[b]Religion as Social Reality in Elechi Amadi’s [/b]The Concubine
Elechi Amadi is a Nigerian educator, novelist and dramatist, writing in
English. Amadi has interpreted in such novels as The Concubine (1966),
The Great Ponds (1969), and The Slave (1978), the life and values of the
traditional village society. His stories often deal with people who try to
change their course of life but fail in it. Amadi's early novels, like
Chinua Achebe's, are set in his traditional African world, but they deal
with timeless societies which are not poisoned by the effects of
colonialism, rationalism, or modern change. Amadi's first novel, The
Concubine, was published in 1966, six years after Nigerian
independence.
The story was set in the area near Port Harcourt. It starts out as a
depiction of village life, its conflicts, ancient customs, and gods, but
then it proceeds into mythological level. Ihuoma is the most desirable
woman in Omigwe village and the tragic heroine, whose well-fed look
does a great credit to her husband. He dies, but she has won the heart of
the hunter Ekwueme. They deny their love so that Ekwueme can marry
another woman, to whom he has been betrothed since birth. At the end
Amadi reveals that Ihuoma is actually the wife of the Sea-King, the
ruling spirit of the sea, but she had assumed the human form.