Literary Appreciation of Oluchukwu’s the Travails of a Successor

Literary Appreciation of Oluchukwu’s the Travails of a Successor

ABSTRACT

The essay attempt to appreciate Oluchukwu’s The Travails of a Successor. The paper critically evaluates the piece of literary work objectively according to the intention and purpose; it also takes notice of the authors’ style, theme use of figurative and non-figurative language, and reviews the significance of the results. Apart from that, Literary appreciation is reading, understanding and making a critical judgment of the theme, style, use of figurative and non-figurative language as well as other elements of a literary work. A phenomenological approach emphasizes the participants' perceptions, feelings and experiences as the paramount object of paper.

INTRODUCTION

The Travails of a Successor set in an Igbo independent African country depicts the new problems in the new post independent political set up. The novel relates to the theme of disappointment and lament over the socio-political realities of post independent Igbo society.  It explores the predicament of the people of Igbo in the political and socio-cultural context. The novel centers on the theme of struggle for power in post-independent Igbo traditional society. It explores the corruption, exploitation and social, injustice in the Igbo traditional society and the acquisition of material wealth by crooked means.

Oluchukwu chukwumeucheya Okoye was born to the family of late sir Vincent Oranusi Okoye at Akabor Obiofia Nnewichi in Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra state. He had his primary and secondary school education in Anambra state and Delta state respectively and became a graduate of political science from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in 2008. He has written another popular book title “the black Sheep” He has published other articles. In atypical setting, every African father is known to be a disciplinarian, and man or moral.

Literary Appreciation of Oluchukwu’s the Travails of a Successor

The book “The Travails of a Successor” by Oluchukwu Okoye in review is an African novel structured in an epic setting. Style has to do withal particular manner, way or procedure by which something is done. The purpose of this book aims at expanding the reader’s idea of the consequences in evil doing, though to aspire for a good and higher position in life is in no doubt a good desire but when it is at the motive of covetousness there is bound to be a disaster. Eze obumnonye is the king of mbieru and Amaech being the first son and so by virtue of primogeniture, the heir to the throne of Echidime, is determined that her son, Izukanna, would sit on the throne once Eze Obumnoye is no more. To achieve her goal, Echidime takes a line of action which has far reaching consequences on her family and the community. What she fails to acknowledge but later discovered that the gods of Mbieru are impotent. Oluchukwu in the context explains the significant shift that occurs in inheritance as a means of showing the challenges that patterns succession using figure as style in conveying his message. It explores the corruption, exploitation and social, injustice in the Igbo traditional society and the acquisition of material wealth by crooked means.

What the author presents to us in this story is not a chronology of the interactions between men and ancient blood licking deities; rather, what he does is an expose of the standards by which men’s lives were governed in those times so that we can see that traditional African societies did have strong socio-cultural and religious institution. Before the advent of the Christian era, an era greatly characterized by the denunciation and subsequent rejection of established socio-culture and religious institution and norms in Africa, the lives of many African communities revolved around the worship of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings whose reality and potency were not were not in doubt at time.

As a reflection of man’s life, literature does not restrict itself just to contemporary times. Very often, it takes a look into epic stories to explore the idea, attitude, lifestyle and events that influenced those times with the view of bringing out the correlation between them and what holds way today. The novel is comic in the sense that it is satiric irony which condemns evil. Briefly, a comedy is not merely an amusing text or act, but one in which the hero proves superiority to circumstances, and therefore his destiny is fortunate, and the story have a happy ending  

Before the advent of the Christian era, an era greatly characterized by the denunciation and subsequent rejection of established socio-culture and religious institution and norms in Africa, the lives of many African communities revolved around the worship of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings whose reality and potency were not were not in doubt at time. As a reflection of man’s life, literature does not restrict itself just to contemporary times. Very often, it takes a look into epic stories to explore the idea, attitude, lifestyle and events that influenced those times with the view of bringing out the correlation between them and what holds way today.

Conclusion

Literature provides the platform for an objective analyses or criticism of man’s social and moral state. The significant purpose of this book is to enlighten the people that their beliefs in traditional worship have no shape or place in out today or in the modern African society. So as well to show the society that there’s needed to abolish the diabolic system of living and adopt the modern society’s pattern of worship.

Work cited

 Oluchukwu O. the travails of a successor. Nigeria: Anco graphicas & Co. Ltd. 2013