& # 8217 ; s Horseman: Giving Up The Battle Essay, Research Paper

From the Western position, it is difficult to understand ritual self-destruction as anything positive or helpful to the life. There about seems to be no Western equivalent to the & # 8220 ; responsibility & # 8221 ; of Elesin in Death and the King & # 8217 ; s Horseman. However, Wole Soyinka gives us a comparable state of affairs in Jane & # 8217 ; s description of a captain blowing up a ship to salvage the people on the shore. It & # 8217 ; s a minute of lip service on Britain & # 8217 ; s portion, both seeking to forestall Elesin & # 8217 ; s self-destruction and extoling a Western self-destruction which purports to make the exact same thing & # 8211 ; salvage the life from devastation. It & # 8217 ; s besides clear that Olunde sees this pathetic analogue, but he does non do Jane see the connexion. Alternatively, he lets the affair bead, which, in the Western position is perplexing. We want everyone to see the truth and explicate it, and think worse of Olunde because of his inability to demo Jane what & # 8217 ; s truly traveling on. But it is truly his ain alone point of view and actions that show that what he does is much smarter than our privation of beast force.Olunde & # 8217 ; s intelligence stems from believing before moving. Yes, Jane gives perfect ammo to explicate why his male parent salvaging his people from devastation and traveling to a much better topographic point, but that doesn & # 8217 ; t intend the best solution is for him to indicate this out. Changing people & # 8217 ; s sentiments in treatment might be a Western virtuousness, but opening one & # 8217 ; s trap is non ever the best strategic option. Olunde & # 8217 ; s instruction and background combined give him a alone vantagepoint on action, and he sees that he can outdo assist his people by waiting and measuring the situation.There are three indispensable grounds why Olunde avoids indicating out the obvious to Jane. First of all, while Jane seems intelligent and ready to accept what he says more than any other Brit in the drama, it is besides true that Westerners like to detect the truth and & # 8220 ; world & # 8221 ; themselves. Bing led by Olunde might do an immediate rejection of whatever he has to state because she has an deep-rooted belief in the lower status of his early upbringing, and therefore in any beliefs related to his copper

lture. The truth will be much stronger and more immediately convincing for her if she discovers it herself. So, even if he spoke and pointed out smartly the connection, it wouldn’t be as credible to her. Other than the small amount of boasting pride he might feel, there is really no reason for him to tell her.Secondly, and perhaps the most obvious of reasons, her knowing the reality as starkly and consciously as he would put it wouldn’t cause any good in the grand scheme of things. Yes, he would right, and would win the argument, as it were, but nothing will change. She holds no power in the British hierarchy, as we see later in the play. Furthermore, it would probably cause her great discomfort. We know that she is close to understanding the connection between her captain and Olunde’s father, but if it were to be brought to the surface suddenly, she would have to deal with it directly. And this would involve recognizing her husband’s ignorance and the harm of his action on the Yoruba. So there is no direct necessity or benefit by his telling Jane.Finally, Olunde is in the unique position that he is both a Yoruban and trusted by the British; seen as one of their own. If he fights openly for the rites of the Yoruba that seem abhorrent to the English, he will lose this position in their eyes. And it is indeed this situation which allows him to kill himself to save the destruction to his people. Although he does seem fairly certain that Elesin will die instead of going with Pilkings, it is still a beneficial circumstance for Olunde, and he’s smart enough not to sacrifice that for a small amount of pride or to try and convince someone who has no power to do anything.We can see from this small piece in the book that Soyinka is continually forcing us to recognize that the Western way is not the only way. By presenting us with situations that we cannot understand at first, we are led to understanding only by thinking through what happens. While it might seem at first that the Yoruba are giving up the battle, they are really keeping their high ground without stooping to fight with the English.