Time and change have contributed to the gradual extinction of some beliefs that the African cultures held strongly. But some still hang on the thread, while others have persisted and stood insurmountable by foreign cultures, especially the taboos. Two Gone…Still Counting remains in the latter, because such beliefs and superstitions, as seen in the novel, have endured to this time. Amani, the heroine of the novel, struggles with fate far beyond her reach to conquer!
Despite the faith that moves her to conquer her fate, her efforts ends in futility! And the jinx that troubles her seem to hide on the horizon of life. Her story throughout the novel can best be captured in stanza four of Karen Connelly’s poem “The Darkness Above Mandalay,” from her collection, “THE BORDERS SURROUNDS US,” (2OOO); the first and second lines of that stanza reads thus: “…She wants to say love
but the word is spoiled…”
Amani’s journey to get love returns the dark side of falling in love! ‘Mother is supreme,’ is a fact that Africans do not compromise. Mrs. Bashorun, Amani’s mother tries to see the end of the curse, by going to perform the ritual that breaks the jinx, which is going naked to the market to placate for her mistake. She dies later, and , Amani is alone to find answers to her own puzzle. But Mrs. Bashorun’s persistence to see that the curse is broken, shows a mother’s love for her child. It shows there are mothers who will go anywhere to secure the future of their children!
Again, the betrayal by uncle Kolade and his wife Mama Ibeji, is an eye-opener once again to the fact that, we should not give pass-marks to anyone until they prove they deserve to be trusted. This why it’s so risky to leave one’s children to others, without confirming the angel or beast that sits in them. The culture of taking over the properties that should go to the bereft, is brought to fore by the Writer. And, I believe this is what literature should correct! It’s in the society, and this inhumane culture is seen as normal, but this one is left to the government to debate what is just!
Furthermore, beliefs one holds sternly could happen, since life itself is spiritual, and man is a spirit person. Mr. Bashorun, Amani’s father, cautions his wife not to believe the myth and its consequence, but it’s too late, because Amani begins to have nightmares that suggests her believe in the myth has taken root.
In the same collection by Karen Connelly, “THE BORDERS SURROUNDS US,” in the poem titled “The Dancer,” the first two lines on the fourth stanza reads thus: “…In our becoming
we are broken…”
After the death of their parents, Areef(Amani’s only brother), and Amani, follows the path life chooses for them. They struggle to exist and adjust to a life now too strange for them. I almost thought the two gone were their parents, because those two (Mr. and Mrs. Bashorun) does not make it into the future of the story! But Areef and Amani are still counting through broken times, and hoping with long-suffering, and they adjust to survive.
Conclusively, although the myth and its curse persists, and takes Amani’s husbands, Oyindamola has weaved a prose that reveals another part life brings…Especially a mystery that surrounds one’s existence; and a myth a people may have not compromised, but with this project, she has given the world a reason to keep counting on her, to bring more stories that will release memories that will not be gone!
Dike Dyke Williams.
facebook.com/dikedykewilliams.
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