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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Title Page
Certification
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 
Background to the study
African Belief System and Myth
The Yoruba Perception of Myth
The Purpose and Significance of Study
Aims and Objectives
Methodology
Scope of Study
Playwrights Autobiography

LITERATURE REVIEW 
Concept and Nature of Myth
The Influence of Mythology on African Creative Writers
Essence and Function of Mythology in the African Society

ELEMENTS OF MYTH IN AMOS TUTUOLA 

THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD

TRADITIONAL AFRICAN SOCIETAL OVERVIEWS 

SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

WORK CITED
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ABSTRACT

This paper explores the Amos Tutuola’s Palm Wine Drinkard in terms of its use of mythological
icons. In particular, the paper seeks to explore the novel as an important artifact and a literary
product of social existence. It examines how “authencity” is signified in The Palm Wine
Drinkard as it is written by a native artist. In doing so, the paper seek to demonstrate that it is an
ambivalence over the value and significance of The Palm Wine Drinkard. Instability is also
provoked and acute cultural anxiety is shown in the work of a “natural artist” such as Amos
Tutuola in this case. 
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1. INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

Mythology is a collection of traditional stories that express the belief of values of a group of

people. The stories often focus on human qualities such as good and evil. Myths often tell the

story of ancestors, supernatural beings, heroes, gods, or goddesses with special powers

sometimes myths try to describe aspects of customs or explain natural events such as the sun or

lightning. These stories sometimes contain mythical characters such as mermaids, unicorn, or

dragons. All cultures have some type of myths for example; the classical mythology of the

ancient Greeks and Romans is familiar to most people. The stories of nature American people are

also well known. The same myths can often be found in different part of the world. For example

creation stories related to plants, animals and people are common among many cultures.

The study of myth is called mythology and myth belongs to the sphere of will. It does not have a

single form or act according to the simple set of rules, either from epoch or from culture to

culture. Most mythical stories concern divinities (divine beings). These divinities have

supernatural powers, powers far greater than any humans beings have. But, in spite of their

supernatural powers, many gods, goddesses, and heroes of mythology have human

characteristics. A number of mythical figures even look like human being and in many cases; the

human qualities of the divinities reflect society idea. Good gods and goddesses have the qualities

a society admires and evil ones have the qualities the society dislikes.

An old theory, and myth that has enjoyed considerable vogue, holds that myth is oral narratives

which explain the essences and sequences of ritual performances, thereby preserving the memory
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of these elements for posterity such that myth is second to rituals, in terms of evolution. Myth is

usually divided into two groups, the creation and explanatory myths. Creation myths try to

explain the origin of the world, the creation of human beings and the birth of gods and goddesses

and this type of myth is developed by the early societies.

Myth hides nothing and flaunts nothing: it distorts; it is neither a lie nor a confession; it is an

influxion.

African Belief System and Myth

A wide variety of mythologies have developed among many people that live in Africa; and some

of these mythologies are simple and primitive while others are elaborate and complex. African

mythology is a living chronicle in the minds of people. Myth expresses the history, culture and

the experience of the African man and it portrays his wishes and the fears as he gropes to

understand the unknown by disserting and remolding it to fit his frame of reference. In the study

of myth, the African’s metaphysics is created and his beliefs are constructed. African mythology

as every other form of African conceptual pattern, emphasise human interaction in life itself. It,

thus, explains the context of various African cultures and norms though spiritual communication

which often occurs in African myth as a means to uplift the living from the sorrows of their

entanglements in the ‘here and now’ philosophy. A myth is created to enhance this and this is

done through reincarnation.

Perhaps the best known African mythologies are those of the West African Ashanti, fon, and

Yoruba people. Nyame is the Ashanti sky and fertility god, the rain source for his wife Arase ya,

the earth itself. It is the culture hero trickster Aranse the spider who acts as the god’s connection
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to human beings. Essentially, Arranse corrects the mistakes of Nyame’s creation, convincing the

god to send rain to counteract the extreme heat of the new sun, and river and ocean banks to

contain the water that would otherwise have flooded the world. Aranse also lives up to his

trickster reputation by succeeding in marrying the high god’s daughter.

Among the fon the supreme deity is Nana Buluku, his twin children Mahu and Lisa – female and

male, earth and sky, fertility and venality establish balance in the world. Their son, Dan,

maintain life by controlling the deities who embody aspect of nature.

The Yoruba sky god is the aloof Olorun, who load children by the primordial waters, Olokun.

These were Obatala of the sky and Odudua of the earth. Some their union came dry and wet trail,

which produced Orungan, who made live to his mother, producing the later Yoruba pantheon.

The gods of this pantheon represent various phenomena and human activities.

The concept of African mythology is to justify the African wisdom and thus the African scholars

find their creature impetus in myth, history and customs. In the light of this mythical concept,

Africans have been able to find their world in view and have made intellectual attempt to

understand the phenomenon with which they continually live as Africans. The imprint of myth in

the African worldview cannot be obliterated; it educates African about the details of African

cosmological beliefs, their meaning and their origins.

The Yoruba Perception of Myth

The Yoruba cosmogony revolves essentially around the belief in gods, ancestors, spirits and

taboos. For a typical Yoruba man, most of the divinities are supposed to have been men and to

have been exhausted for their heroic deeds to the admiration and effection of the people.
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Therefore he believes that in order to maintain societal status quo, there is need to maintain a

perfect and cordial relationship between himself and the gods, it is this realization that brings

about deification.

The Yoruba society like any other African society comprises mainly of farmers and hunters

whose means of livelihood depends mostly on proceeds from the land and forest. And they being

aware of both physical and natural threats like war, farming drought, flood etc, realize the need

to appease and propitiate the spirits and gods of the land at the appropriate time, for good harvest

fruitful hunting, and protection from their adversaries. In their bid to achieve all these, they

developed festivals and rituals which most of the time involves a symbolic enactment of the life

of some of the gods. The rituals mostly contain sacrifice, which is the acknowledged means of

propitiation and purification.

Sacrifices are made to the gods with things that are peculiar to each of them, ranging from in-

animated to animated things. It is the priest or priestress as the case may be, that heeds in the

ritual act. The people regard the priests and priestesses as representatives of the gods. Modern

African playwrights in their bid to present what can be characterized as a true African drama

dive into the history and background of the people which are manifested in their myth, legend,

folktales, taboos, proverbs, songs etc. They attempt to depict the sociological, religious, political,

economic, cultural and ethical beliefs of the people vis-à-vis their norms and values. One

example of such playwrights is Amos Tutuola, who, making perfect use of his knowledge about

the Yoruba cosmos, wrote The Palm-wine Drinkard.

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Objective of the Study

The main purpose of this study was to explore Amos Tutuola’s Palm Wine Drinkard in terms of

its use of mythological icons. The specific objectives were as follows:

I. To examine the most significant aim of myth based on the element of supernatural and

mysteries as they are done to create fear in bath the minds of the reader.

II. To explore traditional African literature how most of things done are shrouded in

mysterious.

III. To re-examine modern African playwrights and how they rely heavily on these apparatus

to create the desired effects in their text.

IV. To examine how African modern literature attempt to capture the mystic effects of the

traditional literature as it’s relies on costuming which has to correspond with the culture

and belief of the Africans.

Significance of Study

This paper will be of significant to educational planners, curriculum designers and educational

administrators. This paper will be of more significant to students’ of English and literary studies

based on the study of mythology. The Palm-wine Drinkard uses mythology and symbolism to

explore various aspect of death. One definite theme is that death is not an end but a transition.

The drunkard faces death many times and in many ways but lives through the experiences. In

fact, early in the story be pays Death himself a visit and tricks Death into falling into a net, so

that Death cannot go back home again. “So since that day that I had brought Death out from his

house, he has no permanent place to dwell or stay and we are hearing this name about in the

world (Chapter 1, p. 199).

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Methodology

The paper is purely applied study; it is based on an extensive library research of published and

unpublished materials. There is no doubt, however, sharing the same socio- cultural background

with the playwright, the present has a good insight into the study. It is an applied research of

critical examinations of Amos Tutuola’s mythic text.

Scope of Study

This study shall focus on Amos Tutuola myth as depicted in one of his text entitled The Palm-

wine Drinkard the paper shall critically and analytically examined the text base on the topic,

mythological icons in Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-wine Drinkard. To really do justice to this pre-

occupation, the present study shall also adopts a form of comparative study of the text. The study

shall be divided into four sections: section one states the rationale behind the study and it also

spells out the scope, organization and methodology of the study. Section two is review of

relevant literature on nature of Amos Tutuola’s text, whilst in chapter three we shall examine the

mythological element in Tutuola’s work. section four, the last, concludes the study.

Playwrights Autobiography

Amos Tutuola was born 1920, Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was a Nigerian writer. He had only six

years of formal schooling and wrote in English and outside the mainstream of Nigerian literature.

His stories incorporated Yoruba myths and legends into loosely constructed prose epics that

improvised on traditional themes. His best known work is The Palm-wine Drinkard (1952), a

classic quest tale that was the first Nigerian book to achieve international fame.
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

a. Nature and Scope of Myth

Distinguished philosophers and folklorists represent opposite extremes in the study of myth. The

Oxford English Dictionary defines myth “as a purely fictitious narrative usually involving

supernatural persons, action, or events and embodying some popular idea concerning natural or

historical phenomena” myth is a collective term used for one kind of “symbolic communication

and specifically indicates one basic form of religious symbolism as distinguished from symbolic

behaviour (cult, ritual) and symbolic places or objects”. Myths in (plural) are specific account

concerning gods or superhuman beings and extraordinary events or circumstances in a time that

is altogether different from that or ordinary human experience. Myth occurs in the history of all

human traditions and communities and it is a basic constituent of human culture.

Wole Soyinka describes it as “a continuous source of the knowledge needed for critical problems

in man’s existence: war and peace, life and death, truth and falsehood good and evil”. Every

myth presents itself as authoritative and always as an account of fact no matter how completely

different they may be from ordinary world. It is properly distinguished from legend and allegory

but often used vauely to include any narrative having fictitious elements. Rigther Williams in

Myth and Literature, says that myths “are accounts with an absolute authority that is implied

rather than stated; they relates events and states of affair surpassing the ordinary human world,

yet basic to the world”. The time in which the related events take place is altogether different

from the ordinary historical time of human experience. The actors in the narratives are usually

gods or other extra ordinary beings such as animals, plants or specific of real men who changed

human condition with their deeds.

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Frazer in the Golden Bough says that “myths are reenactment in figurative language of events

once acted out in magical ceremonies”. Echero attaches much importance to myth partly because

it gives form and meaning to experience. Myth he argues, gives clear outlines to dramatic action

whose sequence of events is invariably of a deliberate kind” from this talk of a pattern of ordered

events. It is obvious that he is concerned with the Aristotelian unified plot structure, with logical

cause and effect progressive in time.

Butcher also says that:

Myth is the unwritten literature of an early people whose

instinctive language was poetry. It has their philosophy their
history and it is enshrined in both their conscious and unconscious
theories of life. It recorded all they know about their own past,
about their cities, families, the geographical movement of their
tribes and the exploits of their ancestors.

According to G. S. Dirk, myths are of vague and uncertain category and one man’s myth is

another man’s saga, legend or folktale. What we need to decide is the basis upon which the term

myth needs to decide is the basis upon which the term myth can be applied to general consent

and that will entail separating instances for which doing other terms are preparable description.

What remains may turn out to be a class of phenomenon grouped formally, by the possession of

a particular narrative quality to tendency to be experienced on special kinds of occasions rather

than by something essential to the concept of myth itself. One of the theories about myth is that

all myth are about natural phenomenon; that is the sum, the moon, wind and earth. The greatest

exponents of this theory is Max Muller who thought that myth were found through a

misunderstanding of names especially those attached to celestial objects. It may, however, seem

absurd, yet it is obvious that some myths are concerned with such matters. The myth of the sky
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being forcibly separated from the earth, which the world might exist between them, is an

example of nature myth.

Isidore Okpewho in Myth in Africa: A Study Its Aesthetic and Culture Relevance; strongly

objected to the theory that myths are allegories of nature. He proposed that myths should be

considered as characters for customs, institution, or beliefs. By this theory Okpewho meant

something close to explanation in a loose sense but devoid of theoretical qualities what this

theory implies is that in a traditional society every custom and institution tends to be validated or

confirmed by myth which states precedence for it but does not seek to explain it in any logical

sense.

In a typical African society, the natural, social, cultural, biological and spiritual facts are

explained by myth. The function of narration and explanation go together. The beliefs and values

of the society the entrenched in myth thus, it is significant in traditional system of education.

Myth represents an historical inner reality of the people, though that reality is necessarily

revealed in objective correlatives tens that we can recognize.

b. The Influence of Mythology on African Creative Writers

African creative writers have equally felt the urge to utilize this cultural phenomenon and

amongst these writers are Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Ngugi Wa Thiongo,

Olu Obafemi, Niyi Osundare, Isiodore Okpewho, etc. Each writers has a pattern of examining

the African mythology. Amos Tutuola uses myth to explain happenings in everyday life in the

society Soyinka moves from historical contemporaries into myth. In Osofisan’s use of myth and

legend become elastic, transmitted and completely created to suit contemporary events. Amos

Tutuola squeezes myth, legend and history to extract only the tangible aspects as can source his
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own vision. Myth therefore, provides an avenue for illustrating the contradictory aspects of

society, both from the positive and negative perspectives.

c. Essence and Function of Mythology in the African Society

Myth is very essential to human race and it is globally accepted by all cultures. By studying

myth, one can learn how different societies have answered basic questions about the world and

the individual’s place in it. It is through this that people learn how a particular or significant

societal system with its custom and beliefs. The following might be suggested as a simplified not

working typology and mythical functions. The first type is primarily narrative and entertaining;

the second is operative, iterative and validatory and third is speculative and explanatory. That

this typology is schematic is obvious enough, and it is clearly shown in the first type because all

myths are stories which depend heavily on narrative technique for their creation and

preservation. These techniques together with the artists’ creativity cause them to be more

entertaining for any purpose that they are meant for. The second typology, in its own case, is

usually rare because it belongs to the special genre of folktales and legends and it is preserved as

relics of the past.

Mythical stories could be compared on the basis of its generic, genetic, or historical

relationships. Generic relationships among such stories are based on the way people react to

common features in their environment. Genetic relationships is the case whereby a large society

may develop a particular myth then, for some reasons, the society breaks up into several separate

societies, each of which develop its own version of the myth. The last, in the companion of myth,

is the ‘historical relationship’ and this occurs when similar mythical stories develop among

cultures that do not share a common origin. Various myths of different cultures are compared so
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as to discover how cultures differ and how they resemble one another. Myth is very essential to

the human community because it happens to be the invincible foundation of social life and

cultural continuum. It educates the world about the details of various cosmological beliefs, their

meanings and their origin.

3. Elements of Myth in Amos Tutuola The Palm-Wine Drinkard

Traditional African societies have by and large normally been referred to as primitive societies

by the western scholars. Some of the reasons adduced for this biased assertion that indude the

belief that African societies are devoid of complexities and challenges of life due to lack of

western education. But contrary to this erroneous belief is the fact that African, are rich in

complex symbolism and wide scope for the individual to express his own insight and awareness

of human existence. Past and present literary works by African writers shows that the cultural,

political, sociological economic and ethical welfare of the Africans are entrenched in these

systems and beliefs which revolve around myths. Myths occur in the history and traditions of the

African communities, they are the basic constituents upon which it existence is based. They also

act as continuous source of the knowledge needed for actual problems in the people’s day to day

activities, war and peace, life and death, truth and falsehood good and evil.

Among the Yorubas there are various types of myths created to bridge the gap between the early

race and the present generation. Essential there are myths about the creation of earth and all the

living things. There are also myths defining the relationship between the people and the gods,

ancestors and other supernatural beings. Myths are also created to institutionalized events and

issues so as for them to have permanent effect in the people. Virtually all facets of human

endeavouring and linked with one myth or the other. Literarily, myths play important role in

Africa. Most of the past and present African plays and prose brave there root in the antecedent
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myths and ritual performances. African playwright employ the use of myths acts to pass their

message across to their readers. Not only thus, myth acts as embellishments used in bringing out

the desired aesthetic values in the text.

Some African writers have been able to perfectly make use of myth to present their works. Amos

Tutuola is one typical example of these African writers. As a traditionalist, he relies heavily on

myths to creatively present the past deeds and events in his text. In most of his work he vividly

brings into focus the beliefs of the Yorubas as regards their relationship with the gods. He

presents the relationship as one that need almost loyalty and denotion from the people to the

gods.

While exalting the sacred nature of the gods, he also in some of his work portrays them (the

gods) as not being free of fraulities that are known with lesser beings. In The Palm-wine

Drinkard Amos Tutuola present the mortal tendencies in the immortals. He presents the human

sides of the gods, plague with strife, struggling for supremacy. In the text the writer show us that

even though the god possessed supernatural powder that makes man to be subservient to them,

they (the gods) are not free or immune against some of other human vices. The text The Palm-

wine Drinkard is based on the myth of how gods came from somewhere to inhabit the earth with

the people. The Yoruba believe that the gods were ones men who have got deified because of

their past heroic deeds and actions. In death, these men become gods and the people now turn to

them for protection and guidance.

A general overview of the Yoruba cosmogony shows that the gods are attributed with specific

and peculiar deeds. Coupled with this is the placing of the gods in hierarchical order according to

their status and functions. The Yoruba believe that Obatala is the most senior of all the gods.
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This deity is ranked next to the Supreme Being because of the function of moulding human

beings that is attributed to him. They also believe that he has power to shape man’s destiny.

A seldom discussed aspect of cultural anthropology is the metamorphosis of our fairytales and

the imaginative currency of early youth which are passed on through family and social structures

alike. In America, characters like witches, ghosts, and other creatures have their genesis in

Europe, or can be traced even further back to ancient Indo–European cultures of course; Africans

have their own indigenous tales as well. These characters and stones have become so diluted

over the years that they have lost a lot of their original cultural meaning or relevance.

The Palm-wine Drinkard is an African tale in it pure unadulterated form. And it’s not something

we may want to hear before bedtime. Amos Tutuola writes English which lends the narration a

wide–eyed, almost childlike voice, yet in the face of wild, horrific imagery (e.g. armies of dead

babies) the words are unflinching. Tutuola Amos also used folklore in his text. Folklore is the

traditional beliefs, practices, customs, stories, jokes, and songs (etc) of a people, handed down

orally or behaviorally from individual to individual. It is also known as folk life.

Some African writers are greatly influenced by the cultural and traditional system of the

Africans. In their works, attempts are made to project and exalt the customs and beliefs of the

Africans. These writers in their attempt to depict the lives of the people, dive into their past using

myth, folktales, legend etc as guide. Myth is particular acts as a channel through which the past

is being linked with the present. With myth, the writers creatively fashion but the relevance and

usefulness of people’s past events.

Amos Tutuola as an African playwright derives his inspiration from the culture and tradition of

the Africans in Yoruba context. In almost all his works he exalt the virtues and values inherent in
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the people’s beliefs and norms. He emphasizes the use of myth to unravel the mysteries

surrounding customs and traditions of the Africans. Through mythology he is able to dive into

the background of the Yoruba cosmogony thereby bringing out the gesthetic value inherent in it.

He employs the use of mythology to portray the beliefs and relationship of the people with gods

and ancestors. The Yoruba cosmogony is rooted in the belief in gods and other supernatural

being. In a typical Yoruba setting, the gods and supernatural beings are hold in great reverence.

They believe that the gods act as intermediary between them and the Supreme Being. Devices

like rituals sacrifices, rites festivals are the various ways the people employ to get in contact with

the gods.

The Yorubas look up to the gods for guidance, blessing and protection against all natural and

physical threats. The nature and characteristics of these gods are explicit in the people’s

mythology. He emphasizes the supremacy of the gods over human being. In some of his text like

The Palm-wine Drinkard, the Witch Herbalist of the Remote Town and so on, he asserts the

vulnirality of both the gods and the people. The subtitle provides an accurate glimpse into this

strange book, which describes an epic quest with mythic elements drawn from Yoruba folktales.

The hero’s name is “father of gods who could do anything in this world” one day he sets out “to

find out whereabouts was my tapster who had died”. Thus begins a surreal journey through an

African underworld.

What is so vital about The Palm-wine Drinkard is Tutuola;s absolute dedication to the fantastic.

All laws of the probable are flouted and everything is elastic. Details are hasty and sketched and

sentences often end with a blunt “etc”.

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Things are most often described by the elements that mark them out, make them what they are.

For brenty, places and things are named by their description: “The Red People in the Red Town”

or, rather wonderfully, “The Skull as a Complete Gentleman”.

The plot such as it is, follows the eldest of eight children. His “work”, as he puts it, is to drink

palm-wine. He is an expert and drink 225 kegs of it a day. He cannot even drink plain water any

more.

The drunkard is supplied by a tapster who falls fatally from a tree and because nobody can tap

palm-wine as well as this character, the narrator sets off for Deads’ Town to find his posthumous

incantation. On the way, the drinkard finds up a wife, uses all kind of Juju and meets incredible

characters such as “The Invisible Pawn”, “The Hungry Creature” and “The Faithful–Mother in

the White Tree is a kind of hotel–cum–hospital with a great ballroom. Scale is immaterial in the

bush. It is like a mutilated episode of “In the Night Garden” or an adventure from “The Mighty

Bush”. The transmission of folktales follows evolutionary principles.

Oral traditions enforce that each retelling of a story will mutate it according to personal and local

bias and that the most mnemonic elements will carry from one teller to the next. The hero of this

brief thronged, grisley and bewitching story, “as the Poet Dylan Thomas called it, is a devoted

drinker of palm-wine. So devoted that drinking palm-wine is his only occupation. His father

hires an expert tapster to supply his son with drink, and before long he is drinking (with some

help from his friends) a total of 225 kegs of palm-wine a day.

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4. Traditional African Societal Overviews

By definition, traditional African society refers to the indigenous African community as distinct

from the European Influenced town or city in Africa today. The population of the indigenous

village society is usually homogenous, usually comprising only one ethnic or sub linguistic group.

This is opposed to the towns and cities which have a mixture of ethnic populations. In traditional

African society, the inhabitants are usually farmers, fishermen or livestock keeper or hunters,

depending on the natural geography of the location.

There is division of labour usually according to sex. However, in spite of any such division of

labour, there is homogeneity of ideas, customs and habits which are manifested in the attitudes of

the people to supernatural forces, social relation, entertainment and warfare. This means that the

sense of community is very strong and every effort is made to keep it so and this is accomplished

mainly through taboos. It is such attempt to preserve the culture and identity of the group that has

linked the contemporary traditional African society with the founding ancestors.

In Africa, there is no appreciable gulf between the world of the living and that of the dead. They

believe for instance that Abiku or Ogbanje (child born to die repeatedly) could cross the threshold

between life and death at will. As far as an African is concerned there exists a constant

communication between these stages. He believes that when an old man dies, he simply moves

away from the living into the world of the spirits, he thus becomes an ancestors to be worshiped.

Religion, which is strict adherence to ancestral traditions, and their concept of supernatural,

happens to be an important feature of the traditional African society. African literature also can be

said to evolve from oral tradition of the people. It finds its subject mainly in folklore which

includes traditional belief and values of the African society. Folktales are popular stories handed
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down orally from past generations. African literature reflects the view of Africans about the world

and can be appreciated and understood better when studied and placed within an African context

and situation. African literature seeks to capture and mirror the life of the people as it relates to

their norms and values. It also depicts the sociological, religious, political, economic, cultural and

ethical beliefs of the African. In traditional literature the composition and performance both occur

simultaneously.

The belief in the ancestors and the power is shaping even contemporary traditional African

behaviour can be presented in much clearer terms. The prevalence of religious myths and rituals

represent a reaction to the realities of living for the traditional African society. The economic,

social and moral persuits of people in these societies are objective in these myths which the

priests and elders control. The African overview is based on their (Africans) general ideology,

which encompasses set of values, representations and beliefs system and all other parameters

which sustain the society to all ramifications. In other words these values belief systems of

representations infirm or dictate the kind of economic, social, religious and political formation of

the society. They also more essentially dictate the nature artistic production.
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Conclusion

Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material broadly speaking, “literature” is

used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term

is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including work of poetry,

drama, fiction, and nonfiction. Literature introduces us to new worlds of experience. Amos

Tutuola like most of the African writers has been able to debunk the assertion of the western

scholars about the primitive of the African. Through his works the writer portrays to the world the

dynamision and complexity that characterized the African beliefs and customs. He effectively

uses myth in most of his works to depict the richness and uniqueness of the people’s customs and

traditions. The writer further portrays African as being rich in literature, in symbolism. Being a

traditionalist, he uses his creative imagination to present to the world the level of esteem at which

his customs and belief are hold.

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WORK CITED
Amos Tutuol, The Palm-wine Drinkard and my Dead Palm-wine Tapster in the Dead. Ibadan:
Town Faber publisher Ltd, 1952.

Awolalu, J. Omosade. Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrifice Rites. London: Longman group limited 1979.

Awodiya, Muyiwa. The Drama of Femi Osofisan; A critical perspective. Ibadan: Kraft Publishers
1995.

Booth Newell, African Mythology A key to understanding African religion. New York: NOK
publisher Ltd,: 19, p.117

Chidi Amuta, The theory of African literature: implication for practical critism: London: Book
craft lith, bath, 1989.

Clark J.P., Ozili, Oxford: Oxford University press Ltd, 1960

Cox David, Myths, History and Religion Oxford: Oxford University press 1962

Dunmade, Femi. “Tradition and Individual Talent: Aesthetics and categorization in modern
African literature” in Adegbeja E.E (ed) The English language and literature in English:
An Introductory Handbook Ilorin: the Department of Modern European Language, 1999.

Leach, The structural study of myth and Totemism: The Encyclopedia Americana Internal
Connecticut. Danbury: Grolier Incorporated, 1981, vol. 4 and vol. 19

The Encyclopedia Britannia. London: Encyclopedia Britannia Inc. vol. 12 and vol. 19.