The son of lawino literary analysis in the poem song of lawino racism reared its ugly head in a rather ridiculous form, some people might argue that any form of racism is ridiculous, which is very understandable, but in this particular situation in my opinion it is worst than the segregation. song of lawino and song of ocol � page mergeformat �1� okot p'bitek worked as anthropologist, poet, novelist an even footballer which led him to go and being educated in england on law and anthropology and later literature. Below is an essay on song of lawino from anti essays, your source for research papers, essays, and term paper examples. A study guide cummings guides home..contact this site type of work setting characters point of view plot summary interpretation themes conflicts, tone climax what about lucy? focus on the eyes figures of speech vocabulary questions, essay topics biography of lawrence complete free text study guide prepared by michael j. The horse dealer's daughter is a short story centering on the psychological effects of changing times on people in a small town rural england. the story first appeared in the april 1922 issue of the english review, a literary magazine published in london. The action takes place in the early 1920's in and around a home at the edge of a small english town. The landscape is dreary and cheerless. charactersmabel pervin: twenty seven year old daughter of a deceased horse dealer.

Birth Order And Personality Essay

He expects to get a job with the steward of a neighboring estate after he marries the steward's daughter. Lawrence wrote the story in third person point of view, structuring the story as follows:first part of the story: omniscient third person point of view focusing on all the characters. Second part of the story: omniscient third person point of view from the perspective of mabel pervin. In analyzing each of the techniques and devices okot p'bitek uses in song of lawino and song of ocol in this chapter, we fulfil one of the requirements of our analysis. In this chapter one, we deal with the summary of the poems, the characters and characterization, the point of view, the context of the poems, the imagery, form and interpretation, the mood, the theme, and finally the philosophy of life of the author together song of lawino and song ocol contributes a heated debate over the future of africa.

In graphic metaphor and with grammatical intensity, the author presents the conflict between modern civilization and old traditions. As far as our concern is the image of woman in okot p' bitek's song of lawino and song ocol, our much attention will focus on song of lawino. First published in 1966in luo then after translated into other languages, including english. Song of lawino has become one of the most widely read literary works originating from sub saharan africa that addresses the issues facing a liberated africa.

The poem poses a question: what kind of liberation should africa take on? should it honor its traditions, or should it adapt the european values that were already set in place during colonialism? okot p'bitek addresses this question by telling the story of lawino, a woman whose husband, ocol, throws her out of their home and brings home a more europeanized woman as a wife. The poem itself is separated in different sections or chapters, each one detailing the social problems facing lawino and ocol in their marriage, their differences and value systems. Ocol despises black people and their traditional ways and has adopted europeans values. Because he works in the government, he wants to modernize africa in those values.

Lawino disagrees and implores her husband to stop hating his own people: 171 he says black people are primitive and their ways are utterly harmful they are ignorant, poor and diseased. In this chapter, lawino asserts that ocol is rude and abusive both to her and other people: 171 my husband abuses me together with my parents he says terrible things about my mother and i am so ashamed. Here we note that the attack starts as a fairly straight forward factual account of lawino's husband's preference for a modern girl. Then to enable lawino to advance her argument forcefully, okot gives her the gift of wit and employs acoli poetic forms to produce a pungent work of satire.

She first displays her wit forcefully at the beginning of chapter two, where she lawino makes a mockery of modern notions of beauty, including the use of make up and cosmetics, by comparing her rival, clementine, the girl of modern ways, to what in traditional acoli society must be regarded as the ugliest and most weird of all creatures. That which is considered most beautiful by admires of european culture is made to appear absurd and grotesque. We quote a long passage to show how she builds up her argument: 171 ocol is no longer in love with he is in love with a modern girl the name of the beautiful one that has dipped its mouth in blood tina dusts powder on her face and it looks so pale .

In the second stanza the tone changes dramatically to a contemptuous one: 171 brother, when you see clementine! 187 then the criticism gathers momentum and builds up to a crescendo as we get horrible image after horrible image in the process of which clementine is disfigured and transformed from 171 the beautiful one into a veritable 187 guinea fowl 187. But that is not the end.before lawino is done, she must demonstrate to us how she, lawino, is possessed by strange ghosts which make if necessary for a whole ritual to be performed before she can recover: provokes the ghosts in my head it is then necessary to fetch a goat the ghost dance drum must sound and my peace restored. Some of her comments are little more than scandal mongering for example when she first attacks clementine, the climax of her abuse is: 171 perhaps she has aborted many! perhaps she has thrown her twins in the pit latrine! 187 sol, p.39. In this same chapter we notice that lawino is not only witty, she also versatile, conjuring up all kinds of images to bring her going home. This talent is coupled with a sense of humour and an ability to admit her weaknesses in a clever way, as in the following passage in which she cunning confesses that she is jealous of the woman she ostensibly despises: we all suffer from a little jealousy.

Like the ghosts that bring fevers but when you see the beautiful woman you feel a little pity for her. By the end of this section, lawino turns on her attacks and exposes their own immorality and hypocrisy. These attacks on western ways are one of the reasons for the popular success of the poem. Okot is making a number of very serious points through lawino's mockery of westernized ways.

Here, lawino shows ways in which western things can be dirty, stupid or hypocritical. At the same time she shows how traditional ways of life allow her to express herself fully and freely as a woman. If lawino has learnt one way of life, why should she change? why should the massai wear trousers? the words like 171 witch 187 , 171 kaffirs 187 and 171 sorcerers 187 that ocol throws at her don't answer that question. But lawino does not believe that the two ways of life are equally valid for africans, and neither does okotp'bitek. The poet has used the proverb in closing this second chapter which is an acoli proverb: 171 the pumpkin in the old homestead must not be uprooted 187 sol, p.41.

To uproot pumpkins, even when you are moving to a new homestead, is simple wanton destruction. In this proverb, then, lawino is not asking ocol to cling to everything in his past, but rather not to destroy things for the sake of destroying them. In other words, what lawino has to say would have been better expressed by another acoli proverb doko abila ni eye meni your first wife is your mother sol,p.13.to mean that you cannot abandon your first pot, for your first pot is always the best one. In chapter three, lawino praises the cultural dances of her people: 171 i cannot dance the rumba, the beautiful dances of acoli. Accoding to p'bitek, the 171 dirty gossip 187 of colonialists condemned african dances because of the immorality of nakedness.

Lawino does not waste her time on a reasoned and balanced defence of dancing naked. She presents the openness, liveliness and healthiness of acoli dance positively, without apology: 171 when the drums are throbbing you dance with vigour and health you dance naughtily with pride you compete, you insult, you provoke you challenge all 187 , sol, p.42. Notice that the dramatic reversal of values is not limited to cosmetic and make up.

It is only a prelude to a more generalized attack on european social and cultural values which go against traditional codes of behaviour. Imported forms of dancing, for example, result in immoral behaviour when each man dances with a woman who is not his wife.then, lawino goes to attack: shamelessly, they hold each other they cannot breathe 187 sol, p.44. Western dances are immoral because people embrace in public and dance with anyone, even close relatives said p'bitek. Apart from being immoral, their kissing and dancing are seen as grotesquely ugly: 171 you kiss her on the cheek as white people do. The fourth chapter details when lawino was a young woman and how ocol once wooed and won her.while she remembers ocol `s wooing of her and the beauty of her home, lawino's voice takes on a note of nostalgia: waving in a gentle breeze.