From Historical Reality to Didactic Metaphor: Socio-political Re-awakening and Self Illumination as Praxis in Emeka Nwabueze’s the Dragon’s Funeral

Abstract

This paper analytically looks at Emeka Nwabueze’s[1] attempt at a dramatic representation of a major historical reality, widely referred to as the Aba Women’s Riot, which occurred during colonial Nigeria. The primary interest is to examine the contexts of some layers of pertinent didactic metaphors embedded in the play, The Dragon’s Funeral, which among other perspectives are describable as an attempt at fostering communal socio-political re-awakening and an individuated self-illumination. Specifically, this analysis assesses the aesthetics of Nwabueze’s creative utilization of this historical reality as a source material for drama creation. Essentially, our discussion will involve a critical appraisal of the texture of Nwabueze’s characterization and his framing of language as a means of creating valid stratum of didactic metaphors in the play, The Dragon’s Funeral. Thematically, this study seeks to illuminate on the notion that more often than not, that the degree of sufficiency or the degree of insufficiency in an application of deft political manoeuvrings and diplomatic sagacity by a person (particularly a politician) in public speaking as Nwabueze reflects in The Dragon’s Funeral, can either blight or advance such a person’s social standing as well as his career. Theoretically, this contextualization sets out to elaborate on the supposition that the sufficiency or otherwise of effective language usage by an individual can contribute significantly towards the defining of that individual’s persona and public outlook in combination with some relevant subsisting factors. Therefore, to evaluate the selected play, this study adopts ‘content analyses’ as the preferred analytical approach.

Key words: Characterization, Didactic, History, Language, Metaphor, and Source Material

[1]Emeka Nwabueze is an internationally renowned Nigerian scholar, a professor of Theatre Studies, a playwright, a critic and an Africologist. He has spent most of his academic life both as an undergraduate and an academic at the University of Nigeria, Nuskka, located in south-east Nigeria. This undoubtedly has contributed in no small measure in entrenching his understanding of Nigeria, particularly the Igbo, his central literary subject and terrain. His plays include The Dragon’s Funeral, When the Arrow Rebounds, (a dramatized recreation of Chinua Achebe’s novel Arrow of God), Echoes of Madness, Spokesman for the Oracle, Fate of a Maiden, A Parliament of Vultures, Guardian of the Cosmos, A Dance of the Dead and a children’s storybook entitled Agaba and the Giant Creature. These works exhibit Nwabueze’s rich resource and deep understanding of the various dimensions and praxis to Nigerian Studies, as regards to her political, historical, sociological realities and journey.