Final thoughts of Aké

With parents willing to provide an atmosphere for their child's exploration, Wole was able to have these life experiences. Because Wole was capable of doing so, he was also responsible for being personable while engaging - a disposition of absolute equality amongst those that he encountered, whether inside or outside the home. Having a plethora of visitors entering and leaving the household may have been a huge motive for Wole's involvement with the women's movement. Having many guests in the home, and having "Wild Christian" and "Essay" as parents, allowed Wole to piece together the problems - a comprehension of the things that are permissible and those that are variable to the community.

This movement would represent triumph to the community - family, relatives, friends, house visitors, Nigeria - which helped him to be more conscious of social and political conditions. I think it ultimately helped Wole to come to the conclusion that there was a division between the people (especially the peasants), the king, and the British government. Therefore, if Wole was hopeful to fulfilling equality, then joining the movement was inevitable.

On a different note -

Soyinka's play with the Yoruba language is quite interesting. We haven't talked much about the complexity of language and the inclusion of Yoruba (for this novel) but as discussed beforehand, African language and their expressions are immersed into English writing for certain elements - local culture, clothing, songs, foods, dignitaries - whatever they may be.

In Aké, dialogues, songs, and phrases are translated but, in several, there is no explanation. In that case, the spontaneity of translation offers a different level, or amount, of importance to the idea or word being read. Additionally, I believe it extends to something natural and consciously created. While some are translated, others are simply untranslatable because, or would, if translated into English (in this case) lose emotional content. Wole, then, has only given a piece of each person's real identity because, in reality, they speak another language or speak their native tongue as well as English (and simply not just English). If we are as perceptive as we perceive ourselves to be then we would've learned the key word of Aké in it's true language: omo