Assignment 14 - Tradition and Modernity in ‘The Swamp Dwellers’

Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsihnji Bhavnagar University

 

Written Assignment – Paper 14

Tradition and Modernity in ‘The Swamp Dwellers’

 

Submitted by Rohit Vyas

 

M.A. English (2019-21)

Semester 4

Roll No: 19

Paper 14 – African Literature, Unit – 4

PG Enrolment Number: 2069108420200041

E-mail: rohitvyas277@gmail.com

 

         Introduction

 

        The key objective of this assignment is to highlight and bring in front the binary yet, worthwhile conflict of tradition and modernity in light of a play The Swamp Dwellers written by Wole Soyinka, who is a Nigerian playwright, novelist and poet. He belongs to a traditional Yoruba tribe and culture which is reflected in the play as well. He is also awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. In his Nobel Speech he has stated as following.

 

"For me, justice is the first condition of humanity." – Wole Soyinka.

 

        About the Play

       

        The Swamp Dwellers, the very title suggests the age long neglected and marginalized human beings who strive to live better life like citi-zens. Here an intentional use of this hyphen suggests the class divide between villagers and city residents. The play not only draws the parallel between the poor and rich but also makes a trajectory of thoughts which travel from one generation to another.

 

        The Swamp, which means a loose grounded muddy land, which can also be seen as a very curious metaphor which can be pictured as mental captivity of one’s own thoughts. Especially when one faces issues with the succeeding generations, in terms of thought conflicts. Symbolically, the swamps can also be seen as traditional mindset of people in which society vainly struggles to come out from. The Setting of the play is southern Nigeria. Alu and Makuri are parents who live in the swamps, and they have two sons, Awuchike and Igwezu. Both sons are living in the city. The play begins with the arrival of Igwezu. He comes from city and is in the debt of his brother Awuchike. Desala, who is Igwezu’s wife leaves him and marries Awuchike because of his wealth. Just in time, Igwezu comes to know that the Kadiye who is priest of Satan god, takes sacrifices from people. Moreover to his prayers, he also lives a lavish life as compared to swamp dwellers.

 

        Awuchike is an absent character who never returns to swamp. He is present only in the conversation of Alu, Makuri and Igwezu.

 

The Conflict

 

It seems difficult at some point to make a statement or conclude which one is more favorable. But the conflict is not only limited to traditional value systems and modern beliefs. The area is much extended to the high family bondage. Whenever an individual comes across the issue like family life and its importance, one can easily decipher the contrast of joint family and nuclear family. In the play Awuchike is believed to be dead to his family, because he never returns to the swamps. Although it can be stated that death is also used as a symbol in the play.

 

Family bondage

 

The human being, as known as true at large, is a social animal. To cite Aristotle’s quote,

 

“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. ” – Aristotle, Politics

 

The age old family value system looks towards the collective development of every member of the family. For reference, one can see the Indian family system with this reference. During the marriage ceremony, a groom marries a bride, takes the oath to take the equal responsibly and take care of bride’s family, and bride also takes the oath for the same. All this oath taking and accepting one another’s parents as a family in whole can only flourish when there is love, which is more complex and abstract basic human emotion, which, if aptly worked upon, can create a good bondage between two families.

 

As the time passes, one can see some changes within this structure of family based system. The succeeding generation questions the traditional values and established rituals. The minute observation provides the visible outcomes that youth, in general tends to go away from home, liberate themselves from the responsibilities and finds a new way of living on their own. To give more clear idea about such social structure a quote can be cited here:

 

[In other words,] while the behavior patterns of archaic humans remained fixed for tens of thousands of years, Sapiens could transform their social structures, the nature of their interpersonal relations, their economic activities, and a host of other behaviors within a decade or two. (Harari, 38)

 

Alongside, if one makes further advancement in the idea of family bondage, one can safely state that, time has changed many notions about marriage, religion and social structures.

 

Here, in light of the play Awuchike is dead to his parents, so it can be seen as disowning one’s own children in modern society. Moreover, Awuchike also turns his back off to the family. So his disrespect is also the cause of the symbolic death.

 

Faith or Blind faith?

 

Another aspect of the play which quite suitably advocate the duo of tradition and modernity is faith. One could raise a question about faith, trust, and blind faith. What can be the aftermaths of blind faith? Well, it is largely seen with the synonymous word ‘hope’. Since years, people have believed in several myths in different religions. Christianity has Satan and God, good and evil. Hinduism has Dev and Danav and so on.

 

Kaidye is a character in the present play who preaches people and asks for sacrifices of whatever good materials they have. His physical appearance is more fat and likely to be living a very lavish life than other villagers. Swamp dwellers value the soil. But the character of Kadiye is questioned by Igwezu.

 

Kadiye becomes speechless and doesn’t answer Igwezu’s questions, and his silence proves that his is a traitor. Many superstitions lead to death of people and chaos also. Though Igwezu could have followed the Kadiye as he had lost everything like fortune, his standing as a man, as he also lost his wife. It is believed that when one has lost everything or very little to care, s/he may turn to blind faiths and superstitions. Youth and women largely come under such bad influences. But like Igwezu one can opt for remaining free to question and do critical thinking.

 

Modernity

Do we ever know what is to be modern? Where do we locate the word modernity and traditions? Just like an individual takes the growth in a given environment, it may give much satisfactory outcome if the environment is nurtured fully in a child. The civility in the manners, cultured way of behavior and tactics, and as above mentioned in the quote, interpersonal interactions with society denotes the term modernity for an individual.

In the play we find Awuchike as an absent character yet he represents modernity in a particular way. His remaining in the city and not returning to the swamps itself justifies the curious and cunning statement of his modernity. There are few drawbacks of modernity as well. Awuchike even puts his brother in debt. His father Makuri cries out of worry and sorrow as follows:

Makuri: It ruins them. The city ruins them. What do they seek there except money? (Soyinka)

The materialist approach or the attraction for material wealth is also being highlighted by Soyinka. Desala, wife of Igwezu leaves him due to his poor condition and loss in business. She marries his brother Awuchike who lives in city and has much wealth.

Yoruba culture

The play contains many cultural symbols. Yoruba is a tribe in which Soyinka is given a synonym to it. As in an article stated:

Soyinka's triumph begins with Yoruba culture, often when the results of his work are examined, critics will formulate that Yoruba culture is Wole Soyinka and Wole Soyinka is Yoruba culture. (Baihaki, Yakob, 8)

 

Conclusion

 

Tradition and modernity are largely seen as opposites to one another but, one can also argue that they are supplements. The presence of one thing creates the necessity of the other. The second thing, by coming to an existence, creates the relative bond with the first one. Modernity has their own advantage but it exist because there was a tradition at first place. Soyinka has neatly knitted both the things in the play The Swamp Dwellers.

 

Works Cited

 

Baihaqi, Muhammad, and Muhammad Yakob. "YORUBA CULTURE INFLUENCE INTO CONTEMPORARY STAGE THROUGH WOLE SOYINKA’S THE SWAMP DWELLERS." Elite Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, June 2019, http://journal.uin alauddin.ac.id/index.php/elite/article/view/7929.

Soyinka, Wole. 1969. “Three Short Plays: The Swamp Dwellers, the Trials of Brother Jero, the Strong Breed”. London: Oxford University Press.