SECTION E - African Prose FACELESS - AMMA DARKO Comment on the significance of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Novel

In Amma Darko's Faceless, 'Sodom and Gomorrah' is the popular nickname for the sprawling slum beside the Agbogbloshie market in Accra where the homeless, the destitute and the criminal live. By borrowing the name of the two biblical cities destroyed for their wickedness, Darko loads the setting with meaning, making it central to the novel's social vision.

A symbol of moral and social decay. Just as the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah stood for sin and corruption, the slum in the novel embodies the moral collapse and neglect of a section of society. It is a place of prostitution, drug abuse, violence and lawlessness, where human dignity is trampled and the vulnerable are preyed upon.

The world of the abandoned street child. This underworld is the setting into which children like Fofo and her sister Baby T are cast when family and society fail them. It is here, in the shadow of Sodom and Gomorrah, that Baby T is exploited and murdered. The place thus represents the danger and destitution that await abandoned children.

An indictment of society. The name carries the novelist's judgement. The existence of such a settlement in the heart of the city is a standing accusation against a society that allows poverty, irresponsible parenthood and official indifference to breed such misery. It shows the gulf between the comfortable classes and the faceless poor.

Contrast and moral urgency. Set against the ordered lives of characters like Kabria and the work of MUTE, Sodom and Gomorrah dramatises the need for intervention and reform, giving the novel its moral urgency.

In conclusion, Sodom and Gomorrah is significant as both a literal slum and a powerful symbol. Through its biblical resonance Darko condemns social decay, exposes the plight of street children and calls the reader to confront the injustices the place represents.