The Plantation

One of the central themes of “The Plantation” is the role and power of nature. The story is set in a natural environment, a rubber tree plantation. Central to the way of life of the village and its people, these farms are so lush that they block out the sun and radiate with life. Even though Adagha calls Namidi’s rubber tree farm a plantation, he connects it to the swamps, and, in so doing, emphasizes the natural qualities of these traditional settings.

Nature is further emphasized by the description of what is not natural. In describing the rise of the oil industry, Adagha writes that men from the city “had dug across the village grounds, through the plantation and the nearby forests; buried the pipes and then left” (77). The men’s appearance and disappearance bring minor changes to the communal and traditional way of life in the village. Indeed, the installation of a pipeline under the plantation affects not only the land but also the people.

Seeing the leak, Namidi is struck first by the impulse to tell the village head about it. But, the narrator says, “such noble thoughts soon evaporated as he turned the matter over in his mind.