Even though Soyinka tries to warn people away from a pure clash of cultures reading of Death and the King's Horseman with his preface, it's hard not to focus on the confrontations between the British and the Yoruba in here. After all, misunderstandings and cultural differences drive all the major plot points, and are at the heart of the British administrators' motives.
The British seem to have the lion's share of the power in the area, and they just don't understand the values and customs of the Yoruba who live there—which is a big problem. And the Yoruba, for their part, seem to feel pretty consistently bombarded with British ideals, which is definitely the case on the day the play is set. So despite Soyinka's warning, the story's constant preoccupation with foreignness and cultural conflict means that, well, we're going to talk about it anyway.
Questions About Foreignness and 'The Other'
- Jane asks Olunde a lot of questions, but do you think she ever really gets a better understanding of his motivations and culture?
- What about Simon—is there any progress for him?
- Do you think Elesin and his community's values have been influenced or even tainted by foreign influence? Why or why not, and how do we know?
- The play includes a couple of characters (like Josepha and Amusa) who have converted from the Yoruba religion and work as employees of the British administrators. What is their specific role in the story? Why are they there, and what is their importance in terms of storytelling?
Chew on This
The great tragedy of the play is not Elesin's failure—nope, it's the fact that the British and the Yoruba make absolutely zero progress in understanding each other's cultures.
Amusa and Joseph are in the play to portray the beginnings of assimilation to British cultural norms among the Yoruba—and the limitations of the Yoruba's ability to assimilate.