Abstract: This study examines The Use Of Satire In Wole Soyinka’s The Lion And The Jewel And Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again. The study reviews that Satire is a literary device use by writers in portraying the ills and amusing ways in the society like political corruption, political disillusionment socio-political conflict and disillusionment in the society thereby wishing them corrected. In The Lion and the Jewel for instance, the author satirically presents Lakunle as educated Africa man who stands for change by imposing a challenge with Baroka who stands for tradition on the battle for Sidi’s hand in marriage. While Rotimi on the other hand satirize Lejoka-Brown as an example of an ex-military officer in Nigeria who lacks the knowledge of politics rather than using the military strategy known as surprise and attack.
In the same vein, Lejoka-Brown rehearsing his military songs of ‘Ai Remembah when Ai was a Soljar, ‘Hippy YaYa, Hippy HippyYa-Ya. This shows a clear evidence of satire. The two texts therefore expose this amusing and the foolish behavious of the political leaders in Nigerian society. It was concluded that if education and society should get rid of societal vices; there will be a tremendous transformation of the global economy.
The Use Of Satire In Wole Soyinka’s The Lion And The Jewel And Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Literature has been defined variously by literary scholars. To Agada, literature is a mirror of life which the society views itself through the application of literature skill. It is also seen as a symbol of means creativity, an enjoyable end product of man’s artistic labour.
Oloruntoba see literature as any written material or any other material whose features lend themselves to literary appreciation, appraisal (206). In addition, literature of reflects society and also sharpens our view of society and it ultimately shapes humanity. Through literature, we are introduced to new words of experience, we learn about books and with literature, we enjoy comedies and tragedies of poems, stories, plays and we may even grow and evolve through our literary journey with books.
On the other hand, literature is a term used to describe written materials. It is on this light the study aimed at examining the use of Satire in Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and Ola Ritimi’s Our Husband Has come Mad Again.
Satire is a piece of writing in which certain practices, concepts, ideas, events and attitudes are made fun as way of drawing attention to them as immoral, unwholesome or condemnable.
To writer like Samuel Johnson, Satire is a poem in which wickedness or folly is a censured (26).
In the same vein, Charles sander posits thus:
Satire dispels illusion that a man needs to live on. This is because, it deals with the happenings in our contemporary society… it runs the risk of living only a short life (15)
From the foregoing, Charles is in the notion that satire is said to offer neither the escape of comedy nor the purgation of tragedy. It is also a mixture of unresolved irritating pleasure.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Satire is a literary device which an artiste uses for social criticism by showcasing contemporary ills in the society thereby wishing them corrected. Consequently, it is on this view that Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi explore the use of satire and how it enable them to portrays what goes around in the various societies of the world today.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The thrust of this research is to examine the use of satire in Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and Ola Rotimis Our Husband Has Come Mad Again.
1.4 Significance of the study
This research will be of significance to students of English and literature to understand the meaning of Satire and reason why male and female writers use Satire as a piece of writing in portraying some foolish, immoral attitudes of people in African societies.
1.5 Research Methodology
This research work will use Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and Ola Rotimi’sOur Husband has Come Mad Again as its primary sources, while the secondary sources of the work will be focus on information from internet, articles, academic journals, library and other African literary books for more information on the research work.
1.6 Scope and limitation of the study
The scope of this research will be limited to Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again.
The Use Of Satire In Wole Soyinka’s The Lion And The Jewel And Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
1.7 Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study are:
(i) to examine the use of satire by Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel and Rotimis Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again.
(ii) to know and understand the meaning of satire and the problems on individuals in the Nigerian society.
(iii) to highlight the use of satire for change as portrayed the two plays under investigation.
Originally posted on October 9, 2021 @ 6:06 pm
