The Plantation

The story begins with a description of nature and ends with nature triumphant, suggesting that the main conflict in “The Plantation” is between nature and civilization. Secondary conflicts and issues revolve around this primary conflict. The story avoids easy categorization of traditional people as noble or those from the city as corrupt. In the fields of the plantation, the corrupt nature of all of humankind leads to death. By the end of the story, Ochuko is the only known survivor of the characters that are named.

This conflict between nature and civilization is introduced in the first lines of “The Plantation.” Adagha writes, “The Plantation grew from the moist underbelly of the Jesse Swamps. That place where a luxuriant mesh of greenery blocked away the sun and surrounded everything in sight” (76). From the beginning, these images of a nature that is uncontrollable define the narrative. Although the signs of human civilization can be seen in the Jesse Swamps, nature is described as both magical and triumphant: “The plantation seemed to glow with a curious mysteriousness which followed him about as he moved abstractedly, slashing at the banners of plant-leaves that heaved across his path, his face a picture of dark brooding” (76).

Soon, Namidi notices both a foreign smell and an odd sound, and he recognizes that the pipeline under his farm is leaking. This liquid, which is first described almost like a fountain of water, is instead something destructive. Throughout “The Plantation,” oil and gas become metaphors for the corrosive effect of colonization and the chaos that ensues in Nigeria following the collapse of colonial rule in 1960 and the near-contemporary discovery of oil. Oil and the gasoline that is refined from it reinforce the fact that foreign elements have corrupted Nigeria, but also that, like the plantation, the villagers themselves present fertile ground for that corruption to grow.

“The Plantation” shows first the danger of these outside influences and elements, even as they are desired by the villagers. The establishment of a missionary school two years before the action of the story is one such example. While nominally a positive development, Namidi is driven to the theft of gasoline and the endangering of his family because he can’t afford the school for his son, Ochuko. His shame at not being able to afford to send Ochuko there compels Namidi to return to the leak and collect gas.

During Namidi’s third trip, he and his family encounter Jackson, the village gossip. Jackson’s questions highlight Namidi’s poverty and help uncover the leak that Namidi hopes will improve his economic station. Namidi’s fears about human nature prove all too warranted. Jackson’s interactions with Namidi make certain that the villagers all know about the opportunity for wealth. Rather than support each other, each of them battles for their individual reward. The narrator says, “Fishermen, artisans, farmers, and women abandoned their wares and swarmed to the plantation” (82). Namidi’s pessimistic view of the villagers is vindicated as schools, markets, and fields are deserted.

This discussion of human nature is connected to larger themes of nature and its conflict with human agency. The characterization of these villagers reinforces the importance of nature to the story—the narrator describes the villagers as a “ceaseless mania of sucking, the avid thirst of animals long deprived of nurturing milk” (82). The villagers in their poverty are likened to animals who lack milk and nourishment. In this description, Adagha makes clear that the villagers, being denied for so long, have lost touch with their own humanity.

To reinforce that the plantation symbolizes nature and its supremacy over the agency of humans, the narrator describes the imperviousness of the plantation to the gasoline flowing out of the pipeline. The plantation absorbs the animal-like behavior and conflict of the villagers, but not the petrol, “which was resisted and only allowed to brim over the soil surface” (82). Ochuko and Onome, like the plantation, are immune to the effects of gasoline and its promise of wealth. Tasked with guarding his family’s possessions, Ochuko can only enjoy his innocence and pretend to be a soldier until Mama Efe’s prophetic visions become reality.

The fire that ravages the plantation and decimates the village might destroy some of the natural beauty of the plantation, as Namidi’s “emblem of life” becomes a field of death (76). But, despite its unnatural origin and man-made fuel, the fire renews nature and shows its strength. Hiding under his mother’s bed, Ochuko finds a womb-like enclosure, finding strength in the relationship with his mother. But the lack of people and the extinguishing of Mama Efe’s lamp means that the hut returns to a more natural state.

Despite the furniture, earthenware pots, and thatched roof of the hut, ants crawl across Ochuko’s back and rats take advantage of the silence and the darkness. Ochuko waits for his family, but the explosion proves too potent, and the silence of the night is interminable. It is only broken by the sounds of birds announcing the coming of the morning. This village, “no more than a clearing in the jungle” (78), has returned to its own “emblem of life” (76), teeming with animals like ants, birds, and rats.