AFRICAN DRAMA KOBINA SEKYI: The Blinkards. Consider Barrister Onyimdze as a defender of African culture.

Answer Details

In Kobina Sekyi's The Blinkards, Barrister Onyimdze stands out as the play's chief spokesman for African culture and its most consistent defender against the mania for European imitation. Though he is Western-educated, he uses his learning to affirm rather than despise his heritage, and Sekyi presents him as the voice of reason amid the folly around him.

He is educated yet culturally loyal. Onyimdze has trained as a barrister in England, so no one can accuse him of ignorance of European ways. Precisely because he knows both worlds, his preference for African identity carries weight. He proves that a man may be thoroughly educated in the Western sense and still remain proud of his own people.

He champions African custom and dress. Unlike the Borofosems, who ape English manners, Onyimdze respects and upholds traditional customs, dress and values. He refuses to treat African culture as inferior and demonstrates that native ways are worthy of dignity and preservation.

He defends the vernacular. Against the fashionable insistence on speaking English, even badly, Onyimdze respects the value of the mother tongue and mocks the affectation of those who despise their own language. He sees language as a carrier of identity that ought not to be surrendered.

He is the voice of reason and satire's mouthpiece. Onyimdze functions as the play's raisonneur. Through his sensible comments and dry wit he exposes the absurdity of the "blinkards" who have been dazzled into cultural blindness. He articulates Sekyi's own nationalist argument that blind imitation is folly.

He advocates balance, not rejection. Importantly, Onyimdze does not reject everything European; he is no reactionary. He advocates a sensible synthesis, keeping what is genuinely good in Western learning while remaining rooted in African identity. This moderation makes his defence of culture credible rather than mere prejudice.

In conclusion, Barrister Onyimdze defends African culture by combining Western education with cultural pride, upholding custom and language, exposing the folly of imitation, and advocating a balanced identity. He embodies Sekyi's ideal of the self-respecting African and is the moral centre of the play.