THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUPERNATURAL IN ELECHI AMADI’S THE CONCUBINE AND THE GREAT PONDS

ABSTRACT

This dissertation is a study of the influence of the Supernatural in Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine and The Great Ponds- an x-ray of men and women living in a universe teeming with God, gods, goddesses, spirits, deities, the transcendentals and natural phenomena like sacred animals,  birds,  hills,  and  rivers.  They  all  share  in  the  attributes  of  the  supernatural. Unfortunately, man’s vaunted ambition to satiate his quest for the best of everything has always run counter to the dictates of the supernatural, leading as it were, to untold hardships, deaths, and total loss of the gleam. The novels leave us with an enduring lesson that the gods are inscrutable and have a hand in all affairs of the human world.  The study reveals that man’s destiny and affairs or existential struggles is dictated and controlled by the supernatural. Furthermore, the study portrays that man is a pawn in the hands of the supernatural. However, man’s conscious effort to counteract his destiny often result in tragedy as exemplified in the novel under study. The theory of myth was adopted to investigate the influence of the supernatural in the affairs of the characters in the two novels as no other literary theory explains the mystery of life and death.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The idea of the supernatural exists in every traditional society all over the world. The ancient Greeks saw man as being a victim of the supernatural. It is however in the oral tradition that the supernatural has its strongest hold. Geoffrey Parrinder in his text African Traditional Religion says; “To Africans, the spiritual world is so real and near, its forces intertwining and inspiring the visible world that, whether pagan or Christian, man has to reckon with things invisible to mortal sight”(10). Thus, the supernatural occupy an immense position in the minds of the Igbo society as in Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine and The Great Ponds.

In the traditional society, some animals are treated with reverence and some birds are regarded as ominous. When a particular stream or wooded landscape is found unique, it is a supernatural manifestation. These unique places are seen as the abodes of communal deities or local spirits identifiable with the destiny of the different communities. All these establish that beyond nature, there are the supernatural.

1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Igbo are a group of people whose culture and tradition mean a lot in their lives. They occupy a territory known as Eastern Nigeria which is made up of five major states namely: Abia, Imo, Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi states. Certain Igbo communities though in scattered formations could also be found in Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, and Kogi states of Nigeria.

The culture and tradition of the Igbo are guarded by a number of beliefs associated with the supernatural. The supernatural are God, gods, goddesses, deities, forces or powers that cannot be explained by the laws of science or be easily comprehended. It is these supernatural who influence activities in traditional societies.

Man has been dependent on “assumed” higher authority, power or god who he believes knows and controls his affairs throughout his life time on earth. Despite the worthwhile advances made by science and technology to better his lot and understand his environment, it is surprising that:

He is still deplorably ignorant and the universe is largely a mystery to him. He does not understand the nature of space and time; he does not know what matter is made of, if indeed it is made of anything. Above all he does not understand himself (Amadi 1).

From the above quotation, it is obvious that man is a stranger even to himself. This is why he is dependent on the supernatural in order to find answers to things he cannot explain and this in turn leads him into worship and reverence for those supernatural beings whose understanding eludes him. Therefore, man’s dependence on the supernatural is very important for his survival in a world he does not understand. Part of this dependence is in the culture and tradition of the Igbo people whose belief in the ancestors and gods affects their lives and mode of living even in written texts. Thus,

The African writer who really wants to interprete the African scene has to write in three dimensions at once. There is the private life, the social life and what you may call the supernatural (Amadi 7).

It means that, the private, social and most importantly the supernatural life of the Igbo will be explored if indeed they must write. The characters whose lives we will explore from Amadi’s novels in the course of this work have been portrayed with that human frailty, weakness and imperfect nature of men who have eyes but could not see and ears but could not hear. That is to say that at one point or the other, humans are confronted with forces and circumstances beyond their control.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Man believes in the existence of higher and stronger supernatural beings who  he depends on but hardly understands. He is obliged to worship, obey and do his best in order to conciliate them especially in times of crises. In spite of man’s interest and acquisitive tendencies, the  gods  remain  inflexible  and  immutable.  This  research  explores  the  influence  of  the supernatural in the activities of people and the limited nature of man’s cravings and the fact that gods are gods and that man seeks the impossible only to his own peril. This study intends to go beyond the peripheral approaches that existing studies of Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine and The Great Ponds  have adopted to a much more in depth study of the gods and the mythological among the Igbo, and Amadi’s novels in particular.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This research aims at understanding the place of the gods in the affairs of men/women between themselves as human beings, and maintaining peace and justice in controversial circumstances between individuals,  villages  and  towns.  Above all,  this  research intends to discover whether the gods could be manipulated unjustly to take sides with aggressors against the just or be compelled to obey the whims, and caprices of contenders no matter how irrational. It is this emphasis which available critiques seem to overlook that the present study dwells on.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Primarily, the relevance of this study lies in illuminating information on how the supernatural affects man in  his day to day lifestyle, environment and way of life paying particular attention to the Igbo race. An in-depth study of how this supernaturals apparently controls man’s destiny and affairs leaves no one in doubt that mortal beings are mere pawns.

This study will be of immense help to students and teachers in reading, teaching, and appreciation of African literature. Curriculum developers/planners also stand to gain as it will give them insight into other spheres or interpretations of Elechi Amadi’s works, traditional African gods, goddesses, the supernatural, and the society.

Religious leaders are not left out. This might help them to understand and solve certain problems of their members knowing that everybody has one belief or the other when it comes to the supernatural, be it the Almighty God for Christians or the traditional gods and goddesses for traditionalists. In short, everybody has his faith anchored in some supreme being/supernatural entity. As Alfred Lord Tennyson would say in his poem ‘‘ In Memoriam Arthur Hallam’’ “we have but faith we do not know”.

1.6 SCOPE/LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study is based on, as well as limited to Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine and The Great Ponds. Occasionally, references could be made to other texts in an attempt to gain extra insight into the workings of the supernatural among the Igbo of Nigeria.

1.7 METHODOLOGY

Method of gathering information is based on texts that have been written on this subject by several critics, library and internet resources as well as personal analyses of primary texts based on the understanding of Igbo society and mythology.

CHAPTER TWO

2.0                    REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION

The supernatural occupy an immense position in the minds of the Igbo society of Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine and The Great Ponds. In the hierarchy of beings in the novels, man is in the middle state; the gods, spirits and ancestors are on top as the superhuman forces while the trees, animals and minerals are below as inferior forces. Both texts depict the utter indifference of the supernatural to man’s fate. In The Concubine, Amadi dwells on the community with particular reference to the femme-fatale Ihuoma. The Great Ponds, on the other hand, basically dwells on inter-village rivalries. Here, Chiolu and Aliakoro village fight over the ownership of some ponds: the Wagaba ponds. Many writers have expressed their views in connection with Elechi Amadi’s works. It is some of these opinions and their relevance to the subject under study that this research will present in this chapter.

First, Afam Ebeogu in Encyclopedia of Post Colonial Literature states that

Amadi’s major works evoke a strong feeling of the defenselessness of human beings in the face of the supernatural. Even though his male characters are usually valiant warriors, wrestlers,  and  strong  willed  men,  and  his  women  characters  are  playful,  loving, intelligent, and self willed, there are always in these works invisible figures lurking in the shadows, ironic twists lying in wait, hopes bound to be thwarted and inscrutable forces undermining humanity’s determination to control its destiny (35).

He goes further to state that

Amadi’s views… confirm that he is a lover of humanity but that he is disenchanted with humanity’s antics and with forces to which great power and authority are entrusted (35).

In another opinion on Amadi’s texts, Niyi Osundare maintains that “human characters as we find in Elechi Amadi’s novels are puppets moved by an overwhelming force” (17).

Margaret Laurence describes the gods in Amadi’s works thus;

Like the gods of ancient Greece, they are not presented as being just. They are neither good nor evil, they are merely powerful… they are real and they affect the lives of mortals in real and inexplicable ways (27).

She goes further to comment specifically on The Concubine. She writes that “The Concubine contains an acute awareness of fates and ironies. For at the exact moment when we think the prize is within grasp, the gods cut the thread” (41). This is used to explain the plight of the male victims  desirous  of Ihuoma’s  love.  First,  when  Madume  wants  to  harvest  the  plantain  on Emenike’s land after assaulting Ihuoma, the spitting cobra blinds him. Just when Ahuruole is hoping  to  have  Ekwueme  all  to  herself  with  the  help  of the  love  potion,  she  sends  him (Ekwueme) raving mad in the forest. Just after Agwoturumbe’s boast to Ihuoma that their marriage will become a reality after the sacrifice that night, Ekwueme is killed by Nwonna’s arrow. Ironically too, he (Ekwueme) that advises Nwonna on how to shoot the arrow to kill the lizard is himself killed by Nwonna’s arrow. G.N Ofor puts it that “The Concubine is concerned with man’s complex relationship with the gods and the supernatural” (34).

Oladele Taiwo in his text Social Experience in African Literature writes:

As in The Concubine and The Great Ponds, Amadi describes a society that is pre-colonial perhaps pre-historic and is therefore not disturbed in any way by external influences. Social life is under the superintendence of the gods who control human destiny and against whose judgments and decisions man is powerless. People live a communal life and believe that the action of an individual member can bring great joy or calamity as the case may be on the community as a whole. The protection of the gods is considered so

essential that men take every kind of step to ensure that no evil spirit comes between them and their gods (155 -156).

AMADI’S STYLE

In Neil Mc Ewan’s Africa and the Novel, he says “The Great Ponds and The Concubine are  written of  traditional  village  life  and  told  as  though  by  a  villager  but  written  by  an exceptionally intelligent scientist, teacher and administrator (16).

Kolawole Ogungbesan in New West African Literature writes

His narrative is characterized by smoothness, directness and simplicity. Amadi is constantly engaged in a cool assessment of situations, seeking expedient solutions and sometimes assenting to compromises (14-15).

AMADI’S PRESENTATION OF CHARACTERS

In The Concubine, it  is Ihuoma who is our heroine. “The remarkable Ihuoma is a virtuous, beautiful, gentle, and near perfect woman respected by the entire village community but one who brings death to all her lovers” (33).

Eustace Palmer puts it this way:

The Concubine is a powerful love story written in lucid and beautiful prose. The author examines the problems of young  love and of man’s relationship with the gods and presents a society whose stability rests on tradition and the worship of the gods. The activities he describes- daily excursions to the farm… the marriage customs, divinations and fear of the gods- – are all integral to numerous African villages (117).

He goes further to say that in the novel, there are numerous descriptions of sacrifices, dances…

giving example of Madume’s consultation from the dibia Anyika. In that case, “we are much

more aware of the young man’s fear of death and his anxiety to placate the gods than of the phenomenon of sacrifice” (118). However, he continues that

Amadi’s  main  concern  in  this  novel  is  not  the  presentation  of  Omokachi  society, powerful though his portrayal is,  but the story of the life and lovers of Ihuoma; in particular her relationship with Ekwueme and the terrible fate which the gods ordained for her (119).

In another description of Ihuoma our heroine, Anne Paolucci writes “The heroine in Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine is an extraordinary beautiful femme-fatale turned out to be an incarnated Sea goddess married to a jealous king” (21). Durosimi Jones describes the novel as

The novel, The Concubine, illustrates the making of Ogbanje in the Igbo country. It tells of how the love for Ihuoma (a water spirit and wife of the Sea King) became the doom and extinction of the three men who wanted her for themselves (104).

Ernest N Emenyonu says “It is a novel which is deeply rooted in the tradition of the people… it is concerned with man’s complex relationship with the gods and the supernatural” (38).

Obiechina puts it this way:

In The Concubine, the entire plot turns on the fact that without      knowing it, the heroine is a water maid and wife of a jealous Sea King… Amadi’s water maid has left her husband to join the human species. The affronted and vengeful husband allows the flighty wife her whim provided she never marries any human; the only status allowed her is that of a Concubine. Ihuoma’s character illustrates a peculiarity already observed in West African novels in the traditional environment. That is that the boundary between human beings, gods and spirits tends to become blurred (98). Her other worldly beauty makes her desirable to young men in need of wives and

like the femme-fatale of the European imagination, she brings tragedy and death to her eager suitors (39). He continues

Life flows in an even tenor in The Concubine. The villagers live a thoroughly integrated community life which when it is disrupted at all is disrupted by forces beyond the control of man. Amadi conceives his novel as an idyllic tale and paints a picture of a fully integrated,  serene  and  dignified  community with  which  every one  feels  a  sense  of belonging and an instinctive goodwill towards his neighbours. Every one is reasonably happy and reasonably supplied with the necessities of life; there is no hunger hardly any sickness, no rudeness; the only serious quarrel is between the single bad man of the village and its best man (145).

Here the story begins and the mysteries begin to unravel themselves.

Emenike and Madume meet in the bush and a fight ensues bordering on the land in dispute which the elders have passed judgment on in favour of Emenike but the big eyed Madume decides to fight  it  out. After the fight, Emenike goes home badly injured. Ernest Emenyonu puts it this way “Emenike was not afraid of Madume. He had been a favourite in the contest over a village beauty. He knew he could hold his own against Madume any day given a fair chance” (166).

Ernest Emenyonu describes the role of fate and man’s helplessness concerning the fight between Emenike and Madume when he writes “a man’s god may be away on a journey on the day of an important fight. That may make all the difference.” This was Emenike’s fate and it is portrayed as something beyond his control as a human being. He continues “Man can and does become a joke in the hands of the gods when they see fit to cajole him”. This juxtaposition of

human will and divine caprice makes it impossible in both The Great Ponds and The Concubine

to decide upon an absolute cause.(166)

In the words of Amadi through Wodu Wakiri the wag and Wosu “his (Emenike’s) personal gods were not at home on the day of the fight” (8,16). Nwokeokoro also mentioned it to Chima on their way to the shrine of Amadioha as they discuss Emenike’s illness when he said “remember there may be other sides to the matter” (Amadi 16). So Madume’s victory was not as a result of Emenike’s weakness “but the hand of the gods is in it” (Obiechina 145).

Surprisingly, we are told in subsequent pages that Emenike   dies out of lock chest as the villagers thought leaving Ihuoma our heroine, a widow.

SUPERNATURAL SYMBOLS IN THE CONCUBINE

In the course of reading the novel, we encounter objects, animals and birds with supernatural connotations. We see the first signal concerning Emenike’s death as something that has been predestined by the gods. A night after the fight, Anyika is invited due to the seriousness of Emenike’s health. As the family gather round the priest for a divination to ascertain the will of the gods, Amadi writes:

For some time there was a disturbing silence. Then Emenike coughed. As if in answer, an owl  heard  by  gave  vent  to  a  long,  eerie  hoot.  The  sound  died  in  a  hair-raising diminuendo. The medicine man bowed his head. Nnadi exchanged glances with other members of the family. Clearly all was not well (6).

After this incident, Emenike recovers shortly after and as the custom is, he goes to give thanks to the gods at the grove/shrine of Amadioha. It is here we encounter the first appearance of the snake. As Amadi puts it in The Concubine,

The cocks were killed according to ancient rites…Before any part of the meal was touched, the priest cut off one wing of the chicken and threw it casually to the right side of the temple…The old men were evidently used to this and did not watch its movement, but Emenike stared after the apparently wasted chunk of meat; in a matter of seconds a huge grey serpent crawled out from behind the shrine and began to swallow its share of the feast… The men bowed their head… (17-18).

This however leads us to next few pages were we are told of Emenike’s burial. There is another twist as Amadi leads us to the second victim of the Sea King. G.N Ofor writes:

Shortly after Emenike’s death, Elechi Amadi leads his readers into Madume’s subconscious who he describes as the villain that chased him (Emenike) to his ancestors by engaging him in a fight over a piece of land (40).

As he (Madume) ruminates over taking possession of the land, his first implementation is greeted with a toe cut and severe warning from Anyika. Goaded by greed, he makes the second effort by assaulting Ihuoma while she is harvesting plantain on the said land. Emenyonu  has this to say “like Chima’s proverbial hunter, he (Madume) collapses under the weight of the punishment meted to him by the Sea King who assumed the form of a totemic animal- the spitting Cobra” (40).He commits suicide thereafter.

Looking at these scenarios in The Concubine, and the appearance of the snake before Emenike and Madume, the first two victims of the Sea King, Obiechina identifies the snake as “the sacred python, and the totemic emanation of the god of water which is treated with high reverence” (44).  Durosimi Jones on the other hand writes:

We also know from Igbo folklore that the boa constrictor or the python symbolizes the presence of the power of the water goddess. The shrines of water goddesses are

inhabited by sacred pythons. In Arrow of God, the sacred python plays such a role. In The Concubine, Ihuoma the Sea queen is protected from her enemy by the intervention of a huge snake that sends the adversary Madume to his death (106).

Thus it is the Sea King in disguise presenting itself in the form of  a cobra to his victims. On the other way round, Obiechina has this to say concerning the owl that was heard before Emenike’s death

In rural West Africa, one is acutely aware how closely human life is integrated with physical nature. The people are farmers constantly in contact with the earth… They see birds and animals of all sorts and recognize them as part of the environment to be put to human use or in some cases treated with reverence and religious awe. They recognize bird songs and build them into their consciousness as a way of telling time or interpreting reality since the songs of some birds are ominous (43).

This means that the Sea King has a hand in both deaths as Anyika’s divination later confirms.

DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS

In comparison between Emenike and Madume the first two victims of the Sea King, Emenike is said to be endowed with many good characteristics while Madume is an opposite of what Emenike stands for. First,

Madume has  no  redeeming features; he  is  lazy,  big  eyed and unsuccessful in  life. Emenike’s death is honorably sealed with a deserving second burial rites but Madume’s is an abomination because he commits suicide and has to be thrown into Minita; the forest of the rejected (Ofor  40).

This brings us to the third and the  last  victim of the Sea  King  in The  Concubine, Ekwueme; the last eligible young man standing. Ofor describes him as “the over pampered son

of Adaku and Wigwe” (41); he further comments that “he is living in an earthly paradise until the thought of marrying Ihuoma creeps into his mind. The intrusion of Ihuoma symbolically disrupts his edenic happiness” (41).

G.N Ofor in Critical Theory and African Literature writes

The whole story is unknown to humans, controlled or manipulated by the Sea King. He is intransigent, ruthless, inscrutable and insatiable. He is ubiquitous, mischievous, all knowing spirit  that  intrudes into the peace of family life destroying his male rivals mercilessly. His role in the story is demonic rather than apocalyptic. This demonic role is unraveled by Anyika’s belated divination which declares him to be responsible for the death of Emenike and Madume. In this demonic world controlled by the Sea King, Ihuoma  becomes  the  anima,”  the  soul  image  “the  spirit  of  man’s  “élan  vital”  the tantalizing female who is sought for but cannot be possessed (191).

To make her more desirable, Amadi idealizes her as the most beautiful and desirable girl in Omokachi with a disarming smile, her complexion like that of an anthill, her features smoothly rounded, a narrow gap in the upper row of her white regular teeth, she has the best reputation of any woman in the village, a good or probably the best dancer; women adore her and men are awestruck before her. With these numerous good qualities, Obiechina Writes:

She is not conceived as an ordinary human but as a water maid turned human, wife of the dreaded Sea King… But one has a suspicion from the beginning that she is too good to be altogether true (191).

No  wonder Ekwueme becomes interested in the  young  widow for  indeed she  is  beautiful, motherly and everything a man will ever want in a woman. Ekwueme’s love for Ihuoma leads him to abandoning his betrothed wife Ahuruole who also in a quest to secure her husband gives

him a love potion which is intended to keep him away from Ihuoma; instead, it sends him raving mad in the forest.

Irrespective of the warnings from Anyika concerning Ihuoma’s nature and the fate of the doomed intended marriage, he (Ekwueme) consults another dibia Agwoturumbe who agrees to bind the Sea King with a sacrifice that will be offered at the sea in the middle of the night. Ironically, Ekwueme is killed by Nwonna’s arrow while the latter is shooting a lizard required for the sacrifice. Ironically too, he advised Nwonna on how to shoot the lizard. In the words of Palmer,

Thus instead of killing a second lizard for the sacrifice, he kills a bigger lizard the only one truly desired by the all manipulating Sea King, a sacrificial lamb slaughtered on the altar of love to expiate for the sin of loving Ihuoma a sea goddess and for challenging the Sea King (4 ).

In another opinion,

Another dibia is called in to perform sacrifices to bind the Sea  King’s anger. While hunting for this sacrifice, Ihuoma’s eldest child pierces the  would be bridegroom with an arrow and the Sea King claims his third victim on the eve of Ihuoma’s second marriage (192).

From the  above  events,  Eustace  Palmer  in  his  text  An  Introduction to  the  African  Novel maintains that the supernatural does have a place in literature but first there are rules. “The novelist  must  show  that  the  events  cannot  be  entirely  explained  by  social,  scientific, philosophical or other factors”. Secondly, he must persuade the reader to suspend his disbelief. (125). He praises Amadi for a work well done. First, in the treatment of the victims of the Sea god he says:

It would be a simple way out to say that Emenike, Ihuoma’s husband does not die through the malevolence of the gods but of lock chest, the consequence of the fight with Madume… He (Amadi) has deliberately left a question mark hanging over Emenike’s death. Emenike does not die after the fight; indeed he recovers completely from the illness which follows it and with profound shock one learns of his death at the start of chapter five. So  even the  inhabitants of Omokachi are puzzled about the causes of Emenike’s death (125,126).

Secondly, concerning the axe headed, big eyed Madume, he says:

Madume apparently meets his fate by being blinded by a spitting cobra, but isn’t it rather a coincidence that the cobra is there precisely at the moment when Madume tries to cut down the bunch of plantain? Why does no spitting cobra

attack Ihuoma when she cuts her bunch of plantains? Why do spitting cobra attack no one else? (126).

In reply to these enigmatic questions he simply writes “Actually, Madume’s death has been carefully prepared for” (126).

In the case of Ekwueme, he states that  it  is difficult to  see what  social forces are responsible for Ekwueme’s death. It can’t be explained as an accident. For him, it is too co- incidental that Nwonna should release his arrow just as Ekwueme leaves Ihuoma’s room. In all,

Amadi forces us to suspend our disbelief by using so much detail in his supernatural scenes that  he gives the  illusion of truth. During the  various divination scenes,  for instance, one’s attention is so engrossed by the anxiety shown by the dibia’s clients, by

the urgency of the superb dialogue, and by the dibia’s own movements, that one does not question the scientific or rational validity of the process (127).

He also notes that

The use of detail is impressive; we note especially the detail of the sacrifice- -the palm fruit must be unripe, one of the cocks must be white… and finally there is Madume’s all too-human response. It is by using such devices that Amadi induces us to suspend our disbelief.   Amadi is not conducting a rational argument to prove the existence of supernatural  forces.  He  merely  presents  to  us  a  group  of  people  for  whom  the supernatural is important, and he tries to make their way of life as realistic as possible (127,128).

In summary, Elechi Amadi’s prose is exhilarating, lucid and fresh and the plot well constructed with every episode relevant and duly related to others. He however points out that he sees a weakness at the sudden introduction of Ahuruole and the sluggish pace of the first four pages.

CRITICISMS ON THE GREAT PONDS

In The Great Ponds, the relationship between man and the supernatural in this society can also be seen. The people in this rural community live their daily lives under the superintendence of the gods. These gods are not only an essence but a presence woven into every aspect of human relationship. “They are uncanny, implacable and ubiquitous” (Amadi 130).

In The Great Ponds, the dreaded Ogbunabali breaks in half way through the story and thereafter his power dominates human thought and action and pilots the very movement of the story. This god is not only an imaginary god which kills by night. It has also become a living symbol of the people’s collective fear. According to Anne Paolucci:

Elechi Amadi, Nigeria’s most talented local colourist in his second novel, The Great ponds describes a feud between two villages claiming exclusive fishing rights to the same pond. After several bloody skirmishes, the villagers agree to let the gods settle their dispute. If Olumba, a leading warrior dies of natural causes within six months his village loses access to the pond (26).

She further comments that :

Amadi skillfully builds up suspense by showing how his hero comes close to death on several occasions and how others including members of Olumba’s immediate family begin to die in droves just as the six months test is about to end. It appears the gods are extremely angry for the rural village is suffering similar decimation (27).

However,

Only on the last page does Amadi reveal that the catastrophe is universal. The villagers are victims of the great influenza epidemic that killed 20 million people in 1918. This revelation comes as a surprise, so deeply have we been taken into Olumba’s world that we have already accepted his society’s interpretation of the tragedy. Amadi’s rich evocation of traditional African life has been completely convincing (27).

Neil Mc Ewan puts it this way:

Wonjo the curse of the gods which threatens to end the world and which fills villages with sad spirits of the departed, is identified in the last lines of The Great Ponds as the influenza of 1918… modern history was also taking place around The Great Ponds in a corner of Eastern Nigeria (16).

He goes further

Amadi’s best novel of pre-colonial Africa depicts villagers of the early twentieth century who suffer as all peoples have done from war and disease but are able to resist both with courage, imagination and intelligence (19).

In The Great Ponds, Amadi depicts the supernatural’s hold on the character of Olumba. Throughout Olumba’s life, he has always had that persistent hunting fear of the supernatural. The pond is a creation of the gods and there is a likelihood that it does belong to both villages/communities. Thus both are equally guilty before the gods.

Geoffrey Finch in describing The Great Ponds says, “The Wagaba ponds bring death, diseases and destruction to the villages concerned and in the end, neither wins the fishing pond. This is the utter futility of life found in Elechi Amadi’s novels under study” (32). In both texts, we  see  the  presence  of  the  supernatural  and  their  powers  over  people’s  lives.  In  them, supernatural explanations  are  given  to  every  little  thing  that  happens.  In  The  Concubine, Madume hits his big toe on an old hoe half buried in front of Ihuoma’s house, he runs to Anyika for a divination. Definitely the hands of the gods are in it as Anyika confirms.

An owl is heard after Emenike in his pain stricken state coughs and the family looks at each other while the medicine man bowed his head. The interpretation: “Clearly all was not well” (Amadi 6).

In The Great Ponds, Azigwo, the snake of ill omen crosses Olumba’s path while he is strolling to Diali’s compound. He quickly goes to Achichi who also divines that the gods are warning him to be careful. Olumba’s failure to beget a male child is also linked to the curse a lamb placed on him for not rescuing her when it fell into a well.

In sum, every event has a spiritual/supernatural undertone associated with it. In the words of Obiechina,

This is an ideal world but for the meddlesomeness and malevolence of the gods and the spirits. Amadi has handled the intervention of the supernatural in traditional life most convincingly. It is not simply that the gods and spirits mingle freely with the people shaping their destinies for good or ill (145). He goes further to say that

The matter of fact way in which the supernatural is presented and the total absence of skepticism help to reinforce the idyllic quality of life… Even when the gods intervene to strike man down, there is no struggle; the  blow is hardly audible; it is sudden, sharp and decisive and life continues to flow on as if nothing had happened (146).

Finally in Elechi Amadi’s presentation of characters and  events in the  novel,  Charles Nnolim in his article ‘Mythology and the Unhappy Women in Nigerian Fiction’ summarises it when he writes “Amadi has recourse to mythology to prove that these occurrences are not just happenstance” (50).   Whether we know and appreciate it or not, it is obvious that there is no happenstance in life. There is faith in life – the unalterable destiny, law of life for everyone.

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