From seeing strange creatures, hearing them, deaths, agonies, acute hunger, extreme poverty, sounds of laughter from impoverished people to reversal of fortune, it goes way deeper than anything I have ever imagined. The interest is to underscore the mythical method of novel writing towards identifying what truly can be defined as an African experience. Azaro’s commentary on the worshippers from the church and the unnamed, second group, addresses history and the longevity of its effects. That makes Madame Koto a kind of godmother for him, because she allows him to be with her. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Another important point to note is the literary import of the use of mythical method of writing. Not affiliated with Harvard College. ( Log Out /  The fetish is a small, ornamental object. This Study Guide consists of approximately 50 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - This is with a view to showing that African writers, especially in Diaspora, utilize the oral raw materials available to them in projecting contemporary literature of twenty-first century. I ran with him as double headed monsters chased him through the forest, drank palm wine with him as he sat in Madam Koto’s shop and even ate the party rice at their stuffed parlor when his parents had all the neighbours for a feast. Cheers! Rather, myths represent indigenous attempts at either fictionalizing reality or injecting the elements of the realistic into the fictional. Therefore, the use of myths is capable of capturing and sustaining the attention of the reader. The text is imbued with elements that are germane to the objectives of this study. Azaro’s parents knew their child had a precarious hold on life and that he may return at any moment to the realm of the spirits so they did all they could to keep him alive. Ben Okri. Rats also played a significant allegorical role in The Famished Road. However, I enjoyed it for its highly narrative style and will recommend it to everyone who is still confused about the myth of “Abiku.”. Certainly literary productions have the imprint of the milieu which produces them, since art penetrates social psychology and engages happenings in society. Ben Okri’s The Famished Road represents African prose fiction which centres on African mythic consciousness. It draws most of its arguments from African and other literature. West African gin made from ethanol is called Ogoro. The road si gni es m ovement a nd chang e which unlike river Food is the central currency in the novel’s social and symbolic economy: It is stolen, poisoned, rationed, and withheld, but also shared in moments of familial and communal feasting. (P.24). Thanks for reading…. “The Famished Road” aptly tells the story of the hopelessness, desperation, war, political imbalance and poverty facing many developing countries. Many of them consider myth as an integral part of a larger definition of oral tradition which they take as the fulcrum of African literary thematic preoccupation. A people’s worldview is considered to be the cultural universal which is seen to be the nucleus of a culture that admits of no change even while the particular aspects of the culture (cultural particulars) constantly change. However, Olu-Owolabi (2011) contends that the present state of retrogression in Nigeria, and indeed the rest of Africa, stems from the near absence of the critical capacity to reflect and interrogate issues, concepts and circumstances by the present generation. It isn't until the father willingly undertakes a battle against the negative aspects of chaos (symbolized by angry spirits) that the home is restore. The Famished Road is the story of a spirit child Azaro. Orality and Transformation in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road I wrote this for a class I took on West African Literature this past semester. Since the emergence of Things Fall Apart till now, Nigerian writers have always resorted to what readers deem as verifiable in their narratives via various realistic aids and indices. The content of the novel relates the Post-Colonial African experience. Hi, can i have your e-mail address so I can send you the PDF file. The distinctiveness of the second group is derived from its power, and associated with a relationship to the earth. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. In an effort to carve a niche for what could be validly regarded as African Literature, it has been the interest of authors to build on the African experience.