Discourse of Modernism and Traditionalism in Wole Soyinka ...ijellh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/68_K.Sindhu_paper...rogue (as in The Trials of Brother Jero) has triumphed. The play

Volume III Issue I March 2015- ISSN 2321-7065

http://www.ijellh.com 731

Discourse of Modernism and Traditionalism in Wole Soyinka’s

Kongi’s Harvest

K.Sindhu

Assistant Professor of English,

PeriyarUniversity,Salem, Tamilnadu

India

In Kongi’s Harvest, the single leadership-figure of The Trials of Brother Jero is replaced

by two rival authorities, with each of the rivals (Oba Danlola and Kongi) representing certain

facets of alternative leadership value-systems. What is being presented is, in essence, the

aftermath of a confrontation between a modern dictatorship and a traditional, hereditary-

monarchical system. As the conflict between competing authorities is seen to be already

effectively resolved (with the traditional authority of the Oba replaced, to all intents and

purposes, by that of Kongi‟s political dictatorship), the satiric thrust of the play is predominantly

aimed first at Kongi and then, by implication, at those contemporary leaders whose style of

leadership provides the model for the Kongi figuration. In a consideration of the play‟s function

as a value-debating forum, it is interesting to note that the playwright has directed attention

towards the general nature of the play‟s didactic reference.

This play is not about Kongi, it is about Kongism. Therefore, while it has been suggested

with some justification that there are some resemblances between the characters of Kongi and

that of ex-president Nkrumah, it must be emphasized that Kongism has never been dethroned in

Black Africa. There are a thousand and more forms of Kongism - from the crude and

blasphemous to the subtle and sanctimonious. A current variety may be described as neo-

Peronism, the cult of plaster-cast sanctity.



Thus Kongism is seen, by Soyinka, to be a representative African phenomenon. The

projected nature of Kongism can best be defined by an examination of the twin figures of Kongi

and his superseded opponent Oba Danlola. The manner in which these two figures are deployed

within the text contributes to a process that defines Kongism and the system it has replaced. By

contrasting the alternative leadership-models, Soyinka enables the play to operate as a dramatic

forum; as a forum for consideration of the values that underlie actual (and, often by contrast,

legitimate) temporal authority.

The figure of Kongi, as the title of the play suggests, looms above all others. Soyinka

achieves a satiric definition of the figure by selecting key targets (as representative of the

Leader‟s way) and then attacking them with wit, with parody and with ridicule. The action of the

play is hinged around the formal presentation of the New Yam, symbol of a leadership that has

been authenticated. Kongi insists that the Oba, who normally would have the traditional

prerogative of receiving the yam, should formally present the New Yam to him. The presentation

has two functions: the new era of Kongi‟s Harvest would be opened and, in the process, the new

authority of Kongism would be legitimised. Kongi‟s concern that the ceremony should take place

is indicative of his attempt to remove any suggestion that he is a usurper of collectively-

sanctioned authority. Kongi, although shown to be in an obviously strong position, continues to

see himself as constantly under threat, both from the traditional forces and from the relatively

„enlightened‟ faction led by young Daodu. Kongi‟s continuing attempts to legitimise his

leadership provide the major satiric targets within the play.

Kongi replaces the Oba‟s traditional body of advisers with his own Reformed Aweri

Fraternity who work, as latter-day public relations men, to enhance the image of their Leader.

They speak of the Leader‟s vision of harmony and of the need “To replace the old superstitious

festival by a state Ceremony governed by the principle of Enlightened Ritualism” (Kongi’s

Harvest 85). Ritualism is seen as some sort of legitimising ceremony as essential to the proper

consolidation of Kongi‟s power. The Fourth Aweri suggests that Oba Danlola should “appear in

full antiquated splendour surrounded by his Aweri Conclave of Elders who, beyond the outward

trappings of pomp and ceremony and a regular supply of snuff, have no other interest in the

running of the state” (KH 85).



Kongi also employs a rather pragmatic Organising Secretary who is often flanked by his

own intelligence service. All the panoply of one-man rule is at Kongi‟s call whenever the great

man emerges from his meditative „retreat‟ in the mountains.

Continuing the satiric attack, Soyinka has the Aweris decide to project a more modern

style for Kongi, as opposed to the old ways of traditional leadership. They see themselves as a

“conclave of modern patriarchs” and as “youthful elders of state” (KH 73). In contrast to the

pronouncements of the Oba and his followers (always surrounded in the text with Yoruba songs

and the wisdoms of proverbial language), the Aweris - from First to Sixth - speak in the language

of what they call “positive scientificism”. They quote from the Leader‟s last publication:

FIFTH. Ah yes. Nor proverbs nor verse, only ideograms in algebraic quantums. If the square of

XQY (2bc) equals QA into the square root of X, then the progressive forces must prevail over

the reactionary in the span of. 32 of a single generation. (KH 74)

The semantic sterility of this passage enforces, at the linguistic level, the negative quality

of abstraction that pervades Kongi‟s leadership position. The actions of the Aweris, because they

are presented as being sycophantic (if not totally committed) followers of the Leader, work to

define the Kongi figure. Attempting to overcome what they see as the “long-winded proverbs

and senile pronouncements” of the Oba‟s group, the Aweris create a pose of authority, a pose

that will elevate Kongi to the god-like status that befits the all-knowing autocrat with the power

of life and death in the palm of his hand. While the Aweris strive for elevation, the text (with

dramatically-enacted sarcasm) moves towards the deflation that is at the heart of satire. The

playwright stresses the posing nature of Kongi‟s leadership in a scene of great satiric

effectiveness. Having decided to control even the passing of time - by renaming the previous

years as, for example, 100 K.H. and B.K.H. (Before Kongi‟s Harvest) - Kongi begins to strike

poses for a press photographer. These are, the stage direction informs us, “a series of „Last

Supper‟ poses - iyan (pounded yam) serving variation”: “A Leader‟s Temptation”, “Agony on

the Mountains”, “The loneliness of the Pure”, “The Uneasy Head”, “The Face of Benevolence”,

“The Giver of Life” and “A Saint at Twilight”. Continuing the process of satire-by-naming,

Soyinka later has Kongi‟s Carpenters‟ Brigade marching in front of a huge cyclorama upon

which is a projected picture of various buildings... all clearly titled Kongi Terminus, Kongi



University, Kongi Dam, Kongi Refineries, Kongi Airport, etc. Finally, of course, a monster

photo of the great man himself (KH 64).

Kongi, the figure who has silenced the royal drum, is presented as an epileptic who

“exhorts, declaims, reviles, cajoles, damns, curses, vilifies, excommunicates, execrates until he is

a demonic mass of sweat and foam at the lips” (KH 83). The abnormal physical nature of Kongi

enforces the view, carefully sustained throughout the play, that Kongism is a socio-political

aberration, an unnatural and loathsome canker on the African body politic. Kongi and Kongism

are the recipients of a full frontal satiric attack.

By contrast, Oba Danlola (precisely because he is not in a position to emerge as a

credible alternative leader) is not subjected to the same degree of satiric attack. Indeed, since he

is a figure projected as being close to the traditional roots of practical politics and commonsense

- the possessor, unlike Kongi, of a degree of self-knowledge - the Oba operates within an

authorially-controlled scheme of limited affirmation. The Oba‟s position within the text‟s satiric

framework is more ambivalent than that of Kongi. For, although the Oba and his values are

shown to be increasingly irrelevant in a state dominated by Kongism and are, therefore, targets

for satire, the Oba-figure (to the extent that Kongi‟s men react to him) operates as a logical

avenue of assault upon those who have replaced him. The play begins, in fact, with Oba‟s group

rendering a sardonic anthem to Kongi‟s “new race”. Throughout the play, the Oba and his group

snipe at Kongism while maneuvering to avoid the symbolic subjugation that is implicit in the

ceremony of the New Yam. Unlike Kongi, the Oba is associated with certain life-affirming

forces. In conversation with Kongi‟s Superintendent, the Oba remarks: Your man knows I love

to have my hairs. Ruffled well below the navel (KH 66).

Oba Danlola is projected as a figure full of life and colour. But it becomes clear that,

because of their distance from the real seat of power, these positive values have been divorced

from any possibility of enactment. The text makes it plain that the Oba is aware of the true

situation. In a typical passage of mocking self-deprecation, the Oba asks for more cola nut:

Some cola nut. Playing a clown‟s part

For the Eye and Ear of his Immortality

Has turned my blood to water. I need

The stain of cola to revive



It‟s royal stain. (KH 119)

He knows that real power has left him. All that is left are the trappings. He quotes,

sarcastically, from the “Chieftaincy Succession Legislation Section II, nineteen-twenty-one” (KH

118), while rebuking the excesses of his praise-singer with “You‟ll be more at home

performing/At the Festival of Traditional Arts” (KH 119). In terms of the leadership value-

systems that are set up in Kongi‟s Harvest, it is crucial to recognise the fact that Danlola has

finally borne the New Yam to Kongi. Despite the strong satiric thrust aimed at Kongism, the

rogue (as in The Trials of Brother Jero) has triumphed. The play ends with the clang of an iron

grating as Kongi‟s rule continues.

Kongi’s Harvest, arguably Soyinka‟s most achieved drama, is evidence both of his skill

as a playwright and of his continuing commitment to a search for values that are not to be found

in the court of Kongi. Emerging as it does near the end of the period of civilian rule in Nigeria;

the play can be placed within a setting of rigged elections, corruption and political chaos that

constituted the prelude to civil war. The play proceeds from that experience. The satirically-

motivated design of the text works towards a rejection of the forms of leadership that it presents.

Two forms of civilian power-structures are specifically negated: one (the traditional) as being

outdated, the other (Kongism) as being morally and socially abhorrent. These negations are

indicative of the precise relationship between Soyinka the playwright and Soyinka the socio-

political observer.

The clash between the modern and the traditional forces in an emergent modern African

society is a very familiar concern in all genres of African literature. Wole Soyinka is therefore

not out of place in his preoccupation with it in Kongi’s Harvest. This clash is enacted between

the Oba (the traditional head) and the President, Kongi (the modernist and constitutional head)

though a constitutional head Kongi is essentially a dictator. In essence his modern dictatorship

strives to absorb within itself the traditional system so as to destroy it as a contending power as

well as capture its legitimacy, dignity, appeal and power. This clash manifests itself from the

very start in the Hemlock section. There the roll of drums and the anthem suggest the struggle of

two opposing camps for supremacy. The traditional forces are being stifled out of life by the

propaganda and the paraphernalia accompanying Kongi‟s dictatorship. They have been rejected

as rotten waste, for:



Ism to ism for ism is ism

Of isms and isms on absolute ism

To demonstrate the tree of life

Is sprung from broken peat

And we the rotted bark, spurned

When the tree swells its pot

The mucus that is snorted out

When Kongi‟s new race blows. (KH 61)

Kongi‟s forces have thus scored one against the Oba‟s. They have confined the forces of

tradition, the Oba and his retinue to waste the rest of their years in prison. Though the clash

continues, the struggle is at a lower plane. Since they cannot meet Kongi and his force head-on,

they are relegated to battling with a junior representative, the superintendent of prison. This

eclipsing of the forces of tradition is what is being mourned for by the opening dirge in

„Hemlock‟. The king‟s umbrella can no longer shade them and this is seen as signaling the end,

for as the Ogbo Aweri laments:

This is the last

That we shall dance together

This is the last the hairs

Will lift on our skin

And draw together

When the gbedu rouses

The dead in Oshugbo. (KH 128)

For though the end of the traditional ruler‟s public role has been effected, it is by no

means the end of the struggle. He still has mystical powers, dignity and symbolic values all of

which Kongi and his henchmen could give anything to get. Their complaints about the royal

canopy taking too much silk and that the first of „the new yams melted / Melted first in an Oba‟s

mouth‟ (KH 127) is symptomatic of the greed if not envy leading leaders on to capturing all the

titles and prestigious roles and have they bestowed upon themselves. This is what Kongi is

poised to do. He wants to be the spirit of harvest and to get a public show of the Oba‟s

capitulation of power to him. But Oba Danlola maintains an uncompromising position and thus



refuses to perform the ritual handing over of the first yam to him. As a result a protracted

struggle between the two as is suggested in these strings of proverbs:

The pot that will eat fat

The bottom must be scorched

The squirrel that will long crack nuts

Its footpad must be sore

The sweetest wine has flowed down

The tapper‟s shattered show. (KH 61)

Kongi‟s wrong-headed conviction of the superiority of western civilization leads him to

senselessly replacing traditional leader. His transformation of traditional institutions to absurd

modern versions is lunatic, for no thought is given to the superficiality that will possibly result.

Kongi demonstrates a paranoiac distrust of almost everyone around him. Through

compulsion, he buys over all authority and traditional legitimacy all of which he then

ungrudgingly bestows on himself. He thus develops himself to the central repository of all

powers. The traditional ruler, Danlola, is therefore compelled to present him personally with the

New Yam. This will publicly acknowledge his supremacy and enable him to stamp his image on

every mind as a charismatic and legitimate ruler. Even his opponents are thus constrained to beg

for forgiveness. A dictatorship is thus exposed as a fragile, hollow, fake and weak institution that

lacks belief in itself.

Therefore it has to lean on the legitimacy of the traditional power it seeks to destroy but

since they are afraid of its strength and efficacy they have to muzzle it and absorb all its strength

to survive. As a result, the traditional is being strangulated by the propaganda and paraphernalia

of Kongi‟s dictatorship. A flurry of „Isms‟ suffocate the air in demonstrating that Kongi‟s „tree of

life „ is sprung from broken peat; and that Danlola and his forces of tradition are only its waste

products (KH 61). Amidst the strident trumpeting of propaganda, the people become as useless

as putrid waste matter. Words are bandied in total defiance of them. For in the words of Danlola

and his retinue‟s song:

…there‟s a harvest of words

In a penny newspaper.

They say it all on silent skulls



But who cares? Who but a lunatic

Will bandy words with boxes

With government rediffusion sets

Which talk and talk and never

Take a lone word in reply. (KH 61)

The presentation of Kongi and his henchmen is a biting satire of the modern dictators in

Africa as well as elsewhere. The composite picture is almost that of a madman. For after all, all

dictatorships border on madness. The dictator, Kongi maintains total control over all the

instruments of coercion that are in fact the lifeblood and modus operandum of all modern

dictatorships. These instruments of coercion are well established and manifested in the mallet-

swinging Carpenters Brigade and in the Superintendent who tyrannizes over the Oba. Their

repressiveness is a constant source of concern for the Oba as is evident in his speech here:

Their yam is pounded, not with the pestles

But with stamp and a pad of violet ink

And their arms make omelet of

Stubborn heads, via police truncheons. (KH 109)

On stage they are supposed to be dehumanized beings with stiff mallet-wielding arms

pistoning up in the Nazi-salute. They are in this way presented as the coercive instruments of a

totalitarian regime such as Kongi‟s that perpetuates its rule mainly through the use of sheer force.

Its repressiveness has become so entrenched in the society that when on his return from prison,

Oba Danlola finds the outside world worse than even the prison. Frequent incidences of bomb-

throwing thus become the normal fare.The characteristic of all dictatorships, the culprits or

suspects are quickly apprehended in readiness to be hanged.

The reformed Aweri are the instruments of intellectual as well as spiritual repression,

thus fulfilling the role of propaganda machinery geared towards imprisoning the minds of the

citizens into seeing things the administration‟s way. The one address of the information system

had already been hinted at in the „Hemlock‟ section:

Who but a lunatic

Will bandy words with boxes

With government rediffusion sets



Which talk and talk and never

Take a lone word in reply. (KH 61)

Such propaganda machinery is as indispensable to the dictatorship‟s survival as are the

instruments of coercion. Though the propaganda in its final form gets channeled through

newspapers and the radio, they originate from a close arm of the dictatorial system, the

Reformed Aweri fraternity. A closer glimpse at their emptiness is in the first part of the play.

One can hear them expressing their commitment to manufacturing an image to dress up and

cover the regime‟s ugly face. But indeed their effort looks most ludicrous. For they appear as a

pack of jokers throwing jibes at modern parliaments. All they are preoccupied with is in selling

out platitudes that are pleasant to the ears of those in power. This in effect exposes the big gulf

between the image African .dictatorships present of themselves from what they are in real fact.

When not lying or deceiving the public, they are engaged in inanities and superficialities. It is

thus amusing to see an Aweri regretting that the four and a half hour speech he had written had

been surpassed by a neighboring President‟s seven hour speech.

Kongi parodies modern megalomaniacs who, having been addicted to the irresistible taste

of power and its accompanying stature and prestige start monopolizing all its symbols and roles.

This attains such heights bordering on deification at a reformed Aweri session; members propose

that they be recognized as the Magi as that would lead automatically to Kongi‟s apotheosis. Then

likening himself to Christ, Kongi wants his name along with the forthcoming harvest festival to

mark the beginning of a new calendar with everything else dating from it. His quest for

monopolizing everything in the state leads him to equate himself to God.Since he wants his name

to mark the start of a new calendar, in the same way Christ‟s does the Christian calendar. State

bodies ,therefore work hard towards elevating their leader to godhead. The Reformed Aweri

therefore proposes as a first step their recognition as the Magi. And the praise song of the

Carpenter‟s brigade compares Kongi to Christ by calling him a saviour whom they will sweat

endlessly for:

For Kongi is our father

And Kongi is our man

Kongi is our mother

Kongi is our man



And Kongi is our Saviour

Redeemer, prince of power

For Isms and for Kongi

We‟re proud to live or die! (KH 116)

Kongi‟s image boosting is directed at impressing the outside world. He thus creates an

attractive coat to hide his monstrous form inside. In it, he poses in a wide range of postures for

the foreign correspondents to paint a glowing portrait of him abroad. Such captivating captions

all add up into the desired effect:

A Leaders Temptation…Agony on the

Mountains…The Loneliness of the Pure…The

Uneasy Head …A saint at Twilight…

The Spirit of the Harvest…The face of

Benevolence…The Giver of Life… (KH 100)

An image of a pensive and devoted leader is thus sold out. But no one at home is fooled.

Even in granting reprieve he resorts to propaganda. For this much emphasis is on the timing and

pacing. …we must make it a last-minute reprieve. It will look better that way ,don‟t you think?

(KH 117). Kongi‟s act of clemency remains a confidential decision until a quarter of an hour

before hanging.

The propaganda machine works as efficiently and consistently as the network of coercion

to keep everyone in line. They execute their job with reckless abandon. The Carpenter‟s Brigade

thus spits fire on all opponents. For they have sworn to die in spreading „the creed of Kongism‟.

For those too slow to accept Kongi and his government have their heads crushed with their heavy

mallets.

Even those enforcing Kongi‟s hold on power are not exempt from his wrath or suspicion.

The Organizing Secretary fearing falling foul of him takes scrupulous care in organizing the

Harvest ceremony – with twelve long months spent on going continuously through every single

step. For he is haunted that „if anything goes wrong. He‟ll have my head‟ (KH 117). When

Daodu, Segi and their followers surge in, in protest, foreseeing the brute justice awaiting him, he

exclaims: „I‟m done for; I know it. I‟m heading for the border while there is time. Oh there is



going to be such a clamp down after this…‟ (KH 129). No one is then free from fear. Under such

a situation, it only takes a little slip for one to lose one‟s life, one‟s freedom or a visible part of

one‟s body. Danlola therefore warns the little boy Dende to be wary of talking openly, for just a

hint is serious enough to land oneself in detention.

There‟s also Kongi‟s pervasive spy network, which Danlola often sees sneaking in through the

broken wall of his backyard many times in just one day.

The Big Ear of the man himself

Has knocked twice on my palace gates –

Twice in one morning – and his spies

Have sneaked in through the broken wall

Of my backyard, where women throw their piss

As many times today. (KH 102)

Imprisonment and death are also available to repress those who fail to understand and

behave themselves. New offences are continually being created. Charges such as treason and

communism are easily framed up against who ever they desire to bring them up against. Those

present at Segi‟s and Daodu‟s protest are therefore easily liable to being charged with treason

for „To be there at all at that disgraceful. Exhibition is to be guilty of treasonable. Conspiracy et

cetera, et cetera‟ (KH 133).The jail is thus only one step towards the grave. For an ignoble death

is the ultimate fate of every detainee. One‟s struggle to hold on to life, by escaping through the

prison walls, leads therefore to a life pension being offered to the one who brings him back dead

or alive:

And the radio has put out a prize

Upon his head. A life pension

For his body, dead or alive. That

Dear child, is a new way to grant

Reprieve. Alive, the radio blared,

If possible; and if not– DEAD!. (KH 113)

The Secretary and the Fifth Aweri further substantiates the regime‟s denial of life:

SECRETARY. You don‟t know how he hates those

men. He wants them dead – you‟ve



no idea how desperately.

FIFTH AWERI. I do. But tell him he can kill

them later in detention. (KH 114)

Kongi perpetuates his glorious image of a leader totally committed and engaged in the

country‟s development, thus justifying his clamping down on his detractors: The spirit of

Harvest has smitten the enemies of Kongi. The justice of earth has prevailed over traitors and

conspirators. There is a divine blessing on the second five-year Development Plan.

Clearly formulated and articulated programmes are then in short supply. Much more

attention is given to make-believe and bandying absurd and ludicrous ideas as we find in the

session of the Aweris where a motif – the youthful elders of the state – is used as an image of

their regime. Such mindless fascination for superficialities makes them lose sight of the

underlying meanings of words. Meaningless phrases, thus dominate their pronouncements and

deliberations. The content and quality of his speech are therefore far less concern to Kongi than

its length – lasting four and a half hour. But then the sooner he hears of the seven hour speech by

a neighboring president, he wastes no time in discarding his Corruption, another feature of

contemporary society is portrayed.

The Organizing Secretary displays much ease and skill in operating in the code of the

corrupt. Though at first he appears as quite a dutiful and upright executive, one of the Aweris

later reports his abuses of the privileges of his office. In exchange for money, he gives detainees

under his charge all comforts. He receives as well huge bribes from visitors to the President and

much financial gain through his organization of the harvest. This is all part of a syndicate to

which the Aweris themselves are a party as seen in the First Aweri‟s eagerness to have his own

share: „Has anyone been accepting money on my behalf. All I ask is my cut‟ (KH 86).

Kongi could be seen as representing the modern paranoid dictator. Instead of being a

procreative force he engenders and spreads destruction, decapitating his opponents and showing

no genuine interest in the fertility rites of the soil and of the flesh. Thus, in Hemlock he is

regarded as a monster which should have been scorched before it achieved its full destructive

proportions. Kongi thus clearly demonstrates his repugnance towards creating a better future for

his people. He rather creates an illusion of personal as well as national well-being to the outside



world and the gullible fools within. Through biting satire Soyinka registers his distaste for such

ugly aspects of modern societies in Africa.

The ending of the play leaves no hope in us for the purging of such societies. The

struggle by Daodu and others to overcome Kongi‟s destruction is doomed. This futility of action

is first hinted in the proverbs from „Hemlock‟ earlier quoted. Even Daodu and Segi who are the

only ones courageous enough to openly condemn Kongi‟s rule, are in the end victims of the

predicted general clampdown indicated by the iron grating that clamps on the ground at the end

of the play. They had not been able to mobilize the necessary support to counter Kongi‟s

regimented and well-established instruments of power. This acquiescence and inaction are

pictured in the timid withdrawal and uncommitted apathy of the various inmates of the nightclub

when the Organizing Secretary enters.

This discourse analysis reveals the clash between the traditionalism and modernism. The

maniacal dictator Kongi has seized power from the traditional ruler Danlola. The deposed king is

imprisoned, and he immediately plots a return to power. The result of this analysis is Donlola‟s

corrupt practices of politics is seen, and the dictator Kongi is expected to rule the country with

new and better policies, but he sticks on the old corrupt rich negative legacy left by the westerns.

Documents

Discourse of Modernism and Traditionalism in Wole Soyinka ...ijellh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/68_K.Sindhu_paper...rogue (as in The Trials of Brother Jero) has triumphed. The play