WAEC Literature in English 2019 Theory — Question 24

Model answer

Points to develop: Statement of the theme; Definition of rhetorical question; Appeal to the senses; Appeal to emotion; General effects of the various appeals. The poem 'Vanity' by Birago Diop draws from rhetorical questions to drive home the intended points. The poem is about the abandonment of traditional ways by the African elites and how this has led to their many woes in the present dispensation. This in no doubt reflects in their disregard for their traditional and cultural practices and how they have become the laughing stock of the Western world for doing so. Africans are dubbed as lacking identity and origin and having no history. The poet laments the sorry state of African elites. Rhetorical question is a question that requires no answer. It is asked for emphasis and rhetorical effects, to evoke pity, to pass across an important piece of information, to work on people's emotion, stir them to action and create in them an awareness of what they are not aware of. It is also a form of suspense. The use of rhetorical questions in the poem appeals to the senses in several ways: 'Who indeed will hear them without laughter?' This use of rhetorical question appeals to the sense of hearing. The rhetorical question above heightens the shame of educated Africans who have abandoned their cultures and who have become laughing stocks of the Western world. The poet asks further: 'What eyes will watch our large mouths / Shaped by the laughter of big children / What eyes will watch our large mouths?' These reveal the ludicrous situation of educated Africans. Their lamentations and comments about the discrimination and oppression by the Western world where they run for refuge are baseless. They are the causes of their own plights and sufferings. So, their complaints and reactions are empty and are compared to 'the laughter of big children'. 'What eyes will watch our large mouths' if we don't return to our cultural practices and shun baseless cries and complaints? The plights of African elites are also revealed in the rhetorical questions that echo their emotional appeals thus: 'What heart will listen to our clamouring? What ear to our pitiful anger Which grows in us like a tumour In the black depth of our plaintive throats?' Unfortunately, the emotional appeals of the oppressed, maligned, discriminated and marginalized African elites will not produce any positive results. Their complaints are in vain, their 'anger' funny and baseless and their 'clamouring' ineffective. Therefore, it becomes pertinent for the African elites to return to their cultural practices, appreciate what it means to be African. They should value their custom, aesthetics and philosophies and like a prodigal son, return mentally, emotionally and physically to their ancestral ways. This will bring the desired change and give a good image of Africans to the world.