An Ecocritical Reading of Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel

Abstract

Ecocriticism can be defined as a pro-environmental perspective that critically examines the production of nature and the politics that underpin its development. It promotes the idea that how nature is treated and nurtured and how she is becoming a part of current environmental discourses will be mirrored in cultural objects. The schoolteacher Lacunle's aversive attitude about paying the cash meant for the possession of the bride in Soyinka's The Lion, and the Jewel is a reflection of how 'nature' is conceptually assimilated within Western thought; in this context, Sidi, the local girl, is the bride whom Lacunle woos. Sidi can also be seen in contrast to the natural world. Imperialist forces always saw the locals as a part of nature — uneducated and unrefined primal savages who were supposed to be civilized by European norms. Sidi, who was always ready to take pride in her originality, found the same act of shouldering the 'European load' undertaken by Lacunle and his persuasions to conform to the behavioural norms of modernity to be a dreadful thing. In short, the Ecocritical perspective on the play is realized in this article at the levels of Ecofeminism, Deep Ecology, and Eco Spiritualism.