13^th July 2012

“Graceland” by Chris Abani

Chris Abani. Graceland. New York: St Martin's Press, 2005.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Abani was born in Nigeria. At age sixteen he published his first novel, for which he suffered severe political persecution. He went into exile in 1991, and has since lived in England and the United States. His last book, Daphne's Lot, is a collection of poetry for which he won a 2003 Lannan Literary Fellowship. He is also the recipient of the PEN USA West Freedom to Write Award and the Prince Claus Award. Abani lives and teaches in Los Angeles. 

SUMMARY

Graceland is a postcolonial novel set in the sprawling city of Lagos, Nigeria and narrates the story of Elvis, a teenage Elvis impersonator hoping to make his way out of the ghetto.

Set in Maroko, a sprawling and swampy, bustling colourful ghetto of Lagos. The story follows Elvis Oke, a teenage school drop-out and Elvis impersonator who is determined to make it as a professional dancer. He applies thick makeup which turns his black skin white and wears a wig to transform himself into Elvis. However, he finds it hard to make a living as an impersonator, so mainly performs in front of American tourists to earn a few dollars.

As we read on we learn of his dissatisfaction with his life, particularly- the loss of his mother to cancer at an early age (which is told in flashbacks) and his father, Sunday’s downward spiral into alcoholism and unemployment, as a result. We further learn about Elvis’ tension with his ‘stepmother’, which is mostly down to Elvis’ broke state. As a result Elvis tries to peruse other jobs firstly as a labourer on a building site, then as a male escort to rich locals and tourists, then into drugs (as a cocaine packager) with his friend Redemption and even unknowingly into organ trafficking.

Spoiler* The story ends with Elvis using Redemptions passport to leave Nigeria for America: "Elvis stepped forward and spoke: 'Yes, this is Redemption'" (321).

CHARACTERS

Sunday

Sunday is Elvis’s alcoholic father. The father-son relationship between them is a love- hate relationship, strained by the fact that Elvis is ashamed of his father’s alcoholism and Sunday does not want a dancer as a son. When he finds Elvis dancing, he exclaims: “Ah, my son de useless dancer!” (80). It maybe interesting to further explore the tensions in Sunday and Elvis’ relationship.

Question: When Elvis confronts his father about his drinking they have an emotional conversation and Sunday tells him, “Everything for us fell apart when your mother died.” Do you think this quote is inspired by the title of Chinua Achebe’s classic novel about Nigeria’s transition to colonialism, Things Fall Apart?

Redemption

Redemption is Elvis’ best friend; he has a lot of criminal connections and dealings, which he inadvertently gets Elvis mixed –up in. It is Redemption that recognizes that Elvis is not cut out to survive in Lagos, which is why he passes his passport onto Elvis.

Question: Redemption says that the “States is de place where dreams come true, not like dis Lagos dat betray your dreams.” How does this statement define how Redemption and Elvis view America? Do they have an idealistic view of America?

King of the Beggars

The King of Beggars appears as a father-figure to Elvis. He takes Elvis under his wing, opening his eyes to new experiences and ideas as well as guiding him away from a criminal lifestyle. He is known as The King of Beggars because he begs, however his begging seems to be a political statement. He also travels and plays music all over Nigeria. In the end he is regarded as an iconic and revered figure. 

Question: Among Elvis’s acquaintances are the street hustling, Redemption and a self proclaimed King of all Beggars, the “icon for freedom and spiritual truth.” Who has Elvis’s best interests at heart? Whom does Elvis trust and why? Discuss the many influences in Elvis’s life.

Oye

Oye is Elvis’s no-nonsense grandmother. She is strong, caring and speaks in a Scottish accent, an accent which she picked up from missionaries.

Beatrice

Beatrice is Elvis’ mother who dies of cancer when he is very young. She loved Elvis Presley and so named her son after him. She also loved writing recipes in her journal, something which Elvis keeps to remember his mother. The recipes are scattered throughout the book. 

Question: What is the significance of the recipes scattered throughout the text?

THEMES

Theme 1:  Imported culture

The novel unfolds amidst a backdrop of lush reggae and highlife music, Nigerian tradition and American movies. Elvis is particularly influenced by the images of America he receives from American- Western films. The novel seems to highlight the Globalization of a world where you can get easy access to a lot of cultures. Elvis observes: “Lagos did have its fair share of rich people and fancy neighbourhoods, though, and since arriving he had found that one-third of the city seemed transplanted from the rich suburbs of the west. The were beautiful brownstones set in well- landscaped yards, sprawling Spanish-style haciendas in brilliant white and ochre, elegant Frank Lloyd Wright-styled buildings and cars that were new and foreign. Name it and Lagos had a copy of it, earning it the nickname “One Copy.” (8)

Question: At the start of the novel Elvis Oke works as an Elvis Presley impersonator where he is greeted by odd stares and given money to stop dancing and singing. What is the influence of Elvis Presley on Elvis Oke’s life? How is Elvis Presley symbolic of American dreams and culture? What is the role of American culture in the novel? What is the significance of the title? Where is Elvis Oke’s land of grace?

Theme 2:  Colonialism vs. The Preservation of Traditional Culture

Lagos is informed by colonial practices such as Christianity, which was established long ago. This notion also brings up the issue of the formation of culture and how it is viewed in relation to history. There are Christian signposts in the text for example: Elvis’ mother and her blue Bible, his father’s vials of holy water and Elvis is raped in a church. On the other hand there are signs that indicate that the Nigerian community is fighting a battle to preserve Nigerian customs, for example Elvis’ father takes Elvis to kill a bird so that he can become a man and Elvis’s mother writes down traditional Nigerian recipes. Elvis comments: “All these recipes, and yet nobody he knew cooked from recipes. That was something actors did on television and in the movies: white women with stiff clothes and crisp-looking aprons and perfect hair who never sweated as they ran around doing housework for the husbands they called "hon." (146)

Question: Why are recipes and ‘Kola Nut rituals’ included in the text? 

Theme 3: Masks & identity

When Elvis impersonates Elvis Presley he cakes his face in make-up to turn his black face white. He also tries wearing lipstick and eye-liner but doesn’t dare go out in public with lip-stick for fear of being beaten- up. His desire for makeup is much less to do with sexuality but more of a desire for constructed, controlled external identity. While wearing make-up he can transgress his existing identity and imagine new possibilities, new possibilities for transcending his national and ethnic divisions and spaces: “What if he had been born white, or even just American? Would his life be any different? Stupid, he thought. If Redemption knew about this, he would say Elvis was suffering from colonial mentality. He smiled. It spread across his face in fine tendrils that grew wider as he laughed until his skin showed through. I look like a hairless panda, he thought. Without understanding why, he began to cry through the cracked face powder” (78)

Theme 4: Names

The book gives us the impression that in Nigeria culture the name of a person is very important in dictating the character of that person. This is made apparent when Elvis’ father, Sunday and his uncle conspire to kill Elvis’s cousin in order to preserve their ‘good’ name.

The name given to a person is also very important: Elvis is named after Elvis Presley; Redemption gives Elvis the chance to redeem himself in America etc.

Question: Abani’s choices of names define “a culture where your name was selected with care by your family and given to you as a talisman.” Discuss the irony of the names chosen for some of the characters –i.e. Elvis, Sunday, Comfort, King of all Beggars, Innocent, and Redemption.

Theme 5: Masculinity

According to Igbo culture Elvis is on the road to becoming a man at the age of five when he is told to kill a bird. His father explains:  “Today, Elvis, you are going to kill your first eagle.” (18)/ “It is de first step into manhood for you. When you are older, de next step is to kill a goat, and den from dere we begin your manhood rites. But dis is de first step.” (19) Despite the steps toward manhood Elvis is an insecure teenager. He hates his alcoholic father, Sunday and sees him as the worst kind of man. Elvis’ father says to Elvis: “You don’t understand de difficulty of trying to be a man in dis society. So many expectations, so much pressure. You will see.” (186) 

Theme 6: Graceland as a Bildungsroman

The novel is not a typical bildungsroman as it is not linear but back and forth, as time shifts between present and past. However, most of the novel is written through Elvis’ first person narration (and some chapters through the third-person omniscient narrator focalized through either Sunday, etc.) Though Elvis certainly does age and change, the transformation is not fully realized. Instead it is suggested that he leaves for America, where the true coming-of-age will take place.

Question: What other themes do you think are prevalent in the novel?

Further Reading

Irele, F. Abiola. The Cambridge Companion to the African Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

 James, David.  The Legacies of Modernism: Historicising Postwar and Contemporary Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Mwangi, Evan Maina. Africa Writes Back to Self. New York: State University of New York Press, 2009.

Sussler, Betsy. Chris Abani, Colm Tóibín. “Chris Abani and Colm Tóibín in Conversation: April 28, PEN World Voices at KGB” no. 96 (Summer 2006), 30-35.

The Pictures Generation in the 1980s:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pcgn/hd_pcgn.htm#ixzz1LGOA4ZQ7