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occur does leave room for the possibility of it occurring, howev er rate. She also says
that the "complex nature of this situation is compounded by the fact that the destiny is
often forgotten by a personafter birth, though the oracular art can be consul ted for
recollection and redirection- (129). If the Supreme Being is the only one who
remem bers the destin y, as the need for coosul tation of the oracle suggests, then
whatever is proc laimed during the divination cerem ony cannot be refuted. Rotimi
explains the premise on which he developed the drama's divinelh uman relationship in
the interview with Enelcwe:
When one says, 'the gods are not to blame' , one must contemplate the
world view of the African people; particu larly the Yoruba concept of
des tiny. This is that. a person chooses his own destin y from a sort of
tabula rasamind , before he descends to the world to practicalize the
cho ice. You might say that this determinist tenet hasa fatalistic ring
which could. in human affairs, encourage social stasis . It is like
foreclosing individual effort againstall odds to achieve success . I don't
think that is the waywe should look at it. Rather we should conceive
the idea from the angIe thatevery action of man, or every destiny. has
a role in the entire purposeof human interaction (38. 39).
Although Rotimi would rather emphasize the role of human action in the large arena
of life instead of the determini st or fatalistic aspect , yet Odewale' s efforts against all
odds do not avoid the fulfilment of the orac le; on the contrary , his attempt at
avoidance itse lf leads to the oracle's fulfilmen t.
It is clear that Sophocles' Oedipus does not choose his own destiny, rather the
gods chose it for him: he makes choices but they lead him right back to the god's
prophecy. In the case of Odewale, Rotimi' s flash-bac k scene captures the presence of
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