Vengeance as Corollary of Social Injustice: A Thematic and Character Analysis of Selected Yoru ̀bá Novels

________________________________________________________ DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/biolae.v4i1.617 Abstract: Vengeance has constantly manifested across human social existence and continues to find depiction in many creative productions, Yoru ̀ba ́ novels inclusive. Because of its nature of recycling conflict and violence causing issues, vengeance has contributed immensely to generating social malady. Earlier researchers have focused more on the issues of crime, violence and conflict management aspects of the Yoru ̀ba ́ novels thereby paying lesser attention to issues of vengeance which is the gap this work tends to fill. This work therefore uses Hippolyte Taine’s mirror image approach of sociology of literature. This study applied the qualitative research approach and the interpretive design to examine the cause and implications of vengeance in the three purposively selected Yoru ̀ba ́ novels due to their thematic concern with vengeance which is intended to helping in stemming the tide of vengeance in the society. The novels are: Oju ́ade ́’s Taa L’O ̀ ̣dara ̀n, Ade ́bo ̀ ̣’s O ̀ ̣do ́ ̣ I ̀wo ̀yi ́, and Owo ́labi ́’s E ̣jo ́ ̣o ̣ Taa ni?. This study establishes that injustice is the major cause of vengeance as portrayed by the novelists of the selected novels which is acting as the direct reflection of the human society. Implication of vengeance in this paper includes loss of lives, insecurity and poor health.


I. Introduction
The ubiquitous nature and human obsession with vengeance have greatly affected human existence Faborode (2022). Vengeance is often confused as the suitable way of solving problems and is also seen as means of satisfying one's emotional state because it seem to disguise as the only reliable way of seeking justice which ended up raising justifiable concern in human society. Vengeance has been an old theme in Yorubá literature; it surfaces in their proverbs.
"Bí adiỳẹ bá damí loóguǹ nu, maà́ fọ lẹ yin" "If the fowl pours away my medication, I will break its eggs" It is also portrayed in the Yorubá history which was re-enacted in the Mainframe film, Afọ nja, when Alaáfin Aoĺẹ was warned against vengeance, but he refused, stating the fact that he was wrongfully treated and humiliated as a young prince and was also sold into slavery which he saw as injustice. He then felt the need to save his own face and image from the shame and injustice from his past. The need to avenge, therefore led him straight to his doom.
Human societies have always been visited with conflicts and violence of different degrees that degenerated into loss of lives and total annihilation of a particular people leaving them with the search for justice against and for one another, thereby embracing various means of instilling pain on one's opposition or oppressor. This hurtful vengeance seeking nature of human beings is buttressed by Beauvoir (2004:248): French society embraced 'rage and hate' when their country was occupied by German forces during the Second World War "one does not hate hailstorm or a plague, one hate only man, not because they are causes of material damage, but because they are conscious orchestrator of genuine evil. When the French heard about the degree of evil perpetrated against their fellow compatriots they sworn to take revenge on the Germans with the assurance that the Germans will pay.
This expression simply means that there is an immanent instantaneous response and expression of human desire to exact revenge and a more hazardous evil on their aggressor which would be equal if not more than the horror or brutality they have earlier experienced. At a particular point, human beings see vengeance as the only way out of oppression and every unpleasant occurrences orchestrated by fellow men.
As criminal and violent activities are continuously perpetrated in the society, vengeance continues the trend by turning an oppressed individual who avenges into an aggressor; the chain never ends because of humans' unending thirst for vengeance as no one is ready or patient enough to wait for a judicial sitting that would preside on the type of punishment that befits an offender, in that, when there is a great pain, there is an immediate thirst and need to avenge, to justify and to expunge the horror of dehumanisation from one's memory and restore a balance or peace where evil-thoughts and intentions once dominated.
However, it should be noted that vengeful acts by no means can restore peace or harmony because they have emotional backing and lack of judicial power which would dictate the suitable punishment for the crime committed. This study therefore recognises the inevitable nature of vengeance by viewing injustice as the major cause of vengeance in the society as mirrored by the selected Yorubá novels.

Existing Works on Yorubá Novels and Vengeance
There have been several scholarly works on Yorubá novels. These works span through the rise and development of the Yorubá novels to several criticisms on the creativity of the Yorubá novel. Baḿgboṣ́ e's (1974) work, the first major attempt, focuses on Faǵuńwa. He discusses all the aspects of Faǵuńwa's works. His work sheds light on some of the remote background sources of Faǵuńwa's inspirations, narrative techniques of the novelist, his thematic preoccupations, characterisations and creative use of language. The study establishes that although there are several encounters with weird characters and incidents in Faǵuńwa's novels; however, they do not prevent the readers from seeing the deeper level of realism in Faǵuńwa's novels.
Iṣ ọ lá (1978) opines that for an artist to be called a good artist, such an artist must exhaust his artistic resources of presentation to ensure effective delivery. He identifies two different types of detective Yorubá novels-the tender and the tough. His observation and narrative presentation, characterisation and language use in detective novels makes him conclude that Okediji's novels are more relevant to the society than thoseof Akińlade. He asserts that no novel can be great if the novelist is careless about his art. He then concludes by examining the techniques used by writers in modern Yorubá novels. Adebọ waĺé (1994) in her doctoral thesis investigates style in Yorubá crime fiction. She demonstrates in her study that style is not ornamental or something separate from or subordinate to the action, presentation and ideas expressed in the novels. She also emphasises that the way the writers of Yorubá crime fiction present every aspect of their stories and the artistry with which the stories are told renew reader's interest in wanting to read the stories all over again. In Adebọ waĺe's analyses of the works of Okedijiì́ and Akińlade, she examines the narrative presentational style, characterisational style and their use of language she then submits that the works of the two novelists serve the same purpose despite their differences.

Conceptualising Vengeance
There is no smoke without fire; vengeance does not just spring forth from oblivion. These scholars agree that vengeance is the unlawful payment of evil or painful debt; that is, it happens when someone personally returns the suffering or evil he/she has passed through to those who made such person pass through it. Elster (1990) defines revenge as the attempt at some cost or risk to oneself to impose suffering upon those who have made one suffer because they have made one suffer. Stuckless and Goranson (1994:803) define revenge as the infliction of harm in righteous response to perceived harm or injustice. Uniacke (2000) claims that revenge is personal and non-instrumental: with revenge, we seek to make people suffer because they have made us suffer, not because their actions or values require us to bring them down. He also sees revenge as payback for an injury qua injury. Govier (2002) believes that when people seek revenge, we seek satisfaction by attempting to harm the other (or associated persons) as a retaliatory measure. Vengeance is the act of doing something to hurt someone because that person did something that hurt you or someone else.
It could be deduced from the definitions of the scholars above that vengeance has to do with the payment of evil with evil. Vengeance is bound to happen when those that have been hurt by a person or group of people decide to play the role of a judge over their own personal issues without involving the appropriate institution that is meant to provide justice. For the purpose of this research, vengeance is the deliberate exchange or payment of harm with harm which aims at satisfying one's emotional state. Vengeance is deemed personal because it is always carried out by a hurtful person without a legal/judicial backing. The aim of vengeance from the above definition is the trade of harm with harm.

Mirror Image approach of Sociology of Literature
Sociology of literature is a theoretical approach, which is conceived with the relationship between a literary work and the social structure in which it is created. It reveals that the existence of a literary creation is determined by the social situations around the literary artiste, because no work of art stands out of the attitudes, morals and values of its society, since no literary artiste has been brought up unexposed to his society and the immediate world around him/her. From the foregoing, therefore, we could infer that no literary work can stand without the influence of the society that produces it. (Olofinsao et al, 2021) There is a great relationship between literature and the society; this is because literature and human society depend on each other due to the fact that literature uses language as its medium of social creation. This paper is anchored on the 'mirror image approach of sociology of literature'. The approach is suitable for this study as it portrays literature as the direct reflection of the various facets of social structure that reflect human society and culture which make it regarded as the mirror of the society. The early proponent of this approach, such as Madame de stale (1766-1817), H.A. Taine (1828-1893), Louis de Bonald (1754-1840) argue that through the careful reading of any nation's literature, one can tell the identity of that nation. This implies that when a literary creation of a nation or a society such as Yorubá literature is carefully studied the way of life of such people would be known. Ogunṣ ińá (2006:10) expresses his view on the mirror approach thus: Thus, from the point of view of the mirror image approach, a literary piece is a veritable mine of information characters are representations of distinct social situations. Events and situations in a work of art are not just figments of the writer's imagination; they have direct relationship to specific historical periods in a society. The themes of a literary work have to be interpreted in relation to definite social facts of the society where the artifact takes its root. The narration technique and stylistic devices employed by an artist is not an end in themselves, they all have social implications. It is therefore the duty of the literary sociologist to transform the private world of literature to specific social meanings.
The Yorubá novel, just like sociology, deals with all the social, political and economic lives of the Yorubá society. It penetrates into the deepest part of social life and expresses the experiences, emotion and attitude of Yorubá people and society because of its long relationship to the historical development of the society. This theory is necessary because it helps to relate the work of art to its society that serves as the mirror which shows the reason human choose to use vengeance to destroy the peaceful existence of the characters in the novels and in the real life human society at large. Sociology of literature has independent values and deep faithfulness to reality. The theory will help in revealing the occurrences and manifestation of vengeance in the Yoruba society as portrayed in the selected Yoruba novels because of its influence on the novelists who are members of the Yoruba society.

A Synoptic Discussion of Selected Yorubá Novels a. Taa L'Ọ daraǹ
Bańjí is a young man working in Ondó town, his wife Toóŕẹ ra gave birth to Yẹ lé and Kuńle. In Ondo, he met Titiĺọ lá during his friend's Fọ lajiǹmi's, birthday party. Because of his lust for Titiĺọ la, he lied to his parents about his wife Toóŕẹ ra and sent her away. Toóŕẹ ra took one of the twins, Kuńle, and left Yẹ lé with Bańji's aged parents. Bańjí began a relationship with Titiĺọ la.
Akińkuńmi, Fọ lajiǹmi's friend, introduced Bańjí and his friends to cocaine business, due to the huge profit in it, Bańjí decided to carry drugs to the United States. On getting to America, he was paid a sum of three million naira (#300,000), got a gift of a car and lots of other gifts. He came back to Nigeria and lied to his friends, Fọ lajiǹmí and Akińkuńmi, that the buyer paidd him sixty thousand naira. His friends were upset about this, but they had no means of finding out the truth.
Bańjí became suddenly rich and got married to Titiĺọ lá in a lavished wedding party that was graced by the high and mighty, while Fọ lajiǹmi, on the other hand, had a little party for his wedding, he was even unable to entertain his few guests. Bańji's new acquired wealth made his friends jealous and unsettled. Fọ lajiǹmí lost his job and was left with nothing to take care -12-of his family. This made Akińkuńmi introduce him to a robbery gang that provided his daily needs.
Fọ lajiǹmí decided to take revenge on Bańjí for cheating them. This made him recruited his (Bańji's) wife, Titiĺọ la, to help them get rid of her husband. She agreed and Bańjí was brutally killed. Fọ lajiǹmí killed everyone that could stand against Titiĺọ la, but Yẹ lẹ whom they had killed earlier went to possess his twin brother, Kuńle. The secret was revealed by Yẹ lẹ 's spirit who later helped Kuńlé to kill Titiĺọ la, Fọ lajiǹmí and Akińkuńmi for the evils they had done to his father and his entire family members.

b. Ọ dọ Iẁoỳí
The story centers on Ọ bafẹ mi, the son of Mr and Mrs Maḱinde. He is a very brilliant and upright young boy. He scored the highest mark in the University Matriculation entrance examination and got admitted into the University on scholarship. One day, in a restaurant, he met T.J. (Tuńjí Baḱare), the son of the very popular Honourable Baḱare. T. J. became a very close friend of Ọ bafẹ mi (F. M). Ọ bafẹ mi fell in love with Ọ mọ wuǹmi, and the love affair was constantly frustrated and threatened by Paśka, a member of Faŕí Orò fraternity.
T.J. calmed him down and persuaded him to join Mo Murá cult fraternity. Unknowing to him that T. J. and Ọ mọ wuǹmí belong to the same cult group, he was initiated, and he killed Paśkà his aggressor and few other members of Faŕí Orò cult group. Ọ bafẹ mi later became the head of Mo Murá fraternity. T.J. called on Ọ bafẹ mi and the cult members to help him collect the money his father brought home. Ọ bafẹ mi and his minions went there, but the robbery was more serious than they planned. They shot T. J.'s father when he was proving too stubborn. It was the security men on the street that captured them and almost killed T. J. when they realised he was the one that orchestrated the robbery.
Ọ bafẹ mi and Ọ mọ wuǹmí were handed over to the police. The horrendous news killed his mother, and his father was arrested but later set free. He was later released due to the corrupt nature of the police force. The D.P.O lied to everyone that Ọ bafẹ mi and his cohort had been killed; meanwhile he helped to hide the dangerous couple in Atapa, because he was also a cult member. Tọ lańi, one of Faŕí Orò fraternity members, saw the couple and informed others. On one fateful day, Faŕí Orò cult members launched a surprise attack on Ọ bafẹ mi and Ọ mọ wuǹmi, and killed them. There was a counter-attack by the police, but the fraternity members killed the D.P.O and few unfortunate police officers. Tọ lańí was the only one captured alive; she was sentenced to life imprisonment.

c. Ẹ jọ ọ Taa Ni?
Lańiýi, the only child of his parents, was a childhood friend and lover of Sumbọ . Their parents were close friends. This closeness led to love affair. Sumbọ gained admission into The University of Lagos, but Lańiýì could not secure admission. He later got a banking job in Lagos which afforded the two lovebirds to see each other every day until Fuńmilaýọ , Sumbọ 's roommate, introduced her to Dr. Tọ lá Adedokuń, one of their lecturers. She brainwashed Sumbọ into dating the man.
Sumbọ did not find it difficult to take the advice because all she cared about at that time was money which made her keep collecting money from Lańiýì who was a low-income earner and could no longer meet her needs. Her secret affairs with Dr. Tọ lá Adedokun became leaked to everyone, including Lańiýi, who became heartbroken. This made him seek the help of his friends who involved a group of activists in the fight. All efforts to stop the relationship were abortive, and Dr. Tọ lá decided to marry Sumbọ .
The activists sent various letters to stop their wedding; a group of thugs also tried stopping the wedding, but police intervened. Dr. Tọ lá Adedokun ordered the arrest of Lańiýì and his friends. The time he was arrested made him absent from his office, and he was sacked. After his released, his loss of job made him decide to avenge himself at all costs. He forcefully gained entrance into the couple's house through their security man, and he tried to kill the couple. On his way out of the compound, he was arrested and arraigned. He was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment, while Dr. Tọ lá Adedọ kun and his wife, Sumbọ , were left with physical disability through the gunshots they received from Lańiýi. Everything that happened to Lańiýì killed his parents.

Vengeance in the Selected Yorubá Novels
Vengeance is the act of doing something to hurt someone because that person did something that hurt you or someone else. The reciprocity nature of vengeance shows in Faborode (2022) submission that vengeance is the payment of evil with evil. Vengeance is bound to happen when those that have been hurt by a person or group of people decide to play the role of a judge over their own personal issues without involving the appropriate institution that is meant to provide justice.Vengeance in this study is triggered by injustice as portrayed in the selected Yorubá novels. Injustice is a situation in which the rights of a person or a group of people are denied and ignored. People seek vengeance when justice is unevenly distributed in the society because of the feeling that they have been cheated and that the system entrusted with justice has failed in their duties; they go rebellious and will decide to seek justice in their own way in order to satisfy their feelings. There are different types of revenge triggered by injustice, such as honour revenge, predatory/prey, fantasy, simple, collective, constructive, transformative, distributive justice and symbolic vengeance or karmic justice. Vengeance caused by injustice as observed in the selected novels are in form of honour revenge, collective revenge and predatory/prey revenge.

Honour Revenge
This act of revenge occurs when someone has experienced social harm, the loss of face or shame and seeks to revenge in order to restore the perceived loss of honour. This type of revenge is targeted at restoring ones self-worth and identity when one had earlier suffered a case or cases of injustice. In Taa L'ọ daraǹ?, Bańjí who had a business deal with his old friends Akin and Fọ lá met his untimely death because he refused to share the profits evenly; he had an unfair advantage over his friends. He became very rich and his friends became very poor; they also lost their jobs due to Bańji's prideful attitude to their boss. His friends felt cheated and became hurtful and hateful because of inequality and also because Bańjí kept oppressing them; they then decided to brutally murder him. Fọ la's speech at the crime scene shows they ended Bańji's life as revenge: Ọ gbẹ ni Bańji, a jọ jẹ , a jọ mu, a jọ mulẹ , iẁọ dalẹ . Boó bá taýé wa, bí o bá rí ilẹ , O kò ní í daà́ mọ , o tuń buṣ e o fẹ é pa Titiĺọ lá tí Odumarè torí tiẹ fuń ẹ loẃo. Toó, Maá bá tiẹ̀ lọ , kí Tití maá naẃó lọ ní tiẹ o. (Taa L'ọ daraǹ? 2002:107-108) Mr Bańji, we ate together; we drank together; we swore to an oath together; you betrayed us. If possible you come back to the world, if you see the act of betrayal, you will never be a part of it; you also wanted to kill Titiĺọ lá who was the source of your wealth from God; anyway, you may be on your way, and Tití will continue to spend the money.
Fọ lá and Akin killed Bańjí as revenge with the help of Titi, his wife and they also requested his wife to share his wealth with them. They then pledged to eliminate any family member who dares share in the property or pose any threat to Titi's new inheritance. Bańji's friends who felt oppressed and cheated resorted to taking his life because they did not get justice over their clever and trickish friend. This type of vengeance is not alien in the Yorubá society and the world at large where those who suffered injustice kill those who have cheated them and successfully boycott justice. This revenge act continues to breed trouble and also constantly destroy peace in the society. (Osadola & Adeleye, 2020)

Collective Revenge
This is the act of punishing an entire group for an act of one or all of its members. The goal of this type of revenge is to make the group that earlier boycotted justice suffer to same extent the victim earlier suffered. In Ọ dọ Iẁoỳi, the members of Faŕí Orò cult group are prepared to avenge the death of Paśkà whom Mo Murá cult members killed with the order of Ọ bafẹ mi and Ọ mọ wuǹmí that Paśkà threatened before his pitiful death. Tọ lańí expresses the need to take revenge on the couple who orchestrated the death of one of them in the excerpt below: …kí ni Tọ lańí gbọ eỳí si, inú rẹ ru soḱe; Ó ní aẁọ n gbọ dọ tetè wá nnkan ṣ e sí ọ rọ naá̀ nitorí aẁọ n Oloĺufẹ mejeèjì yiì́ ni woń wà lẹ yiǹ ikú Paśka, ọ kan patakì nińú Ọ mọ ẹ gbẹ Faŕí Orò tí wọ n pa lọ jọ si. Kò sì wá ní daŕá bí aẁọ n bá wá jẹ kí Ọ bafẹ mi ati Ọ mọ wuǹmí ó wà laýe, aẁọ n gbọ dọ rań wọ n lọ sí iriǹ-ajò aremabọ ni. (Ọ dọ Iẁoỳí 2009:58) …as Tọ lańí heard about this, her anger was kindled; she said they needed to do something swiftly as regards the issue, because the two lovers were behind the murder of Paśka, one of the strongest members of Faŕí Orò cult that was killed long time ago. It will not be a good one if they allow Ọ bafẹ mi and Ọ mọ wuǹmí to be alive; they all have to send them to the journey of no return.
The incident quickly got to the ears of the law as Faŕí Orò cult members were apprehended by the Police officers who luckily found them at the crime scene after they had already carried out their evil mission over their aggressors and innocent citizens. Faŕí Orò cult members were duly punished by the law court. This event mirrors the aftermath effect of injustice in the society. The inability of cheated members of the society to get justice leads to vengeance.

Predatory/Prey revenge
This involves the act of retaliation for real or perceived harm, usually physically or social. The motive of the avenger is to put an end to the victimisation, real or perceived.This type of revenge is one that is predominantly emotional; it has a certain selfish quality to it. It is by nature personal because the reason for revenge is to get even, to carry out personal hatred and personal justice. Vengeance triggered by injustice, at this point is an act of vindictiveness; it is about cycles and retaliation.
Lańiýì who was constantly cheated and oppressed by Dr Adedokuń, who snatched his loverbecameembittered.His loss of job due to his illegal arrest add insult to his injury which made him swear to take vengeance. His ardent desire to hurt his oppressor and his quest for vengeance because of the pain of injustice in his heart made him decide to kill Dr Adedokun and Sumbọ in Ẹ jọ ọ Taa ni?. He expressed his thoughts as he captured the couples in their house before he shot at them in the excerpt below: Adedokun, Sumbọ , ilẹ mọ ọ yiń, ó ku ibi tí ẹ má a gba, ṣ ebí mo ti sọ fuń un yiń pé akọ dá oró kò tó adaǵbẹ yiǹ. Ẹ wolẹ kẹ ẹ woke; opin dé sí ohun gbogbo lońiì́ (Ẹ jọ ọ Taa ni? 2006: 128) Adedokun, Sumbọ , time up! There is no way of escape for you; I told you earlier that the ealier perpetrated crime is not as bad as the vengeance that finally followed. Now, look downwards and upwards; the end has come to everything today.
If the Police had not showed partiality by choosing Dr. Adedokun who is very rich and influential in passing their judgments, Lańiýì would have no reason to carry out revenge because he would have got the justice he deserved. His unjust arrest and that of his friends is a form of injustice which he did everything within his power to avenge. This type of vengeance is common in the Yorubá and human society in general when lovers suffer injustice due to the betrayal of their partner. Most of the time, such vengeful acts lead to loss of lives, insecurity and poor health as portrayed in the selected novels.

IV. Conclusion
The novels we have examined in this paper have revealed that vengeance is present in human relationship as they live with each other in the society. The events in the selected Yorubá novels mirror the issue of vengeance in the human society as those who feel cheated by any member of the society employ every dangerous plans in order to get justice and also satisfy their bruised and damaged emotions.Just as it is in the society, if anyone upsets the natural balance by taking unfair advantage where others did not, such a person deserves to be punished. In case such a person escapes or boycotts justice, those who are affected by such injustice as a natural human being who would not accept to be cheated would opt for the easy, satisfying, yet painful, ways out, which is vengeance, until they get their satisfaction or captured by the law. Mirror image approach has helped realised that what we have in the selected novels are also in reality in Yorubá history which was evidence in the reign of the vengeful, rage-filled and curse inflicting Yorubá monarch Ọ ba Aoĺẹ who reigned in the ancient Oyo Empire. After he suffered a great injustice and betrayal from his chiefs and towns' people who wanted him to open the calabash (die), he was said to have vengefully placed curses on the Yorubá nation and people. This is buttressed by Johnson (1921:192) as cited below: His Majesty set his house in order: but before he committed suicide, he stepped out into the palace quadrangle with face stern and resolute, carrying in his hands an earth ware dish and three arrows. He shot one to the North, one to the South, and one to the West uttering those evermemorable imprecations, "My curse be on ye for your disloyalty and disobedience, so let your children disobey you. If you send them on an errand, let them never return to bring you word again. To all the points I shot my arrows will ye be carried as slaves. My curse will carry you to the sea and beyond he seas, slaves will rule over you, and you their masters will become slaves. The excerpt above shows the level of vengeance perpetrated by a king who had experienced injustice. The curses he placed on the Yoruba race is assumed to be in operation till today, which is why Yorubá people are said to hate and fight each other. This example establishes the fact that literature is an experience of reality.
Lastly, one example that mirrors the issue of vengeance which ended up claiming lives of lots of people is seen in the case of Al-Qaeda's attack on the world Trade Center in September 11, 2001, which killed thousands of people and was intended as revenge against the United States for insulting Islam and for its presence in Saudi Arabia. This attack was avenged within a month by the United States by bombing of Afghanistan, and ten years later (May 1st 2011) by the killing of Al-Qaeda's founder and leader Osama Bin Laden. This later event was followed eleven days later by a deadly suicide bombing in Pakistan by the Taliban, whose spokesman stated: "We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident", referring to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. (Asadi, 2011;Frijda, 2007;Khan, 2011).
This paper has showed that vengeance results when members of the society are denied justice over events and happenings in the society. Literature portrays reality. Hence, it mirrors the society. The novelists whose novels are examined in this paper have re-enacted how injustice lead to vengeance. This work also established that vengeance has disastrous effects in the society which include loss of lives, insecurity and poor health as portrayed by the novelists of the selected Yorubá novels.