My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: Analysis of Major Characters
"My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" presents a rich tapestry of characters navigating a fantastical world filled with supernatural elements and cultural significance. The story is narrated by a seven-year-old boy escaping a slaver army, who takes refuge in a mystical realm known as the Bush of Ghosts, where he embarks on transformative adventures. Among key characters is the Super Lady, a shape-shifter and captivating figure who becomes the narrator's ghostly wife but eventually sends him away when their affection wanes. The Flash-eyed Mother, a powerful cult leader, and her son, the Invisible and Invincible Pawn, actively engage in conflicts that impact the narrator’s fate, highlighting themes of loyalty and betrayal.
Other intriguing figures include the Television-handed Ghostess, who provides glimpses of the narrator's family in the human world, and the Smelling Ghost, whose grotesque presence serves as a catalyst for the narrator's adventures. The story also explores complex relationships through characters like the Chief Ancestor, who interprets the narrator’s musical offerings, and the dead cousin, who introduces Christianity amidst the spectral population. The narrative delves into themes of identity, belonging, and the interplay between the human and ghostly realms, ultimately culminating in the narrator's struggle for autonomy and connection in a surreal landscape shaped by both personal and collective histories.
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Amos Tutuola
First published: 1954
Genre: Novel
Locale: Nigeria
Plot: Psychological symbolism
Time: A melange of eras up to the 1950's
The narrator, a seven-year-old boy fleeing a slaver army. He takes refuge in the bush near a fruit tree, thus inadvertently entering the Bush of Ghosts. Driven deeper into this Otherworld by the sound of the slavers'guns, he begins years of picaresque, shape-shifting adventures involving bizarre “ghosts” that are nonhuman beings, many of whom have magical attributes.
The Super Lady, a shape-shifter from Nameless-town, where only women live. Her mother is the head of all earthly and ghostly witches, and her father is the head of all wizards. She appears first to the narrator as an antelope, then as a “ghostess” to whom the narrator is greatly attracted. She becomes his second, and only important, ghostly wife. After four years, affection fades, and she sends him on his way wearing only the animal skin that he had when he met her.
The Flash-eyed Mother, the huge-bodied cult leader of the Short Ghosts of the thirteenth town. The eyes in her one large head, as well as those in the millions of “baby-like” heads that appear all over her body, flash and shine constantly. She and her heads consume most of the meat brought into town by hunters.
The Invisible and Invincible Pawn, the son of the Flash-eyed Mother. He aids her when she declares war on the River Ghosts, who demand the return of the narrator. When the narrator's head is cut off, the Pawn replaces it with a ghost head, which causes mischief by betraying the narrator's every thought.
The Television-handed Ghostess, who is covered by sores and is able to show the narrator in the palm of one hand what his mother and brother are doing in the human world. In return for his curing her sores, she uses her magical hand to teleport him back to the fruit tree where he entered the Bush of Ghosts.
Ghosts of the ninth town, short and fat creatures, each with one moon-shaped eye. They rub the narrator with “ sandpaper” hands until he becomes a body in a tall pitcher from which only his long neck and his head protrude.
The Smelling Ghost, the excretion-covered, rotting, pest-infested king of the seventh town. He plucks the narrator from a controversy between ghosts who wish to “acquire” him and pops him into his noisome, blood-encrusted bag to be eaten later. He later turns the narrator into various useful animals before the narrator finally escapes in the shape of a cow.
The Homeless Ghost, who picks up the log in which the narrator and a snake are sheltering and takes it to the town of homeless ghosts. When the ghost taps the log, the snake coils, the narrator cries out in terror, and the ghosts dance as to music. When the narrator's voice fails, the ghost splits the log to investigate, and the narrator escapes.
The Chief Ancestor, the leader of the River Ghosts, who brings the narrator in his pitcherlike form to their underwater town as an oracle. The Chief Ancestor interprets the esoteric sounds given off by the narrator, who is increasingly more intoxicated by the fumes of the tobacco pipe that has been put into his mouth. His resultant renditions of human songs attract the attention of the king of the Bush of Ghosts, necessitating a journey to the king's town.
The dead cousin, a cousin of the narrator, the first non-ghost encountered in the Bush of Ghosts. With the permission of the king of the Bush of Ghosts, he has introduced Christianity in the form of the “Methodist Church of the Bush of Ghosts.” Like most residents of the Bush, he tries, unsuccessfully, to retain the narrator in his town.
The brother, the narrator's brother, separated from him while fleeing the slavers, now a successful farmer and a slave owner. With their mother, he attends a séance and sends a message to his brother asking him to return. Later, he unwittingly owns the narrator as a slave until they recognize each other.
The son, the son of the narrator and the Super Lady, who causes their disaffection by his resemblance to both ghosts and human beings. Prodigious growth makes him king of a town at the age of four and one-half. In this capacity, he hosts his father.