The Dilemma of a Ghost by Ama Ata Aidoo Play Analysis
Title: The Dilemma of a Ghost
Originally published: 1964
Author: Ama Ata Aidoo
Original language:
INTRODUCTION
The play is about cultural difference of two people who share common historical background. Both people are blacks who originated from Africa.
One of them is Ato Yawson ,a graduate Ghanaian who respects the traditional and customs, and the other is Eulalie Rush an educated black American woman who respect the western culture.She was born and grew in America since her parents were taken from Africa by force as slaves during the slave trade.
Ato Yawson leaves Ghana for further studies in America where he meets Eulalie Rush.Ato and Eulalie fall in love and they agree to marry though they have different cultural backgrounds. When they come back in Africa,Ato’s parent and relatives do not accept that marriage which they consider unapproved by the customs.
CHARACTERS
ATO YAWSON
>He is the main character in this pay
>He is a young Ghananian graduate
>He is a betrayer-He betrays his society especially his mother who toiled a lot to make sure that he gets education
>He is jealous-Ato told Eulalie that he does not want to have the children yet because he can’t afford seeing Eulalie paying greater attention to the children than to him.
>He is a first born to Eskom
>He is an agent of change
>Heis the husband of Eulalie
EULALIE RUSH
>She is an Afro-American graduate
>She is aware of her African identity-Born in America, she still knows that her origin is Africa.
>She is very extravagant when it comes to expenditure.
>She uses abusive language-Eulalie insulting Ato and his people by calling them bad names like bastards, uncivilized,stupid and narrow minded and says their land is rotten.This is the reason Ato loses his temper and slaps her.She says:
“Do you compare these bastards,these stupid narrow-minded
savages with us? Do you dare……?”(pg 48)
>She is a cigarette smoker and a heavy drunkard
>She is the victim of cultural changes in her marriage
>She is rigid to change,She tells Ato;
“I have been drinking in spite of what your people say.Who marries
me,you or your gaddam people?” (pg47)
>She is Ato’s wife
ESIKOM
>She is Ato’s and Monka’s brother.
>Has a loving and caring heart
>She is poor-She lives a poor life in a house with a leaking loof
>She I very hard working
>She is Sympathetic.
>She is traditionalist-She believes in some outdated customs like choosing a wife for her son. She went for Yah Mensa to ask his daughter to marry his son(pg 22).She also sells the sheep to pay the bride price for him.
>She is illiterate. She has never been to school that’s why she cannot even pronounce the word Eulalie and pronounces it as Hurere (pg 51)
NANA
>She is Ato’s grandmother
>She is a traditionalist who is able to maintain all the tradition and customs
>She is Esikom’s mother
>She is talkative-she likes complaining whenever things are not going well.
MONKA
>She is Ato’s sister
>She is ignorant about European ways of life
>She is atradionalist like her mother
PETU
>He is Ato’s elder uncle
>He is kind
>He is a traditionalist
OTHER CHARACTERS
>Akyere-Ato’s elder aunt
>Mansa-ato’s younger aunt
>Akroma-Ato’s young uncle
LANGUAGE USE,FIGURES OF SPEECH
SARCASM-The use of bitter or wounding words
>Nana says;
“My grandson has brought home an offspring of slaves”
SYMBOLISM
>The snails and medicine-symbolize African traditions
>Cigarette-Symbolizes western culture
>Ato-symbolise-Western and African traditions
>Eulalie-Symbolizes African traditions
“I hear she swallows money as her does
HYPERBOLE
>The second woman says;
corn”
PERSONIFICATION
>The second woman says “Her food never knows wood fire”
“Her water must be colder as a hill stone”
SIMILE
>The second woman says;
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
1. AFRICAN TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS
Love and forced marriage
>In Africa it is not a wrong decision if a mother makes a choice of a wife for her son, or choice of husband for her daughter. Eskom does the same for her son before discovering that her son is married.
Marriage and child birth
>The whole society expresses shock at the revelation that Ato and his wife deliberately delay childbirth.Ato’s people held a meeting to discuss why Eulalie is not becoming pregnant and they decide to bring along a herbal concoction(unusual mixture of things especially drinks or medicines)
>Petu concludes; “When two people marry everyone expects them to
have children… ”(pg 39)
Traditional food
>Eating snails in this society is one of their customs and it is considered an honorable food suitable for guests. Eulalie who came from a different culture finds it difficult to eat the snails and she throws away the snails her mother-in-law brings them to asked Eulalie; “But how can you throw them away just like that? Haven’t you seen snails before?”(pg 32)
Wife beating
>Many men have been beating their wives as a way of silencing them and making them submissive to their desires.Ato beats his wife because she reffered to his peole as uncivilized and they have no understanding.
Superstition
>Superstition beliefs are very common among African societies.Eulalie and Ato have decided to use birth control and have children when they want them.But this society believes there is something wrong with Eulalie’s womb so she must be purified to be able to conceive. Ato says;
“Uncle, did you say you are going to use the medicine to wash my
wife’s stomach?”(pg43) Pg 43
2. CONFLICTS
The conflict between Ato and Eulalie
>The source of this conflict is when Ato beats her wife because she referred to his people as uncivilized.
The conflict between Ato and his mother(Eskom)
>The source of this conflict is when Ato unexpected changed behavior and finds himself in a dilemma whether to side with his wife or his mother.
Intrapersonal conflict within Ato.
>Ato struggles to balance relationship between Eulalie,his mother and himself but he fails because the cultural root of each part pull the relationship further apart
>Ato becomes frustrated to the point that he ends up beating his wife who then disappear from home
Intrapersonal conflict within Eulalie.
>Eulalie finds herself in the middle of dilemma because she did not understand the cultural differences between the Africans in Africa and the Africans in America.
DILEMMA
>Is a situation in which someone finds difficult to make choice between almost similar options
>Ato and Eulalie find themselves in a dilemma whether to follow African or American culture after their marriage
PROTEST
>Ato’s people protest against;
Eulalie smoking habit
Eulalie’s behavior of drinking beer
Eulalie’s behavior of spending a lot of money buying machine iv)Aulalie’s behavior of throwing away snails
Ato’s behavior /decision to marry stranger while a girl has already be choosen for him.
>Eulalie protests against;
Ato’s way of living She thinks that it is a primitive way of life for them to eat snail
Traditional medicine they brought her so that he can conceive. 5.POVERTY
>Eskom is the one of character who portrayed as poor by the way she struggled to get the school fees to pay for Ato.Her roof leaks more than before.She says “My knees are callous with bending before the rich……..Apart from the lonely journeys I made to the unsympathetic rich,how often did I weep before your uncles and great uncles while everyone complained that my one son’s education was ruining our home”(pg 35)
POSITION OF WOMEN
A woman is portrayed as a hardworking and responsible person
>Ato’s mother is shown as a hardworking mother who did all it takes to finance her son’s education
A woman is portrayed as a slave
>She does all the domestic chores without the help of other members.She has to sweep the compound, cook as well as fetching water. The second woman complains;
“ My sister you are not alone.But who would have thought that I, whose house is teeming with children… ”(pg11)
A woman is portraying as a caring person
>When Eskom hears that Ato and his wife have arrived from the city, she brings them the traditional food saying
A woman is portrayed as a symbol of immorality
>Eulalie smokes cigarette and drinks alcohol contrary to what is expected of a woman in this society.
A woman is portrayed as a sympathetic person
>When the first and the second women hear the noise from Eskom’s compound they feel pity thinking that the old woman (Nana) is dead.
>Also when Eulalie comes back after being slapped by Ato,Esikom rushes to support and comfort her despite the fact that she did not like her behavior.
DISAPOINTMENT
Ato is disappointed because he had expected to live happy life with the girl he brought from America but when the ply end we see it to be tragedy.
Eulalie had expected a happy life however almost everything turns against and makes her disappointed.
Ato’s people disappointed with their son because Ato marries a woman with different culture background against their wish
MESSAGE
- Wife beating is not a solution to family conflicts. It should be discarded.
- Educated people should use their education to solve the problems of their people
- Change does not take place overnight, one should be given time to adjust
- We should not look down for women who are barren. Children are gifts from God.
- We should know our identity and be proud of the same no matter where we are.