Title: The Fishermen
Author: Chigozie Obioma
Reviewer: Kehinde Soetan
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Year: April 2015
Pages: 304
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 978-0-316-33837-0
The novel The Fishermen is a story that revolves around four brothers whose early lives and stories are dated back to the early 90’s. The boys are from middle-class families. Then in Nigeria, you could differentiate a middle-class family from a lower-class family with their level of education and exposure to the western culture. The story was written during the military era in Nigeria- a period when leaders were full-fledged dictators. The author exposes the reader to the system of government in Nigeria where the corrupt leaders don’t serve their citizens but dictatorially rule the people. The author put a fusion of history to his imaginative works to make it a perfect work. The four brothers took the advantage of their father’s absence to begin their adventure as fishermen at Omi Ala River. The river, from the author’s desk, is portrayed as a forbidden river.
The dwellers believe the river has brought in so many misfortunes than good and this prompted the government to restrict movement within the location. People must not be seen around the vicinity from 6pm to 6am. On one of their fishing adventures, they encounter Abulu, a well-known mad man in the neighbourhood. Abulu’s insanity is of two kinds: the ordinary madness, where he wanders about naked and the second kind as described by Obioma is the insanity realm where he is known as a soothsayer. He predicts bad and good things. Things that would happen in the future.
The brothers’ encounter with Abulu at Omi Ala set apart the bond they share together. Abulu’s prophecy about Ikenna, the first child, makes him believe one of his brothers would kill him. Gradually, he turns against his last two brothers, Obembe and Benjamin and finally turns against Boja, his immediate younger brother. He begins to act weird at home. He is really dangerous and this makes the narrator at first describe him as a python and later affirms that he is a sparrow – he is weak and can’t design his fate. He makes Abulu’s prophecy design his fate for him.
Fate, in African culture, has been portrayed as a sacred thing. Fate in African culture does not only reflect on people and their gods, it also reflects in African Literature. Fate implies an inevitable and usually an adverse outcome. In the novel, fate made Ikenna’s father to be transferred to another part of the country. Fate shipped in the brothers’ encounter with Abulu, the mad man. Fate shook Ikenna down as he separated himself from his brothers. Obioma reveals the life of four brothers that bond really well. These brothers show the depth of love they have for each other. When Ikenna had the chance to travel to Canada, he begged Boja to bury his international passport in the well. He did. And they were glad; at last, Ikenna is not travelling out of the country without them. This is the life they shared as brothers before Abulu disrupted the joy, separated their bonds with his prophecy.
In the novel, the author reveals the influence of the spiritual forces on man. Obioma uses Abulu, the mad man to predict the end of Ikenna. Many people believe mad people are not ordinary in African culture. They believe this set of people serve as an interface between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. They see what normal human beings would never see. In the novel, Obioma left us with the question, how do you respond to the disastrous prophecy unleashed on you by the gods? Do you answer by faith or you dance to the tune of fate? Apart from displaying the effect of the spiritual forces on humanities, Obioma believes you only ridicule yourself when you allow the bad things you hear from the spiritual forces decide the future for you.
These actions can be portrayed when Ikenna’s brothers and his mother try to convince him from believing what the mad man says to him. His mother in her words told Ikenna that he had taken the words the mad man had said to him. She believes the cause of Ikenna’s misbehaviour at home is because he has already believed his brothers will kill him. Nothing matters when spiritual forces predict your future. But, it becomes a big thing when you make such predictions about your fate. The author gives more power to himself. The narrator could only narrate what he feels about every action. The story deeply reflects on the characterisation and the way the authors carved their end. So much power is given to the author to decide on the end of every character and this opens different flashes of suspense in the novel. I thought Ikenna’s end would be the end of the novel until another character comes up.
Fate and faith are two different entities. Fate comes when you believe whatever happens to you has been preordained and cannot be changed. Ikenna believed Abulu’s prophecy and accepted his fate. He begins to let those prophecies derail his agility and makes him weak. He locks up his heart even his brothers and mother smuggled faith to his way. Ikenna has forgotten that “fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like”.
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Kehinde Soetan is a final year student of the Department of English, University of Ibadan. Kehinde, as a student, was once a member of AFAS Press Organisation where she began her journey as a writer. She has written a few reviews on music. Apart from writing and reading, she has also sharpened her interest in Literature, music, art and someday, she hopes to be an author.
