Creating Juvenalian Mirrors in Reading Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty

Abstract

A great deal of African literature attempts to create Juvenal mirrors in addressing topical issues that confront aspects of society itself. Postcolonial African society is chararcterised with political, social, economic and cultural issues. These issues coalesce and impact positively or negatively in the lives of both the individual and the community as a whole. It is against this backdrop that most African literary writers explore these issues by telling the stories of Africa and highlighting the potential threats the issues pose to the development of the society. This essay argues that Okpewho’s The Last Duty employs Juvenal satires in exposing the follies and foibles of the society. Okpewho presents detailed description of the inhuman and devastating issues, including corruption, wickedness, dishonesty and injustices that bedevil the society. Okpewho employs the candour and perceptiveness of narrators and characters to depict the suffering and violence in African society. These pertinent issues Isidore Okpewho explores in The Last Duty parallel that of Decimus Junius Juvenalis’s themes classified as Juvenalian satires. The data of the study was collected based on textual approach which employed a qualitative analysis to generate interpretation. The study examines selected Juvenal themes such as Corruption, Cruelty Verses Compassion, The Luck of the Army, The Female Sex: Decay of Feminine Virtue and The Vanity of Human Wishes. This paper concludes that the position of the satirist on social issues such as corruption, greed, injustices and so on, emerges as global attacks which derive their continuing force from the conception of authoritarianism among leaders.