A Review of Okot P' Bitek’s ‘Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol’

Song of Lawino is an epic poem written by Ugandan poet Okot p' Bitek. First published in 1966 in Luo then translated into other languages, including English. Song of Lawino has become one of the most widely read literary works originating from sub-Saharan Africa that addresses the issues facing a liberated Africa. The poem poses a question: what kind of liberation should Africa take on? Should it honor its traditions, or should it adopt the European values that were already set in place during colonialism? Okot p'Bitek addresses this question by telling the story of Lawino, a woman whose husband, Ocol, throws her out of their home and brings home a more Europeanized woman as a wife. The story is told as a dialogue between Lawino and Ocol. The poem itself is separated into different sections or Chapters, each one detailing the social problems facing Lawino and Ocol in their marriage, their differences, and their value systems.

I first read Okot’s poem back in 2022 when I was in my first year at Mount Kenya University. A good book never gets old –so when I bumped into it on my desk again this week I thought I should read it again. Being a novice to literary criticism it was quite difficult for me to discover some things but while reading the book the second time, it was a walk in the park and I greatly enjoyed it. I am considering reading more African poetry in the future.

In this article, I am going to first give a summary of the two poems separately -starting with Song of Lawino followed by Song of Ocol then give a conjoined review.

Song of Lawino.

Lawino, the main character in this poem, laments over his husband’s altered demeanor as he tends to live like a white man. Lawino can’t fathom why one would try to live/become someone else. To her, culture isn’t a piece of cloth that one changes anytime she/he feels like it. It is a pumpkin whose roots run deep underneath the earth and can’t/shouldn’t be uprooted. The Acoli (pronounced as ‘Acholi’) culture should be protected like a mother hen protects her chicks under her wings and conserved.

She lashes out at Ocol for marrying another woman called Clementine who is educated and speaks English –whereas Lawino is primitive and illiterate. Lawino feels sorry for her co-wife for she struggles to look like a white woman by making up her face, lightening her skin, and blow-drying her hair. She says;

Brother, when you see

Clementine!

The beautiful one aspires to look like a white woman;

Her lips are red-hot

Like glowing charcoal,

She resembles the wild cat

That has dipped its mouth in blood,

Her mouth is like raw yaws

It looks like an open ulcer,

Like the mouth of a field!

Tina dusts powder on her face

And it looks so pale;

She resembles the wizard

Getting ready for the midnight dance… (Pg. 40).

Additionally, Lawino thinks of the white culture as immoral since women drink as much as men drink –something that is forbidden in the Acoli culture. She observes that these men and women of much younger ages dance in bars in close proximity caressing each other even though they are not married couples. Besides, the bars are filthy places and smell like dung. On the contrary, the Acoli dances are respectable and decent. According to Lawino the Acoli attire, where men and women dress in animal skin, is original and attractive whereas the white man’s clothes are just borrowed stuff. She says that hospitals are useless since they can’t treat curses.

Lawino prefers Acoli cuisines and utensils to English ones. She says that modern stoves are noisy and dangerous for their many confusing knobs and they cause fires. Lawino likes the Acoli kitchen setting because that’s what she was born to. Her mother has taught her how to use the traditional stove and she loves it that way –she’s not willing to conform to the white man’s cooking as Ocol demands. Lawino is bewildered by her husband who treats time like an asset. Ocol has bought a clock and wants his breakfast, lunch, and dinner fixed at a specific time –a norm that Lawino is not accustomed to. All her life, Lawino has studied time by observing the direction of the sun and how cool or hot it is. She does not need a thermometer to tell if her child has a fever but she can do so by noticing his watering nose, the erect hairs on his body, parched lips, and when he is dull. She argues that, even if white people know diseases by their names they can’t defeat death because when it knocks on one’s door it knows no time neither is it a respecter of persons.

Another thing that bothers Lawino is the Christianity that Ocol has converted to. She finds the priests and teachers of the church to be hypocritical as they lust over young girls. Lawino narrates her encounter with a ‘white’ man at a dance who tries to sexually assault her. She does not understand why the same preachers of the Gospel get drunk instead of staying sober and pure as the ‘good word’ demands. She is dismayed by Ocol since as educated as he is he can’t explain to her how God came into existence.

Lastly, through Lawino’s voice, Okot talks about the effects of politics on the citizens. He addresses greed, self-centeredness, and deceit depicted by politicians. He speaks about the life of penury that voters languish in after being gullible to the politicians’ empty promises. Lawino is mad at her husband who’s the leader of the Democratic Party. As per Ocol’s words, they are fighting for emancipation, independence, and unity among the Ugandans. Lawino finds it ironic that Ocol is striving for unity among these communities yet he has strained relationships with his kith and kin. She sees no better life during the post-independence era as politicians continue to enrich themselves after elections while voters suffer the consequences of electing them. The ‘big men’ feed on top layers –full of fat and nutrients whereas the ordinary wananchi scramble for leftovers.

Lawino speaks with lots of ethnocentrism in her voice and urges her husband to revisit his decisions and embrace the Acoli culture once again. As they say, east or west home is best.

Song of Ocol.

Some folks say you can’t advise a young woman in love as she will only perceive you to be an enemy of progress. Ocol, the main character here, is smitten by the white culture and has fallen in love with it hook, line, and sinker. It is for this reason that he finds Lawino unattractive as she is too glued to the Acoli culture. He is a ‘progressive and civilized’ man who wants a perfect match –and Lawino is a misfit. He sends her packing and says her song is irksome and noisy to his ears.

Ocol tries to justify his transition and threatens to destroy the old traditions of the black people. He argues that it is due to the white culture that Africans have access to better schools and hospitals. He is surprised that Lawino accuses white people of subjecting Africans to slavery yet all along they have been living like slaves; splitting heavy logs of firewood, cutting stacks of grass, women fetching water from wells using large pots and carrying them on their heads, etc. Ocol tells African men and women to free themselves from their slave-like lives.

Ocol finds Lawino’s accusations against politicians to be null and void. He says that politicians deserve to live as they do (lavishly) because they have worked for it. He says, ‘Lions can’t eat grass and lie down with the lambs.’ Ocol adds:

We have property

And wealth

We are in power… (Pg. 145)

He speaks with a disrespectful tone towards the African culture and gallantly proclaims his pride in civilization. He finishes by saying that each African shall get what they worked for. The modern Africans will be remembered for what they did whereas the ancient ones like Lawino and her ancestors shall be forgotten for they have nothing to be proud of. All they did was raid and fight over spears. You reap what you sow is Ocol’s mantra.