The story Spider the Artist by Nnedia Okafor really incited in me a sense of dread of the future and dread for humanity. In her story, the oil companies Shell and Exon were only mentioned as a concept, an idea that none of the villagers understood. They strip the African lands and destroy their villages all in the name of advancement, but advancement for who? Not the villagers, in fact the villagers are hardly seen as humans by these companies. Death and the risk of death has become a common occurrence for the villagers as the zombies become integrated into their lives and they seem to live day by day just like animals with no hope for the future and no passion. But even so, who are the humans and what does it mean to be human and who in the story is truly human?
Is Andrew the husband human? Ever since the beginning of the story, he is seen as the villain. He beats his wife for no apparent reason and always seems to be driven by either anger or exhaustion. Despite being the man of the house, the story portrays him as more animalistic than human.
But on the other hand, the zombies are not human either, they are merely intelligent machines with no emotion except destruction. They portray the conquerors who seek to enter into the village society merely for the sake of wealth.
Andrew and the zombies occupy two different sides of the spectrum with one hot and one cold and neither one of them fully human. But then who is human in this story and how is it defined? In the story the only two characters portrayed as human are the Udide Okwanka and the main character. Despite one being a villager and the other being a spider, both of them show passion, love, and interest, characteristics that are distinctly human but not displayed by either Andrew nor the zombies. Two completely different beings and yet both so alike and so human. This idea that humanity and the lack of humanity is not merely one sided extends beyond this story and is also an integral part of Linda Hogan’s Power as well. In Power, we see through Omishto that the blame for her tribe’s decline and loss of direction lies not only with the white people but also within the members of her own tribe.
