The novel Faceless is an African novel of Ghanaian
extraction, which is fictionally set in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, an
allusion to the biblical city of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are replete with
social, political, and moral decadence as personified in the characters, whose
names and dispositions are but a symbolic representation of societal ills.
The central focus of the novel is the plight of
life on the street. It amplifies the helplessness of the street child who is at
the mercy of the forces of neglect and street oppression.
It tells the story of a household that emerged
from one of the street Urchins, now saddled with the responsibility of raising
children whose fathers have absconded from their responsibilities. Maa Tsuru is
been married twice to both Nii Kpako and Kwei, both men who embody
irresponsibility, each took their turns at her and her family.
Her travails begin the moment her first husband,
Kwei, embarks on a journey to an undisclosed destination, living behind his
four children, under the care of Maa Tsuru, without any provision, except for
the promise that he will return. He eventually did at a point at which he
felt the need, only to later abandon the family for fear of being afflicted by a
supposed curse upon his wife Maa Tsuru. Maa Tsuru not knowing what to do and
how to cater for her family, craves acceptance from the male folks
which makes her vulnerable and at the mercy of any man that comes her way, as
she believes that the curse on her makes her unattractive and incapable of
finding a man to love her; which is why she settles for any man that comes her
way. Her ordeal only became worse in the hands of Nii Kpakpo, her supposed
second husband.
Nii Kpakpo is a lazy figure but with a
persuasive lip, with which he can lure Maa Tsuru into accepting to take
care of him after he has stated that he works with a construction company that
is currently on the street. He only comes into Maa Tsuru’s life to further increase
her misery, he fathers more children with her and also attempts to take
advantage of her young innocent daughter Baby T, who he attempted to rape, only
deterred by the fact that she is a virgin.
These episodes send Maa Tsuru’s two sons out of the
house and also Nii Kpakpo sends Baby T into prostitution from which proceeds
from the illicit trade are used to fend for the upkeep of the family.
At the heart of the crisis in the novel, is the plight of Maa Tsuru’s Second Daughter who is just fourteen years old, and is
made to live on the street, because her mother could not afford to
cater to her and her other siblings. On the streets of Sodom and Gomorrah,
controlled by notorious touts, Macho, Poison, and their cohorts, they take turns abusing and molesting young girls on the streets, and also extorting cash
from them as the case may be. Of these Fofo has just escaped from being raped
by Poison, she goes home in the company of her friend Ordarly to seek motherly
advice and to also find out the reason why she is being targeted by Poison and
his cohorts.
Upon arriving Home, Fofo, meets an even worse
situation than she had envisaged, as he finds out that she has inherited the same curse that is affecting her mother, she also gets to find out about the disappearance of her stepfather Nii Kpakpo, the horrific tales continuous to
the revelation of the murder of her Elder Sister Baby. T, who was entrusted to
the care of Maami Broni, an erstwhile prostitute, who ends up sending Baby T
into the streets, where she is raped by Onko, who took advantage of the
attempted rape on her by her stepfather Kpakpo who is now on the run.
Baby T was murdered for money rituals by Onko who
is looking for a means to earn quick wealth as prescribed by his juju man, that
he needs the pubic hair of Baby T to make the rituals effective, it is in the ensuing
battles that Baby T lost her life and was mutilated so that no one can
recognize her corpse afterwards.
The following
conversation between Maa Tsuru and Fofo shows a strain in the
relationship between mother and child, as the child Fofo loathes her mother for
making irrational decisions, which have taken the life of her sister and also
placed hers at risk of the street lords whom she is now advised to run away
from town to escape from their reach. It shows clearly that Maa Tsuru
is decapitated and helpless when it comes to taking care of her children,
neither can she seek justice against the murderers of her daughter Baby T,
as she depends on them for stipends and she cannot speak out for fear of what they
are capable of doing to her.
