RALLIES OF THE VOICELESS IN IDRIS MUSA OKPANACHI’S EATERS OF THE LIVING AND ENO GRACE NTA’S SELVES AT WAR

Abstract

This paper critically examines the predicament of the marginalized
in the 21st century. By interrogating the predicament of the masses,
this paper unravels the strength of the oppressed in the face of the
dwindling political misnomer. Through the theoretical strength of
Marxism, this paper lays bare the manner with which Okpanachi
and Nta strengthen the voices of the marginalized in wrestling
capitalism in the society. These poets encoded the plight of the
oppressed, the serial carnage and existential threats on humanity as
an elixir of the masses uprising. It is in this resilience and manner
with which the people speak that Mikhail Bakhtin describes
elsewhere as a “centrifugal force”. The assessment of the works of
Okpanachi and Nta show that whereas critical scholarship exists in
the poetry of most Nigerian poets, there is a noticeable lack of
substantial attention on the rallies of the voiceless in their poems.
This is why the drive of this paper is built around this critical gap in
scholarship. The paper concludes that the writers’ frown at the
vileness and depravity of a besmirched society and passionately
scream at a country besieged by negative forces; threatening the
peaceful coexistence of the masses and calls for a fundamental
interventionist approach to nip this evil in the bud.