Modern African Literature

ENGL 233

Analysis of ‘Beyond the Horizon’, ‘You who

Mock Me’ and ‘Black Hermit’

Amuni Toluwalase 21/0807

Akinola Deborah 22/2028
Ekemezie Oluchi 22/2685
Introduction
Modern African Literature serves as a mirror reflecting the diverse and dynamic societies across the
continent. In our analysis of "Beyond the Horizon" (prose), "Black Hermit" (drama), and "You Who
Mock Me" (poetry), we navigate the intricacies of contemporary African experiences. These works not
only tell stories but provide a poignant commentary on the challenges, triumphs, and complexities faced
by individuals in the modern African context.

Analysis of the novel ‘Beyond the Horizon’ by Amma Darko

Introduction
Beyond the Horizon by Amma Darko is a captivating work of literature that delves deep into the human
experience, exploring themes of trauma, racism, village life vs city life and the oppressive rule of men
over women.
Darkos novel set against the backdrop of Ghana and then Germany takes readers on a journey through the
life of mara as she deals with her dreams and aspirations amidst the harsh realities of her environment.
In this analysis we will embark on a journey of literary exploration of beyond the horizon delving into the
multifaceted layers of the narrative. Through the lens of character analysis thematic exploration and an
examination of the authors unique style we aim to unearth meanings embedded within Darko’s prose.

Summary of the plot

Mara is a woman and the wife of Akobi and all she wants is to make her husband happy. Akobi or Cobby
on the other hand couldn’t be bothered about making Mara happy and he thwarts all her efforts at being a
good wife at every turn.
Beyond the horizon is set in Ghana and Germany. In the village and in the city. while the story is a very
good representation of what is still happening today not just in Ghana but in the whole of Africa. It is set
in the rural Ghana where the people live in huts made of mud and where they rely on farming as their
main source of income.
The central conflict that drives the plot is the fact that mara keeps trying to please Akobi but it is never
enough till he finally betrays her and ruins her life.
Mara a young girl in the village of Naka is sold off by her father to Akobi- a man who lives in the city-He
also takes Mara to the city and there, away from prying eyes of their families he beats her and abuses her.
He rapes her and controls her. then one day he comes home and announces that he has a passport and he
is going to Europe. He convinces mara that it is a good idea by telling her about cars and fridges and
televisions that never get thrown away.
After two years of being separated from her husband he finally invites her to Germany. Of course, she has
to get in illegally like her husband because they were unable to get a visa. In Germany Mara experiences
reality.
Once she gets to her husband’s house, she is shocked to find out that he has married another wife and
expects her to pose as his sister in order for him to look respectable. Grudgingly she does this.
The ultimate betrayal comes when Akobi drugs her allows three men to rape her films it and then uses the
film to blackmail her into prostitution. It is a downward slope from there because she is eventually sold to
a pimp Oves and is bruised battered and brutalized by different men in the whorehouse. She even starts on
the substance ‘snow’ which I suspect is cocaine. The book ends with mara accepting her fate.

Characterization
Mara: Mara is a young woman from the village of Naka in Ghana. She is incredibly naïve and some
might even say stupid. Even after all the beatings that she has received in the hands of her husband Akobi,
mara still trusts him she trusts that he has her best interest at heart. Another example of when she shows
her naivete is when she trusts the so-called lawyer that will free her from her husband. The lawyer gives
her a contract written in German and he claims that it will free her from her husband meanwhile it is only
selling her to a worse and more evil future as doves girl.
Mara is weak and doesn’t know how to take control of her life. She sold off by her father and she doesn’t
even fight it. She just lets life happen to her. Even when she is sold into prostitution she doesn’t fight
back, she has no fight left in her.
Akobi: Akobi is maras husband he is educated but semi-literate. Semi-literate in the sense that although
he has gone to school, he still has some very archaic beliefs. Like beating his wife controlling her and not
taking care of her. He is a very wicked man he makes a film of his wife being raped and he uses it to
blackmail her. He beats her even while she is pregnant. He is also very selfish he doesn’t care about his
own children. All he cares about is himself. He sells all of maras precious property without her consent so
that he can get his passport.
Mara’s father: He is another selfish man he sells off his daughter with no qualms he does not care about
his daughter or his wife.
Mama kiosk: she is maras only friend in Ghana she is like a mother to Mara and she constantly advises
her and is always there for her. She tells mara that Akobi’s treatment of her is very wrong. Throughout the
story even when mara s in Germany mama kiosk is the one she sends money to give her family.

Themes:
Abuse: Abuse is a recurrent theme in the book. Throughout the book, we see the women in the book
being abused. To the extent that the abuse has been normalized. Maras mother was beaten i.e. (physically
abused) by her husband and so when Akobi starts beating her she doesn’t think it weird. Darko also
infuses the theme of abuse in the book is during maras time in Germanys she is sexually abused over and
over again. She is abused by her husband, by three strange men and by various men during her time as a
prostitute mara in tears says that what should never be done to any woman has been done to her. The men
who came to sleep with her don’t see her as a person they see her as chattel , property. All the things they
can’t do to their wives at home they do to the girls.
Not only is Akobi physically by controlling her movements and isolating her from friends and family. He
further puts her through psychological abuse and trauma by telling her to pretend that she is his sister
rather than his wife. He constantly rubbishes her and smears her self esteem in the mud.
Sexism and patriarchy: we live in a patriarchal world and Amma Darkos beyond the horizon mirrors
that perfectly. All the men in the book are either abusive, selfish or see women as chattel, property. Maras
father doesn’t consider his daughter a full person, if he did, he wouldn’t sell her off without even telling
her first. tis is a classic example of men doing whatever they want just because they can. Akobi is another
deeply sexist man, he disrespects and abuses his wife on a daily basis and he doesn’t care. He does it
because he can. He is a man that believes women to be second class citizens. Not only Akobi but also all
the men that employ prostitutes and treat them like trash because the women are helpless. Throughout the
book, men are in positions of power and influence and are usually the ones doing all the abusing.

Comparing and Contrasting the Characters of Beyond the Horizon

Mara and Akobi are both from Ghana, but they have very different experiences and perspectives on life.
Mara is naïve, trusting, and submissive, while Akobi is cunning, manipulative, and domineering. Mara
suffers from abuse, exploitation, and betrayal by Akobi, who uses her as a means to achieve his selfish
goals. Mara represents the victim of colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy, while Akobi represents the
oppressor and the collaborator.
Mara and the lawyer are both involved in Akobi’s scheme, but they have different roles and motivations.
Mara is the victim, who is deceived and sold by a friend to the lawyer, who is the accomplice. The lawyer
pretends to help Mara, but he actually exploits her and sells her to be Oves’s pimp. The lawyer is greedy,
dishonest, and ruthless, while Mara is innocent, gullible, and helpless. The lawyer represents the
corruption and injustice of the legal system, while Mara represents the vulnerability and oppression of the
marginalized.
Mara and Mama Kiosk are both women, but have very different expectation of what a marriage should
look like. Mara is used to the abuse and normalizes it, while Mama Kiosk believes that women in
marriage deserve to be treated right. Another difference is that Mama Kiosk is from the city while Mara is
from the village. Perhaps this could explain their different perspectives. Mama Kiosk, having lived in the
city for years has had the privilege of seeing women being treated right. Mara has had no such luck even
her own mother was abused by her father. Mama Kiosk represents the empowered woman who tries to
fight and empower other women while Mara represents the victim.

Use of Irony in the novel ‘Beyond the Horizon’

Darko uses irony to create a sense of contrast, contradiction, or surprise in the novel. For
example, she uses situational irony to show how the characters’ expectations and actions often
lead to opposite or unexpected outcomes. For instance, Akobi leaves Ghana for Germany in
 search of a better life, but he ends up becoming a criminal and a fugitive. Mara follows Akobi to
Germany in hope of reuniting with him, but she ends up becoming a prostitute and a drug addict.
She also uses verbal irony to show how the characters say or think things that are different from
or opposite to what they mean or feel. For example, Akobi calls Mara his “sister” in public, but
he treats her as his slave in private. Mara calls Akobi her “husband” in her mind, but he acts as
her enemy in reality.

Another example of situational irony is when Mara meets the lawyer who claims to help her
divorce Akobi. Mara thinks that the lawyer is her saviour and friend, but he is actually her
betrayer and enemy. He gives her a contract written in German, which she cannot read, and tells
her that it will free her from Akobi. However, the contract actually sells her to be Oves’s pimp,
who forces her into prostitution. Mara signs the contract without knowing what it says, and she
ends up in a worse situation than before.

Another example of verbal irony is when Mara writes letters to her family and friends in Ghana.
Mara lies to them about her life in Germany, and tells them that she is happy, wealthy, and
respected. She says things like “I am living in a big house with a garden and a car”, “I have a
good job and a nice boss”, or “Akobi is very kind and loving to me”. However, the reality is the
opposite of what she says. She lives in a whorehouse, she works as a prostitute and a drug dealer,
and she is separated from her husband. Mara uses verbal irony to hide her pain and shame, and to
protect her family and friends from the truth.

How Beyond the Horizon Mirrors the Realities of Millions of

Girls Around the World
Beyond the Horizon by Amma Darko is a novel that reflects the harsh and tragic realities of millions of
girls and women who are sold, abused, and exploited by their families, partners, and society. The novel
tells the story of Mara, a young girl from Ghana who is sold by her father to Akobi, a man who beats,
rapes, and abandons her. Akobi later brings her to Germany, where he forces her into prostitution and
drugs. Mara’s life is a nightmare of pain, humiliation, and despair.
Mara’s story is not unique or fictional. It is a reality for many girls and women who face similar or worse
situations in different parts of the world. According to the United Nations, more than 650 million women
alive today were married as children, and more than 4 million people, mostly women and girls, are
victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. These girls and women suffer from physical,
psychological, and social consequences, such as violence, disease, addiction, stigma, and poverty.
Beyond the Horizon is a novel that exposes and challenges the injustices and inequalities that girls and
women face in a patriarchal and globalized world. The novel also invites the reader to empathize and
sympathize with the girls and women who are often silenced and ignored by the mainstream media and
society. The novel calls for action and change, and urges the reader to join the fight against the oppression
and exploitation of girls and women. The novel also celebrates the resilience and courage of the girls and
women who survive and resist these issues, and who dream of a better future beyond the horizon.

Conclusion
In this analysis, I have explored the novel Beyond the Horizon by Amma Darko, a powerful and poignant
work of literature that depicts the life and struggles of Mara, a young woman from Ghana who is sold,
abused, and exploited by her husband Akobi and others. I have examined the novel through the lens of
character analysis, thematic exploration, and stylistic evaluation, and I have uncovered the meanings and
messages that the author conveys through her unique and effective use of literary devices, such as
symbolism, imagery, and irony. I have also discussed how the novel reflects and challenges the realities
of millions of girls and women who face similar or worse situations in different parts of the world, and
how the novel raises awareness and empathy for their plight.
I think that Beyond the Horizon is a novel that deserves to be read and appreciated by a wide and diverse
audience, as it offers a rich and complex insight into the human experience, especially the experience of
girls and women who are often marginalized and oppressed by the patriarchal and globalized world. The
novel also invites the reader to question and challenge the injustices and inequalities that exist in the
world, and to join the fight for the rights and dignity of girls and women. The novel also celebrates the
resilience and courage of the girls and women who survive and resist these issues, and who dream of a
better future beyond the horizon.

Analysis of the poem "You Who Mock Me" by Chaguo

La Maua translated by Jan Knappert
You who are laughing at me,
Because of my love,
It has not happened to you yet;
Now you consider it foolishness.
But how many are suffering
And have grown thin like a thread.

I'll tell you about my love

When you get it very badly
You will be left crying;
Listen carefully-:
Those who are used to it,
Many of them get melancholy.

One day you will love,

You, my dear friend,
Your condition (will deteriorate)you will grow thin,
From thinking about love all the time;
Love will treat you badly,
You will search (in vain)for sleep.

If God wills it will happen to you,

So that you will experience it's hardship;
May you love someone who does not want you,
May I see you then,if you laugh at me.
It has not yet happened to you;
You have not yet experienced it's power.

Poem Analysis.
Stanza 1:
The poem starts with the narrator addressing an individual who is mocking them for loving
someone. The narrator is suggesting that the person mocking them has not yet experienced love
themselves and therefore does not understand it's power. The narrator is also pointing out that love can
cause suffering and can make people feel like they are "thread thin”. They are asking the person mocking
them to consider the possibility that love is something powerful and meaningful, and that their experience
of it is limited.
Stanza 2:
This stanza is stating that the individual will eventually experience love, and it will be painful for
them. The narrator is also warning the person that when they do experience love, they will "get
melancholy" or sad. The narrator is trying to say that love is a powerful emotion that can cause great joy
and great sadness.
Stanza 3:
The third stanza takes the idea of love causing suffering even further, saying that it will make the
person "grow thin" from constantly thinking about it. The narrator is describing the experience of being
"in love" as something that can cause insomnia, restlessness and a general feeling of being well. The
narrator is suggesting that love can consume a person's thoughts and affect their physical health. The
narrator is describing an unhealthy obsession with love, rather than a healthy, balanced experience of it.
In the final stanza, the narrator is saying that if the person who is mocking them ever experiences
love, they will understand why the narrator is so passionate about it. The narrator is also wishing that the
person will experience the pain of unrequited love, and they seem to be hoping that the person will then
realize that love is a serious and powerful emotion. The narrator seems to be wishing for the person to
experience what they have gone through, as a kind of Justice for being mocked.
 Literary devices.
1. Stanza 1:
Personification: ‘you who are laughing at me' which personifies the action of laughing by making it
sound like a person is literally laughing at the speaker.
Simile: "like a thread".
2. Stanza 2:
Alliteration: "when you get it very badly".
3. Stanza 3:
Personification: "love will treat you very badly".

4. Stanza 4:
Alliteration: If God wills it will happen to you.
Personification:" So that you will experience it's hardship".
The tone of this poem is sad, frustrated, and a bit bitter. The speaker is clearly hurt by the way they
have been treated by others, and they express their frustration and sadness through the poem. There is also
a hint of hope and optimism, as the speaker wishes that those who have not experienced love will
someday do so. Overall, the tone of the poem is complex and emotional, and it conveys a range of
different feelings.

Themes.
1. The power of love: The speaker is clearly hurt by the way they have been treated, and they talk
about how others have "laughed at" and "insulted" them. However, the speaker also acknowledges that
those who have not experienced love might not understand its power. In this way, the poem suggests that
love has the power to change people and can be both a source of great joy and great pain.
2. The pain of unrequited love: The speaker talks about how love can "deteriorate" someone and
how they can become "thin like a thread." They also mention the way that those who have experienced
love can become melancholy and even cry. In this way, the poem highlights the emotional toll that
unrequited love can take on a person.
3. The importance of empathy and understanding: The speaker talks about how they wish that
others could "understand" their feelings and their situation. They also say that they hope that others will
"learn the beauty of love" and "how to feel for another." This theme highlights the importance of
compassion and understanding.
ANALYSIS OF BLACK HERMIT BY NGUNGI WA THIONG O
The novel is about a young man named Remi. Remi was the first of his tribe to attend university. He was
a man stuck between nationalism and tribalism.

Thoni was sorting beans spread in a basin when her mother- in -law enters carrying a water barrel which
she puts down. Nyobi notices Thoni crying and asks her. She had to ask because it pained her to see
Thoni crying and wasting her youthfulness. Nyobi was so concerned that she told Thoni that she should
marry a new man even if he won't marry her let her at least bore a child but Thoni objects to the idea
because and I quote “I don't want to become a public ball, and that she would wait for her husband to
return to his matrimonial home."

The elders came to Nyobi to receive her blessings for the medicine that was meant for Remi because it
was meant to make him come back to his village. At the same time the elders gather for a meeting on
home their tribe isn't going far to the point of not even being recognized in the current governance
instead it's bringing for taxation to them

Remi worked in an oil company as a clerk. Thats, were he met his future wife Jane. Jane was a European
descent. One night like that Remi didn't feel like going out that gave Jane to make a gesture of him
because his to going out from “one night club to another like someone who was haunted- running away
from something. “Before he went to the city Remi loved Thoni but couldn't tell her that he loves her
because he was leaving. Later onwards Remi received a letter of his brother getting married to Thoni
after six months his brother died their father learns of his first born death and became sick and died
after, and in their village its customary law of Maria tribe Remi has to inherit his brother’s wife .

Jane pleads with Remi to take her to his village but he tells her she doesn't know the suffering she will
face and that she won't be able to keep up the traditions that making her to not go again.

Nyobi and Thoni were in hut tiding up the place and talking about remis return when the pastor came in
and told them that he will return. Thoni was a bit worried because she had a nightmare/dream showing
that he might return different, Nyobi told her that she had same dream. That the dream was about an
insane man with the face of Remi.

The day Remi came to the village he gave a speech. Even when alone with his mother, wife, and pastor
and Omanye he utters harsh words say "he made a mistake marrying Thoni". After this Thoni left after
the remark, Nyobi noticed and tried to go after her. A woman was persuading Thoni not to leave but she
said " she longs for the country she had experienced when she was young' it's a country where there's is
no light and no people, it’s all darkness swallowing you so that no man from this world may know or
recognize you" so she couldn't just agree to stay at her place we're she finds it difficult living under the
same roof as Remi. Beating of drums were heard followed by men carrying a dead and it was Thoni's
Remi felt so heartbroken......

A woman of the village came up to Remi and gave him the letter which she was given by Thoni, he asked
who the letter was from who and the woman answered" she was kind, she who was true , A tender
sapling growing straight though summoned with weeds “confused he asked her again she responded
angrily" The best woman the village had ever born , Many curses on you" as he stares at the body at that
moment he realized who it was from and then he said "I came back to break tribe and customs, instead
l've broken you and me "

THEMES: OF BLACK HERMIT

IGNORANCE: to life she would have lived a better life if she had known it would take this turn and end up
leading her to her last breath.

RESPONSIBILITY: lt was Remis’s responsibility to take up marrying Thoni because it was a custom in their
tribe but instead became her downfall

UNISM: we can see it by when the villagers came together to talk about their hardship and how the
government was treating them, we can also see when they came together to think of an idea and act on
it in order to bring back Remi to the village.

POVERTY: You find this part where by the villagers living conditions were bad that they were hoping for
the government's help and we're hoping to be noticed and be put down as at east a province

CHARACTERIZATION

Remi: protagonist of the novel and a well-educated man who kept in mind after he makes it he would
change and improve his village. Remi a man who loved Thonyi but was shy to tell her, and towards the
ending he was to marry her, he to was married to woman Jane

Thoni: also, a protagonist of the novel. She was a humbled woman who refused to marry another man
or have his children. She was a woman who was married before but lost her husband six months after
the marriage and later meant to marry her husband brother due to custom but later died due to being
rejected and was ignorant

Nyobi: the mother to Remi and mother-in-law to Thoni. She cared so much for Thoni that she
felt she should get married again because she was wasting her youthfulness away by staying
alone. She was a mother that also missed her son to the extent of blessing the medicine meant
to be given to her in order to make him come back home
Jane: was a woman who came from Europe. She was married to Remi and was sort of curious about her
husband's tradition and village home town, but because she was convinced by her husband to not go and
she didn't
A woman of the village: she was more of a messenger because before Thoni made her final choice, she
gave her a letter but before that choice the woman did advise her to think future and that she can live on.
A prophet: he was the one who received the blessings from Nyobi to go and bring her son back.

Conclusion
As we conclude our exploration of "Beyond the Horizon," "Black Hermit," and "You Who Mock Me," the
resonance of these works with the realities of modern African society becomes strikingly apparent.
Through the lens of these literary pieces, we gain insights into the struggles for identity, the societal
shifts, and the relentless pursuit of progress that define the daily lives of individuals across the continent.
These narratives serve as a testament to the enduring power of literature to capture and convey the
essence of the ever-evolving modern African experience.