‘Echoes of Muffled Thoughts’ is a commendable effort highlighting the potential of future generation writers.
A literary project of Primeville Preparatory School, Ushafa, Abuja, the 98-paged anthology comprising 48 poems, one drama, an essay and seven short stories penned by year 8 to 11 students, examined a vast number of centering around personal, familial and social issues.
Based on the introduction, the anthology draws from two philosophies – to judge a society based on her wealth of virtues rather than economic wealth, and from philosopher and writer, Dante’s posture: “the darkest darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crises”.
One cannot help but be impressed by the students’ ability at such early ages to be able to put to words, much less spin them to express their thoughts and emotions about life, passion, hope, inspiration, freedom, climate change among other familial and societal challenges.
Particularly impressive is their intuitive expression of the personal compared to the social challenges. It is easy to criticise and blame others and the society for a collective wrong-doing, but difficult to beam the light on oneself, because we are unconsciously afraid of what we will see. These young children weren’t afraid to examine and express their inner struggles and challenges, as seen in Leonard S. Emmanuel’s ‘Dear Parents’, Opara Emmanuela’s ‘Life’, Betty B. Balami’s ‘Inspiration’, Chukwuemeka KingDavid’s ‘What Is Life?’, and Eboh Goshen’s very emotional piece ‘Vicente’, which represents an urgent cry for help and understanding. Meantime, Momoh O. Happiness’ short story ‘The Wish’ stood amongst the rest, showing the most potential to weave arresting narrative. While they may not have confronted their families or parents on sensitive issues affecting them, they have taken the courage to put them to paper, and that alone is a step in the right direction towards having a rational discussion with them on such matters.
Conversely, the young writers could do much more regarding their take on the larger societal issues and narrative. That they tackled such subjects like climate change – ‘It Makes No Sense’, betrayal – ‘Underwater Blues’, the idea of a muse – ‘The Muse’, and freedom – ‘Quest For Freedom’, self-worth – ‘Behind The Bar’, mental over physical freedom ‘The Real Treasure’ is a whole lot. They just need to knock down the literary techniques, narrative skills and observational powers, which are often accompanied by either age or experience.
Appreciation must go to the teachers and the school for building the educative environment where young talents are nurtured, and presented a platform to shine. It may seem little, but knowing that they opinions matter enough to be published can only encourage these young writers to pursue writing if not as a career, but a means of self-expression, and of contributing to social dialogues.
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