Summary
A Dancer of Fortune is a satirical novel that follows the exploits of Ayasko, an “engaging rascal” and professional dancer who serves as a living advertisement for rival patent medicine dealers in the town of Dekko. Ayasko is a “trickster” figure who shifts his loyalty between various employers Sabanco, Marabu, Avarido, and Eddy Chindi bringing “vast new business” wherever he goes. While the dealers compete fiercely for market dominance, Ayasko navigates their jealousies and greed to secure his own financial future. His success is driven by his understanding that, in the unregulated patent medicine trade, theatricality and charisma are more effective than formal education. Ultimately, Ayasko outmaneuvers his employers to establish his own independent medicine empire, proving that he is the most clever strategist in the market.
Plot
The narrative begins with Ayasko working for Avarido, having recently defected from his previous employer, Marabu. Avarido uses Ayasko’s charisma to sell drugs like “Osteopar” and “Fedrilis,” though his existing staff the salesman Ogoroba and his secretary/mistress Marianna deeply resent the dancer’s influence. Meanwhile, Marabu attempts to win Ayasko back by leveraging Ayasko’s wife, Bessie, who is frustrated by their living conditions and her husband’s “clownish” profession.
The conflict escalates when Avarido decides to replace Ayasko with plastic models to save on wages, leading Ayasko to secretly plot with a new, younger rival, Eddy Chindi (owner of Deo Volente Stores). During a promotional trip to the village of Kara, Ayasko sabotages Avarido’s business by inciting a mob against Ogoroba, claiming that Avarido is “spraying disease germs” through his plastic images. This effectively ruins Avarido’s reputation.
Ayasko then moves to Chindi’s establishment, where he uses his knowledge of the trade to help Chindi break the “monopoly” of the major drug companies. However, Ayasko eventually executes his final play: he uses Chindi’s funds and legal resources to register and open several “Ayasko Medical Stores” in his own name. The novel concludes with a court case where the four defeated medicine dealers stand together as “mere husks,” watching as Ayasko and a now-proud Bessie arrive to celebrate their victory as the new masters of the trade.
Setting
- Dekko: A bustling Nigerian town described as a land of people “whose hearts were all music”. It serves as the primary commercial hub for the patent medicine rivalry.
- Kara and Osiri: Rural and suburban areas where the dealers travel in “jeeps” to hawk their wares to less sophisticated audiences.
- Lagos: Mentioned as the place where Ayasko received his “early training” in the urban nightlife and music scenes, specifically the “Moonlight Hotel”.
- Okenze Street: The location of Ayasko’s new, independent two-room apartment and eventual store, representing his transition into a higher social class.
Themes
- Greed and Ambition: The patent medicine dealers are depicted as “money mongers” more interested in “diseases of the pocket” than physical healing.
- Social Status and Mobility: Much of the tension arises from Bessie’s desire for her husband to move beyond “leg-flinging” to a “respectable” profession and a better home.
- The Power of Performance: The novel explores how advertising and charisma can manipulate public perception, often making people believe that showmanship is a substitute for medical efficacy.
- Retribution: The downfall of Avarido and Marabu is framed as a “work of retribution” for their own unethical practices and treatment of Ayasko.
Characters
Major Characters
- Ayasko (Aya): The protagonist, a charismatic dancer and “Advertising Manager” who uses his wit and feet to dominate the medicine trade.
- Bessie: Ayasko’s intelligent wife; she pushes him to improve their social standing and eventually joins him in his success.
- Avarido: A “spare” and “wily” medicine dealer who tries to cheat Ayasko but is ultimately ruined by him.
- Eddy Chindi: The young, educated owner of Deo Volente Stores who is eventually outsmarted by Ayasko.
- Marabu: A large, ill-tempered dealer and Bessie’s relative who loses Ayasko to Avarido early in the story.
Minor Characters
- Ogoroba: Avarido’s short, jealous salesman who specializes in “acupuncture” (injections) and deeply hates Ayasko.
- Marianna: Avarido’s “personal secretary” and mistress who views Ayasko as a threat to her influence.
- Sabanco: An elderly, kind dealer whose business fails because he is drained by his numerous relations.
- Dandadinenu (Election Machine): A physically powerful man who Ayasko uses to help incite the mob against Avarido’s men in Kara.
- Erico and Alaska Bebe: Two young boys Ayasko recruits and trains to be his “apprentice” dancers and clerks.
Literary Devices
- Satire: Munonye uses humor to critique the lack of ethics in the patent medicine industry, describing medicine as something meant to cure “the diseases of the pocket”.
- Irony: It is ironic that the dealers who think they are exploiting Ayasko’s “clownishness” are actually being manipulated by him into funding his own rise to power.
- Simile and Metaphor: Ayasko is frequently compared to elusive or powerful entities, such as “okro soup” (slippery) or a “Permanent Secretary” (powerful). Avarido is described as “spare as a match-stick”.
- Allegory: The “story of the he-goat” told by Ayasko serves as an allegory for his relationship with the drug companies and his determination to assert his independence.
- Foreshadowing: Ayasko’s frequent use of the “Money Monger Calypso” foreshadows his eventual rejection of his greedy employers.