Theory question 203
Other Set Texts: African ProseLiterature 3, Section A. Ayi Kwei Armah: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
Discuss the character and role of Koomson in the novel.
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Joseph Koomson was once a dock worker and the man's schoolmate; he becomes a government Minister and party man.
He is corrupt, greedy, materialistic: big car, rich house, foreign goods.
He is vain and contemptuous of the poor, though he came from them.
He lures the man's family into a boat deal; Oyo and her mother admire his wealth.
When the coup comes he is a coward: he hides in the man's house and escapes through the latrine hole, then by boat.
Role: he is the symbol of the rotten, corrupt leadership of the new nation and the contrast to the honest man.
His fall shows the emptiness of corrupt wealth.
Cover both character and role.