The Tension between Tradition and Modernity: An Analysis of Wole Soyinka’s The Strong Breed

Abstract

Wole Soyinka’s play The Strong Breed explores the conflict between traditional Customs and modern influences within a rural Yoruba community. Through its portrayal of culture Wole Soyinka’s play The Strong Breed explores the conflict between traditional customs and modern influences within a rural Yoruba community. Through its portrayal of cultural identity, ancestral heritage and the challenges posed by modernization, the play examines the struggle to uphold tradition in changing world. And the challenges posed by modernization, the play examine the struggle to uphold tradition in changing world. This article argues that Soyinka’s work presents a nuanced portrayal of struggles and contradictions inherent in the encounter between tradition and modernity. By examining the ways in which the play’s protagonist, Eman with the demand of his ancestral heritage and the allure of modernity, this article shed light on the ways in which Soyinka’s work reflects and critiques and cultural and social transformations and Post-colonial Nigeria.