LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal lof Language and Literature 13(2) April 2019  p-ISSN 1858-0165 

Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id   e-ISSN 2460-853X 

 

 111 

The Contribution of Patriarchy to the Concept of Manhood  

in African Societies: A Marxist Reading of Isidore Okpewho’s  

The Last Duty 

Email: fikoff75@gmail.com  

 

Abstract 

This paper explores the concept of patriarchy as an undesirable ideology that promotes the 

oppression of the weak and vulnerable in society by the strong and powerful in Isidore 

Okpewho’s The Last Duty. It is widely held that patriarchy promotes the domination of men over 

women and promotes an artificial hierarchy of class in which women become subordinates to their 

male gender. Yet, patriarchy does not only make subjugates of women. Depending on the dictates 

and expectations of a culture, men, like women, can equally be made subjugates of patriarchy if 

they are deemed unworthy of the title of a man. This usually happens when they do not measure 

up to the standard of societal expectations, particularly, within African cultural setting. Using the 

theory of Marxism, this paper argues that patriarchy not only succeeds in creating a society that 

operates on classism in which women are the subordinates; men too become victims. In addition, 

patriarchy inflicts deep psychological trauma on men and women who suffer its tenets. The 

conclusion is that men and women collectively fight patriarchy in order to achieve an egalitarian 

society where synergy can be harnessed for the betterment of all. 

Key words: Capitalism, Marxism, Patriarchy, Psychological trauma, Egalitarianism, Nigeria, 

 

INTRODUCTION 

The concept of patriarchy as an undesirable 

ideology promotes the oppression of the weak 

and vulnerable in society by the strong and 

powerful in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty. It 

is widely held that patriarchy promotes the 

domination of men over women and promotes 

an artificial hierarchy of class in which women 

become subordinates to the male gender. Yet, 

patriarchy does not only make subjugates of 

women. Depending on the dictates and 

expectations of a culture, men, like women, can 

equally be made subjugates of patriarchy if 

they are deemed unworthy of the title of a man. 

This usually happens when they do not 

measure up to the standard of societal 

expectations, particularly, within the African 

cultural setting.  

By using the theory of Marxism, authors of 

this paper argue that patriarchy not only 

succeeds in creating a society that operates on 

classism in which women are objectified; men 

too become victims. In addition, patriarchy 

inflicts deep psychological trauma on men and 

women who suffer its tenets. The conclusion is 

that men and women collectively fight 

patriarchy in order to achieve an egalitarian 

society where synergy can be harnessed for the 

betterment of all. 

A qualitative method of research has been 

used to gather data through literature review 

 

Confidence Gbolo Sanka 

Department of English 

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana 

mailto:fikoff75@gmail.com


LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2) April 2019 

 

 

 112 

and to analyze the data. The paper proceeds by 

focusing on the literature review, the synopsis 

of the novel, a close reading and analysis of the 

novel and finally, the conclusion of the paper. 

Narrative techniques such as charaterization, 

the saturation technique, stream of 

consciousness, humour and symbolism have 

also been discussed since they are means 

through which the concept of patriarchy and its 

contribution to the concept of manhood have 

been presented in the African context. 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

Karl Max, examining society from the varied 

angles of economics, sociology and politics 

observed the disparity that existed between 

humans and described the relationships as 

contingent upon the economic levels of people 

which resulted in a society built on class. 

According to Bowens et al (2013), ‚The 

Communist Manifesto (propounded by Karl 

Max and Friedrich Engles- 1829- 1895) describes 

the process by which society developed over 

time so that today it is divided into roughly two 

great classes.‛ Marxists normally refer to the 

upper ruling class who own the means of 

production as the bourgeoisies while the 

working class is referred to as the proletariat. 

Marx observes that the ruling class employs 

crude ways and means of constantly keeping 

the working class in a position of subordination 

since they overly exploit the labor of the 

working class. The working class makes all the 

profits and provides the goods and services 

enjoyed by the ruling class; however, their own 

benefits are nothing compared to the gains of 

the bourgeoisies. As Mclellan states, ‚the 

proletariats are the poor laborers in the 

capitalist society being down-trodden by the 

bourgeois capitalists‛ (cited in Odeh, 2010) ) It 

is Marx’s belief that the exploitation and 

oppression of the proletariat shall not forever 

persist; they will become conscious of the 

exploitative and oppressive ways of the ruling 

class and revolt to create a bourgeoning 

egalitarian society. 

Tyson (2006) commenting on Marxist 

ideology stipulates that to the Marxist critic, 

‚differences in socio-economic class divides 

people in ways that are much more significant 

than differences in religion, race, ethnicity or 

gender.‛ Yet the proletariats are often the last to 

observe this and allow their petty differences 

exemplified in race, religion, ethnicity or 

gender to separate and pitch them against one 

another instead of uniting them against the 

common threat of the ruling class. 

Not only does Tyson (2006) identify factors 

such as race and religion as some elements that 

militate against the synergy of the proletariat, 

she expatiates on ideological principles that 

help the continual perpetration of oppression 

and exploitation of the proletariat by the ruling 

class.  She observes that ‚for Marxism, an 

ideology is a belief system, and all belief 

systems are products of cultural conditioning.‛ 

To her, ideologies such as capitalism, religion, 

patriotism and so on are all products of cultural 

conditioning created to make people behave in 

ways societies deem acceptable. To the Marxist 

critic, however, not all ideologies are required 

or useful. For instance, Tyson (2006) observes 

that:  

Patriotism is an ideology that keeps poor 

people fighting wars against poor people 

from other countries (one way or another, 

sufficient money can generally, keep one 

out of the armed forces during war time 

or, at least, out of the combat units) while 

the rich on both sides rake in the profits of 

war-time economy. 

In another instance, she cites religion as 

‚an ideology that helps to keep the faithful 

poor satisfied with their lot in life, or at least 

tolerant of it, much as tranquilizer might do‛ 

(Tyson, 2006). If all these examples are anything 

to go by, then one can conclude that patriarchy 

is also an undesirable ideology meant to favor 



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men as the ruling and domineering class while 

women, like the proletariat, become the 

oppressed, the subordinated and the down-

trodden as typified in many African societies.  

Indeed, several literatures exist on the 

economic relationship between men and 

women that places men at the helm of affairs 

while situating women at the receiving end of 

instructions.  In an article entitled ‚The Role of 

Patriarchy in Family Settings and its 

Implications to Girls and Women in South 

Africa,‛ Mudau and Obidare defined 

patriarchy as:  

Patriarchy is a system of society or 

government in which the father or the 

eldest male is head of the family and 

descent is reckoned through the male, 

hence the system promotes male privilege. 

The attitude and expectations organized 

on this basis rank men above women, 

providing a social structure that gives 

men uncontested authority. It is an 

obsession with control as a core value 

around which social life is organized. 

(2017) 

Patriarchy in the typical African setting 

therefore gives undue advantage and total 

control of power to the male gender while 

denying the female of all of these privileges. 

 One of the writings which support the 

above view is propounded by Delphy (1984), a 

feminist critic who analyses the relationship 

between husbands and wife in the home 

environment that is the family as an economic 

unit, from the Marxist point of view indicates 

that: 

*a+ll contemporary ‚developed‛ 

societies< depend on the unpaid labor of 

women for domestic services and child-

rearing. These services are furnished 

within the framework of a particular 

relationship to an individual (the 

husband). They are excluded from the 

realm of exchange <labor power. 

There is a clear indication from the above 

that within the home environment where the 

tenets of patriarchy are practiced, the man 

becomes the authority who wields power and 

controls the resources of the home while the 

woman becomes the cheap source of labor 

whose labor power is maintained through the 

gifts she receives from the husband. Her labor 

is cheap because she is not given the proper 

equivalence of exchange for her services unlike 

what she might be paid for doing the same or 

similar kinds of work outside the home 

environment. In all these, it is necessary to note 

that it is not that women’s contribution to the 

family is not recognized as important; it is 

rather due to the fact that patriarchy, as Tyson 

(2006) asserts, ‚defines women in their 

domestic roles as non-workers.‛ It is based on 

this reality that Delphy further asserts that the 

relationship that exists between men and 

women is, to a large extent, contingent on 

power: ‚patriarchal men want to keep all of it; 

non patriarchal women want power to be 

equally distributed‛ (Tyson, 2006).   

Eisenstein (1999) shares a similar view 

with Delphy on patriarchy. As a socialist 

feminist, she analyses power in relation to class 

origins and patriarchy. Viewing capitalism and 

patriarchy as mutually dependent ideologies 

that work together to militate against the 

independence of the woman she states: 

<my argument here is that oppression 

and exploitation are not equivalent 

concepts as they were used by Marx and 

Engels. Exploitation speaks to the 

economic reality of capitalist class 

relations whereas oppression refers to 

power as it is defined within patriarchal 

and capitalist relations. Exploitation < 

capitalism.  

In this, Eisenstein identifies the combined 

evils of capitalism and patriarchy as the cause 



LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2) April 2019 

 

 

 114 

of the oppression of women. She, however, 

links the oppression of women to patriarchal 

roots of power control that segregates women 

and men into classes; women, regardless of 

their social position or standing become 

subordinates to men while men become the 

lords and wielders of power. She believes that 

in addition to the economic class of Marxist 

criticisms, women also form a sexual class, 

because they establish the basic and necessary 

activities of society such as reproduction, child 

rearing and nurturing, domestic laboring and 

wage-earning. Women in patriarchal societies 

perform all responsibilities that relate to 

reproduction and wage earning, yet they have 

little or no ownership to the very things they 

produce or reproduce because patriarchy puts 

them in a position of subordination and 

oppression in relation to another sexual 

class_____ the male. She, however, does not 

lose sight of the fact there are class divisions 

even among women and therefore recommends 

that a vocabulary and conceptual tools as a 

whole are developed to deal with the question 

of differential power among women in terms of 

their relation to men and the class structure 

(Eisenstein, 1984). 

In addition, Hartmann contends that 

patriarchy is ‚a set of social relations between 

men which have material basis, and which, 

though hierarchical, establish or create 

independence and solidarity among men that 

enable them to dominate women‛(cited in Tong 

2009) Hartmann’s materialist account situates 

the material base as originating from ‚men’s 

control over women’s labor power‛; this 

control is constituted by restricting women’s 

access to important economic resources and by 

disallowing any women control over female 

sexuality and especially female reproductive 

capacities. This position, definitely reflects in 

the urgent need of a woman to satisfy the needs 

of her husband or lover for the material 

reciprocity he provides by not deserting her 

and her wards or in the relationship of 

reciprocity in which a woman has to please her 

boss in order to maintain her job.  Hartman 

concludes that men’s urge to control women is 

as strong as the bourgeoisies would want to 

control and manipulate the proletariat: 

capitalism and patriarchy are not two heads of 

the same beast. They are two dissimilar fiends, 

and they must be battled with different arms. 

In considering the relationship that exists 

between patriarchy and capitalism from a 

review of literature, one is quick to realize that 

the definitions of patriarchy are consciously 

applied to the subjugation of women by men. It 

appears that many feminist and socialist 

feminist critics do not observe that men equally 

suffer the tenets of patriarchy just as women do 

as this is especially the case when, in the eyes of 

society, the men in question do not measure up 

to the standards of societal expectations. 

Situating this paper within the framework of 

Zillah Eisenstein views on the relationship 

between patriarchy and capitalism which she 

argues from the Marxist point of view above, 

the authors of the paper argue that when the 

African cultural perspective of manhood( 

which is defined not only in the physical sense 

of the word but in metaphorical terms too to 

include wealth, sexual potency,  physical and 

emotional strength) is taken into consideration, 

women alone would not be victims of 

patriarchy; men who are not considered ‚men‛ 

in the connotative sense of the word are 

partners with women together in the 

subordinate class commonly ruled by wealthy 

and powerful capitalist bourgeoisie men of 

authority. The contributions of patriarchy to the 

experiences those not regarded as ‚men‛ are 

normally negatively drastic with respect to 

their psyche. Consequently, there is a need for 

the sexes to fundamentally do away with 

patriarchy which may subsequently help in 

eroding the capitalist hold thereby creating an 

egalitarian society for both men and women. 

 



LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal lof Language and Literature 13(2) April 2019  p-ISSN 1858-0165 

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SYNOPSIS OF THE NOVEL 

The Last Duty by Isidore Okpehwo is a 

historical novel. The story is a recast of the 

historical accounts of the Nigerian Civil war in 

a fictional manner. At the beginning of the 

novel, the federal troops liberate the border 

town of Urukpe where the Igabo people dwell 

together with the Simbas from the rebel 

occupation of the Simba. Aku, a Simba woman, 

married to Oshivere an Igabo man, has to hide 

herself and her baby at the back of her home to 

escape a possible lynching by the townspeople 

because she belongs to the rebel tribe. Chief 

Toje, a rubber magnate, sensing immense 

competition from Oshevire takes advantage of 

the mayhem of war to accuse Oshivere of 

aiding rebel activities and suborns another 

citizen to indict him at a tribunal at Iddu. 

Meanwhile, Chief Toje, having lost his 

manhood and under the guise of being a 

supportive benefactor against the rebels, 

decides to use Oshivere’s wife, Aku, to regain 

his manhood. He is, however, unsuccessful, 

and in his stead, his disabled nephew, Odibo 

rather indulges in an illicit affair with Aku. The 

knowledge of this provokes a deadly machete 

fight in which both Odibo and Toje wound each 

other and fall into coma. 

 

ANALYSIS 

Taking into accounts the fact that The Last Duty 

is a historical novel that recounts the 

happenings in Nigeria during the outbreak of 

the civil war between the Federal State and the 

secessionist State of Biafra, it is clear that the 

case of Nigeria is one significant example of 

how economic conditions become the defining 

elements or motive behind all social, political 

and cultural activities. According to history, 

there is every reason to believe that the conflict 

was the outcome of economic, ethnic, cultural 

and religious tensions among the different 

ethnic groups of Nigeria. Iweriebor opines that 

European imperialist occupation of Africa, and 

for that matter the British occupation of Nigeria 

‚developed in the nineteenth century following 

the collapse of the profitability of the slave 

trade, its abolition and suppression, as well as 

the expansion of the European Capitalist 

Industrial Revolution‛ (2018). The rise of 

industrialization in Europe meant the need for 

the acquisition of raw materials and larger 

offshore markets for European goods and 

services. Therefore, the economy of the 

colonized nations of Africa was structured by 

the colonialist to serve their own economic 

needs. As Shokpeka et al (2009) observe:  

The colonial economy in most of Africa 

was structured to improve the economies 

of the colonizing or metropolitan powers. 

In the scheme of things, what mattered 

was how the colonial economy could 

benefit the colonizers. Very little, if in any 

regard, was paid to the indigenous 

population. When the African population 

was taken into consideration, <power. 

Surprisingly, the case of exploitation by 

the powerful colonialist was just a microcosm 

of the entire picture. Featuring in the core 

relationships among the people was another 

severe case of exploitation, corruption and 

manipulation: the stronger and powerful 

within Nigeria also used the civil war as a 

means of exploiting the weak and vulnerable 

economically, physically and psychologically. It 

is said that there is always another side to the 

truth; it is the other untold aspects of the 

Nigerian civil war from the perspective of the 

civilians that Isidore Okphewho decides to tell 

his story  

 Adopting the stylistic approach of stream 

of consciousness also known as dramatic 

monologue, the author takes readers through 

the minds of his characters revealing the extent 

to which the rich and powerful with will go to 

exploit the weak and downtrodden. Isidore 

Okphewho also succeeds in revealing the 

severe physical and psychological damage the 



LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2) April 2019 

 

 

 116 

weak and vulnerable experience in the hands of 

the powerful in war situations. 

Using symbolism, Isidore Okpewho 

constructs a patriarchal capitalist character by 

name Toje Onovwakpo who, due to his 

capitalist and patriarchal mentality, abuses and 

exploits not only women but men also. He is a 

rich and powerful rubber magnate. He is 

extremely egoistic, arrogant, manipulative, 

domineering and cunning. As a patriarchal 

man, his patriarchal sentiments are revealed in 

his metaphorical thoughts of what manhood is. 

To him, a man is one who is wealthy, potent 

and expedient. If a man is a foremost citizen 

with a level of distinction and his name alone is 

capable of ensuring that his town is showered 

with endowments, then he deserves to be called 

a man in the truest sense of the word. In his 

own words: 

Every town must have a few people 

whose names lend respect to the 

community. They should be the town’s 

foremost citizens, men of some 

distinction. It isn’t that these are the first 

men to be called to arms when a fight 

ensues between their town and another – 

no that’s a thing of the past. There are 

<again. (Okpewho, 2003) 

In applying the theory of class 

consciousness as stipulated by Karl Marx, one 

appreciates that   Toje’s mindset is a revelation 

of the classism existent within the African 

society which views the concept of manhood 

based on not only the denotative meaning of 

the word but on its  metaphorical functioning 

as pertains to name, wealth, and influence. 

There are different classes of men. Therefore, a 

man is not a man in the full sense of the word if 

he lacks any of the societal qualifications that 

qualify him as such. To Toje, the days when 

manhood was defined based upon the basis of 

strength and velour alone belongs to the past; 

all other metaphorical definitions of the word 

must apply. By implication, then, Toje believes 

that men who do not belong to his class of 

wealth and prestige must be more than willing 

to offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to 

protect and satiate the upper class to which he 

belongs. If Eisenstein thoughts on classism as it 

relates to patriarchy is adopted, then readers 

can assume that on the hierarchy of power, Toje 

considers himself one of the most powerful in 

Urukpe because of his wealth and social status. 

Any other category of people (women or men) 

who are not at par with him on the socio-

economic ladder must be his subjugates and 

must be open to his exploitative tendencies. As 

such, he categorically uses derogatory 

descriptive words such as ‚small man,‛ ‚lame-

brained,‛ and ‚fool‛ to describe such men as 

Odibo and Emuakpor who do not belong to his 

class (Okpewho, 2003). The situation is worse 

for a woman like Aku who patriarchy already 

defines as a subjugate of men. Toje therefore 

relates to her in terms of her sexual class.  Yes, 

she is a subordinate because patriarchal tenets 

place her there, and she becomes open to 

exploitation because the capitalist mentality in 

Toje sees a means of using her sexuality to 

regain his manhood. 

This is a deep revelation because readers 

begin to understand that patriarchal sentiments 

much as they affect women also affect men, but 

the implications for women are worst. 

Patriarchy determines the worth and 

importance of men in relation to women, yet it 

does not allow every man to regard himself as a 

‚real man‛ if he does not satisfy the criteria 

determined by society. The traditional 

definition of manhood especially as it pertains 

to many African cultures goes beyond 

biological traits or physiological features to 

include, wealth class and status. A man who 

therefore has only his biological traits to boast 

of may as well consider himself, at best,  less of 

a man and must be willing to sacrifice and 

place himself at the mercies of the rich and 

powerful. This is Toje’s belief, and to confirm it 

he categorically states: 



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 117 

This town has people like me to thank for 

whatever notice it has achieved today If 

therefore anything happens to people like 

me that might detract from the position in 

which we are held, no sacrifice should be 

great from anybody in this town to ensure 

that we keep our place, that we maintain 

our position. (Okpewho, 2003) 

Toje’s capitalist and patriarchal sentiments 

are always at work. In order to maintain and 

exert his power and influence, Toje has to cut 

the ladder that will lead others to the top 

hierarchy where he is. As such, he recommends 

another enterprising, young man, Mukoro 

Oshivere, who is well beneath Toje in terms of 

wealth, status and class for detention on false 

accusations of aiding the rebel occupations 

because Toje sees him as a threat to his rubber 

business. The dynamics of classism and 

patriarchy are at work: Toje is symbolic of the 

powerful capitalist bourgeoisie who will use 

diabolic ways and means of keeping Mukuro 

Oshivere, the hard working and enterprising 

proletariat, at bay so he does not climb up the 

ladder of wealth to become powerful and 

influential like him. Again, Toje’s suborning of 

another citizen, Rukeme, to spew lies against 

Oshivire at the tribunal is symbolic of the 

divisive strategies employed by those on the 

top hierarchy of the social ladder to constantly 

separate and confuse the proletariat so they lose 

focus of the real threat that stares them in the 

face.  Through these, readers are informed of 

the economic greed and patriarchal tendencies 

that fuel and dictate the actions of the rich and 

powerful towards the poor, weak, and 

vulnerable in many African societies. 

Another key factor the novel reveals about 

the hand in hand workings of patriarchy and 

the capitalist motives evident in the seemingly 

harmless actions of the rich and powerful 

towards the poor is observed in the 

commodification of the weak and vulnerable. 

This is revealed in Toje’s commodification of 

Aku, Oshivere’s wife and Odibo his own 

crippled nephew. Toje is a man of complexity. 

He knows that wealth alone does not define 

manhood; a man is a man not only because he 

is wealthy but because he is sexually potent too. 

Therefore, sensing his weakness and the 

possibility of losing his revered position, he 

allows expediency to dictate his moves, and 

anyone or anything he must use to achieve his 

manhood becomes a tool. He underestimates 

and disregards the physical, psychological and 

emotional damage he causes to others provided 

his tool succeeds in fulfilling his desires.  Toje’s 

brutish and backbiting attitude is revealed 

through the following: 

That is why I have not hesitated to 

recommend a citizen here for detention on 

charges of collaboration with the rebels, 

and then suborned another citizen to 

draw up the details of the indictment. For 

I felt that Mukoro Oshivere stood in my 

way. And <here. (Okpewho, 2003)  

The metaphorical descriptions and 

rhetorical question employed above reveal that 

Toje’s patriarchal thoughts of manhood is that 

which drives him to use vindictive and 

unorthodox ways of regaining his sexual 

potency. Toje considers himself an eminent 

man because he is wealthy and influential and 

his name equates credence and respect in his 

community. If therefore there lies within him a 

despicable problem that questions his manhood 

and potency thereby bringing upon him 

disgrace, then he demands his problem should 

be the society’s problem. If his glory is the glory 

of the society, then his shame must also be its 

shame. Yet, he is not bold enough to seek the 

right help through the right means. Toje’s crude 

and exploitative ways of obtaining whatever he 

wants is a criticism of the ideals of rugged 

individualism espoused by capitalist motive. 

Because rugged individualism centers on the 

self, it naturally breeds greed and 

individualism which subsequently foster 

breeding grounds for exploitative tendencies. 

Toje hatred for  Aku’s huband, Oshivere,  stems 



LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2) April 2019 

 

 

 118 

from his desire to eliminate him from the 

rubber business in order to maintain a 

comfortable lead. His desire to exploit Aku 

sexually is only to spite another subordinate in 

order to reassert his manhood. Aku therefore 

becomes the victim of a sexual prowler who 

mars her integrity as a mother and a chaste wife 

because the circumstances of war force her into 

further subordination by becoming Toje’s 

sexual commodity. Their relationship is 

however, to some extent, symbiotic: in 

exchange for food, clothing and protection for 

herself and her son, she in turn grudgingly 

offers to fulfill Toje’s sexual needs. Aku 

metaphorically describes Toje and his kindness 

as ‚a new kind of danger‛ (Okpewho, 2003). 

Yet, the irony is that, he is a danger she dares 

not escape because her survival and that of her 

child within the community of Urukpe depends 

on the good will of Toje who chooses to help 

her in a community where she faces constant 

threat of death and ostracism: 

And now I see a new danger, a new kind 

of danger. For several months now Toje 

has shown us kindness. He has continued 

to buy clothes, food and other necessities 

for us, and to give me money from time to 

time. I feel very certain that<. I know 

what it is all about. (Okpewho, 2003)  

The bare truth that such a chaste and 

faithful woman would have to succumb to the 

wiles of a sexual pervert like Toje, who, is 

outwardly eminent but inwardly debased is 

heart wrenching. 

The extent of Aku’s psychological pain 

and trauma shows in the series of rhetorical 

questions she engages herself in and which 

depicts the turbulence in her psychological 

makeup: 

Where can I run, what can I do? If it 

weren’t for the goodness of the federal 

army commander here, who has warned 

that nobody should take the law into his 

hands, where would I be today?  If I can 

no longer go to the market to buy 

foodstuffs for my child and myself then 

how can we survive? And my people? 

(Okpewho, 2003) 

How long can I survive in this town if I 

stay isolated from the entire community 

except for a few soldiers who happen to 

stray to my stall? (Okpewho, 2003) 

Indeed, that she must either succumb to 

Toje or face the wrath of the people is a choice 

that is difficult to make. These expressions of 

Aku show the turmoil she is in. To use Robert’s 

(2014) words ‚These expressions indicate 

desperate cry caused by hopelessness; the 

questions reveal her emotional state which[is] 

plagued by feelings of uncertainty about the 

future.‛  The questions also reveal her 

loneliness and isolation from the society that 

she is supposed to fully belong by marriage.  

Aku is not the only victim of Toje’s 

capitalist and patriarchal manipulations. His 

own nephew Odibo suffers a similar fate 

because he is disabled, poor and a dependent 

on him. To reassure himself of his own 

manhood, power and authority, Toje employs 

mental and psychological abuse as a way of 

exploiting another man. Toje’s use of 

vituperative language on Odibo makes him 

even doubt himself worthy of being human not 

to talk of being a man. He is one who has lost 

self-confidence and is full of feelings of 

inferiority all because Toje ensures he drums 

into Odibo’s ears constantly that he Odibo is 

worthless. In the opening phase of his 

monologue, Odibo is seen uttering statements 

littered with repetition and rhetorical questions: 

‚I know I am nothing. I know I have nothing. 

But why does he keep making me feel bad?‛ 

(Okpewho, 2003). 

These words of Odibo seem innocent on 

the surface; however, they are pregnant with 

meaning. Odibo is a subordinate who has come 

to accept the negative identity and status 

impinged on him by his superior. The ‚I know I 



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 119 

am nothing. I know I have nothing‛ he utters 

indicates that he knows he obviously does not 

belong to the class and status of Toje, and 

certainly not to any class at all. He knows he 

does not have and will never have the wealth, 

power and influence Toje has. He therefore 

resigns himself to fate and has no hope of 

overturning his fortunes because his mind 

which is representative of his will power is in 

the hands of another being he, Odibo, sees as 

superior to him.  To maintain his hold, Toje also 

does enough to ensure that Odibo never gets 

any form of mental emancipation, so he 

constantly hammers on Odibo’s weaknesses in 

order to maintain him in his position of 

servitude: 

I think you are too dump to realize that. 

You are just a dump mass of body 

ambling about without any sense in your 

head. So stupid that even though you 

realize that a woman is afraid for herself 

and her child you do not see that if she 

has to go anywhere for any < (Okpewho, 

2003) 

In several other instances, Toje does not 

relent in making Odiborealise his 

worthlessness. In addition to the insults he 

constantly rains on Odibo, Toje has no qualms 

about issuing Odibo with threats of taking 

away Odibo’s job and his allowances if he ever 

senses that Odibo has intentions of charting his 

own course and his independence: 

If you ever conceive that you can do 

whatever you like I shall have no regrets 

about taking your job and your 

allowances away from you and giving 

them to someone else who would gladly 

listen to my word. You can then go and 

fend for yourself – and God help your one 

hand! (Okpewho, 2003) 

Not only does Toje try to manipulate and 

control those who he considers beneath his 

wealth and status, but also, owing to his wealth 

and influence, he tries to penetrates the 

military, the apparatus of the state, by covertly 

making utterances that indict and undermines 

the works of Major Ali, yet the major continues 

to entertain him because Toje has the power, 

influence and the good will he Major Ali needs 

to make his command at the federal military 

post at Urukpe successful. Though he becomes 

wary of the seemingly good intentions of Toje 

towards Aku and his hatred for her husband, 

Major Ali refuses to act swiftly to rescue the 

woman from the clutches of Toje all because he 

trusts that the man would do nothing of the 

sort to ruin his hard earned integrity. 

Consequently, he stations a military man to 

oversee to the safety of the woman. Yet, the 

irony is that the military man poses more threat 

to Aku and her child because of the hatred he 

harbors for the Simbian tribe Aku hails from 

and his suspicions of the amorous relationship 

between Aku, Odibo and Toje. To register his 

silent protest of his designated job Okumagba 

says: 

Only the consequences of such an action 

deter me from sticking the barrel of my 

gun through the window and blasting the 

brains clean out of that woman and her 

child.  For that is what they deserve, like 

all rebels< But the trouble with this Major 

<the day? (Okpewho, 2003) 

But one of these days my patience would 

be spent. One of these days I’ll find I can 

no longer contain this anger. <myself 

once and for all from this hateful detail. 

(Okpewho, 2003) 

From Okumagba’s reiterations, one 

realizes that Ali’s harmless protection of Aku 

ironically rather exposes her to more danger, 

and his overly trust in Toje’s integrity and his 

seemingly good will towards her blinds him, 

making it impossible to see beyond Toje’s 

intentions. The implication of the author’s use 

of irony is to expose the reality that in war 

times and in general situations of immense 

complexities, no human intentions can be 



LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2) April 2019 

 

 

 120 

overly trusted because even the most innocent 

of suggestions or intentions could be a recipe 

that spells disaster. 

Yet in the midst of all the actions or the 

deeds of the wealthy and powerful 

bourgeoisies symbolized by Toje and 

perpetrated against the proletariat to ensure the 

perpetual subjugation of the lower class 

represented by Aku, Oshivire, Odibo Rukeme 

and Major Ali, the author gives a clear 

indication that there will be a revolt that 

overthrows the powerful as predicted by Karl 

Marx. To demonstrate this possibility, Isidore 

Okpewho relies on his character Agbeyebge 

who is symbolic of the intense tumultuous 

anger boiling up in all oppressed people and 

waiting to explode in the face of the powerful 

capitalist oppressors. In the prison at Iddu is 

Agbeyegbe. a youth full of strength and zeal 

and well educated. Agbeyege appears to know 

and understand the real cause of the struggles 

of the people more than the other prisoners do, 

and in a series of rhetorical questions in his 

address to his fellow inmates, Agbeyegbe 

carefully points out the very elements that form 

the crust of mankind’s struggles: 

You’ve got to try to understand, all of you.  

I do not think you fully appreciate this 

world-wide struggle that some of us are 

carrying out for the benefit of humanity. 

You see this military thing that is 

happening in our country today? It is only 

wasting our time. It can only succeed in 

retarding the cause of the destined 

confrontation, but it cannot stop it. Never! 

< And what is the struggle that I am 

talking about? ... it is <on in the world 

today. (2003) 

In his rhetoric, Agbeyegbe reveals the 

exploitation of the poor, weak and powerless 

by the strong and powerful. By making his 

fellow prisoners aware that the poverty they 

experience is not due to any divine cause, but 

the machinations and orchestrations of the 

powerful minority, he tries to enlighten and 

incite them into purposeful action that will lead 

to a possibility of changing their lives. Even 

though his fellow prisoners comprehend his 

message, they become suspicious of his 

intentions because he easily offers himself to be 

the first to escape since he assumes he 

understands the problem of humanity better 

than they all do. With humor and biting 

sarcasm, the prisoners ridicule Abgeyegba. For 

instance, in response to Agbeye’s question to 

Emeni as to why he never received promotion 

in more than thirty years of his work in the civil 

service, Emeni responds: 

Oh, I was just thinking< You see, I was in 

court every single day of my life, and 

every single day of my life I was bitten by 

at least one jigger, because I had no shoes 

on, so I was always worrying about 

jiggers. And now that I think of it, I think 

the reason I never got promotion after all 

was because I always had jiggers either in 

my mind or in my feet. (2003)  

Indeed, the humor the author uses in the 

speech of Emeni is not in any way to demean 

the seriousness of his message he tries to 

communicate; sarcasm is used to reveal that 

even those who claim to offer help of liberation 

could be as exploitative as the powerful, and 

therefore could not be fully trusted. Yet, within 

Agbeyegbe’s message is a foreshadowing of 

what is to come: the revolt that will displace the 

rich and powerful to a level of equality with the 

subjugates. Again, Agbeyegbe’s harsh words to 

Oshivere concerning the possibility of Aku’s 

infidelity while he is in prison also becomes 

another foreshadowing of the pain Oshivire is 

to experience upon his release from prison. 

Relating this foreshadowing of the overthrow 

of the bourgeoisies to a possible overthrow of 

the mutual works of patriarchy and capitalism, 

it is observed that Okpkewho employs allusion, 

humor and irony. By mocking Toje’s loss of 

sexual potency, Okphewho succeeds in 

dislodging Toje from the table of men to the 



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 121 

table of boys. In this way, Toje does not even 

belong to the class of ‚small men‛ he set for 

men beneath his status like Emuakpor. In Toje’s 

heated exchange with Emuakpor concerning 

the failed treatment of Toje’s veneral disease, 

Emuakpor states: 

Save your tongue, my boy< Let’s put it in 

more direct and proper language. A few 

months ago, you came up to me with a 

veneral disease. You complained of a 

terrible pain, of pus, of malignancies here 

and tumours there. I took a look at you 

and knew you were in a bad way. You 

were honest enough to tell me, on enquiry 

<yet again< (2003) 

Emuakpor’s reference to Toje as ‚boy‛ and 

his reckless use of abusive words on Toje in the 

above extract only proves the triumph 

Emuakpor enjoys over Toje knowing very well 

Toje’s weakness. He teases out information 

until he finally gets the exact knowledge of 

Toje’s flawed manhood after which he 

exclaims: ‚O-ho! You mean to say, your shaft 

has gone limp?‛(Okpewo, 2003). The humor 

with which he makes his exclamation shows he 

celebrates in the knowledge that Toje is no 

longer a man. It is a moment of triumph 

because in the character of Emuakpor, 

Okpewho succeeds in using the same 

patriarchal mentality card Toje uses to 

denigrate men who do not belong to his class to 

reduce him to a level far worse than that which 

he Toje places others. Emuakpor, again, seizes 

the opportunity to exploit Toje by asking him to 

pay twice the amount of money for his second 

treatment. In effect, he pays Toje back in his 

own coin to make him swallow the bitter pill he 

Toje has all along been forcing men beneath his 

status to swallow. Toje bitterly says: ‚I knew 

you would come to that<and I warn you that if 

this is the way you exploit people who come up 

to you like this, you are not going to have a 

good future with this trade‛ (Okpewho, 2003). 

Emuakpor, reflecting much later on his 

dealings with Toje exclaims once again in 

another series of rhetorical questions mixed 

with humorous statements concerning how he 

plans to further reduce Toje to nothingness: 

Was this the omnipotent giant? I feel sorry 

for him<But he has himself to blame for 

whatever happened to him. I have always 

said that money makes a fool of a wise 

man< Yet at his age he should know that 

it was all in his mind and try to relax. But 

he is <hungry days. (Okpewho, 2003) 

Thankfully, Toje falls for Emuakpor 

deception, and in referring to Emuakpor as a 

lame-brained man, he ironically refers to 

himself because with his age, wealth and 

wisdom he allows himself to be exploited and 

deceived. Toje’s suffering in the hands of 

Emuakpor is not the only defeat he experiences. 

His second defeat occurs when both Aku and 

Odibo unite as subjugates in suffering to take 

consolation in each other’s arms against the 

common lord, Toje, who visits suffering and 

shame upon their lives. When wild insatiable 

passion is awoken in Aku by Toje, she gives in 

to Odibo who she senses also has sexual needs 

such as her own: 

For a long time, I had been witness to the 

look of a defeated man that he walked 

about with. But events since yesterday 

evening seem to have thrown a light on 

another side of him, or perhaps an aspect 

that had since lain concealed under what 

<tug of desire? (Okpewho, 2003) 

In a mixture of metaphorical statements 

and rhetorical questions, Aku speaks of the 

hidden desires and passion she senses in Odibo 

and rationalizes why her subjugation and pent 

up emotions become the reason that draws her 

into an unwholesome affair with him. Odibo, 

on the other hand, after his encounter with 

Aku’s womanhood shakes off his cloak of 

defeat and despair upon the realization that he 

is a man after all so long as he is capable of 

satisfying a woman sexually in spite of his 

handicap: 



LANGUAGE CIRCLE: Journal of Language and Literature, 13(2) April 2019 

 

 

 122 

How much does it take to be a man, 

besides knowing that someone takes good 

and healthy notice of your manhood, and 

you can come out and receive the fresh, 

beautiful morning air full in your face 

without fearing that some other man 

would take you to task for it?... any other 

man. (Okpewho, 2003) 

Upon this realization, Toje’s hold on 

Odibo’s mind is broken. Odibo begins to see 

himself as equal to Toje, even better than him 

now that Toje’s manhood is flawed. The 

manhood in Odibo emboldens him to defy Toje. 

Even when Toje finally catches Odibo and Aku 

in an affair, Odibo pulls up a quick defense for 

Aku not so much because he wants to prevent 

Toje from visiting any form of harm on Aku but 

because he wants to spite Toje and prove to him 

that he is no less of a man like him in spite of 

Odibo’s deformity. Odibo engages in a violent 

machete fight with Toje over Aku which nearly 

ends their lives, and in her narration of the 

incident to Major Ali, Aku uses graphic 

imagery to depict the unwholesome fight that 

ensued between the men: 

I only went there to take something. But 

Toje interpreted my presence there 

otherwise, calling me a harlot and 

everything. He tried to hit me, but Odibo 

held his hand<Toje got angry and 

slapped Odibo<Odibo himself got angry 

and they started to... So I ran – ran – 

(Okpewho, 2003)    

The graphic imagery of violence as 

expressed in Aku’s descriptions is an indication 

of the naked anger and the violent revolt the 

oppressed may vent on the oppressor to 

redeem their freedom and image. By fighting 

and wounding Toje, Odibo resists the 

oppressive rule of Toje giving a clear indication 

that he, Toje, is not an invincible or untouchable 

person as he claims.  Oshevire’s release from 

prison after his insistence on maintaining his 

integrity and truthfulness to the end in the face 

of lies and his ability to have swallowed the 

bitter pill of truth concerning the atrocities his 

wife had been subjected to indicates his 

stoicism. Yet his death at the end is symbolic; it 

is a silent reminder and an indication that 

exploitation, if not dealt with will continue to 

plague us in our various societies. 

 

CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, it is realized that the symbiotic 

relationship between capitalism and patriarchy 

militate to denigrate women as stipulated by 

Zillah Eisenstein. Yet, the effect of both on men 

too cannot also be underestimated; it attacks 

the very core of their character and unleashes 

potent psychological damage in its wake. Since 

this research concentrates on the negative 

emotional and psychological experiences of 

both men and women affected by the workings 

of patriarchy and capitalist exploitation, it is 

better for society in general to fight against the 

two devils. It is also recommended that further 

research is done to deal with how differential 

power among men in relation to classism 

affects them in other ways. 

 

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