User:Stillber/sandbox

Review an Existing Article on Wikipedia:

Here is the review I would have left in the talk page of the Death and the King's Horseman wikipedia article:

Hello,

I like the conciseness of the plot you have written, however some of the language is confusing and perhaps needs to be revised? For example, the first sentence says, "Death and The King's Horseman builds upon the true story to focus on the character of Elesin, the King's Horseman of the title." I feel as though this sentence, and others throughout the article, could be edited to be shorter and more clear. 

In addition, I feel as though the plot section could be expanded further. Why is Duty a theme in this play? 

I really like the Yoruba Proverbs section you have created because it allows the readers of your page to further consider the cultural context of this play. 

In the talk page for this article I noticed a rather large section of the article was removed due to claims of plagiarism. Perhaps it would be beneficial to re-write this section while following the plagiarism guidelines and using proper citations, so that the readers of this article are still able to have access to that aspect of your article. 

Lastly, I think it would be beneficial to add a photo to your article. A photo of the original play cover, the Author or perhaps a map of the region where the play is set would make a good addition to this article. 

Great work, and I hope this helps!

~~~~ Savanah 

Author

Mohammed Naseehu Ali was born in Ghana, a country located in West Africa. Ali now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters. He attended Bennington College and has been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Mississippi Review, Bomb, Gathering of the Tribes and Essence.

Background

The Prophet of Zongo Street is a book compiled of ten short stories; most of which are about people who live or have lived in the infamous community of Zongo Street. Zongo Street is a place where friendship lives, families survive, and religion thrives. The stories in this book cover a wide range of topics from personal quarrels between community members to embarrassing tales between married couples. Mohammed Naseehu Ali holds nothing back in the stories he shares as he introduces his readers to the raw, un-censored characters within his book.

Mallam Sile

Mallam Sile is a short, 46-year-old unmarried virgin who owns a small tea shop on Zongo Street. Sile moved to Kumasi when he was 16 years old. He worked as a house servant and sent money back home to his sick parents who eventually died. He then got a new job as a salesman in the market and spent two years saving money until he could open his little, modest tea shop.

Sile is a kind man who believes in charity and feeding the poor. He never believes that anyone sets out to be malicious, even when they do and as a result the community often takes advantage of Sile’s generosity. The bullies of the neighbourhood often make fun of Sile’s appearance, but Sile believes that God created him to be just the way he is and as a result is very content with himself. Even when the bullies call out and make fun of him, he only responds with a genuine smile and wave.

One day he began taking down the roof and the walls of his tea shop. This confused and upset the people of Zongo Street as his shop was a popular place to socialize in the evening hours. Without his shop, they were forced to go to another tea shop owned by a very mean man named Abongo. He hated noise and regularly threw out people who would talk in his shop. He also had a no credit policy, meaning that people couldn’t get free tea by promising to pay but never actually paying, a common phenomenon at Sile's tea shop.

Sile began building a new tea shop just down the street from his old one. It took him several weeks to complete and was much larger, nicer, and sturdier than his old one. Once he completed the shop, he returned to his hometown for one week. When he returned to Zongo Street, he returned with a wife, Abeeba. Abeeba was a quiet woman while in public, and she was also very large (easily triple his size). She did not like the way the people of Zongo Street treated her husband and thought he deserved more respect. She felt he was too forgiving but she could not convince him to change his behaviour.

One of the bullies, named Samandu, was feared by all. He was known for torturing children and killing livestock to ensure no one would cross him. He regularily stole from Sile and would buy tea on credit without ever repaying him. One day Abeeba got fed up with this behaviour and decided to confront him. He was angry that she dared cross him. However, she was much larger than him and ended up beating him until he gave her the 80 cedi he owed Sile. Sile was very happy he’d paid but he thought that Samandu had a change of heart and did not know that he received a beating from his wife.

After Samandu’s beating everyone was very respectful to Sile and always called his wife “man beater.” Although this confused him he never questioned it. Rather, he thanked Allah for changing the hearts of his community members and was grateful he was finally accepted.

Faith

Faith is the story of a man named Suf-yan who lives in Brooklyn with his girlfriend, Pas-cal. One day during the early morning, while Suf-yan was still trying to sleep, he woke up to the sound of sirens and flashing lights. This was not an uncommon occurrence in his neighbourhood so he ignored it and went back to sleep. The sounds grew louder and the lights became brighter and eventually the floor of his apartment caved it. Suf-yan fell 6 stories and landed in a barren desert as all the cars, buildings and structures in Brooklyn had completely vanished.

Suddenly thousands of bare naked men, women, and children appeared out of nowhere and Suf-yan realized he was also naked. Suf-yan recognized some of the people in the crowd. He saw his ex-wife, who divorced him for not being serious enough about the Muslim religion, his childhood friends, and his family members. He did not however, see his girlfriend Pas-cal.

Suf-yan realized that what was happening to him was what was described at Judgement Day in his religion classes as a child.

Soon all of the people began marching forward and did so for hundreds of miles. Eventually, the Empire State Building could be seen in the distance. At the top of the building there was a spinning globe with sparks flying out of it. Below the globe was an Archangel who began calling people up from the crowd. The people would review their lives and were given the opportunity to dispute any records shown. After reviewing their lives, they were either sent to Heaven or Hell.

The time came for Suf-yan to go before the Archangel. Due to his lifestyle of living out of wedlock, doubting all religion and not conforming to the Muslim traditions he was brought up with, Suf-yan was convinced he would be sent to Hell. The Archangel reviewed his life and announced he would be sent to Heaven. Immediately the crowd was outraged, and three members began protesting this decision. The three protesters were brought before the Archangel and were asked to state their claims against Suf-yan. They explained how he was a bad Muslim and did not live within the parameters laid-out in the Koran. The Archangel asked if he had ever hurt anyone; they replied no. He said his actions were never malicious and therefore he would be sent to Heaven. The three protesters were then sent to Hell for trying to keep Suf-yan out of Heaven.

Suf-yan was sent to a two-bedroom cottage on a property with a large, clear lake and a luscious garden. He stayed here for the rest of eternity.

Man Pass Man

Man Pass Man is the story of a gambler named Suraju, who lived on Zongo Street. Suraju’s father was a heavy drinker and died when Suraju was just 15 years old. 8 months after his father’s death, his mother also passed away. By this age, Suraju was also a compulsive drinker and later became a gambler who always tried to invent schemes to make quick money. When he was able to use his tricks to make him money, he lived lavishly – he dressed in nice clothes, ate good food, and bought expensive alcohol. However, on the days he couldn’t make himself money he would often be seen begging for food or selling his clothes outside of Zongo Street’s popular shops like Mallam Sile’s Tea Shop.

Some of Suraju’s schemes for making money included selling fake drugs and stealing metal pots to sell to the black smith, which all eventually stopped working and left him broke. Despite Suraju’s tricks, he was well liked by most of the people who lived on Zongo Street and he was extremely popular with the children.

One day while sitting in front of a Catholic church, he saw a witch walk by in her long robes carrying her long walking stick. Seeing her gave him his next idea for making money. He never told anyone what his idea was, but he was seen buying 12 yards of white fabric at the market and he was seen at Inuwa’s Tailor shop. He refused to divulge he plans to the people of Zongo Street but rumors among the folks had begun to grow wildly.

Suddenly Suraju was dressed in expensive suits and was buying all the stock that market sellers had. His pockets were bursting with “cedi notes” so he took teenage girls out to expensive shows and dinners and bought them expensive gifts and clothes. People rumored that he was robbing banks in neighbouring towns, but the truth was no one knew how Suraju was making his fortunes, not even his closest friends.

One night Suraju started screaming through the streets “Man Pass Man! Help! Man Pass Man! Save me, O!” The townsfolk finally calmed Suraju down and asked him why he was so afraid. He then started to explain how he was making all his money. Suraju had bought all that white cloth to turn into a ghost costume. Along with his ghost costume he brought a penknife, a screwdriver and a torch light in a bag. He would them call for taxi cabs and ask for a ride. He would get in the cabs and after a while of driving he would slip in his ghost costume and scare the drivers out of the vehicles; playing on their superstitions. He would then look for their cash box and rob them. Suraju was careful to try and take cabs in different regions, to make sure he always got different drivers. But that night, he encountered a ghost himself.

The cab driver he got that night did not say a word to him until he began to ask if Suraju would like to be dropped off at locations he’d previously robbed other cab drivers at. Suraju immediately knew he was in trouble but the car was driving too fast for him to jump out. So, he prayed and promised Allah he’d stop drinking and tricking people if He saved him from the ghost-devil cab driver. Suraju said the driver took him to Hell, because he saw some of the people of Zongo Street who had passed away, like his dad, but not his mother, which is why he thought it was Hell.

Suraju said the ghost-devil told him 3 secrets he could use to make money for as long as he lived and that he would tell him one more if he returned to the cemetery the next day. A person from the crowd asked Suraju if he was going to see the ghost-devil tomorrow, and Suraju just looked nervously around him and began screaming again. And then the townsfolk began to go home until it was just Suraju curled up in the middle of the street; screaming.