AFRICAN DRAMA JOE DE GRAFT: Sons and Daughters Examine the major conflicts in the play.

Answer Details

Joe de Graft's Sons and Daughters is built upon a series of interlocking conflicts that dramatise the tensions within a Ghanaian family and, more broadly, between generations and value systems. These conflicts drive the plot and carry the play's central concerns about parental control, personal freedom and the worth of the arts.

Conflict over career and vocation. The principal conflict is between James Ofosu, the father, and his children over their choice of careers. Ofosu, an ambitious and well-meaning parent, wants his children to become respectable professionals such as lawyers, engineers and doctors. His children, however, are drawn to the arts: George longs to be a painter and Maanan to be a dancer. This clash between practical, money-minded ambition and artistic aspiration is the backbone of the play.

Generational conflict. Bound up with the career dispute is a wider conflict between the older and younger generations. The parents believe they know what is best and expect obedience, while the children assert their right to choose their own paths. The play questions how far parents should impose their will on their offspring and champions the young people's desire for self-determination.

Conflict between the arts and materialism. On the level of ideas, the play stages a conflict between a materialistic view of success, which values only lucrative, prestigious professions, and a belief in the dignity and value of artistic vocations. De Graft uses the family quarrel to argue that painting and dancing are worthy callings, not idle or shameful pursuits.

Conflict introduced by Lawyer Bonu. An external conflict is generated by the scheming Lawyer Bonu, a false friend who covets Ofosu's property and manipulates events for his own gain. His treachery, especially during Ofosu's absence, threatens the family and sharpens the drama, setting greed and dishonesty against family loyalty.

Internal and moral conflict. There is also inner conflict, particularly for the mother, Hannah, who is torn between loyalty to her husband's wishes and sympathy for her children's dreams. This divided loyalty adds emotional depth to the play's web of tensions.

Significance. Through these conflicts, de Graft explores the proper relationship between parents and children, the freedom of the individual to choose a vocation, and the value of the arts in society. The eventual movement towards understanding suggests the possibility of reconciling authority with freedom.

In conclusion, the major conflicts in Sons and Daughters, over careers, between generations, between materialism and the arts, and the treachery of Lawyer Bonu, together shape the play's action and express its central themes of parental control and personal freedom.