Use of Mythology in ‘Swamp Dwellers’

             
In African Literature we can see the tint of the fighting spirit as well as the wish to return to the roots and tradition. As they were having cruel and bloody past; they have hardly developed the understanding of literature. In the literature the author talks about very small and basic matters such as revolution, day to day life, rituals etc. In the s play ‘The Swamp Dwellers’, Wole Soyinka talks abbot the urban and village life and compare and contrast of it. 
“nothing rescues man from loss of self within this abyss but a titanic resolution of the will.”
- Wole Soyinka

Myths & literature:

In ancient classical tradition of drama, the plots were based on rituals. But it was never performed on stage. Myths are the stories which never die through ages and rooted the society with the ancient culture of the time and place. In literature they are woven in such a way that creates a different texture and gives pleasure of belongingness to the reader. It’s also helpful to define the social background in which the text has been emerged and how the society looks back to the past. 
               From the point of view of certain theologians, "myth is a necessary way of transcending reality" (Iloanusi 1984, 6). From this religious perspective, such theologians assert that myth entails saying "something deeper than would appear on the surface and that this something deeper cannot be exhausted or explained" (Rogerson 1974, 177-178). From another perspective, B. K. Malinowski maintains that myth "is not an explanation to satisfy a scientific interest, but a narrative resurrection of primeval reality, told to satisfy deep religious needs, moral cravings, social submissions, assertions and even practical requirements of man" (1926, 18). The view might be supportive of the theory enunciated in                   The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Frazer [1922] 1978). In this study, J. G. Frazer affirms that many myths once had their counterpart in magic. Thus, for Frazer, myth is a re-enactment which uses figurative language to effect certain significant past rituals in order to reproduce the original efficacy of such rituals for present reality. And yet Isidore Okpewho strongly suggests that for better insight into the nature and function of myth, "we should take seriously the view that myth is literature and therefore a matter of aesthetic experience and the imagination"

Myth in Soyinka’s Work:

           To explain how African theatre can re-enact African myth, Soyinka has written several essays dealing with the mythic sources of Yoruba ritual. According to Soyinka's interpretation, Yoruba culture separates the cosmos into the human world and the world of the deities. At the same time, the human world itself contains manifestations of the ancestors, the living, and the unborn. Soyinka believes this experience differs significantly from the Western idea that individuals orient themselves in their world through a sense of time as past, present, and future. In the Yoruba world, it is not the individual's sense of time that counts, but rather a community's collective sense that it has complex ties to the ancestral community and to the unborn community. Myths are important for Soyinka in so far as it increases understanding of or given dramatic forces o real human concerns and conflicts.
          The Swamp Dwellers focuses the struggle between the old and the new ways of life in Africa. It also gives us a picture of the cohesion that existed between the individual and southern Nigerian society. The conflict between tradition and modernity is also reflected in the play. The play mirrors the socio-cultural pattern, the pang and the sufferings of the swamp dwellers and underlines the need for absorbing new ideas. The struggle between human beings and unfavourable forces of nature is also captured in the play. Soyinka presents us the picture of modern Africa where the wind of change started blowing. Soyinka's messiahs fail as revolutionaries or as heroes who can lead their people out of chaos. Rather they succumb to it. Their failure is compounded by the fact that they struggle alone as individuals to steer their destiny out of tragedy. In this regard, Soyinka has effectively interpreted the tragic reality of our contemporary world.
 Here the text stands on the pillar of the myths related to Ogun, Obatala and Yoruba.

Myth of Ogun:

                              Ogun is the God of Iron. He holds Iron blades to unite Gods with humanity. At the end he started to kill his own people and in drunken state creating chaos and lost him completely. Here one of the brothers Igwezo, is the representater of the God Ogun.as he is the only Igwezu had blade in his hand in the play. Obatala is Ogun;’s friend. As blind man is the friend of Igwezu. When Ogun wants to explore the Earthfor living Obatala Has helped him. Same way the land is unseen due to Swamp. There is a draught and not a single bite of food is available. When Igwezu wants to toil the land for grain, Blind man offer the help. 
                           There was a King Sango. He was dethroned by his brother. His wife too, left him After realisation he left his palace as looser man. With him he has his servent. But in the jungle he has hanged himself. Igvazo is the man who is the symbol of failed youth of Yoruba community. He connects the tradition with the modern colonized youth who strive for new lives in the city and also wants to be connected with the roots.  The two polars tries to meet.                Igwezu is the man returned to village empty handed.   Same way in the end when Igwezu has left the story, it is believed that he has lost his courage and commit suicide. He told Blind man that – 

“the swallows find their nest again when the cold in over”

               Igwezu has lost his wife. His wife started living with his brother Awuchike.  He came back to the village full of swamp. We can compare it with Jungle or forest.A draught is there in the village. So feeling failure Igwezu left in the end.   When Igwezu walks off, the Beggar explains that he will fulfill the function of Sango's one loyal companion: “I shall be here to give account” 
             Eldred Jones observes that human life presents constant challenges and constant choices, and man has to thread his way through all the contradictory alternatives. Soyinka prefers the personality of the Yoruba God, Ogun, to express this thought. Ogun has always lived a life amidst the challenges and the risks of wrong choices. It is after learning from our experiences that we reach true wisdom. 

The Yoruba Myth:

It is very famous myth of Yoruba community about the twins. The mother of twins is considered as earthly Goddess Eden. The birth of twins can be connected with the God Ibeji. The mother is respected and twins are symbol of fertility. 
In the play there is a chacharacter named Alu who gave birth to twins name Awuchike and Igwezu. She is strong and perfect woman in the play as his husband Makuri used to say to her-

“There wasn't a woman anywhere more faithful than you, Alu; I never had a moment of worry in the whole of my life”

Here notiable thing is that for Soyinka, “nothing rescues man (ancestral, living or unborn) from loss of self within this abyss but a titanic resolution of the will”
It is dreadful to say that one of the twins is died, if it is died. It is belief that twin has linked the another twin. So instead of saying that they used to say that the twin went to market. And they kept a wooden doll of that twin in the house. 

Here when Awuchike went to the city and never come back, Alu as frighten if he was died. But she never speaks about it. The constant absence of Awuchike makes him present in the play throughout. Igwezu once said that he is died for us…But Alu don’t want to say it but she says – “I had another son before the mire drew him into the depths” . Althought the brothers are quite mature for effects of myth, Makuri and Alu has fear about it. 

The portrayal of tragedy on the stage is done through visual images and metaphor. The most striking tragic image is death. It could be a spiritual death, a physical death or an emotional or mental death. The causes of death may be many but the emotion that surges is one of grief and anguish. Whether it is living with the age-old meaningless traditions of the village or in the corrupted heartless city, it is the death of the spirit in modern times. “Is it of any earthly use to change one slough for another?” asks Igwezu. So the spiritual death and draught both are presented with myths. 

Myth of Obatala:

                   As Ogun is the God of Iron, Obatala is the God or creation. He has created human beings. Once he was drunk and created deformed shaped human beings. Blind Bagger is the character who overpowers his deformity and tried to help the villagers. He resembles the deformity and mistakes of ancient God. Obatala is known for two great acts. In the beginning, the earth was covered with water and swamp.
All the gods ignored the marshy earth, but Obatala went to the supreme god, Olorun  (also called Olodumare),24 and volunteered to drain the marsh and make solid land that could support life. Olorun agreed, and Obatala descended from heaven and made land. But there were as yet no people to live there. So Obatala took up his second great task. He reached into the wet clay and shaped the human form, into which Olorun breathed life. 
                 The Beggar focuses on the “miles” of swamp before the sea, where, as Makuri warns him, “you'll not find a human soul” (89), and he wishes, like Obatala, to “redeem […] the swamp […] to drain the filth away and make the land yield” (92). He is prevented only because Makuri and the Kadiye, deviating from the principles of Olorun himself.
          “Angel from the God,’ would probably correct words for this character. His is a character that eclipses the importance of the protagonist Igwezu as he is the guide and listener for Igwezu. For villagers he speaks on behalf of Igwezu. “My faith promises me and I knew that I was living but blind”. 
     But due to drunkard state the disability was there So Obatala has special blessings for these deformed human beings. Obatala have had Palm Vine then, but beggar refuses to have vine or any other alcoholic drink. 
       He is also the offspring’s of Obatala. When other god comes they asks for the drum and other things while Obatala never likes all. He is recognised from his white cloths only. Bagger also has used the white cloth to wear.

“He wears a long, tubular gown, white, which comes below his calf”

 It shows the purity and divinity. 

           Thus use of myh makes this work very much African in it’s tone. The Yoruba Myth is the famous Nigerian myth in Africa. The tradition containd in Myths – universal truths – is directly hits the civilised society. Return to the tradition and the quest of post colonisation period is seen it the work.