World Literature

​In the play “Death and the King’s Horseman”, Elesin is living out his final day of life. He must willingly sacrifice himself because, according to a Yoruba tradition, the death of a chief must be followed by the ritual suicide of the chief’s horseman, because the horseman’s spirit is essential to helping the chief’s spirit ascend to the afterlife. Otherwise, the chief’s spirit will wander the earth and bring harm to the Yoruba people. This is an honor for Elesin. This is brought to him not because of some crime, but because of his high ranked position in his society. He was the chief’s right hand man so to say, and he must serve him even after he has passed on from the world. Elesin understands that he has to die; it is part of their culture and his religious obligation as well as his duty to the chief.
​Although Elesin understands the idea of death, and he understands that he will die, be it now or later, he wants to leave behind some kind of legacy. He wants to leave behind something that will make people remember him. It is in the end of the very first scene where we see Elesin making these statements. He is claiming that the last thing he wants to do is be with a woman for the last time, and according to him, he will not only be indulging himself, but he will also be setting an example in a way by showing that even in death, there can be life. He is on death row, so to speak, and will therefore act as a median or conduit between the living world and the afterworld. After all is it not every man’s goal to leave behind a legacy to be remembered by. Even though there is honor behind all of his intentions, the European settlers view their rituals as barbaric. Mr. Pilkings, the local British colonial ruler, intervenes at the last minute while the ritual is being performed and stops it, claiming that the suicide is barbaric and illegal by the British authorities. Society then blames Elesin just as much as Mr. Pilkings for not completing the ritual, accusing him of being too attached to the earth to fulfill his spiritual obligations.

In his play, ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’, Wole Soyinka explores the effects of cultural clash in colonial Nigeria. While ‘Horseman’ is definitely a criticism of the British colonization of Africa, Soyinka doesn’t rely on the simple ‘British = bad, Africans = good’ dichotomy in the play. He presents a much more complex and nuanced view on the Yoruba and the British – a view that is both critical of the flaws of both the British and Yoruba cultures.

The result of the clash between the two cultures is best exemplified in the character of Olunde, the son of Elesin, the titular horseman whose planned ritual suicide drives the narrative of the text. Olunde was sent to England by the Pilkings, a British colonial couple that oversee the community, to study medicine. He is first seen in the text when he returns from England and he has a conversation with Jane Pilkings about his experience abroad. During this conversation Olunde points out all the ways in which their cultures are similar, despite Jane and other Brits’ denial of these similarities. World War II, in which millions of young men are sent to die, is seen as necessary by Jane, but the ritual suicide of the Yoruba is viewed as “barbaric” and “even worse – it’s feudal!” (3086). Jane considers the Yoruba death masks and the rituals related to them to be silly and meaningless, but the masquerade ball she’s attending is built upon the same ritualistic values.

It is significant that it is Olunde, who has experienced both cultures, that points out the hypocrisy of the British. He grew up in the Yoruba culture, but did not know really understand it until he left. By living in England he was able to actually recognize his culture, because he had a point of comparison. But while Olunde is a product of two cultures combined, and is able to analyze both cultures with a perspective shaped by these two cultures, the play ends with his futile death, indicating that despite the spread of knowledge it results in, the mixing of cultures in certain contexts can have dark, unintended consequences.

Whether we like it not, the culture and tradition of the society we live in influences the fate of our life, including the matter such as our own death. Our beliefs and actions are arguably the outcomes in relation to the norms of the social environment where we grow up. Understandably, there are many societies in the world; each with their own unique culture. When different people with different beliefs live together, cultural clashes are bound to happen, despite tremendous efforts to live in harmony. One such instance is thoroughly illustrated in Wole Soyinka’s play Death and the King’s Horseman, which points out different shades of contrast between Yoruba and European elements; their approach to death being one of them.

In Death and the King’s Horseman, Soyinka, the author, takes us back in the history to the Western Nigeria’s colonial period, in which the British officer intervenes to stop the horseman of a dead Yoruba king from committing ritual suicide. This very instance is the base that begins to speculate the different approaches to death by European and Nigerian; the horseman’s self-death is a glory for Nigerian, but suicide is the ultimate crime for European.

According to the play, Elesin, the chief horseman of the dead Yoruba king, happily accepts to die and be buried with the dead king. In accordance to the Yoruba traditional ritual, the chief horseman has to die when the Yoruba king dies. Usually, we expect people to fear their own death, whereas Elesin is happy and proud that he has to die. The pride of self-death is considered an honor in the Yoruba society, which glorifies such death.

On the contrary, European’s approach to death is way different. They believe that life should be cherished and that “life should never be thrown deliberately away”.  However, the play also underlines the hypocrisy of the British officer’s willingness to kill other people to prevent the horseman’s ritual suicide. Killing more people to stop one person from performing ritual suicide is normal for Europeans, but that contrasts with the norm of Yoruba’s culture.

In, Wole Soyinka, Death and the King’s Horseman we see the relationship between the British and the Yoruba people. After the colonization of Nigeria, the British expected the Yoruba people to adapt to the British way of living, the way of talking and the way of acting. What the British did not expect was for the Yoruba people to master the British culture so perfectly that instead of adapting to it they made fun of it. Some of the Yoruba girls go as far an imitating the British and how they perceive the Yoruba people. During their “mocking play session” the girls in their “British character” talk about how the Yoruba people are friendly, tractable, restless, and difficult. This gives us an idea of how the British perceived the Yoruba people. They looked down on them; they see them as inferior to them. They think that they are weak and that they can be easily change their culture and beliefs. But once they also realize how serious the Yoruba people were about their culture. I found it funny how the British considered them selves to be smarted than the Yoruba people, but it was the Yoruba people that were able to learn a new culture. While the British had a hard time not only adapting but also understanding the Yoruba culture.

Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka, tells the tale of an African community that is currently in a form of transformation.  Thus far, the play proves quite difficult to comprehend because of the use of traditional African language and metaphors. However, one of the themes in the play, deals with the issue of commitment to one’s tradition or way of life. Furthermore, Soyinka presents the reader with not only the issue of adhering to one’s own culture but doing so while serving a greater good. In the case of Soyinka, the greate good is the betterment of his community. One of the metaphors that Soyinka’s uses which is difficult is comprehend is, “the cockerel must not be seen without his feathers.”  Maybe Soyinka is trying to present to the reader the conservative lifestyle of the culture when out in public, but this is a mere guess. All in all, Death and the King’s Horseman thus far is a difficult play to understand but I look forward to completing it, and figuring out the metaphors.

How is the Yoruba approach to death distinct from a typical European or American approach?  Please find specific quotations from Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman to support your position.

One page.  Due Thursday, May 9.

Senator Sanchez is told he will die in six months but he continues to lead a normal life hiding the truth from his family and work .  After his death sentence Sanchez becomes miserable and does not care about others, giving false promises to people so they can re-elect him and not caring for his wife or kids as  he shows to fall for the 19 year old girl. From what I’ve heard in my country, Gabriel Garcia has always produced a number of articles and other writings about the corruption in politics. Maybe he was trying to show the true side of politicians, and the reality of our society specially in Colombia where corruption is a lot worst then it is in many other countries. you would think if somebody was given a death sentence he/she would dedicate more time to family and appreciate people and life itself more but Gabriel shows us the total opposite here.  Regardless of senator Sanchez’ power Gabriel shows how death is always constant, it does not forgive anyone; even a powerful man is reduced to weakness, unable to save himself.

Zhang Ailiang’s Love in a Fallen City was a highly intriguing story for me. I like how the author explored the notion of marrying a person for reasons other than love. Bai and Fan wanted to marry each other because doing so would benefit each of them, and Bai would be able to get her family off her back. I think it’s terrible that a society would look down upon a woman for not having a man, and I was really struck by the line “It doesn’t matter how great a woman is; if she can’t get the love of a man, she can’t get the respect of women.” I think society often places way too much emphasis on love and marriage, and I think this can be detrimental to our existence. Love in a Fallen City reminded me of a quote I once saw on Twitter: “There are too many mediocre things in life, and love shouldn’t be one of them.” I walked away from Zhang Ailang’s story realizing that this quote is incredibly accurate. We shouldn’t settle for something less than what we deserve when it comes to love, because love is a major component of life. Love and relationships define our lives, so we should constantly be in pursuit of the best, most rewarding type of love we can find.

I greatly enjoyed reading Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s “The Sultan’s Dilemma.” Unlike many plays I’ve had to read for class, I found the humor to be enjoyable. I think one of the play’s best moments is the irony of the finale. While the play shows that under the law, the Sultan is equal to “the lowliest individual amongst his subjects” (2317), strictly following it can lead to unintended consequences. When the Lady agrees that the Sultan will be hers until she hears the call to dawn prayers, she assumes that means the prayers will happen at dawn. When the Vizier and Cadi bend the law so that the Muezzin performs his prayer at midnight, there is a hilarious yet appropriate reaction by the people and the Lady that the Muezzin made some type of mistake. However, because the Muezzin performed his dawn prayer, the Lady had to relinquish the Sultan and fulfill the promise she made under the law. This shows that while the Sultan did not choose the power of the sword, the law itself is a double-edged sword. Though it equalizes everyone, and leads to a more orderly society, it can still cause conflict. To me, the irony is how the law in the beginning of the play saves the life of the Condemned Man, who is revealed to be the auctioneer, yet the law prevents the assumed intention of the auction to fully take place. On a somewhat unrelated note, my only complaint with the story is its ending. After purchasing the Sultan for what she assumes will be a full night, there seems to be a great romance developing between the Lady and the Sultan. Yet, when the Sultan gains his freedom and returns to his prior life, he does not bring the Lady with him. Though he gives her his most prized possession (the ruby), it felt like a let-down. It actually made me think of when we were watching that trailer for “Just Go With It” that we watched. While based on the trailer, that film didn’t appear to challenge its audience, the play’s ending does challenge us; despite a basic shared plot point of a man and woman unwittingly falling in love, the Sultan chooses not to go any further than that one night. To end, I enjoyed “The Sultan’s Dilemma” because it brought up very serious issues but kept a relatively light-hearted tone.

Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s “The Sultan’s Dilemma” narrates the story of a condemned man who awaits his death, while chatting with this destined executioner. The part that I was fascinated by, due to its funny yet creepy factor, was when the intoxicated executioner insists on singing to/with the condemned man. When the executioner first brings up singing it is because he believes it would bring him peace of mind. This is where the situation takes a turn for the strange; the reason being that the killer wants peace of mind, instead of the person that is getting killed. To add to the strangeness of the situation is the 3 page long fight between the condemned man and the executioner, in which the executioner refuses to sing unless the condemned man is giving him his undivided attention, and wanting him to basically beg for the executioner to sing. Al-Hakim is showing us an insecure side of this man, which would never be expected from a man whose job is to kill his fellow man. This comments on whether he is a naturally weak man whose job scares him, but he does it to survive, or if he is a strong man whose job got the best of him. The creepy factor in the situation is the song that the executioner sings: the Flower and the Gardener. In the simplest words, this song is an executioner anthem. Once he finished he explains that he himself is no executioner, but rather a gardener. With this vision, the condemned man would be the flower. So, if the village was considered a garden, would it not make more sense to remove the weeds, not the flowers? In all, this scene brings in a lot of things that would not be considered part of the norm, initially commenting on how harshly we react to words because the reason the man is condemned in the first place is due to something he said.