Cultural Conflicts In Death And The King's Horseman By Wole Soyinka

In Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, the author moved me to feel the cultural conflicts between the native Yoruban culture and the British colonists. Moreover, Soyinka allowed me to deeply feel these conflicts with his great depiction through the eyes of the natives. The cultural superiorities that the British displayed throughout the entire play cast a discriminatory tone towards every aspect of the Nigerian’s lives, making them feel like the minorities. This was disheartening to me because the British came to their country under the guise of improving the lives and conditions instead they seized every opportunity that arose to minimize the values and cultural beliefs of this community. The injustices and tragedies that occurred throughout this play could have been avoided if the British would have shown some respect and compassion for the native’s customs and beliefs. However, they chose to stand in the way of one of their most sacred traditions after a king’s death. In fact, the destiny of the king’s horseman is to selflessly sacrifice himself to accompany the dead king’s peacefully into the afterlife. I …show more content…
When I came among the women I am a chicken with a hundred mothers” (NDKH 6). He clearly is full of himself and tries to justify going to the market by saying that these women are his and he needs them to validate what he is setting out to do. He feels he must be there among them with so much life around so it can help him prepare for the final journey he must take. However this distraction only lasted long enough for English forces to intervene, forever ending his chances to fulfill his destiny. This left him powerless because of his inability to save the people of Yoruba from the alleged harm the king’s spirit could do if not guided through the