Contemplating ‘hope’ in Towunmi Coker’s Promise of the Future

Sometimes, one hardly sees the world for what it is except through the eyes of another. Death, bondage, sexual indulgences, and a lifetime scar were the depleting experiences life afforded poor Ajoke. And so we enter into the scene of her eventful life’s journey on the wheels of great struggles against duty, and more daringly against time, hanging on the wall, as it were, butterfly shaped, threatening to fly away.

Ajoke’s story, as presented in Towunmi Coker’s debut novel, Promise of the Future, bears, in part, on hope. I seek, therefore, to discourse upon “Hope” as a central theme in this brief analysis of her work.

Set in contemporary Nigeria, the novel addresses violence, sexual abuse, marital crisis, and stigmatization. The author’s foray into sensitive social matters is commendable in these days of cheap gratifications where true values are slipping from our grip.

In this nonlinear narrative, Ajoke’s interesting life journey is imbued with different characters that formed her life’s bricks. Circumstances unfolded, some beyond her control, others within her power. There are interplays; we have her wishes and what life offered, and we have her responses to life offers and what eventually happened.

Then, the future was indeed promising for little Ajoke. Beaming with brilliance and satisfied with care from loving parents, she already had her vista trained on noble ends after an excellent JSSCE result. But life had other offers in store! Too soon, the melody faded, subdued by the incoherent harsh tunes of life’s mocking music. The angry tongues of fire swallowed the edges providence had placed around her, sending up in dark columns all she could identify with. Father, mother, and a younger brother, all were consumed in the raging malice of unflagging flames. Days once steeped in innocence must now battle guilt amidst life’s cruel initiation.

Still in shock after the raging fire incident, life again thrust Ajoke under the gruelling watch of merciless guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Arinze. The latter was a numb soul, the former a cheap opportunist; the Mrs. beat and starved her after hours of merciless and needless chores, while the husband baited her into cheap, unprotected sex. Mrs. Arinze’s persuasion to re-christen her Celestina - a tag she assumed befitted her pitiable position - is noteworthy. Here, the bragging idea of foster parenting, either by cultural trends or humanitarian intent, is shown for the monster it often turns out to be.

But there was a twist on freedom in the midst of her restrictions, that selfelating ecstasy that

in the end produced a lifetime scar! She soon caught at a straw, a comfort that did not last. Kunle, her caring lover-boy, would end up being another forgery she earned with her naivety. The momentary escapes he afforded from her many sorrows seemed worth his deceptions to her desperate mind.

But she got more than what she desired; Kunle had already infected her with the deadly HIV disease! And to multiply her miseries as the chain of the novel portrays, it is cheaply spread ignorantly to hapless victims: from Kunle to his many lovebirds, Ajoke, Mr. and Mrs. Arinze, and potentially to their children and many other unfortunates. Evil will always beget evil, and more often than not, the innocent will share in the lot.

But the truth is, time has a way of healing the scar tissues of our souls, and when it dared alight to commune with Ajoke, it put smiles on her face with renewed hope. Through her favoured association with the charitable Okonmas, she kept the light of a probable academic opportunity alive through constant reading of Amaka’s textbooks and school notes. One wonders how she escaped pregnancy through Kunle and Mr. Arinze anyway; life must have tempered her kindly in that regard.

Fortune met preparation in her when she was re-united with Aunty Yemisi, a blood relative through whom she was able to claim her late parents’ entitlements. She enjoyed a well-financed university education and graduated with a First Class Degree. She later found true love in Jomi, a charming young man who, in spite of his knowledge of her HIV status, still chose to marry her in the hope that Science now offers the chance to marry in such condition and sire offspring that are free from the virus.

The novel enjoys accessible language albeit at times below the standard. It can also boast of good humour, engaging narrative techniques, characterization, and well developed themes. But one cannot but see some pardonable lapses, too. The novel lacks convincing suspense and twists, for how do you, for instance, explain Jomi’s out-of-heaven courage to propose to Ajoke almost immediately after learning about her HIV status? Shouldn’t there have been a struggle, however brief?

The reader can safely assume that in attempting to preserve the innocence and naivety of Ajoke in the novel, the author always upheld sanctity when unfurling the robes on sexual intimacy even in the oddest of situations. This move foregrounds her own moral and cultural persuasions on the subject of sex, but immediately betrays Ajoke, one through whose eyes we see the act. The smart blend of Ajoke’s naivety and the rather unbelievable smartness that life’s harsh manoeuvring quickly nurtured within her at that age range, is an irony that so much attended my curiosity. In the end, one can gain instructions from the resolutions of the novel, prominently Ajoke’s forgiveness of her past and acceptance of her present with brightened hope for a promising future.