Postcolonial transformations : the forest in Ben Okri's 'The Famished Road' (1991)

In 'The Famished Road' Ben Okri deals with the controversial effects of decolonisation in Nigeria and unfolds the devastating consequences of technological innovations on natural landscapes. The search of Okri’s main character, the abiku spirit Azaro, suggests an alternative to the greed fuelling the degradation of the soil of his country. Okri focuses on the ruthless enterprise of deforestation pursued by Western companies and exposes his nation’s inability to restore a sustainable harmony with the environment. The author of 'The Famished Road' also explores the ancestral links of the forest with Yoruba folklore and imagination. By identifying the various trees of Nigeria’s rainforest and pointing to their diversity and density, Okri pays homage to the richness of his earth’s vegetation. The horror of deforestation is rendered in human terms, because the forest is an animated creature. The ensuing crisis is not only ecological but also cultural, as the wood-cutters ignore the spiritual, communal and magical dimension of the forest, and the animist beliefs of indigenous people. In Okri’s 'The Famished Road', the forest acts as a reminder of the dying of both natural resources and spiritual life in postcolonial Nigeria.