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In the Familiar Stranger, Mordi preaches moral values

By Margaret Mwantok
17 July 2016   |   3:51 am
In an era when immorality has been enthroned, and societies are demented, reading Frederick Mordi’s The Familiar Stranger and Other Stories provides a desired catharsis.
The Familiar Stranger

The Familiar Stranger

In an era when immorality has been enthroned, and societies are demented, reading Frederick Mordi’s The Familiar Stranger and Other Stories provides a desired catharsis.

A publication of New Africa Book Publishers, Lagos; the 135-page collection of short stories points out, as well as, correct some social misconduct. In doing so, the string that weaves the stories together is uprightness.

Published in 2015, the book lampoons, in scathing manner, families, politicians and whosoever has had a hand in the moral decadence.

Mordi uses simple, but lucid language to pass his message. Deploying very unique style, the author leaves the reader asking for more. He also maximises the use of humour in the piece to sustain the reader’s interest.

The opening story, The Familiar Stranger, tells the story of a stranger, Tambolo, who sets out to bite the finger feeding him. Tambolo is a staff of a civil engineering firm that has just concluded the construction of the village road. The young king hosts them to a dinner on the eve of their return day to the city.

The chief host is quick to show his guests some remarkable masterpiece worth fortune, and saying, “collectors of precious stones are falling over themselves to acquire these works.”

This action by the king subsequently leads Tambolo to temptation. Tambolo is an allegory of the menace in the military and the socio-economic configuration.

The youngman represents greedy citizens, who do anything to get rich. The tragi-comedy of ‘Dasukigate and arms deal’ best explains what greed is in in the moral fabric.

In the story, Mordi shows his understanding of African culture and tradition. In lucid manner, he deploys concrete imageries to portray some rich African tradition through dance, food and the palace itself. However, the beauty of the story is best exemplified in the manner he creates a narrative that is in sync with the environment.

Mordi puts it, “HRH’s palace is a sprawling ornate structure embellished with ancient architectural designs, the imposing edifice has consistently held out against the elements through the ages.”

One major pitfall: Mordi fails to mention the name of the village and the characters, with the exception of Tambolo.

The Farmer’s Daughter is another intriguing piece of this collection. Mordi attempts to emphasise the importance of education. Set in a rural area of Akama village, Mordi tells the story of a brilliant girl, Obiageli, whose father does not believe in education, and as a result of his wrong perception about education, refuses to send the girl to school.

In the piece, Mordi tries to show a contrasting worldview, with Africa in the precipice, because of wrong ideas and values. Obiageli’s father, Mazi Achara, who is the eye of the camera, tells everyone that education breeds rebels who clash with constituted authority. He even provides some African proverbs to back his belief, “to see and not speak is the way of children; and to speak and not be heard is the way of elders,” he says.

The point of anagnorisis is when Mazi is dragged to court, as the constant appeal by the Chief Inspector of Education keeps falling on deaf ears. The inspector wins the case and Oby, as she is fondly called, goes to school. She becomes a lawyer and later saves her father’s land from being taken by the government. This is a message to parents who still think education is not important.

Honesty is another virtue that Mordi advice the reader to have. In Money Palaver, the author says there are more rewards in being honest than the opposite. Pa Azuka, a common hotel cleaner, finds a forgotten bag full of hard currency, decides to be honest by returning it to the owner, despite his wife and son’s insistence to keep it. The wife sees it as an opportunity to be rich forever, but Pa Azuka rejects the idea.

Subsequently, the owner of the bag rewards Pa Azuka; the hotel and even the state government recognise his effort. This serves as a lesson to many, who would rather keep loss items than return them to their owners.

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