31 Am Ata Aidoo: Anowa

Dr. Soma Mukherjee

Content

• A brief biography of Ama Ata Aidoo.
• Major Literary works of Ama Ata Aidoo
• The background of the play Anowa
• The summary of the play Anowa
• The main characters in the play Anowa
• Conclusion

Biography: Christiana Ama Aidoo or Ama Ata Aidoo was one of the famous woman writers of contemporary Africa. She was born in 1942 in Saltpond, the central region of Gold Coast (Present day Ghana). Her father was chief of Abeadzi Kyiakor , a royal Fante family. His name was Nana Yaw Fama and Aidoo’s mother’s name was Maame Abasema. Inspite of his nationalist beliefs Aidoo’s father sent his daughter to Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast to complete her education. Later on Ama Ata Aidoo had completed her graduation degree in English from University of Ghana in Legon and incidentally she wrote her first play The Dilemma of a Ghost (1964) during this period. The play was published by Longman in 1965 making her first published African woman dramatist. In this play a Ghanian man Ato returned to his homeland from United States with an African – American wife. He had not informed his family about the marriage and the whole play is about a conflict between two different world views – the traditional and the modern. In her later academic career Aidoo went on to visit Stanford University for a fellowship in creative writing, she became a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and Lecturer in English at the University of Cape Coast. In 1982 she had been appointed as Minister of Education under the Jerry Rawlings administration.

Major works : Ama Ata Aidoo started her literary Career during her University days. Few of her famous and celebrated writings are The Dilemma of a Ghost (Play, 1965), Anowa (Play, 1970), Our Sister Killjoy: or Reflections from a Black –eyed Squint (Novel, 1977), No Sweetness Here (A collection of Short Story, 1970), Someone talking to Sometime (A Poetry Collection, 1985), Changes : A Love Story (Novel, 1991), The Girl who Can and Other Stories (A collection of Short Story, 1997).

In all her writings one can find some common themes such as the conflict between traditional and modern values, African and Western world views, legacy of slavery and its influence on Ghanaian society and so on. In her most controversial novel Our Sister Killjoy(1977), Aidoo criticizes newly educated youths who after migrating to the West for their education most of the time choose a life of comfort and decided to never come back. She also initiated debate about the role of African woman in modern Ghanaian society and how in the colonial as well as in the neo colonial state quandary of African women has not changed.

Background : Inspite of official abolishment of slavery into the early half of nineteenth century Europe, it was a profitable and ongoing project on the west coast of Africa into the the 1830s and ‘40s. Critics and historians of West Africa have agreed that legal abolishment did not deter people from venturing into the profitable business. Also this time phrase saw an increased flow of human traffic both in domestic and transatlantic levels. On the regional level in the early half of nineteenth century, in the Gold Coast, the Asante and the Fanti were involved in a continuous conflict for dominance, as the Asante of the interior was striving to expand their control to the coastal area, through which they could maintain their own Atlantic trade. On the other hand the Fanti was trying to retain their dominion of coastal area because in this area they already had commercial and political tie – up with British traders. Set  against this general backdrop of domestic as well as transatlantic slavery, the play Anowa talks about the bond of 1844, an agreement through which British colonial power gained a trading priority in the Fanti area. The dramatic action of the play takes place about thirty years after this treaty did happen and the play talks about crucial historical and economic junctures where the narratives of the colonialism and capitalism merged with each other.

Summary : The play Anowa borrows its story from an old Ghanaian legend/folktale about a beautiful but headstrong young girl who marries a man of her choice going against her parent’s wish and rejecting several prospective proposals but quite expectedly the husband turns out to be a devil in disguise. About her source Aidoo herself says “ I come from a people who told stories… and my mother ‘talks’ stories and sings songs. Anowa for instance, grew directly out of a story she told me although as the play has come out, she cannot even recognize the story she told.” From her comment it is clear that how oral story becomes the rohstoff of a written text and how the oral and the written literary traditions merge with each other. Interestingly Aidoo adopts the general story into a specific historical context and in the process the play gains a contemporary relevance. Also she brings to the forefront the topic of accountability that comes with the issue of slave trade and how African people ignored the subject and tried to forget their complicity in the whole business.

The play begins with a prologue where ‘The – Mouth – That – Eats – Salt and – Pepper ‘an elderly couple who introduce the characters such as Anowa and Kofi Ako and talk about the fact that how Anowa rejects several of sturdy men. For the Old Woman, Anowa’s beauty and her intelligence make her arrogant and conceited. On the other hand the Old Man dispassionately speaks about the state of Abura and how the creator of this community Odomankoma, created this world in moderation. Gods and Goddesses in their benevolence gave away every available resource – animate as well as inanimate to the humankind and it’s in the human hand that how they utilize all these reserve. But the Old Man does talk about the past misdeeds when “…in a dangerous moment, how the lords of our Houses Sought the protection of those that – came – from – beyond – the – horizon, Against our more active kinsmen from the north; ……… And Yet, there is a bigger crime We have inherited from the clans incorporate Of which, lest we forget when the time does come, Those forts standing at the door Of the great ocean shall remind our children And the sea bear witness”.

From the above quotation it is clear that the Old Man is speaking about the liaison between the Fanti and the men from the horizon – the Britishers. There is a direct reference to the slave trade, whose legacy the present generation inherited from its predecessors. Even if this clan’s people want to forget those violent pasts, it will be a fruitless process as big slave forts were laying around sea shore from which future generation cannot escape. In his serene way quite prophetically the Old Man declared that “Kofi was, is and shall always be one of us.” From the beginning it is clear that Kofi is product of that generation who internalized this ideology of human oppression quite willingly.

In the phase one we encountered Kofi Ako and Anowa – the carefree, candid, in love couple who are engrossed in each other. Then Maami Badua and Papa Osam – Anowa’s mother and father were introduced who are worried about their daughter’s future. As a mother Badua is more anxious as her daughter is still unmarried even after gaining her puberty six years ago. From husband – wife’s conversation it becomes obvious that the society of Abura is matrilineal in nature and Badua and her maternal family’s responsibilities are greater than the Osam about Anowa’s future. Osam declares that his duty ends after his daughter is born. During their conversation Osam reminds his wife that he always asked Badua to apprentice Anowa to a priestess which Badua refused to accept. For Badua, the priestesses with their glory and dignity, are not normal flesh and blood human beings and because off their unusual way of lives priestess became too much like gods whom they are interpreting. Foe Anowa, Badua wants a fulfilling life where she will play her roll of a perfect daughter, wife and mother successfully. During this conversation Anowa comes back to her home to declare that she has chosen her man – Kofi Ako. Badua’s reaction was harsh as she describes Kofi as a “fool”,” a good for nothing cassava – man”, and “this – I – am the – handsome –one – with – a stick – between – my – teeth – in the – market – place”. Stunned by her parents reaction, Anowa leaves her home feeling insulted and announces that she will look for opportunity elsewhere and before going she vows to never return to her family by saying that she would “not find [her ] feet back [t]here again”.

In phase two Anowa and Kofi have been seen as living a life of shared hard work and independence which makes them wealthy. But sooner they find themselves in conflicting situations that highlight their differences. On one hand Kofi wants to acquire slaves who can help them in their work, on the other hand Anowa rejects Kofi’s proposition by saying acquiring slaves has no moral justifications and it has its own dehumanizing effect. But subsequently Kofi started purchasing slaves, makes alliances with British traders, he settles down with an lavish ‘big house ‘and eventually stops working. He expects that Anowa will follow him and will become the perfect bejeweled idle ideal wife. Anowa resists Kofi’s attempt to domesticate her and refuses to conform to her husband’s exploitative lifestyle. She equates her status with the Kofi’s slave and declares herself as an eternally de –territorialized

“ wayfarer, with no belongings here or there”. Kofi defends his status of slave owners by saying that he never mistreats them, all of them are having equal opportunities and he accuses Anowa that she herself is “dreaming up miseries that do not touch her”.

In the end due to his physical and spiritual avarice, Kofi sacrifices family bonding, he loses his virility and becomes impotent. When childless Anowa confronts him about his impotency and emasculation, Kofi commits suicide by shooting himself. In the first ending of the play Anowa becomes mad but in the second ending the Old Woman informs her audience that Anowa drowns herself after becoming mad. The final verdict comes from the Old Man who re – emphasizes that Anowa was unable to escape the injustice and corruption inherent in slave trade and how that past legacy and its present consequence destroyed her whole world.

Characters:

Anowa : Anowa is the central character of the play Anowa. In the first phase of the play she comes across as a beautiful, free spirited girl who rejected several of her marriage proposals. She falls in love with a beautiful man called Kofi Ako who has been described as “this good– for – nothing cassava – man, this watery male of all watery males” by Anowa’s mother Badua. Inspite of her mother’s stiff resistance, Anowa marries Kofi and leaves her town Yebi by saying that she is not going to come back again to her family. Interestingly for a matrilineal set up Anowa’s action of severing all ties with her family makes her a pariah whose husband becomes her only living connection. She toils hard with her husband to establish a business of selling animal skins.

But later on a conflict raises its ugly head when Kofi decides to buy slaves for his business. Inspite of Anowa’s vehement opposition, Kofi becomes a fat, bejeweled slave trader. Anowa, who from her childhood days is conscious about the ongoing slave trade and its after effect, becomes cynical about the whole scenario. During one of her monologue Anowa reminisces about a story which her grandmother once told her. In her story , Anowa’s nana told her  about wonderful things such as huge sea, huge houses and roads and how those houses contained numerous rooms. Anowa’s incessant questioning reveals that pale, white men came from faraway lands and they built those big houses to keep slaves. Subsequently Anowa learns that people of her own land participated in the slave trade and sold their own people. Her nana admonishs her by saying a child should not ask such questions and she termed an inquisitive Anowa as a witch. From this conversation it becomes clear that how past generation of Fantiland had participated in the slave trade and theirs complicity also had been proved when they refused to answer several questions of a child like Anowa. Late on through her childhood nightmare Anowa becomes a symbol of Africa and in that dream thousands of men, women and children came out of Anowa’s body but they had been captured and thrashed by lobster headed pale men and women. It is quite obvious that her nightmare had a direct link with past tragedy and in a symbolical way like mother Africa’s exploitation; this evocative image presents a way of reading Anowa’s barrenness as an after effect of the slave trade. Unnerved by the whole situation Anowa equates herself with the slaves and calls herself a rootless wayfarer who have “no family, no village, no stool of his own; has no feast days, no holidays, no state, no territory”. Incidentally after her marriages Anowa severs her ties from her family completely but after her failed relationship with Kofi, she really becomes a rootless human being. All her failed relationships make her a nomadic wanderer who finds a parallel between her own situation and the slaves.

In the first phase of the play we realize that Anowa and her family belong to a matrilineal structure but with the coming of British colonizers the system transform into capitalist mode where labour and its price are the most important fact. In Anowa, capitalist and colonial exploitation merged with patriarchal and gender oppression. For example the way Kofi disregards Anowa’s own labour which he uses to establish his business, the constant societal pressure on Anowa to be an ideal wife. That’s why instead of hard working wife Kofi wants Anowa to be a bejeweled and idle wife.

In the end even Kofi accused Anowa of being a witch because she always tends to ask uncomfortable questions about slavery and other things. Caught between changing society and its ethos Anowa becomes a mad woman who does not find solace not in her own community, nor in her marital relationship.

Kofi: In Anowa, Kofi Ako is the man with whom Anowa falls in love. Anowa’s mother vehemently opposed the alliance because according to her Kofi is the proverbial handsome but good for nothing guy. In the town of Yebi, Kofi is from the Nsona family whose men have been known to make the best of husbands. But Badua has her own reservation against Kofi as his grandfather gave him a business of palm trees and his uncle gave him virgin land and in the both the instance Kofi was unable to make proper use of it. Anowa and Kofi get married and leave the town with a vow to never to come back to Yebi. After leaving the town they establish a business with their hard work but later on Kofi himself decides to acquire slaves who can help them in their work. Kofi’s justification is that he does not ill treat these slaves rather he is giving them opportunity to succeed in life. In later half of the play Kofi becomes an obese businessman who loves to embellish himself with jewellery and lives in an opulent house. In contrast Anowa with her thin aged and bare footed look becomes a cause of concern and irritation for Kofi. At last Kofi asked Anowa to leave him and go back to her maternal family. Overwhelmed by Anowa’s persistent questioning, like Anowa’s Nana even Kofi calls her a witch. Anowa realizes and declares that her barrenness is not her shortcomings rather plagued by his greed Kofi has lost his fertility and he becomes impotent. This motif of impotence can be interpreted as the damaging effects of colonialism African social organization. A similar kind of incident can be found in Senegalese writer Sembene Ousmane’s novel Xala, where the main character El Hadji Abdou Kader Bay becomes impotent because of his avarice and corrupting way of life. In the end Kofi committed suicide by shooting himself. Interestingly in the beginning of the play the Old Man declares that “Kofi was, is, and shall always be One of us”. Like the previous generation Kofi becomes the representative of that class who is willing to manipulate and exploit his/her own people to gain material wealth.

Badua and Osam: Badua and Osam are parents of Anowa – her mother and father respectively. From the first phase of the play it becomes obvious that the society these people are living in is a matrilineal society. Here during a discussion on any child’s future, mother and her maternal family play an important part. From the beginning of the play Badua comes across as a worried mother who is looking for perspective bridegroom for her daughter. On the other hand Osam seems to be a restrained and judicious person who does not react violently. Osam wants his daughter to be an apprentice of a Priestess whereas Badua desires a life of domestic bliss for her daughter. In Badua’s dictionary a perfect life consists of a good marriage, lots of children and adequate wealth and her heartfelt wish is that one day Anowa will take her mother’s seat in her own community. Shattering all her aspiration, Anowa declares that she is going to marry Kofi Ako, who according to Badua is a good for nothing cassava – man. Embittered by her daughter’s decision Badua predicts that Anowa’s marriage will not last and she has to make hasty retreat once her honeymoon will get over. Like every overzealous mother, Badua starts calling her daughter a witch which Anowa accepts as an insult. Taking a vow to never come back, Anowa leaves her parent’s house and she sticks to her promise till her death. In later point of time the sane Osam laments the fact that how his daughter is staying away from her maternal home. He says that Anowa’s decision of leaving home is not a one of decision and before his daughter, other’s daughter had left but they had returned home to attend funeral, to pay death debts, to feed their family stools but he grieves over the fact that women like Anowa and her children will not be able to retrace their ways back to their ancestor’s home. It becomes obvious that Osam’s mourning points out the way matrilineal structure is shifting towards colonial patriarchal system.

The Old Man and the Old Woman or ‘ The – Mouth – That – Eats – Salt – And – Pepper ‘ : One of the crucial dramatic element which Ama Ata Aidoo had introduced in her play Anowa is the dual choric figure of The- Mouth-that- Eats- Salt- And- Pepper. They are not only introduced the main characters, simultaneously they are the narrator of the immediate dramatic actions as well as past occurrences.

So before introducing the characters, the Old Man begins his narration by talking about history of the town Yebi which is situated in the state of Abura. Like the Greek chorus they clarify and offer judgment on the actions of the play. This interpretative nature of their character points out towards a tendency through which they are trying to understand why things have come to be the way they are. The way as a parent Badua and Osam are representatives of different voices in a similar but more general manner the Old Woman’s utterance have a propensity to show communal prejudices of the town Yebi and its people. From a more traditional point of view she declares that as an ideal daughter and wife, a woman should be submissive and obedient. Her major criticism against Anowa comes from the fact that Anowa is the exact opposite of that who always asks question, she never accepts her situation and her surroundings as a pre – given, unalterable set up. As a contrast the Old Man comes across as a calm and logical character, who interestingly speaks largely in verse and he becomes the voice of reason and tolerance throughout the play. Also in the beginning of the play the Old Man in his matter of fact manner draws our attention to two important events – one is the signing of the 1844 treaty and second is the ongoing slave trade, incidentally which had already been abolished officially in the European countries and in their colonies. From there on, the play re-emphasizes the complicity of the African people in the whole business of slave trade. In the end, the Old Woman rests all the blames on the feet of Anowa as she is unable to play the role of ideal woman which the society has pre ordained for her. In contrast the Old Man does not blame any individual rather he puts the onus to the society as a whole. As in the opening section he prophetically proclaims that Kofi is burdened by the follies of this African society who participated in this slave trade quite willingly, it silenced every questions and criticism against the slavery and blindly exploited its own people. In his final analysis the Old Man questions everyone’ s honesty, integrity and one’s complicity in the ‘bigger crime’ by saying – “ It is men who make men mad. Who knows if Anowa would have been a better woman, a better person, if we had not been what we are ?”

Conclusion : Although Anowa has the structure of a traditional play it quite successfully combines verse, prose, song, mime within its dramatic periphery. It combines the oral and written, traditional and the modern literary traditions by including proverbs, oral idioms, and colloquialism with choric elements of Greek play. Aidoo herself puts emphasis on the importance of orality within the realm of written traditions by saying : “I still believe that one day, when Africa comes into her own, the dynamism of orality might be something that Africa can give to the world”.

On the whole as a play Anowa depicts a crucial socio – historical – economic juncture of colonialism where it shows how slave trade and its associated paraphernalia had transformed the whole history of civilizations in general and African history in particular.

Reference

• Adelugba,D. “Language and Drama: Ama Ata Aidoo, Drama in Africa: African Literature Today 8, London: Heinemann, 1976
• Gilbert, Helen (ed.), The Postcolonial Plays: An Anthology, London and New York : Routledge, 2001
• James, Adeola, In Their Own Voices: African Women Writers Talk, London: Heinemann, 1990
• Odamtten, Vincent. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo: Polyletics and Reading Against Neocolonialism, Gainsville: UP of Florida, 1994