African Prose
AMMA DARKO: Faceless
Discuss the relationship between Nii Kpakpo and Maa Tsuru in the novel.
Explanation
Discuss the relationship between Nii Kpakpo and Maa Tsuru in the novel. Nii Kpakpo is Maa Tsuru’s second `husband’. As is the case with Kwei who fathers her four eldest children, Nii Kpakpo and Maa Tsuru are not really married; they are merely cohabiting. She meets him after Kwei has abandoned her and her children. There is no evidence in the novel that Nii Kpakpo loves Maa Tsuru. His main goal in the relationship appears to be to sponge on her and make himself as comfortable as he can. Nii Kpakpo has a tremendous influence on Maa Tsuru’s household as later events are to show. The way in which he worms himself into Maa Tsuru’s affections exposes him as a scheming and heartless fraud. He is able to endear himself to her through an elaborately his being out of a job as a consequence of renovation being carried out on aluminum factory in Tema.
He is testing the ground. He soon realizes how gullible Mas Tsuru is. Though she has not heard of the factory before, she believes Nii Kpakpo’s story. This first victory boosts Nii Kpakpo’s confidence. Next, he makes it a habit to visit Maa Tsuru’s home at lunch time so that his afternoon meal is assured. He puts off her requests to visit his home under the pretext that his “people” will not welcome her because of the curse on Maa Tsuru’s head. Then, growing in confidence, he suggests after heavy drinking and a hefty meal, that he moves in with her because as he claims, “I miss sharing the same bed with you at night”.
Totally enamoured of this man who appears to her to be restoring her self-esteem, dented by her disastrous relationship with Kwei, she gratefully invites him into her one-bedroom home. Nii Kpakpo’s very first night in Maa Tsuru’s home presages the destabilizing effect which he will have on the household. On the morning after a night-long bout of love-making in full view of the children, the two eldest children of Maa Tsuru, the boys, leave home, never to return. With them disappears Maa Tsuru’s source of income for the sustenance of her family. This causes untold suffering to Maa Tsuru and her two remaining children. Added to this burden is that she has one more mouth to feed – an adult mouth at that! She begins to worry and cannot even sleep at night. Maa Tsuru is `blind’ to Nii Kpakpo’s misdemeanours. Even after she learns the truth about the non-existent job in Tema and the fraud which he perpetrates on prospective tenants for his one room in his family house, she does not take any action. Everyone expects she will, but quite naively she keeps allowing him to exploit her. Soon Maa Tsuru is carrying Kpakpo’s child. Nii Kpakpo’s exploitation of Maa Tsuru further manifests itself in his sexual abuse of her daughter, Baby T. even then, Maa Tsuru does not react.
His exploitation culminates in his facilitation of Ba by T’s sale to Maame Broni. He deceives Maa Tsuru into believing that Baby t’s is going away to serve as househelp to some rich person. His influence over Maa Tsuru is such that whatever he suggests is readily acceptable to her and makes sense. Eventually Baby T is brutally murdered. Nii Kpakpo is thus. to some extent, responsible for Baby T’s awful end. Fofo. the younger sister, soon leaves home, realizing that there is no possibility of a meaningful relationship with her mother as long as Nii Kpakpo is around. He thus serves as the knife which servers family relationships. In conclusion, the relationship between Nii Kpakpo anc Maa Tsuru is one between the exploiter, Nii Kpakpo, anc the exploited, Maa Tsuru: In the end, he abandons Maa Tsuru, having fathered two boys with her, thus renewing her fate as a single parent.
Points to note;
(a) They are not husband and wife in the traditional sense.
(b) Nii Kpakpo exploits Maa Tsuru’s desire to have `a husband’
(c) Maa Tsuru’s gullibility makes the man more confident to move in to live with her.
(d) His presence in the house causes the departure of Maa Tsuru’s four children to live in the streets.
(e) Nii Kpakpo finally leaves Maa Tsuru worse off.