How did Marcus Ibe Become Successful Politician in ‘The Voter’? A Short Tale by Chinua Achebe
How did Marcus Ibe Become Successful Politician in ‘The Voter’? A Short Tale by Chinua Achebe
‘The Voter’ is a short tale written by Chinua Achebe. In this story, he emphasizes the complete election set-up. He also outlines that how a person deemed to be educated tries to oppose the present customs.
Roof (Rufus Okeke) is a knowledgeable person who comes back to his town to aid the uneducated community in his way. During the time of elections, he engaged himself entirely to meet his self-centered needs and a speck of societal concern.
Roof was the ideal adviser for Marcus Ibe in the elections. Marcus needed someone of Roof’s nature to work as the election campaign manager. He started trusting Roof when he was informed by him that the people were dissatisfied with how they were considered soon after the elections.
So, in the coming elections, the people may not take part in the ballot free of charge. Thus, Marcus had withdrawn 5 months value of income earlier so that he could pay for the expenses.
Roof also had other election campaign boys who perform their work successfully. Marcus had purchased a big mansion for himself and called it ‘Umuofia mansion’. He was bestowing that mansion to the village community.
On that day, all the village people were requested for an ozo meal. It was expected that their unwillingness would be removed. After having that extravagant meal, the village started praising the outlook of Marcus. The village community started considering Marcus as a great man who does good things.
Before the voting day, it was a chaotic day when Roof met five elders of the village and offered those 4 shillings expecting that it would drum up support from them for Marcus.
Another incident on the same night quivered Marcus. Few POP campaign boys met Roof and lured him with a Pound note which Roof could not refuse. He faced a huge dilemma when they asked him to swear by the local God “Iyi”. He has no other choice alternative but to abide by.
On Election Day, Roof observed the response of Marcus frequently as he did not want Marcus to distrust him. Everything happened according to the plan. But Roof got confused when he was asked to vote.
Suddenly, he got an idea. He tore the voting paper into two halves. Then, he put the first half into Maduka’s box and orally announced that he has first voted for POP.
