The potter's wheel is a novel that takes us to the village called
umuchukwu in the eastern part of Nigeria, where one of the basic
elements of the local idioms is sayings or proverbs, much like a
Bible-based community where people communicate through chapters and
verses citations.
In the story, even the young ones had riddle and proverb contests to see
who knew the most. The story was set about the time of the Second World
War (1939-1945). In the story, references are frequently made to the
ongoing war, which Nigerians, at that time were part of, through
conscription or voluntary involvement.
The story centres on Obu, an eight-year-old boy, who, as the only son
with five older sisters and one younger sister, had been badly spoiled
by his adoring mother. The mother’s reason for her indulgence towards
him was simple; it was the boy’s eventual birth that gave her strong
footing in her husband’s house, for the husband’s family had compelled
him to take another wife who would give them – the family – a male
child.
In fact, the five female children that were born before Obu had been
given names suggestive of the degree of anxiety and faith, with which
Mama Obu and her husband had longed for a male child. The name
“Uzoamaka”, given to their first female child, means “The road is
excellent”; the second, “Nkiru” means “That which is yet to come is
greater”; the third, “Njideka” means “Hold what you have”; the fourth,
“Nkechi”, means “Whatever God gives”; and the fifth, “Ogechukwu”, means
“God’s time is the best”. Besides that, when Obu arrived, he became a
cynosure to the parents, the mother particularly, so much so that apart
from his first name “Obuechima”, which means “Compound must not revert
to bush”, he was given all sorts of endearment names, such as “Ezenwa”,
meaning “infant king”, “Nwokenagu”, meaning “A male child is desirable”,
“Oyinbo”, meaning “A companion”, and “Obiano”, meaning “Solace”. No
other boy came after Obu, but a girl came two years after his birth, and
she was named “Amuche”, meaning “No one knows God’s mind”. All these
events depict the superstitious nature of the Ibos; how they weave some
stories around everything that happens to them.
Obu’s father, Mazi Lazarus Maduabuchi was a successful cloth dealer. He
was a kindly man, but fearing for the boy's future in the hands of his
over doting mother, he sent him off to be a servant of a weird, fearsome
couple, Teacher Zaccheus Kanu and Madam Deborah Onuekwucha Kanu, both
of whom were childless and lived in Aka, a village, some sixty miles
away from Umuchukwu.
Mama Obu was vehemently opposed to the seemingly suicidal idea of having
her treasured son sent to the house of a “wicked man and the witch he
has as wife”, even when her husband proverbially reasoned with her that,
“He who does not suffer hardship cannot develop any common sense”. In
the end however, her resistance, merely verbal, cut no ice, for she was
the one, who even later took Obu to the Teacher’s house in Aka, where
the boy was to begin a new life as a servant.
This event is symbolic of the prevalent mentality of African parents,
fathers specifically, who so much believe, against the stifling fondness
of mothers, that some degree of hardship and suffering is very
essential in the upbringing of a child, if such child is to be useful to
him/herself in the future. Also, the subservience and abject obedience
of mothers and wives to their husbands was aptly portrayed by Mama Obu,
as such slavish compliance, as far as African traditions are concerned,
is crucial to the continued survival of a marriage.
Teacher Zaccheus Kanu’s house, a reformatory home of some sort,
sheltered an assortment of other youngsters: Silence (who was 14yrs),
Moses, Ada (who was 16, and a cousin to Teacher), Mary (who was a spoilt
girl, already engaged to a man but was ‘enrolled’ by the fiancé at
Madam’s home, for her to undergo some tutelage in domestic and wifely
training), Monday (who was 19, and Madam’s cousin), Bright (whom his
father gave out to Teacher in exchange for the money the father was
owing Teacher), and Obu, the newest arrival. These children were beaten
and abused, and were subjected to slavish lives.
For instance, apart from the ‘baptism of fire’ slap that Obu got from
Madam, Teacher’s wife, on his first day at Teacher’s house, for talking
back at the woman, he also, at another time, was served another
deafening smack by the ruthless Madam, because of his careless and
wasteful attitude of pouring away the excessively salted pottage that
she had asked him to prepare for her. The smack sent him sprawling on
the ground and made him dizzy for some time. At some other time, Obu was
openly embarrassed and beaten so wickedly on the assembly in his
school, by the headmaster, who must have been told by Teacher that Obu
stole a piece of meat from the pot at home the previous night.
Expectedly, these children, in their various childish ways, devised
different acts of vengeance, to get back at their two oppressors –
Teacher and Madam. First of all, they all developed strong flair for
lying, as they mostly had to lie to escape from the unwarranted harsh
punishment they were endlessly subjected to. Besides, Silence, the very
tricky fourteen year old boy, would never answer a call by either
Teacher or Madam, the first two successive times. He would neglect the
call the first two times, with the hope that if he didn’t answer it, his
caller would call someone else. He would answer the call only if it
came the third time. Bright was another character.
Teacher almost always liked to insultingly remind him that he – Bright –
was serving him (Teacher), because of his (Bright’s) father’s debt to
him. When once, he gave Bright such humiliating reminder, and even
attempted to wipe his oil-soiled hand dry on Bright’s head, the boy,
“like a drenched dog...” (pg. 133), “…shook his dripping head
vigorously…”, and he let drops of the oily water splash on Teacher’s
shirt.
Ada was yet another character! Exasperated by Madam’s unrepentantly
cruel behavior towards her and others in the house, Ada once poured on
her Madam “…a bowl of dirty water containing cocoyam peels, discarded
ora leaves, and a coating of palm oil from the cooking utensils she had
washed in the bowl…” (pg. 186). Even after that mischief, Ada stood
unremorseful and ready for the consequences of her actions. As the
furious Madam punched and hit and smacked Ada, the girl defensively
fended off some of the blows and mockingly took some, unwearyingly. Even
the bigger punishment from Teacher, which came much later – scrubbing
the school latrine every day for one whole week – meant nothing to the
girl. She was happy that she had succeeded in cutting her Madam down to
size!
The brutalities that abound in the Aka home provoked nostalgic feelings
in Obu about his birth place. He had nostalgia about home, through
dreams and reminiscences. He was so home-sick that he thought of what
seemed to be a foolproof strategy, which was to write a letter in the
guise of his mother, to Teacher. In the short letter which he eventually
wrote, in Igbo, his impersonated mother said she wanted Obu to come
home, to Umuchukwu, to look after his younger sister. What Obu had
thought would work against Teacher was so easily faulted by the crafty
Teacher. Teacher was nonetheless stunned by the creativity of the boy
(for him to have thought of something as ingenious as impersonating his
mother!)
After a year of the hellish life Obu had lived in Aka, his father
requested that he be allowed to return home for Christmas, and by the
time he returned to Umuchukwu, Obu had become so much transformed into a
dutiful, hardworking boy. His return sent everywhere agog! He had shed
his old habits – he was no more the loafing, bed-wetting, spoilt Obu!
However, happy about his eventual rescue from the tortuous Aka life, Obu
never wished to return to Teacher’s house. He asked his mother to help
him tell his father about his decision, but the mother, understanding
how predictably fruitless such effort of hers would be, urged Obu to
speak to his father himself.
After some long contemplation as to how to tell his father about his
decision not to return to Teacher’s house, he finally broached the
topic. His father’s compromising response trivialized Obu’s protracted
worry, and he (Obu) wished he had said his mind long before he later
did. And after Obu’s father’s seeming compromising response, he later
called Obu to sit. With some wise cajolery, the silver-tongued father of
Obu succeeded in making the boy see the need for him to return to
Teacher’s house.
“…Nobody who does not suffer can succeed in life. Edmund is what he is
because his father forgot yams, forgot cocoyams, forgot meat and sent
him to suffer in Teacher’s hands. It was Teacher who made him.
Teacher tells me your brain is even hotter than Edmund’s. So, there is
no reason why you should not drink tea with the white man and study in
the white man’s land. But if you want to be like Caleb, you should come
and live with your mother, eating goat meat and drinking palm wine and
dancing with masquerades. But when the time comes, don’t say that I did
not warn you. You can go.”
After this persuasive talk with his father, Obu himself voluntarily
returned to Teacher’s house in January (after the Christmas holiday).
The story ultimately centres (thematically) on the challenges of
parenthood. With the constant interplay between the vernacular Igbo and
the English language, the author enlightens us on many things: The
plight of a ‘maleless’ (without a male child) wife or couple in
traditional Igbo or Nigerian society; the concept of Ogbanje (or Abiku)
children and the societal attitudes to such children; the richness of
traditional values as seen in the prevalently mentioned local food
(especially the uncommon ones as fried termites, which were here
considered as a treat; and the very common one, kola nuts, which are
usually served, as etiquette demands, by hosts to visitors.); local
names guarded or prompted by some superstition; local proverbs put to
various communicative uses; local beliefs and traditions, etc.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOOK, YOU MAY CONTACT ME
