AFRICAN DRAMA
DELE CHARELY: The Blood Of A Stranger
What do you learn about the culture of Mando Land in the Play?
Explanation
Mando land is portrayed as a simple community of peace-loving people. The play reveals much about the people's culture. This culture is one that is undergoing change and faces severe challenges from outside. With the arrival in the midst of the people of the white man, the peace and tranquility of the community is seriously threatened. It is seen in the play that the people of Mando land respect their ancestral beliefs. They are very much alive to the threat posed by the coming into their midst of a stranger. Kindo embraces this firmly and he is proved right. The consequences of permitting Whitehead entry into Mando land show that the people's fear of the threat is not mere superstition. Wara holds the priesthood in genuine childlike awe. She does not succumb to Kindo's pressure to desecrate the shrine lest the spirits are offended.
Maligu exploits the cultural belief to enrich himself. He, too, warns that it is dangerous to incur the displeasure of the spirits —but for his own ends. In Maligu's admonition of Kindo not to challenge the virgin sacrifice, he finds a collaborator in King Santigi Mando V, who is ill-advised and obviously under the influence of gin and the strange tobacco. He, therefore, fails to listen to the alternative reasoning that Kindo presents.
The people of Mando land are ordinarily hard-working and morally decent. With the coming of the white man, however, they neglect work, are idle and become debauched. Kindo is angry that the men are "singing, dancing and drinking" and the women are giving themselves to men everywhere ... running about naked like children". The culture of hard work and moral decency is thus undermined. We also learn that the people have great respect for human life, Despite his agitation for the virgin sacrifice, Soko has actually never even carried out such a sacrifice.
The people's regard for human life is such that anyone who kills another in peace time must be banished. This is carried out to the extreme with the banishment of Kindo. It is greatly ironical that Whitehead should suggest the killing of a goat, for the killing of a virgin is not within the experience of Soko, the Chief Priest, as Soko confesses to Wara.
Tagged on to the regard for human life is the culture of severe punishment for a serious crime. Santigi's verdict that his only son must be banished is very firm, and he is passionate about it. Beside, sending Kindo away from the land, Santigi disowns his warrior son and heir apparent. Mando land, above all, is a male-dominated society. Women are not seen much of. Soko's major worry is that the position of Chief Priest will leave his line when he passes away, since women have no place in the priesthood.
Points to note:
(1) Belief in ancestral wisdom.
(2) Hard work and moral decency of the people.
(3) Sanctity of human life/severe punishment for bloodshed in the land.
(4) Male domination in the society