Apocalypse, Now--and the Importance of Naming

I just finished Abani's "Graceland", the first book in my project. Without spoiling the ending, I will say I was surprised with the amount of graphic violence at the conclusion of the novel. Not that the novel has so far been bereft of violence--in fact, this is an underlying theme of the entire book. From the brutality of the army and its corrupt henchmen to the violence of molestation and rape, this novel spans a lot of physical and mental anguish. But the end of the novel is filled with sheer physical terror, and the way Abani describes it makes the pain Elvis and other characters suffer palpable and extremely realistic.

In fact, the end of the novel could truly be described as an Apocalypse of sorts. The corrupt government of Lagos decides to bulldoze poor communities such as the one inhabited by Elvis and his father, and the townspeople decide to fight back, so there is the violence that occurs with this. Then Elvis and his friend Redemption fail in their mission to deliver human organs cross-country as part of their work for the Colonel, a misguided "mob boss" of sorts who has high ranks in the local government. Because they abandon the mission once they realize they will be implicated in the kidnapping and murder of young children for their organs, the Colonel plots to capture and kill them, so they must go into hiding. However Elvis is captured by the Colonel's men and is beaten and tortured until he is just shy of death, only to survive and find his father dead and his town in shambles. All of this physical violence seems to burst forth upon the otherwise more slow-moving and calm narrative in order to jar the readers to attention--and in order to effect a choice that Elvis must make. The Apocalyptic conclusion leaves little room for Elvis to survive in Nigeria. He is a young man torn by the rich tradition of his Igbo heritgae in Nigeria and the democratic and capitalistic promises of life in the United States. His Aunt Felicia has already escaped to start a new life for herself. His father Sunday is not so lucky, and dies at the hands of the bulldozer. Which path will Elvis take? I will leave you to find out.

Another fascinating underlying theme of the novel is its religious parallels and references, which can be seen in the names bestowed upon the main characters. Elivs has the name of an American singer known as "the King", often accused of "stealing" the dance moves of African performers before him and claiming them as his own. This may not be religious in nature, but it is still foreboding of the main character's nature. Elvis has a friend named Redemption, and in the end this is what he helps provide for Elvis. Another main character is the King of the Beggars, often referred to only as the King. This character has obvious allusions to Christ, especially as he is deified in the end of the novel. This is written about the King: "He was spoken of with a deeply profound reverence, and the appendage 'Blessings be upon his name', usually reserved for prophets in Islam, was being used whenver his name was invoked. A group of Rastafarians even claimed he was the Emperor Selassie, Christ himself, the Lion of Judah, returned to lead them home." At the end of the novel Elvis meets a young girl named Blessing who turns out to be a caretaker for him, and a source of love--a definite blessing as her name invokes. At one point Sunday, Elvis' father, fervently talks about the importance of the name. He says, "Do you know we have a lot of deformed children begging? Because their parents know dey have no future. So at birth, before de child knows pain, dey deform it because it increases its earning power as a beggar. Do you see de love? All dey have to give de child is its deformity. All I have to give you is my name, Elvis Oke. And when I die, it will continue to help you build something for your children. Dat's why I don't want you to be a dancer. It will spoil your name." I find this diatribe on love and naming fascinating with its unique perspective. Can violence be perpetrated out of love? Can a name truly affect the outcome of one's life? This quote leaves me wondering.

There are many issues in this novel that I did not really even begin to touch on. There's the explicit sexuality, often dealing with incest and molestation. There is the huge theme of father-son relationships. There is the author's recurring inlcusion of encyclopedic information about herbs, plants, and recipes to play off of the events of the plot. There's the transformation of characters into mythical creatures and ghosts as a means of showcasing the traditional religion and heritage of the Igbo peoples in contrast to the "new" Chrsitianity and capitalism brought over from the West. I hope some of you will go out and read this novel. It will take you to a war-torn Nigeria, a land many of us know little about. It will show you a whole different lifestyle, and yet one that so many can relate to. As I said, there is so much to be discovered and pondered in this novel.

I will leave you with another of my favorite quotes from "Graceland":

"For the Igbo, tradition is fluid, growing. It is an event, like the sunset, or rain, chanigng with every occurrence. So too, the kola ritual has changed. Christian prayers have been added, and Jesus has replaced Obasi as the central deity. But its fluid aspects resist the empiricism that is the Western way, where life is supposed to be a system of codes, like the combinationsof human DNA or the Fibonacci patterns in nature. The Igbo are not reducible to a system of codes, and of meaning; this culture is always reaching for a pure lyric moment."

I like the idea of fluidity beyong conformity to a code, a sort of ineffable nature and way of life that pretty much characterizes this entire novel.

Next up, I am still reading books by Chris Abani--this time, "Becoming Abigail", a more recent work about a young girl sold into slavery in London from Nigeria, and about her escape and way of life. I will keep you posted on this novella. Until next time--