The Analysis of The Bildungsroman "Bom Boy" by Yewande Omotoso

Bom Boy by Yewande Omotoso is written in the genre known as Bildungsroman. However, it is in the form of a dissensual Bildungsroman. Peiker (2015) states that “A key plot difference between the dissensual and the traditional Bildungsroman is that a finished Bildung, the essential component of the traditional Bildungsroman, is all but impossible in the dissensual version in which the novel does not end with the protagonist’s initiation into society. Instead, Peiker (2015) further states that “the protagonist efforts to find their place in the contemporary society either meet with explicit failure or before the protagonist’s precious apprenticeship reaches a conclusion”.

The essay below will discuss what distinguishes the novel as a version of a dissensual Bildungsroman with reference to the protagonist not being integrated into society, internal conflicts, melancholic attachment and superstition and myth.Leke Denton does not meet our expectations as a protagonist of a traditional Bildungsroman at the end of the novel. Omotoso opens up the narrative with a description of Leke: “a thing had began to grow like a tree in Leke Denton’s throat. It was the same thing that grew when he was picked for the school play and it was there when girls glanced away as he walked down the corridors. An invisible rash”.

The word “rash” suggests something which is uncomfortable and something which people do not necessarily want. If a person has a rash, people do not want to be close to that person for fear of contracting the same rash. Therefore, Leke feeling he has a rash, he emits an aura of disgust which implies that he finds difficulty in connecting with people and is shy. Furthermore, Leke is labelled as a “cardboard boy” meaning Leke is like cardboard which is thrown away and “kid-for-hire” which implies that Leke is something which is temporary and not to be ‘bought to keep’. Thus he is alienated and not accepted into his community; these characteristics are typical of a protagonist at the beginning of the traditional Bildungsroman.

On the contrary to the growth of a protagonist in a traditional Bildungsroman experience, we do not get a clear indication that Leke has grown or progressed with the passage of time. When the Babalawo says that Leke has “baby eyes” it suggests that although Leke is an adult he is not fully mature as parts of him are still childlike. The novel therefore ends with uncertainty as Omotoso describes Leke as “not talking, changing gear, picking up speed” mentioning that “after the previous years prolonged cold and wet, he enjoy[s] the feel of the sun on his face”. Picking up speed indicates that Leke is running away and not facing his problems and the “sun on his face” also gives us an idea of some form of change and hope. However, the sunlight on his face and not the rest of his body could imply that change or progress is not complete as in the traditional Bildungsroman.

The light (sun) still needs to reach his entire body. Therefore, this unclear ending dissensualizes the Bildungsroman. In the same breath, Omotoso uses a second protagonist which is not a feature of the traditional Bildungsroman, therefore dissensualizing the Bildungsroman. Oscar is a foil for Leke and this implies that even as Leke ages, he may continue to be rejected because his mixed race, transnationalism makes him ‘the other’. This completely removes the promise of reconciliation a traditional Bildungsroman has. Oscar foregrounds his Nigerianess by saying ”I was Nigerian after all”. He places great emphasis on Moremi a Yoruba queen in contrast to Rhodes. However, he feels rejected and isolated as his work colleagues pay no attention and make no effort to understand Moremi or his heritage as Omotoso says that “The ignorance of his lab mates mixed with the opulence of Rhodes Memorial [brews] distaste in Oscar” suggesting that they reject his heritage and thus make him feel isolated.In addition, Leke’s internal conflicts are not fully resolved at the end of the novel as a traditional protagonist’s would be.

Firstly, the internal conflict with relation to his adoptive parents will be explored. Omotoso says “Leke’s heart pounded sitting on Marcus… He [wishes] Jane would come and break this up, but they’d left her in the garden”. Although Leke loves his adoptive father, the fact that he wishes Jane would come to break this interactionsuggests that he feels a sense of distance around him. In contrast, the relationship with Jane, his adoptive mother is different. He feels comfort and at ease around her, but she too leaves him after she passes away as his real parents left him. In a traditional setting the protagonist comes to terms with such tragedies but Leke’s case is different. He steals things from Jane and after her death he reasons that they are “like a gift Jane intended to give him but forgot to”, suggesting that Leke does not really get over the death of Jane and uses the things he takes as a reason to still hold on to Jane. As the novel progresses, Leke moves into young adulthood as Omotoso says “transitions like an amphibian into an uncomfortable adulthood”.

The comparisonhere suggests that Leke has undergone metamorphosis into young adulthood. The word amphibian comes from the Greek word amphibios which means to live a double life, therefore suggesting that Leke is living a double life.Secondly, Leke’s internal conflict with the letters he receives from his real father is also not resolved. The narrator explains that “if he accept[s] the envelope he’d finally know for sure who his real parents [are]”. Leke has tried to read the letters in the envelope but his “eyes [cloud]”. He rests the envelope “against his chest”. The fact that Leke does not want to open the letters immediately suggests that he fears engagement.

The letters represent a world he does not know therefore he feels anxious. Leke also has a habit of carrying around the envelope with him and constantly checking if it is still there. This further emphasises that Leke wants to know who his real parents are but is scared to go into the unknown. A further example is how he treats Red, Jane’s former car: “When he [leaves] for work in the mornings, on foot, he open[s] the left-hand-side doors so that, on arriving home, he [feels] as though she [is] reaching out to him with a welcoming hug”.

This peculiar behaviour indicates that the car becomes a substitute for Jane. Leke’s melancholic attachment with reference to Jane and the letters suggests his refusal to let go of the ‘old’ and fully embrace the ‘new’ which undermines the teleological design of the idealist Bildungsroman, therefore dissensualizing it.In order for a person to fit into a certain model they need to be part of a group of people that form particular cultures, ideas, customs and social behavior’s. However, Leke has no knowledge of his customs, heritage or ethnicity.

Leke is a mix of South African and Nigerian with a Nigerian father and South African mother. Therefore he does not know where he belongs and has no fixed model to go into. Model (2004) states “In the rhetoric of the adoptee search movement, knowing one’s heritage and ethnicity contributes to the formation of an integrated identity. Information about and connections with those who came before complete the circle of the self”. Leke never meets his birth parents to understand exactly what his roots are, and this implies that Leke’s circle of the self is not complete due to lack of knowledge of his roots. This dissensualises the Bildungsroman in contrast to the traditional Bildungsroman in which the protagonist already has knowledge of his heritage and ethnicity which completes his circle.

The traditional Bildungsroman as said by Vazquez (2002) rejects superstition and myth and therefore “another reason for Leke’s social isolation” is the “long-standing family curse” says Omotoso . Vazquez (2002) further says that “As has been frequently observed, in the realistic tradition the education of the hero resolves around values of rationalism, materialism and pragmatism. Spiritually fantasy and myth are usually rejected as worthless superstition with exception of the Christian religion.

Consequently, the child’s growing up is often a growing away from fantasy”. However, Omotoso uses myth and superstition through the curse in Leke’s life. Leke cannot fully understand the curse even after visiting the Babalawo and Sangomas. Confusion still plagues Leke when he asks the Babalawo if he can undo the curse but the Babalawo says that there is a “condition” which Leke will “never know what it is. Therefore, through this curse Omotoso dissensualizes the Bildungsroman form.

Omotoso makes use of the Bildungsroman form by appointing qualities to the protagonist such as being isolated and not accepted into society in the beginning of the novel. However, she dissensualises the Bildungsroman as Fasselt (2015) says that “Leke’s adulthood continues to be marked by extreme loneliness and social exclusion” which implies Leke does not reach integration into society at the end of the novel. Furthermore, Leke’s internal conflicts are not fully resolved, he keeps a melancholic attachment to his past, meaning he does not fully come to terms with his past, and Omotoso makes use of superstition and myth which are disregarded in the traditional Bildungsroman. Therefore, this distinguishes Omotoso’s novel as a version of the dissensual Bildungsroman.