Allah is Not Obligedįati believes she is cursed that she is going to die a terrible death as a retribution for what she has done to the little twins. Fati would be forever hunted by gnamas, the gnamas of little twins. (Gnamas are the shadows, the avenging spirits of the dead.) Gnamas like that never forgive. The gnamas of twins, especially when they’re still kids, are terrifying. So, when Fati, a child-soldier, hurts little twins, it is hastily concluded that she is done for. It is assumed that when one hurts twins, their gnamas or spirits would avenge them and haunt the hurter. There is also the superstition about the dreadful and vengeful spirits of twins. She drags herself on her buttocks in familiar putrid smell which has now become an inseparable part of her existence. And Bafitini has to live with an infected rotting leg for the rest of her life. They secretly smuggle her out of the hospital before the slated day of operation. But her people are advised against this medical solution by an equally ignorant and superstitious hospital official. She would have been healed if her faulted leg had been amputated. Between her and a healthy life lies a simple medical cure. The reason for her rotting leg is steeped in superstition. She is even rumoured to derive power from the wound. She is alleged of being a powerful witch who licks her wound in spirit to stay fresh. At another, she is held responsible for her rotting leg. At some point in time, she is said to have been cursed. Her leg, for example, generates a lot of myths. Her condition basically worsened because of superstitions. There are many instances of superstition in the novel.īirahima’s mother, Bafitini (otherwise known as Maman) is a victim of superstitions. We see in the novel the validation of speculations, conspiracy theories, and myths as truths. SuperstitionĪllah is Not Obliged is replete with superstitions. Notable themes in Allah is Not Obliged include superstition, war, power instability, religion manipulation, juvenile corruption, child-soldier phenomenon, cannibalism, and distorted fatalism. Here examined are some of the themes in the novel. It relates the role each actor in the Sierra Leonean and Liberian crises played, identifying “greed”, “lust for power”, “perpetuation in power”, “tribalism”, and “exploitation” as the causes of these needless wars. The novel, written by Ahmadou Kourouma, projects the ruination of a country’s socio-economic life, the ruination of childhood innocence, the tearing away of families, and other devastating effects of war. Allah is Not Obliged is a socio-political novel that reflects the internal strifes in two West African countries.
0 kommentar(er)
