Death and the Kings Horseman Essay Example
An Anthropological view of Death and the King’s Horseman
Colonialism is the policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies. For the Yoruba, the British colonization has systematically dissolved and re-arranged its cultural traditions, beliefs, and structure. An anthropological examination of Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman can reveal colonialisms destructive effect and the tragedy of forced liminality Yoruba people.
Colonization has dissected Nigerian culture. Tribal rituals and traditions were altered to fit British ideals. Tribal authorities lost the ability to perform tribal ceremonies. These laws, and the lawmakers, were created by transitional foreigners who refused assimilation. African sergeants, like Amusa, were put into power to monitor their own tribesmen. Amusa’s role as a sergeant separates him from his culture and pits him against the villagers. His threshold persona is seen as lowly. He mirrors the “structural invisibility of novices undergoing life-crisis rituals.” (Turner, 170)
Amusa is invisible and unworthy. He isn’t respected by the British command or by the villagers. Pilkings belittles Amusa’s fear of the Yoruba death masks. He expects Amusa to be more sensible concerning “mumbo-jumbo.” (Soyinka, 24) It is obvious that Amusa has confirmed his dedication to the British law, but his defense in relating talking death to death masks with talking against government to uniformed police shows that he is still somehow neither here nor there.
To the villagers, his invisibility is met with disdain and insult. The women don’t even recognize him as a man let alone an authority figure. They berate his attempts to control their ceremony with the “laws of stranger.”(Soyinka, 36) The girls taunt him more after his disrespect towards Iyaloja, the matriarch of the village. “He no longer knows his mother, we’ll teach him.”(Soyinka, 37)
Amusa is not alone in his liminality. There is another sergeant with
Colonialism is the policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies. For the Yoruba, the British colonization has systematically dissolved and re-arranged its cultural traditions, beliefs, and structure. An anthropological examination of Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman can reveal colonialisms destructive effect and the tragedy of forced liminality Yoruba people.
Colonization has dissected Nigerian culture. Tribal rituals and traditions were altered to fit British ideals. Tribal authorities lost the ability to perform tribal ceremonies. These laws, and the lawmakers, were created by transitional foreigners who refused assimilation. African sergeants, like Amusa, were put into power to monitor their own tribesmen. Amusa’s role as a sergeant separates him from his culture and pits him against the villagers. His threshold persona is seen as lowly. He mirrors the “structural invisibility of novices undergoing life-crisis rituals.” (Turner, 170)
Amusa is invisible and unworthy. He isn’t respected by the British command or by the villagers. Pilkings belittles Amusa’s fear of the Yoruba death masks. He expects Amusa to be more sensible concerning “mumbo-jumbo.” (Soyinka, 24) It is obvious that Amusa has confirmed his dedication to the British law, but his defense in relating talking death to death masks with talking against government to uniformed police shows that he is still somehow neither here nor there.
To the villagers, his invisibility is met with disdain and insult. The women don’t even recognize him as a man let alone an authority figure. They berate his attempts to control their ceremony with the “laws of stranger.”(Soyinka, 36) The girls taunt him more after his disrespect towards Iyaloja, the matriarch of the village. “He no longer knows his mother, we’ll teach him.”(Soyinka, 37)
Amusa is not alone in his liminality. There is another sergeant with