June 10, 2022
Themes
Few of the themes are Colonial Oppression, Quest for Leadership Position, Betrayal and Greed, Gender Inequality.
1. Theme of Colonial Oppression: the theme of colonialism is the main motivation for the existence of the drama. The drama takes us back to the period where Africa still under the bondage of invaders. The drama portrayed the negative side of colonialism where the white masters in charge of affairs were wayward. Undermining Africa values and rulers, imposition of tax, unnecessary feudalism; are few examples of colonial oppression in the drama. King Gbanya was called a dog, he was flogged and fined to pay cattle's, where Queen Yoko (during her reign) was stripped of her landed possessions, while people of Mende Chiefdom pay taxes.
2. Theme of Leadership Quest: The pleasure attached to leadership is always glaring that it always attracts unhealthy rivalries. In the drama, Governor Rowe doest joke with his leadership position and never joked with anything that can undermine it. In order to reign as a queen, Yoko sacrificed her joy of motherhood. Lambio designed multiple evil plot in other to seat on the throne.
3. Theme of Inequality: this is evident both gender-wise and racial-wise. Gender inequality has turned to a cankerworm that has eaten deep into africa; as seen in the drama "Let Me Die Alone", the male characters are superior to the female. Ndapi beats his wife (Jilo) for delay in meal preparation, King Gbanya claims women including Yoko good for nothing than bedroom pleasure, other female characters in the drama were either dancers or mere maids. On the side of racial inequality, the actions of Rowe was crystal clear. Queen of England and Governor Samuel Rowe was superior to Africans and the African cultures.
4. Theme of Greed and Betrayal: Hardly can these be taken away from tragic drama. Greediness will lead to betrayal and betrayal will pave way for violence. Lambio was greedy by not been satisfied with the royal affiliation he enjoyed, he was hungry for the throne. In order to satisfy his greed, he betrayed Gbanya's trust and further betrayed his blood sister Queen Yoko. While Lambio remained the kingpin of atrocious act against leadership in Mende, he dragged Musa (the seer) into his partnership because Musa's secrets of evil deeds were in his fingertips.
5. Theme of Violence: characters such as Rowe, Yoko, Gbanya, Musa, Lamboi, Ndapi were violent. Rowe violent against the likes of Gbanya, Musa and Lamboi violent against the throne, Yoko violent against other chiefdoms in order to amass influence, Ndapi violent against his wife. Few evidence of violence in the drama are flogging, slapping, stabbing, murdering, etc.
READ ALSO: [3 Theme of Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole]
