Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

most obtrusive of African national evils: ethnicism (39.40).
Critics. like Ethenon question the validity of Odewale 's final monologue:
Rotimi finds himself trapped both within the story and wilhin the Greek
moral order. if the gods, or 'fate'. are to blame and not Odewale, then
me Yoruba milieu of the play disintegrates. If, on the other hand,
Odewale's hot temper and, as he says, tribalism , is (sic) to blame and
not the Gods . then the story of the prophecy has no rationale" (127).
V. U. Ola, in "The Concept of Tragedy in Ola Rotimi's 'The GodsAre Nor To
Blame." suggests that "the idea of ethnic distrust simply hangs on the play and is not
fully woven into the fabric of the work ." He argues that Odewale's first mention of
his tribe is on a happyoccasion while meditating on his achievement and subsequent
references come from Odewale himself most of which appear as figments of his
imagination (27-29). Although Ola concludesthat only Odewale emphasizes his tribal
connections, it .see.ms to me that that is the point that Rotimi is making - that is,
Odewale's obsession with tribalism and ethnic distrust causes him to commit murder.
albeit against his own father. The senselessness of tribalism leads to equally senseless
wars in myths and the real world. Ogun, the god of war, and the other gods
themselves have acted irrationally and arbitrarily against mortals. Rotimi draws a
contrast between war for a good cause, to deliver the Kutuje people from slavery to
the IkoLu, and the war wagedon the grounds of tribalism .
Even though Ola does not think that the theme of tribalism is integrated
effectively into the play, he does acknowledge:
Rotimi seems to have married both ideas successfully. The initial curse
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