Perspective

In class on Wednesday we spent a considerable amount of time talking about Wole's Child/Adult perspective. I have to admit that it really comes of as unlikely that the young Wole Soyinka was really anything like the little boy from the book. Perhaps he did get into these adventures that he writes about, but no one has memories from events that took place before they were three years old. It just doesn't really happen. Of course, that doesn't necessarily take away from the novel. Maybe Wole grew up hearing these stories, just like all of our parents have funny stories that they tell about their children. The more times you hear a story the more real it seems to you. Heck, maybe he made the stories up. Either way, the purpose of the novel is not to be a perfect retelling of Soyinka's life, it is supposed to be an anti-colonialism novel, and so, thats the way that these passages of questionable source should be looked at.

I also think its similar to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, as far as the adult/child perspective question goes. Its more about how something is said than what actually happens sometimes. For instance, there is a scene in TKaM in which the main character, a young girl, demands that her father fire their maid. Remember, this is depression era Alabama, and money is hard to come by. It is an obvious childish reaction, andLee still manages to take her adult voice out of the situation, so you can see the girls point of view. This is similar to Wole's talks with Osiki about the Egungun. The conversation is ridiculous, but that isn't whats really important, what is important in the scene is the window we get into the understanding of a child's mind, and how these connections are established.