Thoughts on Soyinka

Entry #22
05 April 2007
Work: The Man (Soyinka)

Thoughts on Soyinka:

I’m trying right now to find the reference to Soyinka in my African-American Women’s Literature textbook, and the darned thing doesn’t have an index. I thought it was in an article by Barbara Christian, but I know that I highlighted intending to come back to it.

Regardless, he was mentioned in an article on literature and womanism, and though I don’t remember exactly how his mention related to the topic (it wasn’t an article we covered in depth), I started thinking about the role of women in the plays we’ve read.

In The Strong Breed, the primary female characters are Sunma, the girl and Omae. Sunma has a strong sense of self-preservation, though she comes across (from my perch of modern-day, American judgment) to me as sneaky and manipulative. Whiney, too. The girl, though some might see her as assertive and independent (she seems not to be afraid of anything) is not likeable at all. Sick or not, she seems mean-spirited. Her mother, too, though not present except in reference, is characterized (again, in my view) as a bad mother with little real concern for her daughter. Omae, the beloved, though faithful and true, is fragile and weak. She cannot bear the child of Eman because it is too much – as it would be for any woman. Women cannot bear the burden. Women are handed the burden of birth, but they fall short. One-trick ponies playing one matinee only and then off to the glue factory….I’m sure, as usual, I’m being overly harsh.

It’s the cultural lines in womanism/feminism that I have such a difficult time crossing without getting tripped up in the difference. Tolerance. Please, dear god, send me tolerance.

Till later...