An Anthropological view of Death and the King’s Horseman Essay Example

longer knows his mother, we’ll teach him. ”(Soyinka, 37) Amusa is not alone in his liminality. There is another sergeant with him, who also lacks authority over the villagers. These sergeants are not attached to their people and they are also not attached to their rulers. They have “no status, insignia, secular clothing, rank, and kinship position, nothing to demarcate them structurally from their fellows” (Turner, 98). Wole Soyinka urges readers not to consider Death and the King’s Horseman as a “clash of cultures” because it limits their analytical scope. It is not European versus African.

But there must be some attention paid to the idea that a liminal stranger can come and recreate a cultures entire lifestyle. Colonialism was a disruption of life. The changes that the Yoruba made were not their own. Soyinka, on his view of a colonial Nigeria, says “Everything was quite normal but there was an issue, which would be sorted out, which just expunged those who didn't belong there in the first place from our nation that was the only way I related to colonialism. ”(Aljaree) There is a connection between Soyinka and Olunde. “Soyinka's grandfather introduced him to the pantheon of Yoruba gods and other figures of tribal folklore.

His parents, however, were representatives of colonial influence: his mother was a devout Christian convert, and his father was a headmaster at the village school established by the British. ”(Enotes) Olunde, like Soyinka, was educated in European and then later returned home to enlighten those with a misunderstanding of the Yoruba culture. There is a void created for the agnatic Yoruba culture when Pilkings aids Olunde in leaving Nigeria. “Being an

agnatic and communal-oriented society; family members live side-by-side, or near ancestral homes for the continuity of the extended family.

The most senior/oldest male in the entire compound becomes family head (M? gaji or Olori-? bi), the position goes to another most senior, when the holder dies, or becomes incapacitated. ”(Yorupedia) As the eldest son, Olunde was his father’s heir apparent. Joseph, Pilkings servant, stresses the importance of male heir telling Jane that “the eldest son is not supposed to travel away from the land. ”(Soyinka, 29) Pilkings and his wife boast of their ability to remove the Yoruba, especially Olunde, of their feudal behavior. Ironically, Pilkings brags that by helping Olunde escape, he saves him from Elesin’s ritual suicide.

Soyinka uses Pilkings (an anagram for Kipling) as the bearer of the white man’s burden. He doesn’t need to understand the traditions of the people, but focus on saving the Yoruba from their incivility. The Olunde the audience sees debating with Jane does not give the impression of a liminal persona. His accepts his father’s obligation to the clan and will return to Europe for reincorporation after Elesin is buried. Olunde doesn’t give off an emotional attachment to the village. He just wants to show respect for his father. Olunde does not see the chained Elesin as a father. He sees a broken prisoner of the colony.

This is the same man who disowned him as a child for betraying their tribe. Once again Pilkings, the symbol of colonialism, has created a rift between father and son. Olunde’s replacement of his father does not only work as an appeasement to their deceased king, but it is meant to right

the wrongs that shifted father and son apart many years ago. Iyaloja holds Pilkings responsible for his “interference with stranger’s lives” (Soyinka, 76) and informs him that he is stained with Olunde’s death. In class discussions, Elesin’s liminality was linked to his Yoruba duties and their belief that death brings forth life.

His failure to complete the ritual suicide was attributed to his pride, but it is highly possible that his disconnect came long before his the ceremonial wedding/death. Colonialism may have played a larger role in his failure. This was not the same Nigeria that Elesin’s ancestors lived in. This play is based on an incident that occurred in 1946. By this time, British colonial rule had been established for more than thirty-two years. The British, through religion and law, dissolved Yoruba culture traditions including the banning of ritual suicides.

Pilkings abduction of Olunde unraveled Elesin’s family structure. Elesin’s ancestral connection was out of order. In the final act, Elesin admits that he no longer had the will to die. He blames his brides’ “warmth and youth” (Soyinka, 65) for reviving his appetite for life. To his tribe, his life wasn’t as important as his death. For Pilkings, saving Elesin was a demonstration of his control over the Yoruba people. Though Elesin wouldn’t give Pilkings the satisfaction of giving thanks for his protection, Elesin does admits to Iyaloja that he felt relief when Pilkings interrupted the ceremony.

Elesin’s character became distant from tribal ritual because of cultural change that overpowered him. "My will was squelched in the spittle of an alien race; and all because I had committed this blasphemy of thought-that there might be the hand

of gods in a stranger's intervention" (Soyinka, 69). In Death and the King’s Horseman, British rule and its forced liminality on Amusa, Elesin, Olunde, the villagers, and Pilkings left each character without structure. This play was more than just a reenactment. Soyinka like Turner “used performance, viewed as liminal, as a teaching tool within anthropology… in rder to appreciate to some extent what the ritual/ceremonial meant to those involved with it for real. ”(Eprints) Anthropology takes this play beyond just a “clash of cultures”. It has allowed me to re-examine not only the villagers’ liminality, but also the British colonists. These people are in a marginal space beyond their control. Each group is forced to leave their structured existence and thrown into an anti-structure where former rules no longer apply and must be reevaluated in order to prepare for reincorporation.

Works Cited

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