality of the fight against oppression in all its forms. For him, no culture ignores suffering and everything that is associated to it. As a matter of fact, it belabours the obvious to state that in Ngugi’s early novels, the Mau Mau revolt against the British is acknowledged to be the main theme. Thus, through the plot of different novels, the main characters are associated with the ideas of revolt and freedom. For example, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Alex La Guma’s A Walk in the Night can be viewed as relevant imaginative works that depict to a great length the conflicts engendered by colonialism and apartheid. On the whole, all that is said above prompts my conclusion that “the African novel is a creative interpretation of history beginning at the time of colonial occupation of the continent” (10). It is this matter of fact which

4

Introduction

allows me to say that the search for social justice is like the “Sisyphean task”, for it is a continued struggle undertaken by successive generations of Africans to free themselves from all sorts of oppression. Consequently, the elite of the newly independent African States are confronted with a new type of struggle on behalf of the masses against neo-colonialism and the authoritarian drifts of the few educated who have taken the place of the once common enemy, the coloniser, as a leader. This struggle did not leave the artist-intellectual indifferent either. It is in the context of the foregoing comment that Kofi Awoonor has this to offer: “Even today, we manage to survive under the harsh conditions imposed on us by the world imperialism and its domestic allies. We do not just simply lie down and die; we struggle, we fight in order to survive” (Awoonor: 210). The new challenge as is exposed above is the commitment of enlightened people to the struggle for the liberation of their peoples from both the imperialist and their own people who have grown too greedy to remember the promise of welfare and shared life to the people at the time of independence. Consequently, many post-independence literary works depict the new rotten environment, and in the process, spur the masses into action: “Other writings –particularly Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones are Not yet Born, and Okot P’Bitek’s Song of Lawino –were equally incisive in their horror at the moral decay by appealing to the conscience of the new class” (Ngugi: 97). Thus, it becomes obvious that writers are unavoidably involved in the life of their community. It ensues then that art, especially the creative one, serves the purpose of awareness raising in the African context. This perception of art is so embedded in the African collective consciousness that it has nearly become a norm. This issue of involvement determined Chinua Achebe’s pronouncement: It is clear to me that an African creative writer who tries to avoid the big social and political issues of the contemporary Africa will end up being completely irrelevant like that absurd man in the proverb who leaves his house burning to pursue a rat fleeing from the flames (Achebe: 78).

In other words, a writer who does not deal with the current issues of his or her society does not pay any service to the society, because, if in spite of the chaos, the rottenness, the poverty, the decay and the corruption that prevail in a society, a writer finds it normal to write a piece of imaginative story for the sake of writing it or just for entertainment, not only will he or she end up becoming irrelevant to the society, but he or she will also be the accomplice of the ruling class that oppresses, cheats, steals, kills or

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

5

persecutes the people. Understandably, the downtrodden will find it an insult to read things that will find reasons to justify their precarious conditions. It is rightly for the sake of relevance, concern and commitment to society that in Festus Iyayi’s fiction there are many enlightened characters such as Osime Iyere, Idemudia, Ogie Obala, Oniha Obala, Osaro, Omoifo, Onise Ine, Counsel for the Defence, Akika Lamidi, etc. who fight against the hypocrisy and the self-interest of those in power. Intellectual dissidence and political activism echo in the daily activities of intellectuals. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, an intellectual is “a person who is well educated and enjoys activities in which he or she has to think seriously about things” (Weiheiemer: 807). Actually, intellectuals are well-educated people, sometimes self-educated, who fight for the welfare of the community as a whole. From this definition one can infer that somebody who is a university degree holder and yet does not think seriously about things is not an intellectual, for an intellectual should not cheat, steal, harm or do anything that will threaten communal welfare. Seen from this perspective, the concept of intellectual is closely connected to the issue of responsibility. Within the Marxist aesthetics, Rene Simon, echoing B. Sève states that: “L’homme est (…) directement responsable de l’humanité présente et à venir” (Simon: 184) (Man is directly responsible to humanity, present and future (my trans.). It is paramount to note that intellectuals are, to some extent, powerful people. But power being a neutral reality, whoever has it can use it either positively (responsibly) or negatively (irresponsibly). So, responsibility entails a kind of obligation and accountability which stem from the fact that “much will be required from the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” (LK. 12:48). The implication of this Bible quote is that the most enlightened are given much in terms of power, knowledge and talents and they should use these gifts for their people and humanity by and large. However, it must be stressed that an intellectual is not an angel who makes no mistakes. Intellectuals are seekers of truth, justice and equality; it is they who know, sometimes from experience, that the evils of society are not God sent but the result of human behaviour. On this issue, Morris Dickstein writes: By my definition, most academics and professionals do not qualify, despite their constant commerce with ideas. An intellectual is someone concerned with general principles, devoted to thinking things through, moving beyond the confines of any single field. … By this standard most professionals, including lawyers, doctors and scientists, are certainly no intellectuals,

6

Introduction unless they begin to reflect on the first principles of what they’re doing and on its implications for society at large (Dickstein: 92 My emphasis).

As Dickstein appropriately observes, in defining an intellectual, emphasis should not be laid on university education, which is not unimportant, but rather on the application of one’s knowledge for the benefit of the society at large. In order words, degrees alone are far from qualifying one as an intellectual, for big degree holders sometimes fall morally so low that it would be either unfair or an insult to human intelligence to designate such people by the name ‘intellectual’. As for Abdoulaye Gueye, he defines an intellectual in these terms: le détenteur d’une compétence cognitive certifiée par l’institution académique, et qui sont [sic] par ailleurs producteur de savoirs qui se veulent interprétation, analyse critique de valeurs ou d’un ordre et susceptibles de contribuer à reconfigurer les rapports sociaux. (Gueye: 39). the holder of a cognitive competence certified by the academic institution, and who is also a producer of knowledge that is meant to be interpretative, and having a critical analysis of values or of an order likely to contribute to the reshaping of the social relations (my trans.).

For Gueye, an intellectual is invariably the product of the university or the academic institution which trains him or her. One must necessarily attend university before getting that ‘cognitive competence’ which allows him or her to produce knowledge. Fortunately, Gueye stresses the view that this is only one of the criteria of qualification. He further argues that the intellectual: …se présente par sa capacité à examiner la société, à analyser son fonctionnement, à élucider les conséquences des choix réels ou hypothétiques sur la société, à confronter les divers choix entre eux (40). Is recognized through his capacity of examining the society, of analyzing its functioning, of clarifying the consequences of real and hypothetical choices on the society, of confronting different choices among themselves (my own trans.).

This means that definitely, Gueye suggests that if the intellectual is recognized through the act of thinking, not any kind of knowledge can be associated with the intellectual. For him, the quality of an intellectual emerges from the ethical dimension.

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

7

Gramsci and Lénine’s position on this issue that the university is not the only place where an intellectual can be trained is in line with my argument. In fact, they consider the capacity of the critical analysis of the society by any professional and the training in a political party or trade union as part of learning from experience. This fact makes it possible for the majority of the ordinary people despite the fact that they have no university degree, to produce their own intellectuals. And I concord with this position which seems to be the appropriate definition in the context of this book. Further to this, Emmanuel Dolo defines intellectuals in these terms: … an intellectual is productivity-based and not rooted in credentials. … Intellectuals, in my mind, far exceed those with terminal degrees. People who have acquired academic knowledge, technical and professional competencies and skills and are capable of producing substantively in their area of expertise to the extent that they can enhance societal understanding are in my view intellectuals (Dolo).

It is obvious that Dolo does not lay any emphasis on degrees alone in his definition of intellectuals, but rather on productivity. For him, an intellectual ought to have acquired academic knowledge first and then comes in the practice for the good of the whole society. Lenin also defines intellectuals in these terms: …les intellectuels doivent précisément leur nom d’intellectuels au fait qu’ils reflètent et expriment le plus consciemment, le plus résolument et le plus fidèlement le développement des intérêts de classe et des groupements politiques de toute la société (Lenin : 69). Intellectuals precisely owe the name intellectuals to the fact that they reflect and express the most consciously, the most firmly and the most faithfully, the development of class interests and political groupings of all the society (my trans.).

Again, Lenin’s contention is that intellectuals are social actors whose aim, far from being selfish, is to work for the harmony of the society as a whole. Still, commenting on this term, “intellectual”, Atafèï Pewissi argues: As a matter of fact, the term ‘intellectual’ is more rewarding than the term ‘literate’. To know how to read and write is to be ‘literate’. But to be able to work out meanings from written texts, or conflicting situations in life to redeem the agonizing world is to be ‘intellectual’ (Pewissi: 434).

8

Introduction

In other words, an intellectual is recognized by his or her usefulness to society as a whole. From this perspective, it is clear that not any literate can claim to be an intellectual insofar as having knowledge is one thing, and actually being able to use it positively is another. However, in the context of modernity, school education becomes a must or rather a shortcut for an intellectual because the complexities of modern life demand that we be educated either formerly or by means of self-education. This compulsion stems from the fact that as the world changes, oppressors also become highly sophisticated in devising new methods of exploitation of the masses and intellectuals need to keep pace with them if they want to be “up-to date intellectuals”. Thus, being an intellectual is never something one achieves once and for all; one can lose this qualification either by lapsing into immorality or by being ‘overtaken’ by oppressive forces. This suggests that intellectuals be invariably on the move with their environment because oppression is always changing its disguises. In his book, L’opium des intellectuels, R. Aron pertinently shows that the criteria for conferring the attribute of intellectual to people vary according to times and places. In other words, every society may have its own intellectuals, for each culture has its own criteria in deciding whether one is an intellectual or not, of course basing on what their ethical behaviour should be and perhaps more importantly, what ideals they, as citizens, cherish and live up to. This means that what in a culture qualifies one individual as an intellectual may not be an accepted thing in another culture. However, whatever the culture, the most important thing is the sacredness of life, justice and freedom germane to all cultures. In sum, intellectuals are not those selfish people with “terminal degrees” whose sole intention is to cheat poor people and make them poorer. However, the fate of the society is determined by only a handful of people, the holders of political power. Hence the political activism of intellectuals seems to be of an utmost importance if awareness is to be raised in order to influence decision-making. We must also bear in mind that “the public has no hands except those of individual human beings” (Dewey: 101). This implies that only individual beings determine the type of society they want to live in. Political activism, which is the involvement in politics either directly by impacting the decision-making or the way the affairs of the country are run or indirectly by simply exposing the lies of rulers in order to raise awareness, becomes the most important pathway to this end. It is important to draw the attention to this fact, because an intellectual

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

9

does not take it for granted that everybody knows the condition of the downtrodden – hardships and sorrows – and that as a result there is no need to mention it. Rather, they know that very often, the rulers rarely really concern themselves about the people they lead unless they are forced to. Consequently, the activist needs to remind them, blow the whistle in order to wake those who are sleeping from their sleep or perhaps those who pretend to sleep. It follows then that literature cannot afford to be neutral “as long as the practice of politics has not attained the capacity to be neutral” (Awoonor: 292). Thus, many Marxist writers describe the abject conditions and hardships of poor people in order to spur action on the part of the ordinary people, if not on one of the rulers. Also, enlightened people are well aware of the inequalities and injustices in society and the great gap in living standards, for example, between the rulers and the masses. Actually, intellectuals attract attention; they want the dispossessed to know that justice and freedom cannot come from the selfish masters, as John Henry Clarke says of Ngugi in his introduction to Homecoming: “he knows that freedom is not a gift from the powerful to the powerless. Freedom is something you take with your own hands. It is not secure and real until then…” (Clarke: III). It is in the same vein that John Dewey argues that “only through constant watchfulness and criticism of public officials by citizens, can a State be maintained in integrity and usefulness” (Dewey: 69). However, quite unfortunately, it appears that only a few qualified citizens can keep a watchful eye on the so-called public officials. This is the point of view of Margaret Peil when she says: “People’s understanding of political process is very limited and in general the rural population was below the threshold of political awareness at which it might be mobilized for effective mass action” (Peil:3). Consequently, it is the responsibility of intellectuals to show the way to freedom. That is why many artists-intellectuals turned to Marxist writing to make their voices heard. In fact, from a Marxist perspective a fictional work: must directly or indirectly show the effects of class struggle. ‘Moreover the author must be able to make the reader feel that he is participating in lives described, whether they are the lives of the bourgeois or Proletariat’ and therefore should be or try to be himself, a member of the proletariat (Hicks: 85).

The Marxist artist-intellectual must work to establish order in society by struggling against the existing oppressive system in favour of justice and

10

Introduction

equality. To this end, he or she should empower the citizens and society so that the knowledge they possess will be an excellent tool for the better understanding of the political life. This expectation, as said earlier on, comes from the fact that many people consider literature as a reflection of the socio-political and economic life from which it has evolved. In the same vein, Shatto Arthur Gakwandi observes that “political concern is a characteristic feature of African literature. The demand for freedom, social justice and equality runs through African literature before and after independence” (Gakwandi: 7). This seems to justify why many African literary productions have made man’s quest for social change the centre of their preoccupations, especially in the post-independence writings. Hence, if they fail, they will be held responsible, for, according to Albert Einstein, the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but rather by those who watch them act without reacting (Einsten: 37). So, it is clear that a person who shuts himself or herself in an ivory tower turns out to be guilty; he or she must be hungry for justice and liberty. It must be their responsibility to denounce the tyrannies in Africa. This means that the warnings and urges of writers in their fictions in order to redress the wrongs and inequalities in society qualify them as intellectuals on whom the masses would rely to free themselves. This has been the task of Festus Iyayi in his fiction in which he exposes the abject poverty and the cruel exploitation of the majority by the few wealthy in Nigeria. In fact, in my readings I have noticed with Ngugi that: “In African literature, we have very few positive heroes from the working people, positive heroes who would embody the spirit of struggle and resistance against exploitation and naked robbery by the national bourgeoisie and its global allied classes” (Ngugi, Writers in Politics: 24). But in my reading of Festus Iyayi’s fiction, I have also noticed that people who embody the fight for change are mostly working people who have acquired their enlightenment through experience. This brought me to reflect on the actual meaning and nature of intellectual dissidence and the responsibility of activists in their community. This book sets out to highlight the strategies used by Festus Iyayi to render operational the intellectuals who are given the chance to implement their ideas about and commitment to nation building in the context of his fiction. In the process, a connection is also established between artistsintellectuals and political dissidence. In other words, this book highlights the extent to which intellectuals’ commitment to the socio-political and economic change is a duty. This will be done by laying emphasis on Festus Iyayi’s symbolism and careful characterization that make it

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

11

possible to reach awareness-raising because, in my view, as artistsintellectuals, creative writers are their people’s protectors. It must already be obvious that I am clearly embracing the functional approach of art because, as I have already said, I live in the part of the world where “one may of course judge art by its usefulness to reform or revolution” (Wolfe: 10). In essence, human beings possess the innate inclination to freedom but at times, only the most enlightened seem to be preoccupied by this search for freedom. They should be role models and pathfinders in a society. These intellectuals are addressed by Chinua Achebe in his The Trouble with Nigeria in these terms: …it is the duty of enlightened citizens to lead the way in their discovery and to create an atmosphere conducive to their emergence. If his conscious effort is not made, good leaders, like good money, will be driven out by the bad (The Trouble: 1-2).

What this means is that the enlightened have to show the way; it is their responsibility. Literature, as has been said earlier on, is paramount in the political life of a society: Literature and politics influence each other, and those writers are deluded who, drawing support from the absurd pretensions of art for art’s sake, put on the airs of artistic elect who must keep their works unsullied by the political concerns of their fellow citizens… A writer does have a minimum professional responsibility to make his work relevant and intelligible to his society and its concerns. He may do so by treating the burning issues of the day; or he may do so by treating themes germane to his community’s fundamental and long-range interests (Chinweizu: 251-252).

For Chinweizu et al., the concept of art for art’s sake is irrelevant in Africa. Art and artists deal with ‘the burning issues of the day’ and in so doing contribute to the struggle of the other members of the society for a better communal life. In the same vein, Ngugi argues: I believe that African intellectuals must align themselves with the struggle of the African masses for meaningful national ideal. For we must strive for a form of social organisation, that will free the manacled spirit and energy of our people so we can build a new country, and sing a new song. Perhaps, in a small way, the African writer can help in articulating the feeling behind this struggle (Homecoming: 50).

In other words, artists-intellectuals have an important part to play in the redeeming of the society and in the national reconstruction. And since “engagement or political commitment does not predetermine what a

12

Introduction

writer’s politics should be,” (254) there is a need to stress that I mean the commitment on the part of the people. This is what differentiates the name “artists-intellectuals” from artists in short. As a matter of fact, the latter can be composed of those irrelevant artists, to borrow Achebe’s term, and the ones that are on the side of the oppressor. I am not concerned with this second group for they are not intellectuals in the first place because they contribute nothing positive, ideologically or socially to the society’s welfare. About this issue, Kolawole Ogungbessan says: African writers in general… should [not] abdicate their ethical role by eliminating themselves, and therefore the question of responsibility to their reader, from their books. They value the relation of writer to reader and take very seriously their moral obligation to their audience (Ogungbessan: 1).

It goes without saying that African writers should take into account that moral aspect in dealing with their different themes if they do not want to be irrelevant to their societies. It is in the same vein that Achebe writes: “The writer cannot expect to be excused from the task of re-education and regeneration that must be done” (Achebe: 45). After all, “the most human end of learning, we believe, is a moral purpose” (Awoonor: 295). In addition, if many different people fight for the welfare of their society, why should writers feel unconcerned? I think this is the point Achebe is making when he quotes the Ghanaian professor of philosophy, William Abraham as follows: Just as African scientists undertake to solve some of the scientific problems of Africa, African political scientists concern themselves with the politics of Africa; why should African literary creators be exempted from the services that they themselves recognize as genuine? (Achebe: 41).

This book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter “Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature” sets out to explore Festus Iyayi’s ideology through his writings under study here. The second chapter deals with “Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction”. This investigation takes into account Iyayi’s call for political change, his criticism of exploitation and war, and his quest for national consciousness through the artists-intellectuals in his fiction. Chapter three explores the political responsibility of artists-intellectuals in Iyayi’s fiction. This chapter argues that artists-intellectuals are architects of political change and as such, they help reorient the public opinion. Chapter four recaptures Iyayi’s definition

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

13

of violence and shows its different dialectics. Chapter five looks into the symbolism, awareness-raising and ethical revolution in Iyayi’s fiction. Symbolic characters are viwed as connectors to ethical revolution preached by Iyayi.

CHAPTER ONE FESTUS IYAYI: THE SOCIO-AESTHETIC FUNCTION OF LITERATURE

Ideology “is the whole system of symbols, images, beliefs, thoughts and attitudes by which we explain the world and our place in it” (Ngugi: 126). I think Ngugi argues that there is a certain number of things to be taken into account if behaviour is to be explained adequately. For instance, if a writer writes novels to try to reveal what life seems to him or her, these writings almost invariably convey his or her ideology. This said, “writers can never completely escape ideology and their social background so that the social reality of the writer will always be part of the text” (Bertens: 90). Hans Bertens’ position is justified to me in that no serious writer can write without reflecting to a lesser degree the happenings and beliefs in the society in which he or she operates. Such kind of literature is described … as “enemy literature” (Writers in Politics 40). In fact, those who are not for the people are against them and should be treated as such. Literature is invariably ideologically coloured. This is the point made by Iyayi himself in an interview with Henry Akubuiro: “if you have a world view about a liveable life that is worthy, that represents the integrity and enables people to live with integrity, you cannot but write the way that I do” (Henry Akubuiro1). It is obvious from Iyayi’s assertion that each writer has “a world view” and the latter reveals his or her intention. So, here Iyayi is straightforward about his intention or better his ideology. This quotation shows quite well that he takes sides; he chooses the side of the oppressed, the downtrodden or the people. In other words, he believes that if you are unhappy when you see injustice, when people are being oppressed, when opportunities that could have lifted the spirit and material 1

The content is no longer accessible online. The original link is: Akubuiro, Henry, At 60, Festus Iyayi says, “I remain a radical”, Internet resource, http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/ literari. htm (07/ 10/ 2007)

16

Chapter One

well-being of the people are being squandered, and you believed that something should have been done about them, necessarily you will gravitate towards the left. There is no way you can remain with the right, and so you become involved in progressive politics. There are people who are among the oppressed who do not see the conditions of their oppression and who are right wing in their thinking. It is not even the fact of oppression that makes you take a particular ideological vision. You develop a world view based upon experience and what you are inside (Henry Akubuiro). From the above standpoint, it goes without saying that Iyayi’s ideology is overt. He does not deny being a Marxist as some of his contemporaries have done. He is in line with “critics who see the function of literary criticism as no different from the criticism of society, and literature as no more than a critique of life” (Oko: 65). Considering his own assertions, Iyayi can be said to work under the socialist ideology. It is through this ideology that he hopes to reach justice, equality, and a “liveable life” and integrity he so yearns for. It is in the same vein that Dr Akomaye Oko quotes Soyinka as follows: … They include: the eradication of the very policy of wealth accumulation at the expense of any sector of society over another: the eradication of class distinction within society where class implies a category of privilege or superiority advantage. The other logical processes can be assumed; state ownership of all land and production means: equal education, opportunities, etc. (68).

As is stated above, Festus Iyayi’s concern in his work is the fight against inequality, injustice, and oppression of all kinds. In the same way, Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes that “literature, and particularly imaginative literature, is one of the most subtle and most effective ways by which a given ideology is passed on and received as the form in the daily practices of our being” (127). Iyayi himself seems to corroborate this view of Ngugi when he says in the interview by Kunle Ajibade that from the very beginning, the issue of a writer’s commitment arose, and he took a strong position that writers are to be politically committed (Kunle Ajibade). In fact, the situation of neo-colonialism and exploitation on the continent is such that many writers cannot afford to remain neutral or uncommitted. This seems to be the point made by Ogu: The roots of the protest and attacks are deeply embedded in the neocolonialism imposed on Africa by her own sons, the new rulers. The main

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

17

thematic preoccupations of artists are the portrayal of injustice, widespread social evils and tensions, and the demand for accountability from the new rulers. Literature becomes an instrument used to mirror the existing social, political and economic ills of the newly independent African states and to reprimand society for failing to live up to its proclaimed objectives and ideals (Ogu: 119).

It must be stressed that writers do not portray injustice for the sake of portraying it; they mean to draw attention in order to engender change. So, change is the ultimate goal of committed writers. This is Festus Iyayi’s aim in his writings. Furthermore, Iyayi proves, through his works, that he is class-conscious. In fact, class-consciousness is the “fact of belonging to a particular social class and of the differences between social classes”. On this issue, Iyayi argues: There are ethnic and linguistic and religious differences, but when you travel across the counry as I’ve done, you will find out that the conditions of the oppressed people are basically the same. The peasants in Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger, Akwa Ibom, Bendel and Anambra States live in the same abject conditions. When you want to know why this is so, you inevitably come to the question of the economic relations in our society, which are very brutal (Kunle Ajibade).

So, it remains a fact that class-consciousness as well as a strong desire for political change permeates Iyayi’s writing. His literary production reflects his position on the role of the artist and the politician. After all, “every artistic production is … committed to the cause of a certain class” (Agye: 127). Agye is right in his assertion that literature always takes sides. Ngugi wa Thiong’o seems to corroborate this argument when he writes that the artist has a choice to make but: What he can choose is one or the other side in the battle-field, the side of the people, or the side of those social forces and classes that try to keep the people down. What he or she cannot do is to remain neutral. Every writer is a writer in politics. The only question is what and whose politics? (Writers in Politics xi).

It is crystal clear that Iyayi has chosen the side of the people. He aligns with the oppressed classes to which he belongs someway. Indeed, a writer who applies himself or herself to contemporary social, economic and political issues, as it is the case with Iyayi, qualifies to be seen and considered as an intellectual and “a disciple of truth” (Emenyonu: 242).

18

Chapter One

This state of affairs has brought Oguzie to state that: “Festus Iyayi is a new talent and his art tends towards proletarian concerns” (246). This class-consciousness is amply illustrated in his fictional works. Indeed, in Violence, in his authorial comments, Iyayi states a fact about Nigeria being a class society: Not far off were the houses which sweat and labour had already erected. The property-owners lived in them already. Life there was ablaze where labour had left its positive mark, the labour of hundreds of thousands of workers, working either in the intense sunlight or in the biting cold or in the blinding rain, piling the blocks higher and higher and wiping the salt and the sweat from their eyes and their foreheads with the backs of their hands, and all underpaid, underfed and treated no better than slaves – the highest form of violence (247-248).

From the above quotation it is quite clear that Iyayi, from the outset, categorizes the Nigerian society according to class. On the one hand, he presents the class of workers who make up the majority of the poor masses. They are described as hardworking people who, paradoxically, end up being almost invariably in want, which means that the ruling class callously benefits from their sacrifices. Equally important is how Iyayi presents their condition as being that of slaves and this shows to what extent they are exploited, maltreated, used, abused or perhaps overused. Idemudia and Adisa, his wife, the Jimoh family, Omoifo and Bernard exemplify this class of the oppressed. On the other hand, there is the class of exploiters since there is no exploited without the exploiter. This class is described as “greedy”, “unfeeling”, “conservative” and “reactionary” people who benefit callously from the toiling of the downtrodden. It is a class which is assimilated to injustice, brutality, hedonism, immorality and indescribable corruption and all the evils of the society. Obofun and Queen, his wife, Iriso, Dala – exemplify this class of exploiters. It is with this view in mind that Iyayi sets out writing his fictional works, for he sees and experiences this situation of exploitation and abject poverty himself. After all, these happenings are part of his society and whoever lives in that society can witness them. So, they cannot escape the critical eye of Iyayi. As Hans Bertens puts it: “writers can never completely escape ideology and their social background so that the social reality of the writer will always be part of text” (Bertens: 90). So, it is obvious that Iyayi as an intellectual and artist-activist has not escaped “ideology” and his social background. Ngugi wa Thiong’o seems to corroborate this point of view when he argues:

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

19

A writer after all comes from a particular class and race and nation. He himself is a product of an actual social process – eating, drinking, learning, loving, hating – and he has developed a class attitude to all those activities, themselves class conditioned. A writer is trying to persuade us, to make us view not only a certain kind of reality, but also from a certain angle of vision often, though perhaps unconsciously, on behalf of a certain class, race, or nation (Writers in Politics, 6).

It is a well-known fact that a writer cannot write outside the dispensation of the society in which he or she lives; he or she almost invariably projects his or her world views in his or her writings, consciously or subconsciously. On the issue, Iyayi himself contends that “we are born in a place and there is no way you can’t be located somewhere. It is your location that determines what you write” (Henry Akubuiro). This implies that Iyayi is a realistic writer whose Marxist literature literally deconstructs the abject poverty of his own co-citizens. So, my contention is that Iyayi is first and foremost concerned with social themes and he adopts a very radical response to the decaying socio-political structures that dominate the Nigerian environment. Again, on this particular issue, Ngugi writes: “…because of its thoroughly social character, literature is partisan: literature takes sides, and more so in a class society.” This suggests that any literature and art belong to determined classes and are geared toward definite political lines. Consequently, there is no idea of an art that may develop outside classes or politics. Furthermore, Iyayi cannot but react, at least by exposing the conditions of the exploited, even if he does not undergo that oppression himself. This means that intellectuals always react against injustice even when it is injustice that does not touch them directly. In the same vein, Yao Assogba has this to offer: Je tiens beaucoup à la justice, je ne supporte pas l’injustice, je ne l’accepte pas. Je suis prêt à réagir dès que je sens une injustice, pas seulement celle dont je suis victime, mais celle dont je suis témoin. Liberté et justice sont, je crois, les valeurs aux quelles je tiens profondément (Assogba: 84). I care a lot about justice, I do not bear injustice, I do not accept it. I am ready to disapprove of any injustice just as I notice it. I react not only when I am the victim but also when I witness it. Freedom and justice are, in my view, values I identify with (my trans.).

20

Chapter One

As a matter of fact, this altruistic behaviour of intellectuals contrasts with the selfishness or egocentrism of people who see injustice only when it is geared toward them. Such people are not intellectuals because they do not care about humanity which is our common heritage. Iyayi does not lapse into this moral collapse. Also important is the instance when he makes Osaro, another character from the working class, say: “It’s so unfair. One man has enough to eat, in fact so much that he throws some away. Yet here we are, hungry, with nothing to eat.” (Violence 20). This shows that Iyayi sympathizes with the poor who make even the most important part of the population compared to the wealthy who are only a few enjoying themselves with the sweat of the people. He rather takes the side of the people by criticizing this extreme wealth amidst people in want of even the basic needs, which is the daily food, the clothing and the medical attention. Truly, the class of exploiters embodied by Obofun and his wife Queen has a lot to eat to the extent that they throw the rest to their dogs and hens. At the same time, and just beside them people starve and it does not dawn on them that there was something wrong with their behaviour simply because they are callous and narcissistic and unfeeling. Actually, an intellectual should not afford to feel happy with a lot of wealth amidst want, scarcity and abject poverty. In fact, it is this identification with the people which prompted him to say: “so, if you have a world view about a liveable life that is worthy, that represents the integrity and enables people to live with integrity, you cannot but write the way that I do” (Henry Akubuiro). Actually, this sentence reveals the ideology behind his fictional writings. It shows that Iyayi aligns himself consciously with the poor; he does not hide behind empty slogans or propaganda. He rather affirms his intentions boldly. Again, he says that “the struggle for justice is the first precondition for the struggle for the humanity of the people, and you have to be involved in that. If you say that is radicalism, then fine” (Henry Akubuiro, my emphasis). The extent to which Iyayi is committed to the oppressed class is suggested by the verb “have to be involved”. This suggests that Iyayi cannot but commit himself to the welfare of his people. Still, in The Contract, Iyayi’s second novel, his class-consciousness is illustrated through his other authorial comment. He writes: They were all angry that their government should have planned so much money in building a living house for one single person when there were million of others suffering, millions without jobs, with children who were starving and dying of Kwashiorkor (54).

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

21

Herein, Iyayi, as a realist and revolutionary writer, explores the questions of poverty, oppression corruption and dehumanization in the radical manner within the context of class struggle. In addition, his use of juxtaposition in his depiction of characters and events can be interpreted as part of his diverse attempts to show the glaring gap between those who have and those who have difficulties to make the two ends meet. Again, an instance of this juxtaposition is the grandiloquent life-styles of the bourgeois class, Obofun and Queen, Iriso… and the abject conditions of living of the working class, Idemudia and Adisa, the Jimoh family, etc. Iyayi argues that the class of producers does not really benefit from its labour. It is rather the class of the parasites (Obofun, Queen, Iriso, Dala …) which immensely gains from this unjust and exploitative relationship. Moreover, Iyayi shows, through his description of the hospital, that there is class distribution and inequality in his fictional society. For instance, there is a lack of beds in the male wards whereas there are empty rooms reserved for special people (Violence 59-60). So, it is crystal clear that theirs is a double-standards society. This unequal treatment is also noted when a school teacher is arraigned for the same offence with the labourer. In fact, while the teacher is being accused of robbery, the bigger robbers like general Igreki (retired) and Azonze, a career civil servant, are left untouched; these bigger thieves are now enjoying their ill-gotten wealth (178-179). Furthermore, Iyayi shows in his novel Heroes that social classes operate even in a situation of war. He writes: What we have on this bridge are the flowers, of our motherland, torn rudely from their stems, petals dripping blood. What we have on this bridge are the sons of peasants, the children of farmers and labourers, the first generation of workers bleeding to death. And this morning, in Lagos, the wedding goes on with the commanders of the army, the commanders of this division in attendance. The commanders busy drinking the blood of the nation, the blood of soldiers, young workers of the first generation (Heroes 196).

The foregoing quotation illustrates so well the idea that the working class is the one that takes all the knocks of the war and any social problems whereas the bourgeois class gains everything. Iyayi shows, through the quotation above, that he is fully aware of the phenomenon which is characteristic of a class society. Admittedly, Iyayi appears to be the “representative or spokesman” (Meszaros: 128) of the working class which he aims at liberating. It must be noted in this connection that “a

22

Chapter One

writer’s pen both reflects reality and also attempts to persuade us to take a certain attitude to that reality. The persuasion can be a direct appeal on behalf of writer’s open doctrine or it can be an indirect appeal” (Ngugi, Writers in Politics: 7). I cannot but agree with Ngugi that a writer always has a doctrine be it overt or implicit. It should be noted that Iyayi is conscious of the fact that the dominant class is trying to control all kinds of ideological forces and impose its world outlook to the whole society. As Ngugi has rightly pointed out: Society is characterized by opposing classes with the dominant class, usually a minority, owning and controlling the means of production, and hence having greater access to the social product, social because it is the product of the combined efforts of men. It is the dominant class which wields political power, and whose interests are mainly served by the state and all the machinery of state power like the police and the army and the law courts (10).

This shows Iyayi’s realistic approach to literature as far as class consciousness is concerned. He always depicts two opposing and often conflicting situations as if to say that there are always two different cultures in a nation. Lenin alludes to this fact when he says that: there are two nations in every modern nation…there are two national cultures in every national culture…. The elements of democratic and socialist culture are present, if only in a rudimentary form, in every national culture, since in every nation there are toiling and exploited masses, whose conditions of life inevitably give rise to the ideology of democracy and socialism. But every nation also possesses a bourgeois culture (and most nations a reactionary and clerical culture as well) in the form not merely of elements but of the dominant culture (10).

So, those “elements of democratic and socialist culture” are embodied by Iyayi whose literature is that of the exploited classes. Consequently, he reflects class antagonism. Again, Ngugi points out that: in all economically class-structured societies we would often be more truthful if we talked of two cultures: that of the exploiting class, usually the minority, and that of the exploited class, usually the majority (10).

This gap is addressed fully in Violence when Iyayi writes: When in one public hospital, in the same society, one patient can sleep in a large air-conditioned room whereas other ordinary patients – men, women

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

23

and children – have to sleep in corridors, on mats, on the hard, cold and roughly cemented floors or share beds, this is violence… When in the same society, whereas one man has more than enough to feed himself, his dogs, cats, children and monkeys and many other men are weak and thin from hunger and their children are suffering from Kwashiorkor, this is violence…! It is a violence consciously maintained, whetted and intensified by those who operate the system (Violence 186).

Iyayi is revealing his dissatisfaction with the prevailing social dispensation that brutalizes the poor. He is against the fact that, even the basic needs of the people such as eating and getting medical treatment are denied to them. Consequently, he seems to align with the masses because he is conscious about the fact that “l’homme vraiment responsable est responsable de tous les autres homes et devant eux” (de Rabaudy et al.: 359) (A truly responsible human being is responsible for all the other humans and before them (my trans.). In other words, Iyayi has to be involved in the struggle for justice rightly because he is part of those who are most enlightened and as such, he is bound to play fully his role. In a similar vein, Ngugi says that the African writer now, the one who opts for becoming an integral part of the African revolution, has no choice but that of aligning himself with the people: their economic, political and cultural struggle for survival (Moving the Centre 74). Iyayi is being realistic and whoever lived in Nigerian society in the seventies can remember that the rich grow richer while the poor languish in extreme poverty. This state of affairs brings Iyayi to commit himself entirely to the welfare of his people. This is the analysis Onuekwusi made when he writes: Iyayi suggests a creative struggle by the masses against the forces of oppression symbolized in his conception by the bourgeois class in society. He proposes that the wretched of the earth, the God’s bits of wood must indicate significantly that they no longer wish to be the door-mat of financial overlords (Onuekwusi: 221-222).

As I had said from the beginning, Iyayi is concerned with the lot of the exploited and the downtrodden and he treats this matter with a sense of revolution which is his ideological orientation. As such, his fiction is full of commitment to an important and progressive cause. As Emmanuel Ngara would have it,

24

Chapter One The impact poets make depends on the significance of what they say about social reality and on how effectively they communicate their vision to their readers. What they say about social reality depends largely on their social vision (authorial ideology) and how successfully they communicate that vision is largely a matter of the effectiveness of their stylistic stance (aesthetic ideology) (Ngara: Xi).

One can infer, therefore, that this point of view is also valid if we consider novelists. So, each writer has a vision to communicate, or otherwise he or she would not have written anything at all. In a similar vein Farrel says: “I write novels to try to reveal what life seems to me to be. I write novels as part of an attempt to explore the nature of experience” (Farrel: 29-30). Farrel shows, through this quotation, that as a novelist, he knows why he writes; he does not write aimlessly but he writes to deal with human life and experiences. After all, as Soyinka has it: “…it would be equally false to suggest that contemporary African literature is not consciously formulated around certain frameworks of ideological intent” (Soyinka: 61). This means that writers cannot pretend to escape ideology which is invariably part of their works, consciously of course. Soyinka does not believe in the existence of any literature without any clear social vision. Consequently, writers create literature that tries to transmit these visions accurately. In the same connection John Gardner points out: Nothing can be made to be of interest to the reader that was not first of vital concern to the writer. Each writer’s prejudices, tastes, background, and experience tend to limit the kind of characters, actions, and settings he can honestly care about… (Gardener: 42).

It is my contention that any writer cannot but write with a certain kind of world view. And it is precisely this world view which generates the vision and ultimately the direction of the work and hence of the writer. So, literature cannot be seen as a different, i.e separable from the person who produces it. Roger Webster makes this point in his book Studying Literary Theory: An Introduction: The production and transmission process is assumed to be from the author to the reader and the ideas or meanings communicated would seem to originate in the author’s mind which are then relayed through the poem, novel or play to the reader. The reader is then able to go back along this axis to discover the author’s intention and re-experience. The starting and usual focal point of this reading model is the author, who represents the origin and source of meaning attributed to a literary work which are viewed in the forms of intention and experience (Webster: 16).

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

25

Webster’s contention in the above quotation is that the author as the “maker” determines the direction he or she wishes his or her works to go and so he or she endows them with ideas or values that are dear to him or her and which he or she aims to communicate to the readers. Iyayi is well informed about this fact and his works do embody his ideas. Again, in Heroes he writes: Changes may occur at the top as new people jostle for power but lower down, where I come from, the farmer and the worker will continue to live in mud houses and starve and be ignorant and sick and yield up their children for senseless wars. If we were asking one man one loaf or one man many loaves, and millions of other men no loaf at all, this war might have made sense (64 my emphasis).

This is another important quotation from the novel which shows that the fictional society which can be assimilable to Nigeria is a class society. In fact, Iyayi seems to identify with the poor when he has Osime say: “where I come from”. His position with regard to class relation is quite clear; as an intellectual and Marxist writer, he aligns himself with the dispossessed and rejects the greed and exploitation of the generals, the politicians, the religious leaders and the businesspersons. This means that he is conscious that “literary works and literary criticism always have a specific relation to class, and indeed are very much a part of what we call class consciousness” (Weebster: 59). Further to this, Webster points out: It is very much around issues of class conflict that writers who have developed Marxist theory, such as Bertolt Brecht, and critics and literary theorists who have also approached literature from a Marxist perspective, have focussed their work (60).

Such is the case of Iyayi whose works are replete with class issues. After all, the literature of a people invariably embodies their perception of their immediate environment or their vision of their society or world at large. Iyayi seems to pay heed to Mutiso’s view that African writers are socially committed and therefore write with this commitment in mind, because it has been the tradition of their culture to perceive the artist not as an individual but rather as a value creator and integrator (Mutiso: 10). It is typical of Festus Iyayi to be inclined to a more realistic treatment in his fictional works. He is, in Mutiso’s terms, a value creator. This conscious purpose seems to me to have greatly influenced the form and obviously the style of his writings. In fact, he uses a down-to-earth

26

Chapter One

language and for this purpose he employs a surprisingly high proportion of contrasts. Another important instance in Heroes showing the extent to which Iyayi is committed and class conscious is when he has the narrator make this comment: The man who works on the factory or farms the land does not care whether he is in Benin or Kaduna. None of them has ever left Nigerian territory and do not even care about boundaries. It is the way of the ruling class to look for territories they can plunder, loot and scavenge with impunity. They have to agree to boundaries for themselves for their selfish reasons. Members of the working class never bothered about boundaries about countries until the ruling class thought them up and imposed them. The ruling class need their little kingdoms. The kingdom of the working class is the earth itself. The whole earth, not just a section of it, and that is why everywhere, they work it, they work themselves because they cannot run away from it. But the generals run from one little place to another because no place is really theirs (132-133 italics in the original).

It is easy for any reader of the above quotation to perceive that Iyayi is propounding clear revolutionary theses; he is a good persuader who guides the direction of his readers’ thoughts. He shows that the plight of the working class is the same elsewhere in Nigeria; they love their land, they work it and feed all the Nigerians irrespective of class unlike the ruling class whose selfish motives guide all their deeds. For Iyayi, the working class owns the land. His aim through this quotation seems to be obvious: it is to awaken the oppressed classes from their sleep. However, he exposes the two classes at struggle in order to allow his readers to detect what is “positive, revolutionary, humanistic…, support it, strengthen it; and reject what is negative and anti-humanistic” (Writers in Politics 30-31). So, it is clear that Iyayi argues from the point of view of the struggling masses. In the same way, Ngugi argues that “the writer in the seventies was coming face to face with neo-colonialism. He was really a writer in a neo-colonial state. Further, he was beginning to take sides with the people in the class struggle in Africa” (70-71). And Iyayi is indeed a writer in the seventies, for his first novel Violence which earned him the qualification of being a politically committed writer was published in the year 1979. It is easy to see from the novels under study that the author is deeply involved in the people whose interest he defends. There is ultimately no doubt that Iyayi has been absolutely faithful to the memories and ideas which favoured the writing of his novel, because he himself has acknowledged that his writing was actually fuelled by his political

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

27

commitment and his political analysis of the present state of Nigeria and that it (his writing) is dedicated to and directed at those who are interested in bringing about positive changes in our society so that our people can live a humane, happy and meaningful life (Adjibade2). It is clear, then, that Iyayi has a purpose, a vision which runs throughout his writings. First, he writes to attack political and economic relations in his society by reflecting them in his writings. Second, he expects these writings of his to attract the attention of his readership and finally expects them (the readership) to be educated so that they may prompt other people into action for the liberation of the oppressed or the creation of an atmosphere conducive to a humane, happy and meaningful life. What I really mean is that Iyayi’s approach to literature is rather realistic. He deals with contemporary issues about class struggles and the involvement of the writer-activist and intellectual in this struggle. A further point that needs to be considered is that Iyayi almost invariably depicts two situations in one: the situation of the poor and that of the rich. As an illustration, it is worth considering another passage from his first novel Violence: He arrived in a large Mercedes-Benz car and as soon as it was parked, small lean, hungry-looking children surrounded it and regarded it ... Idemudia watched the small fat man in his agbada walking up to the soft blue seat reserved for him…Idemudia watched the entourage also file past, most of them finely dressed in lace and brocade material. They were mostly women, heavy, fat women with oily, polished skins, their eyes scarcely looking at the floor on which they walked. They passed by smelling every inch a thousand naira, the heavy black handbags hanging loosely from their shoulders. Here is money, Idemudia thought. Money! If only he had some, he told himself, he would pay off the hospital bills. He wouldn’t be here anyway. Ah, how could he? He would be somewhere else. There wouldn’t be this hunger, this emptiness, this helplessness… (159 my emphasis).

The above passage is a perfect illustration of the coexistence of abject poverty and affluence. In fact, whereas Idemudia, a representative of the 2

The content is no longer accessible online. See: https://brill.com/previewpdf/journals/mata/23-24/1/article-p83_9.xml The original link is: Ajibade, Kunle. We Cannot Afford to Fail. Interview, https://www.degruyter.com/database/IABO/entry/iab20031497/html?lang=en accessed on November 13, 2010.

28

Chapter One

poor masses, is unable to feed his wife and himself to say nothing of his son and family who are in the village, for it is an established fact that solidarity and communal life are positive values in Africa, and to pay his hospital bills, the commissioner, a member of the world of affluence has a large MercedesBenz which was the sign of wealth, at least in those days. The Commissioner is also described as being fat and well-dressed wallowing in extreme wealth. Contrasted with this, the reader is called upon to witness the “small, lean, hungry-looking children” who surrounded and watched this show of wealth innocently. The suffering of these innocent beings is the proof that this class society and its range of evils will go on continuously if nothing serious is done. This is because children are acknowledged to be the future of society. In a similar vein Ngugi has this to say: Children are the future of any society. If you want to know the future of a society, look at the eyes of the children. If you want to main the future of any society, you simply maim the children. Thus the struggle for the survival of our children is the struggle for the survival of our future. The quantity and quality of that survival is the measurement of the development of our society. Enslave the children and you enslave parents. Enslave the parents and you enslave children. Thus if you enslave children, you are enslaving the survival and development of the entire society –its present and its future. Survival and development are an integrated whole. Survival is the pre-condition of any development. And development is the basics of our continued survival (Moving the Centre 76).

Again, this Commissioner’s affluence is similar to that of Oloru with his limousine which is also a status symbol (The Contract 129-130). It seems to me that it is Iyayi’s aim is to bring the reader to touch reality with his or her own finger and sympathize with the oppressed, take position or revolt against these social inequalities, exploitation and oppression, which is why he can be considered as a political activist however much implicitly. Also important is Iyayi’s mention of the way people distort reality in order to maintain the status quo: It was the nurse reading the address of welcome, thanking the government for all it had done to provide health facilities for the people, praising the government for the building of new hospitals. The address did not mention that in the same government hospital, some people slept on the hard floor or shared beds while others had single rooms to themselves which were almost invariably never occupied. The address said nothing about the fees, about the congestion in the mortuary. No, it thanked and praised the government again and again. Generous government leaders it talked about. Our courageous and learned commissioner, it eulogised (Violence 162).

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

29

It is quite clear from the above quote that some people like the nurse, who is the spokesperson of the class of oppressors, are insensitive to other people’s suffering. This situation is ironic, for whereas there are no beds, no rooms for the patients, the nurse finds nothing better to say than to congratulate the commissioner for having been generous. This behaviour contrasts largely with that of an intellectual who sympathizes with his fellow human beings and tells the truth no matter what it may cost him or her. Through this passage, Iyayi criticizes the bourgeois writers who, like the nurse, undermine the abject condition in which the majority of their countrymen live and sustain that everything is going on well. In fact, many of them would not mention anything wrong with the society. Such writers, as has already been said in the introduction, are not intellectuals, for an intellectual cannot close his or her eyes on the truth and pretend that there is no problem. In this connection, Niyi Osundare writes: Violence and the lie are not the exclusive vices of tyrants and dictators. History and contemporary happenings have shown that every tyrant has his/her pool of court poets, praise-singers, hagiographers, and other hack writers–swarming maggots in the royal corpse, they encounter hunger in the street and pass it off as religions abstinence, they hear clamorous songs of protest and tell their masters it is the national anthem. They slander fellow writers who are in prison, and invent clever justifications for the evil too outrageous to serve. Like those of their masters/mistress, their eyes are buried in their stomachs (Osundare: 66).

So, the nurse here has behaved exactly like a praise-singer, hagiographer and a hack writer. Her aim is to please the commissioner and earn favours and promotion. This simply means that when you are insensitive to the suffering of your fellows, you ultimately become guilty because you are an accomplice of evil and whatever your social position or academic performance you fall so low that you do not deserve the qualification of intellectual. In fact, Iyayi seems to be aware of the “false consciousness in which the ruling class smothers the rest of us” (Ni Chréachain: 47). This suggests that he, as a writer-activist and intellectual, has chosen to write in order to unmask the treachery or the concealed ruling class’ interest. In Heroes, this decision of Iyayi to rehabilitate the truth is conveyed through Osime, the journalist, who tells the soldiers, “I want you to know the truth and knowing the truth helps until there are so many who know the truth that you can do something about it” (Heroes 132). It is my view that Iyayi “explicitly reveals his concept of the role of the artistic text: it is an ideological weapon in the service of revolutionary action” (44) in the

30

Chapter One

sense that knowing the truth about the war can be equated with knowing the truth about society in general. This knowledge will rid the “unknown soldiers” symbolic of the social classes from which they are drawn, the Nigerian masses, of the false dominant ideology that rationalizes war and ultimately transforms their consciousness so that they, in turn, will transform society. Considering this state of affairs, I cannot but conclude that Iyayi consciously produces patriotic literature. He is far from being politically neutral. As Ni Chréacháin pertinently remarks: At this point, one might be tempted to conclude the discussion by simply stating that Heroes is exactly the type of novel one would expect from Iyayi, whose commitment to the Nigerian class struggle is well-known: he has been National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), an organization considered to be so radical that it was banned in 1988; he has also been dismissed from his lecturing post and detained by state security on account of his political involvement. In his first novel, Violence (1979), he had already hit out fearlessly at the ruling class, in the name of the down-trodden with whom he, the petty-bourgeois intellectual, so clearly identifies. Certainly in terms of ideas expressed in it, Heroes would be part of the same tradition as the earlier work (46) (my emphasis).

On the basis of the above quotation, it becomes increasingly clear that Iyayi is acknowledged to be an intellectual committed to the cause of the oppressed. I must also emphasize that Festus Iyayi has distinguished himself as a writer-activist and intellectual conscious of the need to participate in the fight against the false consciousness instilled by the ruling class in order to satisfy their selfish interest to the detriment of the masses. Iyayi is aware that “to speak a true word is to transform the world” (Jackson: 5). Consequently, there are ideas that keep coming through Festus Iyayi’s works; they are undoubtedly ideas that carry with them their author’s philosophy. Indeed, class-consciousness permeates his writings. His extensive use of binary oppositions is to demonstrate who is being exploited and by whom. In this connection he writes: Corruption always begins from the top. Before the war, corruption was in the very breadth of the ministers and presidents and businessmen and the politicians and traditional rulers and church leaders and army generals and police commissioners.…. Always it begins at the top and simmers down to the bottom. … Always, it is a disease brought on the rest of the people by the ruling class enshrined in their constitutions. They manufacture treachery, cruelty, callousness and shamelessness and then peddle these as commodities of a neo-colonial capitalism…. The rank and file think they are fighting for the unity of the country whereas they are fighting to keep one section of the ruling class in power and another

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

31

section of it away from power…. They carry rifles or drive tanks and go into mutual slaughter. And behind them, the generals sit and laugh and calculate their profits, the businessmen and the traditional rulers, the president, the ministers, the politicians, the bishops and the professors all sit and laugh and calculate their profits. All built on the blood of the dead or the sweat of the living among the ranks of working class (Heroes 142143 emphasis in the original).

This long quote amply illustrates Iyayi’s class consciousness. He resents the ruling class’ callousness and by the same token becomes its most vocal critic. Iyayi tries to show, through Osime, his main character, that “members of the ruling class, irrespective of tribal origin, are in the final analysis, bound together by mutual interest” (Ni Chréachain: 44). Also, it is Iyayi’s contention that the real basis for solidarity is not tribe but class. In fact, “Iyayi’s thesis that the war originated less in tribal sentiment than in class interest: indeed, he succeeds in reducing the war to a greedy squabble between factions within the ruling class” (44) runs through his ideologically-tinged fictional works. Furthermore, it can be noticed that Iyayi uses Osime Iyere as his mouthpiece to express at great length his concern for the downtrodden and his commitment to social change. Ni Chréacháin notes in this connection that: Iyayi has endowed Osime with the best qualities of the radical pettybourgeois intelligentsia. This group constitutes a thorn in the flesh to the ruling class, for their very existence is an implicit criticism of the latter. If the ruling class is obsessed with the building of personal empires, the radical intelligentsia is preoccupied with the overall development of the society. If the ruling class seeks to accumulate material wealth, radical intellectuals are committed to a more equitable distribution of material resources. If the mental energy of the ruling class is devoted to the pursuit of profit, that of radical intellectuals is directed towards the analysis of their society as a prelude to changing it (49).

I think Ni Chréacháin’s analysis is sound in the sense that Iyayi himself devotes his writings to “analysing his society” so as to change it. It is rightly through this analysis that he displays his class-consciousness and strives to put an end to social injustice. Therefore, it becomes fair to argue that “neutrality is impossible, even the most nearly neutral comment will reveal some sort of commitment” (Booth: 76). It is in the name of this commitment that Iyayi shows his reader through Osime that:

32

Chapter One [w]hat is needed, …, is a third army. An army to ask questions about the purpose of this war, about the reasons behind this war. The third army will sit among the soldiers, Biafrans and Nigerians alike, and tell them that this is not their war, that they are shooting at the wrong enemies. The real enemies are the politicians who robbed the country blind, who looted the country and prompted the generals to intervene. The third army will turn their guns on the generals, line them up and shoot them one by one, the generals of both armies and then soldiers will lay down their arms and go home. … I am going to be its first recruit (Heroes 90 emphasis in the original).

The above ideological stance, the call for revolt, is relentless in all Iyayi’s writings. In Violence, it is through the Counsel for the Defence that he makes his point: In my understanding acts of violence are committed when a man is denied the opportunity of being educated, of getting a job, of feeding himself and his family properly, of getting medical attention cheaply, quickly and promptly. We often do not realise that it is the society, the type of economic and hence the political system which we are operating in our country today that brutalises the individual, rapes his manhood. We often do not realise that when such men of poor and limited opportunities react, they are only in a certain measure, answering violence with violence. What I would like to see, however, is not just for a handful of men to take up arms to rob one individual. I feel and think it is necessary that all the oppressed sections of our community ought to take up arms to overthrow the present oppressive system. The system has already proved that it operates through violence… (Violence 185, my emphasis).

First of all, Iyayi, through the Counsel for the Defence, shows that Nigeria is a class society whereby poverty and affluence live together without really humanising. Next, he shows his disgust about this injustice and finally seems to propose a way out: the fight through revolution. Just as in Violence, Iyayi uses juxtaposition in The Contract to show the gap between the ruling class and the masses and by the same token proposes his vision for a just society free from exploitation, corruption and want of even the basic necessities of life. For instance, the dialogue between Mallam Mallam and Ogie Obala, both Iyayi’s creations, highlights the author’s ideology: I don’t think there is going to be any revolution in this country. The poor are afraid, ignorant and unorganised. The rich, even if they are not many, are very sophisticated…But there can be a coup. Yes, there can be a coup, but by whom and against whom? I tell you that whether a coup comes today or not, the structure of our society, the base,

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

33

the fundamentals will still remain the same. After all the majority of army officers who plan and execute the coup all belong to the same class. … But one thing is important – a coup is not the same as the revolution. Very true. But there can be different types of coups. Portuguese coup, an Ethiopian coup, a Dahomean coup, all talking of “one man, one bread, one man, one house”. If that happens then it matters not whether it is a coup or a revolution … (186-187 my emphasis).

Iyayi, through the above dialogue, confronts opposing ideas to yield “truth”; in so doing he prevents his political stance from being overwhelmed by pessimistic ideas. Through Ogie, he counterbalances Mallam Mallam’s rationalization of the impossibility of a revolution which he prescribes, so to speak, in order to restore justice among his people. He further argues, this time through the narrator, that: Perhaps, because people had been so docile, ignorant and seemingly blind, the administration had come to believe that it could do anything and get away with it. But he knew better, one day national coups would come, revolutionary ones that would destroy the basic of the present system. …A massive popular revolutionary coup would no doubt come …He didn’t want to hear the explanations for it, he did not want to know that it was a natural sequence, of development, that every country whether it liked or not had to pass through social revolutions, that revolutions were the national consequences of exploitation, decay, economic and political fascism hardly different from what was being perpetrated in his country (103, my emphasis).

This is obviously one of the most powerful statements that are made by Iyayi, statements that earn him the qualification of radical. Indeed, Iyayi is “a striking embodiment of the belief that, in an unjust world, commitment is a prerequisite to the attainment of full human status” (Ni Chréachain: 50). Citing Mongo Beti on this subject, Guy Ossito Midiohouan writes: In our countries it [literature] can bring down tyrants, save children from being massacred, and free an entire race from its thousand-year-long enslavement; it can, in a word, be useful. Yes, for us literature can be useful for something; therefore, it should be useful for something (Midiohouan: 97).

I think there is ample evidence about the fact that the contemporary African writer and intellectual has a social and even political function. Also, on this issue, Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane writes: Black … African literature is a literature of protest. It protests against social, political, economic and military arrangements which deprive

34

Chapter One …people of civil rights and the free expression of their aspirations. As a result, this literature has tended to be overwhelmingly political and proletarian in outlook, and concerned with the problems …of class. This preoccupation with politics makes it incumbent upon … African writers to address themselves to the subject in a manner that reveals commitment. By commitment I mean ‘a matter of orientation, a matter of perceiving social realities and of making those perceptions available in works of art in order to help promote understanding and preservation of, or change in, society’s values and norms’ (Mzamane : 118).

In the light of the above statement, I argue that Iyayi is committed to political radicalism and to many other things besides. However, a point needs to be clarified: protest seems to be something different from Iyayi’s aim, revolution. In fact, “protest” appears to be a quest for reform or adjustment, not revolution, which is in contrast with what I said earlier on in the introduction about the fact that freedom is always snatched, not given as a present to the oppressed. Iyayi can also be viewed as a social scientist whose task is to enlighten the social actors so that coming to see themselves and their social situation in a new way, they themselves can decide to alter the conditions which they find repressive. In other words, the social scientist tries to raise the consciousness of the actors whose situation he is studying. ... The social scientist tries to show to the actors that, as long as they define their needs and wants as they do, they will remain thwarted and repressed (Fay: 103, my emphasis).

This quotation is a powerful statement about the role of a committed writer and social scientist. I think that the contention of Fay is justified in the sense that a social scientist or writer, and this is the most important point for my purposes, is a kind of radiographer who, after taking the X-Ray photographs of a patient, ought to be able to tell him or her what is really wrong with him or her and how to treat the illness. Likewise, Iyayi is not content with simply depicting the problems without providing any solutions. He does provide prescriptions and the right ones that make of him ‘a true doctor’. However, it is necessary to know whether the ‘doctor’s competence’ is a threat to the patient. Obviously not, it is a threat only to the sickness. Ni Chréacháin’s analysis is in line with this view: By endowing Osime with integrity and sincere commitment, Iyayi (in the name of numerous fellow intellectuals who have been dismissed from their posts, detained, and deported) convinces the reader that the radical intellectual is neither a monster who acts against the “public interest”, nor

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

35

a threat to “national security”. In reality he is a threat only to the selfish interests of the ruling class (Ni Chréachain: 50).

It is far from being surprising, in a class society such as the cotemporary Nigeria, to see the relationships between artists-intellectuals and workers reflected in works of art. As an illustration, Heroes, Iyayi’s third novel “records an important stage in the history of the class struggle in Nigeria” (52). Equally important, Iyayi’s writings are geared toward freeing his readers from the class prejudices that the dominant ideology has carefully and purposely inculcated in them. For instance, in The Contract, he tries to discourage his readers about the general tendency of making money by all means; he writes: Money is important. But then, as Ogie had said a long, long time ago, we all must be hunchbacks to assume that all ways of walking require a drooping of the shoulders, that we stoop in our conscience. Look at Onise Ine. There is a man who has been alternately wooed and who has been offered money, positions and then imprisoned again and again but who has refused to stoop, who has refused to bend. Onise Ine has been harassed and then offered huge bribes to make him change in his condemnations of our society but he has not changed. He has remained true to his faith in what he calls the coming revolution. … Yes, they also called him ‘revolutionary idealist,’ the ‘red danger.’ But who in the end is more dangerous? The men who steal tens, hundreds, thousands of millions of naira of the people’s money or people who advocate that there should be no stealing, that material possessions should not dictate the ultimate values in society? (155-6 my emphasis).

Through the above quote, Iyayi seems to tell his readers that facts do not make practice right. In other words, things do not become genuine or good simply because the majority says they are. He refuses to believe, and wants his readers to do the same, that everybody needs to copy blindly what goes on in their society no matter how bad it is. To prove this way of thinking wrong, he creates a character, Onise Ine, who is morally sound in spite of the aggression and the rottenness of his society. In fact, Onise Ine is a committed intellectual who refuses “to bend” to the will of the ruling class which intends to “buy” him because he is a threat to their selfish interest. And because he still remains “true to his faith”, he is called names by the ruling class which wants the population to reject him, because he is dangerous. This is where Iyayi intervenes to clarify the situation and prevent people from being misinformed and manipulated by the ruling class. He further argues through his narrator:

36

Chapter One I for one … do not care too much about money. And I have a passionate hatred for the stealing and squandering of public money. I want a change in the way things are done here. I want all the people to be happy. Do these things also make me Marxist, a revolutionary idealist, a red danger? Do you become a danger because you want common decency? It is strange,…, how those in positions of power change the meaning of words to suit their own purposes. I want to be a human being,…An educated one. The quality of a person counts. A foolish man and his money are soon parted but education remains, it stays as the person who has it is alive, you cannot take it away. That is the more important thing,…the quality of a person, not the amount of money he has (156, my emphasis).

Again, Iyayi shows through the foregoing quotation that the dominant ideology circulated by the ruling class is irrelevant, narcissistic, selfish, egocentric and unpatriotic. Actually, he concludes with the voice of his character, Rose Idebele, that there is no paradox at all in the attitude of the ruling class; instead, it is a calculated attempt by them to distract the attention of the oppressed and sow seeds of doubt and confusion in their minds for the purpose of covering up their exploitation. In addition, the ruling class tries to make their victims, the masses, believe that their real enemy is among them; the intellectual and the most enlightened who is committed to the common cause is ironically described and presented as “a danger.” Indeed, he is a danger to the ruling class because he threatens their “tranquillity”, for they do not want to be unmasked. He constitutes a thorn in their flesh, a threat to discard by all means. Iyayi is aware of these whims and endowed Rose with the versatility to understand them and act accordingly. In this connection, Iyayi can be said to be a political activist because he understands how politics functions, the ins and outs of the national economy and wants his readers to understand the system also so that they may discard this “false consciousness” in which they are being pushed by their tormentor, the ruling class. And the effect Iyayi wishes has been attained by Rose, i. e. to counter the ruling class’s negative image of the radical intellectual. Furthermore, “Iyayi’s unforgettable presentation of the unemployed in Violence is evidence that the petty-bourgeois artist can identify on the deepest level with the proletariat and even with the lumpen-proletariat” (51). Iyayi does identify with the poor rightly because he is an intellectual and as such knows that it is the greed of the ruling class which denies the majority their right to a humane and worthy life. The fact is that even when a poor person happens to find a job after a long period of unemployment the conditions of work are deplorable: too much work and little pay, and as though it was not sufficient, the ruling class tries to

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

37

rationalize this low pay, which testifies to their cynicism and brutality. But the Counsel for the Defence does not agree with those shared assumptions of the ruling class. This situation can be illustrated in the following dialogue between the Counsel for the Prosecution (a member of the ruling class) and the Counsel for the Defence (a petty-bourgeois but identifying with the masses): Counsel for the Prosecution looked satisfied. ‘Oh yes, I see, … Fourteen naira for thirty days’ work, ha? Does that not mean that you are lazy, always late to your place of work, and rude to your supervisors? Such a statement is wrong, Counsel for the Defence spoke for his client now. My client is a good and conscientious worker. He works from the earliest hours of the morning to the latest hours of the day. There are hundreds of workers who like my client receive so little pay for so much work done. Counsel for the Prosecution nodded understandingly. Why is he paid so little if he works so hard? ‘He is paid so little because he accepts it. And he accepts it because he would starve if he refused it. Even if he refused it there would be many more people who would accept it’ (Violence 176).

Counsel for the Defence’s insight is telling when he points out that his client, by extension all the workers, “is paid so little because he accepts it…”. In fact, the Counsel for the Defence’s versatility and quick intellectual insight have allowed him to know that the worker should not be blamed at the first place for accepting the poor pay. He knows that it is an exploitation consciously “maintained and jealously guarded by greedy unfeeling class of exploiters, greedy money makers, conservative and reactionary public officials …” (Violence 248). According to their line of reasoning, it is clear that the oppressors (ruling class) use fellow human beings not as an end but as a means towards an end, that of getting profit. It is important to note that the claim is that capitalists maintain an atmosphere of poverty and want in order to make more profits, excluding thus the majority of the people from the common national resources. So, political concern emerges because Iyayi wants the community to become conscious about the fact that there is a need to fight for their liberation from this consciously maintained poverty. Iyayi is aware that if this objective is to be reached, consciousness needs to be raised. In the light of this concern, he sets out to help destroy the false consciousness that tends to spread the idea that the oppressed deserve what they are going through

38

Chapter One

precisely because knowledge is related to action. Again, in Heroes, Iyayi challenges the false consciousness through Osime’s insightful comments on the origin of the war: Our people were swindled into the war by propaganda. I will tell you what happens. You tell the Ibo man that the Hausa man is after his life, then you tell the Hausa man the same thing. You tell the Yoruba man that if only the Ibo left, they would have jobs, the trade would be theirs. You tell the Hausa man that the Ibos have been holding secret meetings to get them wiped out. Then one morning, you arrange to have a Hausa man killed and you spread the news that he was murdered by the Ibos. That starts the pogrom. Behind he pogrom then are the rich and the powerful … the rich and the powerful Ibo man puts the word. ….. The fact is that the ordinary Ibo has a great deal more in common with the ordinary Hausa and the ordinary Yoruba than he has in common with the Ibo businessman and general and politician (167-168, my emphasis).

This is an attempt by Iyayi as an intellectual to bring new light to the everpermanent tribal discourse meant to rationalize the exploitation of the common man by the ruling class. Through this argument, the readers come to be aware that all the exploited are one and as such should fight their common enemy, the ruling class, together. From the foregoing line of argument, it is clear that there are political implications involved in this overt commitment on the part of Iyayi in the sense that he provides an objective account of how the Nigerian society functions. And it is through this account that the reader may begin to undestand fully how things work. As an illustration, it is these explanations of Iyayi about the war that “allow one to prevent the occurrence of an unwanted event, or permit one to bring about the occurrence of one that is desired” (Ni Chréachain: 21). This suggests among other things, that the oppressed must be able to recognize that their society is rooted in an exploitation which is not necessary but only conventional. And this is the aim of Iyayi – to help the oppressed to understand their relationships with their exploiters; they must not, Iyayi tells them, think that these relationships, which are obviously and openly inegalitarian have to be the way they are because they are natural. This is rightly because, oftentimes, Brian Fay argues that “the dominated could not see the dominance of those in control as coercive or thwarting because they would have become prisoners of a set of ideas which leads seemingly rational, if implicit, support these inegalitarian social institutions” (Fay: 63).

It is this false consciousness that Iyayi tries to combat because he is conscious “that until the actors came to see their social order as repressive

Festus Iyayi: The Socio-Aesthetic Function of Literature

39

there is no reason to expect that its dominant-submissive structure would disappear, except by accident” (63). So, it is to counter this common belief that Iyayi has fostered his own ideology according to which a society, any society, based on domination will invariably fall, in his fictional writings as I have tried to show in this chapter. And it is to counter this radical politics that Iyayi has chosen to devise a radical aesthetic throughout his fiction.

CHAPTER TWO ECHOING RADICAL POLITICS IN IYAYI’S FICTION

As suggested earlier in this book, every writer has a vision to communicate to their readership. And one of Iyayi’s objectives throughout his fiction is a call for political change through the criticism of exploitation and war. So, Iyayi’s fiction is in the service of the revolutionary action against exploitation and war. For example, in Violence, he writes: Queen faced them. … ‘You there’ and Queen pointed to a tall, shirtless man. You have always made trouble, ever since you came here. She drew an envelope, here is your money, she spat at him. You will find twentythree naira, seventy-seven Kobo inside the envelope. Not one Kobo more, not one Kobo less. She threw the envelope at the man but it was another man who caught it. ‘And you,’ she pointed again at a small man, thin and ragged like the edges of a precipice. ‘You came here to sit down and complain, not to work. … The men she had asked to go stood together, their faces black with their anger and frustration (234, my emphasis). This excerpt amply shows the extent to which the class of the capitalists and the haves exploit the workers. Not only does Queen give them a poor pay, but she also treats them less than human beings. Queen humiliates and sacks the workers who ask for a rise however modest it can be. Actually, she ill-treats the same people who are to help toward her objective. She uses them as a means to an end; their relationship is not that of win-win but that of win-lose which characterises the class societies at large. Iyayi exposes these injustices in order to raise awareness for the fight against them. In fact, exploitation is germane to all cultures. As an illustration, Mr Clerides, Queen’s engineer who is an expatriate, has been employed by Queen to help in exploiting her own brothers. Iyayi writes: What to tell them? Easy, Mr Clerides said: Say that you will pay. But I cannot, Queen disagreed, where do I get an extra nine hundred naira a month from?

Chapter Two

42

The crafty eyes of the Greek shifted. No, madam. You do not understand me, you want them to work. We need time. We don’t want a strike. Queen thought about that …. ‘Let them expect it! The Greek cursed. But they get nothing. Why, they are overpaid as it is (270).

The foregoing dialogue translates the callousness of the working class, their wickedness and their capacity of inflicting pain to the workers. Iyayi uses irony when he makes Mr Clerides say that the workers are overpaid, for they are really poorly paid even though they work hard and in deplorable conditions. Iyayi has one of his characters point out: “we earn so little and yet we are worked harder than slaves” (246). Much further the narrator describes the conditions in which they work in these terms: Not far off were the houses which sweat and labour had already erected. The property-owners lived in them already. Life there was ablaze where labour had left its positive mark, the labour of hundreds of thousands of workers…. all underpaid, underfed and treated no better than slaves the highest form of violence maintained and jealousy guarded by a greedy, unfeeling class of exploiters, greedy moneymakers, conservative and reactionary public officials who in the end took all the credit for the achievements of labour, just as the slave drivers took all the credit for the achievements of the slaves (247-248, my emphasis).

This extract epitomizes the exploitation in all its forms. The workers work hard and yet they do not benefit from their labour because they are underpaid. And Iyayi does not think of this situation as a normal one and does not want his readership who might be in the same situations as those of these workers to think that it is their fate, that they deserve it because it is God-sent. Consequently, he has the narrator explain that it is the fault of the “greedy, unfeeling class of exploiters, greedy money-makers, conservative and reactionary public officials”. For this purpose, he has Omoifo, one of his characters, disagree strongly with his co-worker and ultimately “co-slave”, Patrick about the assumption that it is God’s work if some people are well off whereas the others starve (20). The extent to which the poor masses are oppressed and exploited, is made credible in Omoifo’s pronouncement. In fact, Omoifo is aware that this situation is “man-made” and he devotes himself to stopping this false consciousness spread by the very class of exploiters who dread the eventual awareness of their victims about the exact causes of their plight. Definitely, this behaviour of concerning oneself about nobody or nothing but oneself is the feature of the ruling class and this attitude excludes the idea of

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

43

responsibility. On the same issue Komi Bafana echoes Ivanka Kovaþeviþ thus: If every man’s duty is to be successful, and if he has no responsibility at all for his fellow men, it follows that he will crush the weak whose interests conflict with his own. The man of business has no conception of social responsibility that might compel him to consider the welfare of those whom he employed. This issue of social responsibility was felt to have no connection with the conduct of one’s personal affair (Bafana: 393-394).

This quotation suggests that one pays heed to the social responsibility that awaits them. One should not live as though he was alone. It is rightly because Queen feels unconcerned with what her employees undergo that she exploits them without any pity or sympathy. In this sense I can say that the unfeeling ruling class as well as the exploited or the ruled class are trapped in a system that dehumanizes. In the same connection, Komi Bafana echoes Paulo Freire thus: Although the situation of oppression is a dehumanized and dehumanizing totality affecting both the oppressors and those whom they oppress, it is the latter who must, from their stifled humanity, wage for the struggle for a fuller humanity; the oppressor who is himself dehumanized because he dehumanizes others, is unable to lead this struggle to resolve the contradiction in which they are caught. That contradiction will be resolved by the appearance of the new man who is neither oppressor nor oppressedman in the process of liberation. If the goal of the oppressed is to become fully human, they will not achieve their goal by merely reversing the terms of the contradiction, by simply changing poles (388).

This is perceived as an invitation of the downtrodden to fight their oppressors who are responsible for their plight. As a general rule, all the material goods of a country or nation are produced by the working people in order to satisfy the basic needs of all members of the society. Quite unfortunately, it appears that the very producers of wealth cannot satisfy their own needs. Their employers get the fruits of their labour to their detriment. In The Contract, Iyayi has Rose Idebele say: The old trust, the old open handshake is gone. …So, they all steal from each other, and murder each other and plunder the nation’s coffers and use the people carelessly and shamelessly. Yes, that is the most terrible part of it, the way people are used, callously, coldly, with neither pity nor sentiment nor conscience. And women are amongst the most cruelly and callously used. Women are used as logs are used for fire (24-25, my emphasis).

44

Chapter Two

Indeed, through Rose Idebale, Iyayi criticizes the Nigerian modern society based on exploitation, i. e. using the fellow human being as a means to an end rather than viewing them as an end in themselves. Again, he does not blame any natural phenomenon or fate because he thinks things through and is aware that for the situation to change for the better, people need to change and especially people who have the destiny of that country. Equally important, in this wild race for money, women are sexually exploited, thus denying them their dignity and pride. On this issue Rose Idebale explains: … you pack your certificate and testimonials in an envelope and go into an office to look for a job. In the office, it is always a man that sits behind the desk. And what does the man demand in order to help you? He demands that you go to bed with him…. And of course you refuse. … But thereafter each man you come across places the same demand. And so in the end, you close your eyes and go with a man to a hotel, what they now call a “slaughter house”, …and after you have been “slaughtered”, you ask him about the job and he tells you he is sorry, these things are not easy but if you will meet him again tomorrow same time … he may have some news for you. You go the next day and you get into bed and get raped and at the end, it is the same story… (24).

It is quite clear that men use women, literally, to satisfy their sexual selfish needs. This is so because the political atmosphere is so rotten that merit is not the criterion for recruiting workers and there is nothing such victims can do to sue their tormentors to court. It is quite obvious that if nothing is done to redeem the agonizing society, such bad practices will be perpetuated and erected into laws. However, Iyayi endows Ogie Obala, his character, with the insight, to know that “facts do not make the practice right.” He observes: “people steal in this country. Thieves form associations, cults and societies. These are the pervasive facts in our everyday life but their existence does not make them right” (56). As a result, Iyayi highlights in very bold terms the weaknesses of society and ultimately the causes of these weaknesses. Worse still is the fact that Chief Ekata himself makes sure to be intimate with all the women he employs: “…he had made it a policy to be intimate with the women before and during the time that he employs them” (72). In fact, he does all these bad things without worrying about ethics for, as he says, to have scruples in business is suicidal. The only ethics in business is to climb upon the shoulders of the other man. There should be no mercy, no consideration for the feelings of the other man. Business is the big

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

45

graveyard of all our decency, he thought (73). Chief Ekata and not only him but also the very many like him are just the opposite of an intellectual who would surely know that harming their fellow human being is synonymous with harming themselves, for it is generally admitted that one defines oneself, through other people. Also, the Nigerian president and the governor are described as being callous and greedy. Actually, they are so callous that they sleep with a girl (Theresa) and later on have her murdered in a car accident so that they may discard any proof of their guilt (Heroes 98). In addition, Eunice Agbon in The Contract is exploited by Chief Ekata for his selfish motives. Iyayi writes: I ought to leave this work, she told herself “The man uses me as he would use any other instrument. But then she couldn’t go right away….her parents were unemployed, uneducated and poor. Since she had found this job, things, had become easier all round. Before she started working, they had always gone without meat and had fed mostly on eba and pap. Could she leave this job now, throw away their chief means of support? (75, my emphasis).

In other words, women are exploited and treated worse than slaves in our modern materialistic society. It is poverty as Eunice herself reflects, which sometimes drives its victims to such inhumane conditions whereby they are trampled upon and oppressed beyond compare. And it is clear that the oppressors like Chief Ekata are conscious of this state of affairs and are prone to seize this “opportunity” in order to get more wealth and pleasure whereas the poor and the needy perish in the process. It must already be apparent that the capitalistic system uses people in general and women in particular as a means to an end, which is eventually their thirst for wealth. Therefore, women are objectified and oppressed the same way, if not more than their male counterparts by the privileged and the ruling class regardless of their welfare. I agree with Betty Friedan that “the essence of the denigration of women is men’s definition of them as sex objects” (Friedan: 388). Fortunately, Iyayi does not merely describe the oppressive situation in which women suffocate; he intends to raise awareness of such victims about the fact that it is high time they resigned from their oppressor-employers. This sounds like an invitation for change, for:

46

Chapter Two organized groups have tended, in one way or the other, to impose on the weaker groups their conception and vision of the world. This practice has given birth to the existence of a long list of hegemonies such as patriarchy, slavery, colonialism, capitalism …and many more. It is my contention that these hegemonies constitute a real source of injustice and oppression for those belonging to the periphery, that is, those who are excluded from the dominant or the hegemonic order (Afagla: 14115).

In other words, the oppression women undergo is a kind of hegemony which denies them their rights. This discrimination comes from the male domination, itself coming from society’s conscious construction of a patriarchal ideology. This means that women are not only oppressed by the capitalist system but also by cultures and traditions. Consequently, it is an injustice Iyayi seeks to fight even if he does not undergo it directly, for as an intellectual, one does not react only against the injustice or oppression that is geared toward oneself but rather to all forms of injustice that all human beings suffer from. This means that an intellectual fights against all forms of injustice and exploitation that prevent personal and collective consciousness from blossoming and leading to general welfare. The point I wish to make here is that, the intellectual and writer, as Emmanuel Obiechina argues: should have a special allegiance to the downtrodden in the (...) society, to the socially handicapped, to the women, the children, the unemployed, the sick, all those who are not able to fight their own battles. The writer should put on his armour and charge into battle in defence of the defenceless. It is my view that the writer (...) of today has to take his position against the oppression of the people, all forms of brutalities, and of unwarranted violence against the masse (Obiechina: 4, emphasis in the original).

This suggests that many writers should be committed ones and more so the Marxist writers; they need to tell both their readers and through them the masses whether they choose the side of the people, that is the side of the oppressed, or that of the oppressive forces that annihilate the efforts of intellectuals to liberate and humanize our common heritage, humanity. And Iyayi has been plain with his readership about the fact that he sides with the oppressed sections of his society. In my view, this commitment has the colour of political commitment in the sense that the end result is to change the country’s politics. I think Charles E. Nnolim seems to corroborate this view when he writes:

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

47

Nigerian literature is, from its inception, an exercise in politically creative commitment. I define, therefore, in broadest terms as political any literary endeavour in which the author’s concerns with public themes and public welfare are predominant; especially any terms that extends beyond concerns of the individual self and embrace the collective destiny of nations or the masses. Politics enters literature at those times when the fate or destiny of peoples or classes are locked in the death-throes of survival, when continuity in a people’s way of life is threatened (Nnolim: 6).

In the light of the Nnolim’s argument, Festus Iyayi’s writings came into being as a due response to the post-independence abuses that range from exploitation, corruption, military dictatorship, and to cap it all to war which is the worst form of exploitation. Similarly, in his first novel, Violence, Iyayi depicts the oppression Adisa, a member of the oppressed class, undergoes: I have something that Adisa needs badly. Money or at least the means to make money. She will benefit from it. She loses nothing for giving herself for it. Absolutely nothing. And I, I will be satisfied. And I didn’t give her that lift for nothing. The rain was pouring and I stopped. But I looked at her first. Then I remembered what I had noticed when I stood by her… How many of them have I been intimate with? He asked himself. He couldn’t answer his own question because they were many and difficult to remember (120, my emphasis).

Just like the administrator in The Contract, Obofun in Violence takes advantage of his social position, his wealth, and “rapes” Adisa who badly needs money for her and her husband’s survival. He does help her but only so that he can rape her. And this is a fact that capitalists never give anything out of generosity. Obofun does not give her a lift out of empathy, but because he prepares the ground for his selfish desires. Moreover, it has become a hobby to sleep with, or, more accurately, to rape the likes of Adisa, the poor and the needy women who yield to him remorsefully. The worst is that these helpless victims are a number that is beyond remembrance to this insensitive lustful capitalist mind whose sole aim is his own satisfaction. And Iyayi is very critical of these attitudes, which is why he depicts them with such interest so as to raise awareness and consequently to spur the exploited masses into action toward their liberation and as a matter of effect toward their oppressor’s own liberation. It is my contention that this oppressive atmosphere has conspired with Iyayi’s intellectual insight to give rise to his consciously political writings.

48

Chapter Two

I term them political because, as noted earlier on, they are geared towards change and ultimately the liberation of all the oppressed members of the society. In fact, no detail of exploitation can escape the critical eye of Iyayi in the sense that there is no lesser exploitation. This is because the ill-treatment of women will, in the long run, if not immediately, affect the whole communal relations, for the family is the miniature version of the world. In the same connection Nii Amoo and Margaret Amu Darku argue that: The husband, wife and children, basically constitute a home. Collective homes constitute a nation. Nations collectively constitute the world. What, therefore is happening in our nations and world today is only a reflection of what is happening in homes. If homes are fractured and hurting, they will have a reflection on the nation. If all nations are like that, the world cannot be any better (Amoo and Darku: Viii).

These thinkers posit that the failure of a couple to “make a house a home” results in the subsequent failure of the whole nation and the world by and large. And I contend that this is invariably true in the sense that we all belong to the same world and whatever each and everyone of us does even in secrecy and in the most remote hamlet will most definitely, someway and somehow, have an impact on the whole world. Again, Nii Amoo and Margaret Amoo Darku hold that: Marriage is the centre holding everything else together. Chinua Achebe, the world-renowned African writer, once wrote that things fall apart when the centre can no longer hold. When marriages and homes are considered the centre, then their break down automatically results in the breakdown of everything else (iv).

This suggests that for everything to go on smoothly in any society, there is a need to keep the homes standing firm, for doing it the order way round will obviously be synonymous with chaos and moral rottenness characteristic of most modern societies. On account of the above comments, it is my firm belief that these arguments can be associated with those that prompted Iyayi’s decision to write in response to these abuses which, if not dealt with, will ultimately threaten our collective security as a people. This is attainable through his radical literary response to the various forms of exploitation and oppression in his society.

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

49

It becomes plain therefore that Iyayi’s writing is radical rightly because the society, his society, is moving toward a complete moral atrophy. The fact is that homes are disintegrating and this invariably results in the breakdown of anything else including morality. In the same connection, Akaana E. Terhemba writes that “Iyayi is primarily concerned with social themes and he adopts a very radical response to the decaying sociopolitical structures that dominate the Nigerian Environment” (Terhemba: 1). Similarly, Charles E. Nnolim points out that the desire to speak for the masses, and to free them from political and economic strangulation has led to another brand of literature in West Africa championed by avowed socialist and Marxist-oriented writers. Their main aim is to achieve the Marxist utopia–equality of the classes–by imbuing the oppressed populace if possible, with enough revolutionary fervour to rise up and effect a social revolution. In Nigeria: we have Festus Iyayi…(Nnolim: 6).

It is obvious that Iyayi aligns consciously with the exploited. Here, he sides with women whose rights and humanity are trampled upon by unscrupulous men. He raises an alarm and calls for change. Indeed, in my view, works of art which are revolutionary, as well as their authors are means and ways toward change in the broader sense of the word. Wole Soyinka’s statements seem to corroborate this view when he says: “I believe implicitly that any work of art which opens out the horizons of the human mind, and intellect, is by its very nature, a force of change, a medium for change” (Soyinka: 135). Iyayi overtly expresses his contempt for the violence and exploitation women are forced to undergo. These resentments and hatred are characteristic of all intellectuals who ensure that their fellow humans live in a free and democratic society where no one is oppressed (Nnolim: 129). So, intellectuals and writers are enemies of exploitation and oppression in all their variants and Iyayi’s own vision confirms my depiction of him as a political activist and freedom fighter. However, it is crucial to stress that, as I have already pointed out earlier in this book, it would be a mistake to think that any writer can be identified as an intellectual in the sense that many of them are there mainly to help perpetuate the ideology of the oppressive class by rationalizing it through their writings. For example, writers who still pollute their writings with century old ideas about the status of women (considering them as secondclass citizens) in society are not intellectuals in my view.

50

Chapter Two

Unlike such people, Iyayi is being bitter because the politics of exploitation is radical and brutal and since literature “is not merely a form of entertainment but a medium for commenting on contemporary social and political events” (Oha: 11) he cannot but take the shape of his “container”, that is the social environment which he reflects in his writings. In addition, the other vulnerable members of the society who are victims of the exploitation of the capitalist system are children. In fact, the most saddening aspect of this unfortunate situation is that children constitute the future of humankind and how effectively they will perpetuate the human race will, on a greater degree, depend on how they are treated in their childhood. Quite unfortunately, some people destroy this future by destroying the children’s hope. In Awaiting Court Martial, Iyayi writes: The dictator who said with a smile in his eyes that only eleven children were killed in the exercise – but and then, he had really laughed, “not at the hands of the armed police officers?” The dictator who gave his assent to the ten-year sentences imposed on the five children who were accused of throwing stones at the dictator’s entourage? The dictator who sanctioned the public execution of the seven children for various acts of “banditry”, at a time they were between seven and eleven years old – a full ten years before he shot his way to power? The dictator who refused to accept the bouquet of flowers from the child at the airport because she had a running nose? (71 my emphasis).

The description of this cruelty toward innocent children leaves no doubt that the class of rulers is determined to deal with the ruled. The very fact that the dictator uses the word “only” to qualify the number of the murdered children is a tangible proof that he is ruthless and insensitive and unconcerned about the very future of the country he now rules and which he claims to love. This means that he is too full of himself to realize that life is so sacred that losing one person is synonymous with losing a part of one’s own body. In fact, he laughs because he has just succeeded in reducing the number of his enemies, the class of workers. This justifies the reason why he goes on to murder many more children and send the others to jail. As argued earlier, there is no future without children or better there is no good future without happy and emancipated children who experience no violence and no exploitation. But here, besides the atrocities mentioned above, children sometimes undergo the terrible crime of rape which leaves deep scars on the mind of the victims. Iyayi has the narrator state that

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

51

“there were cases where they had raped children, raped them and left them with the blood dripping between their thighs for their fathers…Armed robbers also sometimes seized and used children as shields until they were clear of the house and safe!” (90).

This behaviour is a threat for the future of the humankind because children “are the future of any society” (Ngugi: 76) and as such they should be protected. In consistency with this observation, Iyayi does not want his readers merely to pity these victimized children but to take stand and correct this behaviour which not only saps the normal development of children but also endangers the very future of humanity. For example, the children who are abused and tortured will grow up to be violent because this is the atmosphere in which they will have grown up. It is a known fact that the society in which one lives influences one positively or otherwise. So, if children are negatively influenced, they will be a threat to the future as it is they who are going to take over from their parents. In the same perspective, it is commonly believed that if the outside environment stimulates aggression, then children can only but grow up to be violent. For this purpose, Iyayi seems to suggest a change in the way our children are treated if we want to build a society free of violence and exploitation. Until we do that, he seems to tell us, violence will be the unfortunate consequence in the sense that human beings happen to be mere creatures of circumstances. A similar view is expressed in the following statements: But in addition to taking in the parents’ values, the children will also be responding to how others treat their parents and how their parents act toward other members of society – and the parental fawning and cringing, the parental arrogance or superciliousness, the parental dignity and respect, all will have their role to play in building internal images in the toddlers and pre-schoolers (The Mental Health of Children: 290).

This means that the course of the growth of children is written upon children themselves by the social environment in which they live. Similarly, Laura E. Berk offers that “the power of the environment determines whether children will become good or bad, bright or dull, kind or selfish” (Berk: 11). Indeed, there is evidence that the bad social environment of the child will predispose him or her to future problems, which is why Iyayi, as a foreseer, warns the society against the dangers it exposes the children and hence itself to; it is an implicit urge to change for the better. In Awaiting Court Martial, one can witness the consequences of the rotten environment on the children and society at large: “And to think that the butchers are all so young. How can such a group of children, mere infants, be so cruel? Where did they get such hearts from?” (126).

Chapter Two

52

Iyayi’s responses throughout his writings seem to be that society creates its own monsters by the choices it makes. He, therefore, requires his readers to act because their “inaction or cynical action are a serious betrayal of our education, of our historic mission and of succeeding generations who will have no future unless we save it now for them” (Achebe: 53, my emphasis). Here, I want to argue that the future will depend on what we do now. In a similar vein, T. S. Eliot writes: Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past (Homecoming 40).

Moreover, Iyayi’s focus on his characters is a technique to show his readership who is actually being exploited and by whom. He invariably depicts the Nigerian civilian elites as well as their accomplices, the senior military officers, as the real exploiters. Conversely, he portrays the lower ranks and files of the military and the lower-class civilians as the great majority that undergoes the exploitation of this greedy class of exploiters. Iyayi himself establishes this point when he makes Osime to reflect thus: I know that Brigadier Otunshi sells ours arms to the Biafra and sends our troop into battle a few days to their pay day... He sells our arms and kills our men and collects money from both sides… Corruption is everywhere. Sell your arms to your enemy and collect the money and put it in your pocket (Heroes 148, my emphasis).

This perception of exploitation and war suggests that it is always the senior military officers who are at the realms of affairs who are liable to exploit. In fact, Brigadier Otunshi and many others exemplify these senior military officers who exploit their immediate subordinates as well as the population at large. Brigadier Otunshi is so callous that he sells the arms belonging to the Federal Army to the Biafrans and thereafter sends the troops he is supposed to command out so that they may be killed for him to collect their salaries. Iyayi uses “our” to designate “arms” and “men” rightly because they belong to all Nigerians, they are not the private property of any Brigadier or General. By writing thus, Iyayi aims at disclosing the truth to his readership which ignores or fails to grasp the functioning of the military hierarchy and consequently to raise awareness and action. This way of writing has earned him the name committed writer, for “artistic commitment is a matter of perceiving social realities and making these perceptions available in works of art in order to help promote

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

53

understanding and preservation of, or change in, the society’s values and norms” (Chineweizu et al.: 253-254).

With this perception of artistic commitment in mind, it is genuine to assert that the writing of Iyayi’s novels as well as his collection of short stories, Awaiting Court Martial, is not prompted by aesthetic concerns but rather by an intellectually conscious choice to propose his personal analysis of the political, economic, and social issues that prevail in Nigeria. In the same vein, Firinne Ni Chréacháin writes: “Iyayi expresses at great length, and very movingly, his concern for the oppressed and his commitment to social change” (Ni Chéachain: 47). I think Firinne Ni Chréacháin is right in the sense that Iyayi’s writings convey this message, which is his concern for the exploited who make up the great majority of the Nigerian population. In addition, Iyayi, through the reflection of Osime, holds that the callousness and greed of the class of the exploiters are dictated to them by their lust for money. He writes: That is why the distribution of relief material donated by the international agencies to the war victims is awarded as contracts to the wives and friends of the generals and the officers commanding at the fronts. That’s why blankets meant for war victims are being sold in the open markets in Lagos and Kaduna and Kano. That’s why the dried milk and food meant for the starving children are sold in supermarkets in Lagos. That’s why Chief Sule Adedoyin won the contract to distribute the drugs to the war victims, the drugs supplied by the international agencies, by the Cubans and the Russians and the East European countries, and why Chief Adedoyin now owns large drugstores all over the country (Heroes 148).

The analysis made in the above quotation by the reflective mind of Osime epitomizes the exploitation of the poor by the ruling class. Not only have they – the members of the class of exploiters – caused war but they have also embezzled the relief material offered to the victims of war. In fact, they show their insensitivity to the sufferings of the poor. This behaviour contrasts heavily with that of intellectuals who are their brothers’ keepers. Another important aspect of exploitation is laid bare in Iyayi’s depiction of the workers’ attempt to rebel against their employer. It is a pity that in spite of the fact that the workers are aware that they are underpaid and illtreated (Violence 242), they cannot or rather they should neither go on strike nor leave. They are locked up in such a dilemma because of the extreme poverty they find themselves trapped in. And both Mr Clerides

54

Chapter Two

and his accomplice Queen are aware of this state of affairs and consequently take the advantage to exploit them. It is my contention that Iyayi’s strategy herein is to show his dissatisfaction and hatred vis-à-vis the foreign and local exploiters. Furthermore, Mr Clerides discloses to the workers his intention of making them work harder than ever without any rest. He says: “There will be Sunday work too …Sunday is overtime but everyone must come …. You will know well in advance…. That is, now you must work. No more talk” (240). Through the above, it becomes clear that Mr Clerides’ behaviour is a conscious attempt to exploit the workers without any regard to the laws regulating labour in the country. Actually, far from being something imposed on the worker, overtime is a negotiation or rather a contract between the employee and his employer. Unfortunately, Mr Clerides uses blackmail to threaten the workers of dismissal. Moreover, the many workers already dismissed for reasons of claims are neither compensated nor warned. Still, the conversation between the workers on the ever-rising price of the rice on the site is a tangible enough illustration that life is becoming expensive; and yet nothing is being done to adjust the salaries in order to allow the workers to increase their purchasing power. Instead, the employer rather gains everything to the detriment of the workers who toil daily, for: La “valeur ajoutée” dans la production industrielle se partage entre le travail et le capital; c’est une donnée fixe, au terme de chaque processus de production (ou de chaque mois, de chaque année) : la part de l’un ne peut donc augmenter que si la part de l’autre diminue. Le capitaliste afin d’accumuler du capital, essaye de réduire la part des travailleurs dans la valeur ajoutée, tandis que ceux-ci, afin d’accroître leur niveau de vie, cherchent spontanément à accroître cette part. Ainsi naît la lutte des classes élémentaires au sein de ce mode de production (Bafana : 376-377). The added value in the industrial output is shared among the labour and the capital; it is a set data, at the end of each manufacturing process (or each month’s or year’s): the share of one increases only when the share of the other decreases. The capitalist, in order to amass wealth, tries to reduce the share of the workers in the added value, whereas the latter, in order to increase their living standards, spontaneously seek to increase that share. That is how the class struggles come to exist within that mode of production.

This passage stresses the fact that each of the employers and the workers wants to gain from this employer-employee relationship. But quite

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

55

unfortunately the employer cheats the employee as is the case in Iyayi’s fiction, which is unfair. As a result, Iyayi commits himself to raising the awareness of the poor workers about their situation and about the necessity to change. Thereupon, it is my belief that Iyayi’s search is political, for the purpose is to change the society and even the world in which he lives; and throughout his writings he does maintain that things need to change for the betterment of his society. In this perspective, he has Idemudia state adamantly: “Something ought to be done… We should stand together here” (Violence 242). This is an overt invitation of workers and all the oppressed people of the society to unite and stand up firm against their oppressor and tormentor. In addition, the ugliest part of exploitation on the part of this insensitive class of exploiters is their use of their victims to entertain themselves. Oguzie seems to corroborate this view when he writes: It is ironic that in a hospital where patients sleep in the corridor, a ward has been converted for the reception and entertainment of V.I.P.s. In their misery the poor must still entertain the rich. The patients present a play written by a discharged patient to a visiting commissioner and his entourage (Oguzie: 252).

This is indeed an incredible cruelty to keep on exploiting the already too poor. The oppression and exploitation of the poor is further highlighted when the reader witnesses Adisa’s incapacity to pay the registration fees at the hospital when her husband was to be hospitalized. Equally important is the thorny problem of the lack of beds. This complicates the situation of Idemudia, the poor patient, who is finally referred to Obge Hospital. Even there, there is a cruel lack of beds. But at the same time and in the very hospitals, whereas the general wards are so congested that people either share beds or sleep on the floor, the “senior service” wards are invariably empty. Therefore, this hospital episode is used to emphasise the abject poverty and helplessness of the likes of Idemudia, Adisa, and many others in the fictional world and in the real life situation. The narrator tells the reader that there were some patients lying in the corridor in front of the ward. The rain drove at them but there was nowhere else for them to go. The ward itself was crowded, like a war camp. Most of the patients were sharing the narrow beds. Some slept on the floor between the beds. It was terrible how patients were kept almost like criminals (Violence 76).

56

Chapter Two

It is incredible how these patients are treated worse than slaves. Even though they paid the registration fees, they either sleep on the floor or share beds, meaning that they are exposed to more communicable diseases. The worst is that the rain drives at them. The most disturbing fact is that the government seems to do nothing to change this chaotic situation. Iyayi makes an appropriate comment on this issue through the doctor, an intellectual, at the university hospital whose mind went back to the dark tunnel of the numberless sick, their abject poverty and from that to the helplessness of their position. He couldn’t understand why in so much disease, the government concentrated in building hotels instead of hospitals. He simply couldn’t understand it (76). Here is a doctor who is worrying about the situation of the poor; unlike the government, he is moved by the abject penury around him. This doctor is an intellectual because he worries about the injustice other people undergo; he seems to be Iyayi himself who is very critical of how the nation’s funds are mismanaged by the class of plunderers who rule the country. Following the same line of reasoning, B.E.C Oguzie argues once more: Festus Iyayi is a new talent and his art “tends toward proletarian concerns.” He has clearly shown that for many of the high-ups, their position offers the opportunity to amass wealth, establish business and exploit the limitless dimensions, the starving, gullible, unsuspecting helpless masses. The system is identified as “the enemy of the masses”. Evident in this novel, (Violence) is the belief that the rich while enjoying life abundantly remain insensitive to the sufferings of the masses (Oguzie: 255).

It becomes evident that Iyayi’s fiction is geared toward the fight for sociopolitical justice; for this purpose, he weaves all the socio-political and economic situations of his society especially the exploitation and oppression the bulk of the population undergoes whereas “the high-ups” enjoy a peaceful life devoid of want and depravation. In addition, his criticisms are politically coloured in that he is calling for a political change that will free the oppressed and the exploited citizens for a better communal life. For instance, he is very critical of the politics of the government in the following dialogue: That’s very bad, Omoifo said. Very, very bad. Not every man can be rich in this country.

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

57

But what do they care? Osime asked. And to think that this is a government hospital! They only care for their stomachs, Omoifo said. Their stomachs and the stomachs of their dogs. See how rich the ministers are! And he spat on the grass away from them (Violence 223).

Herein, he features three people who represent the class of the exploited and oppressed, discussing their hardships and sorrows as well as the callousness and inactivity of the government officials. In fact, the latter do nothing to solve the problem of saturation and lack of beds in the government hospitals. On the contrary, they care about their own welfare to the detriment of the poor masses. Iyayi’s disgust and denunciation of this callous behaviour is made vivid by one of the characters who spits on the grass, making it clear that change is more than compulsory, because he knows that “the writer is a member of society and his sensibility is conditioned by the social and political happenings around him, for these issues form a part of the substance of life within which his instinct as a writer must struggle” (Ogungbessan: 5-6). In Heroes, there is an instance which is telling of Iyayi’s criticism of society. He makes the narrator say: That’s how the black master who took over from the colonial master lives, like vermin… Things definitely are worse now, he thought. The black master took over all the white colonial man’s vices and when he added his own, society became blacker than the darkness, selfish, greedy, dirty, like that market, like vomit … Black men built boys’ quarters, millions of them, to imprison other blacks as servants, as slaves, at the back of their houses. The black man is a bastard and eternal fool, he thought, that is, the black man who occupies any significant place in the total arrangement of society (40-41, emphasis in the original).

Again, Iyayi, through Osime, articulates in a very radical language the injustice and exploitation the poor undergo. The black man who took over from the white man is depicted as being selfish, a bastard, and vermin whose actions are geared toward self-gratification. Herein, Iyayi is making an iconoclastic analysis of the socio-political situation of his own country. Unlike many African writers and thinkers, he does not always think in terms of the vices of colonisation, which are not to be neglected, but rather

58

Chapter Two

in terms of post-colonialism in which brothers harm their fellow brothers. This is an illustration that Iyayi overtly criticizes the chaotic management of the country by the military leaders who have taken over from the civilians. They have turned the country into a jungle whereby force prevails to the detriment of the rule of law. He resents the way the military inflict terror and injustice thanks to their guns which constitute their force and power. And it is a fact that guns are the tools which give the soldiers the feeling that they are superhuman beings who can use violence on innocent people without being worried by anybody. What, in my view, is paradoxical is the fact that the rank and file who inflict violence, pain and torture to the civilians are mere tools in the hands of the military hierarchy who use them against their likes, the oppressed. The point I wish to make here is that the rank and file themselves are among the exploited and the oppressed even if their bosses try to make them believe that they have nothing in common with the civilians. It is for that purpose that they are lured and deceived by giving them empty titles that make them happy and naively submissive despite their condition of abject poverty. As a matter of fact, they are the ones working hard and ironically the least paid, the generals and the high-ranking officers get the price of the soldiers’ hard work. This is why Iyayi is bitter about the military rule in Nigeria. He says: The whole issue of military rule has not been seriously tackled in our literature. How come a group of half-educated, half-baked people suddenly find themselves in a position where they begin to tell the people that they are now messiahs? –people who do not understand how things work coming around to tell us that they are visionaries. It is a terrible thing when you have those who are half-blind telling you where the sun rises and it sets. It is a very terrible fate for a country to be subjected to. It is as if we are in a bottom of a sealed-up well (Adjibade).

Iyayi is very critical of the military rule. For him, they are only trying to usurp a position that is not theirs. Worse still, it is the fate of the whole country that is in question. In Awaiting Court Martial, Iyayi criticizes the police in these terms: “the behaviour of the police was as disgraceful that day as it is today, indeed, as it has always been” (59). This is an open attack of the way the police manage the affairs of the city through corrupt or fraudulent ways. Further still, the police are criticized for not intervening in the violence the civilians undergo: …Oni Seyibo whose house has been attacked only the Saturday before by an eleven-man gang of armed robbers. Oni Seyibo had refused to open the door and the armed robbers had broken it down with three axes. The noise

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

59

of the attack had carried as far as the police station that was half a kilometre down the street but the police had refused to intervene. When they had finally arrived in the morning, seven hours later, it had been to witness the tragic spectacle of Oni floating on a thick cushion of his own blood (84).

As an intellectual, he is aware that the police do not do their duty; instead, they are busy terrorising the civilians. And this is because the generals do nothing to guarantee peace. Actually, there is a real problem of insecurity in Nigeria. It is common to witness an attack in a broad day light, sometimes in front of the police who look away. This attitude can be explained by either a choice not to intervene or the powerlessness of the police in front of the overwhelming power of the thieves’ arms. It is common knowledge in Nigeria that some robbers’ weapons are far more sophisticated than the ones used by the Federal police, which is not a normal thing. This situation comes from the fact that the generals in power are not doing their best to erase corruption and protect the population. In the same connection, Iyayi writes: “to think that we can have a government of generals which cannot guarantee anything except death. That is the real problem” (89). I think Akika Lamidi is chosen by Iyayi to embody his ideas, his criticisms of the government which is careless about its people’s welfare. Again, he has Laila say: “this is the worst set of generals, the worst government we ever had” (89). Much further, Akika says: They are busy arresting unionists and human rights activists. In the meantime, we are held hostages in our homes or murdered by armed robbers in our beds. Our borders are regularly invaded by neighbouring countries and our border villages are sacked. They cannot defend our homes. They are busy stealing our money or carrying cocaine, or screwing each other’s wives or themselves. And here we are surrounded by armed robbers, and robbers who operate freely without fear of arrest (89).

Akika Lamidi understands how things work; he knows that the present government is oppressive and violent: it either kills the citizens or lets them be killed by armed robbers. All they care about is their own security. This idea is underscored in the following quotation: and then two months ago, in the wake of the abortive coup, the new General-President issued thirteen decrees on the same day. One of the decrees proscribed all the trade unions in the country. Another banned public meetings and processions. A third gave sweeping powers to the General-President to arrest, detain and deal with all people whose activities, pronouncements or “conceivable acts or thoughts” could be

Chapter Two

60

construed as threatening to the security of the Regime. I have myself been invited for questioning by the police three times already. My house has also been searched twice. Those alleged to have attempted the last coup have been executed. One hundred and seventy-nine of them (73).

The General-President is highly insensitive to the point of preventing people from gathering to look for solutions to their plight. It is rightly the type of presidents most African countries have got after their independence, tyrants who are ready to do everything just to clutch to power. Iyayi resents this behaviour and addresses it so that his readers who are in the similar situation might be aware and stand up to claim their rights. This sustains the claim that there are genuine reasons for the postindependence writer to protest, condemn, and spur the masses for change in the sense that the new leaders have failed to work toward communal welfare. In this new environment, many privileged take advantage to exploit the poor, making them thus poorer whereas they are getting richer. The following dialogue between the poor is revealing of this unfortunate situation: … but you know these doctors. The one who runs my part of it demands that patients must come to see him at home before they can have a bed to themselves. See him at home? Yes, pay him some money. He takes money privately from the patients he treats in the hospital and if yours is a bad disease and you must have an operation, then you must pay him the money before he will perform an operation. And if you cannot pay? You die there on your bed or on the floor. Wasn’t I kept there because I couldn’t pay the bill? It is a tragedy, Osaro said. A real tragedy. You have to bribe first to be treated. He shook his head vigorously (Violence 225).

Osaro has been endowed with the insight to know that this exploitation is a tragedy and as such needs to be addressed in order to raise awareness and engender change. This phenomenon of corruption is dealt with as a thorn in the flesh of the communal life. No intellectual should consider corruption as a normal thing simply because it has always existed and he

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

61

or she can do nothing about it. Iyayi, unlike such people, cares because he knows he can do something to redeem his agonizing society. In the same connection he can be said to be consciously politically committed. His radicalism is the logical answer to the degree of rottenness in which his country lies. From what has been said so far, it is amply evident and obviously unquestionable that the writer cannot be separated from the antagonistic class relations which prevail in his or her society. For this purpose, an artist and for that matter, a writer who considers himself or herself his or her brother’s keeper, should offer constructive criticism for the aim of engendering change in the way society’s affairs are managed. This is where the meaning of the political activism in the guise of political and ideological education resides. Iyayi, in my view, fits in that role of the writer. Besides his criticism of exploitation, he makes it a duty to criticize war and ideas behind it. For him, many wars including the one that opposed the Biafrans to the Federal Army, are not worth fighting because “the war was stupid but even more stupid were the reasons given for it, the reasons that led up to it. Why couldn’t the people, the leaders, have been more honest to each other? Why did they have to be dishonest to cause a war?” (Heroes 13). It can be inferred from this quote that Iyayi condemns the war as well as the reasons that led to it. For him the reasons that prompted the very war are not convincing. Consequently, the war could be avoided if the protagonists had been more pragmatic and reasonable and less selfish. Iyayi mentions the word ‘dishonest’ because, according to him there is a lie somewhere, a lie that has caused the war. This is clear that somebody or some people have purposely caused the war by choosing to swindle other people: “At every turn the war was accompanied by a lie, a lie used by each side to frighten its own people so that they are prepared to stand up and be counted” (101-102). Much further, Iyayi writes: The people are manipulated into war because those at the helm have a monopoly over the means of indoctrination and information. They can misinform. They misinform the people, they trick the people into war….. The generals and the politicians and the religious leaders and the businessmen send their children away from the country to make sure that they do not suffer from the war. But the workers and the farmers and the poor people remain and yield up their children to the war (63-64, emphasis in the original).

Chapter Two

62

Osime’s intent herein is to bring the rank and file and the masses to realise that they are ideologically manipulated into a useless war. I share this standpoint because the war is nothing but an exploitation and oppression of the poor in the sense that those who are on the battlefields are the masses who undergo losses and torture and rape; they are not the members of the ruling class. The ruling classes are always secure; their children are sent out of the country in order to be protected from the war their parents have caused. Conversely, the rank and file, their children and the masses are innocent victims of the callous decisions of the ruling class to go to war. The fact is that the generals, politicians and all the members of this class of exploiters do not go to the battlefield. They rather use the poor against their likes and because they are all manipulated and misinformed, they slaughter each other mercilessly under the mocking watch of the ruling class. The most disturbing aspect of this situation is that while the children of the poor are being slaughtered, raped and tortured, those of the ruling class are safe abroad from where they will be back to continue the task of oppression and exploitation undertaken by their parents on the poor masses who would survive this war. One of the most significant instances, which epitomizes this exploitation and oppression is when the reader is brought to witness a conversation between Osime and the man Umunna whereby they learn that the latter’s two sons are in the war: Do you have a son in the war? Yes. Two. One joined up with the Biafrans and the other is with the federal soldiers (103).

That Umunna is designated by the “man” means that many other ordinary men also suffer this unfortunate situation of having their children divided among the Biafrans and the Federal Soldiers. In fact, the man Umunna’s children are all from the rank and file who are condemned to slaughter each other over something that is not clear to them. This-divide-and- rule policy is characteristic of the capitalistic system whose most cherished invention is war. Admittedly, not all wars are useless; there are some that may be legitimate. But this one is another matter altogether. Iyayi has Osime reflect thus: I have nothing against wars, he thought, that are fought over principles. Principles that in some way deal with our question. Where are we going? How are we getting there? But the present is a war that arises from the greed of a few men. No principles are involved here because even if the

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

63

country remains one or is divided, nothing really changes. Changes may occur at the top as new people jostle for power but lower down, where I come from, the farmer and the worker will continue to live in mud houses and starve and be ignorant and sick and yield up their children for senseless wars. If we were asking which way, east, or west if we were asking one man one loaf or one man many loaves and millions of other men no loaf at all, this war might have made sense (64, emphasis in the original).

This illustrates the idea that war is useless to the people. It only ruins them or kills them. Herein, Iyayi points out to whoever wants to listen the real hidden issues involved in the civil war for purposes of awareness raising and taking sides if a similar situation is to occur again. In the process, he demonstrates that this stupid, ugly and dehumanizing war is imposed on the victimized, blameless, oppressed and poor masses by the blood-thirsty and hate-filled generals, politicians, professors and religious leaders who belong to the one and single class of exploiters. Again, Iyayi shows, through Osime, that while the war is over, it is far from being the case for oppression which still goes on. This is to say that peace cannot be won and that struggle continues, the struggle of the masses for a humane life. The fact is that many decades after the war, the class of the oppressed is still in want and abject poverty. Moreover, Iyayi offers to “depict the sufferings and agonies, the dislocations and brutalities experienced by civilians during the conflict and to highlight the greed and corruption of officials in high places who have cashed in on the tribulation of the populace as opportunities for self-enrichment” (Nnolim: 12).

This shows how callously the ordinary people are exploited and swindled into the war. So, the war adds countless problems to the ones already existing: the endemic poverty, the leaders’ inability or perhaps unwillingness to cater for the citizens, the majority of them. The challenge of the exploited is putting an end to their exploitation. Considering the scope of the domination, if the oppressed use violence to free themselves from their captivity it is a legitimate thing. In contrast, when the one who has already shown through his or her actions that he or she belongs to the class of oppressors uses violence on the already oppressed, this bears no name other than criminality and roguery. Iyayi calls this war an investment simply because it is a calculated attempt of the ruling class on either side to gain more power, and especially money. In addition, Iyayi insists, through Osime, that “there shouldn’t have been any war… This war was not necessary” (Heroes 86). Through this, Osime understands the mechanics of war and because he is conscious of the

64

Chapter Two

whims of the exploiter class, he undertakes to enlighten his fellow men and especially the downtrodden to revolt against the oppressor. Osime seems to warn the masses about the fact that their oppressors circulate a false ideology in order to bring them into a battle where they are victims. This is to say that, if the masses accept the decision of the ruling class to engage them into war, then they become slaves on their own will, for a slave becomes wholly a slave only when he or she contends with his or her categorization as a slave. To counter this situation, Iyayi endows Osime with the versatility to reflect critically on the war and its origin: He had come to see the war as the result of the struggle for power between individuals, as the results of the very contradictions in the rulership of the country. …Only one section of the population continues to carry the cross while the generals and politicians and businessmen all profit from this war. To them, the war is only another market with opportunities for profit. Sergeant Audu and Ikeshi and Emmanuel carry the cross and drink the gall while the generals and politicians and businessmen compliment each other and make speeches showing them to be the men of honour, the heroes (8990, emphasis in the original).

In other words, the big winner in the war is the general, the politician, the businessman, brief, the ruling class which profits by the sacrifices of the ordinary people. So, it appears that, the real motive or underlying reason of the war is a yearning for more power and money. It becomes obvious then that most wars are the result of greed and desire for power (94). Another example of this exploitation is the instance where: The captain who ran away, who was driven away from the ambush, Audu got nothing. Audu who was trapped and had to fight his way out. The man who abandoned them got promoted but those who died, who fought were never even mentioned. ‘Yes’ Osime Iyere said. That is how it has always been. They always get the credit. Audu told me. This is a bitter spiteful war (111).

This is to say that the rank and file as well as the common man exploited by the officers. Iyayi dramatizes the degree of exploitation masses undergo in order to reveal to the reader the consciousness of treachery of the exploiter class. Again, Iyayi makes Osime reflect on war: You need to examine the idea behind a war. This war has no idea, only greed behind it. The unity of the country was not threatened until the politicians and their partners in corruption allowed their greed to run riot. Didn’t you hear what the man Umunna said.’ Your people were good to

are the the the

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

65

me’. We never had any quarrel with the Ibos, nor did the Ibos have any quarrel with the Hausas or Yoruba until the politicians and generals allowed their lust for power and greed for profit to run riot. … this dull monotonous war that began with and is based on the greed of a few individuals (111, emphasis in the original).

As has already been mentioned above, this war is a mere conspiracy of all the members of the exploiter-class to devise ways and means which will serve as a cover-up of their crimes and exploitation. So, the idea that the unity of the whole country is threatened is a mere rationalization of war. In the same connection Ernest N. Emenyonu argues that: The ending of the physical war without the moral war ever taking off, is the cause of the lingering instability in post-war contemporary Nigerian society. The real war was never fought, and it needed to have been fought between the masses and their exploiters and not between the innocent soldiers on both sides. The fighting men in Nigeria and Biafra were manipulated victims of circumstance. The Nigeria-Biafran war was therefore, a camouflage designed by the oppressive leadership on both sides to shield their excesses and crimes against the common man, from detection. Even the military did not really understand who the real enemy on both sides was (Emenyonu: 98).

Emenyonu is supporting the idea that war is evil and futile because it adds nothing positive but hardship and sorrow to the masses’ already existing poverty. In fact, the poor are deliberately misled into this useless war, and I mean useless to the poor, for the rich get a lot from this war. As has been already said, Iyayi is not against wars which have a vision but against those which guarantee no peace after them because he is aware of the fact that there will always be wars in human society. Iyayi’s aim herein is to show the reader and the common man that there are always lies and indoctrination behind wars without any purpose of true liberation from exploitation and oppression. From what has been said so far, it is clear that Iyayi’s approach to the civil war is iconoclastic insofar as he shows support neither for the Federal Army nor for the Biafran army. Herein Iyayi, through Osime, offers a careful diagnostic analysis of the ideas behind the Nigerian civil war and concludes that it is a war which has stemed from the greed of the generals, the politicians, the professors and the religious leaders. Of course, he does take sides, but he aligns with the people who, according to him, should make up the third army. Ernest E. Emenyonu puts it quite bluntly:

66

Chapter Two Iyayi presents a totally new perspective of the war from other writers. The story does not depict any support overt or covert on the part of the author to any of the warring factions. Iyayi manifests very clearly that class consciousness is at the very root of many ills in the society whether in a military or civilian regime. His “heroes”, and here lies the significance of the title of the novel, are people from “the third army”, the suffering masses on both sides of the conflict (113-114).

Iyayi is an intellectual and as such his intention in Heroes seems to consist of denouncing the stand of the many generals as well as the commanding officers who declare themselves heroes in a war situation. In this particular case, the Nigerian civil war also known as the Biafran war, the rank and file undergo the war with all the evils associated to it and despite their sacrifices, they are not mentioned in any of the war accounts. Paradoxically, it is the high-ranking officers who profited from the war who shamelessly proclaim themselves heroes and consequently publish accounts which preach their “heroic” acts that won the war on their side. In the process, Osime Iyere has been endowed with the versatility to understand the ins and the outs of the war, that is the real nature of the war and its tragic consequences on the lives of the ordinary innocent people. One of the possible aims of Iyayi is an attempt to rethink the perspectives on the war as depicted by earlier writers, for in Heroes he pays the muchdeserved tribute to the brave and tireless unknown soldiers who actually bore the brunt of the war and who are unjustly discarded from the accounts of fame (114). Iyayi rightly tries to immortalize those people in Heroes where he writes: After this war many generals will write their accounts in which they will attempt to show that they were the heroes of this war, that it was their grand strategies that won the war. They will tell the world that they singlehandedly fought and won the war. The names of soldiers like Otun, Emmanuel, Ikeshi and Yemi will never be mentioned. The soldiers take all the dirt and ambushes and the bullets and their lives and yet, what happens? Always the officers are the heroes. Always the generals take the credit. Always the generals get the prize. Always they are the heroes (Heroes 246).

This behaviour calls for the ethical dimension in the treatment of “the burning issues of the day” in literature. This kind of writing is “primarily concerned with the perceptions and personal insights of the artist, with questionings of accepted ideals, and with meditation on the ironies and limitations of life” (Ogu: 123). Such writers can be considered as moralists whose aim is to educate, train and teach. Iyayi is one of the writers who concern themselves with the moral decay of their societies, because he is

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

67

aware that the rottenness of our societies is only a reflection of the moral decay of individuals and communities. This is the reason why he struggles for the moral revival in order to reach a national consciousness that will favor the freedom and welfare of all members of the society. Also important in this chapter is the treatment of moral issues so dear to intellectuals. The point I wish to make here is that the moral order informs experience and consequently the happenings in society. John Mbiti in his book Introduction to African Religion, underscores this important belief of the sacredness of morals when he asserts that: It is believed in many African societies that their morals were given to them by God from the very beginning. This provided an unchallenged authority for the morals. It is also believed or thought that the departed and their spirits keep watch over people to make sure that they observe the moral laws and are punished when they break them deliberately or knowingly. This additional belief strengthens the authority of the morals (Mbiti: 174).

The essentials of the situation highlighted above regarding the moral inclination of African societies reside in morality and ethics as a basis for the construction of any human society. This implies that morality serves as a cornerstone to the communal life. In fact, any society is made up of individuals whose desires and pursuits are as many and as varied as the inhabitants. All of them have the right to be happy, to enjoy life through the different means within their reach. Incidentally, they live in a society and therefore, their choices should not deny the other members of the society their freedom. This is precisely where the necessities of the adjustment of choices among individuals for attaining the general wellbeing of the community arises. John Mbiti argues that “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am. This is the cardinal point in the understanding of the African view of man" (106). This suggests once again that Africans are committed to corporate existence in which the responsibility principle plays a crucial role. In this respect, the individual is identified through others. Likewise, the latter can be catered for by the individual. Deductively, human relationship and social harmony are paramount in the African sense of moral aesthetics. However, quite unfortunately, the post-independence African society seems to pay no heed to the once cherished morality which was synonymous with the observance of the rules for the welfare of the whole community. Instead, the new dispensation favours the rise of materialism, greed, corruption, bribery, theft and many other evils which amount to the moral decay characteristic of the modern capitalist societies.

68

Chapter Two

Consequently, many post-independence African writers, among whom Festus Iyayi, have made it their concern to address this shift in the behaviour of the African toward the inherited capitalist monster. It is in the context of this general malaise that J. I. Okonkwo in his important article, “From Allegory to Exposition: Developing Techniques in the African Novel”, illuminates the concern of writers for moral issues: The moral indignation which fed the writers’ imagination to grapple with mismanagement of the independence, propelled the writer into conceiving his duty as that of directing attention to the multifarious ills that have sprouted all over the continent. This fundamental conception of the novel as a vehicle of moral edification must, to a certain extent, account for the parabolic tendency discernible in a large number of African Novels (Okonkwo: 193). Since independence, the African States, if not the political classes, have tended to appropriate the whims of the political operation left by the imperialists for selfish ends. Iyayi has endowed Rose, a character in The Contract, with the versatility to understand the current dispensation which she woefully depicts thus: I simply want you to understand that things are really different now. The people were much better four years ago. In fact they were better six months ago and they were certainly better yesterday morning. All our people are now caught up in the intense craze for money. Money and women. People are terribly mean to each other. The old trust, the old handshake is gone. There is so much hatred now, a lot of hatred and a lot of bitterness and a lot of greed and a lot of jealousy, in short, a lot of everything that is bad (25).

Rose’s pathetic depiction of the post-independence moral bankruptcy finds answer in the literary production of Nigerian writers who use their fiction to sensitize the masses about the necessity to transform the national consciousness that will ultimately lead to a lasting and inclusive development. As a well-informed writer, Iyayi does not merely depict this rotten physical and moral environment in which the majority of his fellow citizens live but he also excavates the root causes of this moral collapse. For example, he has Rose explain that money is the focus of everybody. As a consequence, people’s love and concern are turned inward and individualism invariably becomes the rule, not an exception. Thus, the moral principles perish to the detriment of this capitalist aesthetics which lays emphasis on money. Accordingly, people become aggressive to each other and are ready to use each other as a means for making money. In

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

69

fact, through the quotation above, it is pretty clear that this moral bankruptcy is ever-growing and if nothing is done, the society will slowly but surely agonize. It is against this national tragedy that Iyayi who feels concerned, has used his fiction. In essence, everybody has the right for the pursuit of happiness but it should be in the respect of other people. Many African cultures contend that: 1-if you do not allow your neighbour to reach nine, you will never reach ten 2-somebody’s troubles have arrived; these of another one are on the way. 3-it is the fool that says, “My neighbour is the butt of the attack not me” (Wiredu: 6).

This is a summary of some of the Akan wisdom sayings which show that Africans had their own understanding of existence. Those among them who regarded these standards as sacred and strived to live up to them were considered as intellectuals. Understandably, not every African observes the common rules. Likewise, in our modern world, not all those who have university degrees or who are writers are intellectuals. Artistsintellectuals’ aim is “to particularize aspects of intended moral. Contrast in characters, setting, action, help in building up opposing values that illuminate the moral” (Okonkwo: 194). Likewise, in his fiction, Iyayi expounds the themes of materialism, social, moral and political corruption. For example, the narrator says in The Contract: “Almighty money. The emphasis everywhere was on money. You had to have it to survive. And so people did anything to have it, because it meant survival. It wasn’t wrong to employ any method you could to get it” (122, my emphasis). Even though money is necessary, all the means to get it are not necessarily good. Unfortunately, people who argue that all the means to get money are good, end up sacrificing the interests of the community on the alter of excessive greed and its concomitants. And since want and poverty generate violence, this exclusion of others from the access to the common wealth creates frustration which ultimately leads to war. In this connection therefore, it has been reasoned in Political Ideas that “men are continually in competition for honour and dignity…and consequently amongst men there arise on that ground, envy and hatred, and finally war” (Thompson: 58).

70

Chapter Two

Furthermore, Iyayi’s radicalism on this issue of moral corruption has prompted him to have Temi say: That is why our judiciary of today is in complete ruins, why our judges act like orphans, like straw in a river without anchor, without remorse. These judges were lawyers and have remained lawyers even when they need is to become bakers, farmers, cleaners, anything other than lawyers, so they can interpret the good from the bad, the right from the wrong with their conscience rather than from their lawyers’ nothingness, opportunism and, in the end , nihilism. That is why today, this dictatorship that is so visibly worse than a leper, this President of a general with an iron saw for a heart can get the lawyers and the judges not only to sweep its front yards strewn with its nightsoil of crimes behind the “law… (Awaiting Court Martial 223-224).

Temi knows that in order to know how we ought to behave, we should in fact know how we do actually behave, which is why he depicts very woefully the moral decline of a lawyer and by extrapolation that of the whole judiciary apparatus. It must be stressed that Iyayi’s radical and down-to-earth language especially in the above quotation, is but a response to the degree of the moral collapse. Temi is a character who is aware of this rottenness and addresses it rightly because he cares. He succeeds in linking the individual’s moral weakness to the national decadence. For example, he criticizes lawyers’ dishonesty which, at first sight, seems a concern of a smaller scope, but which in the end becomes a national concern. It is paramount to stress that lawyers are highly educated people with terminal degrees. But unfortunately, they have an irresponsible way of doing things, thus negating their power. Thus, out of their craze for money and influence, they praise the president even when they are conscious of his bad deeds and the latter, sure of people’s lack of resentment, continues his dictatorship, for after all he and his lawyers belong to the class of exploiters who get all the surplus value of the workers’ labour. The contradictions come from the fact that no matter how badly a country may be run there will always be some people whose personal, selfish interests are, in the short term at least, well served by the mismanagement and the social iniquities. Naturally they will be extremely loud in their adulation of the country and its system, and will be anxious to pass themselves off as patriots and to vilify those who disagree with them as trouble-makers or even traitors. But doomed is the nation which permits such people to define patriotism for it (The Trouble with Nigeria: 16).

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

71

To such people and their accomplices, Iyayi has his narrator say: …a man wakes up and gets dressed, wears beautiful clothes and enters a grand car. People on the streets, whom he passes, think of him with deference. To them he is a man, a real man with all the charm and honour of the human race clustered around his heart, like colour around a flower, or light around the stars. Yet not all the bright stars of heaven are infinitely beautiful. Poetry may celebrate them; reality removes the dream and you discover a waste land of ugly stones. A deep octopusian sea stares back, like the sun warped flower, sapped of all vitality, all colour, all dream (The Contract 196).

Another important episode which shows intellectual militancy on the part of Iyayi and his characters is the following: we went downstairs to join other guests and began to talk about a variety of things : the poverty on the streets, the desperation in the homes, the callousness and corruption of the dictatorship, the greed of the generals in power, the fraud of the elections, the treachery of the military autocracy in Ghana, how that treachery was repeated in the various parts of the continent, especially in our country, the most recent statement of the general of the Republic that he intended to break yet again the promise he had broken so many times that we had lost count. Temi took part in these discussions …because he had been at the centre of some protests against the regime…(Awaiting Court Martial 215 my emphasis ).

This passage shows at greater length that the moral bankruptcy is rampant among the generals who govern the country. That many people gather to talk about this state of affairs and that Temi had been the cornerstone in some protests, is the proof that the post-independence Africa is very rotten to the point that intellectuals have decided to raise the alarm through protests as in this particular case. Consequently, many writers in Africa concern themselves with such issues as political corruption, treachery, crime and many more. This idea is in tandem with Uzoechi Nwagbara’s pronouncement: In Nigeria as well as other African nations, the ledgers of postcolonial writers are replete with issues ranging from political corruption, state violence, to despotic governance, among other things. In Nigeria particularly, the mode of governance in place has conditioned the form of writers’ craft; Nigerian writers’ quest for democratic and purposeful governance has been unwavering and unalloyed (Nwagbara).

72

Chapter Two

Most if not all postcolonial writers write to address what they view as a comatose state of African politics. And their characters’ views and militancy in criticizing as well as challenging the situation in modern Nigeria mark them off as agents of moral revival and the carvers of national consciousness. Hence, people’s consciousness that is raised drives them to question the essence of state power, and ultimately challenge the oppressive system that has created an artificial moral decay. In The Contract, this moral decay drives Iyayi to extremes. He writes: Mr Ajole of the P and T ought to be hanged, a voice shot up from a table nearby. No, the second man turned but he couldn’t see the face of the man who had spoken. “You are right”, he said to the faceless voice. Mr Ajole, the general manager, ought to be hanged. After all he bought the equipment which the operators are using. I hear he went to Europe to buy first-class automatic equipment. What did he do? He bought a secondhand, outdated equipment and shared the rest of the money with… (117).

One can infer from the dialogue above that the “faceless voice” represents what everybody should think, a national consciousness. This implies that everybody should unite against anybody that indulges in such corruption. Iyayi’s exasperation continues in the following observation: “And it is all money. Many millions of naira of government money. Hear them discussing how to steal it. Coldly, without panicking. Without consciences. But the whole country is like that now. The conscience of the nation is money now” (91).

As has already been discussed, money is the root cause of every evil because people consider it as an end in itself and not a means towards an end. So people in business do anything, including secret cult, to make sure they will get a lot of money. The following quote testifies to that: Six months later, another man had taken him to Iyaro, to the building that stood near the station and he had become initiated into the secret cult. Part of the ceremony had involved eating the meat of snakes, lizards, and, he was told later, vultures. There had been other kinds of meat, four others. Yes, Chief Ekata said to himself now, the businessman certainly had no place for virtues. Vices worked. To be virtuous was suicidal (74).

Such pronouncements lack the moral basis that is paramount in the building of a peaceful nation. Chief Ekata’s attitude is individualistic and characteristic of the exploiter class which would not hesitate in using fellow human beings to reach its selfish ends. Thus, in congruence with this idea, in Ivanka Kovacevic’s words,

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

73

if every man’s duty is to be successful, and if he has no responsibility at all for his fellow men, it follows that he will crush the weak whose interest conflicts with his own. The man of business had no conception of social responsibility that might compel him to consider the welfare of those whom he employed. This issue of social responsibility was felt to have no connection with the conduct of one’s personal affairs…(Bafana: 398).

This, of course, is an indication that Iyayi, through Chief Ekata, questions the selfish attitudes of all capitalist societies. It is my contention that he does this implicitly through the politics of form and content because it is usually true in works of highest order that the purport is not a simple message, but a complex vision of things, which itself is not explicit; and the reader who does not grasp them artistically, but is merely looking for simple social moral, is certain to be hopelessly confused. Especially will he be confused if the author does not draw an explicit moral which is the opposite or has nothing to do with his real purport (338).

Here, Iyayi rejects selfishness and proposes the restoration of moral principles which constitute a cornerstone for a harmonious society. In this connection, Oladele Taiwo writes that “no citizen has the right to assert his individualism in such a way as to destroy the foundations of society” (Taiwo: 107). In the same vein, Hegel and Kant contend that “ethical consciousness is associated with transcending mere self-interest; it eschews particularity in favour of universal principles” (Hegel and Kant: 68). It is against such self-interest that Iyayi writes what follows: There is a group of government officials in the services, in the forces, Mallam Mallam began to explain. ...Each week, I receive a cheque for one hundred thousand naira. Ogie waited, not understanding. One hundred thousand naira in cash weekly? That surely was too much money! … Actually, he admitted, I supply them with nothing. The money I cash, we share out again. I get my portion, the others get theirs. It is easy cash, the sort I always wanted….I got twenty thousand out of that. Twenty thousand naira for supplying nothing? It is business, Mallam Mallam said. That is the way we live here now. You either make it or you break (The Contract 17).

To this, Ogie Obala as an intellectual reacts in these terms: I’d rather do honest work and earn ten thousand naira a year than deal in fake cheques. My God, he said to himself. One hundred thousand naira every week in cash for nothing! One hundred thousand times fifty-two – in

74

Chapter Two a year that makes five million and two hundred thousand naira of public money, stolen. Stolen and nobody the wiser (18).

Ogie Obala is disgusted about these kinds of behaviour; he prefers an honest job with an honest salary to this theft organized by Mallam Mallam and his accomplices. This is an explicit call to fight these kinds of dishonest practices that cripple the national development, for: The social goals that complement (development) objectives are anchored to justice, the work ethos, the creation of an alternative system of values. These should replace persuasive materialism and morbid greed with African humanism, a permissive consumption ethos with a work ethos centered around the dignity of labour, and destructive competition for power and wealth with an approach which emphasises cooperation. All this require the equitable distribution of income, wealth, power and social opportunities as well as the strengthening of social institutions like family…cooperatives and social organizations (Onimode: 24).

In order to fulfil the above ideals, Iyayi proposes the intellectual and moral upliftment of all the society. For this purpose, he re-educates, sensitizes his readers about the need for a change in the way things are done in his fictional world and in society at large. Richard A. Barret corroborates this stand when he asserts that “there is a perpetual need for innovative behaviour as individuals are forced to modify the acquired culture to cope with changing circumstances” (Barret: 80). It is precisely because he wants a change in people’s behaviour that he writes: “It is not the kind or even the number of degrees that a person has that matters these days, it is the amount of money he has in his pocket, how many houses, what kind of cars he has. And nobody cares how you get these things. It is the result, the end result that matters, not the means (The Contract 13, my emphasis).

Iyayi’s contention is that this false consciousness needs to be supplanted by a new ethical consciousness. It is my belief that in the contemporary post-independence Nigeria as well as in many African countries, if not all, there is no questioning of the means through which people make money. Material success is the yardstick of human value and dignity, which is why many people indulge in theft, bribery and corruption and any treachery imaginable in order to attain this material opulence. What is advocated from this state of affairs is the change of mentality. So, Mallam Mallam’s argument that because the general environment is rotten, anything should be tolerated is a mere rationalization of the evil deeds: “Oh come on, you only talk about consciences when dealing with decent people. We are an indecent people. The first rule is to rule out morals. There are no morals in this country. If

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

75

you realise this and accept it, then you have the potential to succeed…We are an indecent, immoral people. You must never forget that” (18-19).

Ogie Obala serves as the hope for a better society: “The ways of the Nigerian are indecent, chaotic and without conscience now. But they were not always like that and will not always be like that. I am going to be an example, he said to himself, and the light came into his eyes. I am going to be decent and straightforward and clearheaded about money” (21).

As has already been said, Ogie Obala is an intellectual who fights for the moral redemption of his society. To him, things are getting much worse because “everything is dark and the pity is everybody keeps thinking it is bright. That is the great danger” (42). Achebe is alluding to this makebelieve when he says in his thought-provoking book, The Trouble with Nigeria, that “corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage; and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed” (Achebe: 38, emphasis in the original). Furthermore, the frequency of the bad deeds gives the impression that they are morally sound: Everybody expects, demands and receives percentages. These are the cold hard facts. But the facts do not make the practice right. People steal in this country. Thieves form associations, cults and societies. These are the pervasive acts in our everyday life but their existence does not make them right. I agree with you that bribery, the whole percentages issue is wrong. Morally wrong. But at the moment, everybody practises it, even the law makers, top government officials. Everybody indulges in it and so it becomes right at last. And whoever refuses to participate in it becomes odd. These are the facts which underlie the real situation (The Contract, 56-57, my emphasis).

The same concern is underscored in an interview of Iyayi by Kunle Ajibade: Corruption is parcel and part of the political system. It has become a norm rather than an exception; it is an accepted way of doing things now. The corrupt and the greedy are the ones who are likely to get national honours. What is going on is that a class of thieves now have a system of recognizing their own members. It is a system that gives medal to the mediocre. Corruption which actualizes itself in the crude accumulation of economic means, has become a way through which the politicians acquire

76

Chapter Two political power. A government job is an avenue for stealing money. I don’t know when this will stop (Adjibade).

This is how Iyayi epitomizes the rottenness that is rampant in Nigeria, his country. But as has been argued by Ogie Obala, this rottenness should not be regarded as legitimate simply because it can be found nationwide. That Iyayi depicts these bad deeds does not mean they should be tolerated; it is meant to raise awareness about the necessity to change them for the better. In Violence, amidst this race for money and power, there is a character, Idemudia, who utterly refuses to be bribed by Queen who is yearning for material wealth. In fact, he proves his moral maturity in the middle of decay; this, in my opinion, makes of him an intellectual in spite of his unfinished education (287). This is an explicit call for the people to imitate Idemudia. Also, in The Contract, Onise Ine is an intellectual who has been bribed in vain. He is promised money, positions and everything in order to bribe him. He has even been imprisoned many times but he has refused to stoop (156). For Iyayi, money is not the most important thing. What really counts for him is the quality of a person because a foolish man and his money invariably disappear but the most important, education, remains (156). To drive his point home, Iyayi writes: “The world is like that. Full of evil. But no matter how evil there is, no matter how bitter, angry, frustrated or betrayed we may feel, we must never stop fighting to bring about what is good because good always triumphs over evil in the end” (Awaiting Court Martial 255, my emphasis).

In addition to the political and material corruption, there is a sort of corruption which aims at dehumanising the victim. Here, it mainly concerns Iyayi’s implicit criticism of sexist values. For example, in The Contract, the exploiter class uses women to gain contracts. Sexuality which is a sacred thing, at least in the African context, becomes a mere instrument in the hands of the ruling class: Perhaps he would have to send his wife round again to the administrator and the others; but wasn’t that really too high a price? Should they have his wife yet again just to swing the contract in his favour? Still, this contract was worth several million naira. So what were a few men’s pleasures with your wife compared to five million naira? Nothing. Absolutely nothing (119).

This quotation epitomizes the sexual depravation characteristic of all capitalist societies. Indeed, it is a complete moral collapse, in the sense that money, a mere object, is considered to be more important than a human being who produces it. What seems to me a tragedy is the fact that

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

77

neither of these people seems to care, to question this attitude which has become a habit. The suggestion is that people should learn to shift their emphasis on money to man without whom there ultimately is no money. Again, it is this emphasis on money that is the underlying cause of all the problems that the humanity encounters. And my contention is that so far as man will always value materialism more than himself, there will be no peace for him and for his fellow human beings. Moreover, in Violence, Obofun and Queen (husband and wife from the exploiter class) use sex for money, influence and satisfaction or pleasure. Obofun does not even see any harm in using Adisa’s (Idemudia’s wife) poverty as an opportunity to satisfy his sexual lust: “I have something that Adisa needs badly. Money or at least the means to make money. She will benefit from it. She loses nothing by giving herself for it. Absolutely nothing. And I, I will be satisfied” (120). When Adisa begs him to spare her this temptation because she was married and that it was adultery, he worsens his case by rationalizing the wrong he is yet to do to her by saying: This is no adultery. You do it or let me put it another way. We do it because of something you need. Where is the adultery there? I have told you I’ll give you the drinks at the lowest price ever. Then I´ll give you another fifty naira so that you can start off in your own trade. Do you call this adultery? Do you still insist that it is indeed adultery? (129).

What happens thereafter in the mind of Obofun gives credence to Iyayi’s belief that nobody …just goes about life doing things without reflecting on them internally. What you see as actions outside are what the individuals reflect upon. A lot of debates go on inside us. The inner world of the individual is very important in our attempt to understand why he does certain things…Every individual has a motive; there is always a reason for a particular action. So, I do not believe, as some people say, that a tyrant does not know that he is a tyrant; of course he knows. He rationalizes his tyranny. No individual can escape responsibility for his actions (Adjibade).

Here is then what is happening in Obofun’s mind: What do you want with her? A poor woman, she is nothing to you. She is married. Leave her alone. If you won’t then don’t help her. But let her go. Let her be. She is married to another!

78

Chapter Two To which his passions retorted, she is beautiful! Look at her black lips, her long jet black hair and her black sensuous eyes. She is a black mild cat. Look again at those breasts…you must have her. A woman is not married if her husband cannot take care of her. She is not married! Then his better self cried out, you know you are lying. Poverty does not dissolve a marriage, but people like you do, your actions and the temptations you offer do. If you touch her you are offending God (Violence 165).

The above is a proof that the moral bankruptcy is consciously maintained; again it is the manifestation of the excessive greed for money and the good things of life. Still, it is money that is at the centre: people look for money and women rightly because they have amassed a lot of wealth or else they do anything to have it so that women might be theirs. In the contemporary Nigeria as well as in many other societies around the world, materialism is viewed as an indication of success. And many people indulge in this irrational hunt for money and women or men. On this issue Iyayi writes thus: Ogie supposed that the essence of active living was consumption. A man had to consume money, women, food, people, all the resources at his disposal, for the sole aim, for the purpose of active living. That was true, but not enough; to consume, you surely had to produce. Was active living only consumption? …No, active living is not merely consumption of resources- not unless you were a parasite. Active living had to be creative as well (The Contract 140).

Iyayi wants a change in the way sex matters are handled and this is why he makes Obofun regain his consciousness regretfully: I must apologise to her. I have offended God and the earth. I was like a vulture picking at the flesh of a selfless prey. I must see her in the morning and tell her how sorry I am that I forced her against her wish. I will kneel down before her and say, Adisa, please forgive and forget… I shouldn’t have taken advantages of your piteous situation. Honestly I am sorry. Please forgive me …my conscience will be cleared. I will then be able to help her properly and openly (Violence 199-200).

In the same novel, Queen, Obofun’s wife, uses her body to reach her selfish goals. For example, she gives in to Iriso, a superintendent of the Food Production Department in the Ministry of agriculture so that she might be supplied free of charge with meat, eggs, milk and fish, all worth five hundred naira (102). What is to be stressed is that at the time, these things were very scarce commodities obtainable only with the government trading agencies. This is a hint that Iriso uses public funds and goods for his selfish sexual satisfaction with a woman who is married. Also, the

Echoing Radical Politics in Iyayi’s Fiction

79

paradox lies in the fact that Queen who is already very wealthy is the one who uses her body to get more money whereas Adisa who might be excused if she did the same does not think of such a shameful means to get money. This behaviour, as has already been mentioned, is characteristic of the exploiter class which unashamedly sees any opportunity as a means of earning more money or material possessions and influence or power. This fact justifies the decision of Queen to, once again, use her body to buy Idemudia. In fact, the latter as a spokesperson of the labourers with whom a strike has been planned, is required by Queen to call off that strike meant for demanding more pay. He is an intellectual and a good organizer and Queen is aware of this fact. That is why she decides she would send for him. Indeed, besides her body, she offers to give him some money. Actually, after his refusal to take the money, she says: “You will not go on strike against me, she said again and she weaved her body away from the edge of the bed as a weaver bends the straw to weave the basket or as the sky weaves the colours to make the rainbow. You will not go on strike against me but will come and lie down here beside me. Come here and lie down beside me” (294).

Incidentally, she is shocked and embarrassed by Idemudia’s adamant refusal. Like Obofun, her husband, she rationalizes adultery when Idemudia mentions it (300). This episode is then Iyayi’s strategy to rid society of these evils which constitute a threat to the harmony of society and ultimately to the communal development. It is paramount to underline the fact that many people indulge in this objectification of sex. Queen has always used her sex to get what she wants: “she began to yield to people who helped her and she got the things she wanted. Then like an explosion, she realised that she had an important weapon in her hands. Men were so weak! She could get whatever she wanted” (195).

However, Idemudia as an intellectual, has proved her wrong by refusing to do what to many people is a normal thing. He is then used by Iyayi to teach a moral lesson to his readers. The most important point in my view is that even when Idemudia is aware that Obofun has slept with his wife, he retains his principled refusal to sleep with Queen in spite of the greatness of the temptation. This makes of him a rare kind of person who survives the overwhelming moral decay that eats up his society. Unlike Idemudia, Obofun reasons that “other people took his wife he took the wives of others. It was an eye for an eye, the iron law of Moses” (192). Here, the emphasis is laid on the possibility of an individual to lift himself or herself above the negative values that are in his or her society. In order words, a truly responsible person is not he or she who follows unquestionably the prevailing dispensation in his or her society. Instead,

80

Chapter Two

he or she differentiates himself or herself from other people. In this connection, Zagorka Golubovic observes that “Individual identity comes about when a person learns to differentiate oneself from the environment and consciously to re-evaluate tradition, becoming thereby an independent and autonomous individual” (Golubovic: 27-28).

This is the kind of individual Iyayi proposes to the post-independence Nigerian society, a person who does not merely internalize the mainstream of the social order, but the one who makes critical choices “in spite of the overwhelming pressures of his situation” (Ojo-Ade: 134). All in all, Iyayi strongly disagrees with people who have “turned money and material possessions into gods” whom they worship. On the contrary, he proposes the likes of Idemudia to society in its travel towards the moral decency because “when men of virtue and self-knowledge are lacking in society, God and His knowledge disappear from that society and automatically the society falls in darkness and oblivion” (Awoonor: 234). This ultimately explains why: the product of a writer’s pen both reflects reality and also attempts to persuade us to take a certain attitude to that reality. The persuasion can be a direct appeal through influencing the imagination, feelings and actions of the recipient in a certain way toward certain goals and a set of values, consciously or unconsciously held by him. A nation’s literature which is a sum total of the products of many individuals in that society is then not only a reflection of that people’s collective experience, but also embodies that community’s way of looking at the world. It is partisan on the collective level, because the literature is trying to make us see how that community, class, race, group has defined itself historically and how it defines the world in relation to itself (Ngugi: 107).

CHAPTER THREE ARTISTS-INTELLECTUALS: ARCHITECTS OF POLITICAL CHANGE

The aim of intellectual activism is the ideological and political sensitization or better engagement that will ultimately help to raise the awareness of the masses about the necessity of fighting to change the artificially unjust order in society. This activism has been relevant since the enlightened have always combated the ills of the society. They have helped change the stream of consciousness to focus on the plight of the poor and the disadvantaged, by raising questions about the majority being ruled oppressively by the minority. Also, they raised questions and consciousness about injustice, poverty, inequality, illiteracy, health disparities, and many other problems within the society. First and foremost, I deem it necessary to recall to the reader the working definition of the term “intellectual”. A lot has been already said about this issue but what needs to be kept in mind is that people who have acquired academic knowledge or who are self-educated with a quickened insightful critical mind and who are committed to the welfare of their community are intellectuals. What then is an artist? An artist is he or she who creates works of arts such as paintings, drawings and literary productions. Here, I am chiefly concerned with the last, literary productions. However, I shall also discuss the role of the drawings. Actually, drawings are obtainable through the craft of a cartoonist who is an artist. On the whole, the artistintellectual is an artist and intellectual who uses art to help his or her community in its search for welfare. Therefore, the role of the artistintellectual seems to be politically important in altering the bad political system and establishing justice for all. For this purpose, artistsintellectuals endow their characters with power (of intellect or virtue) to participate in the construction and the reshaping of their society. In fact, the artist-intellectual is part of the society; he or she belongs to it and cannot pretend to be separated from the antagonistic class relations at work in the very society. Ngugi’s thoughts are in line with the aforementioned argument when he writes:

82

Chapter Three I believe that African intellectuals must align themselves with the struggle of the African masses for meaningful national ideal. For we must strive for a form of social organisation, that will free the manacled spirit and energy of our people so we can build a new country, and sing a new song. Perhaps, in a small way, the African writer can help in articulating the feeling behind this struggle (Homecoming: 50).

Indeed, it makes good sense to acknowledge with Ngugi that intellectuals must fight alongside the masses in order to free society from evil. Therefore, the writer in a society must, through his or her fiction, project a better society. Many writers do behave accordingly. This is precisely what makes of them architects. In fact, an architect is somebody who “is responsible for planning or creating an idea, an event or a situation” (Weheiemer: 66). So, an artist who “plans” or “creates” an idea for the desired change in society can be termed architect in the sense that he or she is comparable to the designer of a building. As discussed earlier on, when a writer is concerned about the plight of his or her community, when he or she sides with the poor masses, when he or she deliberately decides to use his or her brain and enlightenment to enhance the lot of the downtrodden, then he or she is an intellectual because he or she has raised political issues in order to have a say in the way the affairs of the community are run. In this connection, once an artist has published a book, he or she is making a public statement. In consistency with this observation, political militancy may appear at the level of the writing itself – form and content – or it can be embodied by some characters in the work. So, in addition to the exploration of Iyayi’s characters as artist-intellectuals, I am going to refer to Iyayi himself as an artist-intellectual in his own right. This choice is justified by the fact that, as mentioned in the first section of this book, his implicit as well as overt concern in his fiction is his commitment on the part of the class of the exploited and oppressed. But to clear the ground for this discussion, it must be recalled that the role of the artist-intellectual in the society happens to be obviously linked to the role of art and, again, it makes good sense to explore the role of art in the first place. Actually, the role of art in the society has long been a highly controversial issue. Nevertheless, I shall offer what seems to be a generally shared view, at least among Africans. In fact, even if the end result is not the “perfect” reflection of reality, it must be stressed that art reflects reality at the very least, for the artist who creates the art does not do so “out of thin air” but within a societal context, supported by the

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

83

conditions of time, the resources, the technology, the intelligence, cultural, religious or philosophical conditions of the very moment when the artistic work is created. In the same vein, Hans Bertens argues: “All Marxist critics agree, however that in the study of literature, the social dimension is absolutely indispensable. Writers can never completely escape ideology and their social background so the social reality of the writer will always be part of the text” (Bertens: 90).

This observation is true in many senses. In the first place, one can see that the role of the writer is intrinsically linked to that of literature. Secondly, it shows that imagination and creativity are also part of social reality. Art invariably projects back to humanity the knowledge and awareness of the reality which, in its turn, endows humanity with the capability of understanding reality better. Accordingly, if it happens that the reality shown lacks humanity, then the writer provides the community of readers with the ways to change that reality or perhaps the artist simply projects back to the community that reality needs to be changed for the good of the community. To highlight this importance, Chinua Achebe pertinently shows that: Literature should go on and even increase because I think it is very important. When we talk about the confusion in our culture, about no morals and so on, where do we get these things in the modern world if not from literature? … How do you do these things if you cannot get to their minds, to their imagination? So literature is not a luxury for us….That is what he reads, what he believes, and what he loves. We must dramatize his predicament so that he can see the choices and choose right (Lindfors: 7475).

This passage is a condensed and powerful summary of the role of literature today as perceived by Chinua Achebe. He rightly thinks that protest will never be “depassé”, and he puts it quite adamantly: I’m talking about the politics of the country after independence. I’m protesting against the way we are ordering our lives. So I think protest will never end. I don’t think it is a question of protest against Europe or simply protest against local conditions. It is protest against the way we are handling human society in view of the possibilities for the greatness and the better alternatives which the artist sees (72).

In Violence, class consciousness has been harmoniously plotted so as to paint poverty and its fallouts. Here, I can talk of political militancy. In fact, the play-within-a-novel, a comedy written by a patient who had left the hospital three months earlier, the very hospital where the play is to be

84

Chapter Three

performed, is a means by which the playwright and intellectual has dramatized the real social atmosphere prevailing in his society. The character’s discharge from the hospital does not blind him but gives him power and courage to expose the abject conditions in which other patients and the majority of other characters live. This shows that the playwright has gained awareness through experience. For instance, the playwright has one of his characters, the Counsel for the Defence, make this remark: In my understanding, acts of violence are committed when a man is denied the opportunity of being educated, of getting a job, of feeding himself and his family properly, of getting the medical attention cheaply, quickly and promptly. We often do not realize that it is the society, the type of the economic and hence the political system which we are operating in our country today that brutalizes the individual, rapes his manhood. We often do not realize that when such men of poor and limited opportunities react, they are only in a certain measure, answering violence with violence. What I would like to see, however, is not just for a handful of men to take arms to rob one individual. I feel and think it is necessary that all the oppressed sections of our community ought to take up arms to overthrow the present oppressive system. The system has already proved that it operates through violence… (185).

The quotation above embodies one of the major ideas of Iyayi’s ideology; it shows that the playwright uses art to help the community of the spectators first, to understand their humanity and the complex historical conditions under which they live, and second, to help them understand that they need to change those inhumane conditions. Actually, the playwright does help the community of the spectators to understand their social environment and take stand in order to be able to change it, for nobody can change suddenly without being exposed to new ideas. True learning is invariably done through experience. The point I wish to make here is that enlightened writers should reflect fully their societies in their writings in order to raise consciousness. Furthermore, to seem real, the playwright has created an opposing point of view, the judge who represents the ruling class and its ideology. This may mean that he – the playwright – suggests that there always be two sides to a coin and that the community of the spectators should learn to listen to all of them and stop looking at reality from one standpoint, for reality is always on the move. Actually, the idea of having the Counsel for the Defence defend the accused is in itself the proof of an overt commitment to the welfare of the disadvantaged who, oftentimes, cannot make their voices heard. After listening to the Counsel for the Defence in the above

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

85

quotation, the spectator begins to see the contradictions that arise between the narrator’s comments on the nurse’s address of welcome to the Commissioner and the comments of the narrator himself: It was the nurse reading the address of welcome, thanking the government for all it had done to provide health facilities for the people, praising the government for building new hospitals. The address did not mention that in the same government hospital, some people slept on the hard floor or shared beds while others had single rooms to themselves which were almost invariably never occupied. The address said nothing about the fees, about the congestion in the mortuary. No, it thanked and praised the government again and again. Generous government leaders, it talked about. Our courageous and learned commissioner, it eulogised (162).

The aforementioned quotation makes it increasingly obvious that not all artists are intellectuals. For example, in this particular case, the nurse reading this address of welcome and her accomplices – because she might not be the one who has written this address – are not, in my view, intellectuals in the sense that their address is fraught with individualist pretensions. Simply put, the philosophy behind this eulogy is an implicit refusal on the part of the writers of the very address to question the existing oppressive and exploitative system, lest its promoters deprive them of eventual advantages such as promotion or presents. After all, whatever the situation may be, they will feel secure within the system. It is a universally shared view that “bodies of men are constantly engaged in attacking and trying to change some political habits, while other bodies of men are actively supporting and justifying them” (Dewey: 6). This is an indication that the exploitative and oppressive system is a network that always struggles for its own perpetuation. And some writers, the likes of the nurse, are there to help in this enterprise. “Violence and the lie” are for instance, as the Nigerian prominent critic Niyi Osundare argues: not the exclusive vices of tyrants and dictators. History and contemporary happenings have shown that every tyrant has his / her own pool of court poets, praise singers, hagiographers. And other hack writers – swarming maggots in the royal corpse. They encounter hunger on the street and pass it off as religious abstinence; they hear clamorous songs of protest and tell their masters it is the national anthem. They slander fellow writers who are in prison, and invent clever justifications for the evil too outrageous to serve. Like those of their masters/ mistresses, their eyes are buried in their stomachs (Osundare: 66).

It is obvious then that the nurse fits in this dirty role of spreading a false consciousness which is the ruling class’s ideology. In the Greco-Roman

86

Chapter Three

world there is an example which shows quite well that being commited does not automatically qualify an artist as an intellectual in the sense that he or she might decide to commit himself or herself to the cause of the oppressor: In the Athens of their day, Aristophanes was a conservative, Euripides a radical reformer: both were great dramatists, and their works were very engagé. With their opposing politics and temperaments, they waded in the social battles of their days taking sides, representing the views of their factions persuasively, ridiculing those of their opponents, and making of their drama vehicles of public education… (Chinweizu et al.: 254-255).

So, writers such as Euripides can be termed artists-intellectuals when seen against Festus Iyayi’s fiction. But the likes of Aristophanes do not deserve this qualification because they rather constitute a threat to the welfare of their communities and by extrapolation, humankind. Aware of this trick, the playwright sandwiched counterattacks in the novel by showing that artist-intellectuals can change the public debate to deliberately focus on the plight of the poor and the disadvantaged. Unlike the nurse, the playwright as well as the Counsel for the Defence, his creation, use their knowledge toward selfless purposes. Since ideas are powerful tools, it is the political responsibility of the artist to evaluate their efficacy and social implications in order to prevent selfish people like the nurse from justifying or rationalizing, supporting or even perpetuating some bad political habits that tend to brutalise the great majority of people. Again, the playwright has the Counsel for the Defence expose such blatant injustice that he resents, thus showing that he is aware of the torment of the oppressed; he does not shut himself in his ivory tower away from the masses. He complains: When in one public hospital, in the same society, one patient can sleep in the large air-conditioned room whereas other ordinary patients – men, women and children – have to sleep in corridors, on mats, on the hard, cold and roughly cemented floors or share beds, this is violence… (Violence 186).

The key role played by the Counsel for the Defence is that of awarenessraising in the sense that, before this play, many oppressed people might not have noticed this blatant contrast existing between them and those they might refer to as the lucky ones, or if they did, they either perceived it as a normal thing or the fulfilment of fate. It is to answer this lack of political consciousness that artists who care about the lot of the masses “deploy their efforts to arouse a spirit of national consciousness” (Bruce King and

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

87

Kolawole Ogungbessan: 146). This glaring rarity for some people (most often the poor) and a revolting affluence for other people are addressed by Bukola Sanda in his book The Problem with Nigeria: The country is underdeveloped, the economy is in shambles and as such there is a scarcity of commodities, low productivity, inequality in income distribution amongst persons (even amongst states) and attendant mass poverty so that the majority of the Nigerians are presently excluded from partaking, even at a minimum, in the consumption of the good things of life and many Nigerians cannot even afford regular balanced diet, adequate housing, health care and clothing to satisfy their basic needs (Sanda: 5).

Many artists-intellectuals address this issue of scarcity and by the same token enlighten their audience about the necessity to restore the social justice which is the prerequisite for a sustainable and all-encompassing development. In fact, the more the artist, through his well-crafted characters, projects back to humanity its actual conditions, the more humanity becomes ready to understand those conditions and their ins and outs. And the demand for social justice is such that no creative writing should be devoid of it. It is in the same line of thought that Shatto Arthur Gakwandi observes: “Indeed, political concern is a characteristic feature of African literature. The demand for freedom, social justice and equality runs through African literature before and after independence” (Gakwandi: 7). In addition, the very fact that literature can offend people is a tangible proof that it can drive them to change their inhumane side. The following excerpt shows a lot about the offence of literature to people: The commissioner half rose from his seat. The play must be stopped! He cried but in a suppressed voice. Stop! This is not a comedy! It is a tragedy, a calculated attempt to ridicule the government! The man who sat beside him rose with him, and whispered fiercely in his ear, but your Excellency, we are guests. We shouldn’t stop the play! Let us see the end of it. The commissioner’s voice was weak and it shook with emotion, the bastards, he cried. The bastards are using this forum to preach… (Violence 185-186).

Actually, the commissioner’s anger shows that the playwright is achieving his agenda of awareness raising. Indeed, as a “faithful” member of the oppressive system, it is hard for the commissioner to sit arms and legs crossed and let their misdeeds be laid bare. This is because any citizen of a

88

Chapter Three

nation is responsible for the activities perpetrated in the name of that nation (Fanon: 73). Again, the commissioner feels insulted because: Il existe entre les hommes, du fait qu’ils sont des hommes, une solidarité en vertu de laquelle chacun se trouve co-responsable de toute injustice et de tout mal commis dans le monde, et en particulier de crimes commis en sa présence, ou sans qu´il les ignore. Si je ne fais pas ce que je peux pour les empêcher, je suis complice. Si je n’ai pas risqué ma vie pour empêcher l´assassinat d´autres hommes, si je me suis tenu coi, je me sens coupable en un sens qui ne peut être compris de façon adéquate ni juridiquement, ni politiquement, ni moralement…(Jaspers : 60-61). There exists between human beings, because they are human beings, a solidarity in accordance with which each is co-responsible for any injustice and any harm committed in the world, especially for the crimes committed in his or her presence, or without his or her notice. If I do not do what I can to prevent them, I am an accomplice. If I did not risk my life to prevent the murder of other people, if I remained quiet, I feel guilty in a sense that cannot be understood adequately, either legally, politically, or morally… (my trans.).

It is for the purpose of negating this guilt that results from the insensitivity toward the exploitation, oppression, dictatorship and all the evils of the post-colonial Nigeria that the play, entitled Violence, is written by Iyayi’s character to help other characters reflect on their own reality especially when the African literature is considered as a function of “conflict between a dominant discourse and a local reality.” Accordingly, for an artist-intellectual to be relevant as Achebe suggests, there is a need and even a must for his writings and his world, that is his society and life, to have a close relationship (Kehinde: 88). The narrator tells us that “there was a great agitation among the audience. Many of them sat forward on their seats. They wanted to hear more. They no longer thought that the play was funny. They began to identify themselves with it. And so did the commissioner who sat, very uncomfortable, in his comfortable seat.” (Violence 185-186, my emphasis).

It is pretty clear from this quotation that the artist reflects awareness and reminds characters of their own vulnerability, their limitations, and also their hopes. He, therefore, plays the role of an educator, a trainer and architect of political change who tells them that there is always an underlying force behind any act, action or reaction in society. He does so through the insightful character the Counsel for the Defence who is not naïve and does not take things for granted, but thinks deeply before acting. For example, in defending the school teacher – another character created by the playwright, himself created by Iyayi – who is accused of robbery

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

89

with violence, he says: “I wish to state that the accused was faced with a lot of hardship for over twenty-five years. And I would like to mention concretely what some of the problems were… (180). Indeed, the character of the play goes beyond general assumptions and excavates the root causes of the robbery deep in the psychology of the school teacher. This implies that the best way to deal with armed robbery is not to build more prisons but to prevent it by providing for every citizen. And it is my contention that this situation is attributable to the capitalist system that operates through violence and this has engendered violence structurally. So, the intellectual, the Counsel for the Defence, plays the role of a pathfinder and provider of solutions to the various ills of society. Furthermore, the playwright has his character, the Judge who symbolises the exploitative and oppressive class, dismissed and thus educates the spectators about the evils of corruption and about the fact that such people end up being washed away by the same system: “it said that for not sharing your bribes with your superiors in the Department of Justice you have been dismissed from the service with immediate effect” (180). But more important by far is that after he watches this socialist play, Idemudia, and through him his fellow workers Osaro, Omoifo, Bernard and Patrick, gets educated and decides to fight the rotten system that exploits them. Idemudia happens to be the one to be most aware of this condition: What kind of life is this? He asked himself a hundred times. A man gets a job and cannot protest. He cannot ask for higher wages, the period of his leisure time is cut down arbitrarily and he must come out to work when he is told. This was slavery, this was… Yes, he remembered, it came to him slowly, this was violence. And now that his mind had established an essential link, found an apt description of the conditions of his life, he began to feel the actual content of that violence, what it consisted of (188, my emphasis).

Indeed, this awareness comes as a consequence of the play he has watched, which means that the playwright’s secret and sometime overt ambition is to spur the disadvantaged into action. Thereupon, I can say that the artist-intellectual acts as a catalyst for awareness raising and hence for change. As a result, artists-intellectuals have a deep influence on individuals, ideas and also on the political direction of society in the sense that, “through the politics of the text – its ideological dimension – Marxist criticism addresses the politics of the world outside the text” (Bertens: 9394). By rightly influencing people’s lives, an artist-intellectual thus assumes responsibility for educating the masses, for they are after all – as Achebe says in his “The Novelist as Teacher” – a kind of teacher

90

Chapter Three

(Morning Yet on Creation Day: 42). Admittedly, a novelist can be considered as a teacher, for it is a well-known fact, at least among Africans, that most African writers rely heavily on African experience. Again, Achebe, commenting on the role of literature, puts it: Literature, whether handed down by word of mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality; enabling us to encounter in the safe, manageable dimensions of make-believe the very same threats to integrity that may assail the psyche in real life; and at the same time providing through the self-discovery which it imparts a veritable weapon for coping with these threats whether they are found within problematic and incoherent selves or in the world around us (287).

It is perhaps this discovery that prompts the class of the downtrodden in Violence to organize itself and do something about their fate. The dialogue that follows tells much about this comment: We earn so little and yet we are worked harder than slaves. When you point it out, she dismisses you. How then do we stop it? The first man asked. By standing together, he pointed out (Violence 246).

Furthermore, when Idemudia is confronted with bribery and betrayal of his fellow workers, he succeeds in overcoming Queen’s temptation as is revealed in this quotation: Could he accept her money and let her down? No, that would be dishonest. But what if he accepted it and stood by her. Surely the workers would find out. … No, he didn’t want anything from this woman. Three hundred naira was a lot of money. He wanted money very badly. But it would be like blood money. He couldn’t accept it even if he really wanted to help her. He didn’t want any money, any bribe, from her (287).

It is rightly because Idemudia has learnt through the play that bribery has negative consequences that he is able to cope with this present situation successfully, for as Alvin Toffler says: “Each situation is unique. But situations often resemble one another. This, in fact, is what makes it possible to learn from experience. If each situation were wholly novel, without some resemblance to previously experienced situations, our ability to cope would be hopelessly crippled” (Toffler: 34).

This justifies the idea that nothing happens under the sun that has never happened before; even though each situation is unique, situations are

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

91

acknowledged to resemble one another, making it possible to learn from experience. Thus, Idemudia learns from experience. The Judge’s dismissal from service in the play has allowed him – Idemudia – to have access to such a situation to which he can refer to, in his temptation to cope with his present situation. His attitudes seem to be a call to the readers to value dignity more than any other considerations. He is put in a situation where he has the possibility of making money, but he declines in the name of noble values. This, indeed, is greatness when one is in a position to harm but chooses not to do so. He does not use his “sudden power” to satisfy his selfish needs. Specifically, when compared to Obofun, Queen’s husband, who takes advantage of Adisa’s, Idemudia’s wife, vulnerability and rapes her, Idemudia proves his moral maturity. He really achieves moral greatness by refusing to sleep with Queen even when the latter told him that his wife was taken to bed by Obofun, her husband. The very fact that he sees Queen’s nakedness and still resists the temptation and remains upright shows his greatness, for unlike Obofun, he is in a “position of power” to sleep with Queen for revenge, but he does not do it. This means that artists-intellectuals and “literature can play a great role in straightening the patterns of change in Africa” (Maduka: 13) in general and Nigeria in particular. Altogether, just as Idemudia has learnt from the play, Festus Iyayi aims to invite his readership to learn from Idemudia’s experience in his novel Violence which is the very title of the play mentioned. It is only by behaving like Idemudia that people will stop encouraging consciously and unconsciously the system that brutalises them. In Awaiting Court Martial, Akika Lamidi, (a cartoonist), says: I have better subjects to devote my cartoons to than armed robbery. Our madmen in power have just demolished Maroko. A team of IMF officials is due in Lagos in the next three days, indeed on Thursday, to hand out more directives for the generals to pass down. There are eleven officials of the NEPA senior staff union in jail over that strike which they led. Many of our human rights activists are in detention. Two of them were abducted from their homes and narrowly escaped assassination last week (88).

What stems from Akika Lamidi’s remarks is the idea of the futility of the anachronism. He poses, therefore, the problem of the relevance of the artist, which is so dear to Achebe. In fact, Akika Lamidi does not underplay the theme of armed robbery as one may be tempted to infer

92

Chapter Three

from the quotation above. On the contrary, Lamidi is an intellectual who prefers to talk about the root cause of the problem rather than its consequences. Here, armed robbery is considered as a mere logical outcome of the rotten environment favoured by those he calls “madmen in power”. This means that he holds them responsible for the atmosphere of terror that prevails in his society because, as stated earlier, violence yields violence. It is my belief that this position of his is far from any attempt to rationalize armed robbery. There is a common saying among the Kabye people which goes as follows: “A dog never gives birth to a goat.” This suggests that since a man is a product of his society, he cannot but behave like the members of the society that fabricated him. And because the society described by Lamidi is a society that builds on violence: illegal detentions, abductions, assassinations, poverty, it is logical to have armed robbers who are the creation of the system itself. Moreover, Lamidi mentions the IMF (International Monetary Fund) as the masters of the generals who rule the country. Lamidi concerns himself with “the burning issues of the day” rather than dwelling on ideas that merely serve as a consequence to the central issues. He questions the validity of the IMF because, as Kofi Awoonor puts it in his famous book, The African Predicament, the IMF/World Bank prescriptions for the economies of the developing countries have something perversely simple-mined about them. They are all predicated on the iron laws that are deemed to mandate the free-market, which means that you produce as cheaply as you can, enter the competitive market with your goods where you fight as hard as you can for the best price for your commodities. … …Through the economic impositions alone, the national sovereignty of these nations is compromised and diminished. (191-192).

It is against this complex corrupt landscape that Lamidi has used his craft to engage with the excesses of the capitalist system imposed on Nigeria and by extrapolation on all the developing countries. Lamidi is very critical of this win-lose relationship between Nigeria and the IMF/World Bank. But, more importantly, I think Lamidi does implicitly hold the Nigerian ruling class, the generals, responsible for their selfish undertakings which have worsened the case for the whole nation. All this amounts to a call for political change and any serious artist concerned about the common welfare should reflect, however little, the class struggles in his society. Again, on this issue, Kofi Awoonor states:

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

93

In Africa, the writers are still engaged in the silly and utterly futile debate over whether we should be politicians as well as writers, or whether we should write engagé poetry or write private verse. The debate is at best academic. Every writer worth his salt must address himself to the simple questions of human survival which the practice of politics hinges on (50).

Akika Lamidi, Iyayi’s character himself an artist, does not indulge in that “silly and utterly futile debate” about the commitment on the part of the artist. It is this fact which determines his pronouncements: To think that we can have a government of generals which cannot guarantee anything except death. …Yes, Akika Lamidi readily concurred. It can guarantee nothing but death and IMF. They are busy arresting unionists and human rights activists. In the meantime, we are held hostages in our homes or murdered by armed robbers in our beds … (Awaiting Court Martial 89).

And as a consequence of this situation, he decides to adopt the cartoons to denounce this atmosphere and spur changes in the way the affairs of the country are run. This is the reason why he represents a danger to the ruling class. Iyayi writes: “You heard them. It must be because of my last cartoon. You know the one that appeared yesterday, showing a map of the country pierced through by the lance of pain and betrayal, thrown jointly by two men wearing the captions of IMF and Field Marshal” (95).

This, then, shows that Lamidi is an informed person who is aware that the IMF and Field Marshal are avenues through which the national funds are scrambled. Consequently, he reflects this in his drawings to raise awareness. And this has made an effect because soldiers have been sent to arrest him on account of his daring truth. But Lamidi does not seem to be moved by this attempt to curtail the truth. He adamantly says to the soldiers: Mr SSS, why is your government afraid of cartoonists?... Mr SSS, your government is a huge joke… I am sure your generals do not sleep well on their beds each night. Otherwise, how could they have sent twenty or more of you to arrest one cartoonist? (95).

Here is a bold and straightforward response to this state violence and oppression and exploitation in the post-colonial Nigeria. In this connection therefore, Martin Albrow reasons that the “inability of the State to shape the aspirations of individuals and to gather them into collective political

94

Chapter Three

aims” (Albrow: 75) has animated the dialectics of text and terror. This is so because the writer in Niyi Osundare’s perspective, “is a person that people look up to, in whose works people are trying to see how they relate to the social, cultural and political problems that we are facing” (Na’Allah: 470). Accordingly, for Akika Lamidi to be relevant, he concerns himself with the political turmoil in his society for the reason that, in the words of Kazantzakis, “art is the representation not of the body but of the forces which created the body” (Kazantzakis: 150). This creative preoccupation is the driving force of artists-intellectuals in their fight for the underprivileged. Lamidi as well as his creator, Iyayi, fit in the role. The following quotation illustrates this argument: “While he thought the thoughts of all the helpless victims, Akika Lamidi changed his clothes. He put on a pair of black trousers, a khaki long sleeve shirt and dirty brown canvas shoes” (Awaiting Court Martial 96).

Lamidi is considered as an intellectual precisely because he uses his art to reflect the burden of the people; he does not use art toward selfgratification. He risks his life for the people quite on the contrary. This culminates in people’s conscientization and political education for the purpose of the positive political changes. In like manner, Udumukwu argues that “(…) in the current overwhelming desire for change the novel as a literary form has become both the channel for communicating the pattern of change and a powerful tool for fashioning out the desired change” (Udumukwu: 272). In Soyinka’s contention, intellectual militancy is more rewarding and efficacious than the crude and transient “victory” that violence engenders. This is because it impacts the mind and the intellect; this process goes beyond the realm of physical: it is ethically and morally based, thereby touching the very foundation of truth (Nwagbara). In addition, “The route to the mind is not the path of the bullet nor the path of the blade, but the invisible, yet palpable path of discourse that may be arduous but ultimately guarantees the enlargement of our “private” and social beings” (Soyinka). Soyinka’s assertion is sound in the sense that it is an acknowledged fact that most icons of freedom and justice throughout the world owe their success to this peaceful method. Among these can be mentioned Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. This is the reason why many artists, like Akika Lamidi, in this study, are objects of constant attack on the part of the ruling class whose interests are threatened by their artistic productions, rightly because the mind is the most effective weapon in the hands of the oppressed people in order to change their condition and the world.

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

95

In The Contract, though, Onise Ine is a political militant who writes and at the same time engages in overt demonstrations against the government policy. Iyayi writes: If the revolutionary wind began to gather momentum as this Ine had prophesied… As Onise Ine had written: “if on the average, every normal human being in other parts of the world exhibits five senses, then the advantaged man and woman in Nigeria exhibits six. Their sixth sense is the sense for theft, corruption, roguery” (123). A people gets the government it deserves, Onise Ine had written. He thought about the reported arrest of Onise Ine who had been caught distributing offensive anti-establishments leaflets in the city (121).

The above quotations testify to the fact that many artists-intellectuals are sometimes committed to the point of practising what they write as if to say “I am taking the lead; follow me, for I can do what I recommend”. This seems to be the position of Iyayi himself in his answer to the question: “Is there a disparity between the role of a writer as a politically committed artist and the role of the person as a politically committed individual?”: There are two levels at which a writer can be committed. One is at the level of what he writes. Another level is that of what he does in his practical life. Does he just write and allow his works to sensitize people, or does he follow up in order to realize what he says in his works? I believe that a writer who is truly committed has to be involved at both levels, because literature, no matter how powerful it is, cannot bring about positive changes in a country where both the political and economic system encourage people to be illiterate and ignorant. In our kind of environment, I don’t think literature alone is sufficient (Ajibade).

However, whatever the situation may be, artists play an important part in the moulding of ideas conducive to change, especially in the turning up of social justice which happens to be the prerequisite for a stable and developed society. And if I talk about a stable society, I mean a truly peaceful society, not seemingly stable societies where the peoples suffer silently and give the impression that they are happy, lest they be tortured. Therefore, there are some artistic productions which contain their authors’ concerns and which can be termed political even without the author being involved in the “practical matter of pushing his ideas”. It is clear that Iyayi’s literature fits into this role and thus deserves to be referred to as political in orientation. In this sense his literary works are

96

Chapter Three

avenues for redirecting the conscience (political) of Nigerians and Africans at large toward a change of values. It is revealing how, “the writer is primarily a revolutionary. His principal objective is not so much to inform, educate and entertain, as it is to change the society” (Ebong: 172). Implicit in this assertion is a certain compulsion on the part of the artists-intellectuals to commit themselves to the struggles going on in their societies because if things were perfect, there would be no need for writers to write their novels. But because they see a vision of the world which is better than what exists: it is because they see the possibilities of man rising higher than he has risen at the moment that they write. So, whatever they write, if they are true practitioners of their art, would be in essence a protest against what exists, against what is (64).

As has been said, Iyayi professes his political concerns in his writings. It must be noted that my constant reference to Iyayi is due to the fact that, the writer’s personal history, like the pressure of the age in which he lived, is a context which can help us to focus on the work as it is. Although much biographical information may be irrelevant, the critic cannot afford to be ignorant of facts which may assist him to learn the habit of an author’s mind or the circumstances in which a work was written (Gardener: 52).

In Heroes, Osime Iyere embodies the eye opener, the pathfinder, the artist and intellectual whose aim is to foster change. Incidentally, in this exercise, his undertakings coincide with those of his creator Iyayi who proposes to rewrite the history of the Nigerian civil war from the point of view of the rank and file. Thus, Osime’s intellectual militancy informs his reflections: “I shall reproduce his words for the newspaper. I will get this story but the story will be about unknown soldiers” (87). This decision of Osime is typical of intellectuals who are seekers of truth. Again, in this search for truth, he tells the soldiers, “I want you to know the truth, and knowing the truth helps until there are so many who know the truth that you can do something about it” (132). Iyayi and Osime, his surrogate author, thus explicitly reveal their concept of the role of the artistic text: it is an ideological weapon in the service of the revolutionary action. The novel rids them from the false consciousness and transforms their beliefs so that they, in turn, will transform society. “To know the truth” about the war is synonymous with knowing about the society as a whole, and “the unknown soldiers are symbolic” of the social classes from which they are drawn, the Nigerian masses (Ni Chréachain: 44). This political militancy aims to destroy the status quo in the management of the affairs of the

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

97

country. Iyayi and Osime herein show their commitment through the seemingly innocent urges to know the truth. They offer to do justice to “the unknown soldiers” and by extension to the entire class of the exploited and oppressed by writing their story. This, in my view, is an explicit call for artists especially artists-intellectuals to concern themselves with correcting the image of the poor in their writings and ultimately, of engaging in political issues. In Firinne Ni Chreachain’s parlance, Iyayi’s purpose, explicitly stated, is to enable ordinary Nigerians to look at their past and, by extension, their present from a different class perspective, that of “the unknown soldiers” who symbolize the exploited majority. He hopes thereby to liberate ordinary Nigerians from the false consciousness which has led them to interpret their world in terms of tribal antagonism rather than as a function of class conflict. …From a multitude of possible vehicles for this message, he has chosen the novel, which has its own specific ways of working on the reader’s consciousness (146).

At this point, it is plain that artists are architects of change in society. Obviously, Iyayi uses Osime as his mouthpiece to express at great length his concern for the oppressed and his commitment to social and consequently to political change. As said earlier, Osime does not merely depict the soldiers’ plight or tell them that there is a need for change; he does provide the pathways toward this desired change. The following is an illustration of his insightful propositions: What is needed, he thought, is a third army. …The third army will seat among the soldiers, Biafrans and Nigerians alike, and tell them that this is not their war, that they are shooting at the wrong enemies. The real enemies are the politicians who robbed the country blind, who looted the country and prompted the generals to intervene (Heroes 90).

Osime and Iyayi do not content themselves with pointing at the problem with their forefingers. Instead, they are aware that people are prone to follow the footsteps rather than merely following the forefinger, which is why Osime decides to be “the first recruit of the third army” and Iyayi to militate in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in order that they might make sure of the impact their writings are supposed to make. As a consequence, they qualify to be seen and regarded as artistsintellectuals who are architects of social morality and political change. So, those whose political militancy is overt are perhaps given greater credit because they do not stop at criticism in the manner of a medical doctor who is an expert in diagnosis but a failure in treatment of diseases. They not only

98

Chapter Three analyse the status quo and plead with society to acknowledge the disgusting values by which it lives but suggest solutions which hopefully may recreate the world and free man from the pain and suffering that his fellow man inflicts upon him (Onuekwesi: 221).

I think in so doing, he heeds the point of Ngugi that “it is not enough for any African artist standing aloof to view society and highlight its weaknesses. He must try to go beyond this to seek out the resources, the causes and the trends of a revolutionary struggle” (Ngugi: 65-66). This stand is a call for a revolution in the way writers, critics and other intellectual militants go about life and all its ingredients. It is in this respect that I shall concern myself with the intellectuals as agents of the regeneration of ideas which are without any doubt the raw materials for any intellectual investigation. In addition, artists-intellectuals are commonly believed to play a key role in the reorientation of public opinion. It is a generally shared view that “we do things with words” and this is truer with artists-intellectuals who constantly trade with ideas. In essence, ideas are means through which people do and undo things. Actually, artists-intellectuals play a great role in the remoulding of public opinion in various domains as an artist-intellectual is a well-informed person who does not merely rely on rumours or false consciousness propounded by the ruling class ideology in order to better control the productivity and reinforce their domination on the class of the exploited and oppressed. Thus, nothing should be taken for granted by an artistintellectual. Chinua Achebe makes this point in an interview with Donatus Nwoga: I think we might be neglecting our proper function if we take anything for granted instead of thinking what exactly is our society, what are its needs, what can I do, what can I contribute; that is what I was trying to get at, and I think we have a very important function…this is only one of the roles of the writer… (Nwoga: 7).

It is precisely in this process of thinking things through that Iyayi has Osime Iyere make this reflection: “Things definitely are worse now, he thought. The Black master took over all the white colonial man’s vices and when he added his own, society became blacker than darkness, selfish, greedy, dirty, like that market, like vomit.” (Heroes p.40 italics in the original.)

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

99

Unlike many writers, literary and socio-critics, thinkers, cultural activists etc. Iyayi does not want to blame it all on the colonial master. Admittedly, the colonizers have done a great wrong to Africans. But Iyayi does not wish to dwell too much on this past. Of course, it is true that the effects are still with us. However, to argue that Africans are still being exploited by the white colonial master’s children and even grand-children would, in my view, be foolish in the sense that it is really unintelligent to be exploited permanently. In this connection, the Chinese have a very wise proverb: “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me again, shame on me!” So, there should be no excuse for the African leaders who always hold the colonization responsible for their stupid and desecrate actions. Herein, Iyayi implicitly means that “the black master” must question his own attitudes instead of always blaming the white master, thus making the people believe that he is not guilty of the malaise that is their lot. In fact, this is a calculated attempt on the part of the ruling class to divert the attention of the oppressed from the essential. All in all, Osime’s reflections are an implicit invitation of the ruled to stop considering their leaders as saints who have nothing to do with their misfortune. Quite on the contrary, they should view them as their problems and try to help stop that false consciousness aimed at silencing them. In The Contract, Onise Ine writes that “a people gets the government it deserves” (121). This amounts to saying that people are also to be blamed if they are badly ruled in the sense that they are too credulous and thus become silent accomplices of their own exploitation. This is to say that they do little if not nothing to prevent their tormentor from carrying on his devilish plans of exploitation. In fact, independence is expected to accord to Africans respect for being able to pilot their affairs without interference. These dreams have come to a stalemate as African leaders have been exhibiting the same, if not worse than the colonial pattern of politics. The African… ruling class are products of the same evil they fight against (Oha: 61-62).

I think this state of affairs drives many postcolonial African writers, among whom Festus Iyayi, to concern themselves with “the here andnow” instead of dwelling too much on colonialism. And it is my strong belief that now that African peoples know “where the rain began to beat” them, it is about time they questioned their own practices instead of throwing the blame on colonialism and its agents alone. This is undoubtedly what Achebe has in mind when he writes that “the time has come when we must assume responsibility for our problems and our

100

Chapter Three

situation in the world and resist the temptation to blame other people” (Morning Yet on Creation Day 3). This is so because “when an ideal functions to mask its own failure, it is a false ideal, or false consciousness, whose real purpose is to promote the interests of those in power” (Tyson: 55 emphasis in the original). The point that is being made here is that while they have noble purposes for the rise of Africa, many Africans consciously or unconsciously hide their flaws which, if highlighted, could be used to turn their failure into success. Simply put, there is no need to try to itemize the devious practices of Africans themselves which are obviously constraints to Africa’s development. This view is reinforced by Bukola Sanda when he writes: Some authors have written pieces on “Africans Underdeveloped Africa”1 and with the conviction that the same theory which underlies the claim that Africans themselves contribute immensely to the underdevelopment of Africa could be applied to Nigeria (“the giant of Africa” or micro-Africa) we can now write on “How Nigerians Underdeveloped Nigeria” (Sanda: 16).

So, in order that the post-independence writers and critics as well as intellectuals and readers might not be accused of escapism, they should shift their concern to self-criticism which is a pathway to success. To drive my point home, Buddha’s insightful comments are more than necessary: “one’s own self conquered is better than all other people conquered; not even a god could change into defeat the victory of a man who has vanquished himself” (Nnolim: 4). By analogy, I think Africans should try to conquer themselves rather than rationalizing their weaknesses permanently. And Iyayi is among those writers who refuse to find excuses for the mismanagement of the public resources by the new African leaders. This is what makes his writings declamatory in outlook. For example, in The Contract, he writes: “the African has no conscience, never had” (19). This argument is meant to dissuade Africans from believing that all their misfortunes were caused by white people, with black people being innocent victims. It is an explicit attempt to tell them that their enemy is to be traced among them. And there is another instance in Violence which illustrates this point: “He (Papiros Clerides, the Greek and the site engineer) was hard, brutal and mean. She (Queen) knew that and it was because of these very reasons that she had employed him to use her own 1

A. O. Sanda, “How Africans Underdeveloped Africa” A Keynote Address delivered at the CERDAS/NISER Information Seminar on the Social Consequences of Unequal Development of Urban and Rural Areas of Africa, Conference Center, University of Ibadan, September, 1980.

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

101

people (250). This attitude epitomizes a kind of “homesickness” for the colonial period. It is a common phenomenon in many post-independence African countries where the new rulers, in spite of the availability of a qualified local manpower still call in the white people who oftentimes have no qualification required for the execution of some particular tasks. This behaviour comes from the nostalgia for the colonial days when the African ruling class conspired with the white masters to exploit the people. But this situation is another matter altogether because in those days white people were “uninvited guests”. On the contrary, our new leaders make conscious choices or invitations. In such a situation, should one always think of post-independence malaise as a consequence of colonization? To do so would, in my view, be synonymous with what can be termed intellectual shortsightedness. Iyayi invites his fellow writers to concern themselves with the topical issues instead of dwelling too much on the effects of colonization. This supposes an actualization of truth. Also, this call for concern informs Awoonor’s pronouncements that literature is the centre-piece of action in the redressing of our massive woes. All else is buck-passing, dodging, intellectual masturbation, evasions and fundamental fiddling while Ghana burns. We must share the burden, Neruda calls it soling our hands with the despair of the poor. Thus, ineffectually we write purposeless plays, nice poems and beautiful novels about what?... We must move on to the real eye of the storm, do combat with any weapon available… (Awoonor: 408).

So, what is needed in contemporary Africans’ life is the restructuring and the reorganization of their minds and psyche. It is a revolution of consciousness, to completely upturn the thinking process and the value mechanism of the Africans in such a way that it becomes possible for them o to re-order their priorities (Ebong: 71). Simply put, artists-intellectuals must try to avoid holding white people responsible for their plight and rather focus on their here-and-now for the purpose of promoting pragmatic solutions to practical problems. If not so they will spend their time snivelling and tomorrow will be no better than today and yesterday. What I mean by the foregoing is that the future generations will spend their time blaming white people the same way as we do it now. It is my contention that it is about time we mended our own ways instead of complaining eternally. The necessity for this shift of emphasis is corroborated by John Munonye: “When we started writing we felt a sense of mission about reconstructing our history, but now we must write about the present. We must go into our society, its strong and weak points, its problems, the prescriptions we would like to offer, casting these into art form” (Munonye).

102

Chapter Three

It is therefore, the concern for the contemporary issues in Nigeria that is praiseworthy. In this process it is salutary to discard momentarily the yesterday memories and stop rationalizing the people’s stupidity. For example, in Heroes Iyayi exposes the bad deeds of the ruling elites who took over the coloniser thus: Always they are late and then everybody else says that the African has no sense of time, that he is never punctual. They use the practices of the ruling class to label entire peoples, entire continents…. The whole society is judged on the practices of the ruling class. And because the practices of our rulers have always been dark, we become the dark continent, because these practices have always been shameless and backward, we become the shameless and the backward society (145 emphasis in the original).

Iyayi is very critical of Nigerian leaders and by extrapolation African leaders’ behaviour. As it is, no colonial master is to be blamed for the black man’s irresponsibility. That is why it is paramount to stop holding the white master responsible for any stupid action performed by the ruling class. Again, I deem it necessary to stress that I am aware and I do agree that slavery, colonization and all their fallouts have done a great wrong to Africans. But the point I wish to highlight here is that this fact should not be overemphasized so as to blind Africans on the blatant fact that they are trying to dodge responsibility. It is worth considering further at this point Umelo Ojinmah’s view that “one cannot but agree that it is no more enough to blame outsiders for our woes to stridently repeat the refrain of colonialism and its aftermath, rather than face squarely the responsibilities which self-governance imposes” (Ojinmah: vii). Umelo Ojinmah’s perception of the post-independence tensions is linked to the lack of responsibility on the part of the new rulers rather than that of the colonial masters even if the latter deserve some blame. Ojinmah underscores Achebe’s views on this issue in the following statement: Achebe sees much of the post-colonial tensions in African new states and their resolution as consequent on the disregard by individuals in positions of power of the responsibility which such positions and power imposes. While he believed that it is probably all right to apportion blame and point accusatory fingers at the evils and disruptions wrought by colonialism, he is also of the view that the African has not fared better at the hands of the post-colonial black administrative class (8).

Neal Asherson, in his review of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah makes the same point:

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

103

…Chinua Achebe says with implacable honesty, that Africa itself is to blame [for the corruption, mismanagement, collapse of democracy], there is no safety in excuses that place the fault in the colonial past or in the commercial and political manipulations of the first world. The first postcolonial leaders, for all their European educations and sophistication, utterly failed to meet their responsibility (Asherson: 9).

It is important to mention that the materialism, of which some people accuse the western world of being heir, is also characteristic of the Nigerian society. It suffices to exercise a little reflection to find this out. So, African societies have always been materialistic, but unlike what we observe today they also used to have a spirituality which helps control the materialism. In this connection, Achebe puts it: Anyone who has given any thought to our society must be concerned by the brazen materialism one sees around. I have heard people blame it on Europe. That is utter rubbish. In fact the Nigerian society I know best – the Ibo society – has always been materialistic. This may sound strange because Ibo life had at the same time a strong spiritual dimension – controlled by gods and ancestors, personal spirits or chi, and magic (The Role of a Writer in a New Nation: 11).

Quite unfortunately, Africans have kept the materialism and thrown away the spirituality which should keep it in check. It needs to be mentioned at this point that Africans have themselves to blame for having abandoned the positive things in their culture that used to keep them in integrity. The worse is that instead of questioning their own morality, they blame it all on the Europeans. And it is my firmly held view that so far as one does not recognize one’s responsibility in a certain failure, one is not ready to embrace the way to self-criticism which yields self-improvement and success. In this connection, Achebe believes that one of the qualities of a wise person in any society, is for that person to know and acknowledge when he or she is wrong. This idea is summed up in the Igbo saying that “admitting one’s errors is not a mark of cowardice but wisdom” (Ojinmah: 22). Black people’s attitude seems to contrast with the Igbo saying in the sense that many of them turn to blaming white people eternally instead of minding their own ways of doing things. As a saying goes “what you do with what happens to you is more important than what happens to you.” This, therefore, is an invitation of black people not to lay all the blames at the doorsteps of white people.

104

Chapter Three

In addition, he is also critical of the African mentality according to which one who has just come out of poverty should by all means fight to maintain his or her position. In The Contract, Iyayi writes: I have struggled to build up what I have, struggled and suffered setbacks but this is going to be the greatest setback of all. My own son turning against me. But it will never be. Not while I am alive (95-96). I have come a long, long way from the struggling young man barely able to afford his meals to one who can do whatever he wishes so long as that depends upon having the money (210).

The above quotes show Chief Eweh Obala in one of his best exercises, rationalization. He does not want to change his behaviour patterns for the better because he does not want to return to his past life which he depicts as being full of struggles. The contradiction in his behaviour is that he does not think about the welfare of other people who might be struggling at the same time he wallows in material and financial abundance. So, it is this fright of becoming poor again which moves some people, the likes of Chief Eweh Obala, to cling to their current situations whatever they may be. Such attitudes are more common on the African political scene where some public officials devise any means to cling to power not for the common good, but for the sole purpose of keeping the interests their positions confer to them. This attitude is, in my view, one of the causes of the political and economic turmoil in African nations today especially when “in many instances the rulers could not tell the difference between their personal wealth and the funds of the state” (Awoonor: 190). So, such people try to make the people believe that they are there for them whereas the real truth is that they want to cling to the advantages that are conferred by their positions. It is utterly unintelligent to cling to power just for advantages as though there was no other thing worth it outside power. I cannot bring this discussion on the necessity to reorient the public opinion to an end without addressing the controversial issue of class division which is replete with many contemporary capitalist discourses most of which maintain that religion, race, and ethnicity are the bases upon which the superstructure of socio-political and ideological reality is built. On this issue, Iyayi’s position is clear-cut: this categorization should be based on material possession. To show this, he mainly uses the Biafran war. In Heroes, he writes:

Artists-Intellectuals: Architects of Political Change

105

… in the first place, the Ibo man’s enemy is not the man from the other tribe. His enemies are there in his own tribe as they are there in the other tribes. The Ibo businessman is the greater enemy to the ordinary Ibo man whereas the ordinary Hausa or the ordinary Yoruba man. The Ibo politician steals from the ordinary Ibo man whereas the ordinary Hausa man does not. The Ibo businessman cheats the ordinary Ibo man whereas the ordinary Yoruba does not. The fact is that the ordinary Ibo has a great deal more in common with the ordinary Hausa and the ordinary Yoruba than he has in common with the Ibo businessman and general and politician … (168).

Osime utters these words because he does not take things for granted without a minimum of scrutiny. This said, he discards, or perhaps Iyayi makes him do so, the division of the Nigerian society along the tribal lines as is commonly believed in Nigeria as well as in many capitalist societies. Tyson agrees with this position when he srgues that from a Marxist perspective, differences in socioeconomic class divide people in ways that are much more significant than do differences in religion, race, ethnicity, and gender. For the real battle lines are drawn, to put the matter simply, between the “haves” and the “have-nots”, between the bourgeoisie – those who control the world’s natural, economic, and human resources – and the proletariat, the majority of the global population who live in substandard conditions… (Tyson: 50).

Iyayi’s analysis of the class structure in Nigeria seems to fit perfectly in this world-renown thinker’s contention underscored in the above quotation. Iyayi urges his readers to mind the way they analyze, if at all, the prevailing social conditions. He warns them against the false consciousness circulated by the ruling class, false consciousness meant to serve the sole purpose of such class. Simply put, the reason for this situation is to promote the interests of those in power. So, Iyayi as well as Osime, the surrogate author, are trying, through their different points of view, to reorient the public opinion on the origin of class struggles. This has earned Iyayi the term radical thinker and reformer whose intention is to reinvent the thinking patterns of his fellow citizens. On this issue, Firinne Ni Chréachain has this to say: Iyayi’s purpose, explicitly stated, is to enable ordinary Nigerians to look at their past and, by extension, their present from a different class perspective, that … of the exploited majority. He hopes thereby to liberate ordinary Nigerians from the false consciousness which has led them to interpret their world in terms of tribal antagonism rather than as a function

106

Chapter Three of class conflict. He wants to unite them across tribal barriers against the ruling class (Ni Chréachain: 146).

CHAPTER FOUR TOWARD THE REDEFINITION OF VIOLENCE

Ordinarily, violence connotes physical abuse. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary it is “a physical and emotional force and energy” or again “physical force that is intended to hurt or kill somebody” (Weiheiemer: 1704). But Iyayi redefines it as being a continual, demoralizing structure that is meant to eliminate gradually hope, pride, self-esteem, health and the ability to live in an independent and happy manner. However, this is not to say that Iyayi undermines the physical violence in his depiction of the brutal relationships that characterize the ruling class and the class of the oppressed and exploited. Quite on the contrary, it is the physical violence which is the outward expression of the continual and demoralizing structure most people tend to downplay. In this connection, maintaining people consciously in poverty and need is nothing but pure violence. Obviously, it lies in the hands of the intellectuals to make this understanding meaningful to both the oppressor and the oppressed. In addition, violence is the absence of peace. “Poverty”, Awoonor argues, “cannot be a friend of peace” (Awoonor: 333) and ultimately the absence of peace is already a sign of violence. At any rate, what is at issue here is actually that Iyayi’s definition of violence is structurally based rather than the physical aspect of it which is merely an exterior sign of violence long maintained in the psyche. So, since the intellectual is the society’s critical conscience, his orȱ her main task is the production of ideas. Consequently, he or she must wage a struggle against injustice, corruption and oppression. For example, Iyayi is aware that having to always rely on borrowed money from other people is mentally torturous and guarantees no peace. Therefore, his first novel, Violence exposes the sufferings of the lower classes and the have-nots. It is paramount to point out that Iyayi conveys his definition adequately in the play sandwiched in his novel Violence. He writes: In my understanding acts of violence are committed when a man is denied the opportunity of being educated, of getting a job, of feeding himself and his family properly, of getting medical attention cheaply, quickly and

108

Chapter Four promptly. We often do not realise that it is the society, the type of economic system which we are operating in our country today that brutalises the individual, rapes his manhood (185).

The Counsel for the Defence’s arguments epitomize the violence the ordinary people undergo in the Nigerian society and by extrapolation in many countries around the world. He, therefore, defines violence along class lines. Tunde Fatunde, in his article, “Images of Working People in Two African Novels: Ouologuem and Iyayi” underscores Iyayi’s perception of violence as follows: A deeper look at the philosophical position of Iyayi on violence reveals the following points: violence is a historical phenomenon. It has a class basis. Surplus value is extracted and expropriated from the working class by the owners of the means of production. Consequently, Idemudia feels that violence…consisted not of physical brutal assault but a slow and gradual debasement of himself, his pride as a man (Fatunde: 115).

It is plain then that violence has always been the lot of the working people who undergo it at the work place, in hospitals and at home. The fact of the matter is that it is ever present under diverse guises possible. For this purpose, Iyayi speaks for the masses through the Counsel for the Defence who depicts the system as thriving on violence. In the process, he disagrees with the court’s definition of violence and proves that “it is definitely the lack of opportunities that drives people to crime, madness, prostitution” (Violence 184-185). This lack of opportunity is amply illustrated in the novel. Idemudia and his wife Adisa are so poor that even the basic necessities as replacing the broom in their house remain unattainable. In addition, their “eight-spring iron bed” is very old because they cannot afford to replace it either (Violence: 1). Much deeper, moreover, is the sad fact that the class of the oppressed and the exploited starve whereas the class of the oppressors symbolised by Queen throws food into the dustbin: So, the pigs are going to eat all that, Osaro hissed. Patrick laughed. I thought you had forgotten about that dustbin. Osaro’s face was serious and his voice was bitter. How can I forget? He asked. I am hungry. I haven’t eaten since morning. I have had nothing to eat too, Idemudia said, and tried to forget Adisa.

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

109

It’s so unfair, Osaro added. One man has enough to eat, in fact so much so that he throws some away. Yet here we are, hungry with nothing to eat. Well, all fingers are not equal. Everything is God’s work, Patrick said. Kai, it’s not God’s work, it’s man-made. Omoifo disagreed (20).

From this conversation, it is clear that being unable to satisfy one’s basic needs such as feeding oneself, having a decent shelter, dressing oneself, getting medical treatment, is synonymous with violence insofar as some people, as in this particular case, have accumulated more possessions to the point of denying other people their share of the common wealth. Aware of this situation, the Counsel for the Defence says: When in the same society, whereas one man has more than enough to feed himself, his dogs, his cats, children and monkeys and many other men are weak and thin from hunger and their children are suffering from kwashiorkor, this is violence… It is, he continued in a passionate voice, a violence consciously maintained, whetted and intensified by those who operate the system. And to cease to recognize this or to pretend that it is not so only shows the extent to which we are ourselves part and parcel of the system that thrives and survives on violence (186).

As a matter of fact, it is easy to infer from the Counsel for the Defence’s plea in favour of the accused and the exploited and oppressed in general, that Iyayi’s definition of violence is a structural one. My contention is that there is no greater violence than hunger and sickness in the sense that what ultimately follows them up, if nothing is done, is death. Unlike some people who posit that everything is predestined by God and therefore violence and exploitation should not be questioned by the working people who are mere powerless human beings, Iyayi holds the view that violence is the handiwork of man. For him, man became what we know of him today as a result of labour. This is all the more reason why working people must be given their rightful place in human history. Thus, he does not give credence to any metaphysical school of thought which posits that the destiny of man is in the hands of an extra-terrestrial being (Fatunde: 116). He, for example, asserts that the two children of the beggar stretching out their hands at the doorstep of a church “…were the children of the world, not created by God” (220). Iyayi’s contention is far from any sacrilegious intent as some people may think. What this implies is that the two children, their situation of hardship and sorrow, are not created by God to have that destiny. “The world” here embodies the socio-political and

110

Chapter Four

economic environment in which the two children happen to be born. I contend with him that God created the world and the human being; but the latter created the hell for his fellow human beings and ultimately for himself. This stand can be justified by the fact that a man is the product of his social as well as physical environment. As has been already stressed, details matter a lot for the intellectual unlike the oppressor whose interests are informed by the perception that people at the top of the social scale are naturally superior to those below them: more intelligent, more responsible, more trustworthy, more ethical and so on. People at the bottom of the social scale, it follows, are naturally shiftless, lazy, and irresponsible. Therefore, it is only right and natural that those from the highest social class should hold all the positions of power and leadership because they are naturally suited to such roles and are the only ones who can be trusted to perform them properly (Tyson: 57).

This quotation is pure arrogance. God or nature or the Supernatural or whatever you may choose to call Him, did not create any class, to say nothing of greed and violence. Class is the handiwork of man and again, God did not create any person to be dominated, oppressed and exploited by his or her fellow human beings. This happens as a result of the greed that is rampant in the human societies. In addition to being unable to feed themselves, the exploited lack medical attention. There is a woman who has lost her husband as a result of selfmedication simply because they have no money for the hospital. This is of course violence when a member of the society who works a lot to maintain the whole society in satisfaction (material or otherwise) happens to lack medical attention because of his precarious condition (Violence 68). However, when such people happen to go to hospital they are confronted with a cruel lack of money, of beds and adequate attention on the part of the health personnel. What epitomizes violence is that some patients sleep on the floor between the beds, others share beds irrespective of the kind of diseases they suffer from, whereas “the senior service” wards are virtually empty (76). It is indeed violence when patients go to hospitals to catch more deadly diseases than the ones they seek to be cured of. For example, when Adisa complains that the patient who shares a bed with her husband coughs too much, a nurse retorts, “you are not even glad that he is not sleeping on the corridor. You are talking as if we have not heard of husbands before, husband indeed” (77-78). It does not even dawn on the nurse that Adisa complains not only because of the size of the bed (a single place) but also

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

111

because there are many communicable diseases in the hospital and sharing a bed will hasten the contamination. The nurse reasons as if it was a normal thing to happen to patients (sleeping in the corridor between the beds and on the hard and bare floor). So, in a country where such unfortunate things happen, it is not an exaggeration if one talks of violence. Otherwise, how could the government made-up of thinking, sensible and sensitive people, concentrate on “building hotels instead of hospitals in such a critical time of the history of the country?” (55). As a consequence, it is a conscious violence waged on the poor in order to get more profit. In addition, it is paramount to emphasize that the double-standard policy can, or perhaps must be assimilated to violence in the sense that impunity is a prominent aspect of corruption, indiscipline and their fallouts. Referring to this double-standard policy, Iyayi has the Counsel for the Defence argue: He [Igreki, the army general] was retired with full benefits after embezzling substantial government funds–amounting as many sources have it to nearly two hundred and forty million naira… He [Azonze] owned over two hundred houses which he used public funds to build. He also owned several farms which were worked with government equipment and labour and yet whose expenses and maintenance were charged to the government treasury… Also dismissed with full benefits… Greater crimes, we will agree, lie unpunished. … (178-179).

The foregoing paragraph epitomizes violence in the post-independence Nigeria. It was this double-standard which brought James Orchi to contend that it is “unfair to impose severe penalties on armed robbers who stole hundreds of Naira while highly placed officials who stole millions of Naira from the government were only dismissed and given opportunity to float a company with stolen money” (Orchi: 5). Bukola Sanda also resents this situation and proposes a true social justice. For him, “every effort should be made by the leaders to instil trust in the people by the actual practice of distributive and social justice. In this case, all offenders should be punished while all good citizens are compensated – it should be seen that the operation of these sanctions is without fear of favour” (Sanda: 20). In Heroes, the most significant instance that reveals the ordinary people as the innocent victims of State violence is the moment Sergeant Audu decides to break his words to Osime thus:

112

Chapter Four After this war many generals will write their accounts in which they will attempt to show that they were the heroes of this war, that it was their grand strategies that won the war. ... The names of soldiers like Otun, Emmanuel, Ikeshi, and Yemi will never be mentioned. The soldiers take the dirt and the ambushes and the bullets with their lives. The soldiers pay for the unity of this country with their lives and yet, what happens? Always the officers are the heroes. Always the generals, the officers take the credit. Always the generals take the praise. Always they are the heroes. Always (86).

Iyayi’s radical views on the rank and file and by extrapolation on the working people, recall Bretcht’s “Questions From a Worker Who Reads”: Who built Thebes of the seven gates? The history books give the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock? And Babylon, many times demolished Who raised it up many times? In what houses …The young Alexander conquered India. Was he alone? … (Brecht: 251).

Like Brecht, Iyayi emphasizes the role of labour which, according to him, is essentially responsible of humanizing the natural surroundings of humankind, which is why he condemns the violence against them. Also, it is important to stress that this kind of violence is committed throughout history in many places as can be noticed from the above quotation. This ultimately justifies the idea that “violence is a historical phenomenon with a class basis”. Iyayi does not see it at all as something that springs from the politico-economic situation; for him it is violence consciously maintained by the class of rulers. I think it is because he sees violence as having an economic basis that he writes: “The world would be alright if everybody had money” (Violence 48). Also, it is odd that the labourers whose hands have built the hospital cannot get any bed when they are sick whereas there are beds for those who scarcely fall sick as a result of their material welfare. This state of affairs prompts the Counsel for the Defence’s pronouncements that “when in one public hospital, in the same society, one patient can sleep in a large airconditioned room whereas other ordinary patients – men, women and children –

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

113

have to sleep in corridors, on mats, on the hard, cold and roughly cemented floors or share beds, this is violence…” (186).

An even greater violence is committed when in the midst of this scarcity, want and extreme poverty, the nurse finds it fit not only to downplay the situation of hardship and sorrow that is the daily lot of the poor symbolized by the school teacher, the labourer and the farmer, but also to congratulate the government in the presence of the very people who undergo all these problems: It was the nurse reading the address of welcome, thanking the government for all it had done to provide health facilities for the people, praising the government for building new hospitals. The address did not mention that in the same government hospital, some people slept on the hard floor or shared beds while others had single rooms to themselves which were almost invariably never occupied. (162).

This unrealistic and flattering discourse gives the impression to the downtrodden that their needs are irrelevant. It is indeed violence when you are made to find yourself in a situation where you become confused over right and wrong. In many African nations there are such people, like the nurse, who demoralize the poor through their classist perceptions that coincide with the ruling class’s ideology. This is synonymous with a psychological violence which weighs heavy on the psyche of the poor, adding a lot of strain to their already unstable condition. Also important is the fact that violence can be observed at the level of the amount of the pay the workers get. Idemudia who symbolizes the working class is conscious of this violence when he says: What kind of life is this? He asked himself a hundred times. A man gets a job and cannot protest. He cannot ask for higher wages, the period of his leisure is cut down arbitrarily and he must come out to work when he is told. This was slavery, this was… yes, he remembered, it came to him slowly, this was violence. …His unfinished education, his joblessness, his hunger, his poverty, all these he found out were different forms of violence. It consisted not of physical, brutal assault but of a slow and gradual debasement of himself, his pride as a man (243).

It is indeed violence when the employee is used without scruples; otherwise how could a normal human being reduce his fellow human beings to mere objects? After all, without the employee, the employer is nothing. Thus, an employee has the right to a happy life and this is attainable through a realistic salary, a sufficient leisure time and a peaceful

114

Chapter Four

atmosphere conducive to justice for all. So, for a truly democratic society, there must be an overall welfare for all citizens. According to Kofi Awoonor, a democracy that cannot guarantee jobs, safe drinking water, and secure streets for its people is a hopelessfully flawed democracy… Democracy, he contends, is linked with development, the absence of poverty, and the availability of food, health, and education facilities, development defines stability and social equilibrium (Awoonor: 345). By extrapolation, many African nations can be classified in this line of thought because there is a lot of violence and ultimately a glaring lack of democracy even if they deceive themselves by believing wrongly that they are democratic nations. This apparent stability one may observe in such countries is a result of ignorance and lack of the knowledge of something better. It is a fact that there is a wide gap between the reality as one can observe and live it and the political discourse or propaganda going on in these nations. As a consequence, if a person, a community or government fails to make sure that other people are happy, then they can be accused of failure to render assistance which, in my understanding, is synonymous with violence. This is so because if a nation professes democracy, freedom and liberty and yet does not guarantee the rights that are fundamental to life itself, this will amount to nothing. This situation of violence is commonplace not only in the fictional Nigeria but also in the whole of Africa and even in the whole world as: le système impérialiste unifie le monde. Mais il l´unifie négativement. L’accumulation exagérée dont bénéficient les peuples du centre (ou, du moins, certains de leurs classes) se paie du martyre de la destruction des hommes de la périphérie. La rareté gouverne la planète : rareté des libertés, rareté des denrées alimentaires, rareté des chances de vie. Cette rareté est organisée (Ziegler: 261). The imperialist system unifies the world. But it unifies it negatively. The excessive accumulation [of capital/wealth] that the peoples of the centre (or at least some of their classes) benefit from, has to be paid for by the agony of the destruction of people from the periphery. Scarcity governs the planet: scarcity of freedom, scarcity of foodstuffs, scarcity of life opportunities. This scarcity is planned (my trans.).

It is obvious from Jean Ziegler’s declamation above that the capitalist system is consciously mismanaging the resources of the world which are in essence sufficient for the entire world population if there was a fare

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

115

share of them. In fact, Ziegler narrows the problem of the world down to the capitalist greed and violence. Added to this is the politics of state violence. The Nigerian State uses violence to maintain compliance from the working people. Tunde Fatunde gives credence to this assertion when he writes: In Iyayi’s work, Idemudia and his co-workers are threatened with state violence if they press on with their case of an increase in their daily wages. Queen, the business woman, feels very comfortable in her handling of the workers’ demand because her personal connections, with some highly placed civil servants guarantee police protection if ever a protest should arise (Fatunde: 112).

In other words, the authoritarian and violent nature of the state is the proof that the ruling elites consider themselves as more important than the people, that they rarely, if at all, view the state and its machinery as deriving its legitimacy from the people. This makes them believe that the state needs to exercise power through the repeated demonstration of its capacity for violence. The wielders of state power do not therefore understand the meaning of the sovereignty of the people (Iyayi: 15). In The Contract, the driver’s depiction of the situation in Nigeria is very telling of this violence consciously maintained by the Nigerian leaders. He gives his insight on the situation when he argues: You ought to go to the markets. Even the prices there smell of the filth. And does the government care? Absolutely not at all. The people can rot for all they care. You go to the burial grounds and all you see are the bodies of babies, killed by the kwashiorkor or by the dysentery. The women are hungry, the men are hungry and we all live in dirt. But what does the government do except reserve special roads for itself? (The Contract: 8).

It is clear from the driver’s analysis that the working class are unable to buy the full products of their labours, which means that there are absolute injustices in the distributions of the resources of the country: this is violence if somebody who is a producer ends up being the loser and beggar. This, then, is the tangible proof that the masses are not fairly treated and of course they constitute the majority in the country. If in this situation the government does not care, then this is synonymous with violence. The reason for this is not difficult to establish. The rich steal, embezzle or simply spoil the money that ought to have been used for the common cause. Anthony C. Oha underscores this in his course when he says that “Festus Iyayi sees the Nigerian capitalist society as committing

116

Chapter Four

various forms of violence against the masses. To him capitalism is violence….” (Oha: 98). This, I think, informs his choice to title his first novel Violence which is a kind of denunciation of the imbalances in Nigeria’s economic situation after independence. Also important, sexuality as well as religion occupies a crucial position in Fanon’s theory of mental violence. According to Tunde Fatunde: Religion and sexuality, for example, are parts of the superstructure moulded by the neo-colonial ruling class as effective weapons to exert mental violence on African working people. Certain class values embodied in religion and sexual relations serve to maintain the exploitative social relations of production (Fatunde: 111).

Much further, he argues that “in colonial and neo-colonial societies, patriarchal values predominate, and women are the victims of these values, suffering from sexual discrimination and exploitation, especially when they are working class women” (110-111). In the same way there is an implicit critique of patriarchal and sexist values in Iyayi’s fiction. For instance, in Violence and The Contract, the bourgeoisie is characterized as using women to gain contracts, which is perceived by Iyayi as violence. In Violence, Idemudia and his wife Adisa, who embody the class of workers, are asked in different occasions to satisfy the sexual needs of the members of the ruling class (Violence 120, 294). To show that violence is a class issue, Iyayi has chosen to depict these sexual harassments not between the members of the same class (intra-class) but rather between the two classes: inter-class violence. It is worthwhile quoting a passage from the Preface to Marxism and Deconstruction, which better illustrates the issue: They (Marxists) see capital and Patriarchy as equal important adversaries. Historically, patriarchy precedes free enterprise capitalism as a mode of oppression. Capitalism and patriarchy are inseparable in practice, though distinct in theory. Therefore, a socialism that removes capital while preserving patriarchy remains a form of oppression from the point of view of critical Marxism (Ryan: 110-111).

In other words, the terms capitalism and patriarchy are used interchangeably and it is absurd to wage war against one while struggling to perpetuate the other. Consequently, Fanon recommends that the postindependence revolutionary Africa:

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

117

…must guard against the danger of perpetuating the feudal tradition which holds sacred the superiority of the masculine element over the feminine. Women still have exactly the same place as men, not in the clauses of the constitution but in the life of everyday (Fanon: 163).

As far as violence through religion is concerned, Iyayi’s position is clear; for him “all the social illusions which mankind has raved about in religion… served only the purpose of deceiving and “blinding” the oppressed” (Trotsky: 88). Lois Tyson has a similar view when he says: Religion, which Karl Marx called “the opiate of the masses”, is an ideology that helps to keep the faithful poor satisfied with their lot in life, or at least tolerant of it, much as a tranquilizer might do. …Obviously, 10 percent (or less) of the world’s population who own 90 percent (or more) of the world’s wealth have a vested interest in promoting this aspect of the Christian belief among the poor, and, historically, have exploited Christianity for just this purpose (Tyson: 56).

This behaviour of the religious people can be assimilated with violence in the sense that they make the poor people believe what they themselves know to be a blatant lie. To put the matter in a different way, this can be perceived as a criticism of organized religion which tries to keep the oppressed from realizing and resisting socioeconomic oppression. This leads me to quote some passages from his novel, Violence to illustrate my point: The church crowds hurried to the church. They held their coins, gripped them more tightly as they passed before the blind man and his children. They did not look at the man, their eyes were far away searching out the cross that stood high above the roof of the church (220). She saw the man holding the stick and the children standing around him holding their plates, empty. She heard a man remark something as he passed by them. She heard his friends laugh as they passed into the temple of Almighty God (222).

The above passages are revealing of the unconcern of religion about the plight of the ordinary people. It is hard to understand how a normal human being can neglect his fellow human beings to the detriment of some extraterrestrial forces that are beyond his or her understanding. This behaviour is characteristic of the ruling class which always gives unto those who are already owners. The reason why this is so is not hard to identify: it is a motivated gift in the sense that the giver is likely to become the receiver sooner or later.

118

Chapter Four

From what has been said above, I can assert without any risk of deceiving myself that the poor are, to some extent, even more effectively oppressed by ideology. Tyson was surely addressing this issue when he further argued that “by posing as natural ways of seeing the world, repressive ideologies prevent us from understanding the material/historical conditions in which we live because they refuse to acknowledge that these conditions have any bearing on the way we see the world” (Tyson: 53). All in all, it is armed with this philosophy aimed at assessing the state of polity in Nigeria and African states as a whole that Iyayi considers capitalism as being synonymous with violence. He advocates for a mass revolt which he thinks will establish a new socio-economic order. In this respect, his art can be viewed as a protest against state excesses and antipeople politics that prevail in Nigeria as well as in many other nations in Africa. To further elaborate on violence and its dialectics, it is important to quote the following statement: “Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable” (Iyayi: 1). As is common knowledge, the politics of violence ultimately calls for the politics of liberation and antiviolence. In this perspective, Tunde Fatunde underscores Fanon’s dialectical justification of violence as a means for liberation: The use of violence by the exploiting and ruling social classes calls forth the redeeming violence of the “damned”. Fanon justifies, dialectically, the use of violence as an instrument of liberation, because the only language they [the oppressors and the ruling class] understand is the language of “pure force” (Fatunde: 111).

This Fanonist theory of violence coincides with Festus Iyayi’s antiviolence violence or Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “anti-racist racism”. According to these two famous thinkers, the anti-violence violence should not be characterized as violence but simply as “self-defence”. This leads me to quote a passage from Counsel for the Defence’s plea which is implicitly Iyayi’s: We often do not realise that when such men of poor and limited opportunities react, they are only in a certain measure, answering violence with violence. What I would like to see, however, is not just for a handful of men to take up arms and rob one individual. I feel and think it necessary that all the oppressed sections of our community ought to take up arms to overthrow the present oppressive system. The system has already proved that it operates through violence… (Violence 185).

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

119

This suggests that the violence of liberation is never violence for violence’s sake, but a physically and spiritually redeeming counterviolence (Fatunde: 111). From this analysis, it becomes difficult, therefore, to accept the Judge’s definition of violence: Counsel for the Defence moved to the centre of the stage. As I said before; he declared, I disagree strongly with your definition of violence. Even your cross-examination of the accused has shown and proved conclusively that it is definitely the lack of opportunities that drives people to crime, madness, prostitution and adultery (Violence 184-185).

Violence, in this perspective, is generally conceived as being synonymous with economic, political, ideological as well as military struggle between the oppressed and the exploiter. Since violence yields violence, Iyayi’s Violence presents working people as individuals who believe in struggling for their liberation – as fully conscious human beings who are prepared to face their problems with courage. It is clear then that Iyayi does not think like some bourgeois writers that any struggle undertaken by the working people to free themselves from the pedagogy of the oppressor is futile (Oueloguem: 199). Thus, in Violence for instance, Iyayi suggests a creative struggle by the masses against the forces of oppression symbolized in his conception by the bourgeois class in society. He proposes that the wretched of the earth, the God’s bits of wood must indicate significantly that they no longer wish to be the door-mat of financial overlords (Onuokwusi: 121-122).

This invitation to counter violence with anti-violence violence is the consequence of the generalised joblessness of the people and many other deprivations that can be observed in the Nigerian society. Iyayi further writes that “the majority of their people have more than enough reason to go on armed robbery, to rob with violence” (Violence 181). I contend with Iyayi that denying people their deserved welfare is already seen as violence and any action on their (the oppressed) part to restore justice should be perceived as a mere cry of the desperate instead of seeing it as violence. This is so because, as has been said above, the leaders who “make peaceful changes impossible ultimately make violent changes inevitable.” Thus, it is not surprising to witness robbery with violence which is but a far cry of the oppressed. In his article “The Conduct of Elections and Electoral Practices in Nigeria”, Iyayi says: The Nigerian ruling class will not mend its ways unless it is compelled to do so. And that compulsion has to apply to those who currently constitute the class because the sweet smell of looting and power is so strong for

Chapter Four

120

them that like wax, it has totally sealed their ears and blinded their eyes (Iyayi: 20).

It can then be argued that there is a direct dialectical relationship between social injustice, which in essence is violence, and the anti-violence violence of those who merely fight to upturn justice. It can be seen from this that the concept “violence” is more complex than one can imagine. But Iyayi’s understanding of it and its causes is clear-cut. He seems to suggest that a social order marked by injustice; excess for some and lack for others, the resultant dynamic is violence as people take it upon themselves to do justice, to claim their right to live as can be implied from the statement of one of the gangsters operating in the dark lanes of Nairobi (Anawi: 145): “what do you workers think we non-workers eat?” (Mwangui: 182). As we have seen, Iyayi’s writings have a strong Marxist component in the sense that they invite the reader to condemn the capitalist exploitation his characters suffer in the hands of their employers, and by the same token, they show us the blatant contradictions that can be seen in capitalist ideology which lays emphasis on the interests of the already too rich at the expense of the common people who are condemned to perish if nothing is done to raise their awareness about the fact that there is a need to fight for their fair share of the pie, so to speak (Tyson: 50). So, unlike Chinua Achebe who urges reform in his Anthills of the Savannah, Iyayi recommends revolution. In fact, as explained in the above quotation, the ruling class operates through violence and seems to understand no other language apart from that of violence. Soyinka who is also aware of this fact argues: Take justice In your hands who can Or dare, insensate sword Of power Outherolds Herold and the law’s outlawed …Orphans of the world Ignite! Draw

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

121

Your fuel of pain from earth’s sate core (Soyinka).

I think these writers and many others who urge a revolution, or put differently, an anti-violence violence that would cleanse society of its ills, are merely speaking the language the oppressors understand better. In essence, oppressors are aware of the oppressed’s disunity, fright, indecision, self-pity and their accusation of God for their fate and consequently, they will never stop oppressing them willingly. This is why, much further, Soyinka strongly posits: Extract that carious tooth quickly before it infects the others…But we must also set up a pattern of killing the more difficult ones. Select the real kingpins and eliminate them. It is simple, you have to hit the snake on the head to render it harmless… The harmattan… is the right season for insurrection. Fires burn faster, the winds fly drier, a people’s anger spirals swifter in the dust of those miniature devil-winds building up into the cyclone that must sweep off their oppressors (Soyinka: 92).

In Iyayi’s Heroes, the protagonist, Osime Iyere urges a third army to rise up and liberate the cheated and betrayed masses, which is synonymous with acting in self-defence. The narrator says: “the third armies will turn their guns on the generals, line them up and shoot them one by one, the generals of both armies, and then the soldiers will lay down their arms and go home” (90). It is obvious that Osime’s behaviour as well as Iyayi’s writing both display their political militancy. Both are unanimous in condemning the ruling class’ attitude toward the people and ultimately, they propose the legitimate violence to counter the state violence and general misrule that are consciously maintained by those in power for their own benefit. Thus, Osime’s solution against such violence is clearly stated: there must be a third army composed of all the progressive forces and patriots of the country, whose mission is to counter the state organized violence. Again, Osime does not consider such an idea as one that might threaten peace rightly because in his view the ruling class has already proved its incapacity to maintain peace. It is my view that Osime’s argument is sound in the sense that “violence is initiated by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognize others as people – not by those who are oppressed, exploited, and unrecognized” (Freire: 32). On the basis of this statement, it is plain that the oppressed’s actions or reactions must be perceived as pure self-defence because it is a universally recognized fact that oppression, exploitation or violence yields nothing but violence or perhaps anti-violence violence, for the victims will ultimately revolt. This

122

Chapter Four

argument is in line with Clionadh Raleigh’s analysis that “it has been increasingly clear that marginalisation, inequality and exclusions are motivations for conflict” (Raleigh: 66). In addition, Osime finds it necessary to have recourse to the third army in order “to clean up all the filth” and establish social justice because state violence in Nigeria has reached such an alarming point that only violence will prove to be efficient. It is the political power which curtails all the rights of the people to the detriment of the ruling class. So, if Iyayi as well as the surrogate author propose to challenge the political power, it is precisely due to the fact that the substance, more often than not, is political power, because it is the most effective means of ensuring people’s welfare and quality of life as defined here. Political power is trebly used in this sense. First, since the state in Africa controls both the production and distribution of resources, political power is the shortest and surest path to resource accumulation. Second, in a continent where institutional and legal safeguards are inadequate, political power offers the best protection for accumulated wealth. Third, political power is needed to ensure recognition, respect and preservation of indigenous cultures and identities (Markakis: 54-55).

In The Contract, there is an urge to counter the state violence with resistance. As a matter of fact, the novel seeks to condition the readers to question the validity of the established system that is maintained through violence: Perhaps, the people had been so docile, ignorant and seemingly blind, the administration had come to believe that it could do anything and get away with it. But he knew better; one day national coups would come, revolutionary ones that would destroy the basis of the present system… Revolutions were the natural consequences of exploitation, decay, economic and political fascism hardly different from what was being perpetrated in his country… …Revolution would do, cut down all of them, cut down all those who had lived and profited by the present decay and exploitation (102-103 my emphasis).

This shows that, unlike the structural violence maintained by the ruling class, the anti-violence violence has got a sound reason and thus cannot be condemned. This argument sounds as a warning to the ruling class and support to the oppressed. It is a warning in the sense that the actions of the ruling class in the present time, will determine their fate sooner or later. So, they can choose to avoid the worst to come by governing responsibly.

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

123

It is an awareness raising because the people have to be enlightened about their rights and about the decisions they must make in order to free themselves from the yoke of oppression and exploitation. In Violence, the reader witnesses the violence undergone by Idemudia and his co-workers who symbolize the class of the oppressed for the first time when, after offloading fifteen hundred bags of cement in the rain coupled with hunger and fatigue, Queen tells them to come the next day for their meagre pay. They adamantly refuse and are about to use violence: Madam, we want our money! Osaro said tersely… We want our money now! Idemudia said angrily, and at the same time moved to block the entrance into the motel. One of the guards who had been standing behind them now walked up. In a loud voice, he threatened. Madam said you should go away. The four men ignored him. We want our money, madam. We cannot come back tomorrow. Their voices were bitter (Violence 36).

This attitude of Idemudia and his co-workers is a response to Queen’s violence. It is important to note that the fact of paying them only five naira each, which is insufficient, is already violence and as if it was not enough, she decides that they will be paid the next day. This is an even greater violence because all of them are penniless and rely on that money for the day however little it is. This situation prompts them to react vigorously to Queen’s intention to pay them the next day. As a result, their violence is legitimate and cannot or maybe should not in any way be compared to their tormentor’s. This violence is therefore justified by their poverty and hunger. On another occasion, Idemudia reflects thus: “The things an empty stomach can drive a man to. The things hunger can make a man do!” (Violence 157). For Idemudia, it is the causes of violence that matter. For instance, he lays emphasis on one of the basic needs such as food. For him, whatever a hungry man does will be a mere consequence of the greed of the few who decided to starve that man. I think the common saying that “A hungry man is an angry man” justifies this argument. Furthermore, there are some people who indulge in violence because of the frustration that is created by the double-standard policy of the ruling class. The argument of the Counsel for the Defence in Violence is illustrative of this injustice: “I know that the whole society here stands on

Chapter Four

124

trial. I know that there are other people who you could say have greater justification to commit robbery with violence, people who you could say have enough reason to burn down the present edifice….” (180). It is therefore important to stress that when in the same society, people are treated differently, there arises frustration which ultimately leads to the devising of ways and means to establish social justice and equity. By way of illustration, the Counsel for the Defence engages in a series of demonstrations with the Judge who exemplifies the class of oppressors: My client taught Igreki. The Judge sharply caught his breath, Igreki, the army general? Oh yes. And you know he was retired last year, …with full benefits after embezzling substantial government’s funds – amounting as many sources have it to nearly two hundreds and forty million naira… Azonze was also a pupil of this teacher; Counsel for the Defence revealed. Azonze who was dismissed last week? Oh yes. He owned over two hundred houses which he used public funds to build. … What then are you trying to imply? He asked. That the accused went on this course of crime because his former pupils could not only steal with impunity but profited by it? (178-179 my emphasis).

These are without doubt the contradictions which will ultimately lead to acts that are qualified by the Judge as “hooliganism, terrorism, totally irresponsible and barbaric acts…they carry fire arms about and threaten the lives and the property of people” (184). As a matter of fact, these acts are mere acts of revenge, the real responsible party being people who prevented the masses from living a decent and humane life. It is not farfetched to argue that they are very few those who willingly decide to indulge in violence for violence’s sake. In his book L´homme révolté, Albert Camus writes: “La conscience vient au jour avec la révolte” (Awareness breaks with revolt, (my trans) Camus: 27). This means that the time the oppressed become aware of their condition, they will seek to revolt in order to put an end to the long injustice they have been undergoing. This is so because

Toward the Redefinition of Violence

125

the creation of effective public institutions that afford protection for the individual, thereby gaining the trust and loyalty of the country’s citizens, is an essential responsibility of every society. This derives from the nature of political activity and, in particular, from the forming of the state by virtue of the fact that the state and politics essentially revolve around the protection of life and property as well as the establishment of rules for relations between members of a society (Darchiachvil: 112).

So, if state officials do not guarantee any financial and material security and protection, citizens have the right to rebel against them in order to compel them to care about them. As has already been said, security experts regard corruption, which is synonymous with organised crime, as a serious national threat. Corruption is a security threat in its own right, as well as a contributory factor to the governmental failings. Indeed, it is the single most threat to the viability of several countries…and a severe problem anywhere (Donnelly: 32). It is crystal clear then that corruption and double-standard policy create indignation and frustration which will sooner or later create revolt. So, the ruling class cannot ignore the interests of the people at large without running the risk of protest movement emerging. Hans-Joachim Heintze’s contention about social justice and stability summarizes this position: “The rule of law is a key element in rebuilding social structures… This is seen in medium term as a precondition essential for peace and durable internal stability” (Heintze: 65). This means that peace is invariably threatened where there is abject poverty and want. In The Contract, Iyayi writes: Oniha held up the big white placard and the letters in red demanded: “Down with the Ogbe City Counsel! You rob the people blind. You are thieves. You are armed robbers. You are slave traders… You are traders…You trade in misery. You profit from the misery of the people. You are like the dogs and the vultures. You scavenge in the refuse, in the vomit of the people’s misery. You are scavengers; the crowd heaved and shouted, scavengers! Scavengers! (213).

It must be stressed that not everybody who is among the oppressed can see the conditions of their oppression and consequently intellectuals such as Oniha Obala are of utmost importance in raising awareness and leading the masses to revolution as is the case in the quotation above. Whatever may be the case, there will always exist revolutions in societies so far as oppression and exploitation will continue to exist because it is a generally shared view that “accumulation through appropriation of the fruit of other people’s labour means that appropriators resort to more and more

126

Chapter Four

violence, since human beings – as history rightly shows – always rebel against oppression in one form or another” (Amadiume: 85).

CHAPTER FIVE SYMBOLISM, AWARENESS RAISING AND ETHICAL REVOLUTION IN IYAYI’S FICTION

Symbolism is defined by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as the use of symbols to represent ideas, especially in art and literature (Weheimeir: 1556). A symbol is a person, an object, an event, etc. that represents a moral quality or situation. In a general sense, a symbol is anything which is used to represent something other than itself. For example, in literature, it is oftentimes a concrete object which is used to represent something broader and even more abstract – often a moral, religious, political, or philosophical concept or value, for, after all, what counts is what is hidden under the cover of symbols not the symbols themselves. On this issue, Soni Labou Tansi writes: Mais maintenant ce qui compte pour moi, c’est ce qui dort sous les mots, et non les mots eux-mêmes, ce qui compte, c’est ce qu’il y a sous les choses et non les choses elles-mêmes, ce qu’il y a sous les choses (Tansi : 111). But now what matters for me, is what lies under the words, and not the words themselves, what matters is what lies under the things, not the things themselves, what lies under the things (my trans.).

This suggests that any writer has a vision and this vision is communicated to his or her readers through his or her language, especially for the writer who believes in the functional use of art. And it is important to stress that symbolism is perceived as the form in art and as is generally acknowledged, form is shaped by the realities in a given social space – and this ultimately conditions the ideo-aesthetic colouration of a writer (Nwagbara: 127). Udenta’s statement lucidly bears up this position. He contends that “man is variously illustrated and depicted from the perspective of the artist’s ideo-political impulses and welstanchaung. Form in art does not condition idea-content; it is the idea-content that breathes life into the specific artistic forms used in working them out” (Udenta: 31).

128

Chapter Five

In like manner, Frederic Jameson rightly argues in his book The Political Unconscious that “form is immanently and intrinsically an ideology in its own right” (Jameson: 141). This is reinforced by Charles E. Nnolim who holds the view that the form in the Nigerian novel is a reflection of an intriguing interface between it and Nigeria’s traditional values (Nnolim: 234). Thus, form is informed by the context or content of a work of art. In this connection, therefore, Onyemaechi Udumukwu argues that “critics who analyse a work into the light of its effects on social experience, agree that there is a connection between form and content. The novel brings together different aspects in one unit, i.e. the subject matter and the technique” (Udumukwu: 7). In other words, the form of the Nigerian novel mediates the dialectics of a writer’s responsibility to his environment; hence, form in this context is teleological – its architectonics is informed by social realities (Nwagbara: 129). For William York Tindall, “the literary symbol, whether a work or one of its parts, is clearly an embodiment. As the spirit or vital principle occupies our bodies and shines out, so thought and feeling occupy the form, shape, or body we call symbol” (Tindall: 341). This stands to mean that a symbol is a visible sign of something invisible. Therefore, the symbol is founded on analogy. However, “the symbol remains calling for an explanation and resisting it. Though definite in itself and generally containing a sign that may be identified, the symbol carries something indeterminate and, however we try, there is a residual mystery that escapes our intellects” (342). For transcendental philosophers, a symbol is a “condensation of meaning, of unexpressed reference” (342). In clearer terms, a symbol is invariably pregnant with meaning, with the unsaid. Definitely, Tindall’s view on the literary symbol is clear-cut: The literary symbol, an analogy for something unstated, consists of an articulation of verbal elements that, going beyond reference and the limits of discourse, embodies and offers a complex of feeling and thought. Not necessarily an image, this analogical embodiment may also be a rhythm, a juxtaposition, an action, a proposition, a structure, or a poem (343 my emphasis).

In other words, there should be no discrepancy between theme and technique. Shakespeare’s assertion corroborates this view when he contends that “the substance of a work of art is inseparable from its form;

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 129

its truth and beauty are two and yet, mysteriously, one” (Knickerbocker and Reninger: 8). To Simon Gikandi, there is no point in believing that we can read the African novel meaningfully and effectively without bringing content and form into play as elements of literature which are significant, … The text is not mere content or mere form: it is the process of form re-creating reality in terms set by authorial consciousness, constituting a world which might resemble external reality, but it is also the novelist’s own universe (Gikandi: ix-x).

In Gikandi’s view, there can be no efficient reading of the African novel if form and content do not come together. Accordingly, for a critic to make a rewarding reading, there should be a close relationship between the form and the content of the artistic work under scrutiny. This said, the content embodies a certain form. V. V. Vanslov summarizes this relationship between form and content in the following terms: Content must reveal itself externally, or take form, in order to become accessible to those who perceive art. … It is the content’s form and means of existence, the aspect through which it appears to us. Without this dialectic there is no art. When we perceive art we constantly move from form to content and “vice versa”, comprehending the whole fullness of the work (Vanslov: 279 my emphasis).

In the context of the foregoing line of thought, therefore, it is clear that there can be no content without form or the order way round. However, it is important to stress that my exploration of them in this book as though they were separate entities should not be seen as a flaw. On the contrary, it should be perceived as a strategy to clarify how each plays its part in the creation or determination of meaning. For Chidi Amuta, content determines form as base determines superstructure not on a unidirectional axis but along a line of reversible determinations and overdeterminations: in short, as base is to the superstructure in the realm of socio-economic reality, so is content to form in the realm of fictional reality. …The content and form discrimination is a product of the contemplative and analytical gaze of the critic and theorist (Amuta: 86-87).

The point that is being made here is that these two literary elements (content and form) are so dependent on each other that it becomes almost impossible to distinguish one from the other. But in the practice one can dissociate them, especially for purposes of study. And this temporary dissociation is not meant to go beyond “the contemplative and analytical gaze of the critic and theorist”. To a certain extent, it can further be argued that what one says is as important as how one says it in the sense that the

130

Chapter Five

form serves as a channel of transmission of the content. It is an acknowledged fact that whatever the pertinence of the subject matter of a speech (oral or written), it is likely to go unnoticed by the target audience if it lacks an adequate form. Simply put, how you say it is more important than what you say. In other words, technique informs content. This fact justifies the reason why, for example, the literary works of two writers writing on the same issue or even the works of the same author affect the readers differently. In the same connection, Mark Schorer, in his criticism of fiction “Technique as Discovery” argues that the content and the technique of fiction are indivisible in the sense that “technique is the only means [the novelist] has of discovering, exploring, developing his subject, of conveying its meaning, and, finally, of evaluating it” (Schorer: 87). In Reasoning and Writing Well, A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook, Betty Mattix Dietsch defines a symbol as “something material that represents something else, usually an abstraction. A symbol may be a person, a place, an object, an action, or a situation” (Dietsch: 435). In Charles Chadwick’s view, symbolism is the art of expressing ideas or emotions not by describing them directly, nor by defining them through overt comparisons with concrete images, but by suggesting what these ideas and emotions are, by re-creating them in the mind of the reader through the use of unexplained symbols (Chadvick: 23).

For Charles Chadvick, far from depicting ideas directly, symbolism rather employs “unexplained symbols”. Wendell V. Harris on his part defines symbolism as a “language presenting images that evoke, and perhaps help give insight into that which cannot be directly perceived, such as spiritual truth, transcendent patterns, or things-in-themselves” (Harris: 318). Here again, symbolism appears as a technique that does not use down-to-earth language. It follows from the above critical standpoints that literary criticism, invariably, concerns itself with symbolism which is a narrative technique that adds precision and clarity to the ideas or concepts. This said, I concord with Amuta that “symbolization is a primary artistic vehicle by means of which meaning is presented in its ideological essence. It begins right from the structuration of the broad experiential span that constitutes the material of the text” (Amuta: 148). In connection with Festus Iyayi’s fiction, there are many instances whereby this narrative technique is used in order to communicate his vision. Akaana E. Terhemba underscores

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 131

Iyayi’s perception of symbolism in his article “Symbolism in the Novel of Festus Iyayi” in these words: Symbolism in Iyayi’s [fiction] is an important avenue for the expression of his view on the Nigerian society. It is possible that symbolism in a novel can be made to serve an aesthetic purpose. … Symbolism is used in [Festus Iyayi’s fiction] for the revolutionary conscientization of a people who are dwelling in an unjust social arrangement. Symbols, for Iyayi, have to operate in a very dynamic sense. In his perspective, a symbol should not just add colour to a work of art but should also play an active role in conscientizing a people in the general process of reforming the society (Terhemba).

In other words, there is a wide range of symbols used by Iyayi throughout his fiction not merely for aesthetic ends but also for awareness-raising. These symbols lie in the setting, the things and the characters and most often they are concrete and ordinary. For example, in Violence Iyayi describes the market as dirty or filthy: The market flowed with people and red water. The gutters separating the walls were filled to the brim with filth and decay and what with the heavy rain, some of the dirt and filth and decay surrounded the stalls, the people and their wares. But people marched on them, even barefooted as they were. It was difficult to tell what the filth actually was, the people, their stalls and wares, or the decay. All were so thoroughly mixed, so completely part of each other! (Violence 85).

This symbolism on filth paints the picture of a society that has gone completely immoral; a society that operates on a system of structural violence. In fact, this market is symbolic of the capitalist society which is rotten through and through. The market being a place of commerce and trade and all kinds of transactions, its rottenness can but symbolize the economic tragedy characteristic of all capitalist societies. Another important symbol herein is the “red water”; it is a shared belief that water is life and the “red water” suggests a revolution or a need for a revolution in order to rid the society of its filth and dirt (corruption, bribery, theft, and greed) and make life liveable for all the members of the society. Another similar symbol is to be seen in Heroes. Iyayi describes the soil of Oliha market in these terms: It was as if the soil of the market was night soil and dung and dogs’ faeces all mixed with muddy red water. The soil was black and slimy and dirty. No, not dirty. There must be another word for it, a strong word. Filthy? No, not filthy. That was too weak. An eyesore? Yes, an eyesore but that was still too weak. …Vomit. The whole market was like vomit and the people

132

Chapter Five like vermin feeding on it. … The people were the maggots in the night soil or the vermin that fed on the vomit, the wares and the stands were the undigested lumps of food in the slimy vomit (Heroes 25-26).

The depiction of filth in the above excerpt is comparable to the moral decay that characterizes a corrupt society such as Nigeria. As has already been pointed out, the market symbolizes the interactions between all the citizens in the sense that it is the place of businesses and all transactions. Again, symbolism lies in the fact that the market being regarded as a place of interactions, its characterization as extremely dirty here is a suggestion that there is a tragedy characterized by the moral decay and ultimately there is an urgent need to clean it up. In an interview, Iyayi himself put it, “there are some people who are among the oppressed who do not see the conditions of their oppression and who are right wing in their thinking” (Akubuiro). Consequently, he depicts the rotten market to show the people how bad their economic situation, on which other sectors of the national life depend is, and in the process to raise awareness about the fact that a revolution is a must. It must be stressed that this symbol is one of the most effective in Heroes. The market is the nation in miniature and its rottenness is symbolic of the overall moral decay. Besides, it is important to note that there is perhaps a suggestion of revolution in the expression “muddy red water” in the sense that “red as a colour in art especially in Marxist art is normally employed to indicate a revolution or the need for a revolution” (Terhemba). In fact, Iyayi uses the “red” as a colour very extensively in his fiction. As an illustration, it has appeared about thirty-six times throughout the novels and the collection of short stories under study here, which is about three times in Violence, twenty times in The Contract, six times in Heroes, and seven times in Awaiting Court Martial. However, it is not really the number of times that matters but the purport of the author which is a need for a revolution. And my contention is that “red” is used because it is the colour of blood and it is a truth universally acknowledged that there is hardly any revolution without a minimum of bloodshed. Another colour used as a symbol in Iyayi’s fiction is “black” and “dark” and their variant “darkness” which, like “red”, is also used extensively in his fiction. Dark or black is a universal and ordinary symbol for evil, confusion and negation. It is opposed to the white which symbolises the light and peace – but not in all cultures. It can be confounded with the night which is symbolic of failure and defeat. The suggestion here is that

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 133

the whole society is in absolute nightmare and tragedy because of the moral decay that is rampant in Nigerian society. In The Contract, roads are depicted as being littered with all kinds of refuse – corn leaves, plantain peelings, bottles, cans and sewage. Gigantic heaps of dirt were left at the roadsides. … Chaos was there in the way the houses stood, in the way the refuse spilled into the roads, in the way drivers used whatever parts of the road were useable. They drove on to the wrong side of the roads, blocked each other’s way, drove into each other. (7).

In fact, the road or the street or the path is a symbol of the way, the direction, the means of access to something, to a place. It is in this connection that Jesus was saying that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life. That is to say that the road symbolizes the leader or the torchbearer and the fact that it is encumbered with dirt and refuse means that the leaders lack vision to lead their people through the difficulties they encounter. It is also a truth universally acknowledged that the leader’s role is to care for, protect, guide and direct his people. It is important to mention that the depiction becomes even more symbolic when Iyayi uses the verb “vomit” in his description of the tragedy so to speak. The suggestion we are given here is that the moral decay has reached alarming proportions and that there is a need to redeem society because whenever and wherever there is filth there ought to be cleaning. And I think this cleaning consists of ridding the society of filth, which is corruption and its fallouts. Much further in the same novel, Iyayi provides an explanation of the symbol of filth through his narrator: He had deplored the filth and vomit that he had found on the streets. He had deplored them without fully understanding that these were merely the outward manifestations of an inward decay and shamelessness in the people. Inwardly the people were as rotting garbage, full of worms, beetles and mice. Yes, we are an indecent people. We are vomit (66).

So, it is obvious from this explanation that the filth and vomit are symbolic of the bad behaviour of the people, especially the ruling class. As a matter of fact, he or she who has ever seen vomit better understands the degree of rottenness it symbolizes. In like manner, the spit is a sign of deep contempt or scorn for something and implicitly an invitation of other people – readers – to entertain a strong sense of revolt and fight for the desired change. It is for this purpose that Iyayi makes Ogie Obala deplore the filth and the vomit he had found on the streets so that people may gain awareness of the necessity to fight for a positive change. Since a symbol

134

Chapter Five

does not stand independently from the author’s view or ideology, the symbol of filth contributes to driving Iyayi’s point home in the sense that when you show somebody the filth that is in their house, you do not do it for the sake of doing it but you implicitly attract their attention on the fact that their house needs cleaning because the filth is not in the right place, where it belongs, the dustbin. The narrator’s explanation of the filth here constitutes Iyayi’s real hints to the reader that symbolism as used in his fiction is functional rather than aesthetic. In addition, it is obvious from the depiction of the whole city by Iyayi that the dirt has a symbolic connotation; he even hammers it explicitly: “this whole city is dirty…Just look at the snail shells and the empty cans and bottles and leaves and the sand and the dirty soldiers…But the city doesn’t have to be dirty. The dirt is a reflection of the character of the times” (Heroes 23 emphasis in the original). This passage and specially the last sentence is a clear invitation to a functional approach, a hint to the reader to compare the dirt and the filth to “the character of the times.” It is also an indication of what Iyayi sets out to imply, a need for revolution. Furthermore, the symbol of filth leaves no doubt as to the real purport of its use: it is an ideological weapon in the service of the revolutionary action. The symbol, by bringing the readers to the disgust and contempt of the filth and hence of the corruption, equally endows them with the will and strength to fight for its destruction and for the restoration of the rule of law which is an essential prerequisite for a sustainable development. In The Contract, Iyayi continues his study in rots. He further writes: The streets swarmed with people, with men and women so many of whom were mad and destitute amidst the filth. Rose looked at the red mud houses with grass roofs, the red roads with the thousand-and one potholes. She spat into her handkerchief and shook her head, wondering when the change that Onise Ine promised would really come (157).

Once more, we see a character spitting out of disgust and profound scorn. Rose, in the process, wonders about the change that would come. This suggests that there should be a need for a new order wherever there is chaos, cleanliness where there is filth, light where there is darkness. This is rightly the underlying intent of this symbol of filth used by Iyayi. It is indeed a powerful symbol in the sense that no normal human being would want to live in dirt especially when he or she is made to know that they are dwelling in the filth. So, Iyayi shows his readers that they are surrounded

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 135

by the filth and that they will be overwhelmed if they do nothing; he does not content himself with telling them: he shows them and urges them to take a stand. As if it was not enough, Rose continues to spit out of disgust:

“The smell of the gutter with all its refuse came strongly to her, the gutter that overflowed with water and refuse and sand and dead birds and crushed dogs. Her nausea returned and she spat into the road” (192).

In spite of this overall decay, Iyayi retains hope which will ultimately scatter the thick darkness that has literally wrapped his people: The darkness fell rapidly as if afraid of being cheated by the daylight. The stars were putting out and each second, each minute brought its own star, until the sky carried many clusters of stars like coffee fruits on the branches of a coffee tree. The banana trees sprouted from the moat waved their leaves like swords in the wind and the wind was cool because it still carried the water from the rain that had just fallen (203).

The stars symbolize the enlightened people who are supposed to be the vanguard of the fight against the moral decay symbolised by darkness here. The phrase “their leaves like swords” suggests a bloody revolution to come. Also, this suggests that intellectuals who symbolize enlightenment should be active and committed amidst the corrupt in order to make their actions visible in the society. Furthermore and much deeper, Iyayi uses another symbol drawn from the nature in Heroes to get his point across: the wind. The wind does havoc to Osime’s corn farm and he moans: I ploughed myself into that soil, I manured, fertilised this corn with my love. I ploughed my warmth into the soil to make this corn grow. And now what happens? The wind destroys it all. … What I do know is that it is cruel for one part of nature to treat another part of it in this way. It is cruel and hard. Wind to corn. Rain to corn. Yes, hard. The wind acted as a butcher, slaughtered my corn, my everything… But perhaps there is something I can do. Yes, something I can still do and which is why I brought out the spade and the cutlass anyway. I am going to raise this corn once more. I am going to make it stand on its feet (6, emphasis in the original).

Symbolism here lies in the fact that, just like rain, wind and corn, humans who kill each other are all part of nature. But wind and rain destroy their “neighbour”, which is the corn, ruthlessly in spite of the fact that they are

136

Chapter Five

all “inhabitants” of nature, part of it. I think this depiction bears a certain resemblance to what is going on in the Nigerian capitalist society: the destruction of humans by their fellow humans both literally and figuratively. By the former (literally) I mean the actual killing or murder of people and the latter stands for the psychological violence which kills its victims slowly and silently but surely. On the one hand, the fictional Nigerian ruling class is depicted as being responsible for the civil war in which thousands of innocent Nigerians, civilians and military, are killed by their own co-citizens. So, this symbol is meant to show who is the real culprit of the Nigerian conflict. On the other hand, there is an implicit belief that the ruling class is callous and greedy and this ultimately leads to the exploitation and oppression of the ordinary people, which is synonymous with the destruction of the corn by the wind and the rain. The tragedy described by Osime becomes more symbolic with his careful diction. For example, instead of using the verb “destroy”, he chooses to use a much stronger verb, “slaughter” in his description of the tragedy. I think the aim here is to appeal to the senses and emotions of the readers who will certainly not find it difficult to compare this terrible event to the slaughter of an animal, i.e. is ending life in a very brutal manner. There is also a suggestion of innocence in the sense that the animals that are to be slaughtered have no sword or knife to fight back; they witness their own death helplessly the same way the downtrodden witness their own exploitation and oppression and elimination helplessly. Osime even goes further in the description of the tragedy by comparing the wind to a butcher. And it is a common knowledge that professional butchers do not get emotional while carrying out their slaughter. However, the tragedy becomes much crueller when it is observed within the humankind. It is precisely this cruelty that Iyayi denounces in his fiction. Therefore, it is easy to draw a parallel between the corn crop and the post-independence Nigeria which faces many challenges in its journey towards the true economic independence. It is important to note too that even though the wind is invisible, one always feels and sees the effect of its influence. The suggestion one can draw here is that behind the scene, the ruling elites conspire to drive people to kill one another. Another possible suggestion here is that with the type of leaders we have, there would always be a crisis in the Nigerian society (Terhemba). And because Iyayi epitomizes optimism and change, he invariably ends any dramatic scene with what seems to me as a positive note: “I am going to raise this

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 137

corn once more. I am going to make it stand on its feet…” (Heroes, 6). Again, this suggests that the ordinary people should not give up and think that there is nothing to do about their condition; they should rather face their problems with hope and determination. This is really an awarenessraising so far as Osime himself decides to give an example by setting himself to work. The blood symbol is another important type of symbol used by Iyayi. In working out this symbol, he has Osime argue thus: On this bridge soldiers lay dead in their numbers side by side with Yoruba soldiers and Hausa soldiers and Esan soldiers and their blood ran and flowed into a common pool and mixed. There was nothing like Ibo written on the blood as the men lay in death, nor anything like Hausa, Yoruba or Edo. The blood of these men gushed out and mixed freely without the illusion of labels. In death, they have achieved something they had been told was impossible in life … (196).

The suggestion in this symbol (blood symbol) is the fact that the soldiers, i.e. the rank and file of Nigeria and Biafra have always been united. Thus, it would be easier for them to unite and oppose the flatulent exploiter group in the military and the civil society. In essence, the major point raised here is the fact that the bond of the Nigerian unity is thicker than the contrived strategies of the hollow and selfish cabal. Blood is a hint or suggestion of life and it coheres to make an argument for unity and the development of the polity (Terhemba). Terhemba’s analysis is sound in the sense that people are generally divided along the lines of class – the rich against the poor – instead of the ethnic groups as the ruling class tries to make it believe. In fact, suffering, oppression, exploitation and their fallouts have neither colour nor race and so there should be nothing like Hausa, Ibo, Esan, Edo etc. What really matters is the class to which each and everyone belongs. This is so simply because people of the same ethnic group and even from the same family can belong to different classes. As a result, through this blood symbol, Iyayi tries to raise his readers’ awareness about the need to unite against their common tormentor and enemy, the ruling class, because they are already united in essence. In fact, there is a need for them to unite even if some of them are still reluctant to do so because, if they do not unite, their enemy class will ultimately get rid of them and their offspring. This is justified by the fact that the ruling class, on its part, is always united and sophisticated. On this issue, Mallam Mallam, a member of this class of exploiters, says:

138

Chapter Five I don’t think there is going to be any revolution in this country. The poor are afraid, ignorant and unorganized. The rich, even if there are not many, are very sophisticated. See how they stopped that course on Marxism and the Developing World at the university? You cannot even talk of political conscience in the masses in our country today (The Contract 186, my emphasis).

Therefore, this blood symbol is an invitation of the oppressed not to be “afraid, ignorant and unorganized” anymore. They must rather be sophisticated like their enemies. In fact, the sophistication of the rich comes from the fact that even though they belong to different ethnic groups, they unite to exploit the poor. In like manner, the poor are invited to downplay their tribal lines in order to counter the ruling class’s ideology efficiently as, after all “there are only two tribes in Africa: the “haves” and “have-nots”ȱ (Clarke: 8). Through these famous words, Ngugi calls attention to the need to reconsider the fight for the national liberation in Africa. This, then is an invitation of all the oppressed from the different ethnic groups to start looking at each other with sympathy, for in spite of their apparent differences, they actually have one thing in common: poverty. Most definitely, this blood symbol is one of the most powerful symbols devised by Iyayi for a revolutionary purpose. The final symbol drawn from nature that will need my attention in Heroes is that of the elephant. The elephant is perceived as one of the largest animals of both the forest and the home. It personifies strength and power. Ade puts the image lucidly when he argues: There are two elephants involved in this war and all around them is the grass. The grass is the one that is taking the beating. The elephants trample on the grass most crudely, most viciously. This is not our war and all talk about the Federal side or the Biafran side is an illusion. Just remember the elephants and the grass (Heroes 14-15).

Through this symbol, the war leaders on the two sides, that is the Federal side and the Biafran side, are presented as the giants who crush the civilian population which represents that grass. As it is, the two sides conduct their affairs without reference to the feelings and desires of the masses involved in the war. The elephant symbol is an image of the war situation, for it lucidly emphasizes the entire war effort on both sides of the fighting forces. However, what seems to be Iyayi’s intent is to make the people understand that unlike the grass which is helpless, they should determine their own destiny by destroying the ones whose actions are destroying them. As a result, they must not undergo the “beating” without fighting

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 139

back, without showing their tormentors that they are no longer going to bear the knocks. Besides, Ogbe Hospital (a public hospital) epitomizes the class distribution and inequality in the Nigerian society. Here, the hospital illtreats life and suppresses it coldly. The Hippocratic Oath has become the hypocritical oath. In fact, the hospital is in essence a charitable institution where people with no means of support (the sick, the injured, the women in labour) are received for care and treatment. In Violence, this institution abdicates by dangerously abandoning its mission. Therefore, the hospital becomes an old people’s home where patients go to end their breath (Gbeto: 122). The tragic part of this situation is that there is lack of beds in the male ward whereas empty rooms are reserved for special people (162). This searchlight on this institution which is the hospital is an opportunity for awareness-raising about the need to operate a social and political revolution. The hospital symbolizes the place where human dignity is trampled upon: …but you know those doctors. The one who runs my part of it demands that patients must come and see him at home before they can have a bed to themselves. See him at home? Yes, pay him money. He takes money privately from the patients he treats in the hospital and if yours is a bad disease and you must have an operation, then you must pay him the money before he will perform an operation. And if you cannot pay? (Violence 224-225).

It is indeed a great tragedy to have to bribe before being treated. Such a doctor is a prototype of that awkward form of corruption and like any case of corruption it inspires revolt because with the denial of justice, all other human rights can be violated with impunity by those in control; and liberty, respect for human dignity and life go by the road. The evil that is thus generated becomes an organic force which has to be actively resisted, and it becomes not only right but also a compelling duty to resist such evil (Jones: 22).

It is this quest for justice that informs Iyayi’s choice of such a moving symbol (the hospital) in order to arouse interest in the readership for the

140

Chapter Five

fight for social justice. The most important point to stress is that once a writer – a good one – sets out to do/show/say something, all the articulations of his or her work(s) including forms, are fraught with this something. This is to say that what he or she writes and how it is done (diction, rhythm…) combine to drive his or her point home. Another place which is symbolic of exploitation is Iyaro: Momentarily, his mind went to Iyaro, to the petrol station, to the tyres on which they sat, to the gutters, filled with refuse by which they stood, to the rain and to the sun under which they all gathered and waited. He saw himself sitting there and it was early on a Monday morning and there were hundreds of others like him waiting, on the lookout for any car that would stop (Violence 153).

As a result of poverty, Idemudia inevitably leaves school and hangs around in Iyaro in search of a job. Unfortunately, he finds million copies of himself, unemployed, homeless and hungry. This is really symbolic of exploitation and oppression and it is meant to appeal to the reader’s senses and emotion that will ultimately lead to an awareness – raising about the fact that these things are ugly and therefore need to be suppressed. Another important scene that makes of Iyaro a symbol of exploitation and thus of revolt is the sale of blood, human blood which symbolizes life itself: He had even sold his blood to make money. Yes, given out pints of his blood for as little as fifteen naira a pint. Sold his blood so that he and Adisa would not starve, so that they could survive. And this he had done not once or twice but many times. Always, the men who wanted the blood came to them at Iyaro in their big long cars (Violence 154).

The blood symbol here suggests an excessive exploitation of the poor by the rich and this calls implicitly for a revolutionary action in order to put an end to this inhumane behaviour of the ruling class, for blood is life and its sale is symbolic of killing life. As a matter of fact, Idemudia did not willingly choose to sell his own blood which, he was aware, was one of the most important and even sacred constituents of the human body and ultimately his life; he was compelled to do so in order for him and his wife Adisa to survive. This act turns to become more symbolic when the reader is brought to witness the blatant fact that the rich who are in need of the blood of the poor want to buy it at a cheaper price: The last time he and Osaro had gone to sell their blood, it had been to a man in a big Mercedes Benz. The car had drawn up close to where they

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 141 were standing and in the car was the driver, the man and a boy… The man laughed. Twenty-five naira! That is too expensive… Idemudia shook his head then. No, sir. Ten naira is too small. You are buying blood, you know. Our blood (154-155).

This blood business, Anawi contends, is denotative of the exploitation system characteristic of the capitalist mode of economy where the more powerful, the mightier exploit the suffering and the powerlessness of the poor (Anawi: 142). Also important is that there is a symbolic act that can be seen in the course of the play-within-a-novel scene. A school teacher is arraigned for the same offence as the labourer. Paradoxically, while the teacher is being accused of robbery, the bigger robbers like General Igreki (retired) and Azonze, a career civil servant, are left untouched; these bigger thieves are now enjoying their ill-gotten wealth (Violence 178-179). It is my firmly held view that this act blatantly symbolizes the corrupt and dehumanized nature of postcolonial Nigerian society where the oppressed and the marginalised are being treated unjustly by the system while at the same time, as has been already mentioned, greater criminals enjoy impunity. This is precisely injustice and double-standard policy that Iyayi’s writings wish to end by raising people’s awareness. Further still, there is another symbolic act in Violence which is an epitome of scorn and selfishness on the part of the ruling class: Idemudia watched the entourage file past, most of them finely dressed in lace and brocade material. They were mostly women, heavy fat women with oily, polished skins, their eyes scarcely looking at the floor on which they walked. They passed by smelling every inch a thousand naira, the heavy black handbags hanging loosely from their shoulders (159, my emphasis).

Symbolism here lies in the fact that people walk on the floor and yet refuse to look at it. In fact, while walking, we are supported by the floor which symbolizes the foundation, our accomplice for movement. One can talk about the ground, the land, the earth, the soil without which we cannot walk. The refusal of the people here to look at the very floor they are walking on can be assimilated to the refusal of the members of the ruling class to humble themselves and consider the working people on whose efforts and sacrifice they depend. This suggests that the material goods are produced by the working people to satisfy the fundamental needs – food, shelter, and clothing – of all members of the society, yet they, as producers

142

Chapter Five

cannot satisfy these needs but instead suffer from the material deprivation. This appears as the logical consequence of the greed of the ruling class which tramples upon the working people without looking at them. This symbol raises awareness and endows the readers with the courage to claim their right to satisfy their basic needs, i.e. to shake like the earth and destroy anybody who lives on its surface and yet refuses to have a regard to it. Also important is the depiction of the two types of houses mainly in Violence and The Contract. This depiction is meant to give the impression that the problems affecting post-independence African society are to be viewed in terms of exploitation and an unfair management of public affairs. This aesthetic achievement heavily depends upon the presentation of the physical objects such as houses, clothes, cars, foods and roads (Anawi: 138). As an illustration, in Violence, the reader is invited to witness poorly built and awkwardly maintained houses in Owode Street. These houses are mud houses which, instead of guaranteeing a certain security to their occupants, rather constitute a permanent threat to their security and welfare. The narrator says: Two days before, two houses had collapsed on the street. A small child had been trapped in one of the buildings under the fallen mud walls. Fortunately, rescuers, including Idemudia, had dug the child out in time. For the people who lived in the mud houses on Owode Street, there was now another major preoccupation: which house would be the next to fall? (Violence 1-2).

The above quotation is symbolic of the shabbiness and precariousness of not only the houses but also of life in all its forms in this neighbourhood which constitutes the dwelling of the poor. Symbolism here lies precisely in the fact that these ugly houses are to be seen in the same street as a hotel ironically named the Freedom Motel, owned by Queen, which is paradoxically a comfortable and luxurious place. This, in my view, is an implicit expression of dissatisfaction on the part of Iyayi who wants his readers to “open” their eyes on the fact that there should be social justice for all instead of the discrimination and the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots as can be noticed in post-independence Nigerian society. Much further, there is another significant symbolic act which deserves my attention:

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 143 The church crowd hurried to the church. They held their coins, gripped them more tightly as they passed before the blind man and his children. They did not look at the man, their eyes were far away, searching out the cross that stood high above the roof of the church. The children could not understand, they stood now bewildered around their blind father and held the empty plates open for the church crowds to see. The hunger was in their eyes, flaming as the morning was with the sun (220-221).

Just like in the preceding scene, these church crowds hurried to the church without looking at the blind man and his two children in need. Instead of helping the people in need (whom they can see), they prefer to keep their coins for somebody they are unable to see, at least in this life of theirs. Through this act Iyayi denounces the hypocrisy of the church goers who consider themselves as the few chosen among the many that are called. The reader is shown that these people’s actions are pregnant with contradictions in the sense that unlike them the One (Jesus Christ) they pretend to follow, had been merciless, kind and helpful beyond compare. In fact, His actions were seasoned with an attitude of compassion and caring. Even the gospels use the word compassion twelve times to describe Jesus’ response to those who were in distress and hardship. It is clear then that Jesus’ followers or perhaps those who claim to be His followers do not live up to this ideal which consists of preaching the gospel and bringing relief to the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed. And it is in this perspective that Jesus has given the sight to the blind (Mt 20:34). He gave sight to the blind rightly because he was moved with compassion. More importantly, there are many other instances when He responded to those who were in distress and sorrow: Jesus was moved with compassion as He: Healed the sick (Mt 14: 14); Miraculously fed the multitudes (Mt 15: 32); Gave sight to the blind (Mt 20: 34); Cleansed the leper (Mk 1: 41); Taught the lost sheep of Israel (Mk 6: 34); restored the dead to life (Lk 7: 15) (D’Souza: 16).

Conversely, the church crowd depicted by Iyayi has no regard to the blind and his two children. This is a symbol to open the readers’ eyes on the fact that those who claim they are the followers of Jesus and yet do not behave

Chapter Five

144

like Him, are liars and therefore not worth following because they go to church to serve their own selfish interests. In Heroes, the marriage of Gowon to Victoria is an important symbolic act: …and he gets married at the time when men and women in whole villages are being slaughtered, when soldiers are being slaughtered at the fronts. He sends the children of other people, the husbands of other women, the wives of other men into the war and has them killed so that he can get married. And do you know what the marriage really means?... The marriage makes a mockery of the sacrifices the husbands of other women are making here at the front. It makes a mockery of the entire war (183, my emphasis).

The marriage of General Gowon to Victoria at this critical time of the Nigerian history symbolizes a kind of contempt and insensitivity typical of his class. Iyayi has Osime explain that the marriage “makes a mockery” of all the events that take place during these hard times. Through the depiction of this obnoxious behaviour, Iyayi’s explicit aim is to make the truth known so that people may determine to change the society for the better. This, then, means that Iyayi does not merely want the masses to know “the truth” but “to feel so strongly about what they know that they will do something about it”. And this “something”, in my contention, is nothing other than the revolution that aims at putting an end to injustice. In this connection, he uses this symbol of marriage that is an epitome of the truth that bites and that revolts. For example, no sensible man will remain insensitive after having been exposed to such a blatant and humiliating truth about the attitude of the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the armed forces, General Gowon and his accomplices who feast whereas the most important part of the population undergoes all kinds of excesses in their homes and on the war fronts. My contention is that this symbol speaks louder than thousands of pages of a declamation on war. Indeed, it causes the reader to think or perhaps to change his or her thinking because: WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR THINKING You change your beliefs; When you change your beliefs, You change your expectations, You change your attitudes;

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 145 When you change your attitudes, You change your behaviour; When you change your behaviour, You change your performance; When you change your performance, YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE (260, emphasis in the original).

Still, there is another symbolic act in The Contract which is figurative of awareness raising: The government, said the paper, intended to build a presidential palace at a cost of eighty million naira. …They were all angry that their government should have planned to spend so much money in building a living house for one single person when there were millions of others suffering, millions without jobs, with children who were starving and dying of kwashiorkor (153-154).

This symbolic act serves as an awareness-raising in the sense that it allows the poor to become conscious about the fact that they are being cheated by the ruling class which intends to use a huge sum of public money for the building of a presidential palace whereas millions of other citizens live a miserable life. It is my contention that this phenomenon is common in many countries around the world, especially in the African countries where government officials wallow in abundance while the larger part of their population lack access to basic necessities. It is important to note that, oftentimes, those gigantic amounts of money are used to purchase unnecessary or superfluous luxuries such as grand cars, big houses, the awarding of huge salaries to officials whose work is far from exceptional, useless allowances to their relations etc. and all this to the detriment of the poor who suffer silently. But the fact that the poor are exposed to these ideas, is already something in itself in the sense that knowing one’s situation of oppression is already a step toward selfliberation because only the one who knows that he or she is exploited and oppressed thinks of seeking ways and means to liberate himself or herself. Simply put, if you are not conscious of your state of slave, you will probably not think of your liberation because you do not even know you are oppressed, or perhaps you know but you ascribe your misfortune to

146

Chapter Five

destiny or to the work of your enemies. Again, the writer’s aim here is not only to lead the people in their daily fights against the unfair and cruel power structures that commodify and brutalise them, but also and chiefly to stress the legitimacy of their cause and their capacity to triumph. In other words, there is a need to educate politically the masses about their part in their own liberation. As Fanon rightly points out in The Wretched of the Earth, “what [political education] is to try, relentlessly, and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them… that there is no such thing as a demiurge… but the demiurge is the people themselves and the magic hands are finally only the hands of the people” (Fanon: 157-158). In other words, the fate of the people lies in their own hands; whether they succeed or fail depends on the choices they make. Fanon urges the ordinary people to take action instead of blaming fate. This is the same urge Iyayi puts forward when he writes: He had been home, away from the town, frustrated and angry because there had been no job, no matter how hard he had looked for one. It is the work of your enemies, his mother had written. Come home and we will go to the native doctor. So he had gone home because there was nothing else he could do. They want a goat, she informed him on his return. They want a goat, they also want a cock and a tortoise … (Violence 4, my emphasis).

It is against this type of thinking that Iyayi sets out to fight. He shows the readers that their destiny is in their own hands; they should stand up to their obstacles and do something about them. In fact, their enemy is the exploiter class not the one the traditional doctor shows them. It is my contention that this behaviour results from ignorance which is also displayed in the following symbolic act: “They were not happy. That apparent contentment came from ignorance, from lack of knowledge of something better. … But they didn’t know that their children were small and tiny and like dogs’ faeces. They did not recognise the cycle. So they seemed quite happy” (The Contract 129-130 my emphasis). This passage is highly symbolic in the sense that it describes so perfectly the structural nature of poverty among the people. The existence of many mad people among the sane is symbolic of a dehumanized society. It is also an epitome of a society which languishes in ignorance and

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 147

unconsciousness in the sense that only a mad man can walk naked unaware that he or she is naked. Analogically, because of the unawareness of these people of their misery, they rather look like the mad who know nothing about their nakedness. This situation is commonplace in many of our post-independence African countries where, in spite of the suffocating poverty, people lead a seemingly happy life without any real complaint because they are not really aware that they are suffering. They can, in this connection, be assimilated to the mad people who walk naked without their own knowledge that they are naked. But it seems important to me to emphasize that those among them who happen to see the “nakedness” of their fellow “mad people” will undoubtedly begin to look at themselves to make sure whether they are not also naked. And this is the beginning of the awareness-raising. In fact, it is important to note that madness here is very symbolic, for if one wants to judge the degree of poverty in a society, one should look at the number of mad and insane people on the streets. This is so because insanity is acknowledged to be mainly due to psychological problems which themselves stem most often from abject poverty, stress and dehumanization. A similar view is expressed in Violence: “Yes, need could drive a human being to anything. It could drive a person insane” (Violence 221). Again, these people are seemingly happy because they do not know that there is something better somewhere than what they undergo. This is a common phenomenon in many African societies where millions of people suffer silently or pretend to be happy. It is against this unfortunate situation that Iyayi has chosen to write to denounce this false ideology that tries to hide the actual atmosphere of rarity and extreme poverty in the country. It is also important to stress that there are two words (burrow, excreted) whose use make the whole issue more symbolic. Iyayi depicts these people’s houses as “burrows” which are normally the holes in the ground for animals. This is to show the reader that the people are so ignorant that they do not even know that their houses are no different from the rabbit’s holes. Furthermore, the verb “excreted” suggests the dehumanized nature of the babies born in the misery which is a vicious circle. It is a vicious circle because the children that are born are small and tiny as a result of the sufferings of their parents and their birth will ultimately worsen their parents’ problems and therefore, they will not be different from their own parents, making it a full circle.

148

Chapter Five

Ultimately, Iyayi’s use of symbolism here is an avenue to reach awareness raising. Besides, he has used many symbolic characters throughout his fiction in order to raise awareness about the fact that there is a necessity to fight for the upturning of the social justice which is obviously a must for the attainment of a true democratic society devoid of any germs of oppression and exploitation. To that end, I, therefore choose to focus my attention mainly on such symbolic characters, not because they are the only ones carrying the author’s intent but simply because a choice needs to be done in order to throw more light on some elements to the detriment of others, for: it seems unavoidable, and part of the paradox of seeing and learning, that in order to understand some things clearly we must restrict our focus in a way that highlights certain elements and ignores others, just as a close-up camera crystallizes whatever it frames and renders the rest a blurred background (Tyson: 3).

The ethical revolution proposed by Iyayi can be read through the life of his symbolic characters who serve as a means of awareness-raising. Characters are the people, the animals, the things in a narrative. According to A Glossary of Literary Terms characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it – the dialogue – and from what they do – the action (Abrahams: 33).

From this definition, it is obvious that all the actions the characters perform, suffer or witness in Iyayi’s fiction are faithfully linked to his objective. So to speak, there is no free or unmotivated character. Therefore, characters represent some concepts, ideas and behaviours that can be traced in the real world. This is to say that in order to grasp the message of a piece of writing wholly, one should consider the experience of the characters. It is in this sense that Robert Diyanni and Kraft Rompf argue that “…if one reason why we read novels is to find out what happens (to see how the plot works out) an equally compelling reason is to follow the fortunes of characters” (Diyanni and Rompf: 33). In this light, my concern here is to identify symbolic characters and try to show how the author has used them as a means of awareness-raising. I do not concern myself with the classification of characters according to their groups – flat, round, type etc. – but on the contrary I shall show how

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 149

juxtaposition is used by the author in order to show a contrast or a new relationship among the characters of the same universe. In Violence, the majority of the characters are symbolic. They are avenues for Iyayi’s strategy of awareness-raising. The characters serve as a contrast to each other. All these characters harmonize to reveal Iyayi’s arguments that there is a need for revolution. In the same vein, Akaana E. Terhemba argues: “Iyayi’s characters are symbolic and through them he reflects different aspects of social violence and creates an awareness of not only a different definition of violence but also gives an answer to this inequality which is reformation in the society” (Terhemba). Accordingly, Iyayi employs powerful imagery (short broom, bare floor, etc.) to depict the abject condition of the working-class people (Idemudia, Adisa, Osaro, Omoifo, Patrick, Pa and Ma Jimoh, Anyam, Ifeanyi, Aunt Salome, Bernard…) and effectively juxtaposes them with the affluence of people like Obofun, Queen, Iriso and Dala. Also, the picture he paints of the working people touches the reader, making him or her sympathise with these wretched of the Nigerian society and even fight for the upturning of the social justice. Idemudia is a character who has sought and found an answer to this act of violence. His answer is a collective consciousness to overthrow the system. This is a character who embodies change for the better despite difficulties. He symbolizes hope and determination and also self-assertion. Overwhelmed by hardship and sorrow, he does not give up; he assuredly says: “I am not going to give up, I am going to continue the struggle, to fight” (Violence p.184). It is precisely in the name of this determination not to give up, but to struggle that he has retained his moral integrity by refusing to be bribed by Queen (261). This is Iyayi’s strategy for inviting his readers to copy his character’s perseverance in order to deal with the ruling class successfully. In fact, if all the leaders of the Trade Unions and human right activists in our countries behaved like Idemudia, there would be less trouble and suffering among the people in the sense that unity is always perceived as leading to strength. Iyayi, for this purpose, takes the reader through the life experiences of Idemudia who represents the poor in the novel. He is presented as being badly dressed. He has almost only one shirt which he removes and works with a bare body when he is at work. Quite unfortunately, he wears the same shirt to go out for important occasions. Even his wife complains that the shirt is dirty and should be gotten rid of (280). The same remark is made to him by Queen when he is invited by her in her house: “… take off your shirt first. It smells so

150

Chapter Five

strongly of sweat, now that you are so close” (Violence 294). It must be noted that the injunction to Idemudia in the foregoing not only informs the reader about the quality of Idemudia’s clothing, but it also implies, especially through Queen’s remark “now that you are close”, that the rich in general, and the employers in particular are not close enough to the workers to realise their material conditions of destitution (Anawi: 141).

Actually, the depiction of Idemudia’s clothes is symbolic of the poverty of the inhabitants of that street. They are so poor that they either have substandard clothes or even go naked: In front of the houses along the street, people sat and watched the weather. Men and women, all jobless, sat on the long wooden benches, their backs against the rough mud wall. The children were mostly naked and they were thin and had sores on their legs, from which they frequently drove the flies. Most of the people who walked along the street were barefooted and as the cars passed, some of them Mercedes Benz cars, they splashed the red muddy water on the people but drove on, carelessly, secure inside (69, my emphasis).

The foregoing serves as an awareness-raising about the fact that the poor suffer as a result of the deeds of the rich. Indeed, Idemudia does reach this awareness. As a spokesperson of his mates, he feels that they are highly exploited and that the only way out is to organise a strike. In fact, in spite of his unfinished education, one can assert that he has received his education in “the University of Life.” In consequence, he and his coworkers are reborn in a new consciousness about the real mechanism of the capitalist exploitation and thus equipped, they are ready for the struggle to change the system that brutalises them (Amuta: 148). Even when he is offered money by Queen to stop this strike, he adamantly refuses. His poverty notwithstanding, he argues: “I do not want the money. True, I need it and I am poor. But I could never accept such money. I am a man” (288-289). Also important, by watching the play-within-the-novel, Idemudia, the protagonist, asks: “What kind of life is this?” (243). It is at Queen’s work site, after Idemudia has watched the play, that he literally becomes aware and picks the word “violence” which he later applies to his own life situation. His unfinished education, he says, his joblessness, his hunger, his poverty, all these, he finds out, are different forms of violence (243). He becomes symbolic for the fight against the masses’ cause. In fact, Idemudia’s strength springs from his struggle for survival:

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 151 Idemudia’s unremitting struggle for survival in a city offering cruel contrasts between direst poverty and ostentatious wealth almost destroys him, his health and his marriage. The bond between him and his wife, Adisa, stretched, strained, battered and betrayed, yet, from their sufferings miraculously emerge a deeper insight and a closer unity (Appiah: 87).

It goes without saying that it is an invitation of the ordinary people to transform their problems into opportunities that will harmonize for their salvation. For Idemudia, any situation can help them, he and his coworkers, toward their self-realization. The Ibos in Nigeria have this kind of philosophy in their culture: “No condition is permanent.” As for Adisa, Idemudia’s wife, she symbolizes the ordinary woman who is torn between her duty as a wife in staying faithful to her husband and satisfying the basic necessities to live decently. But Iyayi does not sympathize with her when she chooses to exchange her body with Obofun’s money in order to pay off her husband’s hospital bill. In addition, Idemudia’s forgiveness to her is symbolic of Iyayi’s optimism that the poor will end up succeeding if they are united. It is only then that the working people can avoid the unfortunate situation in which the over cleverness of the ruling class has pushed them (Terhemba). The man also symbolizes the ordinary people and his story is to appeal to the reader’s emotions in order to engender change: …the man had not been old. His grey hair and wrinkled face, together with his crumpled body structure, were all the results of his sufferings, not of his age. The wrinkles in particular. Or the grey hair. He saw the old man being hauled by the nurses onto the stretcher. He saw them covering him with a white sheet (148, my emphasis).

Indeed, the man’s physical appearance is the direct consequence of his sufferings, not of his age. He is symbolic of many other ordinary citizens who are exploited by the ruling class. Furthermore, when the man dies from the cough, he is covered with a white sheet, making it clear that he is a mere victim of the greed of the ruling class, the white colour being a symbol of innocence and purity. This means that Iyayi holds the ruling class responsible of this tragic end of the man and implicitly urges his readers to do the same. Thus, it is meant to raise awareness among the poor. This alignment justifies the contrast that is obvious through the characterization in the modern literature of the African people. In reference to the Nigerian situation, Chidi Amuta observes in a related context:

152

Chapter Five In Iyayi’s Violence… man is no longer just “the African” but the exploiter and the exploited, the rich and the poor, the literate and illiterate, the hungry and the overfed. The objectification of these polarizations in literature and the unambiguous articulation of the writer’s alignment spells a fundamental rupture in the field of African literature (Amuta: 72).

Another set of characters who are symbolic are Queen, Dala, Iriso and Obofun. This group symbolizes the ruling class which steals from the country and stash their money in banks abroad. But it must be stressed that it is especially Queen who symbolizes the ruling class. Queen uses her wealth to carry out various exploitations. She exploits Idemudia and other labourers at will. Through her activities, the reader comes to know that there is a need for change. For example, the dialogue among the wretched of the Nigerian society attests to this consciousness: It is so unfair … One man has enough to eat, in fact so much that he throws some away. Yet, here we are, hungry, with nothing to eat. Well, all fingers are not equal. Everything is God’s work… Kai, it’s not God’s work, it’s man-made, Omoifo disagreed (20).

The above is a clear illustration that Iyayi’s aim is to make his readers understand that this group of exploiters is responsible for their plight. It is thanks to these characters that the wretched have come to reach awareness. In fact, it is by witnessing the emptying of unfinished meals into the dustbin by Queen’s waiters (18) that Idemudia, and his companions start to draw a parallel between their sufferings and the behaviours of the ruling elites. This awareness creates frustration and prompts the fight for change. This means that those characters that embody exploitation and oppression exist in Iyayi’s world so that the exploited might reach awareness and ultimately salvation. Another important feature to be taken into account in Queen’s behaviour is the impact the craze for money has on children and obviously on the society as a whole. That is the point Sanda pertinently makes when he says: Since many parents are now pre-occupied mainly with how to make money or how to achieve fame or other mundane goals to the extent that they devote little or no time to the proper upbringing of their children, are we not paving the way for our country to degenerate into a hopeless situation of anomie where lawlessness, criminality, indecency, insecurity of life and

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 153 property, the operation of jungle justice and other undesirable activities will be the order of the day? (Sanda: 31).

It should be stressed that the children who grow up in this rat race environment will turn to be pre-occupied solely with making money, neglecting thus the ethical part of life. In Violence, Lilian, Queen’s daughter, is raped by three boys because she was not in school. The worst is that this rape opens the door to a truth that really shocks Obofun, her father: the doctor’s report says that Lilian is experienced in sex matters (118-119). So, Queen and Obofun’s failure to educate their children adequately constitutes a symbol of the overall decay of the Nigerian society since “the family in any society is a microcosm of such a society and many problems that feature in a society have their replica or their real basis in the family” (31). Jasper Ahaoma Onukwusi makes a similar analysis in his article “Social Criticism in the Fiction of Young Nigerian Writers: Iyayi and Ben Okri”: In Iyayi’s Violence for instance, Obofun and Queen, husband and wife who give their souls, bodies and all to the maximization of profit in their business are so preoccupied with building more hotels and winning more contracts at inflated prices that they fail to know when their darling daughter Lilian stays at home instead of going to school, and is raped by three boys (Onuekwusi: 128).

This quotation shows to what extent neglecting the education of children can be disastrous both for the parents and for the society at large. In the final analysis, the point I wish to make here is that Iyayi’s juxtaposition is not accidental; it is a conscious choice: he endows it with the power to serve as an eye-opener to the wretched (Idemudia and the other labourers) of the Nigerian society. It seems to tell them: “Look at others and look at yourselves. Can’t you see any difference? Can’t you see that you are being exploited? Don’t you think that there is something for you to do here and now?” As for the three accused, they constitute avenues through which Iyayi denounces the exploitation and oppression these wretched of the Nigerian society are victims of. The first accused is a young labourer who, because he is paid very little wage for his labour, cannot make ends meet especially with his three children whom he is hardly able to clothe, feed, to say nothing of sending to school. This desperate situation, the narrator persuades the reader, has compelled him to steal with violence. The next accused is a school teacher who is charged with stealing. Here, I think

154

Chapter Five

there is a need in insisting on the fact that teachers are generally very badly paid and exploited beyond compare in our capitalist societies. The third accused happens to be a farmer. Even though he tills the land to grow the food for all the society regardless of class, he is always badly rewarded; especially he is badly fed. Iyayi sees this as an unacceptable situation and has the Counsel for the Defence conclude that “… the plight of the school teacher, the worker, the farmer and the last of the accused whom I shall be calling in evidence personifies to a greater or lesser degree the fate of at least fifty million of our citizens” (Violence 181). This story of the ordinary people standing on trial is more than a symbolic device used by Iyayi to raise the awareness of the victims about the fact that there is a need for a revolution which will ultimately put an end to this unjust social order. There is a similar characterization in The Contract, Iyayi’s second novel. Just as in Violence, there are some symbolic characters in The Contract whose lives raise the awareness of other characters in the novel and the readers out there in the world. In fact, while some characters such as Ogie Obala, Onise Ine, etc. worry about the quick and alarming decay of their country, others – Chief Eweh Obala, Chief Ekata, Mr Oluro, Major Alafia, Mallam Mallam, Aikhon, the chief of the police, the professor and many more are busy looting the coffers of the country. Like Idemudia in Violence, Ogie Obala’s abomination of the stark contrasts of wealth and poverty in his hometown is potently conveyed. For example, he is upset about his own father’s (Chief Eweh Obala) attitude towards corruption as well as those he represents in the novel. Obala reflects on the huge salaries the members of the ruling class get and discloses his disagreement to his father in these terms: “isn’t that rather too much? Ten thousand naira” (The Contract 2). These differences of opinion between father and son attest to the absence of an ideological and, therefore, political consensus among different generations. The point is that much otherwise incomprehensible conflict – between generations, between parents and children – can be traced to differential responses to the acceleration of the pace of life (Toffler: 40). This means that older people such as Eweh Obala “are even more likely to react strongly against any further acceleration of change. There is a solid mathematical basis for the observation that age often correlates with conservatism: time passes more swiftly for the old” (39). This observation is true in the sense that some old people are accustomed to a certain way of doing things and are not ready to abandon them however bad they may

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 155

prove to be; this is the case of Chief Eweh Obala who symbolizes conservatism which is characteristic of his age. This fact shows the reason why he is amazed to be challenged by his own son. He remarks bitterly: “My own son turning against me” (95-96). The same thing is to be seen further when his other son Oniha Obala leads a demonstration (in a dream) which demands the resignation of the Ogbe City Council headed by his own father. (12). Chief Eweh Obala epitomizes capitalism which has introduced the “sacredness” of private property into the African way of life. Ogie Obala and Oniha Obala are not pleased with their father. They seem, like Ngugi, to be asking: “What is so sacred about private property? What is so sacred about one man taking for himself more than he can use in a lifetime while people walk by his mansion of wealth starving?” (Clark: ix). In spite of Ogie Obala’s final fate, he and his brother Oniha symbolize change and the determination to brighten first and foremost the corner where they live. I think Ogie and Oniha Obala heed the common saying that “charity begins at home.” This is the author’s strategy to invite his readers to fight injustice, corruption and their fallouts wherever they might be. These two characters embody optimism and the fight against nepotism; they are there to raise other characters as well as the readers’ awareness about the fact that there is no redundancy in challenging injustice even when their own parents are its promoters. Again, implicit in this opposition of the sons to their father is a kind of invitation to regard justice as non-negotiable. Furthermore, the audience which Iyayi anticipates is the members of the ruling class who “do have a familiarity with African written literature to the extent that they may have been compelled to “study” these as a part of the syllabus of a liberal arts education in an African university” (Amuta: 69). This is an attempt to convince the children of the dictators that they can do away with the practices of their parents for the good of their nations, especially when many of these children are involved in politics all over the continent these days. Another character that inspires disgust in The Contract and who is presented to the reader through Oniha is the vice-chancellor:

156

Chapter Five But why had the vice-chancellor used the university’s materials in building his own house? Even the labour, the workforce, had come from the paid staff of the institute… What could prompt a vice-chancellor, a full professor, to steal from the university? Why had he done it? After all, he earned a high salary. He lived in a house provided and maintained by the university. What more did he want? The information shocked him because, well, the university, academics! How could they too? If one could not even turn to the teachers for advice, to whom could one turn? (60).

This character is symbolic of what Ake calls “exploiters by class” (Ake: 72). Indeed, the vice-chancellor exploits the university paid staff in building his own house. Again, he epitomizes the university degree holders who betray their people unashamedly by using their social position. It is strange that whereas other characters worry about the rampant injustice in the country, the learned professor lives “peacefully” in ivory towers just like many academics on our African countries. The professor avoids politics like a dangerous disease because he is happy with the prevailing situation which allows him to steal with impunity. This situation negates the overgeneralization that university degree holders are intellectuals. However, Iyayi uses the dialectical characterization to show that there are different kinds of teachers. All the characters who are teachers are not subjected to the same forces – exploitation, theft, betrayal and all their fallouts. So, unlike the vice-chancellor, Onise Ine who is a school teacher (nothing is said about his own level of education) distinguishes himself in his condemnation of his society in spite of his repetitive imprisonments. This dialectical linkage among his characters is a strategy to show his readers an opportunity to compare behaviours and ultimately make a choice of the best ones. The majority of the characters in Heroes are symbolic. They are avenues for the author’s analysis of the Nigerian civil war. In fact, characters serve as contrasts to each other. The objective of Iyayi’s focus on his characters is to demonstrate who is actually being exploited and by whom. Repeatedly, the civilian elites and the senior military officers are depicted as the exploiters while the lower ranks of the military and the lower-class civilians are constantly portrayed as an unfortunate and exploited majority (Terhemba). In this perspective, I regard characters like Ade’s landlord, Mr Ummuna, Mr Ohiali, Senior military officers, the rank-and-file soldiers, the junior rank of soldiers, the Oba, Osime Iyere… as symbolic.

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 157

On the one hand, Ade’s landlord who is shot by the federal soldiers (Heroes 16) suggests that anybody who is associated with the Ibos, however remotely, must be murdered. This situation reflects the bitterness of the war and gives the impression that it is a war borne out of ethnic conflicts. The truth of the matter is that some people have used the war as an excuse to settle scores. The main reason why they kill Ade’s landlord remains unknown to them in the actual fact. Mr Ummuna and his two sons fighting one with the Federal Army and the other with the Biafrans (103) are symbolic of the strategy of the ruling class which uses the hands of its enemy to destroy him. This point is made through Osime’s reflections: … I know that the Brigadier Otunshi sells our arms to the Biafra and sends out troops into battle a few days to their pay day. He sells our arms and kills our men and collects money from both sides… Corruption everywhere. Sell your arms to your enemies and collect the money and put it in your pocket (148).

Like Ade’s landlord, Osime’s landlord is shot by the Federal troops in Benin. Like the old man in Violence, when he dies, he is clothed in white, meaning that he is an innocent victim of the greed of the ruling class. It is, therefore, Iyayi’s strategy to depict the poor as the innocent sufferers of a war caused by the corrupt leaders of both Nigeria and Biafra. Ndudi and Theresa on their part suffer grievously when they are raped, the former by the Nigerian and Biafran soldiers and the latter by the Head of State and the Governor. These two characters epitomize the helplessness and the sufferings of the lower class they symbolize. It is a universally acknowledged fact that during the time of crisis, women and children are more exposed to human cruelty than men. Implicit in this event is the fight against the exploitative and inhumane attitude of the ruling class towards the ordinary people who constitute the majority of the population. Osime himself is a character who allows Iyayi to make his point. In fact, he uses this character to make the truth about the war known. Osime tells the soldiers “I want you to know the truth, and knowing the truth helps until there are so many who know the truth that you can do something about it” (132). Osime is symbolic of the eye-opener. However, it is important to stress that, just like Idemudia in Violence, he comes from darkness to light, which is from innocence to experience and awareness. More pointedly, Osime initially accepts a little naively that the Federal Army was a savior. As the novel progresses, however, the contradictions

158

Chapter Five

in this argument begin to appear. When the Federal Army arrives in Benin to “liberate” the town from the Biafrans, Osime happens to observe that, far from protecting the inhabitants, they slaughter civilians just as indiscriminately as the Biafrans had done earlier (Ni Chreachain 44). Osime himself thought: At first… I did not understand. So I stood on the side of the Federal troops against the Biafran troops and when the Biafran army was driven away and the Federal troops came, I changed sides. But this time I was on the side of neither the Biafrans nor the Federal troops. I was made neutral by my hatred for both (141-142).

Now that Osime is convinced that he had deceived himself, he tells other characters and the readers that what is needed in order to change this situation is nothing other than a “third army” (64). So, this character has a symbolic role of awareness-raising. All these characters harmonize to show that the war has a class connotation instead of an ethnic connotation as the members of the ruling class try to make it so. On the other hand, the depiction of the senior military officers is a hint to the effect that the Nigerian society is made-up of antagonistic classes. As for the Nigerian General and Head of State, he is symbolic of the greed and callousness that are rampant in the Nigerian society. The description of the General and Head of State (General Gowon) as well as the governor, first as rapists and then as murderers (Heroes 98) is a strong sense of awareness-raising in the sense that the highest authorities of the country who are supposed to guarantee the security and peace of the people are paradoxically involved in the destruction of the very ideal they should embody. These characters’ misdeeds make other characters think; they ultimately lose their original innocence about the true nature of their leaders and thus gravitate to the left. Theresa’s (the victim of these atrocities) own depiction of her tormentors and butchers further enlightens other characters’ as well as the reader’s new perception of them: So Theresa had confessed before they silenced her. They are all the same. They hand over to each other the baton of misery, treachery and parasitism. It is a relay race in which the runners are the Obas and the generals and the police chiefs and the businessmen and the old politicians who now have no real trade, politicians without politics suffocating in frustration and envy of the force chiefs and, because they do not have the guns, trading their frustration and envy for parasitism, treachery and misery (98).

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 159

Further still, Gowon’s decision to marry at a time the war is fiercest is an avenue to criticize him and the class he embodies: All I can think of now is the head of state getting ready this morning for his wedding. He will be putting on his white gloves just now, trying them on, while we are held down here by the Biafrans, while hundreds of our soldiers lie down dead on this bridge and many more are afloat on the surface of the river (192).

This picture painted is quite emotional and sounds like a call for the Nigerian rank and file to open their eyes and look at what is happening to them. It is a call to disobey the orders of the General who has no scruples and no regard neither for them nor for the people. There is irony here because the white which symbolizes innocence is associated with Gowon who is not an innocent in the Nigerian civil war. This condemnation of the General and President is a strategy meant “to enable the readers to see the nature of the President’s political flaws and their subsequent impacts on their society in order to raise their awareness against political misrule” (Pewissi: 163). Also important are the depictions of these two leaders which serve the purpose of raising awareness of the people on the fact that they [the General and the Governor] are dehumanized beings who lack imagination. Talking about this lack of imagination, Achebe goes as far as demonstrating how it has contributed to the failure of the whole nation: …I think our failure as a nation is a failure of the imagination, if you think deeply about it. Whatever ills you care to take up and explore, you would see that if our imagination was working properly, our own self-interest would stop us from doing many of the things we are perpetrating, such as injustice to other people (Jehifo: 119).

The foregoing shows quite clearly that it is a lack of imagination that informs the tormentors’ actions. How else could a normal human being rape and ultimately kill another human when the latter needs him or her most? Festus Iyayi, through these depictions, has made it “obvious for the reader to see that of the two, the poor and the rich, it is the rich who are the root of the sufferings of the poor” (Anawi: 140). In a nutshell, such people are not intellectuals because they are not so imaginative as to understand that other people’s misfortune will only give them an illusory satisfaction, which in fact will end up ruining them.

160

Chapter Five

All in all, these evil characters symbolize avenues through which Festus Iyayi creates awareness in the reader about the fact that they (readers) need to keep an eye on the happenings of their society so as to redress the wrongs and build a just society devoid of exploitation, oppression, want and cruelty. As has been already underlined, everybody is responsible to some extent to what happens around him or her in the sense that what he or she does or says even in the “privacy” is ultimately likely to have an impact, sooner or later, on his or her social environment. On the responsibility of the senior officers in the war, Osime argues: …look at Ojukwu and Gowon. You look at the generals on both sides, the men who wear all the pips and the eagles and the crossed swords on their shoulders. These are men who for a long time, perhaps all their lives, have never known hunger, have always had servants, have never known any want. You look at these facts and if you stand where I am and care as I do, then you will come to see that Ojukwu and Gowon have much more in common than Ojukwu and the ordinary Biafran soldiers or Gowon the ordinary Nigerian soldiers. You will come to see as I do that the Biafran soldier has more in common with the Nigerian soldier than with any officer on either side (Heroes 181).

This argument serves as a proof of the identification of the military officers on both sides (Biafran and Nigerian) as a group of selfish and greedy people whose activities are invariably identical in spite of their apparent different positions. Accordingly, a common denominator in these apparently separate groups is that all thrive on exploitation and cruelty. It can also be noticed that the officers at the front live in peace and ease. In fact, they enjoy choice wines, attend parties and have an abundance of expensive meals. They also have access to beautiful women (Heroes 149150). Brigadier Otunshi is a microcosm of senior officers whose aim is to have comfort at the battlefronts whereas the rank and file kill each other. Another important characteristic of the ruling class is revealed in the depiction of the generals, their wives and friends: …the distribution of the relief materials donated by the international agencies to the war victims is awarded as contracts to the wives and friends of the generals and the officers commanding at the fronts. That’s why blankets meant for war victims are being sold in the open market in Lagos and Kaduna and Kano. That’s why the dried milk and food meant for the starving children are sold in the supermarkets in Lagos (148).

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 161

This is therefore a clear illustration of a materialistic society. And this sad depiction is meant to raise awareness among the readers and spur them on to question the validity of the so-called institutions that persecute them instead of protecting them and providing for them. Again, the fact that the needy are neglected to the detriment of the rich or at least of those who do not need these relief materials for their survival, is enough reason for the reader to question the humanity of these members of the ruling class and ultimately to take a stand. As in the three novels, many of the characters in Awaiting Court Martial, especially the main ones, are symbolic. In fact, in the opening story “Jeged’s Madness”, the young couple, Jonathan Alawa and his wife Elisa, are symbolic of the victims of the greed, and envy of the ruling class symbolized by Mr Throttle Cheat-Away. As is implied by his name, Cheat-Away is a dishonest man who uses some cunning ways to rape Elisa, Jonathann Alawa’s wife. To begin, ‘throttle’ means to attack or kill somebody by squeezing their throat in order to stop them from breathing; in fact, it is to strangle. To cheat, on its part, is to make somebody believe something that is not true, in order to get money or something from them. Mr Throttle Cheat-Away does fit in the above two definitions in the sense that, not only he makes Jonathan Alawa believe that his decision to offer him advancements was sincere, but also he tries to rape his wife (ACM 42). From this analysis, there is ample evidence that: “les noms [de personages] ne sont pas choisis au hazard. [Ils] participent au même titre que d’autres moyens de figuration et de symbolisation, à la production du sens” (Bailly : 58) (The choice of characters’ names is not made by chance. Names are as important as other literary signs or symbols. They contribute to the production of meaning”, my trans.). Accordingly, the name of a character such as Mr Throttle Cheat-Away is a hint to the meaning the author sets out to communicate. And in “giving names whose meanings are in close connection with the characters’ actions it appears that [Iyayi] judges his characters or would like his readers to judge them in order to attain some implicit or explicit literary and social effects” (Pewissi: 158). A similar analysis is made by Edme Kipre Guekpossoro when he posits that “le nom qu’on porte ou qu’on vous attribue traduit une sorte d’appreciation, un jugement” (Baroan: 35) (The name borne by one or given to one is a kind of commentary, a piece of judgement”, my trans.). Actually, names are pregnant with meanings capable of controlling the reader’s opinion or world view. Sometimes names are the abridged form

162

Chapter Five

of a long story that is hidden behind them. In this respect, Mr Throttle Cheat-Away symbolizes the colonizer who offers bribes to the chiefs so that he can violate their territories: … the forefathers of Mr Throttle Cheat-Away had gained entry into the lands of his own forefathers through offering the simplest bribes possible or imaginable to the God-appointed Obas and Emirs and other self-styled spokespersons of the people at the time (Awaiting Court Martial: 27).

Furthermore, Mr Throttle Cheat-Away symbolizes the international organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank, which offer opportunities to African leaders, the likes of Jonathan Alawa, so that they can plunder the continent’s resources (symbolized by Elisa). Also important, Elisa’s insistence that the one who has defiled her (Mr Throttle Cheat-Away) must be made to pay for it, can be associated with Nigeria’s and by extension Africa’s will to see to it that all its torturers are punished: Then she said something which she kept on saying years afterwards, even after she had returned to the village, even in the pains of her second labour which turned out to be a stillborn, even in the face of all attempts to cure her of her madness and restore her normal senses to her, even in the face of tempting supplications of Chief Jonathan Alawa who in the maddening pains of his impotence decided to win back her favours… First you must make him pay for it, she said (42-43).

Again, Nigeria wants its torturers and their accomplices to pay. The returning to the village of Elisa symbolizes the decolonization process and “the stillborn” in “the second labour” is the apparent usefulness but actual uselessness of the neo-colonialism and its fallouts. In addition, to raise the reader’s awareness of the guilt of their own fellow citizens in the tragedy that befalls the whole country, if not the whole continent, Iyayi writes: The rotten smell of his own faeces pursued him into his voluminous bedroom. When still naked, he left the room for the corridor that opened into his private sitting room, he found that the foul smell had not only preceded him but it had settled itself securely all over, overpowering the dozens of masculine German air freshners that were attached to the walls. Still completely naked, he began to wander from room to room, his thoughts scattered, his eyes distracted by the gloom in his heart, his nose

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 163 indifferent to the decadent smell of his wasted loins which had completely taken over the whole house (43, my emphasis).

Chief Jonathan Alawa stands as somebody who looks for the causes of his misfortune elsewhere whereas they are right there within his reach. It is my contention that Iyayi is making reference to the fact that our own leaders who worry about the corruption, injustice or decay that are rampant in their societies, end up being accustomed to these vices to the extent that they become insensible to them. They live with them and it does not dawn on them that they are responsible for that uncomfortable situation. They look for the causes everywhere except where they should look for them, in their own character. In Awaiting Court Martial, which is the title story, the character that appeals to the reader’s emotions most is the doomed soldier, a onceefficient executioner of the state who incidentally refuses to give order to shoot his latest victims among which happens to be his own brother, Alubiya (52) who ironically came laughing at his own execution. He epitomizes the innocent victims of the state violence and at the same time he appears as a direct challenge to the system. In fact, just like the “rank and file who become murderers only after they have been trained in murder by their officers” (Heroes 142), the doomed soldier always acted on the orders and directives of those above [him] (Awaiting Court Martial 52). However, what seems to be of interest to Iyayi here is the fact that his refusal to give orders for Alubiya’s execution is in itself a kind of questioning of these evil practices. Furthermore, his decision to laugh at his own eventual execution is a way of belittling the sentence and telling his torturers that he is not moved by their decision to execute him. This also serves as an example for other people who act on the orders of their superiors to stand up and put an end to their situation lest they should be as guilty as their bosses. So, it is a call to defy the system. In addition, this character allows the reader to know more about the system and its atrocities: I am not the president. I did not seize power by force. I did not shoot down the members of the last government in cold blood. I am not mismanaging the country’s affairs. My security is therefore never threatened. … I simply implement orders. I am told “shoot those thirty or fifty people” or as was the case in April, “those one hundred and twenty-nine criminals” and I get the firing squad to do the shooting in the underground shooting range so that it never gets into the public eye… Others are demanding this or that or cursing the President. No curse is ever directed to me (53).

164

Chapter Five

In the light of this quotation, it is crystal clear to a careful reader that the doomed soldier serves as an avenue for revealing the president and his accomplices’ misdeeds. These are indeed the revelations on the secret executions perpetrated by the State which is supposed to protect the citizens. Simply put, the President epitomizes the state violence and its concomitants. It is important to note that the portrayal of this despotic system in Nigeria is an explicit call to question the very essence of state power and ultimately to challenge the oppressive system. Again, there is a kind of awareness on the part of the doomed soldier that we all belong to the same humanity and for that reason, there should be a sense of otherness in our relationships: Besides, I did not know the men and women involved. I didn’t know them. They were not Alubiya to me. I was not and did not have to be emotional with anyone of them. Alubiya is my brother, my kid brother. Why can’t my superiors see this? Why are they so indifferent and so cold to the fire that our common blood heats up in our veins? How can they pretend that blood does not flow in their own veins, that they are no longer humans? What has the business in being in the shadow of power done to them? Why can they not see what I can see? (52).

In “Saira”, Saira, Fatima’s maid, is arrested and jailed unjustly, for a crime she did not commit. Thus, she symbolizes thousands of Nigerians who are jailed without trial or enough reason. In fact, Fatima too is a victim of the abuse of power on the part of Alhaji Bako Bello who has actually murdered her (66). This, then, serves as an awareness raising about the fact that there should be more justice in the society. As for Mr Victor Ikhide, he symbolizes the conservative, the traditional man who finds himself at the crossroads of right and wrong and is confused. This confusion transpires in his relationship with his wife: He had always felt that a woman had to be put in her proper place in the home, that if a man let on that he was easygoing, then the woman would take undue advantage of him. When he saw his friends and their wives having their silly little games– imagine a woman cutting a piece of meat from her plate, planting it on a fork and transferring it to the gaping mouth of her husband – he always averted his quiet and serious eyes with embarrassment. The thing was that he always felt that a man had to be severe with his wife. How could he, a man who was always being invited to chair this or that occasion and donate towards this or that public project, bend down before

Symbolism, Awareness Raising and Ethical Revolution in Iyayi’s Fiction 165 his wife’s underwear? No. He considered himself too big to step into those little pot-holes of life (201-202).

Iyayi is out to ridicule the pseudo-intellectual Mr Victor who incidentally happens to have a high esteem about himself and who, at the same time, is reluctant to abandon the old practices that deny the woman her pride and her very humanity. Unlike Victor, Iyayi is an intellectual who questions the bad side of the culture so that he may fashion a near-perfect society for his people. For him, if it is true that harmony in the family system promotes stability and progress in society, it is also evident that no society can develop its national consciousness in a healthy manner without the active and full participation of women in its cultural, political and intellectual life (King and Ogungbessan: 142). Herein, Iyayi means to identify things that cripple the communal life in order to correct them. He “criticizes traditional education which is shown to encourage a blind submissiveness and passive docility in women” (142). For instance, he seems to tell Victor and his likes that there is nothing wrong in helping one’s wife or playing with her. An intellectual fights against all forms of injustice and exploitation that prevent personal and collective consciousness from hatching into an atmosphere conducive to overall development. Also important, an intellectual is aware that “what is common is not necessarily normal” (Weiner and Gross: 48). Akika Lamidi is a cartoonist who symbolizes a direct challenge to the oppressive government that penalises the boldness to speak the truth. By making him challenge the political police overtly, Festus Iyayi is showing the reader that it is possible to question the legitimacy of their government. This is also a call to his fellow writers to devote their writings to more important contemporary issues (88). He is a specific character through whose experiences the pressing challenges of the moment are addressed. In the Soviet aesthetic theorician A. Bazshenova’s view: The typical character is a concentration of the unique thoughts, feelings and actions of an individual who becomes, due to the artist’s creative power and his penetration of that character, one of the equivalents of society, an age, a people, a nation, a class, a profession (Bazshenova: 243).

Festus Iyayi does not only lament the tragedy of the oppressed through Akika Lamidi but, above all, he aims at inspiring them to rise above their limitations by challenging the conditions of their oppression. For Akika Lamidi, an artist has to involve his art in political issues because he or she is part of the society and cannot afford to remain insensitive to the happenings of his or her society. So, it is crystal clear that, seen the issues

166

Chapter Five

his society faces, he cannot avoid involvement in the political issues even though it might be different from other people’s involvement. Achebe makes this point so pertinently when he answers Colmer’s question: how far do you think the writer ought to involve his writing in political issues? As much as possible. I don’t think a writer can avoid political issues, although writers are different, they are different human beings and the way they perceive their involvement will differ from writer to writer and also will differ from country to country. It depends on what is going on in the country. Quite often it will determine for the writer what form his involvement should take. But politics as a subject, I think that’s an absolute necessity for the writer (Colmer: 5-6 my emphasis).

Not only does the above quotation highlight the conditions of a writer’s involvement, it also makes it obvious that a writer’s involvement is a compulsion in a society where almost everything is attainable through economics and politics. In the final analysis, Iyayi articulates an awareness-raising of society through his symbolic characters for a revolutionary vision, for the effort to create, theorize on, criticize, enjoy and participate in literature in Africa (as elsewhere) ought to be one and the same with struggle to banish those conditions which dehumanize humankind and threaten the nobility of art itself… A literary culture that sets itself this vital task cannot but be defined in rigorous activist and radical political terms (Amuta: 199).

CONCLUSION

It has been the task of this book about intellectual dissidence and activism to show that the term “intellectual” bears a different meaning from what many people believe it is. In this perspective, I have tried to introduce Festus Iyayi as an “intellectual” in his own right. This has been possible thanks to his life experiences as well as the exploration of his ideology and class consciousness through his novels and collection of short stories. My specific task here has consisted in identifying and explaining the discernible ideological standpoints that have shaped Festus Iyayi’s creative works and that have ultimately confirmed him in his role of dissident and political activist. In fact, the class position of the critic as well as that of the writer (novelist), his or her self-perception in and mode of insertion into the prevailing class formations of his or her society influence and even determine the ideological colouring of his or her critical products or fictional creations (Amuta: 13). Thus, Iyayi’s own undertakings and writings, we have seen, are fraught with his ideological colourings both covert and overt. His militancy to the common cause permeates his creative writings in which many of his characters seem to be himself; they are actually his mouthpieces. His class consciousness is to be traced to his treatment of the burning issues of his society through the lenses of the class-ideological axis of criticism. As a matter of illustration, I have shown that, unlike some of his counterparts for whom the Nigerian civil war originated from the tribal crisis, Iyayi posits that the Biafran war is born out of the greed of the ruling class and their determination to share the public resources among themselves to the detriment of the vast majority of Nigerian society. And ultimately there arises a much-dealt-with issue of class struggle that opposes the “haves” and “have-nots.” He, therefore, sustains, like Ngugi, that “there are only two tribes left in Africa: the “haves” and “have nots” (Clarke: viii). I have argued that it takes an intellectual’s insight to come to the realization that class is the main, if not the only element of structure of modern societies in the sense that naïve people might locate the root causes of the society’s problems (here war, corruption and its fallouts and oppression and its concomitants) elsewhere, either as a consequence of

168

Conclusion

ignorance or as an avowed will to thwart truth and give the impression to the exploited and oppressed that they deserve their fate. It has been my opinion that Iyayi unmasks all these whims devised by the ruling class and therefore deserves to be considered as a dissident. Conversely, the members of the ruling class who attempt to justify their oppression are not intellectuals whatever their level of education because this double offence (oppression and its rationalization) gives them no chance of qualifying. I maintained that Iyayi does not side with the exploiter class. On the contrary, his writings are dedicated to liberating the psyche of both the exploited and the exploiter in the sense that the latter ends up believing its own rationalization of oppression, which is synonymous with being caught in one’s own trap. As an artist-intellectual Iyayi sets out to combat the “enemy literature” (Ngugi, Literature in Schools: 40) the same way any intellectual would combat the false consciousness circulated by the ruling class for the purpose of raising awareness in the people about the need to struggle for the desired change. As can be noticed through his writings, he is not happy when he sees injustice, when people are oppressed and exploited. And this is the reason why he addresses such issues in his writings in order to engender change. He views this task as a duty because the most enlightened have the moral obligation to serve as the trailblazers to the people lest they be considered as the ones that have betrayed their own people or better their accomplices. In this connection, therefore, the study has shown that the writers who, like John Nagenda (1968), concern themselves in their writings solely with their own selves to the detriment of the people are not intellectuals at all. It does not suffice for a person to write something to become an intellectual, for “every artistic production is…committed to the cause of a certain class” (Agye: 127) and such writers who serve the purposes of the exploiter class are far from being intellectuals because they are enemies of truth and justice. As has been shown, Iyayi treats this matter with a sense of revolution which is his ideological orientation. In this process, Iyayi has used juxtaposition that better illustrates the existence of two antagonistic classes. For instance he has characters, events and situations that are in essence contrasts which coexist in order to show the glaring contradictions of the oppressive system. Indeed, Iyayi almost invariably opposes the world of the poor and the needy and that of the rich and the privileged. As an illustration the reader has been introduced to two couples in Violence, Idemudia and his wife Adisa and Obofun and his wife, Queen. The former epitomizes the class of the downtrodden and the latter that of the privileged. The conclusions reached

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

169

in the analysis of each novel and short story in the approach of the class consciousness prove that Nigeria is a class society and that Iyayi is aware of this fact and takes it into account in the treatment of his themes in his fiction. As a dissident, he understands the ins and outs of the national economy and does not blame any natural phenomenon for the misery of the greater part of the Nigerian population. He knows that corruption, exploitation, oppression and their fallouts are consciously maintained by the class of exploiters in order to enjoy the privileges of their class to the detriment of the working people. In fact, by adopting this narrative technique, Iyayi is opening the reader’s awareness to the fact that his fiction has objectives for the readership, that is, he has a motive for his writing. And here, the aim is to open the reader’s eyes on the fact that there ought to be a fight to liberate the downtrodden from the clutches of the ruling class. He is calling to the attention of the reader to the decaying of his or her society. Also important is the thorny issue of the exploitation and the oppression of women and children. And since artists-intellectuals are the enemies of exploitation and oppression in all its variants, I have tried to show that those who indulge in the exploitation of these innocent beings are not intellectuals. As a consequence, I have compared the exploitation of women to capitalism whose effects are the same. Iyayi’s contempt of men’s callousness is made manifest throughout his novels and collection of short stories. This is because it is perceived as a kind of hegemony and like any other hegemony it needs to be dealt with by intellectuals. In addition, I showed that this issue is so important because there is no lesser exploitation, and details matter a lot for an intellectual. Therefore, the exploitation of women should be a general concern. Further, I argued that children’s oppression and exploitation are perceived as a threat for the future of humankind and a lack of intellectual insight because they “are the future of any society” (Ngugi: 76). Another important conclusion is that in the context of his writing, Iyayi has made some of his characters, who conspire against the social forces, appear as tyrants and dictators and traitors. This situation calls in the moral issues so dear to intellectuals in that morality serves as a cornerstone to the communal life. Iyayi diagnoses the moral collapse of his society and excavates in this process the root causes of this collapse and contends that it is the capitalist aesthetic that puts emphasis on money which is the real culprit of this situation and then he proposes the moral revival in order to

170

Conclusion

reach the national consciousness that is the pre-condition for a true democracy. So, it has also been my concern to analyse how he rejects selfishness and proposes the restoration of moral principles which constitute a cornerstone for a harmonious society. In this perspective, he has his characters – Ogie Obala, Osime Iyere, Temi, Idemudia, Akika Lamidi, Onise Ine, etc. – reject the practices of another set of characters – Mallam Mallam, Queen, Obofun, Chief Eweh Obala, General Gowon, General Ojukwu and their accomplices – who embody the exploiter class for whom any means to make money is good. As can be noticed, the former stand as the symbol of justice, morality, fairness and the cleansers of the overdecayed political, social and especially economic environment. It is through these characters who can be termed intellectuals that Iyayi questions the selfish inclinations of all capitalist societies. The latter, regardless of their social position and academic performance, are depicted as the disciples of evil, and as such, do not deserve to be addressed as intellectuals, for intellectualism is analogous to ethics. And since the moral aesthetics is lacking in the behaviour of the above-mentioned characters, there should be no effort intended to rationalize their misdeeds so as to make them appear as intellectuals. This qualification is, in my view, nonnegotiable. It is a position which should not be usurped. It is paramount to underline that bringing the discussion on morality to an end without mentioning the much controversial issue of the exploitation of women as sexual and economic objects is synonymous with neglecting an important part of the burning issues of the day which are hardly ever absent in the writings of any twenty-first century writer. So, I have deemed it necessary, besides the political and material corruption, to tackle, however little, the much-discussed issue of sexuality which is incidentally a mere tool in the hands of the capitalists for their selfish interests. It is discernible throughout my definition of the term intellectual that there is no sexist approach. The characters I termed intellectuals include both sexes and I have tried to show that anybody who uses his or her fellow human being for making money is not an intellectual. In this connection, men who use women or the other way round for power, money and sexual satisfaction callously do not deserve to be called intellectuals. This book has also thrown some light on the political responsibility of artists-intellectuals in Iyayi’s fiction. I have tried to highlight the artistintellectual’s position as far as political change is concerned. In this connection, it has been made plain to the reader that the political militancy is located at the level of the writing itself – form and content – as well as the actions of the characters in the work or those of the author as an

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

171

individual. Whatever may be the case, it must be noted that when a writer consciously or unconsciously decides to raise political issues in his or her works, especially alongside the masses, he or she is making public statements and can be considered as an intellectual. It is in this connection that the playwright of the play-within-the-novel can be termed artistintellectual. The playwright who is a discharged patient makes the “radiology” of his society and proposes proper “medication” for the ills diagnosed. And this earns him the qualification of an architect of political change. He does not merely depict situations; he tries to excavate the root cause of the real problems that his society faces. And the fact that after watching this play many people identify with some of its characters and seek to change the existing oppressive system is a tangible proof that an artist-intellectual plays the role of a catalyst for change. In the same way, Akika Lamidi has been presented as an artist-intellectual who devotes his cartoons to the awareness-raising and ultimately to the change in the management of his country. And there is a need to stress that if these characters are viewed as artists-intellectuals, the one who created them – Iyayi – is not less intellectual than them. In The Contract, though, Onise Ine is a political militant who writes and at the same time gets involved in concrete struggles against the government policy. However, whatever may be the strategy of the artist, he or she plays an important part in the moulding of ideas that engender change, especially the fight for fairness in the management of the country’s affairs. Consequently, there are some artistic creations which are fraught with their authors’ȱ concerns and which are political in orientation even if the author does not espouse Christopher Okigbo’s philosophy, which consists of invoving physically alongside the downtrodden in their daily struggles. As a result of this logic, I have also argued that literature plays an important part in the national development and politics. Further, it has been proven that nothing should be taken for granted by an intellectual. In this light, Iyayi has been presented as someone who does not blame it all on the colonial master. While he argues that white people have done a great wrong to black people through time, he also suggests that black people should take responsibility in their behaviours. Much further, I discussed Iyayi’s iconoclastic approach to violence. It has been mainly through the Counsel for the Defence that he has conveyed his definition of violence especially in Violence. In his view, violence is a historical phenomenon which invariably has a class basis.

172

Conclusion

As for anti-violence violence, it should not be considered as violence at all, but simply as a mere self-defence, the real culprits being the oppressors. Finally, I discussed the symbols and characters that stand as a means of awareness-raising. Here, I have tried to show that symbols embody ideas and therefore a single symbol may be more rewarding than a long declamation. In the same way, symbolic characters embody ideas and as such are powerful avenues for the writer’s ideology. This book has tried to contribute to the revisitation of the concept “intellectual”. In the final analysis, this term needs to be approached with a moral perspective so that we will avoid the possibility of usurping this position which, in essence, is non-negotiable.

WORKS CONSULTED

Achebe, Chinua. "The Modern Writer and Commitment." Paper presented at the conference on Literature and Modern West African Culture, University of Nsukka, 11-15 September 1972. —. "The Role of a Writer in a New Nation." African Writers on African Writing, edited by G.D. Killam, Heinemann, 1973, pp. 7-13. —. Anthills of the Savannah. Heinemann, 1988. —. Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays. Doubleday, 1989. —. The Trouble with Nigeria. Fourth Dimension Publishing Co Ltd, 1983. Afagla, Kodjo. Justice and Self-awareness in the Black Diasporan Novel: A Study in the Fiction of George Lamming and Paul Marshall. Thèse pour l’obtention du Doctorat Unique (NR), en Littérature Américaine, Université de Lomé, 1999. Agye, Za-Ayem. "Towards a People’s Literature of Socio-political Awareness." Literature and Society: Selected Essays on African Literature, edited by Ernest Emenyonu, ZIM Pan African Publishers, 1986, pp. 127-145. Ake, Claude. Revolutionary Pressures in Africa. Zed Press, 1978. Albrow, Martin. The Global Age: State and Society Beyond Modernity. Stanford University Press, 1997. Amadiume, Ifi. Re-inventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture. Zed Books Ltd, 1997. Amoo, Nii, and Margaret Amoo Darku. Biblical Marriage in an African Context. SonLife Printing Press and Services, 2005. Amuta, Chidi. The Theory of African Literature: Implications for Practical Criticism. Zed Books Ltd, 1989. Anawi, Pédi. "Marxist Aesthetics in Festus Iyayi’s Violence." Journal de Recherche Scientifique, vol. 11, no. 1, 2009, pp. 137-148. Appiah, Peggy. A Smell of Onions. Longman, 1971. Awoonor, Kofi. The African Predicament: Selected Essays. Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2006. Azasu, Kwakuvi, and Philip Geraldo. Mastering Literary Criticism. Yamens Publishing House, 2005. Bafana, Komi. The Industrial Worker in the Victorian Novel: A Study in Four Novels by Elizabeth C.

174

Works Consulted

Gaskell, George Eliot, Benjamin Disraeli, and Charles Dickens. Thèse pour l’obtention du Doctorat Unique (NR), en Littérature Anglaise, Université Cheik Anta Diop de Dakar et Université de Lomé, 2010. Bailly, Serry. "Noms de personnages et production de sens chez Ayi Kwei Armah; de l’aliénation à la libération." Annales de Lettres, Arts et Sciences Humaines, Université d’Abidjan, vol. XXIV, 1991, pp. 57-67. Baroan, Kipre Guekpossoro Edme. Mutations des noms Africains: l´exemple des Bété de Côte-d´Ivoire. Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1985. Barret, Richard A. Culture and Conduct: An Excursion in Anthropology. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1984. Baumberger, Peter, et al., editors. Encyclopaedia Universalis, Corpus 4. France S.A, 1990. Beaud, Michel. L’art de la thèse: Comment préparer et rédiger une thèse de doctorat, un mémoire de D.E.A ou de maîtrise ou tout autre travail universitaire. Editions de la Découverte, 1985. Berk, Laura Ellen. Infants, Children, and Adolescents, third edition. Illinois State University Press, 1993. Bernth Lindfors. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. The University Press of Mississippi, 1977, pp. 110-123. Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. Routledge, 2001. Bodin, Louis. Les intellectuels existent-ils?. Bayard, 1997. Booth, Wayne Clayton. The Rhetoric of Fiction. The University of Chicago Press, 1961. Boulaga, Eboussi. "Intellectuels, nationalisme et ideal panafricain." Mosaïque, no. 1, 2003. Brecht, Bertolt. Poems 1913-1956. Metheum, 1976. Bressler, Charles Edward. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Englewood Cliffs, 1994. Bressler, Gardener Helen. The Business of Criticism. Oxford University Press, 1959. Bukola, Sanda. The Problem with Nigeria. Success Secretarial and Printing Services, 1985. Camus, Albert. L´homme révolté. Gallimard, 1951. Chadwick, Charles. Symbolism. Metheum, 1971. Chinweizu, Ibekwe et al., editors. Toward the Decolonization of African Literature: African Fiction and Poetry and their Critics. Volume I. Fourth Dimension Publishing Co Ltd, 1980. —. African Fiction and Poetry and their Critics. Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1980.

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

175

Colmer, Rosemary. "The Critical Generation." Ash Magazine, vol. 5, winter 1980, pp. 5-7. D'Souza, Anthony Aranha. Leaders for Today, Hope for Tomorrow: Empowering and Empowered Leadership. Paulines Publications Africa, 2001. Darchiachvili, David. "Human Security, Liberal Democracy and the Power of Nationalism: The State Crisis in Georgia and Possible Solutions." Rethinking Security, NATO Review, vol. 48, winter 2000, pp. 32-34. Dewey, John. The Public and its Problems. The Swallow Press, 1954. Dickstein, Morris. Double Agent: The Critic and Society. Oxford University Press, 1991. Dietsch, Mattix. Reasoning and Writing Well: A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook. 3rd ed., Mc Graw-Hill, 2003. Diyanni, Robert. The Graw Hill Book of Fiction. Mac Graw Hill, 1985. Dolo, Emmanuel. "The Social Responsibility of the Intellectual: A Call to New Citizenship." The Perspective, 23 Jan. 2007, https://www.theperspective.org/articles/2007/0123200704.html. Accessed 13 Nov. 2010. Duerden, Dennis and Cosmo Pieterse, editors. African Writers Talking. Heinemann, 1972. Einstein, Albert. Comment je vois le monde. Translated by Regis Hannion, Flammarion, 1979. Emenyonu, Ernest Nneji. "The Nigerian Civil war and the Nigerian Novel: The Writer as Historical Witness." Studies on the Nigerian Novel, Heinemann, 1991, pp. 89-105. Fanon, Frantz. Les damnés de la terre. Maspero, 1973. —. Peau noire masques blancs. Editions du Seuil, 1952. Farrel, James Thomas. Selected Essays, edited by Luna Wolf, MC Graw Hill Book, 1964. Fatunde, Tunde. "Images of Working People in Two African Novels: Ouloguem and Iyayi." Marxism and African Literature, edited by Georg M. Gugelberger, Africa World Press, 1985, pp. 110-117. Fay, Brian. Social Theory and Political Practice. George Allen & Union Ltd, 1975. Freire, Paulo. The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Penguin, 1972. Friedan, Betty. "Betty Friedan, Chicago, 1969." The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches, edited by Brian Mac Arthur, Penguin Books Ltd, 1979, pp. 358-392. Gakwandi, Shatto Arthur. The Novel and Contemporary Experience in Africa. Heinemann, 1977.

176

Works Consulted

Gardner, John. Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers. Alfred A. Knoff, 1984. Gbeto, Souley Kossi. Les Nouvelles Ecritures Africaines: L’Expérience de Sony Labou Tansi. Thèse pour l’obtention du Doctorat Unique (NR), en Littérature de l’Afrique Africaine, Université de Lomé, 2007. Gikandi, Simon. Reading the African Novel. Heinemann, 1987. Golubovic, Zagorka. "Models of Identity in Postcommunist Societies." Models of Identity in Postcommunist Societies, edited by George F. McLean and Zagorka G., Library of Congress Cataloguing-inpublication, 1999, pp. 25-39. Griffith, Kelly. Writing Essays about Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet. Wadsworth, 2002. Gueye, Abdoulaye. Les intellectuels africains en France. L'Harmattan, 2001. Harris, Wendell Varenne. Dictionary of Concepts in Literary Criticism and Theory. Greenwood Press, 1992. Hauser, Arnold. "Propaganda, Ideology and Art." Aspects of History and Class-Consciousness, edited by Istvan Meszaros, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971, pp. 128-151. Heintze, Hans-Joachim. "An Independent Judiciary in Crisis Regions: Challenges for International Law in Cases of State Failure and Armed Conflict." Environment and Conflict in Africa, Reflections on Darfur, edited by Marcel Leroy, University for Peace, Africa Programme, 2007, pp. 56-71. Iriele, Beverley. "Vanishing in Social and Political Thought: Tricks of the Trade." Feminist Challenges, Social and Political Theory, edited by Carole Peterman and Elizabeth Gross, Northeastern University Press, 1987, pp. 30-76. Iyayi, Festus. Awaiting Court Martial. Malthouse Press Limited, 1996. —. "The African Writer and the Biafran Cause." Morning Yet on Creation Day, Heinemann, 1975, pp. 78-84. —. "The Conduct of Elections and Electoral Practices in Nigeria." Paper delivered at the NBA conference in Abuja, 24th October 2004. —. The Contract. Longman, 1982. —. Heroes. Longman, 1986. —. Violence. Longman, 1979. Jackson, Thomas Herschel. "Orality, Orature and Ngugi wa Thiong'o." Research in African Literatures, vol. 22, no. 1, Indiana University Press, 1990, pp. 5-16. Jameson, Frederic. The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act. Matheum, 1981.

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

177

Jaspers, Karl. La culpabilité allemande. Translated by Jeanne Hersch, Editions de Minuit, 1990. Jeyifo, Biodun. "Literature and Conscientization: Interview with Chinua Achebe 1983." Contemporary Nigerian Literature: A Retrospective and Prospective Exploration, 1985. Jinadu, Adele. Fanon: In Search of an African Revolution. Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1980. Joel, Adadeji. "Traditional Yoruba Travelling Theatre." Theatre in Africa, edited by Oyin Ogunda and Abiola Irele, Oxford UP, 1978, pp. 27-51. Jones, Eldred Durosimi. The Writings of Wole Soyinka. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 1983. Joseph, Richard. Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic. Cambridge University Press, 1992. Kazantzakis, Nikos. Report to Greco. Faber and Faber, 1961. Kehinde, Adekunle. "Rethinking African Fiction in the Era of Globalization: A Contest of Text and Context." Journal of the Nigeria English Studies Association, vol. 2, no. 1, 2005, pp. 72-88. King, Bruce and Kolawole Ogungbesan. A Celebration of Black African Writing. Ahmadu Bello University and Oxford University Press, 1975. Klein, Axel. Fragile Peace, Violence and Development in Crisis Regions. Zed Books, 2002. Knickerbocker and Reninger. Interpreting Literature, 2nd ed., Holt Renehart and Winston, 1965. Kovaþeviþ, Ivanka. Fact into Fiction, English Literature and the Industrial Scene 1750-1850. Leicester University Press, 1975, pp. 3839. Kukah, Hassan Matthew Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria. Spectrum Books, 1999. Legun, Colin. Pan-Africanism. Pall Mall Press, 1965. Lenin, Vladimir Ilyrich. Critical Remarks on the National Question. Progress Publishers, 1976. —. De l’intelligentsia. Editions du Progrès, 1983. Lindfors, Bernth. Conversations with Chinua Achebe. University Press of Mississippi, 1977. Lionel, Trilling. The Liberal Imagination. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976. Maduka, Chidi. "The African Writer in the Drama of Social Change." Ariel, vol. 12, no. 3, Morris Printing Ltd, 1984, pp. 5-18. Mandel, Ernest. "Capitalisme." Encyclopaedia Universalis, edited by Peter Baumberger et al., Corpus 4, France S.A, 1990, pp. 933-943. Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. Manifeste du Parti Communiste. Edition du Progrès, 1978 (1884).

178

Works Consulted

Mbiti, John. African Religions and Philosophy. East African Educational Publishing Ltd., 1969. —. Introduction to African Religion. 2nd ed., Heinemann, 1991. Meyer, Howard Abrahams. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Thompson Wadsworth, 2005. Midiohouan, Guy Ossito. "Modern Literature and the Flourishing of Culture in Black Africa." Research in African Literatures, vol. 22, no. 1, Indiana University Press, 1990, pp. 93-100. Munonye, John. Interview in Dem Say, 1964. Mutiso, Gideon-Cyrus Makau. Socio-Political Thought in African Literature. Macmillan Press Ltd, 1974. Mwangui, Meja. Going Down River Road. Heinemann Educational Books, 1973. Mzamane, Mbulelo Vizikhungo. "Cultivating a People’s Voice in the Criticism of South African Literature." Research in African Literatures, vol. 22, no. 4, Indiana University Press, 1991, pp. 117134. Na’Allah, Abdul Rasheed, editor. The People’s Poet: Emerging Perspectives on Niyi Osundare. Africa World Press, 2003. Napoléon I. Comment faire la guerre. Mille-et-une-nuits, 2003. Ngara, Emmanuel. Ideology and Form in African Poetry. Baobab Books, 1990. Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politics. Lawrence Hill and Company, 1979. —. Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms. Heinemann, 1993. —. Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance. Basic Avitas Books, 2009. —. Writers in Politics. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 1981. Ni Chréacháin, Firinne. "Festus Iyayi's Heroes: Two Novels in One?" Research in African Literatures, vol. 22, no. 1, Indiana University Press, 1990, pp. 43-53. Nnolim, Charles E. Approaches to the African Novel. Saros Publishers, 1992. —. The Writer's Responsibility and Literature in National Development. University of Port Harcourt, SGS Lecture Series, 2007. Nubukpo, Komla Messan. "Lomé, espace psycho-littéraire." Patrimoines, No. 3, 1997, pp. 471-484. —. "Vers une critique littéraire au féminin: le cas du Togo." Annales de l'Université de Ouagadougou, Série A, vol. X, 1998, pp. 1-18.

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

179

Nwagbara, Uzoechi. "State Violence and the Writer: Towards the Dialectics of Intellectual Militancy in Transcending Postcolonial Nigerian Contradictions." https://www.nobleworld.biz/images/Mwagbara2.pdf, accessed 13-11-2010. Obiechina, Emmanuel. Culture, Tradition, and Society in the West African Novel. Cambridge University Press, 1975. —. "The Writer and his Commitment in Contemporary Nigerian Society." Okike, Nos. 27/28, March 1988, pp. 1-9. Ogungbesan, Kolawole. "Wole Soyinka and the Novelist’s Responsibility in Africa." New West African Literature, Heinemann, 1979, pp. 1-47. Oha, Anthony Chukwuebuka. The African Novel. National Open University of Nigeria, 2008. Ojinmah, Umelo. Chinua Achebe New Perspectives. Spectrum Books Limited, 1975. Ojo-Ade, Femi. "Madness in African Novel: Awoono's This Earth My Brother…". African Literature Today, No. 10, Heinemann, 1979, pp. 117-136. Onimode, Bade. "Alternative Development Path for Africa – A Macro Framework." Alternative Strategies for Africa, vol. 1: Coalition for Change, edited by Adebayo Adededji et al., Institute for African Alternatives, 1990, pp. 169-173. Onoge, Omafune Friday. "The Crisis of Consciousness in Modern African Literature: A Survey." Canadian Journal of African Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, 1974, pp. 385-410. Orshi, James. "Government of Revolution." Nigerian Tribune, Ibadan, April 15, 1982, pp. 1-7. Osundare, Niyi. "Freedom and the Creative Space." Multiculturalism and Hybridity in African Literatures, edited by Hal Wylie and Bernth Lindfors, Africa World Press, Inc, 2000, pp. 63-68. Ouologuem, Yambo. Le devoir de violence. Seuil, 1968. Peil, Margaret. Nigerian Politics: The People’s Views. Cassell, 1976. Pewissi, Atafèʀ. The Problematics of the Hero and the Notion of Space and Time in Chinua Achebe’s Novels. Nassarawa Publishing Company Limited, 2004. —. "Names as a Narrative Complement in Chinua Achebe's Novels." Gumaga: International Journal of Language and Literature, edited by Kwakuvi Azasu, Yemens Publishing House, 2008, pp. 148-172. Priestland, Gerald. The Future of Violence. Hamish Hamilton, 1974. Primoratz, Igor. Patriotism. Fraternity Books, 2002.

180

Works Consulted

Richard Kahn. Excerpt from Paulo Freire's book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970, https://www.vilyaoonline.net/arvindgupta/oppressed.doc (15/12/09). Said, Edward. "Intellectuals in the Postcolonial World." Salmagundi, Windswept House, 1986, pp. 44-64. Sanda, A. O. "How Africans Underdeveloped Africa." A Keynote Address delivered at the CERDAS/NISER Information Seminar on the Social Consequences of Unequal Development of Urban and Rural Areas of Africa, Conference Center, University of Ibadan, September, 1980. Sanda, Bukola. The Problem with Nigeria. Success Secretarial and Printing Services, 1985. Schorer, Mark. "Technique as Discovery." Hudson Review, vol. I, 1948, pp. 67-87. Sieber, Roy. "Mask as Agent of Social Control." Africa Studies Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 2, 1962. Simon, René. Ethique de la responsabilité. Les Editions du Cerf, 1993. Sklar, Richard. "The Nature of Class Domination in Africa." The Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, 1979, pp. 531-552. Soyinka, Wole. A Shuttle in the Crypt. Hill and Wang Pub., 1972. —. Achebe, Awoonor and Soyinka. Washington Institute of Comparative and Foreign Area Studies, University of Washington, 1975. —. Myth, Literature and the African World. Cambridge University Press, 1976. —. Season of Anomy. Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1980. Stevick, Philip. Theory of the Novel. Free Press, 1967. Taiwo, Oladele. An Introduction to West African Literature. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1967. —. Female Novelist and Modern Africa. Macmillan Publishers, 1984. Terhemba, Akaana E. Symbolism in the Novel of Festus Iyayi. Nassarawa Publishing Company Limited, 2004. Têtê-Adjalogo, Têtêvi Godwin. Des principes fondamentaux du militantisme. Editions Haho, 2004. Thompson, David, editor. Political Ideas. Penguin Books, 1960. Tindall, William York. "Excellent Dumb Discourse." The Theory of the Novel, edited by Philip Stevick, The Free Press, 1967, pp. 335-354. Toffler, Alvin. Future Shock. Bantam Books, 1970. Trotsky, Leon. Literature and Revolution. Monthly Review Press, 1974. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Garland Publishing, Inc, 1999. Udenta, Udenta O. Ideological Sanction and Social Action in African Literature. Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1994.

Dissidence and Activism in Festus Iyayi’s Fiction

181

Udumukwu, Onyemaechi. The Novel and Change in Africa. University of Port Harcourt Press, 2006. Wanjala, Chris. The Season of Harvest: A Literary Discussion. General Printers Ltd, 1978. Wilson, Edmund. "Marxism and Literature." 20th Century of Literary Criticism: A Reader, edited by David Lodge, Longman, 1972, pp. 232253. Wiredu, Kwasi. The Moral Foundations of African Culture. Georgetown UP, 1992. Ziegler, Jean. Main basse sur l'Afrique. Editions du Seuil, 1978.