Wole Soyinka - The Strong Breeda complex website about the author
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the play.
2. What is the setting (time and place)?
3. Characterize Eman and his position within the community he lives in.
4. Describe his relationship to Sunma. Why does she insist on his leaving? What atmospehere is created at the beginning of the play?
5. What function do the girl and the idiot boy Ifada have in the text? What do their actions tell us about the future events that will follow?
6.What is the purpose of the ritual that is performed on the last day of the year? Who is a ‘carrier’? Why is Ifada crucial for the ritual’s performance?
7. What is the position of Jaguna and Oroge? What are they responsible for?
8. How does Eman’s position change throughout the play? What does he offer to do? Why?
9. Describe Eman’s hallucinations. What is their purpose? Why are the things he sees important for him?
10.What is the symbolical meaning of the effigy?
11. What does the community’s reaction to Eman’s death imply? Do they seem to reconsider the meaning of their traditions? Are all the traditions / taboos kept or are there any situations when they are broken?
12.Does the Yoruba concept of purification and sacrifice have any parallel in European system of belief?
