The Depiction of Corruption in the Beatyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
Corruption is one of the major themes in the post colonial literature in Africa. In the Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, this theme covers the entire book though not clearly stated. The author decided to use the symbols of filthy and rot to represent it. He gives advice to the people of Ghana and other nations about the causes and effects of corruption; he chose to use a special technique of hiding the names of the characters so that he does not conflict with government of the time. This essay therefore will look at the following characters the Bus driver, the conductor, the man, the teacher, the sleep seller, the shitman, the visitor and the allocation clerk. It will further show the significance of the names of characters in relation to the theme of corruption. Ackerman (1999:2) defines corruption as “A symbol that something has gone wrong in the management of the state, institutions designed to govern the interrelationship between the citizen and the state are for personal enrichment and the provision of benefits to the corrupt.” In the Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, this is shown clearly; the resources that are to be used for national interest are rather used by certain individuals. The driver of the old bus represents the leader of Ghana and the conductor the government officials. In the same manner the passengers give money to the conductors and the drivers for them to earn a living is similar to the politicians who are voted into power by the people. In the primary text the leaders are so much in a hurry to get rich very fast as a result they resort to corrupt practices. This assertion can be support by the utterances of the man`s wife when the she tries to advices him as it is stated in the primary text, “those who wanted to get far had to learn to drive fast, koomson had learnt to drive so faster.” The use of the word driving fast depicts accumulation of wealth fast not depending on the salary and that manner in which such wealth was accumulated
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