ADEOTI'S PRESENTATION OF HIS CONCERNS IN HIS POEM ENTITLED "AMBUSH"

Abstract/Background of the poem

         The betrayal of independence hopes by the African ruling elites after the success of the resistance waged against colonialism and imperialism, in different African countries, to secure a full-fledged independence for the betterment of all Africans in the fifties informs the idea of "NEO-COLONIALISM" which conceptually denotes the governing ideal that reflects that of white imperialists in the colonial period. In the post independence Africa, many scholars like Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Chinua Achebe, Frank Ogodo Ogbeche among others are undecided, whether to describe African rulers as "black skin with white mask" or "white skin with black mask". The independence of nations did not bring about any fundamental changes, it is independence with the rulers holding a begging bowl and the ruled holding a shrinking belly. The citizens are more of being enslaved as it was in the colonial period. Promises are left unfulfilled and the citizens are being extorted. The beliefs and hopes of the people for a better life after the colonial period are persistently sway off by those who pledged thoughtlessly to serve among them. The politicians are rather corrupt and elephants in guise, that crunches smaller animals(maybe ten at a time) with its bare foot and never seem to have make a questionable choice. They amass wealth suffered for and cooked by the masses. One of the major clogs confronting leaders of new African states is their heinous idea of using positions of privilege for personal rather than collective gain. Therefore, the repression in the economic and political faculties in the new African states could be said to be the soil in which Adeoti's "Ambush" is rooted.

How adeoti presented his concerns in the poem

Introduction

     "Ambush" metaphorically depicts the frustrations faced by citizens of new African states and the repressions in the system of governance of post independent Nigeria. Leaders destroy hopes and abort dreams of striving citizens. Workers are purely salaried and the cost of living is at its peak. The "land" which concures the government of the land is likened to many predatory animals like "The Giant Whale", "Sabre toothed Tiger" ,"Giant Hawk" etc. Who are the lords and rulers of the forest, frustrating weak animals and making them "snatch their guts from the bayonets of tribulation ".

Evaluation

In the first stanza of the poem, Adeoti likens the land to a Giant Whale.
"The Land is a Giant Whale"
The land which connotatively denotes the governing body is equated to a very great predatory animal--The Whale, preceded by the word "giant" to pictorialize its influence and suggest "Nigeria as a Giant of Africa".
The metaphorical depiction of government is said to be the one" that swallows the sinker/with hook, line and bait"(line 2-3). The sinker could be representing the working people while their "hook, line and bait" connotes their aims and hopes. The lines could therefore be interpreted as the working citizens being exploited by the government together with their aims and hopes. This shows how citizens are being exploited and made to "abort their dreams".
" fishers turn home at dusk
blue Peters on empty ships
all Peters with petered out desires".
The above lines simplifies the useless struggle of hardworking people. The "fishers" being pluralized symbolises all the strugglers for a better life and their turning home at dusk suggests they work through out the day tirelessly. And coming home on empty ships suggest the people's waste of effort, those struggling for education are rather jobless and the people desiring a better life by working hard have their desires "petered out".
"The Land is a sabre-toothed tiger "
Here, the Adeoti likens the land to a sabre-toothed tiger, whose sound alone makes smaller animal shudder home or quickly find somewhere to hide, while the "grizzled ones" of course take to their heels so as not to be devoured, running helter-skelter to save themselves from the pranks of the tiger. In a neutral sense, this is frustration suffered by the masses from the government, who want, at all cost to opprtunistically satisfy its own endless desire by freely making use of its citizens for sacrificial purposes.
 "the land is a giant hawk
That courts unceasing disaster
As it hovers and hoot on space".
The government is also likened to another harmful animal here-the hawk, that moves with "unceasing disaster" as it hovers and hoots in space.
"the land lies patiently ahead
Awaiting in Ambush
Those who point away from a direction
Where nothing happens
Toward the shore of possibilities".
 The above lines evoke the imaginary faculty of the reader here, it creates a picture in the mind, where a predatory animal hide hopefully in a secret place, waiting for smaller animals in anticipation to devour. And the picture of a weak animal is also presented.Rather confuse,  the weak animal is unsure where the predatory animal maybe hiding but aware of its hiding somewhere. Adept later declares that the weak animal has a wrong assertions and unrealistic hopes as it "point away from a direction / where nothing happens /towards the shore of possibilities "(line 19-21). This is to present the government as a freaky entity which deceives its citizen for it's personal gain. Manifested will be churned out by contestants before they will be elected . And it is only after they are elected and they off their shoes that electorate will see whether their foot is pure white or stained.

FEMINISM IN BOSEDE ADEMILUA-AFOLAYAN'S "ONCE UPON AN ELEPHANT"

INTRODUCTION 
              The portrayal of female characters as "servile-beings" in novels and drama texts written by men brought up the theoretical idea of "Feminism". Many of the African female writers therefore write to correct the ugly pictures of women drawn by men in the literary canon into right posture. The case is not different in Nigerian literature. One of the most popular novels, "Things Fall Apart", is evenly regarded by the Feminists as a product of a masculine society. The relationship between Ezinma(Ekwefi's daughter) and Okonkwo is a suitable example for this notion. "Feminism" as a concept has been in existence since the days of Virginia Woolf in the 18th and 19th century. Feminists fights for the equality of right and opportunity for men and women. It undermines the "marriage-plot" where women are subjected to men by marrying them. Feminists correct the maltreatment and the restricted lifestyles of women in the society. This paper therefore do a clean examination on the concept of "Feminism" in Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan's "Once Upon An Elephant".

FEMINISM IN "ONCE UPON AN ELEPHANT"

           In the play, some female characters like Iya Agba, Omoyeni and Desolate are not presented in a good light. Afolayan dramatically expresses the frustrations faced by women in the society.
         The instances by which female characters are portrayed as mere instruments for attaining men's pleasure and that of the society are enumerated below. At first, seven female virgins must be sexually assulted and sacrifice their lives for Ajanaku to be immortal. The virgins that fall victims will not even die immediately, they will pass through months of agony and pain. Ajanaku, being in a position of authority, forcefully marries Omoyeni as a wife without her consent and he only sees her as a carrier of "another elephant that sired from his loins"(page 61). It's Agna is lied against and accused of being an adulterer. Serubawon later changes her name to "a mad woman" to cover up his atrocities. Female characters in the play are not given voices in the governing of the land, therefore men manipulate and direct autocratically.
           In her bid to correct this anomalies in the land, Afolayan eventually elevates the female characters to bring them into a limelight. She fights for the freedom of the female characters and exposes the foolishness of honourable male characters in the play through "Iya Agba"(a female character in the play). She redefines the image of "Iya Agba" in the land. "Iya Agba" is sought after to provide solutions to the problems in the land. The treacherous "Serubawon"(the king's medicine man) becomes dejected at his exposition as a plotter and kills himself. Sedona regains her life back from the tyrant Ajanaku and Ajanaku dies a shameful death. Omoyeni eventually marries Delani(her choice) and leaves Ajanaku whom she is forced to marry.
          However, in the play, Afolayan speaks on the odds of a masculine society by expressing the inappropriateness in the administration by men and the frustrations faced by women in the society. People believe "Iya Agba" is really mad because of their trust in "Serubawon". Afokayan further argues that men cannot be perfect in a society by killing the idea of making Ajanaku immortal.

SOYINKA'S TELEPHONE CONVERSATION : A COMMENTARY ON INTER-RACIAL RELATIONSHIP

Introduction 
             Racism is a very dreadful concept that hampers the relationship between groups and societies. The concept is however universal for it could be seen in our various homes and societies. Religious tolerance has become a difficult task to maintain among ourselves. Racial segregation is one of the themes African writers have been writing about since the inception of African literature. The fact of knowing the content of a book by its volume is logically nonsensical, the same applies to differentiating the mentality of people with the colour of their skin.
             The third world countries' relationship with the western world has always been hampered by race. The fact of our colour being black and their's being white suggests to them that they are in every way superior to us and therefore they must own cars and we be their drivers, they must be managers and we be their cleaners, we must not live together,for our black sense could affect them etc. One of the first racist texts to be recognized in African literature is "Heart of Darkness", where African people are described as animals because of the authors illiteracy on the culture of the people. In response to "Heart of Darkness", Chinua Achebe evidently supports and elevates the African culture over European's in Things Fall Apart. This paper carefully examine how Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" could be regarded as a commentary on inter-racial relationship.

TELEPHONE CONVERSATION AS COMMENTARY ON INTER-RACIAL RELATIONSHIP

              Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" is a poem depicting the relationship between two different races -the whites and the blacks. We know the conversation is between two people of different races when in line 5 of the poem, the poet persona declared "I hate a wasted journey -I am African" and in line 8-9, the poet persona describes the receiver as a white woman, "lipstick coated, long gold-rolled /cigaratte holder pipped...". The poet persona is an African and the receiver seems to be somewhere in the metropolis of the western world. In the first stanza of the poem, the poet persona seems to have negotiated with a landlady on a place he could stay when he moves to a new society. He tells us there is nothing to ask about the house again but to confess his identity. "Nothing remained/But self confession ". At this point, there is the need to ask the question, If all about the houses has been negotiated  and it all "seemed reasonable", why does he needs to confess his identity. This suggest a kind of poor relationship one may have with another person where one knows that the benefactor may denies one favour if he knows where one belongs. This suggests the poet persona from Africa is restricted in securing accommodation in the place where the receiver belongs. When the poet persona tells the receiver to be considerate of his being an African, there is a long silence. The receiver becomes silent to show she is undecided. It becomes pressure on the landlady when the poet persona confesses that he is an African-which he knows the landlady will not be willing to accommodate Africans. "Silenced transmission/of pressurise good breeding"(line 6-7). As is expected of the receiver to cancel the offer immediately,the poet persona "was caught foully"(line 9) when he heard her asks "HOW DARK?This shows the landlady is conscious to know how African is the poet persona if she could still accept him. The landlady emphasizes the question again, "ARE YOU LIGHT/OR VERY DARK? "(line 10-11) to know how African he is. The poet persona goes on satirising the place of the receiver who wants to know how African he is. He describes the place as "full of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak". The land lady is ashamed when the poet persona refuses to answer her, "shamed/By ill-mannered silence"(line 14-15). The receiver asks him question again to make it more simplified, "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT? Now,"Her assent was clinical"(line 20), she speaks as fast as she could to show her superiority over the poet persona. But the poet persona waves her rapidly and tells her colour he knows she might not have heard of. "Rapidly, wavelength adjusted/I chose. West African Sepia"(line21-22). Sepia is a colour that could be seen in the hairs of some women in the  western world. The poet persona deliberately use "West Africa" as an adjective to the "Sepia" mainly to tell the receiver that they are the same and cannot be segregated by the colour of their skin. On the other hand, he uses the colour - West African Sepia - to mock the white woman that she do not know colours.
              Late in the last stanza of the poem, the poet persona speaks against the foolishness of racists who distinguish between black and white people. He explains that African are not altogether black. "Facially,  I am brunette, but madam, you should see/ the rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet/ Are a peroxide blonde. Friction caused / by sitting down has turned/My bottom raven black".(line 28-32)
              Through the poem, "Telephone Conversation", Soyinka is able to correct the foolishness of racists in separating groups of people because of their particular race, religion, which among others. Stylistically, the poet equalizes the blacks and the whites with the use of "sepia" and offering explanation that he is not totally black. As a matter of fact, the whites' palms and soles of their feet are exactly the same colour as his. He there more argues against the sick relationship between peoples of different races.

THE USE OF ORAL LITERATURE IN BOSE AFOLAYAN'S "ONCE UPON AN ELEPHANT ": A CRITICAL REVIEW

INTRODUCTION
          There is the general belief, particularly in African literary world, that written literature cannot exist without borrowing some aspects from oral literature. Many critics of literature in the western world, in stark contrast to their own view, have therefore filed this great assumption among other baseless assumptions that are seen as impalpable to sense. However, as far as African literature is concerned, literature must reflect the culture and tradition of its society. In one of his books, Eshete Gemeda argues that"in order to treat African indegenious literature in its own right, our main focus of attention should be on the established cultural traditions and historical experiences, together with those aspects of the social and political life of the Africans which are the most helpful sources of our inspiration and techniques ". This paper therefore carefully examine the elements of oral literature in the written literary piece of Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan tittled "ONCE UPON AN ELEPHANT". Oral literary elements in written literature includes the use of folktales, proverbs, incantations, festivals, rituals among others.

ELEMENT OF ORAL LITERATURE IN
 "ONCE UPON AN ELEPHANT"
             RITES OF PASSAGE
The opening of the dramatic text (Event 1) evokes an atmosphere where a rite of passage is being performed in the mind of the reader. "Metallic clinking of gong"(pg 13) is an evidence of oral literature. In a typical African society," metallic gong" is used at times for sound effect. We know a rite of passage is going on as we can read that Ajanaku is sitting on a stool, bare-chested and two elderly men are standing by his sides. Rites of passage is a ritual performed to mark important transitional periods in a person's life. We later know that the rites performed is meant to transform an ordinary Ajanaku  into an immortal human being.(page 13-14).
             A rites of passage is also performed almost at the end of the play during "Jobele" festival and a time of ascension into immortality for Ajanaku (page 78). The ritual is performed to snatch "Desola's life back from the tyrant Ajanaku". The process of the ritual goes thus, "A lone voice chants a very powerful dirge. Desola walks in slowly. She is naked except for a short pant and a girdle that covers her bossom, Demoke and Yosola are all dressed in white with girdles round their waists. Desola suddenly lurches forward and embraces Ajanaku. They both stagger. Desola pulls back but holds on to the neck of his white apparel, and tears into shreds. She staggers and falls face down on the throne. Odekunle quickly opens the calabash, brings out a red cloth sewn with the gourds and charms, rums to Ajanaku and places it round his neck. Ajanaku screams as odekunle steps away. Ajanaku dies"(page 78-79).
              The atmosphere of event 3 depicts a typical African setting during coronation ceremony. Drumming, Singing and Dancing in the public are all forms of oral literature.
            FOLKTALES
Folktales are stories in oral tradition shared by a particular group of people. It encompasses the tradition common to that culture. It includes oral traditions such as tales, riddles, and jokes. Iya Agba uses folktale to explain reality to Ajanaku in event 5. She explains that "Ajanaku can only fool himself when he claim to have done the impossible " by telling a tale which goes thus, "the leper said two things, one of which is a lie; he said after he had struck his child with his palm, he also pinched him severely with his fingernails"(page 34).
            Also in event 7, Ogundele tells a tale to correct Odejimi of his hatred to Ajanaku. The tale goes thus, 'they asked the bird Awoko,"Did you insult the King?" Awoke replied "when would I have time to insult the king, given the task of singing two hundred songs in the morning; two hundred in the afternoon and two hundred at night?"(page 48).
             USE OF PROVERBS
Proverbs are simple traditional sayings that express a truth, based on common sense or experience. African literature is branded with the use or proverbs to elevate the African culture. Some of the proverbs used in the text are cited below.

    Odejimi uses a proverb to speak against falsehood and treachery. The proverb goes thus;
"it is falsehood that earns a gash on the head "(event 1,pg 18).
Iyale also uses proverb to explain the carelessness of the people about things that happen in the society. The proverbs are;
"Nobody tells the blind that fire is burning"
"when fire burns the dog, it will also burn the hunter holding the rope attached to the neck of the dog if the hunter is foolish enough to hold on the rope as the dog burns".(event 4, page 29).
Iya Agba also says some proverbs and here are they;
"they deceive themselves greatly, whoever collects rain water from a sieve".(pg. 34)
"the lizard may resemble a crocodile, but they are certainly different"(pg. 40).
"the nose cannot become so big that it takes speech out of the mouth"(pg. 40).
Dele also says a proverb in event 9 and it goes thus;
"the snake that travels alone gets killed by the farmer".(pg. 52).
Iya Agba in event 12;
"that the calabash faces downward is no antisocial behaviour; the calabash is only acting according to its nature"(pg. 68).
Iyale in event 13;
"as the sky does not grow grass, so the soul of the graveyard does not afford the dead an opportunity to read trails"(page 71).

IN CONCLUSION

                 The use of oral literary elements in written form of African literature contributes to the aesthetic of the piece. In one of his books, Eshete Gemeda clearly states that "the aim of exploring oral literature in a contemporary setting is to transform it from abstract narrative to expressive form (intellectual discourse); and in this respect, it seems hard to make a distinction between the intriguing nature of oral art and modern art". African literature must also reflect African tradition and culture for historical reasons.