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Why Do I Fast?: Khadija Begum 20MAEN016HY

Wole Soyinka is a renowned Nigerian writer and activist who was imprisoned for 22 months for criticizing the dictatorship government. This essay describes his experience fasting while in solitary confinement in prison. Over the 11 days of fasting, he describes the physical toll it takes on his body but also how it provides spiritual transcendence. Fasting becomes a means for him to mentally detach from his physical suffering and strengthen his political beliefs through willpower alone.

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935 views

Why Do I Fast?: Khadija Begum 20MAEN016HY

Wole Soyinka is a renowned Nigerian writer and activist who was imprisoned for 22 months for criticizing the dictatorship government. This essay describes his experience fasting while in solitary confinement in prison. Over the 11 days of fasting, he describes the physical toll it takes on his body but also how it provides spiritual transcendence. Fasting becomes a means for him to mentally detach from his physical suffering and strengthen his political beliefs through willpower alone.

Uploaded by

Joya a
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Why Do I fast?

KHADIJA BEGUM
20MAEN016HY
Overview
• Author
• Background
• Summary
• Themes
• Conclusion
• References
Who is Wole Soyinka?
• Akonwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka was born in Western Nigeria.

• Education: After graduating from the University of Leeds, Wole


Soyinka continued to study for a master’s degree while writing plays
drawing on his Yorùbá heritage.

• Professional Life: He began his writing career with plays for a local
radio. He went to become an essayist, poet and a novelist as well. In
1986, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Other works
include, The Lion and The Jewel, A Dance in the Forest, The Road and
so on.

• Political Life: He was very active member of the civil body. Soyinka
held strong criticism for the British rule over Nigeria and for the
military dictatorship that replaced the British.
• He was an uncompromising critic of corruption and oppression.
Background to the Essay
• Nigerian federal troops had imprisoned Soyinka on false charges of treachery. From his prison
cell, he wrote a letter asserting his innocence and protesting his unlawful detention. When the
letter appeared in the foreign press, he was placed in solitary confinement for 22 months.

• Though denied pen and paper, Soyinka managed to write and improvise his skill in jail.

• By the end of 1969, the war was virtually over and soon Soyinka was released as well.

• His prison memoir, The Man Died, was published in 1972, from which the present essay, Why
Do I Fast?, is taken from.
Analyses of the Title
• Reflect Perspective

• Why in the form of a question? Dilemma or the

answer?

• The Necessity

• Fasting as a Frame of Mind


Summary
• Why do I fast? Reverie… indicates time
• Difference between will power and self – indulgence
• The first three days of fasting: death by freezing
• Fourth day of fasting: Cravings are at a high… Choice
• What else happens when you fast?
Achieve transcendence
Watch yourself waste away
Hallucinate
• Write: Poem
• The eleventh day of fasting: nothingness
Themes
• Socio-political undertones
• Pleasure and pain
“For I suspect that is truly the sensual that can take to
fasting.”

• Search for peace


• Strength of will power and beliefs
• Isolation
• Self and universe
Conclusion
• Writes about fasting while in prison.
• Seeks conflict resolution.
• Socio-political reasons dismissed in the beginning but the undertones remain.
Superficial reading would suggest it is about how to fast rather than the why of it.
• Writing Style: Satirical and invokes feelings that are spiritual, philosophical, tragic

• Hermit, Grand Seer analogy


• Fasting: Strength to stick with your believes and principles
You begin to derive energy from what you believe even when you face bodily
harm: pleasure from waning body almost as if he is sustained by nothing
References
• https://achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/

• https://studentshare.org/social-science/1513671-
stylistic-essay
Thank you!
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

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