The Lion and the Jewel : Summary

Summary

The play The Lion and the Jewel is mainly divided into three parts. Morning, noon, and night. So let’s read this drama according to the summary section.

Morning

Sidi’s entry with a water pot on her head: The play begins when Sidi, the belle of the village of Iluzinle, enters the square with water balanced on her head. Lakunle, a Western-educated schoolteacher, sees her, runs out of his classroom, and takes Sidi’s pail. He berates her for carrying loads on her head and not dressing modestly, and she retaliates by reminding Lakunle that the village calls him a madman.

Lakunle’s marriage proposal to Sidi: Lakunle refuses to give Sidi her pail of water back until she agrees to marry him, and he offers several flowery lines that describe his intense love for her. Sidi tells him that she’d marry him any day if he’d agree to pay the bride price.

Sidi’s Photo in a Magazine: A group of young villagers enter the square and tell Sidi that the stranger returned to the village with a magazine of images. Sidi excitedly asks if the stranger made Sidi as beautiful as he said he would, and the girls tell her he did. They say that Baroka, the village Bale, is still looking at the images and is jealous of Sidi, though he pretends to be proud of her. Another girl says that Baroka also appears in the magazine, but his image is very small and shows him next to the latrines. Upon hearing this, Sidi declares that she’s more powerful than Baroka and has no reason to marry Lakunle.

Acting as a Photographer: Sidi suggests that they dance the dance of the “lost traveler.” She assigns parts to the villagers and forces Lakunle to play the part of the Photographer. Despite his initial unwillingness to participate, Lakunle throws himself fully into the dance. The rest of the villagers dance while Lakunle performs realistic miming of driving a car, drunkenly wandering through the jungle, and discovering Sidi in the river. Suddenly, Baroka joins the dance, and the action stops as the villagers kneel and bow to him. 

Noon

Sadiku’s Marriage Proposal to Sidi for Baroka: Baroka’s first wife, Sadiku, startles Sidi. Sadiku tells Sidi that Baroka wants to marry her, which makes Lakunle angry. He tells Sidi not to listen, but Sidi insists that she’s very powerful now that the stranger has brought her images to the village. Sadiku insists that if Sidi marries Baroka, she’ll be very powerful—when Baroka dies, she’ll be the new head wife. Sidi refuses and says that Baroka only wants to possess her beauty and keep it for himself. Sidi opens the magazine, shows the photographs to Sadiku, and laments that nobody has ever complimented Sidi on her breasts. She calls Baroka old and leathery. Sadiku is shocked, but she invites Sidi to come to Baroka’s for a feast anyway.

Reject Marriage Proposal: Sidi rejects Sadiqu’s proposal, saying that Barroca wants to marry him because the magazine has ignored Barroca’s picture, and Sidi’s figure and beauty are better exposed. Saying this, she rejects Sadiku. Sadiku went back home and told Baroka about this. Baroka’s last wife did not want Baroka to marry again. Baroka became very angry when Sidi rejected the marriage proposal and started telling his wives that he was old, so what happened? He has been satisfying his wives till now, and he always defeats his wives.

Plans to seduce Sidi:  Baroka then began to plan in his mind how to bring Sidi under control. He then called his elder wife, Sadiqu, and told her that he had lost his manhood. Baroka also requested she not tell anyone about this. Baroka goes on to lament that his grandfather gave birth to twins at 67, and his father married at 65 but lost his manhood at 62, which is unacceptable.

Lakunle calls the women foolish. Sadiku tells Lakunle he’s unattractive and reminds him that he could marry Sidi soon if he paid the bride price. When Sadiku laughs about Lakunle’s wish to modernize the village, he insists that she come to school with the children to learn to do something besides collect brides for Baroka.

Night 

Rumors of Baroka’s loss of manhood: Sadiku was very happy to hear this incident of Baroka’s loss of manhood and stood under a tree next to where Sidi was sitting, jumping, and rejoicing over Baroka’s loss of manhood. Then when Sidi came there, Sadiku told her about the incident. Lakunle, on the other hand, came there and heard everything and told them not to mock like that as Baroka would get angry anytime. But Sidi was overzealous and said that she would go to Baroka and mock him in front of him even though Lakunle repeatedly forbade Sidi.

Sidi Mock Baroka: When Sidi disobeys Lakunle’s orders and leaves, Lakunle tells Sadiku that he wants to modernize the village free from superstitions and eliminate the bride price from the village. Sidi then goes to Baroka’s house and sees Baroka having a wrestling competition there and seeing Sidi, he praises her while wrestling and starts praising everyone else.

It also goes on to say that his grandfather gave birth to twins at the age of 67 but lost his manhood at the age of 62. Sidi watched Baroka’s wrestling competition and clapped, mocking that he had lost his manhood and wanted to kiss Baroka. When Baroka finally defeats his opponent in a wrestling match, Sidi’s face turns black. Barroka then rapes Sidi in a compliment.

Preparing to Marry Baroka: Before being raped by Baroka, Sidi had no idea that it was actually Baroka’s pre-plan to trap her. When Lakunle hears about this incident of rape, he is very happy because now he can marry Sidi without any kind of bride price. But Sidi was adamant that she wanted to marry Baroka because Sidi’s prevailing belief that a girl can only be a bedmate or live with only one man should not go beyond that. Besides, 62-year-old Baroka is physically stronger than Lakunle. Sidi then prepares to marry Barok, and their wedding ceremony begins. When Baroka and Sidi were getting married, Lakunle danced and disappeared into the audience. And that is how this play ends with the defeat of modernity to the prevailing tradition. Moral Lesson: The moral lesson of “The Lion and the Jewel” is that embracing one’s cultural heritage while navigating the challenges of modernity leads to a deeper understanding of identity and the complexities of personal choices.