The British in Death and the King's Horseman definitely think the Yoruba have cornered the market on primitive behavior, but characters like Olunde beg to differ: In their view, the British exhibit their fair share of primitive behaviors and customs. Of course, there seem to be different definitions of primitive at play in the Yoruban and British communities. In Olunde's view, things like total war are barbaric, whereas it seems that the British just find anything they don't understand to be "savage." But guess what? People from both groups don't like being called savage or barbaric. Go figure.
Questions About Primitiveness
- We understand the British and Yoruban views of savagery/barbarism, but what position does the text as a whole take on the issue?
- What is truly barbaric, and how do we know?
- What do the characters' views of barbarism/savagery tell us about them?
- Do you think that the British characters' perspective on the Yoruba's barbarism shift or evolve at all? Why or why not, and how do we know?
Chew on This
By having Elesin commit suicide at the end—not through ritual sacrifice, but as a desperate action after seeing his son's body—Soyinka shows that the real barbarians are the British, who drove him to that action.
Jane and Simon make absolutely zero movement toward understanding Yoruba culture any better. To do so would be to undermine their ability to enjoy their lives as they lead them—they need to reduce the Yoruba to barbarians in order to be comfortable oppressing them.