Social Darwinism in "Luxurious Hearses"

We talked in class about how in the story, "Luxurious Hearses," the Luxurious Bus is symbolic of Nigeria in a state of newly declared democracy. The reality, however, is that under the thin, transparent veil of democracy, the new state really operates on something much more sinister: Social Darwinism. According to Wikipedia, Social Darwinism is a result of "social forces" that "produce evolutionary progress through the natural conflicts between social groups. The best-adapted and most successful social groups survive these conflicts, raising the evolutionary level of society generally (the 'survival of the fittest')." There are multiple examples of this throughout the story, but the reason it occurs is that the goal of each person on the bus is not to look out for one's peers, but to ensure his or her own survival. When political corruption infects a nation to the point where it can no longer function as a community, people will turn against each other because they learn to trust no one but themselves. In Nigeria's case, it never had the ability to function as a community because the political boundaries of the country were drawn by Westerners who had no idea that it would be like putting a cat and a bird in the same cage. No matter how big the cage is, or whether there even is one, the cat will always want to eat the bird.

In "Luxurious Hearses," there are several examples of how people from different social groups--in this case "social groups" are mainly determined by a character's religious affiliation--strive to either become dominant or quietly lurk in the background, hoping to remain unnoticed. On the bus, the dominant social group is comprised of Christians--native religions, like that of the Chief, are treated as somewhat annoying, but are ultimately considered nonthreatening and unimportant. Islam, on the other hand, is the object of the wrath of the Christians on the bus.

This concept is manifested in the characters of Jubril and the Chief. While Jubril tries to be passive and unassuming in order to hide his weakness, the Chief is assertive and confident in his power. Jubril tries so hard to avoid conflict that his passive attitude is regarded suspiciously- people begin to ask him about what he's hiding in his pocket when it might have gone unnoticed had Jubril been able to fake a more convincing accent or countered the Chief's claim to Jubril's seat more aggressively. The Chief even guilts Jubril into giving away his ticket, and although the Chief acts fatherly toward Jubril many times, in the end it is clear he has no personal affection to Jubril whatsoever because he refuses to help Jubril at the cost of losing his influence over the other bus riders. Sadly, however, the Chief is the one who survives in the end because although the Chief is not Christian and is not part of the dominant social group, he is able to convince the others of his wisdom and his power, regardless of how contrived it may have been.

This is also evidenced by the concept of money, which resurfaces several times throughout the story. The police announce that the line for the restroom will change depending on who can pay for a better spot in line, and several people are forced to drop out or retreat to the back of the line. When the Chief announces the "vote," people begin to contribute money to bribe the police. Therefore, money represents a "modern" form of Social Darwinism in that the amount of resources available to an individual drastically affects his or her chances of survival.

The author makes this a large theme in his story in order to demonstrate that contrary to Western view, when a country is in political turmoil, no one will value concepts such as equity, fairness, and peace. Rather, Social Darwinism will dominate because when people are constantly face-to-face with such an imminent fear for their lives, they will either try to fight any threatening oppressors or run from them. Until the citizens of Nigeria can feel safe in their own country, the first priority should be to end all violence before so-called "democracy" kills them all.

Link: http://www.allaboutscience.org/what-is-social-darwinism-faq.htm