Title: The Vow
Author: Oyelola Adeola Ogunrinde
Publishers: Fairlight Books UK
Date: November 2023
Reviewer: Edozie Udeze
Oyelola Adeola Ogunrinde has told her story. It is a short tale titled The Vow and was published on Fairlight Books, UK website, November, 2023 edition. Adeola is a literary and culture reporter. She has been able to tell a very subtle and touching story about life in Iseyin. Iseyin is in Oyo State, part of what is traditionally known as the northern part of the state. It is a story of a family where the father, now called Bami, is overbearing. But the narrator, Segi, is not only directing attention of readers to the overwhelming influence of Bami on his wife, Maami, she is also directing attention to other overbearing influences of other members of a family, immediate and extended.
Sule (Bami) was so stupid as to entice Abati (Maami) to abandon her nursing education at the Obafemi Awolowo University to marry him. So love struck was Abati that she consented to Sule’s entreaties. Now left to marry her man, Sule took Abati as a slave wife in his house. The scenario looked like a woman who was held by a love spell or portion. Abati succumbed wholly and foolishly to his love, doing everything stupid to satisfy him. She has no voice of her own. She is full time house wife, dependent on Sule.
Sule is in control, totally so, that Abati’s daughter, Segi, who is the narrator refuses to follow in the footsteps of her mother in terms of falling in love to the point of stupor. The story actually opened with a devastating flood that happened in Iseyin some years back. That year, farmers lost all their crops to the menace of floods. Here, Aunty Suliya, a sister to Sule comes in to beg for financial assistance to buckle up her farming business once more.
Here also, we see farmily love and bond between Sule and his sister Suliya blossoming. Sule obliges her, gives her substantial amount of money to recommence her farming business. It is the other side of Sule which shows the love for the family, for his own blood sister. But on the other side we see Aunty Bunmi, Abati’s sister who is in the USA and who visits often. She is seen challenging the sister to sit up or abandon the marriage completely.
Adeola as a writer manages to balance the influences from both sides of marriage. Sule’s people are here, so also Abati’s people. It is the sort of scenario usually created in marriages in Africa. It is because it is for both families and their relations. The balancing here shows the level of intelligence and creativity in the story. Anyhow, Abati finally finds her voice when Sule brings in a second wife. But before then, Segi who is already an undergraduate had made it known that marriage is not for slavery or entrapment. As Bami brings in a new wife to the chagrin of the household, Maami suddenly and boldly finds her voice. Now the cookies have crumbled. The Vow is chattered. Maami immediately comes out of her shell. It is time for her to move forward, to assert herself and regain her freedom.
The story has a little twist to it. Maami and Segi in a swift and surprising way plan ahead of Bami and his new wife. Adeola explains it thus: “The first time I realized Maami had her own voice, could make her own decisions without help of my father, was the day Bami brought home a second wife and Maami kicked against it with such vehemence that surprised me…” But then also Aunty Bunmi is a problem solver here. Hear what she tells Segi. “Never follow in your mother’s footsteps because it is dangerous for a woman to depend solely, entirely on a man”.
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Segi now says to her mother. “Maami, I don’t want to be like you o. Learning how to cook is not a criteria for finding a good man to marry”. But the bubble actually burst when both mother and daughter secured their visas to the USA without the knowledge of Bami. This is where and how the combined powers and intrigues of women come into play in a very remarkable way. The writer describes it so: “On the plane, after Maami and I were checked into Muritala Muhammed International Airport, when the flight was about to take off, Maami was happy, happy not because we were going to America to start all over again. But it was because we left without telling Bami goodbye. For the first time after many years of marriage, Maami made a decision without the help of Bam’s voice. Maami realized that night that she had found her voice again.”
And indeed that put a final break to The Vow and the story brings out the underlying consequences of suppressing a woman in marriage and using money to buy her over and ensuring she keeps a low life style where the man controls her whole being. It is a remarkable lesson. The language is precise. It connotes the symbolism of an African matrimony being gradually eroded by Western influence. It is also a short story that can be developed further into a full blown novel. It is good that the narrative technique is clear and simple, with a few twists and suspense here and there. The setting shows a rural area where such a story can truly be made to resonate and subsist.