1/27/14
• Bellwork: Respond to the
following in at least a paragraph
(5-7 sentences) (page 30 of INB)
•
Nigerian-born playwright Tess
Onwueme once said that “writing
is a virtual conversation with the
world”. To what extent do you
agree with this statement and
how does any literature you have
read support or contradict this?
• Agenda:
• Bellwork
– Notes: Introduction to the
The Broken Calabash
(page 31)
– REMINDER: Journals for
Broken Calabash are due
on WEDNESDAY.
– Do them on pages
23,25,27,29 with
corresponding left sides of
your choice.
The Broken Calabash – Background Info
• Written by Tess Onwueme
– Nigerian playwright who
teaches at the University of
Wisconsin
– Considers herself an activist
who uses theater as a
medium to write about ‘untold
stories’
• Focuses on bringing
attention to issues affecting
black women and young
people in post-colonial
societies
– Issues such as gender,
race, poverty, politics,
identity, tradition, family
Play Overview
• The Broken Calabash is one of Onwueme’s first
plays, performed in 1984 in Nigeria.
• The play focuses on the clash between
modernity and traditional African systems.
– The main character, Ona, is an only daughter of the
chief of a rural Nigerian Igbo village.
– She goes off to the university and is exposed to
western and modern ideas, which clash with her
father’s traditional values.
The conflict
• Since Ona is the only child and female, her
family expects her to follow the tradition of being
an Idegbe.
– An idegbe is the name of a only female child who is
expected to continue her father’s line by either
marrying another woman (who then will have children
by her father) or produce a child by another man who
will carry her father’s name and wealth, keeping it in
the family.
• As Ona has been exposed to a university of
education, she believes in individualism and free
will; she believes she has a choice, but her
father does not.
The Culture of The Broken
Calabash
• The play takes place in Nigeria; there are four
major ethnic groups: the Igbo, the Hausa, the
Yoruba, and the Fulani.
– Identity was wrapped up in ethnic or tribal affiliation,
but since the 60’s, there has been a shift into Nigerian
identity, after liberation from the British.
• Nigeria was colonized by the British, which
resulted in colonial wars; as a result, there is a
significant tension between traditional “Nigerian”
and western ideas.
Above: A calabash gourd, which is dried out
and used as a food and drink container. This
is the object that is broken in the play.
Right: Palm wine, commonly stored in
calabashes in Nigeria. A calabash of palm
wine is a ceremonial gift at a traditional Igbo
engagement ceremony. Palm wine and palm
oil are important commodities traditionally
controlled by males.
Right: Nzu, a white chalk,
used in ritual
Below: New Yam festival, a
traditional Igbo annual
harvest festival. In the play,
all of the marriageable
women declare their
eligibility for marriage at the
festival of Ine, a period of
ritual cleansing before the
New Yam festival.
Style
• Ritual, dance and African proverbs are
woven into the play.
– Like the novel Things Fall Apart, this play
includes western linguistic forms and literary
traditions along with Igbo words, phrases,
proverbs, tales and other oral and communal
aspects of African storytelling.
• The play is organized into “movements”
rather than acts or scenes.
• Stage directions are ample and fairly
specific. This is common in other plays by
Onwueme.
Themes to think about
• How do western educational traditions alter the
lives of young people, especially women, living
in traditional societies?
• What is a woman’s place within a community
cemented in traditional values and customs?
• Is it possible to compromise and make informed
choices while respecting traditions and
customs?
• How do family dynamics change in a changing
world?