Beautiful feathers by cyprian Ekwensi

In the novel "Beautiful feathers" the writer Cyprian Ekwensi introduces how power can be used to jeopardize other people's life and how the need of good relationship is needed in a family so that every other thing can work out smoothly. The main character of the novel Wilson Iyari is a recognized pharmacist in the society and also the leader of the Nigerian Movement for African and Malagasy Solidarity but in his home he has no control over his wife. Despite the problems Iyari was facing at home he did not allow it to reflect on his work neither did he tell other people about it. Iyari's wife, yariya called him in his office trying to dictating to him what to do when her brother comes to see him in the office but in spite of this he did not behave in an absurd manner to his brother-in-law. He even gave his brother-in law money even though he knew that he would not be able to collect the money back from his brother-in-law (p12). Iyari is also a very dedicated man who does not care about his own life but about his society and the people around him. Iyari knew that his life was at a risk but he still went ahead trying to resolve the problem of the solidarity of Africa and Malagasy. He was arrested during the peaceful demonstration that was going on during the independence day of Nigeria and he might not have been released for a long time assuming nobody came to bail him out. After he got out of jail he still continued as the leader of the Nigerian Movement for African and Malagasy Solidarity (p83).

The main conflict in this novel is the way power relationship and class differences are used to emphasis different points. The power relationship in the novel occurred when the prime minister was in Lagos to attend a conference with the press. A lot of other reporters asked him different questions that were answered to there own satisfaction but when Iyari went out to ask his own question he was asked a lot of different questions and was mocked out of stage (p45). Paul