STELLA MARRIES MTWARA UNIVERSITY COLLAGE
SAJIDI
D. KASKAZI – STE/ODPE/193166
THE ANALYSIS OF LITERARY WORK.
THE
TEXT THREE SUITORS ONE HUSBAND WHICH AUTHORIZED BY GUILLAUM OYONO MBIA
CHARACTER.
Is a person
or thing that has given a role to play in the literary work. From the text
Three suitor one husband which authorized by Guillaum oyono mbia in 1967 somewhere mvoutess, characters from
the text Three Suitors One Husband are;-
- JULLIETTE
- She is heroine of the story.
- She is a daughter of Atangana and Makrita.
- Granddaughter of Abessolo.
- She represents the educated young girls who have begun going against the traditional values. She has been studying at Libamba Secondary School and has passes the exam, hence everybody is happy and proud of her success.
- She has engaged with fellow student Oko, who she wants to marry, where her family chooses her the suitors, that is Ndi and Mbia. They want to her to marry Mbia because he is great man.
- She decides to take the money secretly from her father Atangana and gives it to Oko, so that Oko can use it as a bride price to attain her goal.
- She fight for freedom of women and the chance to express herself confidently. She identifies her position, that she needs to be free and sticks to Oko, her choice.
- She wants to teach men that women are also important in the society, since they can make wise decisions, which might lead to developmen. Juliette stands as an icon for necessary changes in the society, which is women emancipation
- OKO
- He is a schoolboy who wants to marry Juliette.
- He is not accepted by Juliette`s family since he is student and hence poor. He becomes angry when he hears that Mbia is the chosen suitor.
- He is given money with Juliette, stolen from Atangana.
- He is educated and is after changes, and he is against traditions. He doesn`t want to see women being oppressed, that is why he wants to fight for Juliette`s freedom to speak.
- He comes to Atangana`s home like a great man and pays 300,000 francs. He successes to attain his goal, by taking the advantage of the ignorance of the society.
- ATANGANA
- He is the father of Juliette and Oyono.
- He believes that men are superior to women.
- He is ignorant and oppressor, he becomes angry when his wife comes late from the bush, wants her come early home and cook for him.
- He believes that her daughter should make him become rich.
- He is angry when Juliette refuses to marry Mbia.
- He wants to use the bride price to get his son, Oyono, a wife.
- He believes Sanga-Titi even when he knows that he is telling lies, and continue give him more things without realizing that he is just exploiting them
- MAKRITA
- She is Atangana`s wife,
- She accept women`s inferior position in the society.
- She is also a woman of contradiction. she accept Ndi to be good suitor since she helped in the farm. But when she is told that Mbia is now a suitor she immediately follows what has been decided by men.
- She is very hard working, spending all day in the farm.
- She believe men are superior and girls have no freedom.
- MBIA
- He is a second suitor who is a great civil servant.
- He pompously introduces himself that he works in a large office and the secretary of state known him personally.
- He is accepted to marry Juliette even if he is closely related to her. He pays the bride price of 200,000francs.
- He is polygamist, as he has eight wives and Juliette is going to be the ninth.
- He becomes angry and threatens the villagers of bringing ten Police commissioners to come and deal with them.
- He is corrupt and is part of the ruling class in town who get rich from villagers.
- ABESOLO
- He represents the oldest generation.
- He is a father of Atangana and Ondua.
- He defends traditions.
- He looks at women as inferior people who are not supposed to consult when it comes to important matters like marriage.
- He defends the old taboos, like prohibiting women and young men from eating the vipers, instead be eaten by male elders.
- He wants to stop the marriage between Juliette and Mbia, since Mbia is closely related.
- He accept breaking the traditional norms by accepting Mbia to marry Juliette. He is against school but proud of Juliette`s success in school and hence wants higher bride price.
- He is against the new changes but expects to benefit from them.
- BELLA
- She is Abesolo`s wife. She is strong supports traditional ways of life even on the questions of women.
- She completely accepts her inferior position in the society and agrees with her husband in all ways.
- She also complains that some women are breaking the traditional taboos.
- She supports the ideas that a girl should marry for the goods of the family and not for her personal interest.
- She wants Juliette to make them rich by marrying Mbia. According to her, a girl is not permitted to fall in love out of her will, it is the community`s concern. Despite her strong support on traditions,
- Bella is also affected by new values, since she is proud when Juliette succeeds and she will marry a “real white man”.
- She remains a traditional woman.
- MBARGA
- He is a village headman.
- He talks of his importance, “A great man like me! Is there anyone in the village who doesn`t know that I am a very wise man?”
- He demands that the villagers should recognize his greatness hence he has been blessed by the dead fathers of the village in a dream.
- He is proud and arrogant of his position. He wants to be introduced to Mbia as the village headman.
- He is Polygamist. He has twelve wives and think of marring another.
- He also uses his position in corrupt way. He distills “Arki” in his own house and he is not arrested. He shows a lot of concern during Juliette`s marriage, hence he expected to benefit from it.
- He is very cunning; he flatters Mbia much, so that Mbia goes on giving him more bottles of wine.
- He gives a crazy idea of taking Juliette around all offices to find a suitor.
- He is so ignorant that he cannot easily recognize Sanga –Titi`s lies hence he gives him two rams so that he can purify the village.
- .He is also fooled into believing that Oko is a great man than Mbia.
- He supports traditions.
- He is against Juliette being given a chance to speak.
- He convinces members to allow Mbia to marry Juliette since he is an important man in the government.
- SANGATITI
- He is a false Witch doctor.
- He is very cunning and interested in getting rich by cheating the villagers, so he takes advantage of their ignorance. He uses his mirror, antelope horns, etc. to fool people.
- He listens to what the villagers say and then says as if he knew it before.
- His mirror tells him nothing. He hears what Atangana says about the stolen money and pretends to have discovered it before and the villagers are impressed.
- He creates threats and fear among the villagers.
- He is corrupt man who uses villager's ignorance to exploit them. When they realizes him, they chase him.
THEMATIC
ANALYSIS
Theme is the central idea of
the literary work. From the text Three
Suitor One Husband the author shows the following idea:-
a) Economy
The people depend on
agriculture as the economics of the village. The main crops are plantation,
corn and groundnuts. Also they have their have their own crafts, for example
Atangana is making a basket while Abesolo is sculpturing or carving.
Women are the main
producers in the farms, for example Atangana`s wife has not come back early
from the farm. She arrives from the farm with a basket full of cassava, banana,
sugar cane, etc.
b) Religion.
Most of the villagers
still keep many traditional beliefs. They believe in their gods and spirits for
example owls and chimpanzees represent the evil spirits of the past. They also
believe strongly in the power of their dead ancestors who watch over the
society from the spirit world.
c) Bride price.
Men are supposed to pay
bride price so as to have wife. The girl for whom higher bride price is paid is
valued more. The
d) Taboo
Women are not allowed to
eat vipers and young men eat only by special permission. For example, Mbaga
complains of the young people Belinga and Owono because of eating the viper
without elder`s permission.
e) Traditional Dances
There are dances called
“Nyeng” which are performed by Mezoe, Oyono and Ondua.
f) Meetings
People seem to have
tendency of meeting to discuss important issues like marriage. The drum Is used
for calling people. For example, when mbia arrives, the drum is beaten to
invite people.
g) Polygamy
Mvoutessi men are
polygamous and this makes women become more inferior. For example, Mbia has
eight wives and if he marries Julliette she will be the ninth wife.
h) Eating Etiquette
The author shows that
traditionally children are supposed to observe eating manners. When eating the
elders are heard scolding the children who don’t eat properly.
i) Position of women
Women occupy an inferior
position in the society.
Firstly, women portrayed
to do nearly all work. Most men do not go to the farm except few like Ndi.
Women are also expected to come back home early after shamber work and do the
cooking. When they come late, even if they have been working, they are trouble.
For example, Makrita is still in the shamba but Atangana is complaining.
Secondly, women portrayed
have no say in the society, even on matters that concern their life. For
example, Julliette is not asked about the man she wants to marry.
Thirdly, traditionally,
girls for whom a high bride price is paid are respected more because high bride
price is the recognition of obedience and hardworking.
Last but not least, women
are beaten in the society so as to make them obedient to their husband.
Abesolo, for example is complaining because things are changing and sometimes
women are asked for an opinion. He insists “I warn you again, you must beat
your wives! yes beat them! And treat your daughters just the same way”
k) Change
Although the villagers are
still leading a large traditional life, the coming of the Europeans has
introduced many changes into the society.
Education changes the
altitude of the young. They start go against their traditions. Julliette, for
example, goes against the traditions like the bride price. To her, bride price
has no great meaning, that is why she even steals the bride price and give it
to Oko.
She also, dares to speak
before men like her father Atangana which is contrary to the norms of the
society.
