47 pages • 1 hour read
Amos TutuolaMy Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1954A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
The Unnamed Narrator
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses enslavement.
The protagonist of the novel is an unnamed narrator who comes of age in the bush of ghosts. Due to the fantastical nature of the bush of ghosts, the narrator exists between two worlds: the earthly world inhabited by people and the unearthly world inhabited by ghosts and other creatures. In the ghost world, the narrator physically takes on many forms, which complicates his coming-of-age process. Tutuola’s decision to not provide the narrator with a name allows him to take on these different forms without being confined to a single identity, meaning he can exist and experience life through different identities other than his own. For example, early on, the smelling-ghost changes the narrator into various animals, such as a camel, to help with daily chores, which enforces unwanted identities on the narrator. Beyond his physical form, the narrator takes on many social roles as well, from a son and a brother to a god and a ghost. Despite changing forms often throughout the novel, the narrator’s internal development relies on how he identifies himself and with which group: the earthly persons or the ghosts.
The novel spans 24 years, and the narrator ages drastically from the beginning to the end of the novel. When the young narrator must decide between the gold, silver, or copper ghost, his internal conflict revolves around how the ghosts look and how they appeal to him. He prefers the copper ghost because of the access to food, whereas his heart “first told [him] to choose the silverish-ghost” (13). His internal conflict is between the logical and emotional responses he has to this situation. At the same time, he recognizes that the ghosts want him as a servant, but because of his young age, he does not understand the full extent of what this means. Despite feeling scared, the narrator’s curiosity pushes him to further explore the ghost world. However, after he lives in the bush of ghosts for several years, he begins to identify himself solely as an earthly person, or human. His desire that his son act “as a full earthly person” just like the narrator implies that the narrator prioritizes this identity over the ghostly aspects of his life (127). Far removed from his hometown and family, the narrator holds on to the human part of himself as he hopes to return home. However, towards the end of the novel, the narrator begins to identify as a “full ghost,” though reminders of his family force him to prioritize his human identity. As the narrative progresses, the narrator struggles to discover his sense of self amidst the ghosts because he cannot fully identify with them despite his attempts to do so. At the end of the novel, the narrator finds solace once he is reunited with his brother and mother, but he still feels drawn to the bush of ghosts, revealing that the narrator has developed into a complex, multifaceted character who identifies with both worlds.
The Narrator’s Brother
Although the narrator’s brother does not have a consistent presence in the novel, he both catalyzes the plot and brings about its conclusion. His brother provides the narrator with the fruit that will eventually lead him to enter the bush of ghosts, and he is unknowingly the narrator’s savior at the end of the novel. As the eldest son in his family, the brother helps to maintain the family structure in their home. Even though both brothers are children at the beginning of the novel, the narrator notes that they “would be the rulers of [their] father’s house and also all his properties after his death” (1). The narrator foreshadows his brother’s eventual role in their household. His brother takes on a stereotypical “older brother” role when he attempts to carry the narrator to safety during the slave raid. However, the narrator also directly indicates that his brother is also a child and survival is a priority for both of them.
At the end of the novel, the brother is a successful farmer and enslaver himself. The narrator notes that the familiarity between brothers is lost, implying that they are separated from each other not just physically but emotionally and mentally as well. At the same time, the narrator comments that his brother’s voice is “the same as before” and that he still has the same small scar on his forehead (165). These identifiable features provide the space for the narrator to reconnect with his brother once he identifies himself. When his brother identifies the singing enslaved man as his brother, he reverts to the role of older brother rather than enslaver. He provides clothing, food, and other amenities to his brother, in keeping with his role of ruler of the house and provider for their family.
The Super-Lady
The Super-Lady serves as a mirror to the narrator. She solely exists in the bush of ghosts and takes on magical qualities despite being able to take on the appearance of an earthly woman. Although she chooses to appear as a beautiful woman, the ghostess’s identity is fluid and noncommittal as she can decide to appear in any physical form she chooses. This allows her to trick other ghosts and humans around her. Similarly to the narrator, her ability to change her appearance allows her to experiment with different identities just as the narrator attempts to discover his own sense of self in his consistently changing form. However, the Super-Lady can control her own appearance and form, whereas the narrator’s transformations are often unwanted.
The Super-Lady is an important character in the novel because she is both the narrator’s second ghost wife and his introduction to family life as an adult. She takes on the role of a mother and wife, which creates nuance in her character. Before she has their son, the Super-Lady serves the narrator, and she allows him to decide where they go and what they do, such as visiting Hopeless-town and going to her father’s town as well. However, as a mother, she asserts more dominance over the narrator, creating a divide between the couple due to their differences of opinion regarding their son. The Super-Lady is a round character because of her ability to emotionally adapt and respond to her environment. She also serves as a tool to help the narrator discover his sense of self as he enters adulthood and fatherhood.
Television-Handed Ghostess
The television-handed ghostess appears grotesque and miserable as she is covered in sores and constantly crying in pain. The narrator describes her as “crying bitterly and repeatedly as if someone was stabbing her with knives” (155). Right away, her character appears foreboding and mysterious, continuing the otherworldly and grotesque imagery of the bush of ghosts. She confuses the narrator, yet he also finds her intriguing because of her familiarity with him despite this being their first meeting. He also says that “she [is] almost covered with sores, even there was no single hair on her head, except sores with uncountable maggots which [are] dashing here and there on her body” (155). Again, Tutuola carries on the grotesque, unappealing imagery of the ghostess while also using the sores as a physical embodiment of the consequences people’s actions have on others. Her sores illustrate the imbalance created by the narrator, a human, entering a community and world that he was neither invited to nor belongs in, pointing to the theme of Colonialism and Its Consequences. As long as the narrator continues to exist in the ghost world, he disrupts the natural order of its inhabitants and causes the ghostess to suffer, though he is unaware of this. The image of her palm appearing “exactly as a television” creates a portal between the bush of ghosts and the earthly world (157). Through this portal, the television-handed ghost serves as a tool for the narrator to return home. However, he must also help the ghostess heal her sores to return home, which creates a symbiotic relationship between the characters. They both gain something they desire in return for helping the other one, rather than one benefiting and the other one losing.
