SOURCE: Ofuani, Ogo A. “The Image of the Prostitute: A Reconsideration of Okot p'Bitek's Malaya.” Kunapipi 8, no. 3 (1986): 100-14.

In the following essay, Ofuani rejects critical interpretations based on morality of the prostitute figure in p'Bitek's Malaya monologue, focusing instead on a more balanced assessment of the character.

Malaya is the female character, a prostitute, in Okot p'Bitek's lesser known and admired Song of Malaya (in Two Songs).¹ It is a dramatic monologue, written in movements, in the pattern of his earlier songs (Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol), and in free verse. The narration is from the point of view of this character who adopts various rhetorical strategies (such as the apostrophe, digressions and repetitions) in the bid to persuade us to adopt her point of view, to inform us, to achieve imaginative consent, and to engage our interests and guide our emotional responses as she addresses...