This article is published by the
Zamfara International Journal of Humanities.
Jonathan
Ogbu
Department
of English & Literature
Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State
jonathanogbu@fugusau.edu.ng 08038324566
Abstract: This
work takes a look at the Marxist theory as a tool, with a view to understanding
the works of Abubakar Gimba. This paper examines This Land of Ours from a
Marxist perspective through an analysis of themes, form, and all other poetic
devices. The work looks at Inner Rumblings by identifying the Marxist ideas of
the writer under study. This is done through the contents of the writer’s
published poems. The Luckacsian reflection Model of Marxism serves as a
suitable model for the paper. The findings show that Marxist ideas in the
diction and contents of the poems of Gimba abounds. It makes for a balance of
the assertion that Gimba is one of those writers of poetry that write with a
purpose which is to achieve conscientization, function as an advocate the the
less priviledged and oppressed people of the society amongst other functions as
spelt out in the poems..
Keywords:
Marxism, Lukacsian Reflection Model
INTRODUCTION
Writers,
the world over, have ideas or phenomena that influence their works in one way or
the other. The phenomena might not be mentioned or directly stated. At some
point in time, these writers might even be unconscious or rather, oblivious of the influence(s)
inherent in their works. Through the findings of this paper, it will be
established if Abubakar Gimba’s poetry conforms to the tenets of Marxism or if
Marxism as a theory influenced his writing of poetry. In writing this paper,
books, postulations, interviews, and reviews of scholars on the works of Gimba,
especially his poetry were consulted to understand the ideology of the writer
in our context. The poems were critically looked at and measured with the
tenets of Marxism to establish the facts for this paper.
This paper looks at Inner
Rumblings by identifying the Marxist ideas of the writer understudy,
through the contents of his published poetry collection. This require that we
look at Marxism as it relates to literature in general, and poetry, in
particular, by tracing the emergence of, and development of Marxist critical
theory and how it relates to literature and poetry in particular and how that
is reflected in Gimba’s poetry.
This paper adopts the Lukacs
Reflection model. The concept of Literature and the reality of the author or
writers’ society, matters a lot to this model. The basic thing to Lukacs is
that the works of art (literature) ought to express society in a reality so
vivid and clear. There is a correlation found to be very corresponding to the
idea that Gimba’s works depict.
The
Concept of “Marxism”
Marxist theory has a long and
complicated history. Although it is often thought of as a twentieth-century
phenomenon, partly because it was the basis of the Soviet Union’s socialist
system but it actually goes back to the thinking of Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883),
a nineteenth-century German philosopher and economist. The first announcement
of his traditional way of seeing things appeared in the German Ideology in
1845. According to Dobie,
Marx
argue that the means of production governs a society’s institution and beliefs,
and contended that history is progressing towards the eventual triumph of
communism. He introduced the concept of Dialectical Materialism, the theory
that history develops as a struggle between contradictions that are eventually
synthesized (2009: 86).
Marxism is a materialist philosophy,
one which insists on the primacy of material living conditions rather than
ideas or beliefs in the lives of human beings. It sees History as, (in Marx’s
words), “history of class struggle” (Goring etal., 2010)
- the history of struggle for control of
the material conditions upon which life rests.
When Marx met the political economist,
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) in Paris in 1844 and they discovered that they had
arrived at similar views independent of one another, they decided to
collaborate to explain the principles of communism (latter called Marxism) and
to organize an international movement. These ideas were expounded in the Communist
manifesto (1848), in which they identified class struggle as the driving
force behind the history and anticipated it would lead to a revolution, in
which the workers would overturn the capitalist, take control of means of
economic production, and abolish private property by turning it over to the
government to distribute fairly. With these events, class distinctions would
disappear. In the three-volume work; Das Capital (1867), Marx
argued that history is determined by economic conditions and he urged an end to
private ownership of public utilities, transportation, and means of production.
Despite the variations and additions that occurred in the century that followed,
on the whole, Marx’s writings still provide the theory of economics, sociology,
history, and politics called Marxism (Goring et al., 2010). Although
Marxism was not designed as a method of literary analysis, its principles were
applied to literature early on. Literature was linked to the philosophical
principles set down by Marx and Engels. According to Dobie (2009: 87) “It was
apparent that Marxism provided a new way of reading and understanding
Literature”.
Marxism
and Literature
Marx,
himself was extremely well-read in classical and contemporary literature, and
literary allusions as references abound in his writings. Several early Marxists
sought to apply Marx's ideas to Literature: both in terms of interpretation and
evaluations of existing literary works, and also in terms of advice to writers
and those with (or seeking) political power about what sort of Literature
should be encouraged. The active and interventionist nature of Marxism has
recurrently led to attempts to use literature for social-political ends; some
of these have gained a bad press in the reviews of history, as in the case of
socialist realism: others have received a more positive response as in the case
of Bertolt Brecht’s attempt to use the political theatre in the interest of
social revolution (Gorin et al., 2010).
The first major Marxist critic appeared outside Russia.
George Lukacs (1885-1971), a Hungarian critic, who is responsible for what has
become known as ‘Reflections.’ Named for the assumption that a text will
reflect the society that has produced it, the theory is based on the kind of
close reading advocated by Formalists. But it is practiced by the Reflections
to discover how characters and their relationship typify and reveal class
conflict, the socio-economic system, or the politics of the time and place. The
system is also known as ‘Vulgar Marxism.’ Many other Marxist versions were
established and developed but the version most suitable for the argument of
this paper is the Lukacian Reflections model.
Currently,
two of the best-known Marxist critics are Fredric Jameson and Terry Eagleton as
asserted by Dodie (2009). In some ways, Jameson and Eagleton are typical of
mixtures of schools in literary criticism today as asserted by Dobie (2009).
This does not mean that these two (the duo of Jameson and Eagleton) are the
only or major writers or critics of Marxism known today. There are many more
others that have not been mentioned in the course of this paper as this paper
is also an attempt at lending a voice to the established principles (of
Marxism).
Theoretical
Framework
This
paper is concerned more with the ideas of Marxism inherent in the poetry of
Abubakar Gimba and not just the theory of Marxism which is still very important
in driving the thrust of this paper.
According
to Isma’il (2008: 6), “Gimba’s writings indubitably reside in the domain of
critical discourse, and are thus open to various interpretations and
understanding.” In the course of reading through the poetry collections of
Abubakar Gimba, the idea of Marxism is inherently observed. The question
becomes how Marxist inclined or related are the poems, and in extension, how
Marxist is the author? This becomes the central idea that this paper seeks to
investigate and explore.
This paper tries to measure the poems
of Abubakar Gimba in the Marxist tradition. Marxism as a theory of literature
has been selected because Marxist ideas run through most of the poems in
Gimba’s collections. This paper is geared towards finding out those Marxist
ideas inherent in the words and ideas of Gimba’s poems. Through the poems, one
suspects that though Gimba has never openly declared himself a Marxist thinker,
that there are tendencies of Marxism in his poems which in turn informs us of
his Marxist orientation. In the case of the poetry of Abubakar Gimba, the
Lukacsian reflection model of Marxism is the most suitable form for the
analysis of the poems under consideration.
Lukacsian
Reflection Model and Literature
Marx and Engel’s postulation of the
concept of Marxism generally viewed literature not as works created in
accordance with timeless artistic criteria but as ‘products’ of economic
ideology determinants of specific to the era (Abrams 2005). Literature reflects
the idealism of Marxism, portraying the ideology of class stratification,
culture, and socio-economic tendencies which pervade human society. Therefore,
Literature seeks to integrate and explicate these class fractions, to show
equality between human beings or how members of the society have been able to
cope. This goes on to mean that, Marxism and literature are interpolated
concepts.
The critical temper is either directly
or indirectly expressed in several of Lukacs’ contributions to literature and
Marxism. For Lukacs, literary form is that which reflects reality in ‘the most
objective ways’. Consequently, literary ‘well-formedness,’ is perceived within
this model as the most accurate portrayal of the external reality that Marx
himself is reflected in the mind of man and translated into forms of thought’
(1976: 102). Forgas tells us that Lukacs’ idea of reflection transcends that simplistic
mirror-object relationship popularized by the mimetic model. This idea shows us
that Lukacs believes that ‘Literature, is a knowledge of reality and knowledge
is not a matter of making one-to-one correspondence between things in the world
and outside or ideas in the head’ (Forgas 1985: 139). Through this perspective,
we understand that literature subjects reality to a creative and form-giving
process that converts it to realism as postulated by Forgas (1985: 139). Lukacs
who was an international figure in the communist movement until he died in
1971, patterned his critical thoughts after Marx’s presumptions towards
creativity.
The model appears appropriate for our
scheme of analysis in this paper, as most African writings have the outlook of
realist literature. We shall therefore consider the poems of Abubakar Gimba as
the reflection of the author’s perceived society emanating from the contents of
poems.
In Gimba’s actual words from an
interview conducted by Fajenyo (2008), it seemed to be as if he had everything
spelled out from the standpoint of the thesis of this paper. His response to
the question posed to him, about his literary works elicited the following
answer which precipitated the quest for this paper. Gimba spoke like one who
has been influenced directly by Marxism of the Lukacs’ model . This section
shall be concluded on the assumption made by Gimba and after this; we delve
into the actual contents of the poems in the study to unravel the Marxist
tendencies inherent in them. The response is, as presented below from Gimba’s
actual words as captured by Onookome Okome (1992) in the publication of Ezekiel
Fajenyo (2008: 15).
One was
interested in reading diverse writings, books from different parts of the
world… First and foremost, I was interested in the milieu in which I lived at
some points in my life. Invariably, this has influenced me greatly and has
found its way into my writings
–
especially the novels. Essentially, I belong to this class- I feel them and so
I am bound to reflect on this milieu in which this class of people play out
their lives.
Most
of what to come out in the analysis of the poetry of Gimba tends to have a very
close relationship with the Marxist idea of Lukacs’ Reflections model as
observed in the above words of the writer.
Marxist
tendencies in This Land of Ours
The
main focus of this section in our discourse, is on the analysis of the poems,
contained in the collection; This Land of Ours. The poems will be
looked at, so as to point out the Marxist tendencies present in the
poems, under study here. The collection is made up of poems numbering up to
fifty, in total. All poems have their own idea and focus, but all, almost
pointing to one same thing, which is, man and his society.
The
collection, This Land of Ours, was presented to the public in 2001,
when Nigeria had spent two years in democracy after the interruptions
occasioned by successive military coups. Gimba tries to capture the political
stagnation, economic exploitation, ideological stupor, social degeneration and
the total neglect of the people. According to Fajenyo;
The
leaders in Africa have lost sense of direction, their
governance is ruthless, suppressive, corruption endowed and stagnating; ideas
are not allowed to grow, the land is one long stretch of waste, religious
darkness, injustice, seaming poverty, starvation, immorality, class schism and
neocolonialism, politics and politicians are a bundle of
contradictions and meaninglessness (2008:99).
The
poems further, in the same vein, treated and explored the themes of greed,
selfishness, impatience, intolerance, arrogance, pride, corruption and
oppression, as are all present in the poems. According to Fajenyo (2008:98),
“this new collection tells of a writer thoroughly conscious of what he seeks to
achieve with his medium.” This statement is a fact, judging from the poems in
the collection. Gimba is more and further ascertained not just a writer in
other genres but also a poet.
In an interview that preluded the
publication of This Land of Ours, Gimba made a pronouncement that
is seen and observed to directly point to his Marxist prospects as
observed below;
Let’s
be first … to stand up for victims before they even stand up for themselves…
let’s learn from history: History does not repeat itself. But our follies do.
Let’s champion the cause of change of the Nigerian society…. All
the
corruption and oppression that dwarfed us are a manifestation of these devilish
traits in us… (12).
This idea in Gimba as an advocate or
preacher to the people is evidently seen most in the first poem of this
collection under study. We see Gimba, in the poem titled ‘Key’ admonishing and
seeking to talk to the hearts of the people in his society.
Know
you not
That
in expectation and giving
Our
lot’s tied in a knot
In
life’s rough waters sailing
The poem reminds the people in the
society that man’s fate is tied up by destiny. That no man can exist alone, and
that man must be positive and optimistic so as to be able to make good impact
in life. Life is seen to be characterized by strong convictions and it is
difficult to understand it is a “rudderless boat”. Abubakar Gimba is seen to be
towing the tracks of Marxist thinkers as he goes on with his advocacy;
And
be like the sun
Expectation
always repel.
In
giving always excel.
And
that is the key
To
this life…
A Marxist, as established in the
course of this paper, is seen in the role of Gimba, becoming an advocate who
speaks to the people and stands with them. Through the poem, the poet has been
able to promote human values. The poem is a universal message to the entire
human race. The poet reaches out to all the people in the society, as he
preaches his message, to the populace. Marxism, as a concept is characterized,
mainly, of revolution, transformation and change in social order.
Next poem in the line of analysis is
the poem titled, “Desolate Stables”. Desolate as a word, denotes and connotes a
lot as there are diverse and other meanings relating to it. Contextually, in
usage, the word centers on abandoned and scanty; though many other synonyms are
derived out of it. ‘Stable’, on the other hand, has to do with the definition
that borders on housing, or shelter for animals; especially, horses. Rodeos
thrive on owners of stables as the case is. Large stables are owned by rich and
affluent members of the society who are always out and ready to provide the
required services in the game of horses. This is a very common notation of the
stable; business wise. An insight is given to this poem as seen in the poem;
Once
again into the cradle, a delivery
And
to our horns, with lullaby in deliria
With
discordant notes the cradlesong’s tune
Forced
from our lips in confused hysteria
In felicitations for a birth, while yet fearsome of death
For
the stable has long been desolate.
You
don’t seem to understand what is expected of a literary critic.
The
imagery of the stables business is seen to be used here, to relate the idea,
the poet wishes to express. The horses and processes in the world of the game
is being expressed closely and this gives a good insight into the idea the poet
is trying to express. The Marxist bent of Gimba in most of the poems in this
collection of study, is one, so much into advocacy, and messianic in nature as
seen in subsequent lines of ‘The desolate stables’:
Phoenix-like in resolve our duty to rise Against all
hurdles with adaptness surmount Lest to our peers we are made a laughing stock
And
to our neighbours a derisive horse laugh
This
idea of advocacy runs through the poem as the poet persona strives to call
elites of northern Nigeria to sit up; especially, in matters of journalism as
expounded by Fejenyo (2008 : 102)
In “Desolate
Stable”, the poet-persona laments the unstable nature of journalism in northern
Nigeria, the many publications which had emerged and disappeared from the
scene. He is disappointed that despite the many efforts in the past, success
never came and the public was truly denied the opportunity of learning the true
incidents which occurred in the north.
The
call of Gimba is loud and clear in its resounding nature through the lines of
some of his poems.
The
next poem in line of consideration in this study, is “The Honourable One”. The
sarcastic and satiric nature of Gimba sprouts out in this poem. A lampoon on
the person of the average unreliable, corrupt Nigerian politician is presented
in this poem. The poem is a long narrative which spans fourteen unequal
stanzas. The narrative sense of this poem makes it very accessible to all and
sundry. The mockery in the tone of the poet persona makes the poem an
interesting one. Interesting in a sense of what reality of our present society
holds on. Political power is sought, at all cost by the politicians, who use
all possible means at their disposal, to woo the populace into voting them to
power, and in turn, becomes a scorn of the highest order, to the common man who
is supposed to benefit from good governance. A very clear and lucid picture is
presented by the poet persona of the person of the political leaders of the
land and society as a whole as seen through the lines of the poem:
You
will stand for me you vowed
You
will stand for me you promised
And
even with a rare humbleness yu bowed
A
giant-pine tree to dare a raging hurricane
Your
face a host to a mesmerizing smile
As
strange as a bright morning sun
Out
of the petals of a thunderous dawn
An
exaggerated smile?
The very scenario of politicians, when
in power, especially in Nigeria, is given clearly here. The poet persona uses
the historical looks of the past ages when the motorcade or convoy of our
leaders are presented as horses and their abodes are castles set apart. The
government houses then become a fortress of sorts, where no ordinary man
trespasses. The only benefit the common man on the street gets, is when he is
graced with this stretch of aesthetics, of the passing ‘through town’ of this
once lowly, humble honourable one. The pomp and pageantry that encompasses this
leader is but a spectacle of interest to all onlooker as the ‘honourable’ one
makes his passage on streets covered and surrounded by exotics of luxuries
unexplainable. The common man then resigns to fate as he is rendered
incommunicado.
The Nigerian political terrain is
vividly described, and the poet has been able to put this eye opener forth, so
as to remind the common man of what goes on, politically, in the society. To a
great extent, the idea in this poem, about the political class and the
electorate is vaguely addressed in the poem; ‘From the Rostrum’.
In the poem, the poet uses imageries
of a sage, to tell a very lengthy tale of the political brouhaha in the society
we live in. This very detailed treatment of the idea addressed in this poem,
makes the latter poem, one of the longest, if not the longest of Gimba’s poetry
collections. The poem is summarized more succinctly, by the statements of
Ezekiel (2008; 119):
“From
the Rostrum,” obviously the longest in the collection, is a reflection of the
political insanity, meanness, megalomania, deceit and falsehood which have
drenched Africa’s landscape. It goes into history, which accounts for its
narrative tone; it is suffused in images of political treachery, insincerity
and visionlessness. The poet persona moves back in time, informing us of the
griot-like function of his grandma (‘the ocean of tales’) and the ‘wise old
man’ who ‘talk of foxes or hares’, stories which delighted him of past.
Gimba still proves his worth, through
these great satires. The Marxist spirit is very much set in these poems as the
class differentia and oppressive nature of the society is presented, first to
the common man, and then, to the political class as well. The town crier is
seen to be an agent of the leaders, in information dissemination and
communication of ideas of the leaders in a local setting. The leaders in this
regard might be corrupt, selfish and witch hunting, as the previous poem points
out. The town crier, to an extent is seen to be a prophet of sorts, in his
discharge of duty.
Talking about the prophetic, the poem
titled, “A Peace Zone”, bears on this, a lot. The poem makes the saying that
‘poets are more of prophets’, true. The scenario created by Gimba in the poem
is but a reality of today in northern Nigeria; especially, the north east. The
spate of insurgency has made this region to pass for a war zone unlike it used
to be. The poet did not hesitate to point out the pockets of clashes and
bloodlettings, occasionally experienced in the (Nigerian) society.
Go
to the cemetery for witnesses
An
expanding city of peaceful skeletons
We
still bury our dead
Not
in mass graves, as in war zones.
The
evident flow of blood? Ignore
To
dead bodies and burnt houses be blind
Widows
and orphans too glad to live
Ah,
all evident zeal of a calm quickstand
See
the bold footprints of peace-enforcers
So
dutiful to keep this a peace zone.
Clashes and crises is characterized of
our existence as a nation but not a thing that has gone the scale of a
full-blown war as we experience today in the north-eastern part of Nigeria and
many parts of Nigeria and Africa as a whole today.
The last line of this fourth stanza
presents an assonance that has much become a reality of our present-day
Nigeria; especially, the north of the country; ‘Where only guns and bombs
boom’. This above statement, haunts us today as it seems to be the current
state of the reality on ground in the present-day Nigeria. As at the year of
this publication, insurgency in the north east as we have it today isn’t a
common thing. Incidents of suicide bombings and the ‘Boko haram’ trend were not
present at all in the polity. The poet, at the time of this publication was
relating the way things really stood; the position of peace in the nation. In
essence, all what we see today in the north-east of Nigeria points back now to
what things used to be before the emergence of insurgency. The scenario the
poet paints in this poem, as being absent, has come to be the reality on
ground, today; especially, in present Borno state and other states in the north
eastern region. This trend has grown to all parts of Nigeria with a high prevalence
in the core northern states of Nigeria.
Looking at the security set-up of the
nation or society, becomes the concern of a particular poem in this collection
of study. Gimba beams his searchlight on the police force as a whole, through
the poem titled, “Need the Sheriff’ Pray!” The title of this poem even makes it
a mockery at a first look. The poet uses punctuations to achieve this effect.
The poet’s use of the question marks at the end of the word, ‘Sheriff?’ is
succeeded by the word, ‘Pray!’ with an apostrophe, thereby, creating a humorous
effect. The poem is a great satire on the police force of possibly, Nigeria or
African states as a whole. The point of note for the poet is the inefficiency
of the police in combating crimes and confronting criminals in the society.
When
in the middle of the night
And
hoodlooms break your door
You
call the station in desperation for help
Pray
there is petrol in the car.
You
call the station for the sheriff to come
Pray
the batteries and tires are good.
These aspects of the poem are
illustratively explained to even the common man who reads through the poem.
This poem could offer some sort of entertainment and succor to the ordinary man
when he sees the play of words about issues in his society. The policemen, use
the job, to extort the masses who have no option when they want to gain freedom
from the police net. And this freedom the person gets, is at the expense of his
possession and fortune to part with.
When
misfortune frowns at you
With
an infraction of the law and you are a fish in a net
Owning
silver nor gold, in desperation for his help
Pray
he doesn’t feast on you like louse.
The last stanza of this poem sums it
all up as a dread for the police is advocated by the poet persona. Help is seen
to be elusive with the police. The average Nigerian have always lived with this
idea in their head due to police brutality, corruption and inefficiency. This
trend resulted in the mass protest of 20th October, 2020
popularly tagged the ‘End SARS’ protest.
Next in the line of analysis, is the
poem; “Gloves in the Ballot Box”; another very political poem just like “The
Honourable one”. According to Ezekiel (2008:109).
Another
evidence of political meaningless, impotency, aridity, falsity and empty
electioneering campaign is “Gloves in the Ballot Box”. Though, democracy is
highly respected, and cherished, it is not allowed to hold sway in the African
society.
This gives us an insight into the poem
at hand. The presence of the word, ‘Ballot Box’, easily tells us of the
political nature of this poem. This is the message seen through the analysis of
the poem.
Not an ordinary box but a house of treasure Fragile though
holds more than you can measure
Therein
entrusted with all pleasure
All
we cherish from our past, for a future sure
The poet persona attributes affluence,
pleasures, and all other goodies to the ballot box. The box is seen as an
ordinary but mighty one that gives license to all the affluence and greatness
the politicians amongst us enjoy, at liberty today. The results the box holds
is inestimable and non-quantifiable to any tangible amount, since the benefits
attached, are very plenty much.
The poet persona, just as he has been
doing in all the other poems discussed, now takes to the role of a sage; an
adviser and proclaimer of wisdom on what is expected of the benefactor of the
votes in the ballot box. The poet persona goes on in describing the political,
or rather, democratic process through the stanzas of the poem.
The choosen one, the victor atop the mountain jeers
Never
to the victim rally.
The gloves were in the ballot box, or aren’t we aware?
Ah,
mistaking an enemy for an ally
For
complacency, we’ll pay dearly.
According
to Fagenyo (2008; 109), in commenting on this poem;
One
of the greatest problems of African voters is the tendency to vote wrong
political figures, out of their expression of greed, graft and lack of
self-discipline. From Nigeria to Togo, from Central African Republic to Malawi,
from Kenya to Zimbabwe, African leaders have had dictatorial, brutal,
sectional, insensitive and corrupt leaders … This poem celebrates the tragedy
of politics.
These
tragedies, too, are reenacted in the poems; ‘A Seat of Nails’ and ‘Hills
Barbecue 2000’. In the first stated poem, the poet persona, looks into the sit
tight syndrome of African leaders. The latter, is a comparison of two
continents political stance; America and Africa as the case is. The major
Marxist ideas in the previously analyzed poems, are also very much present in
the two poems mentioned here, to a great extent. Another poem that looks at the
leadership problem in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, is the poem titled, “The
Guardian”. As the title of this poem suggests, the guardian is supposed to be
the one who is responsible for the care of those under him. In this poem, it is
possible the guardian is serving the purpose rightly or falling below expectation.
Gimba uses the guardian to symbolize African leaders who are supposed to be the
care takers and care givers of the citizenry as seen through the lines of the
poem as a confused state is presented:
When on each other’s toes we step Without remorse shown and
tempers rises When in our daily chemistry we are out of step
And
we turn pugilist in pursuit of a prize.
The
poet persona in so many ways, through the poems in this collection reenacts the
predicament the masses in the nation(s) get faced with. The advocate for the
people is many times being played, through the lines, and messages are
contained in the poems. Gimba, to a very high extent, stands as an altruist who
not just observe things that takes place in his society, but also joins the
people in educating and bringing to the notice of people, what is obtained in
the society on a daily basis. An isolated couplet in the lines of the poem has
a very captivating stance of the supposed role of the ‘Guardian’ as exemplified
thus:
Like a grazing sheep cornered by a leopard No greater sight
to behold like that of its shepherd
Injustice
and inequality stands to be some of the most biting tenets of Marxism.
Protection of lives and properties are seen to be a major obligation of the
providence of government. The masses of the nations of Africa are yet to yield
most of the basic benefits of governance.
The
next poem in the line of analysis of this paper, looks through the trend and
the process of this very idea in a formal court room setting. From the poems
treated so far, right from the beginning of this paper, it appears that Gimba
is really out to address every part and corner of the society he calls ours.
The idea of the title of this collection is one that looks at almost all and
every part of ‘This Land of Ours’. It is like there is almost everything in
this land of ours. The poet now takes us into the walls of a court room and
behold, all that transpires in it is presented, so glaringly to all. He beams
his search light at the judicial system of the land as seen in the poem, titled
‘In Proportion’.
The defendant and the plaintiff are in profuse sweat
The
trial judge has never been this late
The catfish, dogfish and octopus accuse the shark of
murders
And the fisherman blamed the electric fish for the
electrified waters
The whole judicial process ends in a
quagmire as the sole principal officer of justice is almost a confused and
unprincipled smart fellow. The volumes of matters at hand makes things more
compounding and cumbersome. The expectation of the masses for justice is a
mirage and more issues gets compounded for them, begging for justice. The poem
is best summarized by the very short summary of Ezekiel (2008: 122) thus;
The
air of meaningless, erratic behavior and discordant mannerisms is packaged for
presentation in the poem which exposes the judiciary in the land as being
dominated by clowns, idiots and corrupt figures.
The poems that have so far been
discussed, have to a great extent, described Abubakar Gimba in so many ways to
be a writer in line of the Marxist principle. It is still imperative that we
take one or two more poems from the collection in establishing how Marxist
inclined Gimba is, through the lines of his poetry collections.
Another poem that treats the manner
and art of the poet or writer (Abubakar Gimba), is the one titled, “In the
Shadow’. This poem is refectory of Gimba and by extension, writers that have
same principles and share the same ideology as him. Writers who fight for the
cause of their society and heed to the cry of the oppressed masses of their
land. Here we see the poet persona personifying the pen with which he writes
his works.
To the shrieking cry of my pen I did wake What is it? I
know it was my pen’s cry.
Its offal a guiding light even the blind would take
And the stars perhaps in fright ran away Outside their
tears formed a big lake
No,
it’s their sweat as they race into the sky
The pen in this poem symbolizes the
art of writing as a whole. The pen is attributed, characteristics of a living
being. It symbolizes a tool and qualifies for a voice or agent of righting the
wrongs of the society. In this poem, we could see every reason and purpose of
Gimba’s work. All manner and sort of happenings in the society are reported and
presented through his writings. The creative process and purpose is the central
idea in this poem. The poet is seen to touch all happenings and events in the
society.
He gains friends and also have great
number of enemies, who are affected by the contents of his writings. The
writer, must, and, always stand for justice, truth and high sense of moral.
This is what makes him to stand out in the society as he goes on trying to
correct her ills. The writer is a social critic and commentator as well as a
reporter of events. That quest to write is seen to be expressed through the
poem by the repetition of “where is my pen?” almost in all the lines of the
poem. The writer has that zeal and passion in his art. He is an advocate for
the people, especially, the poor and oppressed in the society. The writer is as
a matter of fact, an ambassador of justice in the society. This is signified by
‘light’ in the lines of the poem. Men and mice is suggestive of the
inclusiveness of all levels, class and species of being.
It
entrails light and draws moths
To the cautious a life, from the impatient a life.
The
shrieking cry persists, in the shadow
From
the shadow, defiant of men and mice
For
the love of mirth.
This
art is what the poet holds dear and points clearly in the poem as well as
others, related in theme in the collection.
The
succeeding poem, titled, ‘The Book-Hunter’ has the same theme as the previously
discussed one. It is apparent that Gimba expresses same idea through different
poems so as to fully engage the subject of discussion in more than one way.
This could be, so that the message is adequately passed across and all areas of
the matter or issue at hand is dealt with, adequately. Before concluding on the
analysis of the poems in this collection, a very serious but funny poem has to
be looked at. This poem is serious because of the kind of treatment that people
of the land of Nigeria receive, when on transit, outside the shores of their
country. The trend is so disheartening and very humiliating to a very high
degree. Nigerian citizens get treatments that classify them as the others; a
different class of people. The dehumanizing treatment the poet experienced is
what he shares and presents in the poem; “Where Are You From?”
The
poet satirizes the situation but have a very pressing message to pass across,
even though it had been presented in a humorous manner. The poem is a narrative
dialogue which involves the custom official on duty, in an international
airport and other citizens, including the Nigerian. The scenario created in
this poem is compared and is similar to the poem of Wole Soyinka, titled; The
Telephone Conversation. In this poem by Soyinka, we witness a telephone
dialogue between an African; possibly, a Nigerian. This African, seeks an
accommodation abroad, but the treatment meted on him shows of the class and
race differentia in the world today. The poem presented by Gimba here carries
that same message as the poem of Soyinka. Racism is the name of the game and it
keeps going on, in the world without any check, on the excesses of other
nationals on the African or Nigerians, in particular. This is the issue Gimba
tries to address in this poem as seen through the lines; especially the third
stanza of the poem:
Take
off your clothes. Everything
Everything?
And my pants too?
Don’t
you understand simple English?
This inhumane treatment goes against
the fundamental human rights of this individual who is helpless and without any
resort. The whole bad treatment he got is because he is a Nigerian as seen in
the last stanza of the poem.
Thank
you. It is over
But
why….?
Sorry, we’re just not taking chances… Because I am a
Nigerian?
The last poem to be discussed in this
paper, before concluding is the title poem of this collection of study. It is
clear that Gimba has been relating events, happenings and the nature of
practices in “This land of Ours”, but yet the title poem is specific of the
travails of the society of the poet.
‘This land of ours’ is a poem that
really deals with the very issues confronting a nation as ours. The poet uses
the title to denote the communal spirit he shares with the people of his
nation. It is not an individualistic quest, but one that is collective and
collaborative. The poet is a true messiah of the land. This has been
demonstrated in all the poems looked at so far. It has been demonstrated too,
that Gimba is Marxist inclined in some way, through the contents of his poetry.
Discussion
of the Major Findings
The idea, reached, at the end of this
paper is best described in the idea popularized by Chinua Achebe. Achebe is
known for his yam and oil talk in Things Fall Apart. And from
Achebe’s comment, which says that proverbs are the palm oil with which words
are eaten, a coinage is made, in relation to literature and theory. In our
regard, in this paper, it is the relationship between Literature and Marxism
(theory) that becomes like the yam and palm oil. In this paper, Marxism becomes
like the oil with which yam is eaten. That is to say, that, literature and
theory go hand in hand and by extension, Marxism and literature are
interdependent, in the context of this paper. The idea is that both concepts
are interrelated and dependent on each other, as far as this paper is
concerned. In essence, Theory (Marxism) and literature need each other;
especially as it relates to the idea of this paper.
Through the discussions, the Marxist
ideas and postulates in the lines are unraveled and subsequently, discussed. In
the end, the Marxist ideas in the poems are discussed as those Marxist
tendencies inherent in the poems. It became established that there are serious
Marxist ideas, tenets, postulations, and ideologies inherent in the poetry of
Abubakar Gimba as seen in the collection of This Land of ours.
The poems amongst these further treats
and explore the themes of greed, selfishness, impatience, intolerance,
arrogance, pride, corruption, oppression, class divides, and other injustices
of the ruling class of the society. This address, to the predicament of the
current situation of the writer’s society, is very much seen in all the poems
of this collection. In most instances, the poet is a voice, or rather a
mouthpiece of the people. At some other times, he is an advocate as well as an
agitator. The Marxist bent is but very much pronounced in almost all the poems
of the collection. We easily see, a lot of Marxist ideas and manner of doing
things manifested in the poems. The mood, approach, and engagements in the
poems easily pass for them to be associated with Marxism. At some points in the
collection, Gimba goes close as to call the people to arms. He spurs and urge
the masses on, as well as address and present the ills and decadence in the
society. By this expression, the poet involves himself in the predicament of
the people. He sees himself as part and parcel of the society he writes about
and addresses. The investigation, through the poems in this collection, makes
for the argument of this paper to be valid.
Conclusion
Marxism as a literary theory is one of
the tools in analyzing literary works. As has been established in the course of
this paper, a theory is a guide which through its pattern, sets a work of
literature in order. It is established, that Abubakar Gimba, as a writer and
poet, has Marxist inclinations in some way as the key texts established. This
inclination to Marxism is what the title of this paper meant by the use of the
word, “Tendency.” The tendency as has been used in this paper tells of the
disposition, affinity, relationship, and (or) familiarity with a concept. Ideas
in the poems point closer to the tenets of Marxism. Through a thorough analysis
of the poems in the collections, side by side with Marxism, as a tool, it
became possible to ascertain the Marxist level of the concerned poems in
relation to the author. Gimba is not pronounced as a Marxist or a Marxist
writer but this collection, through the poems, have in some way, presented
Marxism as an element present in the poetry of Gimba. The ideas in the poems,
through the explication of analysis on them, expose those Marxist tendencies
present in the poetry of Abubakar Gimba.
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