AFRICAN DRAMA
JOE DE GRAFT: Sons and Daughters
Examine the relationship between James and his two children, Maanan and Aaron.
Explanation
James Ofosu, the husband of Hannah is the father of four children, George, Kofi, Aaron and Maanan. He is semi-literate but a wealthy man. Aaron, the last son in the family, chooses to be a graphic artist while Maanan wants to be a stage dancer. The children's choice of careers does not go down well with their father who wants Aaron to be an engineer and Maanan, a lawyer.
The way James relates with Maanan and Aaron, shows that he is autocratic and rigid. He is a disciplinarian who does not want to accept the views of his children. When his wife and child, Maanan try to intimate him with the attempts of Lawyer Bonu to seduce Maanan, he flares up and says: "... this is a plot to blackmail my best friend and compel me to let her have her way". Once James takes a decision, he does not want anybody to change it. He insists that Aaron must study engineering in spite of all that he is doing to make his father change his mind. James, unlike Hannah is too harsh with Aaron and Maanan. This is the reason they cannot relate freely with him. When it becomes clear that Aaron is bent on choosing minting as a career, James recommends flogging to make him change his "mind. In the end, there is a change in the relationship when James realizes that he has been wrong all along, and that all professions have their own merits.