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This play, written shortly after Soyinka was released from prison, reflects not only his personal mood at the time, but the horrors of the Nigerian civil war of 1966-1970. The ferocity of the fighting between Biafrans and other Nigerians was unprecedented in scale and intensity; and much of the nation was still in shock. Soyinka uses a variety of techniques borrowed from \"absurdist\" theater. These departures from realism are meant not to create a flight from reality, but to convey the terrors of reality in a more intense way than traditional realism could do. The result is a sometimes obscure but intense and moving work of scathing satire and protest. The raised hut of Iya Agba and Iya Mate is the site of a sort of commentary on the action taking place below.
Mendicants are beggars, in this case beggars faking a variety of ailments to prey on the sympathies of the public. They function something like the chorus in a Greek tragedy, commenting on the action. It is not always clear whether they are insane or simply expressing themselves satirically. \"St. Vitus\' Dance\" is a traditional name for epilepsy. Traditionally it is believed that some people can curse others by looking at them with an \"evil eye.\" The dehumanizing effects of the war are reflected in their gruesome gambling game. Ostriches were traditionally said to hide their heads in the sand. To \"bite the dust\" is an old expression for \"to die.\" \"As\" is the mysterious deity of the new ferocious faith which has swept over the nation. This is why the beggars call themselves \"Creatures of As.\"
Si Bero is a traditional herbal healer whose brother Dr. Bero is a modern-educated doctor who has become deeply involved with the terroristic regime ruling the country. \"Rem Acu Tetigisti\" is nonsense perpetrated by the new government cult and repeated here each time the beggars want to evoke the senseless violence of the government. \"Casting pearls before swine\" is an expression based on one of Jesus\' parables (Matthew 7:6) which implies wasting something valuable on people incapable of appreciating it. The beggars begin to mime the tortures carried out by the sadistic \"specialist,\" Dr. Bero. They speculate about whether Bero will torture his own father, in the play referred to simply as \"the old man.\"
Iya Mate compliments Si Bero as the sort of herbal woman who would not poison men, but discover she has inadvertently gathered a rare and deadly poison. The song they sing hints at the dangers they are experiencing. A boat full of oil would naturally avoid open flames. Why do you think Si Bero chooses Blindman as her assistant? It is a tradition to insult someone by insulting his mother. Si Bero has nothing particularly in mind by telling the Cripple that his mother is in a bad mood. The beggars\' litany of medical treatments quickly deteriorates into gruesome violence: medicine has blended into torture in this play, reflected in the miming that follows. Persistently barking dogs were sometimes silenced by having their vocal chords cut. \"The flaming sword\" was wielded by an angel at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to bar the way back to Adam and Eve after they had been banished for their sin (Genesis 3:24). An advocate is a lawyer. How do we learn that the Blindman is also faking his handicap?
A holdall is a large suitcase. What do we learn about the relationship between Bero and the beggars? Note how the Blindman tries to soften Bero toward his sister. The beggars claim to be have been discharged from the army, but Bero insists they are still under his orders. \"Gaol\" is the Nigerian/British spelling of \"jail.\" Bero hints at unspeakable crimes for which the beggars were discharged. What does Bero mean by calling all his old patients corpses? What fluid is referring to when he brags of having wetted the earth with something more potent than palm wine? What is Si Bero\'s reaction to her brother? She believes that the herbal magic she was taught by the old women has preserved his life. \"Big Braids\"=highest officers.
The windy old priest trusts Dr. Bero. What kind of a character is he? A miter is the hat worn by a bishop. He is the first to introduce the subject of cannibalism. Cannibalism is not part of normal modern Nigerian life, but there were instances of it during the civil war as people sought to terrify and insult their enemies in the fiercest way possible. What is Bero\'s reaction to the priest\'s statement that his father advocated legalizing cannibalism? In the following conversation with Si Bero the doctor explains the derivation of the divine name \"As\" from the traditional blessing, \"as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, Amen.\" It is intended as a statement of firm faith in God\'s eternal goodness and justice, but in this play it is alludes to a cursed cycle of destruction from which there is no escape. What Dr. Bero is saying is that his father tricked him and others into eating human flesh hoping to shame them into realizing how savage they had begun. Instead, it had the effect of liberating them from all moral inhibitions. What was his father\'s job in the war?
The Old Man is a fierce truth-teller. The beggars, who had pled insanity to escape punishment for their crimes, claim to have been driven mad by his truth-telling. What is the symbolism of the killing and eating of the flea? The cycle referred to suggests to Si Bero that the Old Man has been eaten by his son, and she is horrified. \"Surgery\" means \"doctor\'s office.\"
Part Two
Aafaa\'s alphabetical sermon leads to the Blindman\'s assertion that the epileptic fits of worshippers bring not true freedom, but subjection to a vicious deity. \"Circus turn\" means \"circus act.\" \"Collaborate\" is a much more loaded word than \"assist,\" suggesting aiding in crimes. The Old Man has sat silent up to this point, seemingly in shock. The line \"Arise, throw off thy crutches and follow me\" is a combination of phrases from the Bible: Jesus saying to his would-be followers \"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me\" (Matthew 16:24) and Mark 2:9 where Jesus defends his right to heal a crippled man by stating \"Who is my neighbor\" is uttered in Luke 10:29 by a man responding to Jesus\' teaching to love your neighbor as you love yourself. \"Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk.\" \"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word,\" is the grateful speech of Simeon who has been preserved long enough to meet the infant Jesus, implying that he can now die content (Luke 2:29). Here it has more sinister implications. Soyinka was raised as a Christian and attended a missionary school as a boy, so he knows his Bible thoroughly.
\"Chop\" is slang for food. What is the nature of the relationship between Bero and his father? A stationer\'s is a stationery store. Why does Bero emphasize that the Old Man will get everything he needs? The Old Man revels in his feat of having tricked the leaders into practicing cannibalism. Why does he say he is still needed? A recidivist is one who commits again a crime that he has committed before. Why has Bero brought the Old Man here?
How does Aafaa say he was filled with the spirit that drove him mad? Note how the two old women present themselves as part of a spiritual reality far older and more powerful than that represented by Bero. The Latin quotation which the beggars mangle is \"Dulce et decorum est pro patria morire\": \"Sweet and proper it is to die for one\'s country.\" Just as Biblical passages about love and healing have earlier been given a sinister twist, so now references to patriotism and democracy are made to serve the goals of a degraded dictatorship. The song they sing is \"When the Saints Go Marching In,\" yet another allusion to impending death. Clearly, the Old Man is doomed, but does not want to have died in vain.
Socrates was condemned to execution by drinking a potion made of hemlock berries. In the dialogue between Bero and the Old Man Bero is not so much talking of his father as of the resistance to the regime which his father represents. When he uses the word \"you,\" he means \"people like you.\" What does the new regime offer instead of freedom? The story is told that the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes went about in daylight carrying a lighted lantern. When asked why he did so, he said he was looking for an honest man. Note how the beggars run a variation on this story.
After Bero leaves the stage the beggars discuss the pageantry carried out by governments which conceal their crimes while gaining international acceptance through showy ceremonies. The mock ceremony culminating in cries of \"We want Him\" is probably meant to remind the audience of the mob\'s cry for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus (Mark 15:6-15). Blindman\'s speech is a parody of an ignorant, bigoted European colonizer, pretending not to be interested in the mineral wealth of the colonized nations and maintaining the necessity of imperialism in the face of the winds of change. What sorts of negative stereotypes does he articulate about African cultures?
The speech culminates in a recitation of the formula of the new regime, implying that nothing has changed. The exploitation and oppression of colonialism has now become postcolonial exploitation and oppression. The Old Man\'s long speech dwells on this theme. A \"cat-house\" is a house of prostitution. A \"poor box\" is a box in a church where donations may be put to aid the poor. An heresiarch is a leading heretic, a disbeliever. The usual expression, \"the ends justify the means\" is often used to excuse crimes of oppression. If the purpose is worthy, then normally immoral means may be used to achieve it. Here the phrase is mocked by saying \"the end shall justify the meanness.\" John 1:1 says \"In the beginning was the Word\" which is taken to be both Jesus and God. The new faith began not with God but with its priesthood. What does Aafaa mean by saying there is no division in this new religion? Monsieur l\'homme sapiens is French for \"Mr. Homo Sapiens.\"
The Old Man\'s last long speech is a brilliant series of puns in which he shows how debased the new faith is. Ham is forbidden to Muslims, as it is to Jews. An ashram is a Hindu place of spiritual retreat. A kibbutz is an Israeli commune. How many people are trying to kill each other at the end of this play? Who wins?
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