A Stranger From Lagos by Cyprian Ekwensi Final Part
Lilian uses her sexuality to liberate as well as attract the opposite sex. Ekwensi uses "wiggled." Lilian had just had her hair done and was wearing very large, loop earrings. This had been done for her lover's benefit. She was conscious of all the eyes watching the two of them. The writer uses the simile: she felt like something projected on a 3D screen for all Onitsha to view.
We are told very little about the stranger other than that he was tall and good-looking. We are told he didn't feel embarrassed by all of the attention. He would ruin her reputation and he was well aware of this: he would scandalize her and then she would be left to the gossips. You get the sense that this has probably happened before. The dialogue here is disjointed. Mystery surrounds him but his desire to see Lilian is compelling: "I have wanted to see you" and he refers to his mission as if there is a reason why he is there. The dialogue ends with the reference once again to eyes. No privacy. No secrets.
Someone asks Lilian about the baby and her mother. Lilian tells the stranger: "Here...we do not stop and talk in the streets. It is not considered respectable. It is not done by decent girls of family." She arranges to meet him later in the evening.
When Lilian arrived home the gossips had already informed her mother:"They said you were talking with a man in the street and he was holding your waist in the street." The gossipers had noted that the man was wearing "West Nigerian dress" and she had been told that he had lived in the west. Lilian lies to protect her pride and dignity by telling her mother not to believe the wicked gossip.
Her mother seems more convinced about maintaining the family name and reputation. We now learn that Lilian and her first husband parted and she is now engaged for a second time. "You want for nothing" suggests that she has everything she needs in life. Her mother does not want her to be branded. But we get the feeling that something IS missing from her life. Something important.
This naturally made Lilian angry and the word flashed indicates this. She tried to be obedient when she said "Yes, Ma" but she was upset and tearful. That same evening when Lilian was inside the compound she stared at the entrance. At this point in the story her fiance is introduced. We learn that they had been engaged for three years and had had a child. After quarrelling she went to live in Lagos and her son was left with her mother. She had become glamorous and her fiance, Anya desired her so much that he promised to make good.
Lilian seemed apathetic towards him and we are told that his ideas about love "tallied more with her mother's than her own." She was expecting to see both her fiance and her lover although not at the same time! When Ekwenso describes the fiance we are told that he was hard, possessive and confident. He treats Lilian as a possession: "Every gesture of his showed that he owned her." When you read the story you get the impression that the relationship is artificial. Notice when the writer states: "He talked. She listened."
On this occasion it would have been slightly ironical because Lilian was watching and listening for the arrival of the stranger rather than to her fiance! When the stranger finally arrives the tension is quickly dispersed because the fiance addresses him as Mr Okonma; he knows him. He believes that Mr Okonma is a drinker like himself although the stranger disputes this. "You must be mistaken" he states then sits down "gloomily."
At this point we are told that Lilian felt uncomfortable and she describes their talk as "an offended and offensive tone." We are told that "she was sorry" and felt "isolated." The stranger left. Embarrassingly, the fiance confronted her with:"Isn't he one of your lovers from Lagos?" He explains that he came to see Lilian particularly that evening because he was expecting to see one of her lovers! Lilian's retort is that she doesn't know this man. The fiance was angry and his jealousy was mounting. This incident puzzled Lilian.
The story ends with Lilian telling her friend that she has not done anything wrong. She is made to suffer. Alice, her friend, says that there are too many eyes. She refers to how they see and they talk but they DON'T understand. She tells Lilian that Anya needs to trust her more. Lilian's final thoughts are with the stranger. Her wish to have been braver implies that she should have been truthful to her fiance, admitted that there was some kind of relationship but she lost the courage to do this. Nothing is resolved at the end, certainly not with Lilian. Too many constraints stopping her from becoming liberated.
Do you think she met the stranger in Lagos?
What was the stranger's mission?
Why was Lilian unable to tell the truth at the end?
What might happen next? Will she see the stranger again? Will she marry her fiance?
COPYRIGHT 2013. Permission to reproduce any part of this article must be obtained from the author.
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