Book review: Saving the
environment
Kraftgriots, Ibadan, Oyo State, 2006, p.p.71
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday,
March 2, 2008
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Photo:
Sun News Publishing
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George O’well’s Animal Farm and William Goldie’s
Lord of Flies are two works of fabulation where human follies
are approximated with animals’. A fable is often directed
towards satire, and the lessons are apparent as you read through
the work.
Ovie and the Housefly, a novella by Lambert Ototo, is a fable
laced with green propaganda. An indigene of the oil rich Bayelsa
State, where oil exploration has brought about environmental
degradation, air pollution and bad sanitary condition, the
author uses his work as an instrument to redirect public attitude
towards the environment.
The novella could also be viewed as a criticism against the
political establishment in the country. King Gbambu Tueke
is the leader of Odele kingdom, which is situated by the shore
of Ovuruoloko creek. This setting is a reflection of the Niger
Delta region. The author, with the example of the leadership
of the community, which fails to act in the face of the environmental
pollution, and instead relying on divine intervention, reaffirms
the need for positive leadership in our society.
The three major characters in Ovie and the Housefly are the
fourteeen year old girl, Ovie Zamama; the king and and the
Housefly. The heroine of the novella is Ovie, because it is
through her that her parents and the society get to hear what
transpired between her and the Housefly on how to salvage
the environmental menace in the area. The king, though a listening
king, lacks the idea himself to forge ahead when it matters
most.
The work looks deceptively, from the beginning, like a juvenilia,
because of, among others, the child-like encounter between
the fourteen year old girl and the visiting Housefly. But
as you read on, the reader understands the point the author
is making by humourous angle he brings into it.
It is an indictment on the human race that the Housefly, which
do not have the gift of speech and intelligence like humans,
is endowned with higher intellect than humans to the extent
of educating and directing them on how to bail themselves
out of the environmental mess they have put themselves.
Ototo’s fable is moralistic. Besides learning why the
environment is in a sad situation and how it can be reversed,
the reader is exposed to environmental register. It is doubtful
if the author has younger audience in mind, because the sophistication
of diction deployed may invite a recourse to the dictionary
to find the meanings of words and expressions by the author.
The environment depicted by the author is a blessed one, but
human beings are not guided in their action on the environment.
The Ovuruloko land, is a bleesed land, with every stretch
of its waterbed endowed with natural plankton, which serves
as a haven for fishes. But fishermen, who are mostly strangers,
exploit and abuse the God-given fortunes of Odele.
One shortcoming of this work is the author’s knack for
pontification. Instead of allowing action to speak louder
than words, his authorial intrusions curtail the reader’s
deductions from the course of events.
The plot of Ovie and the Housefly is arranged linearly, with
one development leading to another. It begins with a meeting
of the people and ends with another meeting, without a positive
outcome. The turning point in the narrative occurs in the
third chapter, “Killing the Housefly with a Hammer”,
where the insect and the fouteen year old girl have an interesting
encounter.
The author prepares the stage for this encounter with a light
atmosphere. The first appearance of the Housefly in the second
chapter is trailed with frills. Ovie trips over and wounds
herself trying to get rid of it. The reapprearance of the
insect seven days later, however, is remarkable.
This chapter shows the author’s better handling of dialogue.
The humanization of the character of the insect attains a
creative masterstroke. Ovie, determined to get rid of it a
second time, uses a broomstick but the clever insect flies
up to perch on a broken windowplane where her hand could not
reach it.
“Housefly, why do you always come to our homes without
invitation?” Ovie asks the intruder, who replies, “Coo!
Coo! Coo! … Who says you don’t invite me? You
are always inviting me by the things you do.”
Unlike the society that places its failure at the doorstep
of their leaders, Housefly sees it from a holistic perspective:
everybody is guilty. The barrage of questions it directs to
Ovie is germane: “…What happens when you defecate
openly everywhere without covering it with sand or mud? What
happens when you eat and you don’t wash and dry your
plates immediately, instead you leave them in the sink? What
happens when you would not rake or sweep off dead organic
matters from your premises? What happens when you cannot wash
your sweat soaked of clothes? What happens when you urinate
openly along the highways?
What happens when you do not dispose your refuse properly
by burning them? What happens when you do not paint or fumigate
your house over a time? What happens when you cough and throw
phlegm along the road and around your house? What happens
when you cough and throw phlegm along the road and around
your houses? What happens when you do not mop your floors
and hoover your rugs? … all your natural drains, rivulets,
brooks and creeks are blocked with human refuse and industrial
wastes. These and other ill-habits you exhibit every day are
my invitation cards and send to me before I come (p. 22).”
Shock is sown everywhere when the intereaction between Housefly
and Ovie is made public. His father moved by that, takes her
to the king to intimate him on the development, which, in
turn, leads to the invitation of the insect to the king’s
palace.
The chapter entitled “The Housefly Lectures on Environment”
is very interesting in the sense that it brings to the notice
of all the hazards of the environment and a blue print for
a better environment, too.
The king’s final position on the matter – “…
I am also convinced that the only way we can salvage Odele
kingdom and Uzabara nation is to go the way of the Lord”
– is sacrificing pragmatism for the ridiculous.
Ovie and the Housefly is a fictional approach to environmental
menace, a big boost for the green campaign.
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