Introduction
The Healer is a novel that was written by Ayi Lwei Armah, which starts with the brutal murder of Appie, who is the prince of Esuano in the story. His mother, Araba Jesiwa, who happens to go missing after the attack, there is also speculation that she is dead. Densu, who is the protagonist, is also involved in the brutal murder that opens the novel. The novel tends to flashback to the period just before to the murder, the festival season of the chosen-year ceremonial games of competition in the town of Esuano. It is Densu along with his age-group that is passing the manhood stage that is competing in the various athletic and mental skills. Taking root back in the past, the novel reveals that these games were considered cooperative rituals of wholeness.
Nevertheless, in the current state, when the novel was written, these games had gained popularity, and they received emphasis on people’s competition, which Densu, the protagonist believes that it plays a focal point in promoting fragmentation and division. Densu is believed to be a person who dislikes aimless and disruptive conflict, and he happens to participate in the game reluctantly. Appie is declared the winner of the game. The novel ends by dancing in a traditional dance, which tends to leave all of the white people dumbfounded and unable to act, thus creates the end of the novel opening to interpretation and the future uncertain. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to discuss in detail the various themes and character that is deployed in The Healer.
Theme: Healing, Character Damfo
In the novel The Healer, the author develops the theme of healing as a trope that tends to represent the mending of the cracked human body and as the aptitude of the group that forms a collective central subject of the novel. The specific characters who present the view of healing as a theme in the novel are Damfo and Densu. The setting of the novel is what currently known as Ghana, which reveals that the critical principle of the novel is based on the legitimacy of rule. The novel plays a focal point in admitting that the British colonial efforts to take control of what they called back then the Gold Coast are fabricated with the innate African outmoded imperial system of the Asante Empire. The author regards this theme since it is one of the remarkable themes that is demonstrated in the novel. Damfo is a character that is deployed in the novel to portray the modern doctor and psychological consultant. Damfo is a character that reflects the care for the people in the novel. Technically, Damfo is depicted in the novel to ensure that he is restoring who is suffering from psychological and physical impairment. Damfo is an individual who is fighting for the unified community for black people with respect to kinship. The author deploys a therapeutic technique to describe Damfo, given that he was a healer.
Additionally, the author implements narrative techniques to illustrate the theme of healing in the novel. Damfo and the idea of healing relationships in the novel given that Damfo being a healer who ensures that he saves people who are suffering from psychological and physical problems, plays a critical role in ensuring that the theme of healing is presented effectively in the novel. For instance, Damfo says, “Send me words of eloquence.” Revealing that he is patient since he believed that patience was the cure for the African power that had been subjected to greed and deception.
Theme: Women and Femininity; Character: Araba Jessiwa
In the novel, the author develops the theme of women and femininity in a positive and healthy point of view, even when they are completing even small tasks. This theme is produced in the novel via the development in his portraiture of women, which is from the controlling forces that exist behind the successful or not so successful male protagonist, to women protagonist in charge of her affairs. The author presents the image of the women in the novel in two primary forms. The first one is a strong character, but with a negative attitude. On the other hand, the second form of the image that is portrayed in the novel is strong women, but self-reliant and able to offer support and a kind of refuge for their male heroes, especially when they are under pressure. However, the author does not deploy specific characters in the novel to present this ideology. Araba Jessiwa is courageous since, at the end of the novel, she decides to confess that it is was Ababio who was behind the death of Appia. The author deploys symbolism as a literary technique to present the difficulties and possible results that might be encountered when someone stands for the truth. After she holds and ay the reality that it is Ababio who was behind the death of Appia, she supposedly murdered as well. Even though the role of women and femininity is given a priority in the novel, the character does not relate to the theme provided that his role in the novel is only loosely described in the novel. Therefore, it remains very had to compare this character since her role in the novel is not critically analyzed in the novel as the theme of women and femininity is given in the entire novel.
Theme: Men and Muscularity; Character: Densu
There is a negative portrayal of men and muscularity in the novel. Still, it remains noted one common theme is that normative hegemonic masculinities limits and restrains the potential of the growth of the male character. Therefore, the author gives a negative view towards this theme, and it is believed that it is via this portrayal that a male identity in the African society is given a negative image, specifically in Ghana. The author uses Densu as a specific character that ascribes the theme of men and masculinity. By throwing as the vital lens on the male protagonist in the novel as gendered tends to subjects and examines the impact that contributes to their subjectivity in the novel. Densu is the main character of the novel, and his personal characteristics include accurateness, careful, and a keen role who does not just do things from assumptions. The author deploys the hero archetype technique to describe Densu in the novel. The motive of the author is to demonstrate how Densu tends to overcome the obstacle and achieve his goals of becoming a healer even though he is a prince. The character that Densu is assigned in the novel tends to relate to the theme of men and masculinity given that Densu tends to portray the role of men in the modern society where he fights and ensures that he achieves his goals even though he is involved in various obstacles such as manipulation by Ababio. I am unable to relate Densu’s character in any way given that the novel takes roots back in the 19-century and his role as is negatively portrayed in the novel, which is not an actual image of the modern men. In contemporary society, men are regarded as the head of the family and have to fight to ensure that they achieve their goals in the future to take care of their families. Therefore, the negative image that is given to Densu makes it has to relate him.
Theme: Inspiration and Manipulation; Character: Ababio
Ababio, as a specific character which ensures that this theme is illustrated in the novel, develops the idea of inspiration and manipulation in the novel. The author develops this theme when Ababio tends to offer Densu conform so that he can use him along with his talent and resourcefulness, court power to serve him, and the white men. In Densu’s point of view, tend to perceive Ababio as a betrayer and a predatory user of the people. Ababio’s personal traits include greed, fraud, and self-centered. However, the critical individual character of Ababio is evil. Ababio has a positive view on the theme of inspiration and manipulation, given that he is the principal character who tends to demonstrate this theme in the entire novel. The author deploys ploys for power technique to describe Ababio’s character in the novel; it is via this point of view that Densu is suspected as a killer of Appia. The theme of inspiration and manipulation and Ababio as a character relate to the historical figure of the message that is depicted in the novel since Ababio uses his devilish personality to fight for power so that he can inspire the people of African descent even the local kingship. In the story, it has remained noted that Ababio is hoping to be the de facto ruler, with the help of Densu as a figurehead. Technically, this is one of the remarkable forces that is faced with Densu, who aspires to be a healer. For instance, Ababio says, “If we do not help the whites, we shall be left by the roadside. And if we are such fools as to stand against the whites, they will grind us till we become less than impotent, less than grains of bad snuff tossing in a storm.” This reveals that he is hiding behind white dominance so that he can seek and attain the power, but his motives are hatred.