JAMB 2013 UTME USE OF ENGLISH: THE SUMMARY OF THE TWO NOVELS; “The successors” written by Jerry Agada AND “The potter’s wheel” by Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike.
Please Before scrolling downward, i would like you do me a favor; not to just glance on it but being a thorough reader leads to your much better performance.
THE SUCCESSORS By Jerry Agada
The book explores the significant shift that occurs in inheritance as a means of showing the challenges that patterns succession – displaying how at the end, one has to choose a path that either leads to success or failure.
The beauty, ugliness, morality or otherwise of the path is not the ultimate message in this book.
‘The Successors’ is the story of who comes next and how they got there – in this case, >the fictional life history of Okoh Ameh and Terkura Atsen and the succession by David and Ifenne. And what did they learn – that Industry and hard work pays. So,as I mentioned earlier, the story is mainly of these two young men Okoh Ameh and Terkura Atsen who met in a hotel as junior workers.
Terkura is very ambitious and dreams of one day owning a hotel as big as the one he is working in. Okoh on the other hand is the opposite – very unassuming.
All Okoh wants is to do well at his job, get promoted, marry a nice and obedient girl with whom he’ll forever live happily. All these he did but because of his limited ambition, he feels inadequate as he observes that his mates, Terkura inclusive, had done very well for themselves. Inferiority complex thus drives him into drinking and womanizing.
So much so that he neglects his family.
As a consequence of his neglect, his eldest son joins a gang, begins to skip school and took to smoking marijuana.
This drives Okoh further into despair. Terkura on the other hand goes on to finish university and is lucky to meet a benevolent who helps further fuel his ambition. He becomes very rich and influential. Although, he never got married nor had children to bequeath his wealth.
Ifenne, son of Okoh continues in the difficult and destructive path his father had chatted for him. He struggles at every turn to make ends meet. He becomes a bus conduct and in a twist of faith, manages to own a bus of his own.
Terkura, transfers his wealth to his nephew David.And the young man overwhelmed by the magnitude of his disposable wealth embarks on a frivolous life style that sees him flying all over the world, attending and holding the most ostentatious and lavish parties.
In an ultimate twist and the author’s design, Ifenne and David join up and put together a grand plot beyond everyone’s expectation.
*That’s the end and all about the book *THE SUCCESSORS*
2nd Novel: The Potter’s Wheel By Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike (summary).
>The story sets during the second World War and the only means of modern entertainment was the The Mobile Cinema Van.
The book is very rich in proverbs and a lot of wise words
“The Potter’s Wheel” >Tells of Obuechina Maduabuchi (mouthful), the only brother of six older sisters, prize pupil in the village school, apple of his doting mother (Mama Obu)’s eye,eight years old and hopelessly spoilt.
In a vain attempt to salvage his character, his father (Papa Mazi Lazarus Maduabuchi) decides he must be sent away as a servant to a schoolmaster with a dragon of a wife.
Obu goes and he comes back very different.
Points to note in the potter’s wheel;
*The story is all about 0buechina*, Maxi is the father of Obu and he has seven children*, Obu is the 6th child and he is the only son* of the family, his best friend is *oti*, while the eldest of the three friends is *samuel* who is referred to as the *bully and trickster*. Obu lived with his family in the village of *Umuchukwu*.
Obu came first in the school exam while he was 5 years old. *ogechukwu(obu’s immediate sister)* is three years older than obu, but ogechukwu failed. obu ‘wished’ he didn’t want to go to school at the age of 5, but his parents refused. (Mazi, Obu’s father was a cloth dealer* and he was a dancer when he was young. obu’s father also had a bicycle but the first person to have ridden a bicycle in *Umuachukwu town* was *Chief Okeke Okafor*
Obu was given a *red flute* to congratulate him on his success, when obuechina was asked to name anything he wanted and he asked for a *goat*, Mazi his father said they had one for christmas already.
Obu said he wanted to learn how to ride a bicycle and it was granted unto him, although, he never got to learn it.
Obu’s mother over pampered him which led him to bed wetting and obu was meant to die at his 9th birthday, as a result of a mark and a stone called *ogbanje stone* which was buried and which represent the life of obu. then Obu wanted *david* to teach him how to ride a bicycle but by that time when he went to david’s house, david was sick, so he went to his friend, oti* who had followed his brothers to the river for fishing. obu was over pampered and h