A study on Okot pBiteks works Song of Lawino and Song...

Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol ï ¿ ½ PAGE * MERGEFORMAT ï ¿ ½1ï ¿ ½ Okot pBitek worked as anthropologist, poet, novelist an even footballer which led him to go and being educated in England on law and anthropology and later literature. He differed himself from other African writers who wrote in western styles and in western point of view. He has chosen an African tool to express himself, a tool associated with oral tradition of Africa. He called it song. He published his works in Acoli language however upon requested to translate them into English in one of his conferences, he translated his most famous works The Song of Lawino and The Song of Ocol into English. There is an important point here which should be mentioned. He said after†¦show more content†¦Those small elites did not have much sympathy for Africans living traditional life in their villages. When it was looked to the religious diversity after the withdrawing of British, some 34.5 percent of Uganda was Catholic, 28.2 percent Protestant, 5.6 percent Moslem and the remaining 31.7 traditional (Gale, 2008). After the colonial powers withdrawing, African countries chose capitalism. The system of democracy was intended to be built but nearly all ended with dictatorships and tyranny. Okot was one of the intellectual people of Africa saying all of the influence of Europeans must be thrown away completely and traditional culture must flourish in order for Africa to be independent and survive. He harshly criticized the teaching of western works in African universities. There are some controversial subjects in Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol depicting the sharp realities of Uganda after the withdrawing of colonial powers. Lawino is at fault as she cannot play a guitar and her mother is a witch, primitive according to Ocol. He regards them as sorcerers. Ocol says he is a modern man, A progressive and civilized man, He says he has read extensively and wisely And he can no longer live with a thing like me Who cannot distinguish between good and bad (Pbitek Horley, 1984, p. 36) There are