Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

which is not apparent in the opening scenes , is referred 10 by Alaka as a boyhood
trait. Teiresias declares OdewaIc's hot temper has plagued him since birth. In the
drama, Rotimi clearly demoostrates that OdewaJe did not acquire the trait on the spur
of the moment, although it seems triggered by an insurmountable sense of fear for his
life. The dramatization in the t1asbback: scene of a situation in which Odewa1e loses his
temper, prior to the time of the play. coofinns that Odewale had the prob lem during
the twenty-minute stage time Dunton mentions.
Rotimi deliberately focuses on the double irony tha t Odewale thinks he is from
the tribe of Ijejun Yemoja when he is in reality from Kutuje. The Sophoclean scene in
which Oedip us ldlls his father laius is replaced by a highly theatrical flash-back scene
in which Odewale narrates how he killed an older man, not knowing it was his father.
Flash-bac k: as ligh ts fade in lhe bedroom ODEWALE's voice is carried
over loudspeaker, as from a distance . Ugbts brighten on foresage,
where men with hoes are grouting out imaginary mounds o f yam .. .
The climax of the fight scene should be mimedin slow motion .
suggesting the nighunari sb languor of bizarre recall (45).
In this scene. Rotimi depicts the use of the weaponsthat are associated with Ogun the
god of war and iron and the power of the supe:matUIa1. Rotimi dramatizes the
creative/destructive principle of Ogun (visualized by the lone matchet at Oguo's shrine
on stage); the men use the hoe to cultivate and harvest the life-sustaining yam s but
Odewale also uses the hoe as a weapon to take life.
Rotimi demonstrates how tribal hostility can lead to fights that result in death.
as in the civil war occurring at the lime. Odewale buys a piece of farm land in Ede,
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