Jones' Book Report

For obvious reasons I chose to read Jones’ “criticism” of the play and was both disappointed and impressed at the same time. I would have to agree with both Roger and Jake in how I viewed this article and say that it is an incredibly easy to read summary of Elesin’s situation, somewhat equitable to an in depth middle school book report, but it was not much of a criticism. That is to say that a well done criticism doesn’t have to literally criticize the author, but has to contribute something useful to the academic discussion of the literature being examined. This is where Jones’ piece fell short for me, and probably most of us who read it. It doesn’t oppose Soyinka’s presentation of ritualistic suicide or offer any additional scholarly analysis of the play; it seems to merely summarize a common perception of the play and barely supports this summary with a few selected quotes. I will say, however, that the presented summary of the play is easy to comprehend and presented in a rather “user friendly” manner that allows the reader to perhaps further his or her own understanding of Elesin’s situation. While it is not a terribly written book report, Jones’ piece seems slightly less relevant to the world of academia than many of the other criticisms we have read throughout the course of this class.