The Use of African myth, Folklore and Oral tradition in African Literature

The history of African literature consists of written literature and a strong tradition

of oral literature that is still alive. English is the second language used all over the

country, used as a medium of education and as a medium of communication with other

countries in Africa and beyond. The past history is that of colonial territory, subject to

cultural, political and missionary as well as linguistic influence from Britain. The present

history is one of achieved independence with a growing awareness of both national

identity and modern problems. There is an acute awareness based on colour. Traditional

culture is a major influence on the development of the contemporary national culture and

its accompanying attitudes and beliefs.

The oral literature is so intimately connected with the socio-cultural context. In the

case of African literature, the use of English language is a crucial thing which connects

the colonial and the mythopoeic traditions. For example in Soyinka, there is

interchangeability of cultural experience, the use of one culture to cope with the

experiences of the other. He is opposed to the negritude movement. The use of myth and

folktale has been fastened to the African traditions and befuddle Western attitudes. The

African world was a fantasy world for Europeans before science fiction came along,

inhabited by witch doctors and mysterious beings, or dominated by a literally swinging

Tarzan .But we find that the oral tradition and myth forms a large part in African

literature and it acts as a resistance against the colonial intervention in Africa.

 Sub-Saharan Africa has two distinct kinds of literatures. Traditional oral poetry

and the written Literature. Traditional oral poetry and folklore date back to the early days

of various tribal cultures and the written literature emerges in the 18th century but mostly

it is the phenomena of 20th century. According to Achebe, “Both novel and short story in

Africa have undoubtedly drawn from a common oral heritage. But each has also achieved

distinctiveness in the hands of its best practitioners.”The oral tradition is in fact the story

telling tradition. Storytelling is alive, ever in transition, never hardened in time. Stories

are not meant to be temporally frozen; they are always responding to contemporary

realities, but in a timeless fashion. Storytelling is therefore not a memorized art. The

necessity for this continual transformation of the story has to do with the regular fusing of

fantasy and images of the real, contemporary world. Performers take images from the

present and wed them to the past, and in that way the past regularly shapes an audience’s

experience of the present. Storytellers reveal connections between humans—within the

world, within a society, within a family—emphasizing an interdependence and the

disaster that occurs when obligations to one’s fellows are forsaken. The artist makes the

linkages, the storyteller forges the bonds, tying past and present, joining humans to their

gods, to their leaders, to their families, to those they love, to their deepest fears and

hopes, and to the essential core of their societies and beliefs. Stories deal with change;

mythic transformations of the cosmos, heroic transformations of the culture,

transformations of the lives of everyman. The storytelling experience is always ritual,

always a rite of passage; one relives the past and, by so doing, comes to insight about

present life. Myth is both a story and a fundamental structural device used by storytellers.
As a story, it reveals change at the beginning of time, with gods as the central characters.

As a storytelling tool for the creation of metaphor, it is both material and method. The

heroic epic unfolds within the context of myth, as does the tale. At the heart of each of

these genres is metaphor, and at the core of metaphor is riddle with its associate, proverb.

Each of these oral forms is characterized by a metaphorical process, the result of

patterned imagery. These universal art forms are rooted in the specificities of the African

experience.

African literature heavily borrows from African myths. Africans have their own

myths about the creation of the world. According to most of them, one, all powerful god

creates the world, and then passes the job of overseeing it to a group of lesser gods.

The most elaborate deities are probably those of Yoruba of Nigeria and the Ton of

Benin. They are very powerful beings and can do amazing deeds. We have a very

frequent reference to such supernatural spirits in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Folktales,

proverbs and riddles also constitute African Literature. Achebe’s work is full of all these

details. Proverb is an inalienable part of conversation all over Africa. They are

entertaining as mostly they express ideas in a surprising way. For example, instead of

saying, “Be careful,” a mother might tell her child, “The housefly does not play a sticky

drum.” When a father says, “The staring frogs do not prevent cattle from drinking,” he

means “Don’t worry about other people’s opinions.” In the riddle, two unlike, and

sometimes unlikely, things are compared. The obvious thing that happens during this

comparison is that a problem is set, then solved. But there is something more important
here, involving the riddle as a figurative form: the riddle is composed of two sets, and,

during the process of riddling, the aspects of each of the sets are transferred to the other.

On the surface it appears that the riddle is largely an intellectual rather than a poetic

activity. But through its imagery and the tension between the two sets, the imagination of

the audience is also engaged. As they seek the solution to the riddle, the audience itself

becomes a part of the images and therefore—and most significantly—of the metaphorical

transformation.

Two great colonizing movements have affected the African literature. First, there

came Islamic Arabs in 7th Century and then came Christian European in the 19th. Most

of the 20th century literature written in English, Portuguese and French languages charts

the effects of European colonization. Colonization has had a profound effect on the social

order of most African societies. Colonizing forces integrated African societies into a

capitalist world economy, and exposed them to many aspects of a now globe-encircling

civilization.

Conquered and colonized by Western European imperialists, African societies, , or

organized in feudal-like politics with complex stratification system, lost their political,

economic, social and cultural autonomy, and became appendages to the west. Discussing

the dilemma of such Westernized African individual ,Chidi Amuta in the Theory of

African Literature quotes Frantz Fanon who says,

In order to ensure his salvation and to escape from the Supremacy of the
Whiteman’s culture the native feels the need to turn backward toward his
unknown roots and to lose himself at whatever cost in his own barbarous people
 … He not only turns himself into the defender of his people’s past; he is willing to
be counted as one of them, and henceforward he is even capable of laughing at his
cowardice. (114)
Writers like Achebe represents a modern Africa whose ethnic and cultural

diversity is complicated by the impact of European colonialism. Things Fall

Apart challenges European stereotype of Africa as primitive savage identity and brings

forth the complexities of African societies with their alternative sets of traditions, ideals,

values, and behaviours. Achebe is even more disturbed to see African themselves

internalize these stereotypes, lose confidence and turn away from their culture to emulate

the so-called superior white European civilization. Therefore, Achebe has a dual mission

to educate both African and European readers to reinstall a sense of pride in African

cultures and to help his society to regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of

years of denigration and self-abasement. African writers recreate a sympathetic portrait of

traditional culture in Africa and try to inform the outside world about their oral tradition

and folk values and affirms that Africa had a history or culture worth considering.

African Poetry

The influence of various elements of oral tradition exert on Modern African poetry .This

tendency is a part of the recognition of the functions which verbal art forms perform in

the society. They contain detailed description of myths and legends, sacred ritual and the

codified dogma of the religious system of the people. Both Okot p’ Bitek and Christopher

Okigbo are significantly influenced by oral traditions. They use myths to create new

visions of life and new poetic idioms with remarkable originality.

 One of East Africa's best-known poets, p'Bitek helped redefine African literature

by emphasizing the oral tradition of the native Acholi people of Uganda. His lengthy

prose poems, often categorized as poetic novels, reflect the form of traditional Acholi

songs while expressing contemporary political and social themes. p'Bitek's most famous

work, Song of Lawino, is a plea for the protection of Acholi cultural tradition from the

encroachment of Western influences. The prose poem is narrated by Lawino, an illiterate

Ugandan housewife, who complains bitterly that her university-educated husband, Ocol,

has rejected her and his own Acholi heritage in favor of a more modern lifestyle.

Perceiving his wife as an undesirable impediment to his progress, Ocol devotes his

attention to Clementine (Tina), his Westernized mistress. Throughout the work, Lawino

condemns her husband's disdain for African ways, describing her native civilization as

beautiful, meaningful, and deeply satisfying: “Listen Ocol, my old friend, / The ways of

your ancestors / Are good, / Their customs are solid / And not hollow. …” She laments

her husband's disrespect for his own culture and questions the logic of many Western

customs: “At the height of the hot season / The progressive and civilized ones / Put on

blanket suits / And woollen socks from Europe. …”

The poem relies on theAcholi symbols of the horn, the bull and the spear to lament

her husband’s loss of traditional qualities .Among the Acholi,the horn is not only a

musical instrument but also a ritual object connected with the initiation in to adulthood.

Also among the Acholi , the bull is a panegyric title used as a compliment for bravery and

respect. Lawino combines the symbols of the bull and the horn to remind Ocol, her
husband, of the respectable and famous ancestry from which he descends. She indicts

Ocol for behaving like ‘ a dog of the white man’ and reminds him of the proud ancestry.

Your grandfather was a Bull among men

And although he died long ago
His name still blows like a horn
His name is still heard
Throughout the land

The spear also possesses a ritual essence .A man is never buried without his spear

carefully placed by his side. It is a symbol of masculinity which Lawino uses to capture

Ocol’s impotence and alienation from tradition. With the spear symbol, the poet makes a

major statement that modernization paralyses the traditional essence and emasculates

victims like Ocol. Okot has completely avoided the stock of common images of English

literature and used common images from Acholi literature. Lawina relies on a string of

traditional images to criticize Clementina, her rival for Ocol. When Clementina dusts

powder on her face, she resembles the wizard getting ready for the midnight dance. In the

same section Lawina exposes the poverty and neglect which the voters are forced to bear

after each election. She castigates the politicians who abandon the voters like the local

python ‘with a bull water buck in its tummy’, the politicians ‘hibernate and stay away and

eat!’

In the poem, the central proverb is the one built on the pumpkin. The pumpkin

planted around the homestead is never uprooted even the old homestead is to be

abandoned. This is directed against Ocol who abandons the old traditions in favour of the

new. The Acholi myth is used to develop the character of Lawina. Unable to understand
the process by which electricity works she falls back to the myth surrounding her

tradition. When the rain cock opens its wings ,the blinding light… flow through the

wires. Repetition of the lines are intended to emphasise Lawino’s attempt to preserve

traditional values against the encroachment of Western tradition. Audience involvement

is another feature which is a fundamental feature in African creative arts.

Christopher Okigbo

Okigbo published three volumes of poetry during his short

lifetime: Heavensgate (1962), Limits (1964), and Silences (1965). His collected poems

appeared posthumously in 1971 under the title Labyrinths, with Path of Thunder. Okigbo

had a deep familiarity with ancient Greek and Latin writers and with modern poets such

as T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, as well as with Igbo  mythology. His poems are highly

personal, richly symbolic renderings of his experiences, his thoughts on the role of the

poet, and other themes. He weaves images of the forests, animals, and streams of his

native Igbo landscape into works that are often obscure, allusive, or difficult.

Okigbo like any other poet has created a system of symbols which is difficult to read.He

believes that his struggle is to concentrate and to renew his association with traditional

wisdom ,to reestablish a vital connection between the individual and race. In

“Heavensgate”, the present society is unbearable because of the presence of alien culture.

Memory and dream are the means of salvation for the hero. Hence the dream of reunion

with mother Idoto ,a longing for mother Africa.

 Before you, mother Idoto,
naked I stand,
before your watery presence,
a prodigal,leaning on an oilbean.
lost in your legend….

The significance of the ritual offering on the part of the poet hero are concerned

with the traditional feast of purification .In the rest of Labryinths ,images and symbols

such as ‘palm grove’, ‘weaver bird’ the horn bill, ‘the sacrificial ram’ etc are used for the

exploration of the poet’s socio-spiritual state as he searches for purification.

Okigbo borrows the invocational and incantatory devices from the oral traditions

and uses them imaginatively to draw attention to the traditional religion from which he

has been exiled and to which he has been exiled and to which he now returns like a

prodigal. In Labyrinths,the scenes of sacrifice adds to the incantatory tones .In Igbo

culture, this traditional icon is put ‘by every Igbo high priest of the indigenous god.

Okigbo’s “Hurrah for Thunder”,uses elephant, a symbol for the Federal Government

during the first regime in Nigeria to destroy the four regions of Nigeria.It invokes the

traditional chants on this animal by the oral artists. Another feature of the poem is the use

of proverbs. Okigbo uses local proverbs to caution those in the vanguard of Nigerian

politics .eg., ‘The eye that looks downwards will certainly see the nose.’Music is also a

key feature of Okigbo’s poetry.It expresses more intense themes which words fail to

express. Okigbo fuses African myths with the Babylonian gods, Roman mythology and

twentieth century scientific mythology. In the poem “Lament of the Drums” and “Path of

Thunder” ,a form of Yoruba praise poem is invoked, gods and men and their deeds or

attributes are placed in a heroic context. Lament of the Drums also constitute this oral
tradition. Just as the European poet invokes the muse, the poet invokes relevant forces

from the forest. The sleeping ancestors are invoked with drumming and animal sacrifice.

In the poem “Come Thunder”, myth is used to create art out of contemporary political

events. Thus the use of African orature in Okigbo’s poetry aims for the retribution of

colonial past and the contemporary corrupt politics of postcolonial Africa.

African Novels

The Folk Tales and Proverbs in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

The Igbo people are ethnic group of south Eastern Nigeria, The most important

crop is Yam. Before colonization they were politically fragmented people. They became

overtly Christianized under colonial regime. The tradition of their folktales featured non

human beings endowed with human characteristics. The good always triumph over evil,

truth over falsehood,honesty over dishonesty, parental responsibility, care and upbringing

of the young, respect for old age, labour, grace and beauty in women, strength and virility

in men, social justice, spirit of daring etc.

Achebe presents his aim of writing novel is that to dispose a culture, a philosophy

of great depth and value and beauty,all lost in the colonial period .In Things Fall Apart,

Achebe represents the cultural roots of the Igbos to represent the dignity they lost during

colonial period. Mother is considered to be supreme in this culture.(Nneka) .The deity

Ala or Ani is important as the female goddesses which shows respect for women.

Proverbs are another feature in the novel.

 Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is the best example of the use of narrative

proverbs to express the distinctive quality of African fiction. . In this novel there are nine

embedded narratives, of which seven are folktales and mythic stories, one a pseudo-

history, and one an anecdote. Most importantly, the narrative proverbs help to define the

epistemological order within the novel. Okonkwo’s world is entirely traditional,

subsisting within an oral culture with its intimate face-to-face social configurations and a

world-view and value system that have been handed down from great antiquity. The use

of narrative proverbs in the structuring of the action of the novel is a major constructive

strategy in the expression of the oral traditional impulse in the lives of the characters and

in defining their vernacular sensibility.

The first embedded narrative is the cosmic myth of the quarrel between Earth and

Sky. It is embedded in the context of the crisis of confidence between Okonkwo and his

son Nwoye, a sensitive teenager who is afraid of his father. His father wants to bring him

up in the warrior tradition by telling him “masculine stories of violence and bloodshed,”

while Nwoye prefers “the stories that his mother used to tell,” which include the cosmic

myth of the primeval quarrel of Earth and Sky . Okonkwo is pictured as an archetypal

masculine figure who rules his household with a heavy hand and keeps his wives and

children down and in mortal terror of him. Nwoye is crushed by his father’s violence. It

foreshadows the triumph of imperialism and the defeat so poetically evoked in the title of

the novel. Imperialism is symbolized by Sky and Umuofia clan by Earth. In the unequal

conflict between them, imperialism, like Sky, predictably wins.

 The locust myth and Ikemefuna’s song are also embedded within the narrative. In

the third year of Ikemefuna’s arrival into Okonkwo’s household and on the eve of his

tragic death, a locust swarm descends on Umuofia. The locust myth prepares the ground

for this radicalization of events in the narrative. It is as if by opening the mythic “caves”

from which the locusts emerge, the “stunted men,” the Igbo equivalent of the fates of the

Greek mythology, also open up a pestilential phase of events that would consume the

hero and quicken the tempo of the fall of the old dispensation. Ikemefuna’s song is a song

extrapolated from a folktale. The full tale is the story of a perverse, headstrong king who

breaks a taboo by eating roast yam offered in sacrifice to the gods. Ikemefuna’s murder at

the hands of Okonkwo and his misfortunes after accidently killing Unoka’s son is

foreshadowed in the song. The Mosquito Myth is narrated soon after Ikemefuna’s death.

Okonkwo’s conscience is beginning to recover its serenity after three days of great

internal turmoil. On the third night, he falls deeply asleep but is tormented by

mosquitoes. The myth serves to stress the strength of conscience. After killing

Ikemefuna, Okonkwo is trying very hard to smother his conscience, to relieve himself of

the responsibility of his fall. But conscience is a hardy thing; it is not easily killed. The

mosquito myth is the authorial metaphor that underlines that fact. The Tortoise and the

Birds is a trickster tale in which the trickster is caught in his own web of intrigue. It is the

fullest text of a traditional folktale in Things Fall Apart. It dramatizes the evil of extreme

egocentricism. The hero is an individualist whose relationship to his community has

many points of ambivalence. Just as in pursuit of individualistically determined

obsessions the trickster comes into conflict with society, so Okonkwo shares the tendency
towards an overwhelming sense of ego that brings him into conflict with the group. The

Abame Story constitutes a historical or pseudo-historical narrative. The Abame story

assumes an aspect of a cautionary tale presented as an oral performance. The Kite Myth

(Uchendu’s Story) is a myth that explains why kites eat chickens but not ducklings, the

myth goes beyond etiology in this context; it is an extended response to the Abame Story.

Uchendu the teller of the myth had intervened while Obierika was telling the Abame

story to inquire what the white man said before the Abame people killed him. The oracle

has said that the lone white man would destroy their clan. From the Abame and the Kite

myth we know that the lone white man is only a harbinger of others already under way.

And, finally, the white men are “locusts.” What is under way is imperialist invasion. . On

the macrocosmic plane, however, we have the parabolic extension of the event that

encompasses the global scope of imperialism, with the locust invasion symbolizing

imperialist invasion with its attendant devastations and destructions. The Abame story,

the Kite Myth and the Locust metaphor strategically are aired while Okonkwo is in exile,

as if for his distinct advantage, to alert him to the changed and changing circumstances of

life since he went into exile. Unfortunately, the lesson is lost on the hero. While his uncle

responds with the Kite Myth, Okonkwo responds in a manner totally in character: “They

[people of Abame] were fools.

There are extensive use of proverbs in the novel.Proverbs are palm oils with

which words are eaten.eg;if a child washed his hands,he can eat with the king, "A man

who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness, The sun will shine on
those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them, A toad does not run in

the daytime for nothing, the lizard that jumped from the high Iroko tree to the ground said

he would praise himself if no one else did etc.

Religion plays a pervasive role in the novels.Chi is the spirit being that has a

central place in Igbo mythology.It is the personal god of Okonkwo.If one grows too

proud or too big for his shoes,his chi would overthrow him,that is what happened to

Okonkwo. In Arrow of God, Ulu symbolizes the political cohesiveness combating the

external forces to safeguard the freedom and integrity of the clan. The chief deity

symbolizes the consciousness of Unuaro clan, and Ezeulu is his spokesman. When

Ezeulu betrayed the clan upon his ego,the Ulu deserted him as in the proverb,…a man

who brings ant-ridden faggots into his hut should expect the visit of lizards. In employing

the folkloristic tradition Achebe critically reads African past and the erosion of African

values under colonialism.

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o

In the novels of Ngugi we are able to find the oral traditions at work.In “Decolonising the

Mind’’ , Ngugi's says that you can't study African literatures without studying the

particular cultures and oral traditions from which Africans draw their plots, styles and

metaphors.So where does all of this leave us in a discussion of current African literature.

"This blindness to the indigenous voice of Africans is a direct result, according to Ngugi,

of colonization. Ngugi explains that during colonization, missionaries and colonial

administrators controlled publishing houses and the educational context of novels. This
means that only texts with religious stories or carefully selected stories which would not

tempt young Africans to question their own condition were propagated. Africans were

controlled by forcing them to speak European languages—they attempted to teach

children (future generations). Ngugi writes, "language carries culture and culture carries

(particularly through orature and literature) the entire body of values by which we

perceive ourselves and our place in the world." Therefore, how can the African

experience be expressed properly in another language?The issue of which language

should be used to compose a truly African contemporary literature is thus one replete

with contradictions. Ngugi argues that writing in African languages is a necessary step

toward cultural identity and independence from centuries of European exploitation. Rama

Devi in Indian Response to African writings comments:

The essay is an organic representation of Ngugi’s orally based Gikuyu tradition…

mot an imperial vision of child like African innocence….but incorporates the
communal,verbal networks of the present through which his characters and
communities exchange political and contemporary information about those in
complicity with economic neoimperialism.(90).
In this context in Weep Not Child Ngotho at the centre of protest ,outlines the protest

against the colonial situation by a passionate recourse to the orality associated with the

idea of land as a time honoured heritage.In the novel the The River Between,the power of

education is given importance.There is compromise and tolerance between the traditions.

as the Gods Gikuyi and Mumbi are also assumed as Adam and Eve.The political

perspectives of his novel is inspired from this tradition.

 Amos Tutuola’s novels have the most consistent use of oral traditions.Specific use

of the tradition are obvious enough;the common quest of a mortal to the land of gods to

secure the return of a dead personas in The Palm-wine Drinkard or the strange creatures

and the hunter’s saga in The Brave African Huntress. We can see the impact of oral

tradition ofYoruba in his novel. But it isn’t so obvious as it was in Achebe’s Things Fall

Apart. When we compare these two novels we can say that oral tradition is much more

used in The Things Fall Apart. The use of proverbs, folk tales, songs ;which are the most

important elements of oral tradition; is more common. Tutuola’s novel has much

legendary or fantastical sense whereas Achebe’s is more realistic. The another difference

is that they are from different cultures. Achebe has Igbo culture and Tutuola has Yoruba

culture, both of these cultures are rich in oral tradition

Flora Nwapa in his novel Efuru integrates the traditional beliefs and

characterization.Elechi Amadi’s The Great Ponds use proverbs,songs and

allusions.Gabriel Okara’s The Voice transferred the lijo syntax into English.

Wole Soyinka and the use of Yoruba Myth

In Wole Soyinka’s Literature, Myth and African World, he comments that creative works

in Africa must be brought closer to myths. It is a blaze of reality. He uses them as

disinherited or displaced myths and he hates the intellectualization of myth.It is well

known that Yoruba culture and tradition forms the background of several contemporary

written dramas. But the relationship between the Yoruba sources and contemporary

drama has not been explored in detail. One must understand the Yoruba origins of the
plays in order to appreciate their literary evolution. Soyinka has his roots in Yoruba

myths and beliefs, as he is a Yoruba himself. He bridged the gap between the theatre in

Yoruba and the theatre in English.

A Dance of the Forest is Soyinka’s first play that defines both the Yoruba world view and

the playwright’s own artistic vision in relation to the myth and metaphysics of Ogun. The

play presents an allegory of cosmic dimensions. The symbolic chorusing of the past, the

present and the future has been conceived as a pattern highly suggestive of the cosmic

dance- the dance of creation as well as destruction – among the deities, against the

background of the forest. The title itself is allegorical, representing the eternal, repetitive

rhythm of life, cyclic in operation. It is a warning against moral complacency and

escapism. The theme of the play centres round the African concept of ‘rites of passage'

which means that no man can pass directly from one state of life to the next, without

passing through a transitional phase. Man’s need for conscious awareness forms the basic

theme, stretching over a wide canvas, through a number of lives, reaching forward to

include posterity. Soyinka criticizes the pre colonial past of Africa and tells the people to

learn from the past of its wrong doings.(Mata Kharibu’s kingdom) and shows how the

current situation in Africa has not changed after the colonial rule.

Dance presents a complex interplay between the gods,mortals and the dead in

which the ideal goal is the experience of selfdiscovery within the context of WestAfrican

spiritualism.Dance has two meanings,the presentation of characters from all realms of

existence:gods,mortals,ancestors and spirits;second the nonlinear time that corresponds to

the Yoruba time.Soyinka presents three major deities :Forest Head(Obatala),Ogun,and

Eshuoru.Soyinka shows a conflict of interest between the gods and men. Ogun is the god

of war in Yoruba tradition and he is also the god of iron. He is sacred to warriors,

hunters ,blacksmiths, drivers, railroad workers and artists. He is a god full of

contradictions but he is notably acknowledged for being the god of creativity and

destruction for all the same time.Obatala is the supreme creator who created earth and

mankind. Eshuoru is the Yoruba trickster god and a mischief maker among the gods and

men. All the three gods are interested in shaping the destinies of the forest dwellers and

use their special powers to defeat each other and to protect humans as well. Soyinka also

included spirits that control the universe (West African concept of Animism);Souls reside

in objects and natural phenomenons such as trees, hills ,streams, oceans and rocks.The

spirits gather at the court of the Forest Father to report their situations and solve their

tribulations. The inclusion of spirits here is to project an integral cosmological order in

which all aspects of the universe correspond to a harmonious unity under the power of

the supreme deity.

Belief in the continuity of life from before death to after death is common in

Africa. The Egungun or ancestors in the play is a reversal of mythic tradition as rather

than being greeted by the throng ,the dead pair must literally chase the living. Demoke

embodies the spirit of creation as well as destruction.It recalls the uncertainity of African

writer on the problems in postcolonial Africa.The Ogun deity who has Appolonian and

Dionysian characteristic rules over African experience .Soyinka also tells us about the

need of an ideal of Atunda who is an universal rebel (in this play the General who is

against Mata Kharibu’s inhumanness) , to fight against the corrupt politics.Demoke is

presented as a devilish trickster who manipulates the destiny of the half child.The half

child or Abiku depicts a future which is to be doomed.The play also represents symbols

of general humanity.Humans,guests of honour,gods and spirits.Palm,Darkness,Precious

stones,Pachyderms and so on.

The Strong Breed is a tragedy on the Yoruba ritual of Oro Sacrifice, usually

observed on New Year’s Eve. A man, called Eman, considered to be the ‘carrier’ of all

the evils of the village for the past one year, is tortured to death and hanged on the

midnight heralding the New Year, thus warding off all the evils for the future.

Introducing the central figure, Eman, Soyinka dramatizes the need for sacrifice which is

the only sure means of expiation or retribution even to one’s own life. The Yoruba, the

Classical, and the Christian elements are blended together in the tragedy of Eman.

The Road is set in the masque idiom. One of the underlying beliefs of this tradition

is that of possession .At the height of the dance every true Egungun will enter in to a state

of possession, when he will speak with a new voice. This basic belief is used to produce

an indefinite suspension between life and death in the character of Murano .Cross cultural

myth is used in the play Bacchae of Euripedes.

Soyinka’s plays reflect the magical status of words in the oral

tradition.Agboreko’s gnomic lines in A Dance of the Forest is an example.

The eye that look downwards will certainly see the nose.The hand that dips to the
bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail…The foot of the snake is not split in
two like a man’s or in hundreds like a centipede’s but if Agere could dance
patiently like a snake,he will uncoil the chain that leads in to the dead…
This passage is made of translations of some well known proverbs. Soyinka through the

use of myths seems to convey the idea that there is an endless ,inescapable pattern of life

and death for man .He seems to be condemned to fall a victim to this ill fated cycle of

infernal doom. Salvation is possible through his own voluntary action or individual will.

The colonial impact on African language and African culture has created havoc

and destroyed the oral traditions. There is change in the way in which oral traditions are

rendered in the contemporary times. The spirit that now it embodies is revolution. The

experience is not localized but universalized. Revolution in Africa is not only to fight

against the colonial past but also the corruption, poverty and civil war in the postcolonial

regime. The use of myth, folklore and oral traditions in Africa constitutes a dream of

national culture and national consciousness .Thus it engages with the country’s past that

is the repositories of tradition and the aspirations of the people and their struggle.