The Famished Road Summary

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Ben Okri is one of the most acclaimed writers of contemporary Nigerian literature. Born in central Nigeria in 1959, Okri spent the first ten years of his life in London and returned to Nigeria in 1969 and lived in Lagos when the country was politically unbalanced because of the Nigerian Civil War that lasted from 1967 to 1970. Okri left for England second time in 1978 to study comparative literature at the University of Essex. After his graduation, Okri has written critically applauded poetry, short stories, and novels that focus on the experiences of contemporary Nigeria (Wilkinson 1992, 76). He left his African homeland in 1980 and moved to England where he has been living and writing for thirty years. From London, the writer has looked back …show more content…

The name Azaro is derived from the Biblical Lazarus. He died and after some days, Jesus arrived and raised him from the dead. In TFR Azaro, who was anticipated to die at birth and become a spirit, is incessantly hopping between the spiritual and physical world. He is attentive that the spirits are attracting him to enter their world; however, Azaro battles to discard them so he can live willingly with his mother and father in the physical world. Azaro stays on the outskirts of a town that is unnamed, but which is most likely Lagos roughly the period of independence. He finds shelter in the bar of Madam Koto, an affluent entrepreneur who considers that Azaro is lucky and will bring her destiny. She asks him to visit her place of business to entice customers. Madame Koto’s bar and the streets of the poor neighbourhood are the settings of some major confrontation between The Party of the Rich (to which she belongs) and the Party of the Poor. During a campaign, members of the Party of the Rich hand out polluted milk to the members of Azaro’s community. When Azaro’s father notices this, he makes aware the whole community. He even becomes the protector of the rights of the poor. After a particularly tough fight with a spirit, he spends three days on a sick bed, re-dreaming the

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