Reading And Textual Analysis Of African Novel- Faceless By Amma Darko

PLOT AND THEME

PLOT

The work, Faceless by AmmaDarko hinges on the victimization of the female folk by the domineering influence of masculinity. The patriarch society which the work presents to us shows great imbalance in the way and manner the females fare in the story vis-a-vis their male counterparts. With focus on the heroine of the work, Fofo, we realise how the spate of poverty in the society where the woman is left to provide for her children, forces mothers to push their young girls into the streets.

In Sodom and Gomorrah, young girls and boys of Fofo’s age are seen trying to survive all by themselves. Some are seen to pay for the day hours while others pay for night hours. Some engage in hawking, stealing or prostitution as a means of survival. Fofo is seen sleeping out late at night in front of a kiosk, so that; she will meet up an appointment for a job. Right there in the middle of the night, Poison suddenly came upon her forcefully and abused her sexually. After being freed from the stronghold of Poison, Fofo decides to pay her mother a visit, but not without the company of her friend, Odarley.

In her mother’s room, Fofo gets informed that Baby T, her elder sister’s body is found dead at a site in the market, Agbogbloshie. She tells her mother of Poison’s unwholesome act on her and that she has decided to leave town. MaaTsuru has been in a cold war with Fofo and is handicapped with words to change Fofo’s mind. Odarley feels that Fofo has shot her out of her mind and affairs, when Fofo tells her that she will be on her way to only God know where. On the other hand, the Adade’s family is presented with Kabria in her usual routine of taking care of house chores and taking her children (Obie, Essie and Ottu) to school. For her, this is a herculean task which her husband intuitively believes is her sole responsibility. Not minding the inquisitive nature of her last two children, Kabria is able to meet all the cooking and get to work in her car called Creamy. Kabria works for MUTE, a non-governmental organisation with Dina as the boss.

Her colleagues are Vickie and Aggie. On a particular day, Kabria got to work late and Dina got sad about it. To compensate for her late coming, Kabria decides to shop for Dina in Agbogbloshie. At the market, Kabria held about the death of a young girl and her body left in front of a kiosk; and that instance when she decides to find out the reason why people were gathered at a spot, a young boy swiftly steals her purse from her but caught up with by some members of the crowd surrounding her. Kabria intervenes to save the boyfriend the wrath of the mob and quickly takes him out of their mist. At the car park, to Kabria’s amazement she realises that the young boy is a girl disguised as a boy. She tells Kabria that she knew the dead girl and that she was her sister. Recovering from the shock, Kabria tells her to show up at the same spot the next day.

Kabria returns to her office and tells her colleagues what she had seen. Dina decides to give kabria a chance to work on the case. The next day, Kabria repeats at the market just as she has told the young girl. After waiting for a long time, Kabria sees the girl and feels pity for her as she takes her to her office, MUTE. In the office, it is agreed that Dina takes her home as she is a divorcee and has nobody to cater for, and they discover that she bears the name Fofo.

After recuperating from the beating she had received for speaking with a stranger, Fofo demands to have Kabria around before she can speak about herself and her dead sister. Through flashback in her words, Fofo reveals that due to the helpless situation her mother finds herself by marrying Kpakpo, a jobless and evil schemer, whose only inheritance is the one room he got from his father. Kpakpo rents his room out with the condition that he lives with his tenant.

This has been working for him until he met with one whose brother is a soldier and he forcefully asks Kpakpo to vacant the room paid for by his brother. Kpakpo deceives MaaTsuru and makes her to fall in love with him. Before MaaTsuru could unravel the fact, it was too late and she decided to accept her fate of taking Kpakpo as her second husband. Kpakpo’sprsesence in their home is the beginning of crisis as Fofo’s two elder brothers disappeared from the house as they could no longer tolerate Kpakpo making love with their mother in the same room they sleep.

On this particular day that MaaTsuru was away and her children had to sleep in the room with just Kpakpo, Kpakpo saw it as an advantage to do his bidden. He abused Fofo’s elder sister, Baby T, sexually that night, while Fofo watched secretly. Fofo innocently tells Onko of what Kpakpo did to Baby T in great confidence as she and others have taken him to be their moral confidant. Onko takes the opportunity to also abuse Baby T sexually.

This gets MaaTusru infuriated that she goes to confront Onko. He pleads and offers some money to stop to case, and also makes MaaTsuru to understand that he knows of Kpakpo and Baby T. Due to the complication surrounding the matter, MaaTsuru falls into Kpakpo devilish advice to send Baby T to Mama Broni to get her a job. Unknown to MaaTsuru Baby T is introduced to prostitution in connection to Poison, who stands as the kingpin of the prostitution business. After series of investigations by MUTE with the help of Sylv Po, a radio presenter, it is discovered that Baby T did not die at the market but that her killers brought her to the spot to distract any further trace. Kabria and her team pay several visits to MaaTsuru, Naayomo, Onko’s workshop, Poison, Mama Broni, a native doctor and the police station, among others, to unravel the secret behind Baby T’s death.

When questioning Poison, he reveals that Mama Broni knows better. He says that Onko had come to request for a particular girl of his, and that he was ready to pay any amount to have her. When asked who the girl was, he said Baby T. Poison reveals that Baby T had refused to accept Onko as a client, but was compelled by him. He says that Baby T stays in Mama Broni’s place as a special worker, who he treats well. However, he states that the death of Baby T is an accident as she fell into a fight with Onko, who stabbed her with a knife. On realising this, they decided to take her wounded body to the market place, so that, it may be assumed that she was killed there. But before the investigation team could get to Onko, he had committed suicide, and

Mama Broni confesses that she had been the one calling in on the radio programme to make the presenter believe that the dead girl is not Baby T but someone else. So at the end of this revelation, Fofo is fully recuperated and is sent to learn a vocation which will empower her to survival financially in future. This is done by the help of MUTE and Kabria in particular.

THEMES

The theme of gender imbalance: The story presents to us a society ruled by man. That is why the victims and those considered inferior are females. Beginning with the Adade’s family, Adadebelieves that it is the duty of the woman to do all chores of the home whether or not it is convenient.

So Kabria alone has been struggling with cooking, assisting the children with their assignments, answering copious questions, watching her girls. No wonder sometimes she gets to work late; not to mention the fact that her husband has refused to change her car for her. Kabria goes in an old Volks car called Creamy while Adade goes in a brand new Toyota car. For Fofo and those living in Sodom and Gomorrah, there is not equality between the males and the females.

They all live in fear of either Poison or Macho. These men parade some gang members with which they subjugate the females who live as prostitutes, hawkers or thieves on the road. Some females work for them. To MaaTsuru, the case is not different.

The ill-fate tagged on her and her lineage is brought upon her by the actions of a man, who should have been her father. MaaTsuru’s first husband, Kwei, battered her life by getting her pregnant for four times and neglecting her for four times. At the end, he pushed MaaTsuru out of her life. Because Baby T is a female and considered weak, Kpakpo and Onko abuse her sexually, and finally Onko killed her.

The theme of neglect and poverty: Faceless is symbolic as it represents the faceless and shameful life of poverty due to neglect some girls face in their lives that they turn out to be street girls. Through Fofo’s experience, we realise that many of the girls out on the street did not get their because they loved it but by the mighty hand of poverty in their home which is borne out of the neglect given to them by their parents, particularly fathers.

MaaTsuru is very poor and cannot provide for her children, she begins to relay on her two sons, who are engaged in a work, to provide for the whole family. But things become worse when they decide to leave the home because of Kpakpo’s presence around.

By this time, MaaTsuru’s condition increases negatively and poverty takes over her home. In order to survive, she gave Baby T to Mama Broni and later on sends Fofo away into the streets. MaaTsuru’s actions are because she is poor, and has been neglected by the men that came into her life.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. Give a detailed plot account of the novel, Faceless.
2. Comment on two major themes of the novel, Faceless.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the exploration of gender imbalance in the work.
2. Narrate the plot of the work.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. A narrative in the oral tradition that may include legends and fables is a

(A) Ballad (B) Folktale (C) Pastoral (D) Romance

• A short poem written on a tomb is a/an (A) Dirge (B) Panegyric (C) Epigram (D) Epitaph
• Pick the odd item (A) Lord of the Flies (B) A Woman in Her Prime (C) Joys of Motherhood (D) Women of Owu
• A short speech at the beginning of a literary work which serves as commentary is a/an (A) Monologue (B) Prologue (C) Dialogue (D) Epilogue
• One of the following is not an African Poet

(A) Lenrie Peters (B) Thomas Gray (C) J.P Clark (D) Syl Cheney-Coker.

THEORY

Discuss the use of irony and symbols in the above work.

STYLE

Flashback: This technique or style is seen to be a veritable tool in the hands of the writer. By it, we are able to make connection of the three books in the novel: the beginning, the middle and the end. The whole truth about MaaTsuru’s history, Kpakpo, Poison and Mama Broni is made available to us through flashback. The where about of Baby T and how she died are given to us by this technique. The history of Naayomo’s father is given through the aid of flashback.

Heroine: Considering the nature of the story, it is very commendation to settle for a female as the protagonist. The story revolves around Fofo. Through her, the bastardised and rotten life of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah is made public to even people like Kabria and her colleagues. By her efforts with help from MUTE, the secret and the actor behind her sister’s death is revealed. In the hands of the author, Fofo stands as the heroine who is chosen to represent other girls who share in her problems and are helpless.

Suspense: In order to keep up with the fright in Sodom and Gomorrah, the writer harnesses this technique to help readers to keep up with the story. With suspense, an increased interest is created in the readers who ordinarily would have dropped the work because of the decayed life recorded in the story. The contact Fofo had with Poison is the beginning of the technique. It runs throughout the work.

Allusion: The name of the location, Fofo and other girl-victims reside, is called Sodom and Gomorrah. This is unique effort by the writer to help readers appreciate his story of the gruesome life of some Africans in their own community. The same degree of atrocities and immoralities that has provoked God to consume the city of Sodom and Gomorrah as recorded in the Bible can be said to be going on in that small community Fofo finds herself. No wonder the name Sodom and Gomorrah is given. In this environment, young boys and girls engage in illicit sex without any form of protection.

Tragedy: Due to the unpleasant nature life in Sodom and Gomorrah goes on, some people lose their lives. As a territory not frequently visited by the police and one known for a debased life, the kingpins of the corrupt life lived by residents take laws into their hands sometimes as they know the police will not be ready to spend their time looking out for criminals in the area. But particularly is the death of Baby T. She was stabbed and allowed to die like bird. Her death raised the consciousness if Fofo that something must be done to stop such killing or else, they all of Sodom and Gomorrah may be the next victims.

CHARACTERISATION

Fofo: She is the protagonist and the heroine of the story. She is a young girl of about 14, daughter of MaaTsuru, and has been forced to join the street girls by her mother who believes she should be able to survive like other girls. Fofo is a child of circumstances whose family history is a very bad one as many see them as accursed. She is faced with terror in the night as Poison came on her to rape her. We also deduce from her actions that Fofo feels uncomfortable with the kind of life she is made to live and wished to get a better job. Fofo has a different ideology from her mother, who thinks she needs a man at all cost to survive. She believes that her mother is the architect of her suffering. She also takes rash decisions like trying to leave town with no money in her hand. She also attempted to steal from Kabria which would have cost her her life. Fofo shows great love for her sister, Baby T by trying to know who is responsible for her death. She is also likeable; no wonder Kabria had interest in her to help her unravel the secret behind Baby T’s death.

Kabria: She is Adade’s wife and mother of Obie, Essie and Ottu. She works with MUTE, a non-government organisation, and has Dina as her boss, while Vickie and Aggie are her colleagues. Kabria does all the home chores and also takes her three children to school in her car called Creamy. She is a good wife, mother and woman. Kabria is a selfless woman who was ready to take up Fofo’s case. She is a lively person.

MaaTsuru: She is the mother of Fofo, Baby T and others. She was married to Kwei, whose mother was against their union. Kwei’s mother tells her son that MaaTsuru is a cursed child and that marrying her means taking the curse upon his head. After Kwei finally left MaaTsuru, she fell into Kpakpo, who came in and destroyed her home. She is gullible and weak emotionally. She can be seen as the source of the problems faced by her children. MaaTsuru is timid and materialistic. No wonder Onko could dazzle her with some few notes of money.

Poison: He is a ruthless street lord that has grown into a big pimp. Everyone is scared of his presence; because he deals mercilessly with anyone he considers a threat. At the opening of the book, he came on Fofo to rape her. Later on, we realise that he is connected to Baby T’s death and had threatened MaaTsuru not to speak with anyone on the issue.

Odarley: This is Fofo’s friend in the streets. Like Fofo, she is pushed to the street to fend for herself. Odarley is a very good friend to Fofo. She disobeyed all threats from Poison and his cohorts to help Fofo get to the end of her quest for the killers of her sister, Baby T. She is an intelligent girl.

Baby T: This is Fofo’s elder sister. She is a victim of several sexual abuses. Unknown to her mother, who foolishly gave her away to Mama Broni, Baby T is introduced to professional prostitution. When Baby T refused to allow Onko have her in bed as a client of Poison after being the one who had abused her sexually the second time, she was stabbed by Onko and her body taken to the marketplace.

Kpakpo: He is MaaTsuru’s second husband, and the author of ill-fate in her family. Kpakpo deceives MaaTsuru by telling him that he has a good job and is on vacation. MaaTsuru believed him but later found out that Kpakpo does not even have a house over his head, because he has rented out his only room. Kpakpo introduces Mama Broni to MaaTsuru and Baby T is given away to her as an employer. When he knew that Baby T is dead, he ran away from the reach of anyone. He is the first that abused Baby T when MaaTsuru was away.

Onko: He is seen as a betrayer to Fofo, who has always taken him as a confidant. When Fofo told him about Baby T’s rape by Kpakpo, he capitalised on her trust in him and abuse Baby T the second time. Though a mechanic, his shop started experience great decline after sexually abusing Baby T. After failing to disperse the ghost of Baby T, Onko went ahead to kill himself.

GENERAL EVALUATIONS/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Examine the role of Fofo in the novel, Faceless.
2. Comment on the narrative techniques employed in the novel, Faceless.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. Examine Kpakpo as a character in the work.
2. Analyze the work as a tragedy.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. ____ is the location of the action of the plot. A. Setting B. Narrative technique C. point of view D. Characterisation
2. A ballad is essentially a ____poem. A. descriptive B. dramatic C. pastoral D. narrative
3. The first four lines of Shakespearean sonnet rhyme A. abcd. B. abba. C. abab. D. cdcd.
4. A story in which characters or actions represent abstract ideas or moral qualities is A. an epic. B. a legend. C. an allegory. D. a satire.
5. The use of imagery in prose or verse A. appeals to the senses. B. develops the plot. C. creates confusion. D. obscures meaning.

THEORY

1. Discuss the issue of neglect in the novel, Faceless.
2. Examine the role of Kabria in the novel, Faceless.