UNFULFILLED DREAMS
BY
BY
GESIERE BRISIBE-DORGU
PLOT OVERVIEW
The play is centered on the life patterns of contemporary young men and women. As it is obtainable, the society today is characterized with youths/young adults with varying bad and immoral lifestyles. Some are drunks, smokers, liars, sexually perverted, etc. Nevertheless, while in the midst of stubborn and adamant youths who flout the orders and wise counsels of their parents to go the contrary way at their own lives' detriment, there are yet some who lead a good way and enjoy the good fruits of choosing the right paths of life.
Unfulfilled Dreams is a reflection of such youths who refused to listen to their parents' wise counsel, bringing to light the consequences of their stubbornness. And of course, the play also reveals that which awaits every obedient child.
The pay presents to us with two families: one, the family of Tamaraukuror Ebiowei and his wife Douye. They have two children, Bobra(son) and Kaaye(daughter). They also have a househelp whose name is Pere, and a driver, Loco-loco.
Bobra is a rebellious son who chooses to go to parties and clubs with friends against his father's advice to study hard as a student. Bobra is a smoker who loves taking weeds and strong alcoholic wines. Kaaye, just like her brother, Bobra, is a fun-loving girl who follows Bobra to every party.
One Saturday morning while their parents were away, Pere, the house girl wakes Bobra from sleep to prepare for his school's end of year party/result presentation. It is her normal duty to wake them early every morning and so she goes to wake Kaaye, too. After they all get ready, Bobra requests for the key to his father's V-boot. Loco-loco refuses to give him the key owing to the fact that their father had warned them not to go out with the V-boot. Bobra gets fury at Loco-loco and threatens to tell his father that Loco-loco had once sold the tires and engine oil of the car. Out of fear that he might lose his job, Loco-loco reluctantly agrees to take Bobra and Kaaye to the school party in the V-boot.
Half way along the road, Bobra orders Loco-loco to stop the car. Loco-loco reluctantly stops and Bobra bounces out to see his friends in an uncompleted building. After taking some shots and smoking weeds, he joins Kaaye and Loco-loco who had been waiting for him at the roadside and off they drive to school. At the school premises, they met Timitimi, a fellow student who made a very good result and has won a scholarship to study abroad. Bobra mocks Timitmi and his scholarship and tells him to give his(Bobra) result to Kaaye. Timitimi is annoyed with Bobra's arrogance and negative attitude towards education. From the school party, Bobra goes to a night club in Rendezvous with his friends.
Later that evening, their parents return home and find Bobra drunk and playing loud music. His father inquires why he was so dirty with red eyes. Bobra's eyes had turned red due to too much intake of alcohol, but he answers that a fly entered into his eyes. Ebiowei notices the smells of beer all over his son and orders to see his result. Bobra reluctantly hands over a very poor result. Ebiowei is furious and scolds his son for performing so low despite all his advice to study hard. Bobra's mother, Douye comes in and speaks in support of her son saying that he was not the only person that has failed examination. Ebiowei is angered even the more and blames Douye for the nonchalant attitude of their children. On the contrary, Douye returns half the blame on Ebiowei who has not always around to bring up their children in the right way he would want them to grow.
Now, the other family is that of Tonbra(father) and Powei(mother) with their two children, Omugha(son) and Kobiere(daughter). Just like Bobra, Omugha is not interested in academics but rather finds pleasure in going from one party to the other with his friends. He loves Kaaye, Bobra's sister, and usually goes to clubs with her. Eventually, Kaaye gets pregnant. Omugha gives some money to her to go to a doctor to get rid of the pregnancy. Kaaye sustained serious damage through the abortion, and gets home bleeding. Her parents arrive home and find her in a pool of blood. They quickly rush her to a hospital. The doctor cautioned Ebiowei and Douye why they allowed their daughter to commit abortion. That was when her parents realized that she had committed abortion. After series of inquisition, Kaaye tells them everything that happened, and gave up the ghost.
Soon, Omugha is apprehended by the police for murder. He is taken to prison where he received unforgettable beatings from fellow prisoners. After court trials, he is sentenced to eight years imprisonment with hard labour for man-slaughter.
On the other hand, Bobra is insane due to too much intake of powerful drugs such as weeds (Igbo or Indian hem). His parents take him to a psychiatric. Meanwhile, Timitimi, whom Bobra and his colleagues had called a bushman simply because he refused to join them to smoke and drink, is now a Scientist in a Research Institute in North America. Timitimi sends $500 to Bobra's parents to pay part of the hospital bill of his old boy, Bobra, who is now at a psychiatric. Ebiowei and Douye visit Taretare, the mother of Timitimi and thank her for the kindness of her son. While in the middle of conversion in Taretare's house, Bodi, one of Bobra's friends, bashes in and informs them that Bobra had escaped from the hospital. Immediately, they all take to their heels to where Bobra was busy acting a drama of madness. Ebiowei quickly calls an ambulance. The ambulance arrives in no time medical professionals who quickly lure Bobra into the vehicle and drive off.
Meanwhile, Yinkpo, Daukpo and Bodi are completely perplexed by the sudden madness of their once frolicsome friend. They see it as an opener and seek for repentance from their wayward lifestyles. However, Daukpo is not repentant in that he said that Bobra's health is just a matter of time that he will get well soon.
The news about two Ogori Street girls who were admitted to a hospital comes to the boys. They quickly go to visit the girls in the hospital but were restricted to see them by clinical laws. After inquiring why no one is allowed to see the two girls, Aama, late Kaaye's friend, tells them, "the two girls have dried up and now look like Bonga fish." One of the two girls is Sugarere who is suspected to be one of several babes of Daukpo. Great fear grips the boys. They seek to partake in an ongoing medical test except Daukpo who is reluctant to take the tests.
Times flies and two months later, Yinkpo visits Bodi who now stays at home because of the result of the medical test. The result shows that Bodi is infected with Staphylococcus. Ever since then, Bodi refuses to tell his parents out of fear that he had been wayward and unyielding to his parents and to every wise of their wise counsels. On the other hand, Daukpo's result shows that he is infected with numerous STDs including HIV/AIDS, while Yinkpo's result is inconclusive and will be going for a biopsy test. But as for Bobra, no news is heard about him ever after.
SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter of the play is that of the emerging consequences of youthful delinquency of young people in our society today as against obedience to wise counsels of elders and parents.
THEMATIC PREOCCUPATION
Unfulfilled Dreams has, but not limited to, the following themes:
" THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION: This theme is expressly stated in the warnings and advices of both parents in the play to their children to study hard. Again, this preoccupation is seen in the character of Timitimi who studied hard and refused to join the bad fellows in the society. Timitimi later became a Scientist in a Research Institute in North America, became rich, and even rendered help to those who mocked and scorned his education. Thus, education pays!
" THE EFFECT OF INDISCRIMINATE INTAKE OF DRUGS: The negative effects of taking powerful drugs like Indian Hem, Cocaine, Tramadol, etc, cannot be overemphasized. These drugs have a life time effect on the human body. It is a common thing to see the statement, "smokers are liable to die young" on the pack of cigarettes. It is rather very unfortunate that a lot of young people have taken to smoking, drinking and taking of powerful drugs. It was these drugs that made Bobra go insane.
" QUACK DOCTORS: Well, it is no longer news that quacks could be anywhere any time in our society today. They are in the streets with renowned sign posts. The consequences of visiting a quack can, of course, not be overemphasized. The groveling truth is that, sometimes we do not know that some private doctors/pharmacists down the road are quacks, and people decide to go to them probably because their services are cheaper. This theme gives us the awareness of the presence of quacks in doctors' clothing.
" OBEDIENCE (TO FATHERS' WISE COUNSEL): There is adage that says that an old man sitting or squatting sees farther than a child standing on the top of a tree. Obedience is a key to a successful life. Bobra and his crew deserted fatherly and severely faced the consequences of their actions. Disobedience is but a good detour to a dead end.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. KAAYE: She is a student and the only daughter of Douye and Ebiowei. She is a fun-loving girl who follows her elder brother, Bobra, to parties. She is also the girlfriend to Omugha. As usual, Kaaye follows her brother to Rendezvous night club where she met and disclosed to Omugha that she was pregnant. They both decide to abort the pregnancy. Due to insufficient fund, their last resort was to go to a roadside clinic.Omugha went and paid the money to the doctor about an hour ago before Kaaye arrived at the clinic.
After the operation, Kaaye becomes so weak that she stops at her friend's house to rest a little before going home.
Kaaye's parent returns home from an outing and finds her in pool of blood. They quickly rush her to a clinic. The doctor blames her parents for taking her to a quack. Then, they realize their daughter Kaaye, had commanded abortion. Kaaye dies due to too much damage. And her parents mourn her death.
" The following reasons are consequential to the death of Kaaye.
¢ Kaaye was natureally a fun loving girl. She always follows her elder brother to party which gave her opportunities to do anything she likes.
¢ Bobra, her elder brother never stopped her from going or following him to such wild parties.
¢ Their parents also were predominantly not available at home to watch over their children's behavior.
¢ And finally, Omugha took her to a quack in doctor's clothing
2. OMUGHA: He is a student and a very stubborn son to Tonbara and Powei. His father Tonbara is a retired Officer of the law. Omugha impregnates Kaaye and commits abortion. He did not know that the doctor they met was a quack. Kaaye dies in the process. Omugha is arrested by the police and is thrown into the prison for murdering Kaaye. Omugha receives tough beating from his fellow prisoners. In a nutshell, after court hearings Omugha is sentenced to eight years imprisonment with hard labour.
3. BOBRA: Bobra is a rebellious son to Mr. Ebiowei, Instead of being obedient to his father's wise counsel to study hard as a student and become a great educated man; Bobra follows a company of bad young adults who find pleasure in smoking weeds, cocaine, and other powerful drugs. He makes a very bad result in school which was unacceptable by his father. Bobra complains that it was a wicked teacher who failed him purposely. Bobra eventually becomes insane due to the intake of those hard drugs. His parents take him to a psychiatric. He soon escapes the hospital and makes his way to the highways. His parents calls psychiatric professionals who come and take him away, and nothing is heard about again.
4. TIMITIMI: Unlike the other characters in the play, Timitimi is a good young adult, who, despite the fact that his father was dead, take his studies serious and make a good result that earned him scholarship to study abroad. As a good child, Timitimi never consented or compromised with Bobra and his bad company to go to parties. Often times, they would call him a bushman, simply because he refused to go join them in drinking and partying. He later became a research scientist in North America. Out of pity for his old boy, Bobra, he sends $500 through his loving mother, Tariere to Bobra's parents to pay part of Bobra's hospital bill.