Themes In Death And The King's Horseman

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Okonkwo was a legendary man of his time holding many titles. From the very beginning he had distinguished his masculinity from all the others in the village. He wished to prosper in the way great Igbo people always had. Okonkwo’s form, ideas, and life, all represent the African tradition and memory. The western culture and memory ruined everything that Okonkwo held dear. This was seen as early as Okonkwo’s banishment from the tribe. Okonkwo had brought his gun to a festival that was honoring the marriage of a girl in the village. That gun accidently exploded and killed a clansman. This was seen as the ultimate disgrace and was banished for seven years from the tribe. The gun, which was a western tool, had caused Okonkwo to be separated from …show more content…

Some of these traditions seemed “barbaric” to many westerners and this caused a substantial deal of tension between the western and African memories. Many of these tensions arise in the play Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka. This tension helped contribute to the formation of the new memory in this …show more content…

He had many responsibilities in his life, but the greatest had to be fulfilled after the King’s death. Once the King died, after a short time, the King’s horseman was expected to die too and accompany the King to the afterworld to bring prosperity to the tribe. The play opens with Elesin stalling his death. He had been caught up with the material possessions of this world and wanted to experience them again before he died. As Elesin stalled, Simon Pilking, the district officer, caught word of this suicide ritual. Pilkings represented the Western memory, so he saw this as an abomination that had to be stopped. One of the goals of colonialism was to oppress the conquered people economically, socially, and spiritually and this ritual besmirched what the west stood for. Pilkings ordered the arrest of Elesin, and while this was happening Elesin’s son Olunde returned. Olunde had been sent to England by Pilkings to practice medicine. He was a bridge between the two worlds. Olunde was not dismayed or troubled when he thought his father had been killed. In fact, he had come back from England so he could bury his father, for it was the son’s responsibility. When Olunde found out his father was still alive, he was outraged. He declared to Elesin that “I have no father, eater of leftovers” (Soyinka 166) and leaves. The Western memory had disrupted the traditional memory in a classic colonial attempt to “civilize” the

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