Trusting in a false prophet
Book Focus
May 31, 2004
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Title: The Trials of Brother Jero The Trials of Brother Jero educates on some touching issues in society. The play is very much alive in the world today. Soyinka�s job, therefore, was to simply put to us what we know but may often fail to acknowledge. The most dominant thematic strand is religious hypocrisy. A hypocrite is a person who leads a double life, one who pretends to be one thing yet he is a different thing altogether. This being Soyinka�s biggest concern, it could no better illustrated than by use of the main character. Jero, a �prophet� and �brother�, is depicted as a man whose character rubbishes his pretences of being a religious person. First, he has a marked weakness for women. For a supposed man of God, this is disappointing if not annoying. The fact that he finds himself in ditch of lust all the time is a clear mark of his distance away from God and his closeness to the devil. The way he goes about it makes you think it�s the women who throw themselves at his feet. �She passes here every morning...Dirty, looking thing,� he says of one of the women who send him to temptation. Jero is a representative of all other, �shop-keepers� or prophets and from his first speech, we notice that their way of competition for worshippers is the same. They even engage in corruption to keep the land on which their churches are located. If corruption has gone as far as eating up God�s own church, then isn�t it time to re-examine the whole idea of religion, Soyinka seems to ask. The playwright also tackles the idea of betrayal. His flock trusted Jero. They looked up to him as a messenger of God. Consequently they clung onto whatever he told them. This is the reason why Chume never got round to beat up Amope, for all her constant nagging, because Jero had said, �No!� Jero calls the Police telling them he is mad. Jero betrayed Chume first like he betrayed the Old Prophet, the man who trained him is the very man whose hand Jero went ahead and grabbed. He (the Old Prophet) comes and �curses� Jero for whatever Jero did and this curse seems to haunt Jero. Another concern that Soyinka occupies himself with is that of human relationship. Chume is a member of Jero�s church, in fact, his most loyal worshipper. His marriage is on the rocks because of his inconsiderate and very impatient wife Amope. All the time she is up in arms with him telling him he should be doing much better than being a Chief Messenger. When Chume asks Jero for permission to beat her, he (Jero) refuses. The fact that Chume has to refer his marital problems to Jero is maybe taking it too far. As a man, he had to make any choice he deemed fit. The relationship between Amope and Chume was hostile because of lack material wealth. Amope thought money was the solution to all problems. On the other hand Chume trusted in his Brother Jero. Being a servant of God, he had the final say. The fact that these two end up almost fighting is a clear testimony that they both should have trusted each other first and discussed issues before referring to outside forces. All these issues that Soyinka discusses like religious hypocrisy, corruption, relationships, betrayal and trust are pertinent to our society today. Readers are encouraged to identity with these issues in their own localities such that Soyinka�s lessons don�t go untaught. |
� 2004 The Monitor Publications
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