Fama: A pathetic desecrated prince or a disgruntled foot-soldier? Critical reflections on 'The Suns of Independence' of Ahmadou Kourouma

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Literature - Africa, grade: none, , course: Language and Litterature, language: English, abstract: This paper examines the character of Fama, the protagonist in The Suns of Independence of Ahmadou Kourouma, as an exact replica of a foot-soldier in contemporary Ghanaian socioeconomic and political development. In this regard, it draws a parallelism between the character of Fama and a foot-soldier and makes recommendations for the way forward in order to sustain socioeconomic and democratic development. Consequently, the study draws attention to issues relating to political fanaticism and their accompanying tragic disenchantment for unsuspecting self-seeking citizens in emerging multiparty democratic states in developing countries such as Ghana. In the light of the inherent dangers in self-seeking political activism as seen in the character of Fama, for that matter, in that of foot-soldiers, the study recommends steps that will help sanitize political activities and democratic practice in Ghana, and Africa as a whole.