The Lion And The Jewel Characters
Analysis of Lakunle's Character
About Lakunle
Lakunle Role
Lakunle, the school teacher is a known figure in Ilujinle. He is educated, yet not necessarily very educated. On the contrary, Lakunle enjoys a half-baked education and makes a lot of noise with it. He uses his education, unfully formed as it is,to harass both Sidi and Sadiku. About twenty-three years old, he is said to wear an undersized old-style English suit, "threadbare but not ragged, clean but not ironed." His tie is said to bed one in a very small knot and isburied in "a shiny black waist-coat."This mode of dressing shows that he wants to be taken seriously as one wants to be taken seriously as one enjoying a high social status just as Sidi is aware of her beauty. Being probably the most schooled in the village, he deploys his energy in raising a new generation of youth ashe teaches them. However, Lakunle teaches at the level of "Three times two are six," may be because his school is yet to grow. Perhaps more teachers would join him later. In spite of his-level of education, he possesses an inflated sense of his importance in the village and merely consults longer and shorter dictionaries before talking to a non-educated Sidi to whom he 'blows' all the grammar he knows or has heard. As Baroka is also uneducated like Sidi, Lakunle fails to realize that the Bale possesses in abundance native intelligence (informal education) with which he solves his daily needs. This native intelligence has built into it craftness, wit and cunning with which people like Baroka survive on a daily basis, where as the 'educated' like Lakunle lose when there a contest of will. Frorn the dialogue between Sidi and Lakunle, it is clear that when he sounds flowery as in "That is hat the stew pot said to the fire./have you no shame.. ./licking my bottom" (Page 2), heis probably speaking Yoruba. he occasionally speaks with double interpretation as out cotne as when he says. "The scientists have proved it. It is in my books" (Page. 4). This may mean that what he has to say can be found in the books he owns or in the book she has written. Then what he says is a lie, Unfounded namely that have a smaller brain than men/That's why they are called the weaker sex" (Page. 4). Not that they are the weaker sex, but that that is what they are called. Of course in spite of Sidi not being educated, she stands up to Lakunle on this occasion. "The weaker sex, is it?/ls it a weaker breed ho pounds the yam/Or bends all day to plant the millet/With a child strapped to her back?" (p. 4). Lakunle is a shallow fellow whose frivolous nature contradicts what may be his intentions. His idea of progress ascompared with Baroka's is quite funny and facetious. Imagine him saying that "the world judge our progress by/The girls that win beauty contests" (Page.37). Nothing can be as amusing as aclaim like this one! There are other funny claims: he wants to turn Ilujinle into a Lagos or an Ibadan. His idea of progress includes bathroom dancing, nightclubs, women with painted lips whose feet are adorned by high-heeled shoes, machines meant topound or to grind pepper, etc. When Sidi objects to his kissing her, Lakunle calls her "bush-girl you are, bush girlyou'll always be" (p. 9). Rather than consider bride price as a show of gratitude to parents of the bride forbringing up their daughter to the point of being admired for marriage, hecalls it "a savage custom, barbaric, outdated." Yet after Baroka has hadhis way with Sidi in spite of his age and the so-called backwardness, Lakunle proposes that with this development, "it solves the problem of her bride-price too" (Page. 61). He still considers himself a principled manwho had said from the beginning thathe would not pay a bride price onwhom he wants to marry: "A man mustlive or fall by his true/Principles. That,I had swom/Never to pay" (p. 61).Thus as young as he is, he is preparedto accept Sidi after she had beendefiled by a man three times his age,and whom he (Lakunle) talked downon. Occasionally, Lakunle shows that he will like to enjoy life the wayBaroka does and for which he resents the older man. Once he admits this onp. 26 when he remarks: "Ah, I sometimes wish I led this kind of life./Such luscious bosoms make his nightby pillow/l am sure he keeps a time-table just as/l do at school." Suddenly aware that he is being covetous,Lakunle exclaims "No! I do not envy him!/Just the one woman for me" (p.26). Lakunle's role in the play is critical because without him Baroka's trickery over capturing Sidi's hand in marriage could not haye meant much.He raises the struggle for Sidi to the point of a contest. It must be seen that part of what makes Sidi vain, apart from the images, is his brief romantic dalliance with her.
SIGNIFICANCE OF LAKUNLE'S CHARACTER
Lakunle largely provides the comicrelief for which the play is known. The way he is dressed' the language and his preoccupations all add up to the Comic characteristics of the play.He makes the conflict in the play to be more involving and more desperate. Beause he is an educated man in a struggle with a traditional ruler, it raises the level of antagonism or rather makes the discord more worth while. We learn that education is not only Western; native intelligence is also atype of education and can be quite audacious. Baroka's intelligence compels him to use Lakunle's idea of civilization to propose to Sidi a new approach of age and youth coming together, for after all "charity begins at home." His contention on progress already known enables Baroka to model a strategy with which he convinces Sidi that although he may be old, he is not averse to progress. Thus Baroka suggests a progress model to which he and Sidi are central.What Lakunle occasionally says or thinks about Baroka and Sadiku interms of their age shows that he has no respect for age and tradition. His view is that tradition will soon disappear where as this is not exactly as it is. This thought makes him not to take Baroka seriously in their avid quest for Sidi's hand. Thus he lets his guard down while Baroka enjoys an upper hand.
Analysis of Baroka's Character
About Baroka
THE ROLE OF BAROKA
Baroka is the traditional figure in theplay. A polygamist, he adds more and more women to his harem. His last wife is Ailatu but he wants to add Sidi to his women's quarters. He had to plot it as it were. He is the Lion or as Lakunle labels him "the fox." He is the traditional ruler of Ilujinle, and the bearer of the people's customs and ideals. As the play opens, he is sixty-two. His position in the community is inherited from his father and his father's father. His head-wife, Sadiku, is in herited from his father, Okiki, she having been his last wife. Being a man whose fame or even strength is founded on the people's tradition, he exudes pride and confidence. Baroka recalls some of his achievements: "Did I not, at the festival of Rain,/Defeat the men in the log-tossing match?/Do I not still withthe most fearless ones,/Hunt the leopard and the boa at night/And save the farmers' goats from further harm?" (page 28) Provoked by Sidi who considers him old for his invitation, Baroka asks, "Do any of my wives report/A failing in my manliness?" (p.28) Yet a little while later, he admits to Sadiku that he can no longer "fool myself. . . I am no man, Sadiku. My manhood/Ended near a week ago" (p.29). But it is all a decoy as part of his snare to be laid for Sidi, using Sadiku as his prop and mouth-piece. What Baroka does with language is distinct, far superior to Lakunle's bookishness and pedantry. His language is rich and graduated with proverbs and cultural ideals which are lacking in the language of the other characters.What he lacks in Western education and pretensions, he has a surfeit of intraditional wits and wiles. When he faces Sidi, he deploys the nuances of Lakunle's type of language about progress to show that he is not opposed to the new way of life. What Baroka fights for is a new way of life in his own terms. This is why hebribed off the railway line when it was about to come. While Lakunle, intrying to talk him down, wants Sidi to believe that Baroka does not want progress, the latter convinces Sidi that aspects of the Ilujinle culture ought to be preserved for the future "among the bridges and the murderous roads." By being labelled the Lion and also the fox, Baroka is both strong and cunning. He uses his craftiness to prey on young girls like Ailatu and Sidi. Thus when Sadiku announces Baroka's sexual weaknes sand Sidi tries to know if it is true, she (Sidi) literally walks into the lion's den and pays for it. He plays on Sidi's vanity by showing that Sidi's image on a stamp is far superior to her image(s) in a magazine. Moreover, Baroka atonce shows that this proposal is realizable since the machine with which to make the stamp is already fabricated.
SIGNIFICANCE OF BAROKA'S CHARACTER
Baroka radiates tradition in all its strengths. He is gorgeous, rich and sensible and deploys all these factors to lure Sidi. He understands women so much and uses such knowledge to achieve his purpose. Sweet words, material, flattery, the luminous and vanity captivate the heart of a woman or so he has proved in this play. This IS in contrast to Lakunle's approach who uses threats, insults and imprecations on Sidi, and expects he will win her hand. What he achieves with language and ideas, Lakunle fails to achieve because the latter takes quite many things for granted, He (Lakunle) may have thought that in matters of love or endearment, age would count. In this segment, however, Baroka shows thatage is only a number, not animpediment. He is an unrepentant polygamist sinceonly after five months, he goes after another woman — i.e. Sidi. He refers to "five months" as if it were five years! By Baroka's actions, we are taught that every man or in fact everything has a price. He is able to bribe the white man off the idea of a railway line. He plays on the intelligence of both Sadiku and Sidi. With respect to Lakunle, he (Baroka) uses the former as his point of departure when it comes to progress or Western civilization and convincingly shows that he is not opposed to a new order
Analysis of Sidi's Character
About Sidi
The Role Of Sidi
Sidi is a village belle, the jewel of Ilujinle. We are not told that she is educated, at least not in the Western sense. But she, like Baroka, possesses suffcient local intelligence and sensitivity with which to live as a human with dignity. For instance, shelets Lakunle know that "Sidi will not make herself/A cheap bowl for the village pit" (p. 7). She is very concerned with what the village people will say: "The village says you're mad/And I begin to understand" (Page 10). When Lakunle fails to give her the pail, Sidi reminds him that people are approaching, and so "give me the bucket or they'll jeer" (Page 10). There is believes is not good enough: "I tell you I dislike/This strange unhealthy mouthing you perform" or what she describes as "this licking of my lips with yours./ It's so unclean" (p. 9). Sidi believes in tradition. Thus she insists on the payment of bride price which Lakunle wants abolished. Contrastingly, between her and Baroka, the bride price is not an issue.The payment of the bride price is attached to her pride as a woman, properly married. But when Lakunle disparages the bride price, Sidi tells him to "go to these places where/Women would understand you" (Page 9).Lakunle's language floats ahead ofwhat she thinks and understands. She accepts Baroka's idea of progress because it reinforces her vanity and advertises her beauty, even out side Ilujinle. She loves herself or what in popular parlance is known as narcissism. She is conscious of her beauty and boasts about it. For her, Lakunle's idea of progress is the type that will "turn the world upside down."Her persistence on bride price payment seems to portray her as a simple-minded fellow, although she is not without sufficient intelligence to argue her way. Called the weaker sex because she is a woman, she asks intelligently, "is it the weaker breed who pounds yam/Or bends all day to plant the millet.. ." (p. 4). Sidi 'sundoing is her vainglorious preoccupations. Just because her images are now found in "a book," she tells Lakunle off: "In fact, 1 9 m notsure I'll want to wed you now" (p. 12).She is so well known, via the impactof the book, that she insists that shewill "demean my worth to wed/A merevillage school teacher" (p. 12). It isthis irnagined elevation in status by mere photographs in a magazine thatmakes it possible for the Lion to 'consume' her virginity. Part of her simple-mindedness is her decision tofind out if indeed the Lion has lost his manhood. Except to mock Baroka and place all Ilujinle under her footstool,of what relevance would this have been to her? In other words, Sidi works on rumour and gets failed by it. Even if she refuses to marry Lakunle, insisting on the payment of the bride pnce, one is not sure if Baroka paid anything on her as no mention of that is made afterwords. gets failed by it. Even if she refuses to marry Lakunle, insisting on the payment of the bride pnce, one is notsure if Baroka paid anything on her as no mention of that is made afterwords.
SIGNIFICANCE OF SIDI'S CHARACTER
Sidi is the bone of contention; she isthe figure that unites all thecharacters, including Sadiku. It isbecause of her that Lakunle detests Baroka and vice-versa and it is shewho the victim of Sadiku's flippancy and unguardedness. She is an advocate of tradition. By insisting on the payment of brideprice on her head, she promotes Ilujinle customs and culture. It is the way the llujinle people will look at her should she marry without the bride price that is more important to her than Lakunle's view of modernity She insists: "Just pay the price" (Page. 7) and a little later she repeats herself: "Then pay the price" The issue of the bride price, the arrogance arising out of the publication of her pictures in "a book"and her desire to go and mock Baroka show that she is quite vain and hollow. Her simple-mindedness seems to have encouraged Lakunle's own shallowness. Both of them are 'romantic' figures, though coming from opposite directions. Thus Lakunlesees Sidi, not in who she is, but in how he would like her to be.Sidi is practically focused. She complains that Lakunle is full of words as if she expects something more than that. Hence, Baroka easily wins her over to his side when he shows her the "strange machine" and its "long levers" and how it will be used to enhance her publicity,
Analysis of Lakunle's Character
About Sadiku
Sadiku is Baroka's first wife. She is very loyal to her husband and spends her time acting as a matchmaker to find him new brides and concubines. Her devotion isn't blind and unwavering, however. When Baroka confides in Sadiku that his manhood is gone, she's thrilled to have "scotched" her husband and scored a victory for all women over men. Since Sadiku is Baroka’s first wife, traditional values give her a degree of power, and she fears progress and modernity.
Sadiku Role
Inherited by Baroka from his late father, Okiki, Sadiku is certainly older than her new husband. She must beabout seventy years or even older since Baroka is sixty-two. Being Baroka's father's last wife, Sadiku turns out to be the Bale's head wife.She is the Bale's confidante and knows quite much about her husband, information which is not available to the younger wives. From her active participation in wooing Sidi for Baroka, it is likely she had played similar roles in the marriage of the other wives. Apparently, she is loyal to Baroka but when she divulges the secret disaster of his sexual inadequacy she is keen to raise the women's flag in their sex war victory, having recorded in her thinking another victim of the so-called weaker sex. Sadiku had not known that Baroka was using her tendency for flippancy to advertize his purportedsexual failure. She thus becomes aquick communication tool meant tobroadcast Baroka's assumed sexual incompetence meant to reach acertain target. That target is Sidi, who upon hearing about the Bale's misfortune quickly wants to visit himfor purposes of mockery. Sadiku's other reason for spreading the news of her husband's hard luck may have been to discourage Sidi since the maneyeing her is not fit to have her. It must be appreciated that new wives tend to cause problems for the head wife who may be currently enjoying stability in the control of members of the harem. Before she releases the news of the Bale's ill-luck, she onceasked Sidi, "Do you know what it is tobe the Bale's last wife') (p. 20). It is likely that at this point she (Sadiku) is trying to cultivate Sidi's friendship, guessing she could be Baroka's nextwife, after Ailatu. However, Sidi turns down the request for a dinner With the Bale, and mocks his agedness and pooh-poohs the idea of his wanting to add her to his women's quarters. This same invitation Sidi re-accepts when she decides to go and mock her traditional ruler after her images had found their way into "a book." Sadiku's attachment to traditional religion unassailable. In moments of hardship or distress, she invokes the name of Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder. For instance, on Page.23, Sadiku beck ons on Sango twice: "May Sango/restore your wits" and... or so Sango be my witness.. " Sadiku blesses Sidi as the latter kneels down at her (Sadiku's) feet: "linvoke the fertile gods./They will staywith you" (p. 64). She is a bit fetish,dancing and smiling at the same time the "victory dance," displaying as she does so, the carved image of the so-called victim. Sadiku is on the aggressive side. She aggressively turns on Lakunle on the mere speculation that Sidi must have been radicalized in her thinking by him. Shes creams at the school teacher: "Have you driven the poor girl mad at last? Such rubbish... I will beat your head for this!" (Page. 21). In spite of Lakunles brilliance and youthfulness, Sadiku is not keen about his notion of civilization. She is not keen to cook insaucepans; her native intelligence is sufficient for her. She brazenly tells Lakunle that he cannot measure up to Sidi: "Fancy a thing like you actually wanting a girl like that, all to your little self' (p. 36). Although she might not have been part of the grand plan to win Sidi for Baroka, when the worst happens to her, Sadiku's consolation comes in these words: "Too late for prayers. Cheer up. It happens to the best of us" (p. 59).
SIGNIFICANCE
Sadiku organizes Baroka's harem. She is also good at satisfying Baroka's sybaritism by pulling his armpit hair just as Ailatu, his 'reigning' wife, also does. She has the character weakness of being flippant. Aware of this character defect, Baroka gives her the task of spreading the misinformation that he has lost his virility. Expectedly she succeeds in letting the intended target to be apprised of the disinformation. She seems to be Baroka's go-betweenin matters of acquiring new wives. We say this because Sadiku is given the responsibility of wooing Sidi for the Bale. If her first husband, Okiki, had a childat sixty-seven, it is a wonder how she would hastily advertize that her husband at sixty-two has beende feated by women folk and go out to mark it with a "victory dance." Age and experience should have prepared her to wait awhile. Her behaviour then borders on frivolity. Her hatred of Lakunle for standing on the way of Sidi from choosing her husband shows loyalty to the Bale. it thus seems that her revelation of her husband's sexual weakness based on what he says may not have been seen by her as a serious matter or a breach of trust. Out of the major characters, Sadiku is given to prosaic rather than poetic constructions by the playwright. This may be interpreted to mean that shehad not been expected to be a seriousor lofty character. She does not seemto have been linguistically on the same pedestal as Baroka, Lakunle or Sidi.