CXC ENGLISH

Hello there! This week, we continue looking at Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and we look again at story-writing to help you prepare for English A. There will be no CXC English page on December 25 or on January 1. Have a great time over the holidays, but try to do some reading every day. Read on now, and enjoy!

THE LION AND THE JEWEL

Notice that the action of this play takes just one day! The flashbacks allow us to catch up on previous events, but basically we follow the story from morning to evening. In the morning, Sidi and Lakunle are chatting when the villagers bring news that the glossy magazine with photos of Sidi has now arrived. By evening, Sidi, the village ‘jewel’, is gathering her possessions to take her place as the chief’s (the Bale’s) new wife.

Act 3: Evening. At the end of Act 2, we left Sadiku pretending to commiserate with Baroka because he has become impotent. Of course, that’s a lie that Baroka has told Sadiku, knowing that she will tell the whole village—but chiefly knowing Sidi will hear.

As Act 3 opens, we see Sadiku carrying an effigy of Baroka (rudely showing his impotence). She proceeds to dance around the effigy in celebration of women’s power to take all the strength out of men. She shares Baroka’s secret with Sidi, who joins the celebratory dance.

Lakunle arrives and thinks they both must be mad, but he is distressed when he learns of the Bale’s impotence. He is even more horrified when Sidi reveals her plan to go to the palace, apologise for refusing the Bale’s kind offer of marriage, and ask for time to think about it. Secretly she just plans to mock and taunt him.

Leaving Sadiku and Lakunle to trade insults, Sidi goes off to the palace. As she enters the bedroom where the Bale is working out with a wrestler (showing us just how strong he still is!), the Bale pretends not to know why she has come. She is disconcerted by his reaction, but manages to regain her self-confidence.

They talk. Sidi finds ways to hint at the Bale’s impotence, and he cleverly avoids the topic. Slyly she hints that he is old and no longer attractive. Their encounter is like a cat (the Bale) playing with a mouse (Sidi).

The Bale shows Sidi a machine for making postage stamps, and tells her he would like to put her picture on the stamps so that the whole world will see her beauty. We know already that Sidi is vain, so she is totally won over, and yields to the Bale.

Singers and drummers (the village mummers) interrupt; they are singing satirically about the Bale’s impotence and miming his sorry state! Off they go to the village centre where Lakunle and Sadiku are waiting for Sidi to return. Cheekily, Sadiku slips her hand into Lakunle’s pocket to get coins to pay them for their performance! Lakunle pretends to disapprove of the mocking performance of the mummers, but he can’t help showing that he actually enjoys it.

Still, Lakunle paces up and down anxiously, fearing that the Bale may have done something terrible to Sidi. The schoolmaster vows repeatedly that he is a one-woman man, and will love Sidi for ever—no matter what.

Suddenly Sidi arrives back, seemingly very agitated. The question that both Sadiku and Lakunle want to ask is whether Sidi is still a virgin. Sidi shakes her head to let them know that she has lost her virginity to the Bale. She dashes off to pack her things, leaving Sadiku and Lakunle to process the new information. Lakunle insists that he will marry Sidi even though she is a ‘fallen’ woman, and now, of course, he won’t have to pay the bride price!!

But that is not at all what Sidi wants. When she returns and Lakunle tells her that he will still marry her, she says this:

“Did you really think…after him, I could endure the touch of another man? .... Out of my way, book-nourished shrimp!”

Evidently the Bale has impressed Sidi with his sexual prowess! She kneels to receive Sadiku’s blessing, then turns to return to the palace, accompanied by the mummers, who now sing celebratory marriage songs.

Lakunle, not to be outdone, joins in the dance.

NB Once again, Soyinka allows the action to be taken over by singers, dancers and mummers who mime the events. As you study the play, be aware that this Nigerian form of drama (mime, dancing and drumming) alternates with the dialogue that we usually meet in drama coming out of the European tradition. Soyinka is much praised for his ability to ‘marry’ the two dramatic traditions.

FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT

● What evidence can you find in The Lion and the Jewel to support the comment that Soyinka is ‘dealing with the impact of the modern on tribal custom.’

● What hints do we get that the women are dissatisfied with tribal customs and want more freedom? How successful are they in their bid for sexual equality?

● Do you think that Soyinka is pleased for tribal customs to continue? Give your reasons.

● Identify scenes in the play that are full of energetic activity, and identify scenes that are slower moving and depend on dialogue rather than spectacular action.

● Identify the ways in which Lakunle is made to look ridiculous in the play. E.g. his costume, his role in the play about the photographer, how the Bale treats him….Continue adding to this list.

STORY WRITING

Two items in the English A exam that carry good marks are the short story and the persuasive writing, so it’s a good idea to practise both of them. We will turn to the short story now.

Here are the steps you need to take:

Think of one interesting event that can be the climax (the most exciting point) of your story. (Always use something from your own experience; don’t try to write about skiing or horse riding or swimming with dolphins and other exotic things if you haven’t actually done them.) Outline the events that led up to that exciting moment. Jot down what happened after that exciting moment, showing how everything came back to normal.

Here is how one student followed these three simple steps: Climax: My little brother got lost in the crowd at GuyExpo.

Events leading up to climax: We had been planning the outing for days, and we were all excited. The place was very crowded and there were lots of things to see. My brother was fascinated by a roundabout that you could go on. We told him he could go on it later. We went to a booth selling slippers. Suddenly we realized he wasn’t with us. Everyone went into a panic—especially our mum. We went and had his name called over the loudspeakers. Mum waited at the Security Centre in case anyone brought him there. My sister and I decided to go and hunt for him.

After the climax: My sister thought of going to the roundabout. There he was, just watching. We took him back to Mum. She was so relieved. The policewoman at the Security Centre was so happy for us that she gave him money for a ride on the roundabout. Mum bought ice creams all round, and then we all went on the roundabout before going home.

Now you are ready to write out the story. Here it is:

The advertisements on the television kept telling us how exciting GuyExpo was going to be. Everyone was looking forward to going, and we had been planning the outing for days. At last the big day came, and off we went.

We couldn’t believe the crowds! As we lined up for our tickets, the music drifted across to us, and we started tapping our feet to the rhythm.

Inside the compound were dozens of stalls, all displaying things that are produced in Guyana. It was hard to decide which one to visit first. Everything looked so enticing.

My little brother knew very well what he wanted to do first, though! He wanted to have a ride on a brightly lit roundabout that stood in a field to the side of the booths. It was hard for him to come and look at all those boring booths when all he wanted to do was to fly in the air as the roundabout whirled around. His eyes never left those wonderful cars and aeroplanes that hung on the end of chains—each of them with some lucky kid riding inside.

We promised him that he would get his ride soon, and off we trudged to check out the booths. There was one that sold locally made slippers, and Mum and my sister went in to try them on.

Suddenly I remembered Jason. Looking around quickly I realized that he was not in the booth. I told Mum and my sister, and of course they both panicked. Mum was frantic with worry. After all, Jason is only four.

We had heard a couple of messages coming over the loudspeaker, so my sister came up with the great idea of asking the Security Centre to announce that a little four-year-old boy called Jason was lost, and to ask anyone finding him to bring him to the Centre.

The police officer at the Centre was very kind and helpful, and she put out the message for us. Mum said that she would wait there, but we decided to go off and see if we could find Jason.

We wondered where to look first, but then it all seemed so obvious: he would almost certainly be over by the roundabout!! Quickly we hurried in that direction, keeping our eyes open for any sign of his bright red T-shirt.

And then we saw him. He was standing quite quietly, watching the roundabout going round and round. My sister and I just ran and picked him up and hugged him. We hurried back to Mum at the Security Centre, and she was so relieved she started to cry.

The policewoman was so happy for us that she reached into her pocket and brought out the money for Jason to have a ride on the roundabout. We thanked her for her kindness and went off, holding Jason’s hand tightly.

Mum said we really had to celebrate finding Jason, and so she bought us all ice cream cones, and Jason had two rides on the roundabout.

Tired, but very, very happy to be a family again, we made our way to the gate and caught a bus home. Jason fell asleep on Mum’s lap—totally unaware of the drama he had caused.