Anowa

Kofi is a handsome, ambitious young man when the play begins. He falls in love with Anowa and is overjoyed when she agrees to marry him and leave Yebi. He works hard and does whatever he can to make Anowa happy. However, once they suspect that they cannot have children, he throws himself into the more achievable goal of growing his business. If he cannot give Anowa a child, he will give her wealth and luxury. Kofi’s success leads to an elevated opinion of himself, but his ostentatious displays of wealth are presented as crass naiveté rather than true narcissism, particularly when it is revealed that he suffers from great personal insecurity about his impotence. Kofi falls in love with Anowa because of her fiery independence and great beauty. But eventually, he sees himself as being used as a means to an end: the bearing of children. He comes to define himself as Anowa defines him—as something broken, less than a man. Rather than live in the village after his public humiliation, he commits suicide. Kofi serves as a composite of the male ego, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the moral contortions required to use slave labor to better one’s own situation.

Badua is Anowa’s mother. She spends Phase 1 in perpetual frustration over her daughter’s stubbornness. Badua wishes that Anowa would follow in her footsteps as a wife and mother.  Even though she bickers good-naturedly with her husband, Badua seems happy. The complication lies in the fact that her happiness may stem from the traditionally diminished status of African women that the author describes. If Badua is happy because she is somewhat subservient to the whims of her husband, is this real happiness? Badua aspires to her daughter’s happiness, but also wishes to steer Anowa’s aspirations into traditional ideas of fulfillment. Her ideas align closely with those of the Old Woman. When Anowa eventually dies, it is difficult to imagine that Badua does not blame herself for her own perceived failings as a mother.

Osam’s outlook on his daughter is similar to that of the Old Man. He does not see the raising of daughters—or participating in their matchmaking—to be his responsibility. In part, it is his hands-off approach that allows Anowa to run away with Kofi. Even though he espouses personal independence, once Anowa has died, he feels the same parental failure as Badua. He is a less developed character than the women in the play, largely because the men in Anowa are presented as static objects who are used to having their needs met by women.

The Old Man presents one half of the pair that serves as the Chorus in Anowa. He and the Old Woman act as the play’s editorializing figures. They evaluate the events they witness and speculate as to their causes. The Old Man is a plausible version of what a future Osam could be. He has obviously seen and experienced tragedy, but retains a belief in personal agency and the empowerment of women. He prefers to wait and think before pronouncing final judgments on the causes of the play’s tragedies and believes that society often shares responsibility for the actions of its individuals.