LIT/A/2: THE FLOODS By John Ruganda

PLOT SUMMARY

The floods’ is a drama divided into three parts, defined as waves.
The first wave is an introductory part, where we get to know the characters. The play starts with an announcement over the radio that there will be floods soon enough, so the people were being advised to run to the rescue boat to be safe. The headman who is in charge of the island and the rescue operation play a role of an abusive leader. He roughs up people and forbids them from carrying along their properties and he also snatches away some of their goods. Bwogo who is the protagonist uses his position to dupe the inhabitants of the island. In this wave we also meet Kyeyune, a farmer, fisherman and survivor of the violent regime who dismisses the allegation made about the impending floods and warns that the rescue boat is actually posed to sink.

In the second wave, we meet Bwogo, a powerful man who participated in Amin’s violent regime, and Nankya who is also a survivor of this violence committed against them. Kyeyune and Nankya narrate their experience of violence against them by the state. Kyeyune through flashback recounts how while fishing in the lake ended fishing the body of the Major General who was murdered and dumped in the lake.
Nankya also narrates how her mother was roughed up and raped by four military men. The central focus of this wave is the violence of the state against the citizens recounted through the characters’ experience.
There are instances of physical and verbal violence where Bwogo uses his position to intimidate Nankya and Kyeyune.

In the final wave Kyeyune provides an explanation to the cause and reason for the violence meted out against the people. He attributes it to a myth where a sea goddess, Nalubale, was violated and raped by a greedy man, Nyangodhe. The killings and disappearance of people according to Kyeyune, is because of the goddess’ anger and desire to revenge. The play comes to an end with the demonstration of justice through the arrest of Bwogo by the police.

CHARACTERS/CHARACTERISATION

Headman
He is the one calling the people to board the ill fated rescue boat. He is;
Determined
He is determined to get the people to the boat. He does not get tired of alerting the people everywhere and calling upon them to enter the boat. (pg 1-14)
Rough
He does not care for the old Kyeyune health. He tries to forcefully push him in to the boat.(pg 9)
Abusive
He abuses the two boys who were fighting with their luggage in stead of boarding the boat.
(pg 2) he tells them that they are miserablemackerels
Impatient
He gets impatient with Kyeyune’s many questions and use of parables and when he delays to get into the boat that he tries to drag him to the boat. He praises the two boys for obeying his orders, but later on gets impatient with them and hurls insults at them when they start fighting in stead of getting into the boat
Inconsiderate
He does not want to listen to the fisherman’s pleas concerning his mother. He refuses the fish to be carried into the boat, even though it was the only source of food left for the poor family. He even goes on to help himself on the fish without the owners consent.
His role
He is a symbol of unjust leadership style in Africa. He suffices as an uncouth leader, one who is insensitive to other human beings
Kyeyune
Superstitious
He thinks that the red cloth in his luggage was the one that triggered the flash of lighting.
He thinks that if he goes back to the see the ghost of the dead soldier that he saw dead will haunt him pg 11
Skillful
When the headman tires to force him into the boat, he skillfully, traps him with the net. He says that the villagers even composed songs to praise his fishing skills
Wise/clever/sensitive.
He is wise enough to sense mischief in the way the radio was announcing the impending floods. For that matter, he does not rush into the boat, thus saving his soul.
Courageous
He summons courage and faces Bwogo (pg 11) and asks him if he (Bwogo) was a discipline of the ogre (boss) he tells Bwogo that underneath the jacket was a terrible hand of death (pistol)
He tells Bwogo that together with the government they have finished all men on that island and that if they were looking for more, then there were no more remaining. He fearlessly highlights the evils that the government under boss had committed against the people. He squarely blames Boss for all these.
Prayerful
This is seen when Bwogo points a pistol and shoots at him, luckily missing the target. He also prays when there is a flash of lightening
His role
He is a representation of the common man who was the victim of the atrocities committed by the government. We see how inconsiderate the government was with the people, and the extend to which they made the people suffer.

Bwogo
He is the antagonist /villain in the play.
Witty
When kyeyune blames him for the people’s miseries, he pretends that he was not aware of the problems.
He is the chairman of the S.R.B boys who kill the masses, yet he still claims not to know anything about the killings. (pg 11-13)
He pretends to care about nankya’s whereabouts while in real sense he planned for her aborted death.
Inhumane
Bwogo is the one in charge of the operation that is aimed at killing people. He does not have any ounce of love and care for a brother. He cares less for others but him. This is why he has no problem killing people in large numbers.
Vulgar
On page 20, he talks of secretaries who misbehaving in offices on the Afghanistan carpets, secretaries gapping at the ceiling, afraid to stake their shilling as they are hurriedly filled, and then they pick up their garments and hurry to their rented rooms.
On page 93, he tells Nankya to move the hips so that they can tantalize men and send their hands diving into the depth of their pockets
Violent
He slaps Nankya on page 33 when Nankya confronted him about the man he killed then lied that he was a wanted criminal on the newspapers.
On page 36, he pounces on Nankya warning to beat her up, and when kyeyune enters, he draws a pistol and shoots at him.
He attacks Nankya under the pretence of madness so as to silence her over her nagging about the truth (pg 69-69)
Scheming
He is the leader of the SRB. He plans all the killings that are going on in the island and the country as a whole, but pretends not to know anything
He schemes together with the SRB boys to spray bullets on the people in the boat, which he himself brought. He then goes on to deny knowledge of the whole operation and squarely blames the military.
We are made to understand that Bwogo was the mind behind the lie of the floods that would come to kill the people. He had bribed the radio, television as well as the metrological department to spread the lies
His role
Bwogo is a perfect example of the ambitious callous leaders who would go to any lengths in order to get what they want. They will even kill in order to get what they want. He represents corrupt and obnoxious leaders who will care for nothing but their well being, even if it meant killing other people.
Nankya Elizabeth
She suffices as the protagonist in the play
Nagging
She insists on nagging Bwogo about his mistakes. She nags Bwogo about the killings that he committed
On page 69, Bwogo complains that she is nagging.
Courageous
She confronts Bwogo about all the evils that he had committed fearlessly. Despite the fact that Bwogo slaps her, she still is adamant to probe him. She confronts him about the guerillas killers who killed the citizens.
Hardworking
Though she came from a poor background, Nankya struggles so much to the extend of getting a doctorate degree and becomes a lecturer.
Intelligent
She knows that the whole idea about floods was a coax thus she does not die. She knew the reason as to why the whole plan was executed in the first place; to kill her
She even accuses Bwogo of giving the orders to the boys to kill the mass.
Her role
She is the voice of reason. Through her we see someone who applies reasoning and intelligence to face situations, no matter how hard. We see a courage and determination in her fight against the evil. She fights till the bitter end where she survives. She is a symbol of hope and restoration, a figure of one who is not easily cowered by the storm.

THEMES

OPPRESSION/CRUELTY
Oppression is a very conspicuous theme in this book. The citizens are severely oppressed by the government. They are underfed, unclothed, abused, whipped, raped and even killed. Through the dialogue between Bwogo and Nankya, we are meant to know that men have been deprived of the land that they fought for and the mercenaries are being used to terrorize the populace. Bwogo, who is the agent of the oppressive government, gives orders to the state research bureau to kill the citizens in large numbers. If anybody dared to cross the path of the government, they are then silenced and thrown into the lake.
Nankya says that the island is barricaded with blood, the lake is bubbling with blood like cauldron and the main land is choking of it. All these are signs of the killings that were going on in Uganda, at an alarming rate for that matter. Another instance occurs at the international hotel where an innocent mans life is taken away through Bwogo’s orders. Reasons: the man was dancing with Nankya, whom Bwogo was interested in. the news papers reported that it was a case of the most wanted criminal. This shows the heightened oppression that the people of Uganda had to deal with coming from their government. The government controlled virtually every sector of  the land. They were slaves in their own motherland, even after fighting for ‘uhuru’
Kyambade is innocently killed. What do the papers have to report? He is an agitator paid by the guerillas to incite the masses against the government. Nowhere was safe. Men are carelessly arrested of false charges, as was the case with Ssalongo, a humble Christian who is brutally arrested on allegations that he was carrying on dubious trade with dangerous men. He is later on shot dead, why? He was accused of trying to escape. The inhumane nature of this government had no boundaries. Killing people was a joke to the government. They killed for their own conveniences. They cared less for the human life of the ‘insignificants’
African masters are manner less and they end up mistreating their employees. Nankya’s mother is forced to resign as an aya for the simple reason that she could not tolerate her boss who through her inner cloths which were dirty and her menstrual gear all over the house for her( nankya’s mother) to clean the mess. Bwogo’s father underpays her (seventy shillings a month), though is a very hard working woman on her job. This meager salary can hardly sustain her, let alone the two of then together. Bwogo father knows this but in stead chooses not to care in the simplest way, by adding her some few coins on top. He acts as if he does not have feelings. When nankya’s granny passes on, it is natural that the poor rings, Nankya will mourn her. We expect Bwogo’s father to understand this. On three contrary, he insists that he does not want noise, forcing nankya’s mother to slap Nankya when ever she mourned her grandmother.
The government uses the radio to lie to the people about the impeding floods. They are lured into getting in to the rescue boats which are to take them to a safer place. Given the position of the government, they are supposed to know that the masses look up to them for guidance and leadership and that they will do as told. The government then takes advantage of this fact and lies to them. The sole purpose was for Nankya and her mother to die in the rescue boat. Since they survive, the rest of the people are unlucky and get sprayed on with bullets from the S. R.B boys. This is a veyr callous act on the side of the government, and only proves the heights of the oppression and brutalitry that had rocked Uganda under amen’s regime.

DRAMATIC/NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES/STYLE

Just like any other prolific writer, Ruganda employs the use of styles in his work, ‘the floods’, which helps to convey some important information which is disguised, especially given the circumstances under which the book was written. He has also used some styles in order to get the readers glued to book, through arousing curiosity and interest in the literary sense. Consequently, this paper tries to evaluate some of these techniques that make the floods stand out as a masterpiece, the way it has, as well as trying to introspect and see what circumstances and why Ruganda decided to use these styles.

Symbolism
Many a times, writers have resolved not to directly address the subjects of their works, especially if the subjects are real people. This they do to avoid confrontations, as well as give the readers some food for the thought. Ruganda was in an environment that was not conducive for him to address the plights of Ugandans. Doing so was like signing his own death warrant. For this reason, he had to be creative as well as discrete so as to avoid directly referring to the Amin government, which was the subject of his criticism anyway in the floods. He uses symbolism as an avenue to put across his thematic concerns. Characters in the plays do not only speak for themselves but represent and symbolize real characters that we can make reference to in real life. Ruganda uses the old weak characters to represent the oppressed masses while characters that represent power are presented as strong and soldier like to speak about how violence operates within situations of power imbalances.

The title of the book is relevant to the study of this book. W did the author decide to use the title that ‘The floods’? To answer this question, we shall first look at the literal meaning of the term floods. From our background information, we know what happens when there is too much rain, to the extend of being in excess. Floods do follow such scenarios. Though rainfall is a sign of life, and blessing from the Old Boy above, too much of it is catastrophic. It causes death and havoc to the people. All those who had high hopes despair and die in agony.
In the same sense, idi Amin came into power at a time when Uganda wanted a real leader who would live up to their expectations. They wanted someone who was true and would respond to their problems. They wanted a real leader, one who would take them to their ‘promised land.’
They thought that Amin would be the right man for the errand. When he takes the office, Amin shows his true colors. He turns out to be an ingrate starts persecuting his country men. This he does without remorse or reservations for anything. Many people die, in large magnitudes. The deaths are compared to the real floods because the people killed were quite many to the extend of one not being able to count them literarily. Atrocities committed against the people of Uganda are also as big as floods. Ruganda successfully uses this title to create the mental picture of the magnitude of the violence and death in Uganda, committed by the then government. The readers through their background knowledge of floods are able to relate the magnitude as well as the effects of floods in their analysis of this book. Through this way they are able to clearly discern the different plight of the Ugandans as they are being subjected to torture. Since the floods depicted life under the dictatorship of Amin, directly criticizing the government meant one thing: death. For this, Ruganda used symbolic characters to avoid direct confrontation which would have been nasty, and probably he would have been silenced. This is why characters like Bwogo and boss are used. They represent the oppressing government and its atrocities. This style helped his coat his message to avoid being sent early to his grave, as was the consequence for any pair of eyes that looked at government activities in a manner likely to suggest suspicion.

Dialogue
This is the act of characters talking in works of fiction. The conversations that do take place resemble real communication in real life. It has such features as false starts, hesitation, held syllables, intonations and hyperboles. These features contribute greatly to what constitutes realism. This style is usually very effective in a piece of literature as it helps adversely in highlighting some of the major themes, styles used, characterization and development of the plot in literature. It is one of the most commonly used style, and the prime style for that matter in drama.
As the drama begins, we are treated to a dialogue between the Headman and Kyeyune. This is after the Headman’s call for people to get to the boat hurriedly, as the storm was about to pound. This helps build on the plot of the story, as we are able to know the events of what is about to happen,
….The floods are coming, I tell her, that’s what the radio says…pg4.
In the above conversation between headman and Kyeyune, we get to know that people are actually supposed to move, because the floods are just about to hit. This is relevant to the development of the plot in the drama.
It is also through the dialogue between Bwogo and Kyeyune that we get to know Bwogo as an arrogant proud scan, one who has no respect for elders. When Kyeyune appears on page 37, Bwogo is reckless enough to shoot at him without a care in the world. All he cares for is his safety even if it means killing another human being. Even after he shoots at him he doesn’t care if Kyeyune is hurt or not. He even refers to him as being a madman.
This style has also led to revelation of some of the main ideas of the book.
… Mothers clinging onto their babies and fathers shielding off volleys of bullets
from their children…page39
… That he was run over by a tractor. And didn’t all of us see them dragging him hut-or have you forgotten… page 8-9
These are clear indications of the volatile violence that had crippled Uganda right in the middle.
The inhumane nature of the rulers and military men is being exposed through this dialogue.

Simile
It is an imagery used to show comparison indirectly. On page 47, Nankya uses this style to describe the way the floods were coming to get Bwogo
…. As patient as death… As sure as silence, the final silence…
The simile was used to describe the majestic way in which the floods were walking.
Use of vernacular
. This entails using local a dialect by a character in a play. It usually emphasizes a point or states the setting of the play. in the play, we see on page 9 the application of this style where kyeyune says,
…where the empuuta abound…
Empuuta is an example of a local dialect in Uganda. Ruganda uses this style to emphasize on the setting of the play.