2012 Literature WAEC Past questions CBT

Hint

Inspite of his sound knowledge of the English legal systems, Barrister Onyimdze’s love for, end practice of African ways of life, remain untainted and enviable. These qualities in him are shown on many occasion. One such occasion is when he bluntly refuses to marry a European lady when advised to do so by Mrs. Borotosem. This according to him is most undesirable for African. The lawyer also employs Okadu as his clerk and manages to teach him to appreciate African values. His preference for African cloths, especially when he is not at work is remarkable, so is his love for African food and drinks such as “she”-a popular drink even among the fishermen’s wives. In all these, he readily identifies with common people including their music and dance.

            His love and defence of African values are eloquently expressed on his brilliant argument in favour of African traditional marriage when he takes the ill-fated Okadu-Tsikia marriage up. He acts as toil to Mrs. Borotosem. It is his steadfast defence of African value which findly turns characters like Mrs. Borotosem around   

Hint

Members of this elite ground are a bunch of Africans struggling between two cultures, neither of which they are appreciably integrated into. The club is a mostly assemblage of semi-literate and university graduates who choose to adopt, a hook, line and sinker, a number of English ways of life at the expense of their own authentic cultural values.

            The speech delivered by their secretary during the ill-conconcieved Okadu-Tside wedding ceremony sums up that is ludicrous in their comportment. The speech urges these aspiring to be gentlemen to abhor all the is African, food, drinks and the use of the mother tongue, to mention a few. To them, the ostentatious use of high falutin words and heavily loaded expressions shows a mastery of the English languages. Thus Mr. Nku’s speech is ludicrous laced with such Jew-breaking words as “lashrimosity” instead of “tears” celibacy instead of “Bachelor” and “hymeneal alter” instead of “wedding”.

            The expression “back skin white mask” fittingly capturs the comportment of the cosmopolitan club members. The sharp contradictions in their blindly adopted ways of life exposes their ludicrous positions between the two cultures

Hint

Gesinde play an important role in the play. He provides information about important events in the play.

            As herald the allied forces, he is a symbol of loyalty and remains faithful to his master from the beginning to the end. Accordin to Erelu, Gesinde is a messenger of doom, anytime he appears among the women, they expect the worst. It is he who carries out the killing of Adumaaden’s son and including the queen, Erelu and her daughters.

            Despite the fact that Gesinder engages in terrible actions in obedience to the orders of his master, he is quite emotional and defensive. Geside claims that he is only a messenger and therefore not responsible for whatever action is taken on the women “I am only a messenger, just as borrowed mouth”. He shed tears at the sight of the Adumaadan’s paying her last respect to her slain son. He is moved with pity and volunteered to dig a grave and bury the body Aderogun-Adumaaden’s son.

            Gesinder is also a gossip in the play. When he discovers that Maye is willing to take Iyunloye his unfaithful wife back home, he comments “beauty has conquered again, as before”. He callously announces the victory of Iyunloye to the women in their agony.    

Hint

The allied forces have sacked the city of Owu, and the ancestral daity, Anlugbus looks upon the destruction, dejected. He is met by his mother-Lawumi from their conversation, it seems that the war is the result of the intervention of the gods in the affairs of the men even though the contribution of mortals cannot be ignored. It is Lawumi’s decree that Owu should be punished through its sacking by the allied forces for Owu’s arrogance towards the ancestral home, Ile-Ife. Like the Owu people, the allied desecrate the holy places and set fire to the shrine of Lawumi. For this they must be made to pay.

Lawumi’s is particularly angry because the Allied forces have not only killed her worshippers but also chased Owu people running to her shrine for refuge and massacred them they have even capture the princess Orisaye, who is the vestal victory  of Obatala. Lawumi anger finds satisfaction in the help she expects from other deities who will confound the return journey of the Allied forces. She avers that the gods are not the play thing of mortals. Its certain that, being angry because his shrine has not been spare, Ogun, the god of war, will enter the fray. Anlugwu agrees to join.

The agreement that mother and son makes suggests that mortals are mere pawns in her game of chese that the gods plays. At every stage of the conflict, it seems that the gods are the initiator of the animosity that leads to renewed aggression in the fight between mortal and his fellow mortal.

The gods seem interested in the daily conduct of mortals, they will cause mortals to fight other mortals to punish their erring colleagues. However, these gods do not control the temper of the warriors or the tempo of the war. In the end, the favourite side in the reprisal game exceeds the mandate to punish and the extent of punishment. Then it must pay for its excesses. The gods are whimsical and capricious.    

Hint

The difference between Luoka and Raina are both social and behavioural. On the one hand Raina belongs to the upper class and a daughter of Aristocrats. On the other hand Luoka belongs to the lower class and works for the aristocratic Petkoffs as housemaid. Reina, as an aristocrat, tends to look down on Louka as she believes she is superior to her by reason of birth. For instance she will not want Luoka to tell the family what to do when the letter warns them to take cover against the smoking guns. On her part Louka does not accept an inferiority status and sees Reina as an equal irrespective of her aristocratic status. And so she does not hesitate to call her name. Reina begins as an idealist and seems to be  enamoured of Major Sergius owing to his so called Chiudry and heroism on the warfront. She does not appear to know what she exactly wants in him. Therefore she continues to waste time, daydream and date both Sergius and Bluntschil at different times.

On the contrary, Luoka is a realist and schemer, she knows what she wants in marriage from the outset. Her grand design is to use marriage to clind up the social ladder and join the likes of the petkoffs at the top. And she deploys everything, including boldness, ease-dropping, gossip, blackmail, wit and seduction to turn Sergius and Reina against each other and then wins Sergius as would-be-husband.

Reina is complacent and believed that her social status is a sufficient credential to make anybody fall in love with her. Luoka on her own part, knows her limitations as an underdog. She never takes things for granted and she always keeps her ears to the ground. That explains why she boldly retorts: “My love is a state / I am not ashamed” when Reina accuses her of jealous and eavesdropping.

Hint

There is a lot of lying and insincerity in the play as a whole. On various occasions, the character evade the truth and put on dubious appearance. Catherine leads the way in the eversion of the truth.

Having enjoyed the hospitality of Catherine and her daughter, Captain Blunschili returns to restore the coat he has borrowed and to thank the woman for coming to his rescue.

He arrive at a bad time because Petkoff and Sergius are in the house. Catherine is unable and unwilling to let the others in on her secret. She covers up through telling obvious lies.

She insists on taking Sergius place in solving the problem of sending the tree regiments to Philoppolis so that Sergius and Reina may be alone. She is particularly afraid for the relationship between Sergius and Reina should the truth become know. Already Catherine has managed to tell a lie regarding the whereabouts of her husband’s coat.

When Luoka announces a Swiss officer, Catherine knows who it is at once. She is determined that her husband should not know about the presence of the newcomer. When it becomes clear that Petkoff has actually seen the man already, Catherine declares that she has been trying to persuade the Captain to stay for lunch but he’d rather leave. This is a lie, it is a hint to the man to leave the family alone. When Reina enters and blunts out her familiarity with the man, the game if nearly given away. She recovers quickly and tells a tale to cover up her recognition of Captain Bluntschili.

Catherine backs her daughter’s lie for obvious reasons; their acquaintance with the Swiss officer must not be known. Then Nicole arrives with the man’s bag as Catherine has instructed. She denies knowledge of what Nicole is talking about. Nicole takes a chiding from Petkoff and is threatened with dismissed. Catherine dare not own up the truth. Having told me lie, she must back it up with others.

Hint

Satire occurs in a variety of situations in the play. Gwendolen is extraordinary obsessed with the name “Ernest”, rather than with earnestness itself. This attitude of hers shows how members of the society set so much store by appearance and affections. Wilde uses Lady Bracknell’s interrogation of Jack to satirize the values of a society which puts premium on social connection and downplays good character. Marriage in the society is based on wealth rather than on good behaviour. Lady Bracknell list of eligible suitors does not include Jack who, presumably, has no name and no future.

Satire is also at work in the revelation scene. The inadvertent swapping of the baby with the manuscript of a mere novel is evidence of society’s misplaced priority. 

The scene in which Jack woos Gwendolen shows the reverse of the assumptions about gender roles. Decorum require that young women be weak and passive while men are supposed to be active, competent and authoritative. Yet, Jack stammer ineffectively and Guendolej actively controls the whole business of the proposal. The rigid nature of Victorian conventions is exposed as Gwendolen insists that Jack start the whole marriage proposal over again in the conventional way. The same essentially applies to the Cecily. Algernon relationship

Hint

Gwendolen is Algernon’s cousin. She is also lady Bracknell’s daughter. She is not only elegant and fashionable, but also artificial and pretentious. She is in love with Jack because she finds him irresistible solely because of her belief that Jack’s name is Ernest. She swears that she cannot marry any man who is not called Ernest. This obsessions of Gwendolen sustains the plots, as it stand in sharp contrast to Lady Bracknell’s adherence to social convention. By what society approves, an eligible suitor cannot but be on her list, even if he is not Ernest. In contrast, Gwendolen’s man need only to be Ernest whether he is man of enough substantial to earn a place on her mother’s list.

Gwendolen exposes the misplaced notion of the society about the nature of men. A man is seen as all strength, manliness and capability. Contrary to this, at the crucial moment, Jack stemmers while Gwendolen takes over and steers the process of marriage proposal herself.

As part of the hypocritical system, she pretends, on her meeting Cecily that she does not mind being in the company of a girl of the countryside. The argument between her and Cecily when the two becomes entangled in the confusion of which Ernest each is in love with reveals their infatuation with symbols appearance rather than reality. This, it is Gwendolen’s resolve to marry only man name Ernest that moves the plot forward. Her position leads Jack to his desire to be Christened. This in turn leads to revelations that Jack, after all, is Ernest. He actually has been christened as such.

Hint

The poem depicts two categories of people, the rulers and the ruled. The rulers are the politicians and the ruled are the masses. By implication, the rulers/politicians have everything and are indifferent to the plight of the masses.

The suffering of the masses is graphically presented. They are unprotected from the elements, being described as “shivering in their emaciated bones, and they lack substance, as the rice fields “are putrid marshlands” and mere shadows of their glorious past.

The anger of the poet is both self-directed and other directed. This helplessness at ameliorating he suffering of the masses is felt in the line “let me be the hangman hanging myself”. But the greater rage is reserved for the politicians who are responsible for the plight of the masses. The poem ends on a call to action against these politicians. Nothing but a revolution would do.

Hint

The boy is obviously having a nice time on the swing apparently guided by his mother. As the swing moves slowly, to and fro, the boy seems to be in a joyful mood, apparently undisturbed by the social events around him.

As the swig move faster and faster and as matters become confused and uncontrolled in his head “East becomes West…..” joy and happiness given way to serious concerns. The need arises for explanation from somebody, particularly his mother. That is the point where the identity crisis become prominent. This manifest in the rhetorical questions he asks:

Where did I come from?

When will I wear long trousers?

Why was my father jailed?

He is increasingly worried about his identity “where did I come from? The misery around him – “when will in wear trouser? – and the injustice of society that has incarcerated  his father – “why was my father jailed? The poem ends not resolving the boy’s crisis.

Hint

“The sunne rising” is ostensibly a confrontation between a lover and the rising sun. In the encounter the poet employs various imagers. The opening lines conjure a powerful image of intrusion. The sun is presented as an intruder who “through window and through curtains call on us the visitor is clearly unwelcome. The sun’s intrusion actually made the poet angry and he resorts to harsh words. “Beisie old tool unruly sunne”. The sun is presented in the image of a busybody who should take his meddlesome familiarity elsewhere to rebuke “late schooled boyes” source prentices or provide service to court-hunts-men.

The image of the sun’s powerful beam and his wink which can “eclipse” the sun is an interesting conceit. The poet patronizingly declines to pursue his challenge with the excuses that, he cannot afford to lose his mistresses sight.

Yet another image is that which involves the sun’s age – its duty to shine on the whole world. By another metaphysical conceit, the whole world is shrunk into the poet and his mistress at the centre. Thus by shinning upon them, the sun reduces its labour of shinning on the whole world which has now become the poet’s bedroom.

Reference can also be made to the image of the poet and his mistress as embodying all the riches of the world. This is seen in the lines- “she’s all states, and all princes. Nothing else”. Thus, however, prestige, wealth are possessed by them and the sun does well by providing services to them alone.    

Hint

The poem confidently asserts that man is the author of his own life. The poets view that general belief that “man is his own star” is consistent with the general belief that man is in control of his own destiny. This view is stressed throughout the poem as the poet pours scorn on the so-called astrologers and star, gager.

As man is created in the image of God who endowns him with talents, the poet rightly contends that the sky is the limit for and who is in search of perfection. As such, man should be able to find his own bearing in life and shape the course of his own affairs, as “nothing to him fall early or too late”.

The poem reveals that, inspite of the influence of the stars and other forces of nature, men’s fate in life depends on his honesty “The soul that can /render an honest and perfect men, commands all light…” for it is men action or inaction that makes or breaks him as is expressed in the lines “our arts our angels are, or good or ill”.

The poet therefore condemns those who rely on outside forces to shape their destiny because God has empowered men to be the master of his own fate and should rely on him for direction.   

      The poem confidently asserts that man is the author of his own life. The poets view that general belief that “man is his own star” is consistent with the general belief that man is in control of his own destiny. This view is stressed throughout the poem as the poet pours scorn on the so-called astrologers and star, gager.

As man is created in the image of God who endowns him with talents, the poet rightly contends that the sky is the limit for and who is in search of perfection. As such, man should be able to find his own bearing in life and shape the course of his own affairs, as “nothing to him fall early or too late”.

The poem reveals that, inspite of the influence of the stars and other forces of nature, men’s fate in life depends on his honesty “The soul that can /render an honest and perfect men, commands all light…” for it is men action or inaction that makes or breaks him as is expressed in the lines “our arts our angels are, or good or ill”.

The poet therefore condemns those who rely on outside forces to shape their destiny because God has empowered men to be the master of his own fate and should rely on him for direction.   

Hint

Pokuwaa is serious of farmer and petty trader. She is involve in the traditional occupation, rites and festivals of Brenhome community. From as early as ten years old she has been involved in traditional activities. Like any other villagers, she is a full participant in the odwire festival. In the “idle days after the odwie festival, Pokwaa decides to build a new fire place for herself “she took her basket and hoe and fetched home some red earth from the outskirt of the village. When lighting strikes the village of Brenhome, the people believe the ancestor’s spirits are angry with them. As the man gather to take decisions on what to do, she makes sure her own view is heard through the man standing near her. The elders consulted oracles and tell the women of Brenhome were requested to cook for the pacification of ancestors spirits. Pokwaa is no exception. She takes part in the purification rites.

She understands her community very well in. Inspite of having discovered Yew Boakyes body first, she does not reveal it except to her mother. Having a good knowledge of her community’s way of life she cautions herself against doing anything that will create suspicious or problem for her.

“In their places if you break news of a disaster like this, people are prepared to assists….” but “In Brenhousen I am going to have to answer unending questions,…” with this in mind, she keeps the information to herself and her mother, not let even Kwado know about it. With this episode one will pass Brenhome for a traditional society and Pokwaa as a devotee of tradition.

Apart from her communal life, her belief in custom and tradition is greatly portrayed in her private life as she struggles to cope with her childlessness, specifics and purification rites. Coming from a culture which considers a women without a child as a luckless fellow, Pokuwaa struggles to have her own child. Being a traditional women, she resorts to Tano believing that Tano their great god will give her a child. She struggles to religiously offer sacrifices and rituals of purification as demanded by Teno and sees no signs of pregnancy after six months. Pokuwaa suddenly rebels all the claims her mother makes about tradition and its supremacy. She swears that “that is the end for me” I am not going to sacrifice anymore”. She challenges the old order in to demystify it. She is personally convinced that Tenno does not give children. Inspite of what her mother, Kwado and her friend Koremoa say against her decision to end her child quest by fetish means, she sticks to her decision. Yet a few months after, she becomes pregnant without Teno’s assistance. This justifies her sudden refusal to enslaved in tradition.

Hint

Pokuwaa is serious of farmer and petty trader. She is involve in the traditional occupation, rites and festivals of Brenhome community. From as early as ten years old she has been involved in traditional activities. Like any other villagers, she is a full participant in the odwire festival. In the “idle days after the odwie festival, Pokwaa decides to build a new fire place for herself “she took her basket and hoe and fetched home some red earth from the outskirt of the village. When lighting strikes the village of Brenhome, the people believe the ancestor’s spirits are angry with them. As the man gather to take decisions on what to do, she makes sure her own view is heard through the man standing near her. The elders consulted oracles and tell the women of Brenhome were requested to cook for the pacification of ancestors spirits. Pokwaa is no exception. She takes part in the purification rites.

She understands her community very well in. Inspite of having discovered Yew Boakyes body first, she does not reveal it except to her mother. Having a good knowledge of her community’s way of life she cautions herself against doing anything that will create suspicious or problem for her.

“In their places if you break news of a disaster like this, people are prepared to assists….” but “In Brenhousen I am going to have to answer unending questions,…” with this in mind, she keeps the information to herself and her mother, not let even Kwado know about it. With this episode one will pass Brenhome for a traditional society and Pokwaa as a devotee of tradition.

Apart from her communal life, her belief in custom and tradition is greatly portrayed in her private life as she struggles to cope with her childlessness, specifics and purification rites. Coming from a culture which considers a women without a child as a luckless fellow, Pokuwaa struggles to have her own child. Being a traditional women, she resorts to Tano believing that Tano their great god will give her a child. She struggles to religiously offer sacrifices and rituals of purification as demanded by Teno and sees no signs of pregnancy after six months. Pokuwaa suddenly rebels all the claims her mother makes about tradition and its supremacy. She swears that “that is the end for me” I am not going to sacrifice anymore”. She challenges the old order in to demystify it. She is personally convinced that Tenno does not give children. Inspite of what her mother, Kwado and her friend Koremoa say against her decision to end her child quest by fetish means, she sticks to her decision. Yet a few months after, she becomes pregnant without Teno’s assistance. This justifies her sudden refusal to enslaved in tradition.

Hint

He was a courageous hunter and prominent in Brenhoma community. He wants out if the village and was seen or heard from for days. This necessitated a search party to locate him or the dead body. The dead body was later found in the forest at diseni, near Pokweaa’s farm. Nobody is sure of how he died.

The search for yew Boakye highlights the communual nature of Brenhome. The village is painted as orderly and united. The chiefs and the elders rule the village while the other follows.

In situations of problem announcements are made either through the talking drums of the town crier who goes round the village informing people of the decision of the chiefs and elders and of what is expected of people as is the case in the search for Yew Boakye. Every able bodied men is summoned to appear for the search, and they accordingly responded. This portrays orders, unity and the concern for the welfae of each other.

The search also highlights the highly organised structure of Brenhome’s community. The search itself is led by an Asato who directs on how the search is to be conducted. Again the men are divided into several groups, each groups led by a leader who is vested with authority. This episode also show that in peace or war or any emergency Brenhome, has leader to lead her.

It is also used to highlight the heroine’s (Pokwaa) character as an inquisitive, restless woman-as she takes a break from “building a new fire place for herself” to visit her farm at Disemi where she discovered the dead body. As soon as she approaches the farm, she observed that vultures are hovering in the sky. She senses that something must be attracting them. In her inquisitive nature, she pry’s into the farm ad discovers the decomposed body. Her nightmare over the corpse she had seen in her farm the day before portrays her as a character / woman who has concern for the welfare of another human beings.

The acceptance of Pokwea’s claim of having seen a ghost suggests that Brenhome is still a deeply traditional society. The ghost in question is nothing else then Kwadooo running to meet up in the search. Thus the search highlights the belief in superstition

Hint

Aunt Ifeoma is papa’s (Engene) and dither of Pa-Nnukwu. She is a lecturer at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a widow and mother of three. She is faced with the challenge of single parenthood. Her greatest responsibility is the bringing up her three children’s. They lived ordinary lives in a warm and accommodating home as opposed to Engene’s home wher he provides the children with all the comfort but with a strict schedule on how to conduct themselves.

Aunt Ifeoma loves her children and allows them some degree of freedom and independence. The children are allowed to grow up as children and play without restriction to their freedom. The family is built on the spirit of freedom, openness, hospitality and sharing, instead of regimentation and isolationism. This makes the difference between Engene and Aunt Ifeoma families.

In spite of her pliable, friendly and playful disposition to the children, she constantly rebukes her erring children and keeps them on checks with punishments commensurate with the offence. She is a disciplinarian. She disciplines her children using the rod and tongue. The way in which Aunt Ifeoma reprimands Amakaa when she speaks on an insulting manner to Kambili show that despite her liberal and open approach to life, she does not tolerates indiscipline. She also slaps Obiora, shouts at him and give him a talk on manner’s when she rudely interrupts her conversation with her friend Chiaku. Contrary to Pa-Engene who reacts at the spur of the moment. She send Obiora in to go and wait in her room. After the friends departure, she then storms inside. She is human and restrained when Engene is harsh and unreasonable. Thus she brings up her children intelligent, confident, hearty and lively.

Engine on the other hand is a died-hard catholic faithfull, committed to Catholicism. His commitment sometimes verges on bigotry especially in his view of sin, crime and punishment. He punishes Jeje and Kambili for staying in the same house with Papa-Nukwu-for not informing through phone that Nukwu was coming to Nsukka and not also informing him that the “heathen” (Papa-Nukwu) will be sleeping in the same house with them. In otherworld she “saw the sin clearly and walked right into it”. He lowers the kettle of hot water and pours it on Kambili feet slowly “as if he was conducting an experiment and wanted to see what will happen”. Thus scolding her feet. On feeling the burn on her feet she screams, as the scream continuous, Papa pour more hot water on her feet while holding her down with one hand. His religion bigotry beclouds his sense of justice and natural affection.

Engine esteems the laws of the church above Christian virtues of love and obligation to his children. He brings up a stern fanatical catholic condition. He visits them with cruelly every time the fail to measure up to his expectation of Christian piety. This is demonstrated on palm Sunday when he does not see Jeje in church as well as when Kambili broke the Eucharist fast. Engine is a disciplinarian and sticker to rules and order. He prepares schedules for the daily conduct for his children and expects them to stick to its provision religiously. This is demonstrated in the only tie he permitted his children to visit Aunty Ifeoma. He made sure they visit went with their schedule. He even jealously monitors their conducts in school.

Engene like Aunt Ifeoma loves his children but his doctrinal control over his children leaves them with little happiness, freedom and self-development. His love is demonstrated when he scolds Kambili’s feet. He admonished Kambili as he speaks in an emotional voice. “Kambili, you are precious…..you should strive for perfection……”As he scolds her feet, strangely enough, Engene himself begins to cry. Contrary to Aunt Ifeoma, Engene goes to the extreme and does not weigh his punishment with the gravity of the offence.

Hint

Papa-Nunkwu is the father of Papa (Engene) and Aunt Ifeoma. He is a believer in traditional religion. As a traditional religionist, he worships the gods of his ancestors. His belief in it is so strong that he rejects his son’s offer of material wealth in favour of worshiping the gods of his ancestors. Papa had offered him such wealth “as long as he converted and threw away the chimp, the fetch shrine in his yard”. He prays for his children and grandchildren, asking Chineke to bless them provides for them and protect them.

At Christmas, he hosts his grandchildren, chats with them and cracks jokes with them. He also leads them in watching the masquerades at Aro festival. During his convalescence in Noukka, he uses the opportunity to tell his grandchildren a folktale.

Through his role in the novel, the author highlights the richness of African culture in his story telling sessions, this ora tradition is also used by the author to enrich her own story. The story and chorus of Njemanze helps to achieve this. His entertaining and humanist role in the novel helps to easen the tense atmosphere of impending tragedy.

            Through his fervent prayer for his son (pepe) the author shows traditionalist as more tolerant and accommodating of others as compared to the Western religion which claims superiority. Pepe-Nunkwu is not fanatical about his religion. He prays for his son (Pepe) and his grandchildren, the son rarely prays for him. Whenever he does, it is only for his conversion.

Hint

Jack is the antagonist of Ralph on arrival on the Island, he compete with Ralph for leadership of the boy’s. his leadership style is antithetical to that of Ralph. He does not believe in democracy. He installs himself as the defecto leader. He cherished chaos over orderliness. He is autocratic and does not abide by rules and regulations governing a civilized society. He does not believe in the conch, he only makes us of the conch at his convenience. His word is law. Jack is naturally violent and bloods thirty. This is demonstrated as he and Roger mastermind a reign of terror in the Island. He trains the boys to become savages and wins their support as they catch fun in games and killing pigs for food. As the defecto leader, he successfully turns the Island to a jungle, a place for the survival of the fittest. This results to the death of Simon, Piggy and the attempt on Ralph life as is smoked out of his hiding before their rescue.

Hint

Fear is a dominant theme in the novel Lord of the Flies. This is portrayed right from the day the boys found themselves on the Island. They are first faced with the challenges of adapting to the Island. In the challenge they demonstrated their fear of being lost forever. This is displaced in their comportment despite Ralph’s optimism and assurance that they will be rescued in due course.

            After the survey of the Island, Ralph summons all the boys. In this second meeting, a young boy of about Six year old informs the other boys of the presence of the beast “a snake-thing” on the Island. He is certain that he had seen this beast. His statement endangers sense of fear and apprehension in the minds of all the boys. Jack, Ralph and Piggy in their speeches stress the need to stamp out fear from the minds of members of the group but the little boy who had first aroused fear in the minds of others boys collects the conch from Piggy and talks about seeing something “big and horrid”, moving in the trees”, the other boys talks about a beast that comes out of the sea. All these heighten the fear of the boys in an uninhabited Island.

            Another segment of the narration opens with a graphic description of how a figure strapped to a parachute drops on the mountain top. Eric is the first of the twins to notice they figure. He alerts Sam and together they flee from the top of the mountain and alert Ralph about the presence of a beast. Ralph calls an assembly, both Sam and Eric present a frightening story about a beast at the mounting top. The theme of fear in the novel is reinforced by these claims. Jack immediately ask that  an attempt should be made to hunt down the beat, despite his outward show of toughness and capacity to lead, he is also preoccupied with the fear of the beast and struggles to hide  his own fear. Simon seems to be the only one not affected by fear. The demystifies the fear in the novel with his discovery that the beats is infact a deadman strapped to a parachute. Unfortunately, his discovery is not revealed as he is killed by Jack’s savage group who continued to live with the fear of the beast till their rescue.

This dominant theme of fear in the novel highlights the facts that fear is inmate in man and man will always be conscious to protect himself from all dangers.

Hint

The novella gathers its substance from the actions, thoughts and utterance of Santiago the hero and Manolin his apprentice boy. The author achieves this through his narrative style and technique. He makes extensive use of flashback and monologue to present Santiago’s past actions and thoughts in his present circumstances. The extensive use of flashback provides the leader with information about Santiago’s past family life and failures. Through this means, the reader learns that as a youngman, Santiago had a lot of energy. It is this energy that he unleashes to defeat the great negro of Cienfuegos in a nerve-racking hand game. It is also through the use of flashback that the reader is informed of Santiago love for baseball and his liking for bear and coffee. Most importantly and central to the novel, it is through the flashback device the reader learns that Santiago teaches Manolin to fish, and that they both have both gone on several fishing expenditure before. All these help to arouse the reader’s empathy with Santiago in his present circumstance.

The use of monologue is also extensively used in the novel to reveal Santiago subconsciousness to the reader. There are several occasion when the old man soliloquise as nobody uses handing, including keep him company. As he puts it “if to keep others heard me talking out loud/they would think that I am crazy…..But since /I am not crazy, I don’t care”.. This monologue comes as a matter of course thus “he did not remember when he had first/started to talk aloud when he was by/ himself when alone, when the boy had left “the weather condition itself was not friendly. He monologues again”…. I’m tired then I have ever been and the trade wind is rising”. When the oldman remembers his boy, he further      soliloquies “I wish the boy were here and I had some salt”. Apart from talking to himself of talking aloud at sea, the oldman also addresses the acquatic and aerial creatures, including the marlin and the sharks he has to contend with as though they could hear him and respond.

The use of monologue is therefore enables the readers to have an insight into Santiago’s inner self, especially his deep feelings about Manolin, his present circumstances, natural forces around him, the marlin and the sharks.

Hint

The Marlin is an awesome fish that measures eighteen feet and larger than human size. It is the fish that Santiago desperately wants and needs to catch.

            Santiago is an old Cuban fisherman who is an expect when it comes to fishing. Despite his skills, he has no luck at sea. He had set out for eighty-four days for a fish expedition but without success. He eventually sails out on the eighty-fifth days, as he remains confident that his unproductive streak will soon come to an end. He sails for beyond the Island shallows coastal views and Gulf cream. He constructs his lines and fixes them, suddenly he feels heavy tugging at one of his lines signing a huge catch of marlin that finds struggle between the fish and the oldman. The fish drags him to a point where he cannot see the land and goes beyond all other battle for survival for Santiago. Once the fish make a surge and he is pulled down on his face and he is cut below his eye. He walks his way back to the bow an rest against the wood, and he says “fish I will stay with you until I am dead”.

            The fish gives another sudden lurch as the oldman speaks to a little bird that perches on the stern, and he is pulled down on to the bow and would have pulled him over board had he not supported himself and given wore line. His hands become badlly cramped and he is cut and bruised from the force of the fish.

            The fish rises slowly and steadily and the surface of the ocean bulges ahead as the fish comes out endlessly, rising its full length from the water, an estimated two-feet longer than the boat, and then re-enters slowly and begins to race out. Now alone and out of the sight of land Santiago has to  deal with the biggest fish he has ever seen and his left-hand is still cramped. He idolized the marlin and seen it as his own brother. He tell himself that he has to prove worthy of the fish, when he catches it. His hand uncramps at noon of the next day, and he baits a line out over the stern to catch a fish that he might have to eat, if the marlin decides to stay another night.

            Uptil the night if the second day the oldman has not slept, for three days the marlin drags the oldman about. He talks to the fish even though he does not see it. He misses the boy and talks to himself regarding his not having salt. Eventually, the fish rises to the surface, he lifts the harpoon and drives it down into the skift and sets sail for home. However, the struggle does not end, as the sharks extends Santiago’s struggle. He is faced with the challenge of saving the fish from being attacked and eaten by different species of sharks. He fails in this. The sharks attack and eat the marlin along the way home and he fights and kill some of them, until only the eighteen-feet-long skeleton of then marlin remains between he gets to the shore.,

            Despite all the oddities stemmed along his path by nature, he rises the occasion and brings with it a memorable asset, however skeletal it is. Though he looses the fish, he emerges the hero of the story. The story is therefore a clear piece of didacticism, teaching enduring moral lessons to all on rectitude, courage and stoicism.