By Henry Akubuiro
Anchor on Nullity, Emmanuel Oke, SCLK, United Kingdom, 2022, pp. 150
The contemporaneity of the stories in Emmanuel Oke’s collection of short stories, Anchor on Nullity, is one of the first things you discover in this work of fiction by the UK-based architect.
In 20 short tales, the author offers society a mirror to see different shades of foibles and hubris. In the title story, “Anchor on Nullity”, the author x-rays the over-dependency of today’s children on their parents, using Chief Agbabiaka, a successful businessman, and his never-do-well son, Toye, as a case study. He is to become a school dropout who places all his hopes on his father’s wealth. To his greatest shock, nothing is willed to him when his father dies eventually.
This story emphasises the importance of hard work and independence in the life of an individual. The author, Oke, sprinkles his stories with comedy while passing concrete messages, like in “Baby Swap” where a desperate woman resorts to baby swap, which haunts her many years after, leading to her committing suicide just before Adewale, her stolen son, is to be sacrificed to appease the gods.
While the themes of alienation, clash of cultures and marital un-tenability echo in “Unending Cold War”, the story, “Mixed Feelings”, highlights separation and reunion and the consequences of filial absence. Themes of nemesis and disloyalty resonate in some of the stories. Oke writes as a moralist with social change in mind. Friends can influence friends positively or negatively. But it’s the duty of an individual to make the right choices. It’s even harder for children from broken homes. This explains why the consequences of making a wrong choice form the nucleus of “Broken Home”.
Johnson, in the story, is a 13-year-old boy whose association with urchins has tainted his morals, and when their extravagant lifestyles can’t be sustained any longer, they resort to robbery, but luck runs out of them, leading to their arrest and subsequent imprisonment. For the estranged parents, the author allows a moment of rude awakening. If they had known, they would have remained one to raise their children.
Betrayal and its overreaching implications find expression in “Anguish of Betrayal”. Unable to control his anger following his wife’s betrayal and outsmarting him of his wealth, the protagonist takes her life and that of her lover.
“The Tale of the Wretched Boy” echoes the vicissitudes of life and how fate plays a role in overcoming the storm of life where hope is forlorn.
There are many stories in this book with juvenile flavours. The author appears to be speaking to youths directly, addressing conducts unbecoming and their repercussions. He reminds us of the oft-quoted Achebe’s essay of the novelist as a teacher.
The theme of requited love teems in Tunde and Titilayo’s trajectories in “Till Death Do Us Part”. It is the tale of another boy from a poor home who runs into luck when he is on the verge of dropping out of school, courtesy of Titilayo, his friend from a rich home. He also reciprocates the love when she is at the nadir of hope following a gruesome road accident.
Theme of forgiveness is reflected in subsequent stories like “Top Secret” and “New Beginnings”. The author is also interested in themes that verge on contentment and criminality, parental meddling and infidelity. Oke has demonstrated, in this book, to be a writer with a moralistic bent, but how virtually all his stories lacked dialogue is baffling.