Acad Week 2: AFRICAN PROSE – REDEMPTION ROAD BY ELMA SHAW

Textual Background

Redemption Road is an African novel written by Liberian writer, Elma Shaw. Elma Shaw holds a degree in Communication Media and Film. She is a long time champion for women and girls and has been involved in different courses for African girls.

Elma Shaw is the CEO of Cotton Tree Press, which publishes fiction, poetry and prose by African writers. She currently lives in Rwanda with her husband and two children.

Elma Shaw experienced a coup d’etat and a civil war in Liberia that led her to write about the ills of war and on issues of peace and justice in Liberia in her novel; Redemption Road: The Quest for Peace and Justice in Liberia.

Redemption Road is her first novel and it deals with the aftermath of the civil war on Liberians.

Elma Shaw’s Redemption Road draws our attention to how war affects many facets of life such as love, family, parenting and identity among others. It opens our eyes to war’s ravaging effects on society, the brutalities involved and the over all negative effect of war on any society.

Plot Summary

Elma Shaw’s Redemption Road is a fictional narrative on some of the atrocities that occurred during the Liberian civil war that spanned from 1989 to 2003. It centralizes the female character, Bendu, and the male character, Cobra, also known as Moses Varney.

In the text, Bendu Louis is separated from her family when she and her grandmother goes to visit her grandmother’s cousin in Sumoville, away from Monrovia. Shaw sets up the conflict with the war breaking out just when Bendu decides to return to her parents. Cobra and his men conscript Bendu and several other females. After her abduction, Cobra offers Bendu to Samson, his second in command, as a war wife.  At the rebel camp, captured men and women were beaten and beheaded without thought. The men rape, beat and kill the women they conscript just as the slave masters did on the slave ships in the slavery era.

Bendu takes in for Samson to his anger and bears the pains alone throughout her pregnancy as Samson abandons her and leaves camp. After the baby is born, Bendu abandons her with Ma Musu and escapes from the camp and this becomes her war secret.

When the war ends, Bendu returns to Monrovia and makes good use of her war experience by setting up a Non Governmental Organization with the aim of treating war victims of their mental and psychological troubles. On the other hand, Cobra, now Moses Varney seeks a wealthier life through arms and drugs trafficking in Monrovia. When his paths cross with Bendu, animosity spikes and Bendu decides to get Varney incarcerated. The masculine ego of the latter is ruffled, and he unleashes physical brutalities on Bendu who fails to get Varney arrested. Soon it is announced that Varney is murdered by an unknown assailant. At the end, Bendu finds peace with herself and tries to restitute by getting the child she abandoned during the war back.

Setting and Style in Elma Shaw’s Redemption Road.

The novel, Redemption Road: The Quest for Peace and Justice in Liberia by Elma Shaw was published in 2008 but the events of the story is set in the epoch of the Liberian Civil war and coup with the assassination of President William  R Tolbert by Samuel Doe in 1980. And the consequent execution of Samuel Doe by Charles Taylor in 1989. The story in set during the administration of Charles Taylor which is characterized by national unrest and societal collapse. The writer uses flashbacks to switch between the present and what led to the current state of things.

The civil war lasted from 1989 to 2003 and claimed about 200,000 lives and about 500,000 people were displaced. During this period, so many crimes were committed against humanity; rape, murder, sexual slavery, child solders, illegal use of arms, etc.. The writer creates imaginary events from real life events which makes the style of writing interesting, informative and educational.