The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born" is a novel set in post-independence Ghana that explores themes of morality, corruption, and social struggle through its major characters. The central figure, an unnamed man who works as a clerk for the nationalized railway, embodies the struggle for integrity as he resists the pervasive culture of bribery and corruption, despite facing hardships and disdain from his wife, Oyo. Oyo, who represents the frustration of many citizens, yearns for the material comforts that come from corruption and initially despises her husband's steadfastness. In contrast, Koomson, a corrupt government minister, symbolizes the opportunism prevalent among some postcolonial leaders, enriching himself at the expense of others and ultimately fleeing from justice. His wife, Estella, reflects the pretentiousness of the newly wealthy, clinging to her social status even as her circumstances change. Additionally, a teacher figure provides philosophical insight and moral support to the man, reinforcing his values amidst societal decay. This intricate portrayal of characters highlights the complex dynamics of virtue and vice in a transforming Ghanaian society.
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Ayi Kwei Armah
First published: 1968
Genre: Novel
Locale: A coastal city in Ghana
Plot: Social realism
Time: The 1960's
The man, deliberately given the generality of anonymity, a clerk who works for the nationalized railway system in Ghana. He and his wife, Oyo, and their children live in comparative poverty because of the man's unflinching determination not to accept bribes but to live on his inadequate salary in a society that finds such behavior incomprehensible. In spite of the temptations that come to him from every side, the constant nagging of his bitter wife, and his own awareness of the hardships his honesty imposes upon his children, he maintains his unalterable moral stance. His determination is in some measure justified when a coup destroys the regime and the corrupt are arrested, but as he begins to rejoice in the vigorous national purge of corruption, he witnesses the same old crookedness immediately reactivated. the man represents, to an exaggerated degree, an idealized portrait of a truly noble man in a degraded society.
Oyo, the man's wife. She has no sympathy for her husband's honesty and all but despises him for it. Indifferent to the principles involved, she can only see how well others are managing as a result of their acquiescence to wrongdoing. She has a deep envy of the successful and yearns for the luxuries that other women enjoy. Only at the end does she commend her husband when she sees the painful consequences of corruption that come when the criminals are arrested.
Koomson, a government minister who epitomizes the grossly corrupt African politician of the postindependence years. He has come up the hard way, starting out as a tough dockworker. He is gross and vulgar but can convincingly assume a cheerful, hearty public manner that appeals to voters. He distributes bribes freely, indulging his family with all the most visibly ostentatious material things, invariably from Europe, for in Ghana only expensive foreign imports are evidence of success; local products are for failures. Koomson swindles the man's mother in a tax-evasion dodge to buy a boat, which he uses for his escape from the police when the new regime orders his arrest. At the end, he is a frightened and defeated fugitive, using his last banknotes to bribe his way to safety.
Estella, Koomson's wife, an egregious snob who embodies the pretensions of the nouveau riche. Ironically, her behavior is patterned after the arrogance of the white colonials from whom her country has been liberated politically but not yet culturally. When her husband escapes into exile, the new administration does not prosecute her, and she survives to live on in Ghana in reduced circumstances.
The teacher, another generalized figure, the man's teacher, guide, counselor, and guru. the teacher supplies him with the intellectual rationalization for his search for moral order in a delinquent and disintegrating society, reinforcing the man's personal determination with philosophic precedent. the teacher plays no active part in the events of the novel, but his long conversations and debates with the man allow the author to air his angry response to the overwhelming corruption that festers within his country.