Instances of powerful family bond in Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers

The Swamp Dwellers is a play of universal appeal. It talks about remote rural and urban society; family life; confrontation of old and new society; psychological conflicts between old and young generations; love for modernity and love for the swamp; the supernatural; unfavourable forces of nature; and so many problems. I have come across a good number of articles and researches on The Swamp Dwellers. Among the researches and various articles on the play, it is hardly found any focus on family ties, love for family, hints of love in trivial squabble between the married in the play. Whenever they speak of their twin sons, Awuchike and Igwezu, Makuri and Alu are seen constantly at each other's throats. But their tiff bears the testimony of deep love for each other and for their future generations, and exhibits great concern for family ties that were in vulnerable condition during the transitional period in the post colonial African states. Akinwande Oluwole Wole Soyinka vividly portrays such family relationships, the individual and socio-cultural tensions pervading in Nigeria in his widely read The Swamp Dwellers. The patches of stories tremendously adorned in the play give a glimpse of family bond throughout the play. The target of this study is to discover the examples of family ties depicted, hinted, and embedded in the play.