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Progress (From Mr NANA, Provincial High School of Kaya)

(Lakunle, a semi-educated young man, expresses his views his views on progress.)

Within a year or two, I swear,
This town shall see a transformation
Bride-price will be a thing forgotten
And wives shall take their place by men.
A motor road will pass this spot.
And bring the city ways to us.
We’ll buy saucepans for all the women
Clay pots are crude and unhygienic
No man shall take more wives than one
That’s why they’re impotent too soon.
The rulers shall ride cars, not horses
Or a bicycle at the very least
We’ll burn the forest, cut the trees
Then plant a modern park for lovers
We’ll print newspapers everyday
With pictures of seductive girls
The world will judge our progress by
The girls that win beauty contests
While Lagos builds new factories daily
We only play “ayo” and gossip;
Where is our school of Ballroom dancing ?
Who here can throw a cocktail party ?
We must be modern with the rest
Or live forgotten by the world
We must reject the palm-wine habit
And take to tea, with milk and sugar.

From THE LION AND THE JEWEL by Wole Soyinka

PASSIVE VOCABULARY :

1. Wives shall take their place by men : by (in this context) means near, beside
2. Saucepans : cooking utensils used for boiling.
3. Crude : without grace, taste or refinement (Fr. : grossier)
4. Impotent : lacking sexual power …/…
5. Beauty contest : competition during which the most beautiful girl is chosen
6. To gossip : to talk all the time about other people, often with bad intentions
7. Bride-price : dowry, money or gifts given to the parents of the bride (Fr : dot)
8. To play “ayo” : Nigerian game
9. This town shall see a transformation : this is a special use of shall, it is almost prophetic, it means that this will
unavoidably happen, and the speaker will do his best to make sure it does happen.

Comprehension Questions

1) Is Lakunle satisfied with his village ?
2) What things should be suppressed in his village according to him ?
3) Do you personally thing these things are all bad ?
4) What new things would Lakunle like to introduce in his village ?
5) Do you feel all those things are really important ? Aren’t some of them trivial ? Which ones ?