That same day the London Evening Standard contained an article about workers in the capital that was, distressingly, equally relevant to Soyinka's themes. Matheus Sanchez, a journalist, was writing about his undercover experiences as a 'runner' in the kitchens of a prestigious restaurant in Soho, revealing '"the unbelievable conditions of penury, bullying and even violence" which most of the kitchen porters and pot-washers endure there: "appalling pay, verbal and physical abuse and a nonchalant view of the law" characterise the employment of the mainly immigrant (and mainly illegal) workers.

Sanchez pretends to be Brazilian and is employed immediately, despite having no work permit or student visa. During his shift he is verbally abused, dares not request a break (even after working for eight hours), and sees a fellow worker ordered not to drink water until told he might do so. While diners laugh in the restaurant above, a senior chef slaps a young Pole "hard across the face" and then screams abuse at him. Another young Pole, "well-educated, polite and responsible" leaves the restaurant "close to tears at the end of his shift." In this case the perpetrators of violence are not invisible to the victims: but this climate of fear 'below stairs' is hidden from the upmarket diners who almost certainly give no thought at all to the shadowy figures involved in the delivery to their tables of expensive, award-winning food.

Sanchez's experiences are an important reminder that a climate of fear is not the sole preserve of totalitarian states. It may exist wherever there is a will to dominate, a lust for the thrill of power itself. It may be imposed upon those who are disempowered through poverty and/or displacement. Self-regard and agency are achieved by the oppressor through defining their Self in opposition to the disenfranchised Other. Soyinka's conclusion is that what the oppressor longs to see -indeed, what thrills him with a sense of his own power - is the expression of fear that he generates in his victim.

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Content last updated: 07/07/2004

About the author

Lynda Morgan completed her Ph.D thesis on South African settler fiction at the School of Oriental and African Studies (the University of London), and her main literary interests continue to be in African literature and colonial/postcolonial studies. She publishes papers in these areas, and regularly contributes to national and international conferences. In August she will deliver a paper on South African and Australian settler fiction at the ICLA Congress in Hong Kong. She is also a published poet.

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