Ogunian Metaphysics and the Metaphor of a Knife in Wole Soyinka’s Alapata Apata
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Date
2025
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Publisher
Cognizance Journal
Abstract
The widely celebrated Nigerian Playwright and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, is
unapologetic about his fraternity with his hero-god and muse, Ogun – the Yoruba god of war,
of iron and of destruction. Soyinka has, in fact, created many characters in his play-texts
along the shores of Ogun‘s visceral form. This study, therefore, explores Ogunian
metaphysics and the metaphor of a knife in Wole Soyinka‘s Alapata Apata. The study uses
the textual analysis approach to give a close reading to the selected text and concludes that,
Soyinka unveils the hegemonic constructs inherent in the dominant culture of elites. By so
doing, he edges the subaltern few over the proletariats and makes the former to be more
technically knowledgeable and insightful in the society.
Keywords: Ogun, Ogunian Metaphysics, Ideology, Iconoclasm.