Book Review | Female Children as Commodity of Trade in The Snuff Snub in Sonmazhi – Play | The Arts-Muse Fair
Book Title: The Snuff Snub in Sonmazhi
Author: Jibrin Bala Jibrin
Publisher: Image Prints
Pages: 51
Year: 2017
Reviewer: Paul Liam
Patriarchy
and gender inequality are two subjects that continue to generate critical discourse
amongst writers and literary scholars alike in literature. These concerns are
not unconnected to the pivotal influence of these concepts on the larger
society. It is particularly worthy of note that contemporary Northern Nigerian
writers have renewed interests, perhaps with unprecedented gusto, in the thematization
of these legendary subjects that have for centuries continued to shape gender discourse
the world over.
In
Africa and elsewhere in the world, patriarchy remains the definer of ancient
family value system and the precursor of gender inequality. Patriarchy
privileges male children over female ones, a trend that has given birth to the
erroneous logic that boys are more important than girls are. Hence, boys were
given priority attention whereas the girls were regarded as second-class
citizens fit only for the kitchen and child bearing. This mundane belief
continues to hold sway today in many African societies.
In Nigeria and in Northern
Nigeria in particular, the practice is still, very glaringly, being enforced.
The right of the girl-child and indeed of women to self-actualization is still
a major cultural and religious challenge. It is in view of the prevalence of
this social problem that Jibrin Bala Jibrin’s play The Snuff Snub in Sonmazhi expounds
this cultural anomaly in a melodramatic rendition.
This
unfortunate trend of contrived patriarchal genocide against the female gender
has been creatively portrayed in the works of new writers from the region such
as in Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Season of
Crimson Blossoms, Hadiza Bagudu’s Fanta,
Maryam Bobi’s Bongel, Halima Aliyu’s Fire on the Tip of Ice and Bilkisu
Ndatsu’s The Truth. Older writers
such as Zainab Alkali and Abubakar Gimba have equally treated these issues in
their works as a way of drawing society’s attention to the inimical
consequences of gender inequality on women in the society. Jibrin Bala Jibrin’s
The Snuff Snub in Sonmazhi dramatizes
the dehumanization of women and condemns the practice, which holds girls and
women in low esteem and regards them only for their material importance in
satisfying the lustful craves of men.
The
play, set in Sonmazhi, a Nupe village, parodies the folly of men who view women
as objects of sexual and material gratification without recourse to their
happiness and wellbeing such as exemplified by Maraki, the antagonist in the
play, who trades his daughter Ishiga, to Lonchita for a debt he took to marry
his second wife Satu, who eventually absconds with her Casanova secret lover,
Kalanki the Brass-smith, who later elopes with another lover after using and
dumping Satu. Satu loses her pregnancy because of the physical and emotional
abuse inflicted on her by Kalanki. Satu’s marriage to Maraki is against her
wish and it is intended to offset a debt owed by her father, a debt incurred
for her brother’s medical treatment. Why should a girl’s happiness be traded
for that of her brother? This portrayal underlies the contempt with which
society holds the happiness of female children. In other words, it could be
deduced that girls exist to service the aspirations of boys.
Toroko,
Maraki’s older wife is also married to him against her wish. Her father also had
to offset a debt he owed by marrying her to Maraki. However, she, belonging to
the old school has come to accept her fate imposed on her by the society. But
her daughter, Ishiga, who belongs to the new school resists the attempt by her
father to trade her to Lonchita as a payment for the debt he owes him. Her
resistance proves abortive though as her father eventually succeeds in trading
her off thereby killing her hopes of ever acquiring a higher education, true
love and happiness. Eventually, Ishiga is married off to Ndako Kuyi, Lonchita’s
son as his third wife.
The
news of Ishiga’s pregnancy and ill health soon hits them and in her helpless
state, Toroko asserts the most profound remarks which underscore the
aesthetical and ideological depth of the play. She postulates, “Are female children now a commodity of
trade? (pause: starts to sobs) look at what you have got my daughter into,
slavery, and yourself, ha! You have indeed done great harm to your family.”(pp
41) Indeed, true to Toroko’s words, women who are denied the right to determine
their own happiness and path in life are akin to slaves sold to eternal
condemnation such as could be seen in the case of the women in the play.
Ishiga,
in her protest to her mother on why she should not be given out to marriage
against her own wish and aspirations reasons thus, “Nna! That was then. Things like these should not happen now. Girls I
believe should start choosing whom they will like to spend the rest of their
lives with.” (pp 18) As ideal as Ishiga’s remark sounds, the reality on
ground proves contrary. True, times have changed but the male dominated society
has refused to change along with the times and their retrogressive
sensibilities towards women yet prevails. This is an ugly reality still lived
by women in twenty first century Nigeria.
The
above summarizes the crux of the play and the playwright does not pretend about
his stand on society’s degradation of women especially young girls who should
be allowed to mature into sane adults capable of making rational choices for
themselves. The playwright succeeds in showing the disservice women and young
girls go through in the hands of men who are obsessed in objectifying women in
order to satisfy their own selfish desires.
An ingenious display of artistry in
the play is the use of soliloquy and dramatic irony where Kalanki elopes with
Satu only to end up eloping with another woman, while Ishiga also believes him
to be in love with her whereas he is not. This depiction is certain to elicit a
good laugh out of the readers, in spite of the play’s main import. But even
such flimsy portrayal is to buttress the unpredictable and undependable nature of
men. It is a sarcasm deriding the lustful and selfishness of men. The Snuff
Snub in Sonmazhi is a beautiful play with socially resounding messages and
lessons for the society.
However,
it is flawed in some ways; the dialogue in most cases is skewed and reads more
like a narration, the actions are not dramatic enough and for an important
subject matter such as highlighted above, the delivery is profane. There are
also issues of grammatical inconsistency. The play nevertheless deserves some
credit for its use of humour and thematic preoccupation.
****
Paul Liam is writer and critic.
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