Essay About Focus Of The Short Story And Story Focuses

Veronica – Adewale Maja-Pearce
Veronica — Adewale Maja-Pearce
Context
Adewale Maja-Pearce lives in Lagos, Nigeria, where he runs Yemaja, an editorial services
agency. His latest book is Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa and Other Essays. He is well-known
as someone who documents the problems and struggles of the Nigerian people.
Summary
The focus of the short story is the contrasting experiences of young Africans, one male and one
female, in the second half of the twentieth century in African society. The story focuses
especially on the constraints that confine Veronica to a life of poverty surrounded by violence
and brutality, comparing her lot (to an extent self-appointed, since she declines invitations to
escape from the villages squalor) to the life of opportunity accessible to Okeke through
education, travel and a taste of city life and luxury.
Language and ideas
The story is rich in imagery which explores both the contrasting lifestyles of city and
countryside and the imprisonment and resignation of Veronicas existence. Okeke is an
intelligent and partly sympathetic observer, drawn powerfully back, on an emotional level, to the
society he has left for better things, and aware that there is an eternal current flowing through
the villagers lives.
The story benefits from an approach which draws students into its fabric