Poverty and Exploitation: Iyayi's Social Realism in Violence andHeroes

Abstract

Festus Iyayi deploys his artistic and creative idiosyncrasies to unravel social tensions such as poverty and exploitation in his native Nigeria. In addition, he identifies deteriorating aspects of Nigerian society and prescribes a panacea for class reordering. However, while interpreting his two novels Violence(1979) and Heroes(1986), some scholars overlook the upper-class echelon, exonerating them from the misery of poverty and exploitation which they inflict on the poor masses. Through the social realistic medium anchored on the Marxist theoretical framework, this study extends the frontiers of interpretation by demonstrating that poverty and exploitation are caused, sustained, and maintained by the wealthy, privileged, government, capitalist class who exploit the poor masses. The excruciating poverty in Violenceis a direct consequence of government’s failure and corruption among the upper-class. The exploitation and carnage in Heroesare avoidable, soul-wrenching disaster caused by the ruling military class who use poor, ignorant soldiers to advance their inordinate ambitions. In this way, Iyayi’s novels serve as a symbolic, primal penetration into social fabric which uncovers the extreme dimensions of capitalism and its degradingcomplexion. Thus, the novelist uses the two novels to nourish his social realistic predilection proving that literature can be a source of social awakening, renaissance, and renewal.