AFRICAN PROSE ISIDORE OKPEWHO: The Last Duty In what ways does Toje contribute to Oshevire's tragedy?

Answer Details

In Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty, Oshevire is the tragic figure whose ruin the novel traces, and Toje Onovwakpo is the chief architect of that ruin. Driven by envy, business rivalry and lust for Oshevire's wife, Toje exploits the confusion of the war to destroy an innocent man.

Toje engineers the false accusation. The tragedy begins with a lie for which Toje is responsible. Oshevire, a Simba man loyal to his community, is falsely accused of collaborating with the enemy during the civil conflict. Toje, a leading citizen and Oshevire's business rival in the rubber trade, is behind the fabricated charge. By having Oshevire branded a saboteur and imprisoned, Toje removes his commercial competitor and clears the way for his own designs. Oshevire's long, unjust detention, the root of his suffering, is thus Toje's doing.

Toje's motive of commercial rivalry. Toje's envy of Oshevire's success in business is a powerful motive. With Oshevire out of the way, Toje hopes to dominate the local rubber trade. His pursuit of wealth and influence makes him willing to sacrifice an innocent man, and this greed directly prolongs Oshevire's imprisonment and the destruction of his livelihood.

Toje's designs on Aku. Toje also lusts after Oshevire's beautiful wife, Aku. Under the pretence of protecting and providing for her while her husband is in detention, he attaches himself to the vulnerable, isolated woman and seeks to possess her. His scheming exploitation of Aku's helplessness, and the involvement of Odibo in the household, poisons Oshevire's home and honour. The threat to Aku's fidelity and the shame it brings deepen the family's tragedy.

The wider ruin Toje causes. Because of Toje's machinations, the whole Oshevire family is shattered. Oshevire languishes wrongly imprisoned, Aku is left exposed and compromised, and their young son Oghenovo grows up in a broken, fearful home. The tragedy that finally engulfs the family, ending in violence and death, flows from the situation Toje created for his selfish ends.

Conclusion. Toje contributes to Oshevire's tragedy by fabricating the treason charge that imprisons him, by pursuing the business rivalry that motivates his cruelty, and by preying on the defenceless Aku. Okpewho presents Toje as the self-seeking villain whose envy and lust turn the chaos of war into the destruction of an innocent man and his family.