WAEC Literature in English 2025 Theory — Question 4

Model answer

The novel's themes include xenophobia, bad governance, Pan-Africanism, love and religious fundamentalism, and there is much situational irony. It is ironic that Mama Orojo is busy looking for Nii in Ghana while Nii is actually in Ghana searching for her; and while Mama Orojo expects to marry Tom Monday, she instead marries Joe Boye, an illegal gold miner. It is also ironic that Nigeria, considered home by Nii, is where he is treated as an alien, even though Ghanaians respond emotively to the ill-treatment of their nationals in Nigeria; the Ghanaian press does not report similar discrimination or ill-treatment of Nigerians in Ghana. There is also situational irony that Nii and Aaron, taking refuge from immigration officials' harassment in a house belonging to Mama Orojo, do not realise it, and that Paleo, who denies Nii his rights, would have his own child saved by Mama, Nii's sister. Another instance: while aliens in Ghana were repatriated from Ghana fifteen years ago, the same anti-alien policy is later replicated in Nigeria when Nii travels there, even though Ghana's new government hoped to improve living standards through revolution but the economy worsens instead.