SETTING/BACKGROUND & PLOT OF STORY
SETTING/BACKGROUND
The story is set in Ghana. Events in the story take place most predominately in Sodom and Gomorrah, a suburb for street life and violent acts: This ghetto town is inhabited by the rustics where all forms of deviance prevail, Characteristic of ghettos, Sodom and Gomorrah is full of violent crimes namely, child prostitution, rape, robbery, hard drugs, brutality and even violent death. There are common names in the book that lend credence to the assertion that the story originates from Ghana. “Akpeteshie” for instance, is a popular local girl brewed in Ghana. ‘Kenkey, local food made from corn ma also ot(-lmana origin. Characters in the story also share common Ghanaian names such as, “Kwei, Odarley, Fofo, Maa Tsuru, Kabria, Naa Yomo” etc.
Streetlife is not peculiar to Ghana alone as most countries of the world experience the impact of deviant acts as a result of the abandonment of children due to poverty amid other social/cultural issues. Hence the story can still reflect the life of any other city anywhere in the world.
PLOT OF THE STORY
“Faceless” tells the story of abandonment. It is the unfortunate story of what can happen to any human society where children are born and abandoned by parents due to “poverty” or “carelessness”. At the center of this gory tale is Fofo, a 14 year old daughter of Maa Tsuru. She is a victim of rejection and abandonment. According to the story, “a part of Fofo was and would always be the fourteen years that she was but the harshness of life on the streets had also made a premature adult, part of her. She was both a child and an adult…”
Maa Tsuru believes that a curse trails her including her household. That is why her household is in disarray and her dreams shattered. Maa Tsuru’ husband conies only to impregnate her, and thereafter vanishes into thin air. The children lack basic comforts of life and are thus forced to embrace the harsh realities of street life. The rustic life of Sodom and Gomorrah compounds the misery of young boys and girls who take to drugs, prostitution and gangsterism as a means of survival.
Kabria is once robbed at “Agbogbloshie” market by a young “boy’ The culprit is apprehended and surprisingly, it turns out that she is indeed a girl – “Fofo”, the daughter of “cursed Maa Tsuru. Her arrest opens a new chapter of the horror that goes on in Sodom and Gomorrah. Her sister, Baby T is violently killed and mutilated, her hair scraped. Fofo tries to draw the attention of the Government to the ugly situation of helplessness of street boys and girls and the high-handedness of people like “poison’ Maami Broni and “Onko”. Thus, through a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, run by Dina — MUTE, an epic investigation is conducted into the circumstance(s) leading to the brutal killing of Baby T, the sister of Fofo. It is discovered that the dreaded gangster leader, “poison’ initiated the ugly act. Regrettably, Onko and Maami Broni are involved in the dastardly act.