Latest News

This article covers the characters and themes in Once Upon an Elephant, a Play by Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan. You can read the summary and analysis of the play by clicking this link.

Literary devices used in Once Upon an Elephant by Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan

Characters in Once Upon an Elephant by Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan

1. Ajanaku (Olaniyonu)

The tyrant king who usurped the throne from his father, King Akinjobi. He is unloved by the community, whom he spent his days as king tormenting. Many follow him out of fear of punishment. For instance, his wife, Omoyeni, married him for fear that he would kill her parents and the man she loves.

Ajanaku’s birth name is Olaniyonu; however, he prefers to be called Ajanaku, the elephant. He always brags about the conquest of the elephant and how it tramples on the grass and lower animals. To Ajanaku, this represents his place as king and his subjects.

Although he lived his life believing he was a prince and the son of King Akinjobi, an heir to the throne, he was not. Rather, he is the son of Serubawon, the chief priest and medicine man, born of his affairs with King Akinjobi’s younger wife, Adebisi.

2. Serubawon

Serubawon is King Akinjobi’s best friend and the medicine man whom the king trusted so much. He is also the one who hatched the plan to usurp the throne to cover up the truth about his affairs with his friend’s wife.

Serubawon helped Ajanaku, his illegitimate son, assume the throne of the land and guided him through wicked rites to attain immortality. He maintained the place of chief priest and medicine man beside Ajanaku but never told him the truth about their blood relationship.

His wife is Demoke, and his daughter is Desola. Serubawon remains unrepentant of his acts with Adebisi, against Akinjobi and Iya Agba, and the whole village, until his daughter, Desola, became one of the victims of the Ijedodo rite for Ajanaku.

3. Akinjobi

Akinjobi was the king of the land and the supposed father of Ajanaku. The play opens with the king’s ill health, which the medicine man cannot treat. The king never recovered, and Serubawon did not even wait to see what happened since he already knew the cause of the illness, so Serubawon assisted Ajanaku to usurp the throne. King Akinjobi’s acts were mostly referenced in the play.

4. Iya Agba (Omofadeke Adunni)

Iya Agba, the mad woman of the village, or so she was assumed to be. She is the truth teller in the play. Despite many thinking she is mad, she sees everything as it is and often confronts Ajanaku, urging him to desist from his wicked ways. She also faced Serubawon, asking him to stop before it was too late.

Iya Agba is King Akinjobi’s wife, who was framed for adultery and sent away from the palace. The elders excommunicated her to live at the edge of the village, and many stopped associating with her. She was considered mad by many, while some saw her through the lens of the accusation.

Despite this, Iya Agba loves the village with all her heart and wishes the village well. She had no child of her own, but loved Desola, Serubawon’s daughter, immensely that for her life, she agreed to work with Serubawon and others to take down Ajanaku.

Before the accusation that destroyed Iya Agba’s reputation, she was known as Omofadeke Adunni, the Queen. Throughout the play, her words of wisdom echo.

5. Iyale

Iyale is Iya Agba’s best friend and the wife of Odejimi, a kingmaker. She is also the mother of Odekunle, the one Desola is to marry. Iyale and Iya Agba are two peas in a pod as they work together and get along very well, even with the village label on Iya Agba. She often speaks in proverbs, riddles, and parables like her friend. She is the one who brought Demoke, Desola, Odekunle, and his friends to see Iya Agba, hoping for a way to turn around the effects of the Ijedodo rite on Desola.

6. Demoke

Demoke is Desola’s mother and the wife of Serubawon. She loves her daughter very well and fully supported her husband until she learned that he was the cause of what happened to Desola. She is also an enemy of Iya Agba, as she testified to seeing Iya Agba commit adultery just to support her husband. This act, she apologized for greatly, begging Iya Agba to help Desola even if she never forgives her.

7. Desola

Desola is the daughter of Serubawon and Demoke. She is their only child, dearly beloved by them. Desola is engaged to marry Odekunle, Iyale’s son. She is best friends with Yosola and a half-sister to Ajanaku. Desola was the last virgin that Ajanaku took to complete the Ijedodo rite to achieve immortality, the act that failed and ruined Ajanaku and Serubawon in the end.

8. Odekunle

Odekunle, son of Iyale and Odejimi, is the man Desola was engaged to marry. He and Desola often met in their secret meeting place in the kola nut farm. His best friends are Lere, Yele, and Dele. And his sister is Yosola.

9. Odejimi

Odejimi is one of the three core members of the kingmakers. He is also in the elders council. Odejimi is the husband of Iyale and father of Odekunle and Yosola. He strongly opposed Serubawon and Ajanaku’s plans to usurp the throne and the manner in which they ruled the land.

10. Ogundele

Ogundele is a member of the kingmakers who blindly supported Serubanwon and Ajanaku. He often inferred that Odejimi had a secret plan or reason to oppose the king.

11. Odegbami

Odegbami is also a member of the elders’ council. Although he was not as outspoken about his opposition and disagreement to Ajanaku taking the throne and his reign, he also did not agree with his tyrannical ways. Odegbami believed there are better ways to handle some issues for better outcomes.

12. Delani

Delani is an orphan. He served Ajasa for many years to marry his daughter. He is the man that Omoyeni loves and the father of her child.

13. Omoyeni

Omoyeni is the daughter of Ajasa. She was to marry Delani, but Ajanku stepped in and married her, threatening to kill her parents and Delani if she refused. She went with it. However, she continued to see Delani in secret. In the end, it was revealed that the baby in her womb was not Ajanaku’s child but Delani’s. After Ajanaku was destroyed, she got back together with Delani.

14. Yosola

This is Desola’s best friend and Odekunle’s sister. Her father is Odejimi, and her mother is Iyale.

15. Yele, Dele, and Lere

These are Odekunle’s best friends. They were the ones he confined in after Ajanaku defiled Desola. They were also the ones who joined him to plan and execute the downfall of Ajanaku.

16. Adebisi

The younger wife of King Akinjobi. Her person was not seen in the play, but her act haunted the play from the beginning to the end. She was the adulterous wife of King Akinjobi, who, to cover her deeds, joined hands with her lover, Serubawon, to ruin Iya Agba. Adebisi is the mother of Ajanaku.

17. Ajasa

Ajasa is Omoyeni’s father. He is only mentioned; the person did not appear.

18. Man 1 and Man 2

These were the messengers from Oguno village, the neighbouring village, kinsmen to Ajanaku’s land. They had come to ask the king to help their people, but were refused as Ajanaku insisted they had to pay more inflated tax before he could help them. Man 1 was later identified as Gbeleyi, and he stabbed himself and died in the palace that day as Ajanaku aimed to humiliate him completely.

19. Guards

These are the royal guards that served in the palace and worked with Ajanaku.

20. Villagers

These make up the people (men, women, and children) in the background who were unnamed in the play.

Read also:

The Marriage of Anansewa Summary and Analysis

The Lion and the Jewel Summary and Analysis

Themes in Once Upon an Elephant by Bosede Ademilua-Afolafan

1. Dictatorship

The play strongly shows dictatorship in autocratic leadership. The leader in the play clung to power even when he was not the right heir to the throne. Ajanaku embodies this character, often ignoring democratic processes prevalent in African leadership. Serubawon represents manipulative king makers who alter elections, suppress dissent, and perpetuate rule by force and manipulation.

2. Tyranny, Abuse of Power, and Self-Perpetuating Leaders

Olaniyonu, the self-proclaimed Ajanaku, is a tyrannical king. He sought power and fame with no regard for life. This mirrors real life, where a lot of leaders only care about themselves and the power without a care about others.

Serubawon is a kingmaker who helped Ajanaku assume the throne. He is manipulative, selfish, and power-drunk. His schemes destroyed the previous regime and set the wicked, oppressive regime of Ajanaku in motion. As the right-hand man to King Ajanaku, he supported all his oppressive and wicked acts until his Daughter, Desola, became a victim of the Ijedodo rite.

The playwright used these characters to criticize abuse of power and self-serving leaders in Africa. It also serves as a caution to leaders who fit this structure.

3. Corruption and Dishonesty

Corruption runs throughout the leadership of the unnamed lad in the play. This theme is first introduced in the first act, where Serubawon performed rites to help Ajanaku take the throne, and Odejimi spoke up against the act. He continued reminding them of the gift that Olaniyonu had brought for the kingmakers. The offer shows that this was not just a gift, but something offered to perverse judgment and win the kingmakers to their side, despite Olaniyonu not being the rightful heir to the throne.

Secondly, many rites were performed by Ajanaku and Serubawon to keep him in power. They lied and schemed to keep their place. Taxes were inflated without care for the people, and even care for the protection of their kinsmen was linked to their paying the inflated tribute to the throne.

Also, the underlying lie of the true father of Ajanaku looms over the throne.

4. Truth vs Lies

The lies that Serubawon perpetrated for years were exposed in the end. Interestingly, he had to speak the truth himself after his Daughter, Desola, became a victim of the Ijedodo rite that is set up for Ajanaku. He also learned that Ajanaku is not with him and will discard him as soon as he completes the bath ritual to seal the immortality granted him by Ijedodo.

Another instance of this theme in the play is Iya Agba’s words. She always spoke the truth but was branded dishonest, an adulterer, mad, and punished for years for a crime she did not commit. In the end, the truth was exposed. Her predictions about King Ajanaku came to pass.

This theme points to the common human situations where lies are accepted as true until events or nature prove otherwise. It also shows that people can easily be swayed by their emotions when they choose what is true or false. Finally, it exposes the consequences of truth, lies, and the choices we make.

5. Courage and Resistance

The people Ajanaku rules generally cowered in his presence, and no one dared to oppose him. Odejimi, who always took the courage to speak up, was being suspected of having ill intentions towards the king by some elders like Ogundele.

Another person who showed much courage in the play is Iya Agba. In fact, she was the most courageous, unflinching in the presence of Ajanaku and Serubawon; she always spoke the truth despite the consequences. She never stood for Ajanaku’s tyrannical reign throughout the play.

Also, Odekunle, who had accepted his cowardice to his friends after he told them about the incident that befell him and Desola in the kolanut farm, later took the courage to fight Ajanaku.

Others like Omoyeni, Delani, Lere, Yele, Dele, Yosola, and Demoke got their voice to speak up and the courage to join Iya Agba in the last fight against Ajanaku. This fight not only brought the truth to light. It also restored Desola’s life, allowed Delani and Omoyeni to be together and have their baby, and freed the entire village from the wicked king.

6. Strength in Unity and Forgiveness

As Iya Agba chose to let go of the evil Demoke and Serubawon did to her in the past and chose to save Desola, they all teamed up to fight Ajanaku. Others like Odekunle and his friends, Omoyeni and Delani, also joined the team. This time, the outcome was victory.

This theme shows that there is strength in unity and that forgiveness can lead to positive outcomes for the offended, the offenders, and even for those who were indifferent (in this case, the villagers).