27 pages • 54 minutes read
Ovo AdaghaThe Plantation
Ovo AdaghaFiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Foreshadowing
From the beginning, it is clear that Namidi’s discovery will lead to destruction and death. This foreshadowing is primarily conveyed through the thoughts and questions of Mama Efe, who is the first to ask if an explosion is the likely consequence of Namidi’s plan to gather gas. She asks about fire, while simultaneously imagining the people “writhing in flames” and seeing “grotesque-looking figures being planted in the ground” (79). After Namidi assures her that his quest will be successful, Mama Efe thinks to herself that “this thing is a ghoulish business and will come to no good” (80). At each point that Mama Efe’s thoughts are described, she thinks either that the plan to gather gas will result in death or that Namidi will ruin them with his rigidness.
Personification and Zoomorphism
“The Plantation” focuses on nature and the conflict between the natural and human worlds. As a result, the narrative often gives human characteristics to nonhuman or inanimate objects, and animal attributes to humans. In describing the fires and explosions at the end of the story as Ochuko runs back to his father’s hut, the narrator says, “[T]he demons picked up pace, screaming and gathering behind him in a swift veil of smoke and blackness” (84). These demons and their screams are fearful and, to Ochuko, seem like creatures out of hell who chase him. But these demons are the fires and explosions that result from his father’s quest to escape poverty and the stultifying boredom of the village. This strategy of personifying the fire into figures of evil parallels the story's use of zoomorphism in comparing the humans at the plantation to animals seeking sustenance.
Alliteration
The story features descriptions of sounds, from the leaking gasoline of the pipeline to the calls of birds, to the final booms of the explosion at the plantation. The richness of these sounds is conveyed throughout “The Plantation” through the alliteration that appears frequently. In the beginning, when Namidi first notices the smell of gasoline, his perception is made more powerful by the alliteration of the description. “Namidi’s nostrils picked up an odd, sickly smell that set his stomach on edge as he moved around” (76). The repetition of words beginning with the same initial consonants creates a striking image as the smells in the plantation are described.
Toward the end of the narrative, this alliteration is again important, as the din of the plantation is made clear by the alliteration in the descriptions of the battles between villagers. The narrator states that they “giggled with glee at the sound of high-pitched voices drawn tight with tension […] as here and there a woman lost her footing, and rolled in a heap in the slimy soil” (83). The noise in this scene is audible in the pairing of consonants, from the giggling with glee to the slimy soil.
Omniscient Narrator
The omniscient narrator of “The Plantation” can report the inner thoughts, feelings, and emotions of each of the characters. In explaining Namidi’s plan and his motivation, the narrator shares that Namidi “had wandered and waited in the plantation for a chance to redeem himself from the poverty that had beset his adult life” (78). His decision to keep the secret of the gasoline leak to himself is known because the narrator is all-knowing and can share that with the reader. At the same time, Mama Efe’s thoughts and feelings about the plan are known, because the narrator is omniscient. The reader hears “how stubborn her husband could be” and “all the ruin his rigidness had cast upon them” (81).
Unlock all 27 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: