The Famished Road Analysis

When Azaro’s father drinks palm-wine, he reveals stark realities about all. In a conversation, he suggests Azaro how to control fear, tension, difficulties.

He ordered a gourd of palm-wine and kept teasing the woman who served him and who kept topping off my tiny glass. When Dad drank from his half calabash, I drank from my glass. It made Dad happy. He said:

‘Learn to drink, my son. A man must be able to hold his drink because drunkenness is sometimes necessary in this difficult life.’(42)

The conversation between Azaro and his Father replicates that they face countless problems .That is to say, poverty, political pressure, spirit world, internal issues which make them annoyed and enforce them to get addicted instantly. Through such instances,

The fact that narrator of the novel, Azaro is an abiku (spirit child) provides the basis for all of the supernatural phenomena in the novel. Furthermore, the Yoruba myth of abiku lends its cyclicality to the narrative structure”. (DEĞİRMENCİ, 223)

Ben Okri has deployed a first-person narration through Azaro, an abiku who lives on the border of a big unidentified city with his parents in The Famished Road. He has incorporated some stories which are part and parcel of African culture and tradition. Azaro narrates stories which consist mostly of his many activities and ventures in their deprived neighbourhood. Every now and then, Azaro contributes in adventures in the spirit world. Azaro is able to see another aspect of reality, he spends most of his time wandering around his geographical region, striding in the close forest, and passing time in Madame Koto’s bar. All in all he keenly perceives every nook and corner of the incidents which come across around his