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The Dilemma of a Ghost

The Dilemma of a Ghost was written in 1965 by the brilliant Ama Ata Aidoo. The Dilemma of a Ghost is surprisingly not about a super natural ghost itself, but about a family who lives in a small village from Africa, whom is faced with a struggle between cultural differences. In other words, when the eldest son Ato arrives home after graduating school in the United States. Upon arrival, the family learns he is married, and married to a woman from the "White Man's Land". In this playwright, the audience is indulged into the problem of a Clash of Civilizations, in other words, Ato is faced with the trouble of teaching his African American wife Eulalie the way of his people. Unfortunately, Eulalie, who grew up in New York is struggling with the language and culture barriers. One of the biggest cultural struggles is pregnancy, the couple spoke privately about having children when the time was right, but in Africa most people get married to have children. These affairs angered Ato's family and ultimately gave the idea that Eulalie was barren.

This is the geographical location of where the play took place. Where Ato's family resonates, and where Eulalie's new home is.

Despite the ongoing pressure of Ato's family, Ato remains calm throughout the whole play. It is not until his wife Eulalie enters their room drunk right before they are supposed to attend a Thanksgiving mass. After a heated argument, which resulted in Ato slapping Eulalie, in reaction to Eualie calling his family "narrow-minded savages". Ato, desperately stumbled on the door step of Esi Kom's home (Ato's mother) for guidance. Ato professed that he had slapped his wife in an argument about their traditions here in Africa. Finally, Ato had the nerve to explain why the couple has not bared any children yet. Stumbling in the distant up to Esi and Ato is Eulalie whom is weak and saddened. Despite the rebuttal between her and Ato's family, Esi jumps into action to help poor Eulalie, all while explaining to her son how poorly he has handled this situation.

Plot

The plot of Dilemma of a Ghost is simply about a family in Africa who carries on old traditions throughout their family in hopes for further generations to follow. It is disrupted when the eldest son of the family brings home an African-American woman who is urbanized, educated and equipped to modern life. The new wife has a very difficult time adjusting to the traditions of her husband's family and ultimately creates turmoil between his family and the couple. To explain, the woman is representation of one culture (urbanized and modern) and the African family is a representation of another culture (traditions, and aged values).

Motifs/Themes/Topics

In this playwright one of the most pressing themes throughout the play is the Clash of Civilizations. It is apparent that the play is based upon the clash of a Developed country and a Developing country. Through traditions it is illustrated that the West and Africa have different values and cultural differences such as "planning" pregnancy in the West, whereas in Africa the idea of planning to have children is absurd, as the individuals seem to be playing God's role. In other terms, the motif of this play could be looked at in addressing ethical issues in a cultural perspective, this is referred to as Cultural imperialism. In the play, culture in Africa is placed in the limelight as "uncivilized" and "savage" whereas America is expressed as the "Land of the White Man" one who is superior and leads many. There is a moment in the play where two women discuss Eulalie using machines and how unusual it is to have cold water in their home "Monka's teeth were set on edge for drinking water in her house" . Here, the example of economic disparity is apparent in developing countries, as the idea of cold water is foreign to the women of a little African village.

Comparisons

There are many works that have strong comparisons to The Dilemma of a Ghost, through themes and motifs there are two playwrights that try to express both cultural issues, and make an effort to strike on political problems.

Cicu written by Aziz Nesin is about a man who suffers with loneliness and depression. Of course, the audience may feel empathy for this character as the whole play is a monologue, but the author was trying to reach out to something more plentiful. Aziz Nesin was imprisoned while writing this play as he was a political figure in Turkey who strongly enforced socialism in his nation, it is thought that Nesin used this play as a warning for Turkish people to socialize with one another or this could happen to them. In comparison to The Dilemma of a Ghost, the theme of enforcing political elements through economic issues in Africa is very similar to the underlying theme of Cicu, both writers conducted a way to express political issues in subliminal ways.

Death and the King's Horseman written by Wole Soyinka is playwright that represents culture in a different sphere. This play is about a man who must take his life because the King has died, it is a Ritual suicide that the King's Horseman must die after his royalty. The work goes through a prelude of bizarre cultural elements, like the man getting married before his death, finding a bride is his all time goal in the beginning of the play. In comparison, The Dilemma of a Ghost has many cultural, and traditional elements that a lot of nations do not follow, for example, the marrying of a couple for the sole purpose of having children, or the ointment of the belly to purify the woman from evil spirts before trying to have children. Both Death and the King's Horseman and The Dilemma of a Ghost entail deep foreign traditions and cultures that most audiences are unaware of.

Sources:

Aidoo, Ama Ata. “The Dilemma of a Ghost.” Modern African Drama , edited by Biodun Jeyifo, A Norton Critical Edition, 2002, pp. 242–275.

“Character Types an Literature: Writing Guide.” A Research Guide for Students, 25 Jan. 2019, www.aresearchguide.com/character-types-in-literature.html.

Nesin, Aziz. “Cicu .” Ibrahim The Mad and Other Plays: An Anthology of Modern Turkish Drama, edited by Talat S. Halman and Jayne L. Warner, vol. 1, pp. 443–473.

Soyinka, Wole. “Death and the King’s Horseman.” Modern African Drama, edited by Biodun Jeyifo, W.W. Norton, 2002. pp. 126-177.

Dramatic Structure

The structure of The Dilemma of a Ghost is one that takes the audience and/or reader through a journey of a family, a village, and a marriage.

The structure goes through a series of changes which include singing, dialogue and a leap of time happening twice throughout the play. To begin, the way in which Ama Ata Aidoo inserted Static character's that had no effect on the plot itself but gave depth to the play and added to the storyline. In other words, the two village women in the play randomly come in between acts, having casual conversations that seem to have meaning to the play as a whole, i.e. one of the woman talk about her sadness of not having children, where the other woman (her sister) expresses her overload with ten children at home. Even though these characters do not change the storyline, they do add to the main idea's and themes of the work. Another structural element is the jump between time in some of the Acts, the jump is significant as it passes six months each time, for an equivalent of a year. This element is extremely effective in the play as it makes the audience feel like it is more realistic, in other words, when families have a disagreement - time is needed. When time was inserted in-between acts, it gave the audience a relatable feeling, and took them on a journey of the Yawson family. Lastly, there are two other character who are randomly placed in the storyline who represent a dream Ato had, they sang about a ghost and danced around in a circle until he awoke to this horror and thought he was going mad. Ironically, at the end of the play Ato hears the voices of these children singing again, it represents a sense of him being lost, and not knowing what to do next.

Staging Challenges

The Staging (theatre, film, television) of this play is very simple as it only consists of the courtyard, the mother's home, and the apartment where Ato and Eulalie live - also one point in the play, an actress actually sets up the scene behind characters while dialogue is going on. It is also important to mention that there is a cast of thirteen actors that must be directed into these roles. The staging of this play does not seem too advanced for an intermediate staging company to produce, the lack of backgrounds makes it easy for the crew to change scenes quickly, and go through the play smoothly. Also, the obstacles that someone may face while staging this play is the large cast because all of the roles of the characters seem to be important, and must be portrayed properly for the play to meet its expectations. In other words, some of the dialogue may be hard for a Static character to perform as it is rich and wordy - every role is extremely important for the success of this play. That aside, the actors do not have many limitations as they are not demanded to switch roles in-between acts, also, it would be interesting to know if the villagers change their clothes or not because of their financial status in Africa. Ultimately, this play is not extremely demanding in terms of staging, but does demand a high count cast who must perfect their lines for the success of the play.