Title:   THE DIALECTIC OF VIOLENCE: RETHINKING ARMED ROBBERYIN FEMI OSOFISAN’S ONCE UPON FOUR ROBBERS

The interaction of various dynamics which determine a society’s socio-economic reality is always affirmed by the inevitable forces of demand and supply. However, observable dialectic of these socio-economic dynamics portrays lop-sidedness in the distribution of wealth in favour of a category of citizens to the exclusion or disadvantage of another set of citizens. Through this kind of pervasive polarity, violence is enunciated within the underclass who feels alienated, deprived, and exploited. In response, the underclass reciprocates violence with brutal violence by plundering social spaces, partaking in the collective patrimony through banditry and brigandage. This paper argues that, to a good degree, armed robbery, banditry, and sundry acts of violence are caused, maintained, and sustained by contemporary social forces subliminally upheld by the government of the day. Femi Osofisan’s play, Once Upon Four Robbers dramatizes the activities of four armed robbers who, in reaction to neglect by the subsisting power apparatus, unleash mayhem on society. The play provides a suitable platform for a critical exegesis of the socio-economic interplay that gives rise to violence which subsumes multiple vices. The attention of the public and the government is called to their remote complicities in the enthronement of violence. In this way, contact is made, awareness is created, and the general perception of violence is realigned.

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Publication Date: 2020-12-04