2. ORAL TRADITIONS
Content and form of African works are different from Western
ones in the sense that African writers use oral traditional technique in their
writings to express their double inheritance. This may be the reason why Locha
Lateso (1986: 346) writes: «Le romancier (africain) réactive un
discours chargé de la sagesse ancestrale et l'adopte au contexte
moderne». In this respect, we think it is fair enough to find out
orature characteristics in The Slave Girl.
Amongst different features of African rhetorical arts, few of
them will be selected to illustrate our point: proverbs and songs.
2.1. Proverbs
Proverbs tend to have meanings that are true both literally
and figuratively. As a matter of fact, Mulyumba wa Mamba, cited by Jacques Fame
Dongo (1985: 27) defines a proverb as follows:
«Le proverbe est un énoncé, une
proposition ou un groupe de propositions concis et fort condensés
renfermant une sagesse populaire et tirant son origine de l'expérience
empirique des sages de la société.»
Mieder (1993: 24) gives the following definition:
"A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the
folk which contains wisdom, truth, moral, and traditional views in a
metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from
generation to generation.»
In Africa, wisdom which characterizes discourses is embedded
in proverbs. Actually, no difference is made between proverbs, paraboles,
sayings to mention only a few. In this study, all these rhetorical features are
called proverbs. In many cases, abstract ideas are expressed through these
linguistic means to let people guess the actual meaning. Speaking of the role
of proverbs, Chinua Achebe (1986: 6) asserts: "The proverb is a palm with
which words are eaten." In clear, this assertion explains that in Africa
conversations are full of proverbs.
Similarly, Isidore Okpewho (1992:226) affirms:
«Every proverb must have started its life as the
product of the genius of an individual oral artist. But it becomes appropriated
by the people at large because it contains a truth about life by them and
appeals to their imagination by the neatness and beauty in which it has been
framed.»
Like many African cultures, proverbs play an important role in
expressions within the Nigerian community. Proverbs tell much about people's
traditional way. This is certainly the reason why Buchi Emecheta uses them in
The Slave Girl. In this novel, proverbs are used by characters for a
variety of purposes. They are first of all used as a way of saying something in
a veiled way in order to attract interlocutors. In other terms, they are
utilized to convey a precised moral lesson as exemplified in the quotation
below:
If you did not help your neighbour in such situation, the
day the same trouble befell you, people would turn a blind eye rather than
earlier assistance. (Buchi Emecheta, 1977: 59)
Actually, this passage explains African solidarity between
surrounding neighbours. To be clearer, this proverb implies the necessity to
help people when they are in trouble. This refers to the African social aspect
determining that one must help each other.
Sometimes, proverbs are used to support the locutor's position
when discussing. In that case, a weak person is able to enlist the tradition of
the ancestors to back up his position. So in one passage in The Slave Girl,
the narrator reports Pa Palagada's words throughout this proverb:
«Nevertheless Pa Palagada knew the Ibo saying that we
speak the truth when you are drunk, or when you say you joke" (Buchi
Emecheta, 1977: 122).
Proverbs can also be used to educate people because their
messages are often linked to the character's behaviour so as to learn the best
manners to live in society. Wanting to know why the white wants to stay in
Ibuza and fights Ibuza people, Ukwuekwu replies by a proverb to support his
idea:
"But is it not a wicked man who would fight someone who is
knocking at the gates of death?» (Buchi Emecheta, 1977:15)
What is interesting to note from this proverb is its
linguistic structure. This proverb is expressed by a rhetorical question to
allow the interlocutors be implicitly aware of wrongdoing towards other people.
The use of these proverbs in a literary work may have a didactic purpose.
Attentive readers will manage to discover all the intended moral lesson behind
this piece of discourse.
Additionally, the use of proverbs is not fortuitous. They take
into account the situation in which the man faces in order to establish the
real match of facts. In that case, they are pulled out by characters in The
Slave Girl to simply transmit a moral lesson. Arriving soon at Onitsha
with Ojebeta, Okolie has conversation with Ma Palagada. To be more hospitable,
she thinks that the first thing to do is to give them food. As a case of
matters, she tells it through this proverb:
Ma Palagada also knew that Okolie was hungry and, since a
hungry man was an angry man, that was the first thing to rectify. (Buchi
emecheta, 1977: 65)
Actually, this passage is a popular proverb. It is used here
to welcome visitors. What we can note from it is that the sentence is written
in indirect speech, implying eventually the narrator's point of view, and its
structure is declarative.
Moreover, proverbs are used in The Slave Girl to
direct an individual in relation with other people. So, the following passage
is very illustrative:
She remembered a saying of the people of Ibuza, where her
mother had come from, that if you cooked dinner for the crowd, the crowd would
finish it and even ask for more, but if the crowd should decide to cook for
you, an individual, you could never finish it. (Buchi Emecheta, 1977:
133)
The above proverb implies the African communion in the sense
that it teaches current readers to work together instead of working alone.
Through it, Buchi Emecheta implicitly condemns the fate reserved to
housemaids.
Proverbs are also used to sum up the situation, an action or
an idea in a single stroke loaded with wisdom. They are mingled in everyday
conversations to illustrate or emphasize the message. The good but excellent
illustration is observed in the passage bellow:
There was a saying in Ibuza, that those who have people
are wealthier than those with money. (Buchi Emecheta, 1977: 151)
Actually, the above utterances are used to mean that people
are very important than wealth or money. Indeed the structure of this sentence
is well- built and complex because it is composed of noun phrases, verb phrases
and embedded lexical item 'that'. We notice also the comparison led in
superlative '...are wealthier than...'.
The supply of Ibo proverbs is so abounding that it is not
possible to understand the real meaning of a conversation without getting the
proverb. Accordingly, Doob (1958:28) describes its function in the Ibo
traditional life in declaring as follows:
Dans un débat la victoire revient à celui
qui est le plus habile à citer les proverbes. Les Ibo respectent, celui
qui sait parler de façon convaincante. Comme le sel relève la
main les proverbes précisent avec propos les faits.
At last, proverbs are used to express natural believes or
realities. So, the following example illustrates this point quite well:
"Those who are born to survive will always survive" (Buchi Emecheta,
1977:42). In clear, this proverb means that death and life depends on God,
whatever problems human beings are victim of. Besides, this passage is
expressed in direct speech and conjugated in the present and the future tense.
The function of this tense implies here a wish.
Broadly speaking, we can say that the use of proverbs, in many
parts of the world, is a mark of being a good orator. Its primary role is
really to educate, to advise, and to bring wisdom to people. In short, the use
of proverbs constitutes to the most authentic africanisation of texts.
Apart from proverbs, songs are also our main concern in this
section.
| 
