essay questions on a dance of the forest

Lit. Summaries

• Biographies

Diving into the Depths of A Dance of the Forests: A Literary Analysis by Wole Soyinka

• Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka’s “A Dance of the Forests” is a play that explores the themes of colonialism, cultural identity, and tradition through the lens of a mythical African forest. In this literary analysis, we will dive into the depths of the play, examining its characters, themes, and symbolism to gain a deeper understanding of Soyinka’s message and the relevance of the play in contemporary society.

Historical Context

The historical context of Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests is crucial to understanding the play’s themes and messages. The play was written in 1960, just a few years after Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule. This period was marked by political instability and social upheaval as the country struggled to establish a new identity and government. Soyinka’s play reflects this tumultuous time, exploring themes of power, corruption, and the search for identity. Additionally, the play draws on traditional African mythology and folklore, highlighting the importance of cultural heritage in the face of colonialism and modernization. Understanding the historical context of A Dance of the Forests is essential to fully appreciating the play’s significance and impact on Nigerian literature and culture.

Themes and Motifs

One of the most prominent themes in Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests is the clash between tradition and modernity. This is evident in the play’s setting, which takes place during a period of transition in Nigeria, as the country moves towards independence from colonial rule. The play’s characters are torn between their traditional beliefs and customs, and the new ideas and values that are being introduced by the colonial powers. This conflict is further highlighted by the use of motifs such as masks and costumes, which represent the traditional culture of the characters, and the use of Western clothing and technology, which represent the modern world. Through this theme and motif, Soyinka explores the complexities of cultural identity and the challenges of navigating change in a rapidly evolving world.

Symbolism and Imagery

Symbolism and imagery play a significant role in Wole Soyinka’s play, A Dance of the Forests. The forest, for instance, is a recurring symbol that represents the African continent and its cultural heritage. The forest is also a metaphor for the subconscious mind, where the characters confront their fears and desires. The masks worn by the characters also have symbolic significance. They represent the different roles that people play in society and the masks they wear to hide their true selves. The use of drums and music in the play also adds to the imagery, creating a sense of rhythm and movement that reflects the characters’ emotions and actions. Overall, the symbolism and imagery in A Dance of the Forests add depth and meaning to the play, making it a rich and complex work of literature.

Character Analysis

One of the most intriguing aspects of A Dance of the Forests is the complex and multifaceted characters that populate the play. From the mischievous and irreverent Forest Spirits to the stoic and dignified Old Man, each character brings a unique perspective and energy to the story. One character that stands out in particular is the Bride, a young woman who is forced to marry a man she does not love in order to secure peace between two warring tribes. Despite her initial reluctance, the Bride proves to be a resilient and resourceful character, using her wit and charm to navigate the treacherous political landscape of the play. Through her interactions with other characters, we see the Bride’s strength and determination, as well as her vulnerability and fear. Overall, the Bride is a fascinating and complex character who adds depth and nuance to A Dance of the Forests.

Plot Summary

The play, A Dance of the Forests, by Wole Soyinka, is a complex and multi-layered work that explores themes of colonialism, identity, and tradition. The plot centers around a group of forest spirits who are preparing for a dance to celebrate the arrival of a new king. However, their preparations are interrupted by the arrival of a group of colonial officials who are intent on disrupting the traditional way of life in the forest. As the play unfolds, the forest spirits must navigate the challenges posed by the colonial officials while also grappling with their own sense of identity and purpose. Ultimately, the play offers a powerful commentary on the impact of colonialism on traditional cultures and the importance of preserving cultural heritage in the face of outside influence.

Cultural Significance

A Dance of the Forests is a play that holds immense cultural significance in Nigeria and beyond. Written by Wole Soyinka, the play was first performed in 1960, just a few months before Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule. The play is a reflection of the political and social climate of the time, and it explores themes of identity, tradition, and the clash between modernity and tradition.

One of the most significant aspects of A Dance of the Forests is its use of traditional African dance and music. The play incorporates elements of Yoruba culture, including the use of drums and other percussion instruments, as well as traditional dance movements. This not only adds to the authenticity of the play but also serves as a reminder of the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

Furthermore, A Dance of the Forests is a commentary on the impact of colonialism on African societies. The play depicts a group of African villagers who are visited by a group of European colonizers. The colonizers attempt to impose their culture and values on the villagers, leading to a clash between the two groups. This theme of cultural imperialism is one that is still relevant today, as many African countries continue to struggle with the legacy of colonialism.

Overall, A Dance of the Forests is a powerful work of literature that continues to resonate with audiences today. Its use of traditional African dance and music, as well as its commentary on the impact of colonialism, make it an important piece of cultural heritage for Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

Language and Style

In A Dance of the Forests, Wole Soyinka employs a unique language and style that reflects his African heritage and literary background. The play is written in a mixture of English and Yoruba, a West African language, which adds authenticity and depth to the characters and their interactions. Soyinka also uses a variety of literary devices, such as symbolism and allegory, to convey his message about the dangers of blindly following tradition and the importance of individuality. The play’s poetic language and rhythmic dialogue create a musical quality that enhances the overall experience for the reader or audience member. Overall, Soyinka’s language and style in A Dance of the Forests are integral to the play’s success as a work of African literature.

Performance Analysis

In addition to its literary significance, A Dance of the Forests is also a highly performative work. The play’s use of music, dance, and ritual elements are integral to its overall impact and meaning. As such, it is important to consider the play’s performance history and reception in order to fully appreciate its artistic achievements.

One notable aspect of A Dance of the Forests is its incorporation of traditional African music and dance forms. Soyinka draws on a range of cultural traditions, including Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, to create a rich and diverse soundscape. The play’s music and dance sequences are not merely decorative, but serve to deepen the play’s themes and enhance its emotional impact.

Another key element of the play’s performance is its use of ritual. A Dance of the Forests is structured around a series of ritualistic ceremonies, including a funeral, a wedding, and a coronation. These ceremonies are not presented as mere spectacle, but as integral parts of the play’s narrative and thematic development. Through these rituals, Soyinka explores the complex relationships between tradition and modernity, and between individual and collective identity.

Finally, it is worth considering the reception of A Dance of the Forests in its various performance contexts. The play has been staged in a range of settings, from traditional proscenium theaters to outdoor festivals and community centers. Each of these contexts presents unique challenges and opportunities for the play’s performers and audiences. By examining the play’s performance history, we can gain a deeper understanding of its enduring appeal and relevance.

Religious and Spiritual Elements

In A Dance of the Forests, Wole Soyinka incorporates various religious and spiritual elements that add depth and meaning to the play. The play is set in a forest, which is often seen as a sacred space in many African cultures. The forest is also a place where the spirits of ancestors are believed to reside, and this belief is reflected in the play. The characters in the play often make references to the spirits and seek their guidance.

Another religious element in the play is the presence of the masquerade. The masquerade is a traditional African performance art that involves the use of masks and costumes to represent spirits or ancestors. In A Dance of the Forests, the masquerade is used to represent the spirits of the ancestors who have come to witness the dance. The masquerade is also used to convey important messages to the characters in the play.

Soyinka also incorporates Christian elements into the play. The character of the Priest represents the Christian religion, and he is often in conflict with the traditional African beliefs of the other characters. The Priest tries to convert the other characters to Christianity, but his efforts are met with resistance. The conflict between Christianity and traditional African beliefs is a recurring theme in Soyinka’s works.

Overall, the religious and spiritual elements in A Dance of the Forests add depth and complexity to the play. They reflect the rich cultural heritage of Africa and the ongoing struggle between tradition and modernity.

Political Commentary

In his play A Dance of the Forests, Wole Soyinka explores the complexities of Nigerian politics and the struggle for independence. Through his use of symbolism and allegory, Soyinka critiques the corruption and greed that plagued the country during this time period. The play is a powerful commentary on the political climate of Nigeria in the 1960s and serves as a reminder of the importance of fighting for justice and equality. As we continue to grapple with political issues both domestically and internationally, Soyinka’s work remains relevant and thought-provoking.

Gender Roles and Feminism

In A Dance of the Forests, Wole Soyinka explores the complexities of gender roles and feminism in African society. The play challenges traditional notions of masculinity and femininity, as well as the power dynamics between men and women. Soyinka’s portrayal of the female characters in the play is particularly noteworthy, as they are strong, independent, and capable of challenging the patriarchal structures that govern their lives. Through their actions and words, these women assert their agency and demand to be treated as equals. This feminist message is a powerful one, and it speaks to the ongoing struggle for gender equality in Africa and beyond.

Colonialism and Postcolonialism

Colonialism and postcolonialism are two major themes that are explored in Wole Soyinka’s play, A Dance of the Forests. The play is set in Nigeria during the period of decolonization, and it reflects the tensions and conflicts that arose during this time. Soyinka uses the play to critique the legacy of colonialism and to explore the challenges of postcolonialism.

One of the key themes in A Dance of the Forests is the idea of cultural identity. The play explores the tension between traditional African culture and the influence of Western colonialism. Soyinka uses the character of the White Queen to represent the colonial influence, and the character of the Forest King to represent traditional African culture. The play suggests that the legacy of colonialism has had a profound impact on African culture, and that it has led to a loss of cultural identity.

Another important theme in A Dance of the Forests is the idea of power and authority. The play explores the tensions between different groups in Nigerian society, including the ruling elite, the traditional rulers, and the common people. Soyinka uses the character of the Forest King to represent the traditional rulers, and the character of the Market Woman to represent the common people. The play suggests that the struggle for power and authority is a key challenge in postcolonial Nigeria, and that it is often accompanied by violence and conflict.

Overall, A Dance of the Forests is a powerful exploration of the themes of colonialism and postcolonialism. The play offers a nuanced and complex view of the challenges facing Nigeria during the period of decolonization, and it remains a powerful work of literature today.

Mythology and Folklore

Mythology and folklore play a significant role in Wole Soyinka’s play, A Dance of the Forests. The play is set in a mythical forest where the spirits of the dead reside. The forest is also home to various deities and mythical creatures, such as the god of thunder, Sango, and the spirit of the river, Oya. These mythological elements are used to explore themes of power, tradition, and identity. The play also draws on Yoruba folklore, which is an integral part of Nigerian culture. The use of mythology and folklore in A Dance of the Forests adds depth and richness to the play, making it a compelling exploration of Nigerian culture and identity.

Comparative Analysis with Other Works by Soyinka

In comparison to Soyinka’s other works, A Dance of the Forests stands out as a unique piece of literature. While his other plays, such as Death and the King’s Horseman and The Lion and the Jewel, focus on the clash between traditional African culture and Western influence, A Dance of the Forests delves deeper into the complexities of African identity and the struggle for independence. Additionally, the play’s use of traditional African mythology and folklore sets it apart from Soyinka’s other works, which tend to incorporate more contemporary themes and settings. Overall, A Dance of the Forests showcases Soyinka’s versatility as a writer and his ability to explore a wide range of themes and motifs within the context of African literature.

Impact on African Literature

Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests has had a significant impact on African literature. The play, which was first performed in 1960, marked a turning point in the development of African drama. It was one of the first plays to be written in English by an African playwright and dealt with themes that were relevant to African society at the time.

Soyinka’s use of traditional African elements in the play, such as music, dance, and folklore, helped to establish a distinct African voice in literature. The play also challenged the dominant Western literary tradition and provided a platform for African writers to express their own experiences and perspectives.

A Dance of the Forests has inspired many African writers to explore their own cultural heritage and incorporate it into their work. It has also influenced the development of African theatre, with many playwrights following in Soyinka’s footsteps and using traditional African elements in their plays.

Overall, A Dance of the Forests has had a lasting impact on African literature and continues to be a significant work in the canon of African drama.

Reception and Criticism

A Dance of the Forests, written by Wole Soyinka, was first performed in 1960 at the Nigerian Independence Day celebrations. The play was received with mixed reactions from the audience and critics alike. Some praised the play for its innovative use of traditional African elements, while others criticized it for being too complex and difficult to understand.

One of the main criticisms of the play was its use of language. Soyinka incorporated a variety of languages, including English, Yoruba, and pidgin, which some critics found confusing and inaccessible. However, others argued that this use of language was necessary to accurately represent the diverse cultural landscape of Nigeria.

Despite the mixed reception, A Dance of the Forests has since become a staple of African literature and is widely regarded as one of Soyinka’s most important works. Its themes of cultural identity, colonialism, and the struggle for independence continue to resonate with readers and audiences today.

Interpretation and Analysis

In his play A Dance of the Forests, Wole Soyinka explores the complexities of Nigerian culture and the impact of colonialism on traditional beliefs and practices. Through his use of symbolism, language, and character development, Soyinka creates a vivid and thought-provoking portrayal of the struggle between tradition and modernity. One of the most striking aspects of the play is its use of dance as a metaphor for the cultural clash that is taking place. The forest, which serves as the setting for much of the action, represents the traditional way of life, while the city represents the modern world. The dance, which is performed by both the forest and city dwellers, becomes a powerful symbol of the tension between these two worlds. Through his analysis of the play, Soyinka invites readers to consider the ways in which cultural traditions are impacted by outside influences and the importance of preserving these traditions in the face of change.

Historical and Cultural Allusions

In A Dance of the Forests, Wole Soyinka makes use of various historical and cultural allusions to enrich the themes and messages of the play. One such allusion is the reference to the Yoruba deity, Ogun, who is known as the god of iron and war. Ogun is a significant figure in Yoruba mythology and is often associated with strength, power, and violence. In the play, Soyinka uses Ogun’s character to represent the destructive nature of colonialism and the violence that it brings to African societies. Another historical allusion in the play is the reference to the slave trade and the impact it had on African societies. Soyinka uses this allusion to highlight the trauma and pain that African people experienced during this period and how it continues to affect them even in the present day. Overall, the historical and cultural allusions in A Dance of the Forests serve to deepen the play’s themes and provide a richer understanding of the African experience.

Language and Translation

Language and Translation play a crucial role in understanding the nuances of Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests. The play is written in English, but it incorporates elements of Yoruba culture and language. Soyinka uses Yoruba words and phrases throughout the play, which adds depth and authenticity to the story. However, this also presents a challenge for non-Yoruba speakers who may struggle to fully grasp the meaning behind certain words and phrases.

Translation is also important when analyzing A Dance of the Forests. Soyinka himself has translated the play into Yoruba, and it is interesting to compare the two versions to see how the language and cultural elements are portrayed differently. Additionally, translations of the play into other languages may also provide unique insights into the story and its themes.

Overall, language and translation are essential components in understanding A Dance of the Forests and the cultural context in which it was written.

• Study Guides
• Homework Questions

A Dance of the Forests Analysis

• Share full article

Yellowstone’s Wolves: A Debate Over Their Role in the Park’s Ecosystem

New research questions the long-held theory that reintroduction of such a predator caused a trophic cascade, spawning renewal of vegetation and spurring biodiversity.

Yellowstone’s ecological transformation through the reintroduction of wolves has become a case study for how to correct out-of-balance ecosystems. But new research challenges that notion. Credit... Elizabeth Boehm/Danita Delimont, via Alamy

Supported by

By Jim Robbins

• April 23, 2024

In 1995, 14 wolves were delivered by truck and sled to the heart of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, where the animal had long been absent. Others followed.

Since then, a story has grown up, based on early research, that as the wolves increased in number, they hunted the park’s elk herds, significantly reducing them by about half from 17,000.

The wolves’ return and predatory dominance was believed to have had a widespread effect known as a trophic cascade, by decreasing grazing and restoring and expanding forests, grasses and other wildlife. It supposedly even changed the course of rivers as streamside vegetation returned.

Yellowstone’s dramatic transformation through the reintroduction of wolves has become a global parable for how to correct out-of-balance ecosystems.

In recent years, however, new research has walked that story back. Yes, stands of aspen and willows are thriving again — in some places. But decades of damage from elk herds’ grazing and trampling so thoroughly changed the landscape that large areas remain scarred and may not recover for a long time, if ever.

Wolf packs, in other words, are not magic bullets for restoring ecosystems.

“I would say it’s exaggerated, greatly exaggerated,” said Thomas Hobbs, a professor of natural resource ecology at Colorado State University and the lead author of a long-term study that adds new fuel to the debate over whether Yellowstone experienced a trophic cascade.

“You could argue a trophic trickle maybe,” said Daniel Stahler, the park’s lead wolf biologist who has studied the phenomenon. “Not a trophic cascade.”

Not only is the park’s recovery far less robust than first thought, but the story as it has been told is more complex, Dr. Hobbs said.

But the legend of the wolves’ influence on the park persists.

“How in the world does this lovely story — and it is a beautiful story — come to be seen as fact?” Dr. Hobbs wondered. A chapter of a book tried to answer that, concluding that a video called “ How Wolves Change Rivers ,” which has received tens of millions of views, contributed mightily to the tale.

The ecological record is complicated by the fact that, as elk declined, the number of bison increased substantially, continuing some of the same patterns, like heavy grazing in some places. Moreover, Yellowstone is growing warmer and drier with climate change.

Large numbers of elk in the north of the park had caused significant ecological changes — vegetation disappeared, trampled streams led to extensive erosion, and invasive plant species took hold. Riparian vegetation, or the grasses, the trees and the shrubs along riverbanks and streams, provides a critical habitat for birds, insects and other species to flourish and to maintain biodiversity in the park.

Once elk numbers dwindled, willows and aspens returned along rivers and streams and flourished. The beaver, an engineer of ecosystems, reappeared, using the dense new growth of willows for both food and construction materials. Colonies built new dams, creating ponds that enhanced stream habitats for birds, fish, grizzlies and other bears as well as promoting the growth of more willows and spring vegetation.

But wolves were only one piece of a larger picture, argue Dr. Hobbs and other skeptics of a full-blown trophic cascade at Yellowstone. Grizzly bears and humans played a role, too. For eight years after wolves re-entered the park, hunters killed more elk than the wolves did.

“The other members of the predator guild increased, and human harvest outside of the park has been clearly shown to be responsible for the decline in elk numbers the first 10 years after the wolves were introduced,” Dr. Hobbs said.

The changes attributed to the presence of stalking wolves, some research showed, weren’t only the result of fewer elk, but of a change in elk behavior called “the ecology of fear.” Scientists suggested that the big ungulates could no longer safely hang out along river or stream banks and eat everything in sight. They became extremely cautious, hiding in places where they could be vigilant. That allowed a return of vegetation in those places.

Dr. Hobbs and others contend that subsequent research has not borne that theory out.

Another overlooked factor is that around the same time wolves were returning, 129 beavers were reintroduced by the U.S. Forest Service onto streams north of the park. So it wasn’t just wolf predation on elk and the subsequent return of wolves that enabled an increase in beavers, experts say.

Some researchers say the so-called trophic cascade and rebirth of streamside ecosystems would have been far more robust if it weren’t for the park’s growing bison herd. The bison population is at an all-time high — the most recent count last summer found nearly 5,000 animals. Much larger than elk, bison are less likely to be vulnerable to wolves, which numbered 124 this winter.

The park’s bison, some researchers say, are overgrazing and otherwise seriously damaging the ecosystems — allowing the spread of invasive species and trampling and destroying native plants.

The heavily grazed landscape is why, critics say, some 4,000 bison, also a record, left Yellowstone for Montana in the winter of 2023-24, when an unusually heavy snow buried forage. Because some bison harbor a disease, called brucellosis, that state officials say could infect cattle, they are not welcome outside the park’s borders. (There are no documented cases of transmission between bison and cattle.)

Montana officials say killing animals that may carry disease as they leave the park is the only way to stem the flow. During a hunt that began in the winter of 2023, Native Americans from tribes around the region took part. All told, hunters killed about 1,085 bison; 88 more were shipped to slaughter and 282 were transferred to tribes. This year, just a few animals have left the park.

The Park Service is expected to release a bison management plan in the coming months. It is considering three options: to allow for 3,500 to 5,000 animals, 3,500 to 6,000, or a more natural population that could reach 7,000.

Richard Keigley, who was a research ecologist for the federal Geological Survey in the 1990s, has become an outspoken critic of the park’s bison management.

“They have created this juggernaut where we’ve got thousands of bison and the public believes this is the way things always were,” he said. “The bison that are there now have destroyed and degraded their primary ranges. People have to realize there’s something wrong in Yellowstone.”

Dr. Keigley said the bison population in the park fluctuated in the early years of the park, with about 229 animals in 1967. It has grown steadily since and peaked last year at 5,900.

“There is a hyperabundant bison population in our first national park,” said Robert Beschta, a professor emeritus of forest ecosystems at Oregon State University who has studied Yellowstone riparian areas for 20 years. He pointed to deteriorating conditions along the Lamar River from bison overgrazing.

“They are hammering it,” Mr. Beschta said. “The Lamar ranks right up there with the worst cattle allotments I’ve seen in the American West. Willows can’t grow. Cottonwoods can’t grow.”

A warmer and drier climate, he said, is making matters worse.

Such opinions, however, are not settled science. Some park experts believe that the presence of thousands of bison enhances park habitats because of something called the Green Wave Hypothesis.

Chris Geremia, a park biologist, is an author of a paper that makes the case that a large numbers of bison can stimulate plant growth by grazing grasses to the length of a suburban lawn. “By creating these grazing lawns bison and other herbivores — grasshoppers, elk — these lawns are sustaining more nutritious food for these animals,” he said.

Dr. Geremia contends that a tiny portion — perhaps one-tenth of one percent — of the park may be devoid of some plants. “The other 99.9 percent of those habitats exists in all different levels of willow, aspen and cottonwood,” he said.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a conservation organization, favors a bison population of 4,000 to 6,000 animals. Shana Drimal, who heads the group’s bison conservation program, said that park officials needed to monitor closely changing conditions like climate, drought and bison movement to ensure the ecosystems wouldn’t become further degraded.

Several scientists propose allowing the bison to migrate to the buffer zones beyond the park’s borders, where they are naturally inclined to travel. But it remains controversial because of the threat of disease.

“The only solution is to provide suitable winter range outside the park where they should be tolerated,” said Robert Crabtree, a chief scientist for the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center, a nonprofit. “When they migrate outside the park now it’s to habitat they evolved to prefer — and instead we kill them and ship them away.”

Advertisement

The day the mountain crumbled

Her love of the backcountry drew emily franciose to boarding school in the swiss alps. then the mountain fell apart beneath her skis – and left her parents wanting answers..

The day after their world crumbled, Sue and Reg Franciose arrived in Switzerland to search for their daughter. It had been 24 hours or so since the phone call — “There’s been an accident” — and ever since, they had been sprinting through the fog, each frantic step darkened by questions with no answers.

They knew the likely outcome but had to come see for themselves what happened on the Wellhorn, a rocky peak that towers over the Reichenbachtal valley in the Bernese Alps.

A dash through multiple airports, a race through the mountains, and now they ambled through a small mountain village. That’s when they saw him, sitting in his car on the side of the road. Sue stopped, unsure what to do.

In another life, Guido Bieri could have been a friend, swapping stories over wine after a long day on the mountain. He was 61, a beloved leader at the boarding school that their 18-year-old daughter, Emily, attended. He had taken her on nearly a dozen backcountry treks across the alps. Emily adored him. And Sue loved that she and Reg had someone in Switzerland to look after their daughter on the mountain.

In this life, though, Bieri was the tour guide on the previous day’s outing, one of the last people to see Emily on the mountain.

Sue tapped on the car window.

“We’re Emily’s parents,” she announced.

EMILY WAS AN ONLY CHILD. Sue and Reg met in 1998, in the Denver operating room. He was a trauma surgeon, and she was a cardiovascular perfusionist running the heart-lung machine. They got married and started a family relatively late — he was 48; she was 41. Emily was the center of their universe.

They moved to Vail, Colo., and Sue quit working full time. Reg was the longtime medical director of the Vail Ski Patrol, and both parents would haul Emily up and down the mountains whenever possible. Emily grew up in the outdoors, finding poetry in trees and beauty in the sky. Summers were spent paddling on the river and winters skiing backcountry, exploring virgin snow far from the tourists taking selfies at pricey resorts.

Sue and Reg never once hired a babysitter, instead dragging their young daughter to symphonies, black-tie fundraisers and medical conferences. They made a point to visit impoverished communities around the world, to remind Emily there was a world beyond the Rockies.

“She knew that life was bigger than just here,” Sue says of Vail, “and the world is bigger than here.”

Midway through her junior year, Emily began to feel ready for something bigger than the small private school in her small mountain town. She told her mother as much, then stayed up all night researching possibilities.

At 5 a.m. the next day, she burst into her mother’s room with her laptop.

“I found it,” she said.

“Found what?”

“The school I want to go to.”

She had stayed up all night researching Ecole d’Humanité, a boarding school of about 120 in Hasliberg, Switzerland, where students are encouraged to explore the outdoors, including skiing the backcountry with help from experienced guides. Emily had already contacted the admissions office, inquiring about the school’s cellphone policy, among other things.

Switzerland

Satellite image: ESRI.

LARIS KARKLIS AND ARTUR GALOCHA/THE WASHINGTON POST

She was never one to do something halfway. When she was younger, Emily was so determined to sell the most Girl Scout cookies that she set up a booth at the base of the ski lift, hawking boxes of Samoas until she had set the troop record. Now, when her parents told her she would have to work after school and during the summer to help cover Ecole d’Humanité’s $60,000 tuition, Emily didn’t flinch.

Sue called Reg, with whom she had recently divorced.

“Are you sitting down? Emily’s going to go to Switzerland for her senior year. It is happening.”

IT WAS EASY TO SEE the school’s allure for a backcountry enthusiast. Skiing off-trail is rustic and visceral. In ski towns, kids graduate quickly from chairlifts to the backwoods, with its untouched powder and unexplored terrain. There are well known locations but no trail maps, no ski patrol or snow groomers on duty. Skiers might have to endure an uphill hike of a few hours or more for a trip down fresh snow that lasts just a few minutes. It’s exhilarating, and it’s dangerous.

For most, the adrenaline rush isn’t the point. It’s being isolated, removed from the crowd, closer to nature. That’s all Emily wanted.

“I love watching as the sky changes at dusk and am amazed by the different colors,” Emily wrote in a college application essay. “My favorite thing to do whenever I’m camping or out at night is to look at the stars, hunting for different constellations or admiring the vastness.”

More than 2.5 million Americans alone skied off-trail last year, up 30 percent from just two years earlier, according to Snowsports Industries America. The spike comes with increased safety concerns and avalanche risks. In Colorado alone, there were 861 human-triggered avalanches involving 122 people and resulting in 11 deaths last year, higher than the 10-year averages (84 people caught and seven deaths). In Switzerland, 21 people were killed last season, and 222 people were swept up in avalanches.

Emily, though, had been on skis since she was 2. She had attended avalanche safety courses and traveled with a first-aid kit. She knew and embraced the risks. So when she saw that Ecole d’Humanité had a backcountry program, with ski tours at least once a week in the Swiss Alps, she was sold.

She arrived in Hasliberg in August 2022, one day after she turned 18.

“I say she arrived, but it was more like she burst,” Lydia Breunig says. “She burst into our lives and into our community with so much enthusiasm.”

Breunig was the manager for House Kathrin, the school chalet where Emily lived with 11 other students. She calls Emily the glue there, drawing together students from different backgrounds. She folkdanced, did pottery, learned silversmithing, started a girls’ weightlifting group and baked cookies with her calculus teacher on weekends. Laughter poured out of her room each night, and Emily was always the first one up the next morning.

“I call Emily the sun of House Kathrin. At first, it was because she just glowed, and she was just full of such brilliance and warmth,” Breunig says. “But even more than that, she had a gravitational pull — she really did pull people to her. Her room was the center of our little house.”

She roomed with Breunig’s daughter, Maia Stark. Emily shared with Maia a word — a feeling — from back home in Vail: “frothing.” It’s an adjective, unique to the ski dictionary, that captures the bursting-at-the-seams excitement Emily had on the mountain, staring down a run, with friends, in nature. It was her happy place and her baseline.

Emily and Maia had the only balcony in the house. Some nights, they would pull their mattresses out to sleep, staring at the stars and frothing, together, about what the upcoming ski season would bring.

THERE WERE NO CLASSES on March 21, 2023. Emily and Maia woke up excited about what the day held.

It was the school’s last backcountry outing of the season, and with spring break a couple of days away, the girls had a train trip to Paris scheduled. But first, a trek to the top of the Wellhorn, a jagged, monstrous rock that stretches more than 10,400 feet toward the sky.

Innertkirchen

Ecole d'Humanité

Schattenhalb

Emily blasted some bouncy reggae as the girls triple-checked their gear, which included a shovel, a probe and a transponder in case of an avalanche. Then seven students, three guests and two group leaders loaded into two vehicles.

They were led, as always, by Guido Bieri, a longtime school employee who was in charge of the outdoors program, and Lukas Iten, a veteran area tour guide. Iten and Bieri mapped out the excursion, and sometime around 10:30 a.m., the group began the trek up. Bieri and Iten did not respond to messages, and a defense lawyer declined to comment. Their accounts of the accident, as well as those of the surviving students, are included in an avalanche investigative report and police interview transcripts reviewed by The Washington Post. The Post also reviewed video of the day’s trip filmed by the skiers, including of the avalanche.

The climb winded through forest and took nearly four hours, parts on foot and parts on skis. The sun’s rays poked through the trees, illuminating their path. The temperature hit 48 degrees, warm enough that Emily stripped down to a T-shirt for stretches — a special Vail Ski Patrol shirt that belonged to her dad and that the two playfully stole back and forth.

Wellhorn peak

March 18, 2023 satellite image provided by Planet Labs PBC. Extent of the avalanche by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.

Iten, 53, had been leading tours at the school for nearly two decades. He had made this particular trek a dozen or so times, by his own estimate, and had checked the avalanche bulletin the night before, taking note of the high-elevation dangers and concerns about the snow. On the ascent, he encouraged the students to walk 10 or so yards apart. He occasionally stomped to make sure the ground was steady and once even drove a ski pole into the snow to test its stability.

“I felt that the conditions were very good and did not notice any signs of a critical weakness at all,” he later told investigators.

Emily’s left knee started bothering her. She had undergone surgery a couple of years earlier, and the hike was taxing. She found a place at the base of the hill to rest as her classmates continued to the top. They skied down on the fresh snow shortly after 2 p.m. and agreed to return to the top to squeeze in a second run. Emily was feeling better, so she stepped into her skis to make the climb.

The group reached the base of the rocky peak around 3:45 p.m. Emily teased a classmate named Eli and shared her Toblerone with another boy, Louis, who had already emptied his snack pack.

Iten discussed the descent. They wouldn’t follow the same route that they had just taken. Instead, he directed, he would ski down first and the others should keep to the right of his tracks.

1st descent

2nd descent

Graphic by The Washington Post based on map drawings that Lukas Iten provided to Swiss police.

ARTUR GALOCHA/THE WASHINGTON POST

Graphic based on map drawings that Lukas Iten provided to Swiss police.

Iten reached the bottom, followed by two others. He wore a GoPro camera so he could review the footage and discuss technique with the younger skiers. The rest followed one by one, 30 or so seconds apart, leaving some distance between skiers.

Next up was Maia, followed by Emily, a British student named Archie Harvey and a French girl named Valentine Reynaud. They were all seniors, on the cusp of adulthood, making plans and swapping dreams that had no limits. (The students and their families either couldn’t be reached or didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.)

MAIA WAS NEAR THE BOTTOM when the ground started to crumble, but the three others were higher up. As massive and powerful as an avalanche can be, it must be summoned to life. The slightest pressure in the wrong patch of snow can set off a chain reaction felt across the mountain, which is why there are detailed and sacrosanct safety guidelines that tour guides must follow.

The mountain was covered by several layers of snow , each snowfall adding another coat. The layers are all different, formed by wind, moisture and weather conditions.

Some crystals bond together tightly, creating a compact sheet of snow

While others are much looser , resulting in a fluffier blanket.

When one of these layers is compromised below the surface , a fracture can spread across the mountain and, particularly on steeper slopes, frozen sheets of snow can start cascading en masse — a slab avalanche.

When one of these layers

is compromised below

the surface , a fracture can spread across the mountain and, particularly on steeper slopes, frozen sheets of snow can start cascading en masse — a slab avalanche.

On the Wellhorn, the string of skiers had upset the ground beneath them. A crack formed near the top of the hill, where Valentine had begun making her way down. She froze.

“I couldn’t do anything but watch,” she said later.

The snow around her broke into pieces, a shattered puzzle, and started sliding. Valentine was in the clear, but Archie and Emily were in a more precarious stretch. Soon the slope was in a free fall.

“The whole mountain was in motion,” another student said later.

It wasn’t like a movie; the snow wasn’t a giant wave crashing down from overhead. It was more like a gushing stampede more than three football fields wide, growing in size and speed as it barreled toward the valley.

Maia was safely coming to a stop at the bottom of the slope when she turned and watched the side of the mountain slide. She thought back to a video she and Emily had watched online, a snow rabbit hurriedly jumping its way through an avalanche, safely reaching a still part of a mountain.

High up the slope, Archie and Emily were getting chased by snow. Iten saw it all, helplessly bellowing, “Oh, God!” Bieri was up above, where all he could see was a cloud of white dust.

“At first I thought that the whole group had disappeared,” he said.

Archie managed to remain upright on his skis briefly, skidding across the slabs of snow like a wakeboarder before vanishing into a cloud of snow.

About 25 yards below, Emily seemed to realize something was amiss as the ground broke apart. Her scream echoed across the valley. She stopped just short of a jump on the mountain, where she was pummeled by a wall of snow, a frozen freight train that carried her over a 600-foot cliff.

When the snow settled at the base of the mountain, the Alps were eerily quiet, save the sobbing from the surviving classmates who had collapsed into each other’s arms.

Rescue crews raced to the mountain. There was a signal coming from Archie’s transponder, but it took time for crews to reach him. When he was found more than an hour later, he was buried under six feet of snow, pronounced dead at the scene.

There was no signal from Emily’s transponder, suggesting it was buried too deep. Nearby they found her backpack, one ski and a pole. They kept searching the mountainside until it became too dark to see.

WITH ONE STUDENT DEAD and another missing, police investigators called in avalanche experts immediately. The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research arrived the next day to find out what went wrong.

By that point, police had already interviewed the tour guides and the surviving students. Many students mentioned how close they were with Bieri, whose wife also worked at the school. “I mean, Emily adored this man,” Sue says.

Bieri estimated he had planned more than 100 outdoor excursions for the school over the previous decade. Bieri’s son, a former student at Ecole d’Humanité, was also on the tour that day.

“I trust Guido and Lukas completely,” one student told police.

“They were role models for me,” another said. “We had a very good relationship over the last three years because I loved outdoor sports so much. Definitely for me but also for other people, we were very close.”

“I trust [Lukas] completely,” a third reported, “with my life.”

Iten was a student himself at Ecole d’Humanité more than a quarter-century ago. He had been a licensed mountain guide since 2000 and had been running tours for the school since 2004 — climbing excursions in the spring and fall, skiing in the winter.

“I’m quite attached to the school,” he told investigators.

On the day of the trek, the area near Wellhorn’s peak, called the Gstelliwang, had a moderate avalanche warning, which meant there was an elevated risk, particularly on very steep slopes. Skiers were advised to choose their routes carefully, ski down one at a time and avoid steep areas.

The bulletin warned there could be weak, older layers of snow, and Emily and her classmates knew what that meant. They had just had an avalanche safety course a couple of weeks earlier.

Iten told police that he had asked the students whether anyone wanted to do a second run. They all agreed, and Iten proposed the new route down the hill.

This, investigators determined, was likely a costly mistake. The new route placed the skiers on a slope that was 40 degrees steep in parts — far too steep for the conditions. Because of its proximity to the cliff, it also made any potential rescue attempt impossible. Investigators said Iten’s stomping and driving a pole into the snow had been insufficient tests to assess the avalanche risk.

The report found that skiing “on steep, exposed slopes is difficult for us to understand given the generally good leadership.” And while the report did not cite a specific cause, the presence of four skiers at different parts of the slope was probably too much pressure on a fragile layer of snow.

“The avalanche was triggered by chance certainly,” the report stated. “A person had to [ski] into an area where the weak layer was particularly weak and not heavily covered.”

In short, if they had just skied the same initial route, the avalanche probably could have been avoided. The avalanche investigators concluded that the tour guides bore some level of responsibility. Bieri and Iten are now being formally investigated for negligent homicide, according to Swiss court records. Police and the public prosecutor in the canton of Bern declined to comment, citing Swiss privacy laws.

“This was not an accident,” Sue says. “These were poor choices.”

THE DAY AFTER SUE AND REG ARRIVED , they went up in a helicopter to help with the search for Emily. Reg had worked with the ski patrol in Vail for two decades. He knew there were two ways to die in an avalanche: buried by snow resulting in suffocation or blunt force trauma. When he saw the huge cliff, he knew.

“She was dead in seconds,” he says.

With a background in medicine and an expertise in backcountry skiing, Emily’s parents had, like her, a deep appreciation for the dangers on the mountain. Sue especially carried a nagging fear. She had given her daughter a keychain, in fact, that said, “Don’t do stupid s---.”

“Every time she’d send me pictures from one of the trips, I’d be like, ‘Oh, thank God, another day is gone,’ ” Sue says.

It was pure happenstance that they spotted Bieri parked not far from the school. Sue was stunned — and conflicted. She knew how much her daughter cared for him, but she also knew Bieri was ostensibly in charge of the tragic backcountry outing. Part of her wanted to summon every morsel of the pain and grief that had suddenly consumed her and hurl it at Bieri with all the force she could muster. Instead, she just introduced herself.

Inside the car, Bieri didn’t say a word. Sue and Reg saw the veteran guide speak briefly at an impromptu memorial one day earlier at the school, where Bieri broke down. “I miss you, Emily,” he had said through tears.

Sue asked him to step out of the car and offered a hug, as did Reg. Bieri was an empty shell — “a shattered, broken man,” Reg would recall later.

“Emily loved you,” Sue told Bieri.

“I loved her so much,” she recalls him responding.

Reg and Sue packed up their daughter’s room and returned to Colorado to settle into their nightmare. The updates from Switzerland were slow. In early June, crews found the other pole. And then the other ski.

That month, Reg was involved in a terrible car crash. He was in an intensive care unit when the phone rang. It was Father’s Day.

The snow had melted in Switzerland. Part of Emily’s body had been found in shallow water. She had been buried under 50 feet of snow, and her body had been wedged between some rocks in a streambed about three-quarters of a mile from the accident, not far from where Archie’s body also had settled.

The avalanche was so powerful and the surge so strong that her body was not intact. A local fisherman would find the rest of Emily three months later, more than two miles downstream.

Sue flew back to Switzerland to retrieve her daughter’s remains. Investigators had to use DNA testing to positively identify Emily. At the crematorium, Sue held her daughter’s hand and painted her fingernails one final time, picking a glittery purple nail polish that she thought Emily would have loved.

EIGHT HUNDRED PEOPLE came to Emily’s memorial service, filling the auditorium, plus two overflow areas, at Vail Mountain School. Her high school teachers recalled special gifts Emily brought them: a playful coffee mug for the biology instructor, a llama piñata for an English teacher. Friends recalled stargazing from water towers and cracked jokes about Emily’s car, which she had playfully dubbed “Shelly the S---box.” They agreed she was an old soul — or, as one cousin put it, someone who seemed to “belong wherever she went.”

They lauded Emily’s unique style and relentless positivity, too. How she was always “frothed with stoke.”

“Whatever magic and witchcraft you performed, we’d have the greatest of times,” one friend recalled. “Enemies would become friends. Two groups who couldn’t stand each other before were now sitting on the same couch laughing uncontrollably at some stupid joke.”

Friends from Switzerland made the trip and told the crowd how much Emily had impacted their lives. And then Reg and Sue stepped toward a microphone. They were still in the fog, the second act of a horrific tragedy.

“She was my life,” Sue said. “She completed my world.”

As an only child, Emily had formed tight relationships with both of her parents. Reg recalls long walks with his daughter during the pandemic, telling her: “Look, Emily, I know how to do a lot of stuff, but I have zero skill set for raising a teenage girl. So we’re going to have to fumble our way through this together.” They jokingly called Reg’s style “experiments in poor parenting.”

At the memorial service, Reg mentioned that when they packed up Emily’s room back in Hasliberg, he couldn’t find his old ski patrol shirt. When he studied photos of Emily from that last day on the mountain, sure enough, he spotted it.

He turned to the projector screen and found his daughter’s face smiling back. “I want my T-shirt back,” he sobbed.

A YEAR HAS PASSED NOW. Ecole d’Humanité canceled its backcountry program this year. Iten and Bieri have been summoned for questioning at a May 31 hearing, court records show. There is no making sense of the tragedy for the Franciose family, no recourse that might somehow balance the scale. Under the Swiss legal system, if convicted, Bieri and Iten could face up to three years in prison for what is technically a misdemeanor charge.

“For two kids? I don’t think that’s fair,” Sue says.

The Franciose family could recoup $30,000 or so in a civil judgment, but the Swiss system doesn’t allow for punitive damages, so they will never see money that even covers their costs associated with Emily’s death. They recently received a $5,000 bill for the cost of a search-and-rescue helicopter.

Ecole d’Humanité has maintained to the family that the school is not liable for the accident, and it is not a party in the criminal proceedings. Administrators from the school declined to be interviewed. “For the past year we have been grieving this loss and our hearts continue to go out to the families affected,” the school said in a statement.

The family is left only with grief. The memories that shadow Sue through each day provide some comfort but mostly sadness. Reg has stopped taking on-call shifts with the emergency room in Vail. “I don’t have any empathy left,” he says.

They had spent much of their professional lives around pain, trauma and death. The physiology of the human body and the fragility of human life are not foreign to them. But that doesn’t make the emotional toll any lighter.

“I’m German and Irish,” Sue says. “I should be pissed and angry. I’ve never been angry. I’m just confused, broken, really sad.”

“Oh, I’m the opposite,” Reg says. “I have raging anger.”

“Just feel so lost and so empty,” Sue says. “Like, what do I do now? Because I'm just really very confused.”

“Most people don’t understand,” Reg offers. “Thank God, most people don’t understand.”

For Sue, the best part of each day is when she wakes up and there are 20 or 30 seconds where she’s still in a sleep fog.

“I just have this serene, peaceful feeling,” she says. “And then it’s like: ‘Oh, s---. Yeah, that happened. Oh, God, how am I going to get out of bed today?’ ”

Emily’s Hut

Emily’s Vail bedroom is largely untouched, save for the urn on the bed and the picture-filled poster boards from her memorial service. Sue has her daughter’s photos on display throughout the house, each stirring a different memory. From the hospital when Emily was born, a school recital, a family trip to Guatemala, Emily’s 16th birthday, a carousel ride, a father-daughter dance, the beach, the river.

In many, Emily is wearing skis, a parka and an ear-to-ear smile, colorful snapshots that place her forever on the mountain, forever surrounded by snow and trees and blue sky.

“No matter what time of day it is, the sky always changes,” Emily once wrote, “and is never the same or predictable. I love how, even though we’re all under the same sky, it looks different for everyone. It reminds me that even though we are all unique, we can find something to connect over.”

A Dance of the Forests

32 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Act Summaries & Analyses

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

“Will you take my case?” 

The dead couple have traveled through time and the afterlife, waiting generations for the wrongs they suffered in the Court of Mata Kharibu to be redressed. However, when they are finally resurrected, their appearance scares off the village dwellers, exciting their fear and suspicion. As none of the living are willing or able to right the wrongs of the past, Aroni interferes on behalf of the dead couple.

“Rola: I see we’ve got another of the good old days.

Obaneji: On the contrary…”

This brief exchange foreshadows the Forest Head’s intent. Obaneji ( the Forest Head in disguise) hints that he is not interested in the past. The Forest Head instead represents the idea of resisting nostalgia for a glorious past that never really existed. The ellipses, as The Forest head declines to elaborate on his meaning, hints at the double-meaning of the denial: the present is not a return to a glorious past, and the past was not so glorious, either. 

“The accumulated heritage—that is what we are celebrating. Mali. Chaka. Songhai. Glory. Empires.”

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Related Titles

By Wole Soyinka

Death and the King's Horseman

Wole Soyinka

Telephone Conversation

The Lion and the Jewel

The Swamp Dwellers

The Trials of Brother Jero

Featured Collections

African History

View Collection

African Literature

Allegories of Modern Life

Colonialism & Postcolonialism

Colonialism Unit

Nobel Laureates in Literature

Politics & Government

A Dance of the Forests

By wole soyinka, a dance of the forests themes.

Atonement is a major theme of the play. The Dead Man and Dead Woman are brought back to the land of the living so that the four mortals who mistreated them in the past will recognize their former sins and atone. While the mortals spend a great deal of the play unaware of this, they eventually realize that the purpose of the Dead Man and Dead Woman's visitation is to teach them a lesson, and by the end, they go through a kind of conversion, understanding that they have sinned before.

Corrupted Power

Corrupted power is another major theme in the play, particularly as it represented in the characters of Mata Kharibu and Madame Tortoise. As we are taken back to the palace of the king, we see that Madame Tortoise exploits her beauty and her power over men in order to stir up discord. Mata Kharibu is also corrupted by his immense power, as demonstrated by the fact that he is demanding that his soldiers fight against their better judgment, and the fact that he mercilessly punishes free thinking. Wole Soyinka tells a story that reveals to the reader that all power is corruptible, and that just because people are given authority does not mean that they are good or ethical people.

Wounds & Trauma

The play depicts the ways that people carry around trauma and wounds from the past, that everyone has some sensitive part of their biography that haunts and hurts them. The Forest Head knows this and attempts to bring these wounds to light in hopes that those who have been hurt in the past can move on.

The play does not follow an exactly linear structure, in spite of the fact that it all takes place in the course of a day. As we learn rather quickly, the narrative concerns the sins of the past, and each mortal character has multiple identities, representing both who they are in the present as well as who they once were in the past. The present is layered onto the past as if to suggest that nothing from our history is ever fully gone, that we descend from patterns and events that precede us and continue to affect us in the present. The plot of the play concerns the ways that human beings must overcome their pasts and learn from them.

The play takes place in a forest, and throughout, various elements of the natural world come to life to take part in the reckoning that is taking place with the mortals. The Forest Head is a spirit who presides over the forest, and during the welcoming of the Dead Man and Dead Woman, various spirits of different natural elements are called upon to speak their piece. These include Spirit of the Rivers, Spirit of the Palms, Spirits of the Volcanos, and others. All of these elements of nature are personified through verse, showing us the connection between the human and the natural world.

One of the unresolved features of the Dead Woman is the fact that she was killed while pregnant with a child. She returns to the world of the living still with a pregnant belly, and during the welcome ritual, the fetus appears as a Half-Child, who is caught between being influenced by the spirit world and remaining with his mother. The Half-Child is a tragic figure, as he was never given the relief of life, and when he is given a chance to speak he says, "I who yet await a mother/Feel this dread/Feel this dread,/I who flee from womb/To branded womb cry it now/I'll be born dead/I'll be born dead." The figure of the child is a tragic one, standing in as the ultimate symbol for the wrongs done to the Dead Man and Dead Woman, and the unresolvedness of their plight.

Another major theme, as well as a formal element of the play, is ritual and tradition. Throughout, we see the characters going through traditional motions in order to understand more about their circumstances. These rituals include the ceremony for the self-discovery of the mortals, in which the mortals must relive their crimes, the Dead Man and Dead Woman must be questioned, and the mortals revealing their secret wrongs.

Another ritual that gets performed is the Dance of Welcome, in which the spirits of the forest perform and deliver monologues. Then the Dance of the Half-Child determines with whom the unborn child will go. Often, rituals, dances, and formal representations stand in for literal events. Indeed, the entire play can be seen as a stringing together of the different formalized rituals that make up the narrative.

A Dance of the Forests Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for A Dance of the Forests is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

2. What is the significance of the “Unborn Child” in the play?

One of the unresolved features of the Dead Woman is the fact that she was killed while pregnant with a child. She returns to the world of the living still with a pregnant belly, and during the welcome ritual, the fetus appears as a Half-Child, who...

Critically justify "A Dance of the Forest" by Wole Soyinka is a postcolonial play by?

A Dance of the Forests is one of Wole Soyinka's best-known plays and was commissioned as part of a larger celebration of Nigerian independence. It was a polarizing play that made many Nigerians angry at the time of its production, specifically...

Write a critical note on Wole Soyinka's dystopian vision of Nigerian society and culture as presented in "A Dance of the Forests."

The play was written in celebration of Nigerian independence from colonial rulership in 1960. It depicts an image of the world in which human beings are implored not to repeat the mistakes of the past. The image of the fallible mortals who are...

Study Guide for A Dance of the Forests

A Dance of the Forests study guide contains a biography of Wole Soyinka, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About A Dance of the Forests
• A Dance of the Forests Summary
• Character List

Essays for A Dance of the Forests

A Dance of the Forests essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka.

• The Importance of Staging Wole Soyinka's A Dance of the Forests on the Independence Day
• The Question of Justice in Soyinka's A Dance of the Forests: An Assessment of Literary Criticism

Lesson Plan for A Dance of the Forests

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to A Dance of the Forests
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• A Dance of the Forests Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for A Dance of the Forests

• Introduction