what are the themes of the lion and the jewel?
THEMES OF THE LION AND THE JEWEL
How The Lion Get The Jewel
Theme Analysis
The "lion" refers to Baroka and as the text goes, where as Sadiku, Baroka's most senior wife, tells Sidi that "the Lion sent me" (p. 19), Sidi is already aware of who "the lion" is. The "jewel"on the other hand, is a term used by Lakunle to reply to those who call him a fool for his actions, being an educated person where as the villagers are not learned. When Sidi mocks him for his learning, Lakunle asks, "For that, what is a jewel to pigs?" (Page. 3) In that case, he may have considered himself a "jewel" since he is the most educated in Ilujinle at the time. The other and more viable meaning of"jewel" refers to Sidi, "the jewel of llujinle" (p. 21), as Sidi addresses herself. She is the most beautiful girl in the village. The "jewel" referring to Sidi is more plausible considering that her beauty has become a magazine matter; the news of her beauty has travelled far and near. While Lakunle boasts on his having education, Sidi 's boast is on her beauty. The word "jewel" in normal parlance has more todo with beauty than with education or learning. Between Sidi (Jewel) and Baroka (Lion), there is a notion that the former is more important than the latter.A look at the magazine images shows that where as Sidi is well-placed in"the book," Baroka's image is near the village latrine. With this location, Sidi is convinced that she is more important than Baroka. Her rushing to Baroka as soon as she learns that the latter is sexually deflated is because she wants the old man's devaluation to be complete; she thinks only herself will be reckoned with in the village. Lakunle is not considered amatch since the villagers think he is crazy: "the whole world knows the mad man/ of Ilujinle, who calls himselfa teacher!" (p. 3)Thus the balance of prominence is in Sidi's favour. However, when the lion places cunning and trickery at his service, he shows that beauty is notthe most-prized quality in the world.Baroka deceives Sadiku into believing that he has become sexually degraded. She goes out to announcethis as a victory for womanhood and by this flippancy, Sidi re-accepts Baroka's invitation tovisit him with the intention to find outif Sadiku's declaration is true or not.As an Igbo proverb says, the monkey that wants to see everything receives the bullet shot on his forehead. It is Baroka's wish to have his next wife and this he achieves by grabbing yet another through craftiness
The Struggle Between Tradition And Modernity (TRADITION VS MODERNITY)
Theme Analysis
The play is also about the struggle between tradition and modernity. Baroka represents tradition while Lakunle depicts modern consciousness. Sidi seems to beneutral; she is not deeply traditional since it is not clear to readers what she abhors about Baroka apart from her recognition that he (Baroka) was everybody's superior until Sidi's images are publicized in "the book."Thus she is neither traditional nor Christian. All the allusion Lakunle makes with respect to the Bible does not touch her nor does Sidi show awareness. For example, when Lakunle mixes the names of women of faith in the Bible with Bathsheba, David's concubine, she does not object to being called his Bathsheba, along with Ruth, Rachel and Esther (Page 20). When the Traveller brings light to Ilujinle, Baroka does not acknowledge what he is meant to achieve. Similarly, tradition fights off the intruder, the surveyor who supervises the construction of the railroad. Baroka who represents tradition achieves this by bribing the white surveyor. The rail tracks are then moved to and through other neighbouring towns. This way Baroka blocks civilization which should have come to Ilujinle. Lakunle is naturally one we think should have inherited the mantle of the new. But he merely stops at naming the elements of modernity, rather than their concretized forms. His notion of modernity is superficial — eating with forks and knives, eating on the table, waltz dancing, kissing and such stuff. Yet Sidi describes kissing as "sounclean," a claim which Lakunle does not contradict except to say that "it is the way of civilized romance" (Page 9). In the end, tradition wins modernity when Baroka proves that the modern and tradition can subsistside by side and that he and Sidi canrepresent this new-found synergy."The old must flow into the new, Sidi,/Not blind itself or stand foolishly/Apart" (Page 54). Thus when Baroka was set sout to defeat Lakunle, he (Baroka) sets out to defeat Lakunle, he (Baroka) uses the school teacher's nuance of language to do that: "The school teacher/And I must learn one from the other" (Page. 54).
MISUSE OF POWER
Theme Analysis
Many African leaders misuse the power entrusted to them for their own selfish interests.
Baroka uses his power to win love from Sidi. First he orders his men to beat Lakunle and accuse him falsely that he tried to steal the village maidenhead. Baroka uses his power and position to marry as many wives as he wishes. He says “it is five full months since last I took a five..” page. From that time he starts hunting Sidi by using invitation for supper and tricks but it is revealed that whenever a woman accepts his invitation for supper he ends up becoming either his wife or concubine. This is misuse of power and authority.
Baroka uses his power to humiliate his wives. He uses Sadiku to seduce brides for him. He also humiliates his youngest wife Ailatu by ordering her to pluck his armpit hair. Unfortunately she pulls the hair painfully and Baroka expels her from the house. This is also the misuse of power.
Vanity
Theme Analysis
At the beginning of the play, Sidi is established as a headstrong and beautiful young woman. Sidi appears confident from the start, but after observing herself from the point of view of an outsider to her village, her confidence transforms into conceit.When Sidi sees her photographs in the outsider’s magazine, she becomes fixated on her appearance and her potential power as the jewel of Ilujinle. Sidi grows reckless, distracted by her deepening vanity and blinded by hubris. At first, Sidi tests her newfound superiority on Lakunle, but she is not satisfied by her emotional victory over the hapless schoolteacher; to prove herself as a powerful force, she seeks to dominate Baroka, the Bale of the village, after learning of his desire to marry her. Sidi’s excessive pride becomes her downfall when she challenges Baroka and attempts to play a humiliating trick on him. When Sidi’s attempt to disrespect Baroka backfires, he teaches her a lesson by violent means, reinforcing to Sidi that her place in a traditionally patriarchal society is one of a submissive wife rather than an outspoken and opinionated young woman. Baroka rapes her as punishment for her transgression, and her decision to marry him afterward suggests that she accepts him as her superior. Sadiku also becomes arrogant when Baroka lies to her about his impotence. Baroka flatters Sadiku, implying to her that she is the most important and respected of all his wives. Baroka’s craftiness gives Sadiku more confidence in her position as first wife. She becomes so self-assured in her role that she seeks to take advantage of her position and use the secret of Baroka’s allegedly lost manhood to mock him. Sadiku, like Sidi, is punished for her arrogance when her true nature is exposed; both women fall from elevated positions, learning by the end of the play that any attempt to outsmart the Bale will prove futile.
Change
Theme Analysis
Both Baroka and Lakunle are concerned about change. .So sure is Lakunle about change that he wants Sidi and Ilujinle to embrace it. Lakunle simply believes that the new is good. In fact, he seems to embody it already by having a school and preaching it,and even challenging what is against it. For instance, so fixated is the school teacher about change that he refuses to pay any bride price on Sidi. To him, to do so is to "buy a heifer off the market stall./You'd be my chattel,my mere property" (Page. 8). His understanding of change is more or less superficial as he seems to see change as the use of forks and knives while eating with breakable plates sitting at table rather than on the floor, etc. He wants to walk with Sidi "side by side and arm in arm/Just like the Lagos couples I have seen" (Page. 9).His love endearments like kissing is his idea of "civilized romance" even as it is a "strange un healthy mouthing" to Sidi who considers it some kind of rudeness. Lakunle's pursuit of changeand the way he goes about it have made the villagers think there is something wrong with him: "Away with you. The village says you're mad,/And I begin to understand" (Page 10).
On the other hand, Baroka speaks of change, too. His is an unhurried change. Thus when the white surveyorseeks to bring change via the rail lines, he bribes him off. He is not against progress as such "only its nature/which makes all roof sand faces look the same" (Page. 52). Baroka is averse to a 'reckless broom" which seeks to sweep away anything old: "In these years to come, we must leave/Virgin plots of lives, rich decay" (Page 52). His concept of change is the old blending with the new, and he seems see this in the manner he wants a union between him and Sidi. Sidi may have bought his idea since she does not question the printing of her image and Baroka's ona stamp. In other words, both Baroka and Sidi view change from a perspective of personal benefit. Baroka's suggestion softens Sidi's mind towards him while Sidi's image, like the ones in the magazine, will introduce her to a wider Moreover, Sidi is flattered when Baroka tells her, "I hope you will not think it too great/A burden to carry the country's mail/All on your comeliness"(Page. 51).
The Young And The Old
Theme Analysis
Lakunle ordinarily is meant to represent the youth. He is said to be twenty-three years old. He puts on modern dressing although it is undersized physically and metaphorically. He wears blanco-white tennis shoes. In other words, he seeks to be modern, and shows later that he is the advocate of the new. Lakunle is not fully modern. For instance, we are told that his English suit is "threadbare' though it is not "ragged"; it is clean but not ironed. Similarly, strange is his tie which is done in a very small knot, "disappearing beneath a shiny black waist-coat" (Page 1). This funny dressing makes youth and modernity suspicious.
Being a traditional ruler, no doubt Baroka's dressing must have been spot on, commanding attention. The greetings of 'Kabiyesi,' 'Baba,' etc, must have been because he is well-dressed and has his aura about him. The description of Baroka's bedroom also matches his dignity. At his age of sixty-two, he wears baggy trousers, calf-length. We are also told that his bedroom is rich, "covered in animal skins and rugs" (p. 26). An old man who should not have anything todo with science and technology has a machine with a long lever. Thus when he introduces the subject of modernity and civilization, Baroka is already practical about it. There is a "strange machine" around to demonstrate what he is talking about. On the other hand, and in spite of his youthfulness, Lakunle is merely theoretical and verbose. He mentions Ibadan and Lagos and refers to Saro women. Where Baroka is measured inthe manner he spoke to Sidi, probably using only the Yoruba language which both understand very well, Lakunle uses high falutin English words as 'excommunicated, archaic... retrogressive... unpalatable" (Page 7) to one whom we are not told is Western educated. We are not even sure she is a Christian, but Lakunle speaks to her about the way "educated men" and "Christians" kiss their wives. Thus we have in the play a young man who operates at the mundane, artificial level and an old man who in spite of his age is even more practically modern than the young man, which is why he (Baroka) easily wins Sidi's hand in marriage. Lakunle's approach is textbook, some what amusing, which is why Sidi berates him: "out of my way, book-nourished shrimp" (Page.63). She wonders what he (Lakunle)would look like at sixty: "You'll be tenyears dead! In fact, you'll not survive your honeymoon" (Page 64). Any wonderin popular parlance, age is said to bea number as one could be old and still contemporary.
POSITION OF WOMEN IN THE SOCIETY
Women are portrayed as tools for pleasure.
Women are used by men to satisfy their sexual pleasures. In a way, Baroka’s father married many wives for the same reason. Baroka has many wives and concubines but he is not satisfied as he wants to marry Sidi for the same. Lakunle wonders how Baroka manages to satisfy them all and says that maybe he keeps a timetable as he does at school. In her own words Sadiku convinces Sidi to marry Baroka on the ground that “will you be his sweetest princess, soothing him on weary nights?”
Women are portrayed as people who cannot keep secret.
A woman is portrayed as a person who cannot keep secrets. Knowing this Baroka uses a trick by telling Sadiku that his manhood has ended for almost a week before. He believes that Sadiku won’t keep it to herself but will leak the information to Sidi and that is exactly what happens.
Women are portrayed as betrayers.
Sadiku betrays Baroka by revealing the secret she was told to keep to herself. Baroker warns her not to parade her shame before the world. page 30. Notwithstanding the warning, she tells the secret to Sidi and admits her betrayal by saying “Baroka is no child you know, he will know I have betrayed him” page 35
Women are portrayed as hypocrites.
Both Sadiku and Sidi are hypocrites. Sadiku pretends to sympathise with Baroka when she learns that he has lost his manhood and exclaims “the gods forbid”, “the Gods must have mercy yet.” However the same woman goes to celebrate the victory of women over men and asks Sidi to go and pretend to be repentant and mock the old man. She says “Use your bashful looks and be truly repentant. Goad him my child, torment him until he weeps for shame.” 35
Women are portrayed as primitive and illiterate.
Despite the fact that Bride price is a custom that undermines women dignity and robs them the opportunity to marry men of their choices, Sadiku and Sidi still support it strongly. Moreover, Women are seen as primitive when Sadiku is used by Baroka to seduce girls for him even those she addresses as “my child”.
Women are portrayed as traditionalists.
Not only do women believe in some outdated traditions like bride price, but they are lso confortable living in a polygamous family and being inherited as widows from one chief to another. Sadiku convinces Sidi to marry Baroka since being the last wife when Baroka dies she will have the privilege of being inherited by the new bale. They also support a custom that a girl must marry a man who sleeps with her for the first time even if it was not willingly as did Baroka.
Women are portrayed as people with no true love.
Both Sadiku and Sidi are portrayed as people with no true love in different levels. Sidi has no sincere love to Lakunle despite all the love and affections that Lakunle tried to show her. She still places importance on the bride price and not on mutual love. Sadiku has no sincere love to Baroka that’s why she feels free to seduce girls for him. Furthermore when she hears the tragedy that has befallen her husband she celebrates instead of mourning with him.
Women are portrayed as people with no stand
Baroka believes that it is just a pattern for women to refuse men’s proposal at first but later they agree. So he believes that Sidi’s refusal is just following the same pattern. And that is exactly what happens. Baroka says “It follows the pattern – a firm refusal at the start. Why will she not?” page 27. Finally Sidi goes to Baroka’s bedroom, sleeps with him and finally marries him despite all the bad things she had spoken about him.
Language Words and Trickery
Theme Analysis
The Lion and the Jewel is filled with instances of trickery, particularly surrounding language. Language is the tool by which characters fool one another, create false impressions of superiority, and convince others to support their goals. Thus, language is shown to be a source of power. However, the play ultimately suggests that language is most powerful when used without lies or misdirection, and when it is applied in service of concrete, achievable goals.
Lakunle delights in using big words and flowery language to try to impress Sidi and other villagers. While his grasp of the English language makes him feel powerful, in reality it only makes him look like a fool. For example, when Lakunle describes the custom of paying a bride price as "excommunicated" or "redundant," it becomes obvious to the play’s audience that Lakunle doesn't have a complete grasp of English, despite how much he loves and flaunts the language. He uses complicated words because he knows that they are beyond the understanding of his fellow villagers. However, though he expects such language to be impressive, Sidi tells Lakunle scornfully that his words "always sound the same/and make no meaning." This suggests that even if Sidi isn't specifically aware that Lakunle is misusing words, Lakunle's performance still exposes him for the fool he is, and both the characters and the audience laugh at him for it. Lakunle’s attempts to woo Sidi by using language she doesn't understand are just one example of characters engaging in trickery to try to achieve their goals. Sadiku and Sidi try to humiliate Baroka by tricking him into believing Sidi has accepted his offer of marriage, Baroka himself tricks both women into believing his manhood is gone, and he tricks Sidi into marrying him. All of these tricks are carried out through the use of language; they're verbal tricks rather than physical tricks. Though the success of the tricks varies from character to character, their verbal nature is indicative of the power of language and words to control others.
The play does, however, draw a distinction between tricks that are meant to spur action (like marriage or modernization of the village), and tricks that are meant to create an emotional reaction, such as humiliation. Sadiku and Sidi's attempt to humiliate Baroka by exposing his supposed inability to perform sexually (an emotional trick) is ultimately unsuccessful and makes both women look like fools in the end. Similarly, while one of Lakunle's goals was to convince Sidi to marry him, he seems far more interested in making himself look educated and modern. These tricks with purely emotional goals only work to make the tricksters themselves look silly. Baroka, on the other hand, has concrete goals and he uses a combination of trickery and telling the truth to achieve them. Much of what Baroka tells Sidi seems to be truthful: he doesn't hate progress and, in fact, he wishes to help spur progress by developing a postal system for the village. By using the truth to his advantage and setting comparatively reasonable and concrete, achievable goals (marriage to Sidi and modernization in moderation), Baroka is able to wield actual power over others
Between vanity and shrewdness
Theme Analysis
Sidi is vain, and has been made to believe so much in her beauty. It could not have been to this level but for the appearance Of her images in "the book." With this appearance, Sidi speaks vaingloriously, almost to an abusive point. Invited to supper by Sadiku on behalf of Baroka, Sidi declines: "Tell your lord that Sidi does not sup With/Married men" (p. 23).Before then she had asked why Baroka had not bestow "his gift/Before my face was lauded to the world" (p. 21). She asserts that "Baroka merely seeks to raise his manhood/Above my beauty/He seeks new fame." Sidi does not reject Baroka's invitation without making conceited and derogatory remarks about her Bale: "He's old. I never knew till now,/He was that Old" (p. 22). She further describes his face: "his face is like a leather piecer/Torn rudely from the saddle of his horse" (Page. 22).Sadiku is shocked and we are told that "Sadiku gasps." Sidi comparesher beauty and age with Baroka's and remarks: am young and brimming; heis spent,/l am the twinkle of a jewel/But he is the third-quarters of a lion!"(Page. 23) However, after denigrating the Bale and placing her personality above his, Sidi still feels he is superior not just to one woman but to a number of them since he is apolygamist. Thus when she learnsthat he is sexually weak, Sidi is keen to establish the truth or otherwise of Sadiku's claim on behalf of her lord. Sadiku's willingness to spread the uncertified information about her lord's virility is a bit selfish rather than serving as an instrument to a certain plot. Lack of potency on the part of Baroka will mean that no othernew wives will come to disturb the emotional balance in the family. This is probably Sadiku's concern.
At any rate, aware of what he (the Bale) wants to achieve and who Sadiku is with her tongue, Baroka had to float the disinformation, conscious that the wrong information will get to the target, Sidi. In the process of trying to celebrate her lord's sexual failure, Sadiku enables Sidi to get to know about it. Sidi who had turned downBaroka's invitation to attend a supperat his house is now so ready to acceptit. It is from here that we may begin to observe Baroka's shrewdness. He is a man given to craftiness and slyness.He knows that Sidi is so full of herself, a woman who places her beauty and new-found popularity, even outside Ilujinle, far more important than anything else. With such knowledge, he works on Sidi's tendencies. He is a man who knows his own weaknesses and equally works on them. For instance, Lakunle gives the impression that he (Baroka)is an enemy of modernity or novelty.When he meets Sidi, he is able to prove to her that he (Baroka) is not opposed to civilization, and even goes on to fabricate a machine with long levers. This machine is capable of making stamps on which Sidi's imageand Baroka's will appear. This is the kind of thing that Sidi wants to hear,not eating with forks and knives or about Saro women who bathe in gold. In the end, shrewdness and craftiness win over arrogance and unbridled love for materials and glossy things.