SPECIAL THINGS ABOUT THE PLAY
“Overseas” reveal that people prefer to study and live abroad than staying in their countries for one reason or the other. Muledi left his mother and his fiancée to go and study abroad and refused to return back home. He kept sending letters to people at home and only decided to come back home when he got news that his mother was dead.
“Overseas” exposes the cameroonian’s educational system. It is not news that Cameroon’s educational system is poor even till now. They don’t have facilities, the government was not concerned about their education. Therefore fewer girls than boys in schools. The poorness of Cameroon’s educational system was what could have made Muledi travel to study abroad in the first place.
This play is special because it dramatizes the true experiences of human beings in the human society. Children still travel abroad and refuse to come back home because they feel like life is much easier over there, just like Muledi did. It also shows the sorrows of a mother losing her child to the whites always wondering when he would return home.
It shows that after attaining all the knowledge in the world you are still not complete without your family, as seen when Muledi decides to go back home to weep and mourn his dead mother and start a family of his own with his wife to be Ndongo.
The overseas is a seven scene play and each of the scenes are arranged accordingly in the manner which the actions take place. in the beginning of the play we see a letter being received by ma ndutu which led to her falling sick and eventually dies.
All the characters in the play tend to focus on one issue and one central idea is being discussed in the play and that idea is to bring back Muledi to come and take care of his dying mother.
All the characters in the play are named in a native language of the coastal tribes of southern Cameroon and any reader who picks the book to read will be exposed to the Cameroun names.
What makes the play special is their special way of greeting, for instance when a character meets his acquaintance in the evening, instead of saying good evening, he will ask “how, did you see the evening? And the response will be yes, and you , and also when an elderly man is asking of an elderly woman he usually ask.
How is my concubine, which is his way of showing afffection and esteem even when they are not lovers.
In the play it shows that as far back as 19th, most of the indigene or native of the coastal tribe of the southern Cameroon were already educated and where in love with education, we can see this is in the Muledi character, even Mbedi and ndongo are educated because they can even read and write and know how to post letters overseas.
The title of overseas is one things that makes it special because the title on its own gives a picture of the event, traveling. In the 19th century people in the village always want to travel out of their environment in order to experience elsewhere.
The play is special because the language is that of the Cameroonian of the 19th century. It gives us a clear understanding that an elderly man can refer to elderly woman as “my concubine” it doesent necessarily man they are lovers. And also the word fiancée was being known as intended. Their means of greeting were like questions e.g. (How, did, you see the evening).