Anowa

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1987

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Play Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Prologue-Phase 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue Summary

In the Prologue, an agitated character known as Old Woman enters the stage in a restless state. She never stops moving and is frequently taken by bouts of coughing. She is joined on stage by a character known as Old Man, who is her opposite in demeanor. He is calm, stately, and self-possessed. Together they are known as Being-The-Mouth-That-Eats-Salt-And-Pepper. They describe how the village of Yebi has always been blessed with food, shelter, and good fortune. They attribute this to the gentle, considerate nature of the villagers. However, they say that there is an oddity in the village: a young girl named Anowa. Her mother, Badua, is always playing matchmaker, attempting to pair Anowa with suitors. But Anowa refuses them all. The villagers often blame Badua for her daughter’s reluctance to wed. Some suspect that she might be better suited to life as a priestess, if she is unable to find a mate. The Old woman points out, however, that a woman who refuses to take a husband is a common, disastrous trope in folk tales, and urges patience. She believes that Anowa’s destiny will reveal itself and her reluctance to wed will make sense eventually.

Phase 1 Summary

Phase 1 introduces Anowa as she enters carrying a water pot. She is very attractive and wears a dress that shows a good deal of her skin. A handsome young man named Kofi Ako enters and sees her. They make eye contact and smile at each other. A woman and man walk by. The woman cannot stop looking back at Anowa and Kofi Ako. The implication is that the woman is envious of their flirtatious glances. She is paying so much attention to them that she does not see where she is going and trips. Anowa and Kofi Ako laugh as the play shifts to another scene where Anowa’s mother and father, Badua and Osam, are talking.

Badua says that it is scandalous that Anowa is still unmarried. Osam counters that it is not his job to marry his daughters, and he would prefer for her to be a priestess. Badua feels that priestesses are honorable, but that they always end up imitating the Gods, to their own ruin. Anowa enters and says that she has met the man she intends to marry: Kofi Ako. Badua is not happy. She believes Kofi Ako is not a man of substance, but merely a handsome face. Osam says that he will not interfere. As Osam yells for a boy named Kwame, the scene shifts.

Anowa, now dressed in a new outfit, packs her belongings. Badua pleads with her not to run away with Kofi Ako. She says that he is lazy and arrogant, and that the men of his house do not make good husbands. Anowa is insistent that she knows what she is doing. Finally, she tells her mother to leave her alone and Osam intervenes, stepping between them. Anowa leaves, promising never to return as the Old Man and Old Woman enter. They argue about the responsibility of parents and ask each other whether a good parent controls a child, or lets the child make their own mistakes. They do not believe that Anowa would have been allowed to choose her own marriage had she been born in their generation, but they do not say whether they believe this is good or bad. They point out that the villagers will be angry Anowa is breaking from tradition, but they cannot decide whether the source of that anger will be Anowa’s choice, or the realization that their traditions are fading. Ultimately, their stance is ambivalent. They must step back to see what happens with Anowa and Kofi Ako.

Prologue-Phase 1 Analysis

The Old Man and Old Woman serve a role similar to that of the Chorus in a Greek play. They offer their opinions on the events in Anowa without playing an active role. Their role is to explain various ways in which the audience might interpret the events unfolding on stage.

Anowa is quickly shown to be a free spirit who follows her own desires. However, there is no suggestion that she is a bad daughter or that she delights in defying her parents. Rather, she seems to be a rift between the traditions of her ancestors and the new generation of independent youths. It is significant that the Old Man and Woman remark that Anowa, at least at the outset, is like the young women in all the old folk tales who refuse to settle down. Typically, this results in disaster for the other villagers. However, there are hints that, while Anowa may resemble those folk characters, both in her actions and temperament, she may enjoy a different outcome. And yet, Osam’s continued insistence that she may be better suited to life as a priestess is mildly foreboding.