A liminal state

While overall, the highly allegorical nature of the novel made it, in my opinion, difficult to have a clear grasp on what was happening, Tutuola did a very good job (once again, in my opinion) of representing the liminality of colonization and the achievement of Nigerian Independence. ("Liminal" can be thought of as a threshold, or a transitional state that allows for passage from one state to the other, or allows for a "crossing of" some sort of threshold. You're in a sort of "limbo", if you will)
As discussed in class today, If we read the book to be a critique or observation of Nigeria achieving independence, we as readers are able to see the predicament face by the people as to what course of action to take next. Tutuola's main character/narrator spends most of his life in the "bush of ghosts" which in-and-of itself is a liminal place, because it is in between reality and the end of reality. For most of the novel, readers have been immersed in this fantastical, "here/not here" world. Then in the end, when the main character is back in reality, he is still stuck between the want to go back to the bush world, and staying in the present with his family. The readers are left wondering what he will do at the end. While the smaller narratives that make up the larger piece may not always be clear, the ambiguous nature of the novel, the setting of the story in a liminal state and the ending all combine to demonstrate to the reader that the idea/act of colonization and achieving independence is itself complex and contains elements of real and fantastical. I believe Tutuola's writings indicate that the issue is not clear cut and is made up of "gray areas".