Tuesday 23 November 2010

The Bonfire

Picture from Google
Questions to ponder about:

1) Describe the villagers - what do they believe in?
- What happens to Alee and how does the story end?
2) Characterise Nedam, why is he killed?
3) Characterise the narrator, and describe the role the narrator has been given.
4) Comment on the title.
5) What is the main conflict in the story?
6) Could you please google Ken Saro-Wiwa? Is there any information about him which we can use to understand the story in an altered way?

8 comments:

  1. 1) Describe the villagers - what do they believe in?
    The villagers believe in that death is the reminder of the ultimate and unwelcome end for all.
    They believe that they can go across the river to the wise priest in Ko, and see when people die and who is responsible for it, and he or she has to swear an oath to establish his or her innocent.
    Once in a while, the town indulges in a great witch-hunt, because they believe that it preempts all evil and evildoers and cleanses the town in a most welcome manner, so the people can go about their daily chores without the horrifying fear of death.
    They think that death is divided into three categories.
    Heart attacks, ruptured kidneys, livers, pneumonia and senility are happily unknown in Dukana, because they think that it is a culprit/man or women who are to blame.

    - What happens to Alee and how does the story end?
    Alee was a man who lived faraway and has now died. Alee got a befitting burial because people couldn’t afford to be absent for fear that he or she would be presumed to have wished the deceased ill. His burial turned into a carnival in Dukana, because Alee was a ‘big man’.
    The story ends with that the youth of Dukana rose and pounced upon Nedam. They seized him by his throat so that he could neither cry nor speak, and dragged him away towards his house. They threw him in and locked the door and struck a match and set the house on fire, and it became a big bonfire.
    2) Characterize Nedam, why is he killed?
    ?? Will be back later with this answer
    3) Characterise the narrator, and describe the role the narrator has been given.
    The narrator is telling the story from his sight of view and describing it very carefully. The narrator has been giving the role of one of the persons in the story.
    4) Comment on the title.
    The stories title “The bonfire” is describing how the story ends.
    5) What is the main conflict in the story?
    I think there are a lot of conflicts in this story. Ambition, racism, social class and believes.
    6) Could you please google Ken Saro-Wiwa? Is there any information about him which we can use to understand the story in an altered way?
    http://remembersarowiwa.com/background/the-life-of-ken-saro-wiwa/
    This is a very good page. You can read all about Ken saro-Wima life and activism.

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  2. 1. The villagers seem to be a people much bound by superstition. They react strongly to death and we're told that it is "harrowing", yet they seem to endorse it. They've put it into three different categories. They take the opportunities death offers to go see the wise priests either in Ko or further away. They believe in the oaths they take, and we're told that some people have "met their death by such oaths". They indulge in witch hunts which they believe will cleanse the town of evil. There is no doubt that death plays a major role to those people, but in a spiritual way. The text says that no one bothered to find out how each person died, which implies that they don't want to find out - those various health conditions are happily unknown to them. They are happy to believe that those deaths were caused by a culprit of some sort.

    As for Alee then he is someone who went to school and moved away. He was in the army and died of diabetes. He was seen as a "big man" who sent money home to his mother, so they could build a brick house.

    2. I really think there are two sides to this: There is the side the villagers see and the side our narrator see. The basic description we're given of his physical features includes him being thin as a rake, ugly, born with two teeth. We're also told he's quiet, he doesn't speak a lot.

    The villagers view him as a wicked man loaded to the teeth with dangerous things, tricks and what not, but the narrator describes him very differently: He tells us about a man who doesn't care for school, a man who cares for farming rather than fishing, someone who loves to watch things grow and see the results of his work. He put a lot of effort into his farm, and he did not want to grow food crops, but things he could sell. He listen to the radio and uses the information he obtains to make his farm prosper. He is reticent, but the narrator portrays him as a rather interesting man.

    I think we have to do with primal fear. Nedam is the opposite of the villagers: He's a man with a dream, a visionary and he does things differently to achieve those things, even if it goes against normal behaviour in the village. This is a dangerous thing to do in a society where people believe in superstitions as strong as those mentioned here. He falls outside of the pattern and that makes him an easy scapegoat. He does not fit in and longs for another life than the one he can have in the village.

    He becomes a scapegoat, because he is different. His people are emotional and he is rational. They believe in their superstitions and he believes in his own future and his own work. Envy quite possibly also has something to do with it as it is a word that is mentioned multiple times in the story, suggesting that this is a society where envy prospers.

    3. The narrator is, like Maria wrote, telling this story from his own point of view and he is telling the story as he remembers the incidents and the way they affected each other, but he does not judge either side. He is observing it all although he is a person in the story as well.

    4. As for the title I think there is two things to it: One thing is the "bonfire" they make when they kill Nedam, but I also think it could be a metaphor for all the emotions going on in Dukana. Then someone lits a match (the young man shouting) and all of them are unleashed into a raging mob. They are burning with rage, envy, blame.

    5. The main conflict, I think, is the one between the villagers with their religion and Nedam playing the role of the person who wants more. He is given the choice of staying in his place and behave like the rest of them or pay the price (rumours first, people thinking badly of him, later with his life).

    I'll be leaving number 6 for now. Gotta find something to eat!

    - Melanie

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  3. 1. see Maria and Melanie.

    Alee is a man who leaves the village to seek his fortune. But we do not know many facts about him. He sends his mother money but she is illiterate. What we know about Alee is hearsay. Nevertheless he is a big (respected) man. His mother is afraid that he will be killed because Dukana is full of evil and envy. He dies of diabetes, but Dukana thinks someone is to be held responsible.

    Nedam on the other hand, has always been considered an evil man, because he does not fit the profile of the typical Dukana man. But in fact, he is a normal hardworking intelligent man, who just minds his own business. Because he is so different from the group he is held responsible for the death of Alee. Scapegoat, as Melanie writes.

    I think the narrator is trying to tell the story from both sides. He tells us what the villagers think of Nedam and vice versa, without getting involved in the 'dispute', taking sides. (Page 91: ....Did I not think so? I refused to commit myself.) However, we do get an insight of how he feels about Nedam He finds Nedam extremely interesting and is very proud of him. (p.92 I was very proud of him, and I wished there were more like him in our town.) He is a member of the community, but he does not participate in the burning of Nedam.

    A bonfire is a large outdoor fire, either for burning waste or for a party. So, villagers may consider burning Nedam as burning waste and at the same time as a celebration for Alee's death (as it is a custom to party when a 'big man' dies).

    I think the conflict is that on the one hand there is the superstitious people of Dukana, with a system of co-operative labour and subsistence economy. They look up to a man who lives far away and who they technically do not now. On the other hand there is Nedam, who they think is an evil man. Yet he is probably the most intelligent of them all and could have brought wealth to the whole village with his oil palms. But because it is so long from their way of thinking, they do not realise this and kill him instead.

    KSW was an activist who fought for the Ogoni people and their homeland. He was an innocent man who was executed by the Nigerian government, (influenced by Shell?) Just like Nedam he was killed because he believed in something else and did not follow the mainstream.

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  4. Comment on question 6:

    “The Bonfire” can be interpreted as a metaphor of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s (1941 – 1995) life, and as a creepy presentiment of his own sudden death. “The Bonfire” is written the same year he dies, 1995. Ken Saro-Wiwa (KSW) is a Nigerian, and a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria. He fought for the rights of the Ogoni people, and as a consequence he was hanged by the military government. Nedam is not a personification of KSW, but a personification of the Ogoni people and their lack of rights because they are an ethnic minority. Maybe the painful death of Nedam was meant as a metaphor of the death of the Ogoni people, as a result of exploitation and pollution. Nevertheless the death of Nedam also becomes a prediction of KSW’s own death. This opens up for a new interpretation, which suggests that the youth of Dukana is a metaphor of the military government, who coldblooded kills an opponent to their own interests.

    Martin

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  5. I agree with Martin, that Ken Saro-Wiwa and Nedam is the same person. Ken Saro-Wiwa has created his own life, like Nedam created his own, without help. Ken Saro-Wiwa is a scapegoat (like Melanie says), he is being accused for a crime, which he has nothing to do with.

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  6. I agree with most of the comments stated here.
    The villagers are a superstititous lot who are easily led. They listen to the preists across the river, rather then step back and think rationally.
    Alle dies due to complications from his diabetes, but the villagers say that it must be someone's fault? I really don't get this but there is a quote that sums them up, pg 91 line 26 " They were a superstitious, rumour mongering lot, who truly did not understand much. Their limitations were many and to live among them in their way, was to drag oneself down". Nedam operated outside of the village and as Etoia says was a visionary with ideas of his own. He became a scapegoat for Alee'a death, maybe because he was different and didn't get involved with the other villagers, which is absurd but the villagers are superstitious, very envious and narrow minded.
    It is called the bonfire because this is the conclusion of the story and maybe sums up the fiery nature of the villagers. (In England we have bonfire night on November 5th, which celebrates the discovery of a plot, where a man called Guy Fawkes, got caught wanting to blow up parliment with gunpowder. There are lots of fireworks and a 'Guy' is burnt on a bonfire, although he was actually hanged!)
    The narrator is objective and unbiased in his views. I actually think that he admires Nedam.
    The main conflict in the story is between progress and culture, new ideas against old ones, prejudice against someone who is different and fear of the unknown.
    Finally, I agree with Martin & Luina about Ken Saro- Wiwa.

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  7. I just want to say that I am more than impressed with your findings. However, don’t you think that the narrator is a coward? He is just standing there watching the execution of Nedam. How can you be unbiased when experiencing this?

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