MORAL EDUCATION
Didacticism, the urge to preach value system or moral code is not uncommon in literature. It dates back to the antiquity. Plato's view of art (Drama) in The Republic (Cornford, 1976) comes to mind. The education of the guardian he explained, requires utmost vigilance since the heroes they read about and the dramatic roles they play will have a shaping effect upon their characters. For Plato, books in which the heroic characters are depicted as behaving in unseemly ways should be censored, prescribing only those which have positive and virtuous potentials for the education of the guardians.
This underscores the fact that literary works, when appreciated at the cognitive level eventually, affects the effective sphere of man. Hence Plato wanted only books whose ethical and value orientation would contribute to producing a just man and a just society. The reason is that the psychological principle of modelling which implies the imitation of a character either in fiction or in real life operates even at the level of literary appreciation.
Great writers, such.as Homer, Dante, Villon has been moralistic in their works. In fact sixteenth century England saw the vehement reaction of the Puritans against drama, which they judged as having little or no edifying qualities for the audience.
Famous dramatic theorists have asserted that the prime aim of Drama is to teach morals. This concept was in fact inherited by the seventeenth-century French dramatists, from the moralistic interpretation given to the work of Horace and Aristotle by the Italian Renaissance commentators.
Aristotle (1967) in his definition of tragedy as an imitation of an action insists on verisimilitude. The content of any drama which aims at teaching moral must appear relevant to the audience (Aristotle op. cit). Indeed verisimilitude, "vraisemblance" is a key element of drama for the French dramatic theorists (D'Aubigance, 1927, : 72). It is important that things shown on stage appear real. Moreover, an action is "vraisemblance" if it upholds the audience's belief in the object of the dramatic illusion and serves to promote his involvement in the action. For the more, the spectator can believe in the heroic characters and what is happening on the stage the more he is likely to accept the moral lesson offered. And the immediacy of this lesson is enhanced by the spectator's feeling that he is a witness to the character's action.
D'Aubigance also remarked that if the subject of the drama does not "conform to the morals and sentiments of the spectator", the play will never succeed however the playwright may embellish it. In order words, if what is portrayed on the stage is unrealistic, the moral lesson would have no meaning for the audience. It is, therefore, important for the spectator to be able to relate what happens on the stage to his own experience. That is to say, verisimilitude is important in the choice of subject matter and characterization if the drama is to inculcate any moral lesson.
Yesterday African writers wrote against others, especially against colonialism. But today they focus their attention on themselves, the various aspects of their contemporary reality, the daily conflicts and contradictions of their existence are recreated, analysed, criticised and judged in their imaginary works. This they do in order to provide their respective society with a true mirror of itself. A mirror which will enable them not only to perceive their shortcomings but to look for ways to correct them. The African playwrights today are therefore involved in the crusade for an ethical revolution in the realm of culture, economic and politics.
It is very appropriate to conclude this brief historical review of the influence of literature on moral education by quoting Ann O'Dell (1978 : 4) who writes:
... from the earliest times, people concerned with education and social control have been aware of the power of fiction ... the major role of literature is the shaping of young minds ... just occasionally, one encounters instances in which people declare that some significant actions on their parts were inspired directly by a book which they had read or a play which they had watched.
OSOFISAN'S DRAMA: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS
The play: Who's Afraid of Solarin (1977), Altine's Wrath (1986) and Birthdays are Not for Dying (1990) written at an interval of thirteen years have one common major theme running through them: corruption and injustice, corruption perpetuated by the bureaucrats. By bureaucrats, we mean the body of government officers, political, administrators, high-level civil servants and military men, whose nominal responsibility it is to ensure the smooth running of the diverse government's administration and to see that the government's projects are executed in a satisfactory way.
However in his dramatic universe, Osofisan portrays these bureaucrats as being dominated by one passion: amass maximum wealth as fast as possible, Even if this means bleeding their fellow human being to death, to realise their goal, they wouldn't hesitate to do so. As a result instead of ensuring the enforcement and implementation of government projects, the Bureaucrats themselves constitute an obstacle to the realisation of these projects.
In Who's Afraid of Solarin (1977) the administrative elite: are of three kinds: the politicians, the local administrators ai members of the judiciary. In spite of the fact that one is coming the other elected, once they assume power they all resemble < other in their behaviour, mentality and ideology. They are dominated by the desire to accumulate wealth. This tendency inevitably leads them into such vices as corruption, abuse of office, selfish diversion of public goods to a personal end.
So in his play, the Nigerian playwright presents a satirical interpretation of the maladies prevalent in African political scene which Jean Francis Bayat (1989) has humorously named the "Politic of the Stomach".
Apart from corruption the playwright also accused the bureaucrats of hypocrisy. The Chairman Gbonmiaiyelogiogo chastises The others for the same offence he commits every day, In one scene, he warns his councillors against receiving bribes. But in another, he quarrels with some of his colleagues for not giving him a share of the state fund, which they embezzled and shared among themselves. In short, the egocentrism, extravagance and dishonesty of the chief is conspicuously delineated in the scene where he ordered his workers to destroy every document that would betray his involvement in misappropriation of funds when he assumed the post of chairman.
No doubt, the playwright is enquiring here a contemporary event. Few years before the play was written in 1977, there were tire outbreaks in several government buildings especially in Lagos. The causes were dubious and according to Newspapers, the first outbreak occurred in the building on Ministries involved in some scandalous affairs, such as the Ministry of External Affairs and the Nigerian External Communication Ministry.
To ridicule the imbecility of the ruling class in his dramatic universe Osofisan sometimes makes use of humour, hyperbole and simile. This is evident in his description of the councillor of Agriculture who eats up all the contract work in his jurisdiction as a worm. Also, the councillor for Education is said to be short as if crushed by a load of his loot. Neither of them could account for the money the government had disbursed to carry out new projects in their jurisdiction. These projects are known as operation Feed the Nation and the Universal Primary Education.
Osofisan's Satire also castigates members of the judiciary who make a mockery of the justice they are supposed to protect.
Magistrate Olaitan is an epitome of vices. Through his mouth, one learns that the admission of a candidate to any judicial position depends neither on qualification nor on competence but on the weight of one's pocket. And to get a promotion, it is enough for the candidate to join one of the secret societies and his desires will be fulfilled. Magistrate Olaitan also lacks professional probity. With vanity, he enumerates the several advantages he enjoys in the society, thanks to his profession.
How can justice prevail in a society where men of law themselves are corrupt, where venality is the other of the day and justice is thrown overboard? These are some of the questions Osofisan is asking his spectators through his caricatural portrayal of the Magistrate in Who's Afraid of Solarin.
In Alpine's Wrath (1986) Osofisan's approach to the problem of administrative corruption is more colonial than satirical. Mr Lawal Jatau, a Permanent Secretary in a Federal Ministry earns a poor salary. Yet he owns many landed properties and a fleet of cars. Thanks to the illegal gratification he receives from contractors. According to him: "After all, everybody in the government does it: all my colleagues. Or else how shall we make up for our poor salaries?"
In the scene between Lawal and the farmers the theme of injustice is highlighted. Under the pretext of farm development project embarked upon by the government, Mr Jatau seized land from peasants, constructed modern townhouses on it, which he rented out at exorbitant prices, without compensating the farmers who now found themselves deprived of their farmland.
In order to avoid government's suspicion about his wealth, Lawal opens a bank account in his wife's name. It is into this fake account that the revenue accruing from his illicit business transaction is deposited.
It is not only peasants that are victims of administrative injustice, so also are the middle classmen . They are both businessmen. Their survival depends, to a large extent, on the contract job they get from the government. However, the top civil servants often construct administrative machinery to frustrate the efforts of the businessmen.
AJhaji and Claudius describe, respectively how they find every door leading to the bureaucrat's offices impenetrable locked at the moment of awarding contracts. They can only get access to the latter through the back door if they surreptitiously slipped fat envelopes into their portfolio. The same procedure occurs when it is time for the contractors to be paid for a job that has been done. That is why they are sometimes constrained to resort to despotic measures in their business dealing in order to get the wherewithal to fulfil the desire of the bureaucrats who instead of working hard to earn a decent income prefer to take undue advantage of their office.
Thus corruption, injustice, coUusion with private and foreign enterprises, illegal utilisation of government properties for personal interest are some of the crimes incarnated by Mr Lawal Jatau. Ironically, he does not see anything wrong with this immoral dealings. On the contrary, he justifies them in the scene where Aina, his former schoolmate pays him a visit. He declared that one has to fight with whatever means to assert oneself in life.
But is this a good philosophy of life? ponders the playwright. Four years later he revisited the same issue in Birthdays Are Not for Dying (1990). This time, in a very pessimistic mood, he shows how corruption has progressively ingrained itself deeply into our culture, so much so that it is actively approved by all.
After his father's death, Kunle Arena wanted to become the Director-General of his family enterprises. He discovers that the company is wavering on its feet because of corruption. He decides to fire all the former directors but retain only one who he thought was honest. Surprisingly, the latter refused to help him in his bid to clean up the place. Instead, he condemns and works hard to frustrate Kunle's humble intentions and methods. It is only then that inexperienced young Kunle realises how profound corruption had enshrined itself into his society's culture. Nevertheless, he is headstrong. He refuses to accept vice as a way of life. He resolves to fight ruthlessly until he brings about a cultural revolution. But his crusade only earns him death.
At the end of the play, one gets the chilling feelings that corruption has embedded itself so deeply in all the institutions in the society that nothing can be done to arrest or reverse the despicable situation. This is the point of view strongly argued by the Honourable O.O Daunte when he asks:
"Fraud! Fraud! What is fraud, tell me? Is it what everybody does or not? Every rich man in this country gets his wealth by what you call fraud".
Major Peter Ajala, a retired Military Officer agrees on folly with Fakunle's idea. He also explains:
"We employed all kind of means. It is the age we live in. We cannot change the rules. Everyone plunders whether from friends, or strangers or the government. It is all in the game. The winner takes the loot, the loser goes to the gutter or to the asylum (Ibid).
It is, therefore, the image of a materialistic society which Osofisan portrays in these plays. The ruling elites are presented as entities leading isolated life of consumers but are unable to go beyond the narrow horizon of their immediate selfish interests to work for the growth of a society where justice and equity should prevail, a society where the hope of cultural regeneration seems to vanish into thin air. But what then is the future of this society if a man is allowed to sink under the yoke of immorality?
IMPLICATIONS FOR MORAL EDUCATION
As for the didactic effect of Osofisan's theatre, two things seem to characterise the plays we have studied. The constant reference to socio-political realities and the portrayal of contemporary mores. In order words, the playwright recreates in his dramatic universe the social norms and conventions he has observed in his society. All his imaginary characters incarnate essentially the vices menacing the progress of contemporary Nigerian society. Hence his frequent use of satire treating themes aiming at a group and not at individuals.
To be more specific, the target of his satire is the ruling class: the politicians, administrators, top civil servants and military personnel. He attacks in them such tendency as an obsession with money, corruption, incompetence, abuse of office and injustice. He castigates these vices and human follies for a pedagogic purpose.
Some dramatic theorists assert that it is by punishment for vice and reward for virtue that playwrights unconsciously imprint in their spectators' mind the horror of vice and happiness of virtue because there is a self-regarding instinct in every human menace. And that the thought of reward and punishment is largely what prompt people to act virtuously
However, true this concept might be, it does not often hold for Osofisan's play. For in the four plays under study, the evil doers seem to go away with their crime. It is Kunle in Birthdays Are Not for Dying and Alpine in Alpine Wrath, people fighting for justice who lost their lives.
However, in these plays, the source of moral instruction is rather intellectual than pragmatic. To effect this the author makes use of basic rhetorical devices: Exaggeration, sarcasm and irony. The use of exaggeration enables him to portray voices in all their horror so that the spectator is deterred from committing then. Though virtue does not always triumph in these plays, it remains glorious in the mind of the spectator and vice is scorned at.
On the other hand, the use of sarcasm, irony and satire give room to the playwright to ridicule his target. Drama teaches moral by exposing human shortcomings to public ridicule. By so doing, the playwright instils in the spectators the fear of committing these crimes. For though human beings have a tendency to do evil, no one likes to be mocked at or treated with scorn.
The central principles of moral education are those of altruism, justice, fair play, honesty, legitimacy and so on. All these principles are touched upon either implicitly or explicitly in Femi Osofisan's dramatic literature. His plays are particularly suitable for the teaching of moral education from three approaches: "character study approach", "discussion approach" and Dilemma Examination Approach". In the first instance, character delineation in Osofisan's play will provide the students with role models. On the other hand, if the problem of societal ills raised in the plays is well presented for discussion in the classroom by the teacher, the students will be made to relate these problems to their personal lives and conditions. Lastly, the conflicts and contradictions presented in Osofisan's play will also afford the students the opportunity to learn how to resolve conflicts and make a mature rational decision.
In the light of the above, drama becomes the conscience of the people. There is a dialectical relationship between dramatic art and society. Drama holds out a mirror for a society to see itself and also to adjust its own image. In order words, Osofisan's dramatic theatre serves as a reflector and corrector of moral behaviour.
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