The Famished Road

Question 1

Socialist realism.

Answer 1

• Social realism refers to an art style born from European realism that attempts to present the viewer plainly with a social critique of the living conditions of minorities or the working class during the 19th and 20th century.
• The primary theme of Socialist Realism is the building of socialism and a classless society. In portraying this struggle, the writer could admit imperfections but was expected to take a positive and optimistic view of socialist society and to keep in mind its larger historical relevance.
• The socialist realism of the 1930s was very concerned with the unemployed and the unprivileged class of Europe. African writers resonated with the agenda of socialist realism and therefore embraced it.

Question 2

Realism.

Answer 2

• Realism’s goal is to describe and showcase real life how it is in literary works.
• After the French revolution and and the Industrial revolution, realism emerged as a response to the romantic ideals that dominated the literary works of late 18th and early 19th centuries. Realism aimed to depict the human experience accurately as it is without the addition of romantic elements.
• Realism was at its peak in the 1850s and 1860s with authors such as: Leo Tolstoy, George Eliot, and Gustave Flaubert leading the movement with works that portrayed ordinary life and ordinary people.
• Realism started getting questioned in the late 19th and early 20th centurie by writers such as Salman Rushdie, Roland Barthes for multiple reasons.
• Rushdie expressed the idea that reality is complex and cannot be accurately captured by a strictly naturalistic approach like realism. He finds that the use of magical elements allows writers to delve deeper into the truth of the human experience. Rushdie explains that in order “for realism to convince”, there needs to be a shared consensus about the world that is being described between the writer and the reader.
  “For realism to convince, there must be a fairly broad agreement between the author and the reader about the nature of the world that is being described… But now we don’t have that kind of consensus about the world.” - Salman Rushdie
• Barthes sees that a lot of realistic writers either consciously or subconsciously push the colonial project along with the ideals and values of the European identity. By doing so, they justified the colonizing of the other; labeling it as a mission of bringing civilization to “the inferior other”.
• Edward Said and Bhabha also shared their perspective coming from post colonial countries, they expressed that realism has been used as a tool to justify the colonial project and push the idea that the West is superior. Either intentionally or unintentionally, realistic portrayals in literature have been used to normalize the idea that colonizing the other is a natural consequence of being Western.

Question 3

Magical Realism.

Answer 3

• Starting the 1960s, realism started to to merge as a new literary mode in formerly colonized countries such as: Latin America, India, Canada and Africa.
• Magical Realism could be seen as a post colonial alternative to realism. Writers from formerly colonized countries adopted magical realism to redeem the parts of their culture that the West had rejected and suppressed, and to challenge the authority of colonial discourse.
• Magical realism extends beyond realism allowing writers to further their understanding of reality and improve its representation.
• Writers who have experienced metamorphosis and historical disjuncture due to the colonization of their countries needed something more than the traditional metropolitan forms to be able to effectively convey the challenges they’ve experienced within postcolonial contexts. Rushdie was one of the many to speak about this and emphasis the need for a “literary renewal”.
• Many writers found realism to be too limiting when it comes to understanding reality. García Márquez spoke on this matter expressing how realists tried to impose limitations on reality to make it “easier for them to understand”.
• Magical realism challenges readers’ expectations set by realist works through its unpredictable and ambiguous world building. By incorporating fantastical elements, writers are able to transport readers from the familiar reality while still allowing them to relate to it.

- Car wash scene
Ben Okri defamiliarizes the readers in this scene by presenting a familiar event (car washing) in an unfamiliar manner by adding magical elements to it such as the great herbalist ritual and having spirits present.

Question 4

The Famished Road.

Answer 4

• The Famished Road tells the story of Azaro, who is an abiku or spirit child. Unlike most abikus, who die at a young age to return to the spirit realm and later be reborn, Azaro chooses to remain in the material world to make his mother happy. His family’s poverty and the political turmoil in his country mean that his life there is far from easy, but as he grows up begins to understand the world and find out what truly gives meaning to life.
• Madame Koto is an ambiguous figure and so are her intentions. (She could be a symbolism for African politicians?)

Question 5

The carnivalesque.

Answer 5

• Bakhtin defines the carnival as “people’s second life, organized on the basis of laughter.” He thinks of the carnival as ritualistic festivities that includes dancing, disguises, trickery, masks, jokes, fairs, etc. where traditional norms and hierarchies are suspended.
• The carnivalesque is a literary approach (or mode) introduced by the Russian linguist and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin. He refers to carnivalesque as a way to overcome and mock social hierarchies by incorporating laughter and satire.
• Madame Koto’s bar serves as a symbolic carnival in the novel where diverse characters gather to break free from the ordinary.
• There’s also a lot of festive events throughout the novel which perfectly embody carnivalesque elements, a good example of that is the political rallies. Ben Okri managed to create a strong carnivalesque atmosphere in the political rallies. He was able to achieve that by implementing unpredictable twists throughout the scenes to disrupt the typical course of political gatherings, we can see Azaro interacting with the spirits in these scenes as well as the appearance of mystical elements. Another thing that Ben Okri also did not put a distinction between the “performers” and “audience”, everyone equally participated to create the unique atmosphere of these rallies.
• Throughout history, European powers used colonial discourse to reinforce stereotypes and prejudices again the colonized and to put themselves in a superior position. One of the theories they used to further justify their actions is the Darwinian theory of biological evolution; this theory got distorted to imply that certain races were more advanced than others. Ben Okri used irony, a carnivalesque exaggeration, to criticize those who showcase Africas as animas.