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Armah captures his doubt through the Teacher, a character who has a clear
awareness of the origin and nature of the nation‟s crises as he says, “Life has not
changed. Only some people have been growing, becoming different, that is all. After
a youth spent fighting the white man, why should not the president discover, as he
grows older that his real desire has been to like the white governor himself, to live
above all blackness in the big old slave castle?”p.92.Man comes from teacher‟s
home
When the man arrives home from his friend teacher he finds his wife asleep. He also
joins the bed with his wife touching her through different parts of her body. We are
told that genital parts of Oyo are so harder, with scars on the stomach. p.98 “He put
out his hand and touched the body in between the things just below the genitals,”
writes the author.
It is in the morning of the next day
The man goes to take bath in a very dirty and smelly bathroom, as the author writes
that the door of the bathroom is rotten at the button and the s mell of dead wood filled
his nostrils and caressed the cavity of his mouth (p.101). The hole leading the water
out is again partly blocked with everybody‟s sponge strands, „mabaki ya spoji za
kuogea‟ .The water underneath goes out very slowly. Aft er the bath, man goes back
to his room, takes a cup of tea. After tea he collects bus fare and the handkerchief
off to the bus stationary.Man arrives to the office
Man arrives at the office where he meets a messy of some traveller‟s vomit. At the
very office man rejects a greeting he was given simply because a person has
addressed him as a sir. He goes directly to his office. While in the office, man is
called by the nature (Toilet). Up stair toilets are closed because only the senior
service men have keys. He takes some old stiff paper and goes directly to the public
toilet down stairs. (pg 105).in the toilet he reads the writings on the wall,“…VAGINA
SWEET,MONEY SWEET PASS ALL,WHO BORN FOOL SOCIALISM CHOP MAKE
CHOP CONTREY BROKEYOU BROKEN NOT SO?PRAY FOR DETENTION JAIL
MAN CHOP FREE.” Pg 106.
When man comes back he finds Amakwa, the timber man has already bribed the
booking clerk and when the timber man sees man he scorns him, “You, you are a
very wicked man. You will never prosper ”. p. 107.As usually man replies nothing.
In very late hours, arrives one of the official supervisors who was a bursar at one of
the Ghana national Secondary Schools before coming to the Railway Administration.
When he was at Secondary school he caused student to be fixed from school by th e
minister for education after writing the letter to probe the money embezzled by him
as bursar. (p. 109). So instead of chasing him, he was transferred to another
department in the samegovernment.Man‟s home, a place of a silent one
What next, the author takes us to man‟s home after he has completed his shift from
work. Man finds his family in a great preparation for a visit by Koomson. Man is also
joining the preparation as he starts to arrange his old cushions and chairs while Oyo
prepares food. Oyo in his preparation she needs drinks of high quality though
financially they are very poor.
While in her kitchen Oyo feeds her children before he assigns her husband to take
them to their grand mother. Then after the husband take them to their grandmother.
She also tells her husband to inform the old woman to come to talk to the m inister
(Koomson). On the way to the old woman something cut a little boy because he was
in bare feet. As they arrive the old woman says to a crying child,“My poor husband!
You have no shoes to wear, so your poor little feet get torn to pieces. Ei, my
husband, you have no body to buy you shoes, so your little toes will all be destroyed.
You must know you have nobody, you are an orphan, a complete orphan”p.123. As
usually man replies nothing despite of the rude phrases.
Then man comes back home from his mother-in-law to complete his arrangements
and ready to receive the minister. He finds his wife making her hair so that she looks
beautiful woman as Estella, “Its only bush women who wear their hair natural” Oyo
tells her husband. She continues burning while keeping on saying “If I had a wig,
there would be no trouble.” replies man, “If you had a wig. „I‟d be in jail ” (pg
128).Koomson arrives at Man‟ home
Koomson arrives with his car, accompanied with Estella his wife. Koomson himself
looks obviously larger than the chair he is occupying, writes the author. Then man
opens the beer and Koomson says “Cheers!”. But t he high voice of his wife cut the
air to pieces as she says, “This local beer, does not agree with my constitutions ”.
She continues. “ Really, the only good drinks are European drinks. These make you
ill… you should have bought European drinks and not have wasted your money like
this”. p 132. But she soon joins the drinks.
As we all know drunks are fluently go for a short call. Koomson therefore asks to be
shown a toilet some thing makes man to worry as he says, “We don‟t have a toilet
here. We have a place all right, only it isn‟t anything-high class. It isn‟t a toilet, you
see. Just a latrine ” p.134.
They then start talking of the issue of a boat as the main topic brought Koomson to
his schoolmate. When the old woman asks Koomson the issue of fishing boat he
says that socialism is doing bad since it prohibits people to have such things. In case
of money Koomson says, “The money is not the difficult thing, after all, the
Commercial Bank is ours, and we can do anything ” (pg 136). But we are told that
the boat was bought using Oyo and her mother‟s names whereby they peel off
„waliambulia‟ fishes to eat, though in page 153 the author writes that the man doesn‟t
like the fish, “please don‟t cook more fish to me”.Man and Oyo are at Koomson home
Man and his wife have gone to Koomson‟home for the issue of signing a boat
project. At home a young girl in blue jeans and white T-shirt speaking English like
white child welcomes them. The door is opened by servant girl (house girl) of 16
years. They get seated on sofas and asked to say what kind of drinks they would
prefer.p.147.
The end of the novel and the escape of Koomson
Along with Koomson he passes through the latrine but cleanses himself in the
seawater. Who is this man who wants to teach us how to live in a corrupt world? Is
he the beautiful one?
Koomson escapes from the country with the active collaboration of the man. The
humiliating process of his escape through the lavatory and the harbour underscores
the vanity of irresponsible power.
The novel ends with the man returning home from the harbour. The camp has not
really changed anything fundamentally in the life of the nation. Soldiers and police
still extort Kola – euphemism for bribe – from travellers. The man is going back to his
home “ the land of the silent ones” and his dull working environment.
Part two: analysis of the novel
Themes
Corruption and bribery
The theme of corruption runs amongst the leadership and ordinary people alike.
Successive governments come in with promises which end up as an opportunity for
the leaders and their groups to enrich themselves. Corruption in Ghana and in all
African countries at large are virtually acceptable as a legal means of enrichment,
and it is being caused by bureaucracy, poorly paid workers and modernization. For
example Amakwa approaches the man to get his timber transported from the bush
for a reward. This is due to bureaucracy that exists in most of African countries. It
has reached a time that if you don‟t have „kitu kidogo‟ you can never attain any
services. Though man refuses the offer comes his f ellow worker, accepts the bribe
and man who refuses resorting in scorns from Amakwa, “You, you are a very wicked
man. You will never prosper…”Pg 107
Modernization causes corruption in most of African countries to such an extent that if
at all you refuse to take the bribe, people seem to despise you. For example when
man tells his wife how he declines the offer s his wife rather than highly praises him
she sarcastically refers to him as a “ Chichidodo”, a bird that hates excrement but
feeds on maggot. But another man in the same office takes it.
The state apparatus that is supposed to ensure that corruption is not practised i n the
society is also in the forefront of the practice. There is an incidence for example
when a policeman receives bribe from the bus driver in public.
There is also a messenger, who won the money in the lottery but, he is sure that
without giving bribes to some officials he will not get the money. The messenger has
an experience of this savagery (ushenzi) as he says, “I know people who won more
than five hundred cedis last year they still haven‟t got their money…I hope some
officials at the lottery place will take some of my hundred cedis as a bribe and allow
me to have the rest‟‟
It seems that corruption amongst public officials has become an accepted practice.
The life of luxury is represented in the Atlantic Caprice, a luxury hotel which even the
man is attracted to; he feels set apart from society and even from his family. His
closest friend is the Teacher who freed himself and lives away alone. In his view, the
country‟s leaders feel a twisted form of love for the white men they have replaced
and as an example the corrupt minister Koomson, who takes every opportunity to
advance his interest.
At these aspects the novelist talks of these government officials such as ministers
were put on power by the mass, instead they are less pre occupied with problems of
ordinary citizens. They have caused the condition in the society be more worse.
They are more concerned with leisure and pleasures, making parties, going to
nightclubs and running after girls as Koomson represents them. Leaders are now
changing girls as clothes simply because they have money as the author writes
“Young juicy vaginas waiting for him in some hired place paid by the government”
(pg 90). The society have experiences these dealings by their leaders as says this
woman who is selling loafs of breads, “Have you ever seen a big man without
girls…”pg 37. Big man means those people with authority,and,man,in-Ghan-
asociety.
(ii) Alienation of a person from the society
The man is being insulted by a number of people in his society for not being in
corruption. This is because corruption in Ghana society is accepted as a social norm.
They believe corruption to be as a means of getting rich quickly. For example Oyo
and his mother pour scorns at him that he is nobody.
Also Teacher sees that in his society everyone who wants to be happy will soon get
involved in corruption. Having seen this he sees that it is difficult to look after his
parents and married, hence he runs away from his home and decides to lie lonely
life. For example when the man goes to him tonight he finds the teacher sleeping
necked, reading and listening to music (pg 91).(iii) Alienation of a person from
himself. The teacher, Koffi Billy and sister Maanan are alienated from themselves by
resorting to drug abuse (wee). For example Maanan through exploitation and neglect
from her the government she is driven into insanity.Another ill treated victim is Koffi –
Billy. He lost his leg accidentally yet, no one cares for him hence he commits suicide.
Lack of unity
The man is alone in his uprightness and this loneliness is a burden to him. He is not
supported by anyone in the society even his own wife is against his character. The
man fails even to explain why he hates bride while every one in the society is
corrupt. We have such people in most of African countries who see evils being done
within a society but nobody reports such evils. For example during elections in our
society leaders are bribing the majority but the work to fight such bribe is left t o
PCCB officials who at sometimes are not nearby the scene.
Hence the novelist shows us that, evils in the society cannot be fought alone.
Therefore the man needs cooperation with his fellow members of the society who
might in one way or another hate corruption.
(iii) Woman as a person with unconstructive ideas. Women have also been portrayed
as being among the suffering majority who take resolutions, which are in no way
constructive. Maanam who symbolizes the millions of marginalized Ghanaians after
being disillusioned by the vision of the betrayal by their men, she resorts to take
drugs as a means to postpone her despair, in the end she is a drunk to the extent.
(iv) Woman as dynamic person. Moreover women have been portrayed as being
dynamic and they act according to situations. The m an‟s wife who was former on
opposition with her husband who rejected bribes, supported her husband‟s only
following the situation, which corruption supporters face after the coup .
(v) Woman as disdain person. Also the author draws a woman as a disdain person
(mtu mwenye dharau.).This is verified from the words of man‟ mother -in-law which
describes man as is no body, is no longer existing and as a person who doesn‟t take
care of his family. Here are the words by this old woman, “My poor husband! You
have no shoes to wear, so your poor little feet get torn to pieces. Ei, my husband,
you have no body to buy you shoes, so your little toes will all be destroyed. You must
know you have nobody , you are an orphan, a complete orphan. 123.
(vi) As a businessperson. The author portrays a woman who sells bread at the bus
stand and asks Koomson to buy more bread for his girl friend but Koomson refuses
by saying that he does not have girls. This surprised the woman as she says. “Have
you ever seen a big man without girls”p.37.
However, Armah‟s clear disgust for African politicians must be seen in the context of
a much larger picture. Ghana‟s (then the Gold Coast) interaction with Europe began
in 1471 when the Portuguese first landed in search of gold, and by the sixteenth
century, slaves. Over the next three centuries, various parts of the coastal area were
controlled by a number of European powers. As the Gold Coast was searched, many
tribal chiefs participated in this exploitation by aiding Europeans in their endeavors,
selling their people for the trinkets of Europe. p. 175.
It is against this historical backdrop that Armah makes his assessment of
contemporary Ghanaian politics: the betrayal of indigenous leaders is inevitable.
Armah writes: “These were the socialists of Africa, fat, perfumed, soft with the
ancestral softness of chiefs who have sold their people and are celestially happy with
the fruits of the trade”. p. 153-4.
Leaders such as Konsoom, personally profiting from the misuse of the public purse,
are simply the latest in a long line of those who have let down the people of Africa.
The teacher recalls the sense of hope he had for Nkrumah‟s leadership to bring a
social, political and economic rebirth for Ghana. Instead, he realized that upon
reaching power, the new leadership had already grown old and decayed. Following
the coup at the end of the novel, the man too realizes that things will be no different,
but merely new people, new style, old dance. p. 185.
Armah‟s observations therefore suggest that post-independent African nations such
as Ghana are locked into a cycle of political, social and economic despair. He
appears to view the current situation as simply inevitable in light of the centuries of
moral compromises made by both Africans and Europeans.
Hopelessness
In The Beautyful Ones, the hopelessness of the nation is highlighted when the man
feels burdened with the knowledge that their future is sacrifice, their birthright
bartered in advance to the occupants of the white men‟s gleaming bungalows. The
man wonders about his children whether one of them would grow up and soar
upward with so much power that there would be enough left over to pull the others
also up. For the moment, however, there is nothing but dirt and human excrement
that Armah uses to paint the man‟s surroundings.
Political disillusionment
Political disillusionment is clearly a theme in Armah‟s novel, and it is aimed squarely
at Ghana‟s political corruption and failed development. It includes, too, the remaining
effects of colonization on a post-independent society and the continuance of a cycle
of exclusion, both socially and economically. He vividly depicts the f ilth, rot and
corruption of the man‟s surroundings, where the public lavatory becomes the show-
room of a people‟s sins, the banister a symbol of civil and civic corruption.
Struggling
The man (who remains nameless throughout the novel) struggles to find something
good about life in Ghana, but can only hold onto his own integrity for comfort. He
watches his friends grow rich through cheating their fellow countrymen out of money
and by sucking up to rich white men, and is betrayed by his wife and family for failing
to provide for them and bring in the money to buy European beers and Japanese
cars. He suffers as he watches his own children go without, but cannot bring himself
to abandon his own morals. When the old regime is overthrown by the military, his
formerly rich friends have a price slapped on their heads overnight, and the m an
must choose between helping his corrupt friend and saving his life, or allowing the
authorities to catch him.
Classes
Ghana society is occupied with classes of haves and have-nots. T he have class is
characterized by people who live luxurious life. They have their own residential like
the Sikofo Estate; they use expensive cosmetics and changing girls, as punts are
something usual to them.
However the class of have-nots is characterized by people whose standard of living
is very bad and sad. We see for example, a mother sucking her child‟s wet
congested nostrils, “under a dying lamp a child is disturbed by a long cough coming
from somewhere deep in the centre of the infant body. At the end of it his mother
puts her mouth to the wet congested nostrils and sucks them free. The mess she lets
fall gently by the roadside and with her bare foot she rubs it softly into the earth. 41.
Also people under this class are paid lowly the situation, which leads to alienation.
For example teacher having seen that he is not able to taking care of his family he
resolves to alienation. Man‟s children are walking bare footed as the young boy is cut
by something when on the way to his grandmother. Had these children have shoes;
man wouldn‟t have embraced scorns from his mother in law.
However the teacher a character who has a clear perception of the origin and nature
of the nation‟s classes doesn‟t take any action which is for the better of the society.
“Life has not changed. Only some people have been growing, becoming different,
that is all. After a youth spent fighting the white man, why should not the president
discover, as he grows older that his real desire has been to be like the white
governor himself, to live above all blackness in the big old slave castle?” (Pg 92).
The hero
The book begins coldly. The hero is introduced to the reader only as "the man.'' In
fact one never learns his name or reads a description of him. It is almost as if the
man is hidden by his surroundings. This man's world is rotting. The book is full with
horrifying images. The plants, the air, even the furniture seem to be alive and
sucking all of the oxygen out of his world. Everything is covered with a thick layer of
filth and excrement. The whole universe pulls on the man. If the man already feels
crowded with the force of unnaturally alive inanimate objects, then his family seems
to almost break him with their demands and complaints.
Dilemma
The man finds no comfort, no understanding in the requests of his world. No one
congratulates him on his efforts to remain honest and fair. Instead they push him to
take bribes and favors. He is, his mother-in-law, explains a useless nobody who
refuses to "improve" the lives of his family. They wonder why he can't be more like
his former schoolmate Koomsom, a minister in the government who has sacrificed
ethics for elegant living.
The man must suffer alone as he tries to keep his eyes and mind on what is right. He
lives in isolation among his family. The only one who understands him is "the
teacher," who the man visits late at night for some consolation. But the teacher is
burnt out and suspicious, spending his time reading naked or aimlessly listening to
the radio.
The Coup
The coup shifts the country's leadership. Suddenly the powerful Koomsom is
powerless, stinking with the horrible smell of fear. The man is his only way to safety
and freedom outside of the country. Together the men must crawl through the
neighborhood latrine to find safety and freedom. They rush through the countryside
avoiding the police. It is only then that the man can smell fresh air for the first time.
CONFLICTS
Family conflictMan’s family falls under conflict because of poverty.
He lives in poverty with his family to such an extent that he faces
hostility from members of his family since; he fails to provide them
with good life. Having failed to provide his family with the things
they want, he is viewed as a worthless person who does not even
deserve to be respected. His mother in law keeps pouring scorns
on him every now.Personal conflicts Man is very nervous every
time because he sees the reality but he finds no solution for the
problems that exist in his society. He is just passive and
submissive in various confrontations his reply is always ... “I don’t
know”...or “keeping silence” while he has a lot of contracting ideas
in his mind.
Koffi Billy also loses hope of getting good life because of
aggressive government. Hence his decision was to hang himself.
The teacher is living under frustration; he compares the situation
before and after independence. His findings were that, in order for
any person to give his loved ones the things they want must
involve himself in corruption. However his idealism makes him
passive and just maintains his hope that one day he will meet the
loved one. Maanan resorts to take drugs to the case of her
frustrations. She is later driven to insanity.Political conflict This
conflict arises among members of the first government and those
who won out coup d’etat. It was found that the first government
was leading the country to a bad end. Therefore some leaders of
the first government were killed and put in power new leadership
hoping that the new government would do away with evils.
However the new government seems to be in many ways the same
as the previous one.
MASSAGES
Passive resistance leads to more frustration.This means people are supposed to
express their dissatisfactions openly with the hope of imparting awareness to others
and hence to mobilize majority support and emerge wars against evils. The man,
Maanan, Koffi Billy and Teacher who see the reality and take impossible resolutions
rather than speaking out openly and organizing the masses to oppose the corrupt
government, are not regarded as revolutionaries. Hence their passive resistance
contributed a lot to their frustration as others have committed to suicide and drag
abuse..Poverty is a source of misunderstandings in any society.There are a lot of
misunderstandings in the family of Man, he is not in good atmosphere with his wife
and his mother in law, because, the two cannot be provided with what they want by
man. However, they think will able to get the required things if he involves himself in
corruption .He remains poor hence misunderstandings.Classes are inevitable where
there is no equal chance of access to people‟s rights.Following the betrayal of
masses by leaders, the masses find themselves having, narrow chances of access
to basic human needs like education while their l eaders have access to everything.
For example luxurious life lead by Koomson ands Estella, sending their children to
Europe and speaking English as white children.
What is happening in Zimbabwe right now, for example, is a big shame. Mugabe has
no new ideas for the country; how could he at his age? In order to move forward,
Zimbabweans must scrutinize those sycophants who support his government only
for personal gain. Zimbabwean people must stop waiting for a 'savior' to deliver them
from Mugabe. They have the power, if they want true change. The alternative is to
inherit a 'savior ', after Mugabe dies, who will take them down the same garden path.
Peasant power must arise across Africa to save the continent from these post-
independence 'saviors'.Philosophy & ideology Political independence has not
resulted in the much freedom and transformation. Those who took over power from
colonialists rather than dismantling colonial structures of social injustice and
oppression they preserve child them for opportunistic ends. Thus, post
independence years in many ex – colonies of Africa are characterised by indices of
underdevelopment; economic dependency, huge local and foreign debts, ethno –
religious violence, mass unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, electoral fraud,
corruption, inadequate or dysfunctional infrastructures and so on. Neo-colonialism
concentrates political and economic power not in the hands of the people but in the
hands of minority elite whose loyalty seems to be more towards the advanced
nations of Europe / America and Breton woods institutions.
Ayi Kwei Armah is a writer who has fought with the trajectory of he continent history.
He offers deep philosophical reflections on “the trouble with Africa”, then and now.
He consistently engages what he calls the pet assumption of the west, “ Africa is
inferior; the west is superior while not sparing the misrule of indigenous elite”.
Further Ayikwei identifies several factors responsible for underdevelopment. First is
the adoption of a socio – political formation that is not totally, but dependent on
Europe and America.
Second is an exploitative economic system superintended by the so-called
developed nations of the world, with collaboration of African ruling elites. Linked with
this is the character of the elite parochial, self – centred, committed to accumulation
of material possession rather than general well being.
The fourth is bureaucracy that is ironically a cog in the wheel of genuine
development, marked by inefficiency, inconsistency, nepotism and slothfulness. The
last factor is a Western oriented educational system that is not properly connected
with indigenous value system, and hence generating alienation.
Betrayal.
A new leadership creates its own cohort of collaborators both new and old. Old-new
collaborators switch sides very quickly with a regime change, becoming the most
public "praise singers" for the new regime. Of course the old top leadership has to go
into hiding to avoid any negative repercussions from the new 'power barons.“How
long will Africa be cursed with its leaders? There were men dying from the loss of
hope, and others were finding gaudy ways to enjoy power they did not have. We
were ready here for big and beautiful things, but what we had was our own black
men hugging new paunches scrambling to ask the white man to welcome them onto
our backs…we knew then and we know now that the only real power a black man
can have will come from black people”.
The style of Armah writing is also crucial in telling his stories. Symbolism is rife in the
work. Armah fixates on notions of rebirth, imagery of which is scattered throughout
The Beautyful Ones. The very centre of the novel is based on a desire for a
regeneration of Ghanaian society, for future generations, the beautyful ones of the
novel‟s title. However, rebirth is also something that Armah mocks, witnessed in the
passage describing Koomsom struggling to escape headfirst and naked down a
drop-toilet.
The man in The Beautiful Ones is a symbol of urban poverty and social obscurity, a
single individual in conflict with values of his society. The man‟s only hope is in the
guidance of his friend the teacher, but through the course of the novel, he comes to
realise that the teacher too has no answer, and that he must face his problems alone
The unusual spelling of the title is from an inscription on the back of A Ghanian taxi-
bus which Armah chooses to indicated his largely pessimistic vision of the state and
society of his country just before, during and immediately after the reign of Kwame
Nkrumah.
The man in the novel is never named and this is an important aspect of the book for
you to think about. After reading this novel, it can never be forgotten because it is
intense and although often the narrator describes a wasteland it is ironically his
values and persona that seem beautiful. This is what leaves you feeling sad that the
narrator and other characters do not have what they deserve in their lives. So
although the future of the country is undecided, Armah displays the power of the
human spirit and the values of society as being of utmost importance for the future of
postcolonial Ghana.
PART FIVE
SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF THE AUTHOR
The author manages to create vivid scenes of filth and evil throughout the novel but
the plot leaves something to be desired. Characters are vague and action begins
very late in the text. Despite courageous attempts to create a standard, this book still
belongs in the upper floor with all the other dusty volumes.
CONCLUSION REMARKS
The Beautyful Ones is so complicated and dark novel. It explores individual isolation,
uneven development, corruption and wasted potential in newly independent African
nations against a backdrop of centuries of colonial rule.
There is no clear resolution in novel, and the outlook of it can be easily perceived as
miserable. Armah mocks with great forcefulness and misshapen language all that is
rotten in the world of hypocritical people, lost opportunities and the enormous gap
between the few with all the money and power, and the masses without anything at
all.
It depicts the sad surroundings of filth and corruption, but there are also moments of
laughter in his observations. Good can be found in the vitality of his characters, who
are prepared to search for something beyond that of everybody else.