DENNIS NUNQAM NDENDEMAJEM IN
NO WAY TO DIE AND SALVATION COLONY:
A STUDY OF A CHARACTER IN SEARCH OF HIS EGO OR SELF.
By
John Niba Ndongmanji
H.T.T.C. Bambili
University of Bamenda, Cameroon
West Africa.
In Asong Linus Tongwo’s No Way to Die and Salvation Colony the character of Dennis Nunqam
Ndendemajem baffles many a reader in the sense that he cannot easily be understood. Like the
protagonist’s wife who does not understand his paintings, like Mossah who does not understand Dennis
Nunqam Ndendemajem’s self-portrait in the completed painting, those who read these two novels find
it difficult to understand his character. Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem explodes with joy when he
discovers that Mossah is unable to understand his self-portrait. Listen to what he says:
Moesha went over to where I was standing and looked the canvas for a while. I know
what he was seeing: a single dark column painted to stand against a background that
began with a deep green at the bottom and ended with a blue layer to the upper section.
Between the green and cutting right across the dark central column which I made to look
half like a man with the head slightly lowered and half like the broken pillar of a huge
building, I had put a thin white line... According to him, it made no sense. Me myself did
I make sense? He should have known, having been with me for that long. My end was
their beginning. I thought again (Asong, 1993: 304).
Asong tells us at the start of No Way to Die that the character of his protagonist will not easily be
understood with this quotation cited from George Eliot’s Middle match: “Will not a tiny speck very
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close to our vision blot the glory of the world and leave only the margin by which we see the blot? I
know no speck as troublesome as self” (Ibid: 2)
It is the purpose of this paper to psychoanalyse the character of Dennis in a bid to lay bare the self
which he is searching for in No Way to Die and Salvation Colony; a self or ego which, as hinted above,
will be very troublesome to many readers. Three points make it difficult for one to comprehend or
interpret Dennis’ character namely: 1) his neurosis, 2) the symbolic meaning of his name 3) his
ambivalent psychic make-up of id, ego, and superego.
Before we examine how the three points enumerated above throw a flood of light on Dennis’
character in No Way to Die and Salvation Colony, let us define some key words, like neurosis, id, ego and
superego. It is necessary to do so because any piece of research that pretends to have a scientific aura
or colouring must start by defining its terms.
In a purely psychoanalytic sense, the term ‘neurosis’ is defined by James Drever as “A conflict
phenomenon, involving the thwarting of some fundamental instinctive urge (they also speak, however,
of actual neurosis, where there seems to be a physical organ)” (Drever, 1952: 185).
Talking about the id Freud upholds the view that “... the child brings into the world an unorganized
chaotic mentality called the id, the sole aim of which is the gratification of all needs, the alleviation
of hunger, self-preservation, and love, the preservation of love” (Hanks et al, 1971: 1264).
Stretching our definition of the id further. Calvin S. Hall has this to say:
It is the foundation upon which the personality is built. The id retains its infantile character
throughout life. It cannot tolerate tension. It wants immediate gratification. It is demanding,
impulsive, irrational, asocial, selfish, and pleasure loving. It is the spoiled child of the personality.
It is omnipotent because it has the magical power of fulfilling its wishes by imagination, fantasy,
hallucinations, and dreams (Brill, 1938: 308)
The next term in one’s psychic make-up to be defined is the ego. James Drever defines the term ‘ego’
as:
... that part of the person which ...is in direct touch with external reality, is conscious, and
includes, therefore, the representation of reality as given by the senses, and existing in the
preconscious as memories, together with those selected impulses and influences from within
which have been accepted and are under control. (Drever, 79).
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Patrick Hanks et al also think that the ego is, “... that part of
experiences the outside world and reacts to it” (Hanks et al, : 514).
the
psychic apparatus which
A. A. Brill throws more light on the function of the ego when he says that it “strives to curb the lawless
id tendencies whenever they attempt to assert themselves incompatibly...” (Brill: 12).
Still arguing in the same vein, Calvin S. Hall has this to say on the function of the ego:
... the ego is the executive of the personality, controlling and governing the id and the
superego and maintaining commerce with the external world in the interest of the total
personality and its far-flung needs. When the ego is performing its executive functions wisely,
harmony and adjustment prevail (Hall, 1954: 22).
This remark about the ego is equally pertinent:
In performing these highly important executive functions, the ego has to try to integrate the
often-conflicting demands of the id, the superego and the external world ... Its principal role is to
mediate between the instinctual requirements of the organism and the conditions of the
surrounding environment; its super ordinate objectives are to maintain the life of the individual
and to see that the species is reproduced (Hall and Lindzey, 1978: 159).
Turning to the superego, Calvin S. Hall tells us that it is “... the moral or judicial branch of the
personality. It represents the ideal rather than the real, and it strives for perfection rather than for
reality or pleasure. The superego is the person’s moral code” (Hall: 31).
Hall and Lindzey in Theories of Personality broaden our conception of the superego when they say
that “Its main concern is to decide whether something is right or wrong so that it can act in accordance
with the moral standards authorised by the agents of society (Hall and Lindzey: 159).
The definition of these terms leads us to the three points raised earlier concerning Dennis Nunqam
Ndendemajem: 1) His neurotic behaviour, 2) the symbolic meaning of his name and 3) his psychic
personality. It is imperative that a thorough examination be given to the points raised above because
No Way to Die and Salvation Colony deal with the protagonist’s search of his ego or self. This search of
Dennis’ self is centred in three places: 1) At Mbongo, 2) at Menako and 3) at the colony.
Dennis’ Quest of his Ego (self) at Mbongo.
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Dennis’ neurotic behaviour catches Manda’s eyes at Mbongo when he receives Maximillian Essemo’s letter
proposing to uplift his social status. While Manda sees the proposal as a message from God who has answered
their prayers to save them from the grip of poverty. Dennis, on his part, regards it as an insult on his
personality. Listen to what he tells Manda:
When I am angry with myself, you are the first person to tell me not to worry, that I
should not think that I am not somebody. But when somebody else calls me
‘nothing’, you are the first person to join in support. If people do not know how I feel
about being an office messenger, tell them that I feel fine. If people tell you that I am
nothing, tell them that I am something. If they want to make nothing into something tell
them that they want to make something into nothing (No Way to Die: 17).
Dennis’ words to Manda strike the chord of his neurotic behaviour in No Way to Die and Salvation
Colony. His anger that Manda is “the first person to join” in calling him nothing weighs on his neck like
an albatross. Dennis’ belief that he is nothing before his wife, before his uncle (Pa Andre), before the
people of Mbongo and before Maximillian Essemo Alekwieunchaa who became a ‘sheep’ thanks to him,
turns him into a neurotic who must be examined on a psychoanalytic lens.
Asong L. T. heightens the picture of Dennis’ nothingness by giving him two additional names:
‘Nunqam’ and ‘Ndendemajem’’. By giving his protagonist the Latin name ‘Nunqam’ which is translated
to mean ‘nothing’ he announces to his literate audience who have knowledge of Latin that Dennis is
‘nothing’. Again, by giving his protagonist the name ‘Ndendemajem’ which means ‘nothing’ in nwe
dialect, he announces to his nwe audience that Dennis is ‘nothing’. Dennis’ disappointment that he is
worthless in the eyes of society turns him into a neurotic.
His determination to prove to the world that he is ‘something’, at least in his own eyes as an artist,
rings out in these words echoed earlier to Manda: “If they want to make nothing into something tell
them that they want to make something into nothing”. (Ibid).
Dennis is not mentally healthy at Mbongo because his id, ego and superego are at daggers drawn. The
rivalry between Dennis’ id, ego and superego in his unconscious is projected or externalized to a rivalry
between Maximillian, Dennis and Pa Andre.
More adequately stated, Manda and Pa Andre’s wish to drag Dennis to Menako for the simple reason
that they want him to become successful in life like Essemo heightens his image that he is worthless.
Forcing him to go to Menako to forge a new image of him is destroying his talent as an artist, a talent
which Elkon Moore regards as ‘something’. The handsome financial reward which Dennis receives at
Mbongo in his first art exhibition places him on a platform of talented artists. The rare talent which
Asong’s protagonist displays in the art exhibition earns him an American Scholarship. In a fever of
excitement that only the sky can be his limit Dennis states:
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... the quality of my works had caused much excitement among the visitors that
before I returned to Bona-Likondo I was told that the American Government had placed
a scholarship at the disposal of my home government for a young artist to go abroad
and study art in an American institution (Ibid: 58)
The scholarship, which is awarded to Dennis Nunqam, is recognition of his talent as a successful artist.
Dennis Nunqam’s dream of studying art abroad is nipped in the bud when a less talented person
replaces him. This blatant injustice turns Dennis into a neurotic. That Dennis Nunqam is a neurotic is
true because depriving him of his scholarship to study art “wiped laughter from my face and from my
life” (Ibid, 60). This disappointment throws his psychic personality in disarray. Stated differently,
Nunqam’s neurosis leads to an internal struggle in his psychic personality between his id, ego and
superego. In this light, Maximillian Essemo becomes a projection of Dennis’ ego; Pa Andre becomes a
projection of Dennis’ id and Dennis himself becomes a projection of his superego.
In the light of the foregoing, Maximillian becomes that part of Dennis’ self that struggles to be
successful in life. The view that Maximillian is the ego of Dennis’ psychic personality cannot be denied.
Like the ego which is “the executive of the body”, as Calvin S. Hall points out above, Maximillian
becomes a God in Dennis’ house by providing their daily bread.
Pa Andre, on his part, becomes the id or greedy part of Dennis’ psychic personality. The traits of the id
which are immediate gratification, irrational, selfish and pleasure-loving fit Pa Andre squarely. Pa
Andre’s anger that his brother is not buried at home stems from his greed that food and drinks were not
provided since he was buried away from home. This is gratification pure and simple.
Dennis, on his part, becomes that part of his psychic personality called the superego. His usual
Beckettian foetus-like posture of folding his arms over his bent knees and placing his head in them
brings out one trait of the superego, its ability to act as the moral judge of the personality. Dennis’
disposition in passing judgments is a case in point at Mbongo.
Dennis’ Quest of his Ego (self) at Menako.
Dennis’ quest of self takes him to Menako where Maximillian, his ego intends to change him from
‘nothing’ to ‘something’. The first visible signs of change between the vegetation of Mbongo and
Menako catch the eyes of Dennis on arrival. The change in vegetation between Mbongo and Menako
is, to say the least, an externalization of Maximillian Essemo’s unconscious wish to transform Dennis into
a new personality. That Maximillian is intent on giving Dennis a new personality is visible at a glance in
these warning words: “we have left the bush into the city, whatever tree you find here is planted” (Ibid:
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126). In other words, Dennis is like a tree, which Maximillian uproots from Mbongo to plant in Menako.
Maximillian’s effort reminds us of the advice which Dennis’ father once gave him: “If somebody ever
throws you a rope to lift you up from down there to better life, don’t spit on it” (Ibid: 65).
As the words of Dennis’ late father imply, taking him from Mbongo to Menako is like throwing a rope
“to lift you from down there to better life”.
If No Way to Die and Salvation Colony are out to trace the intellectual growth or the self of Asong’s
protagonist at Mbongo, Menako and at the Colony then at each stage Dennis’ psychic personality must
be externalized into characters to help him in the search. In this connection, these projections from
Dennis’ psychic personality stand out: Maximillian as Dennis’ ego, Gertrude as his id and Dennis himself
as his own superego. In this way Maximillian becomes that part of Dennis’ personality which seeks
intellectual growth; Gertrude becomes that greedy part of his nature that does not want to progress;
finally Dennis himself becomes that part of his psychic personality called the superego, a part that
criticizes and judges the actions of the ego (Maximillian).
Before we raise a finger of protest against this interpretation, it is important to note that in “the
mentally healthy person these three systems form a unified and harmonious organisation”. This means
that in a mentally healthy person the ego, id and superego live “a unified and harmonious” life like
members of one family. Little wonder then that Maximillian accepts Dennis as a member of his family.
The instructions, which he barks out to all the servants working in his house, ring out in these words:
I am pleased to introduce to you this gentleman, Mr. Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem.
He is my best friend from youth and he has come to stay here with me. He is not
working, but for the weeks, months or even years that he will be in this house you will
give him the same measure of respect that you give me as your master. You will wash
and iron his clothes as soon as you discover that it is necessary. You will polish his shoes
and run errands for him
(Ibid: 143).
Maximillian Essemo does not exempt his wife, Gertrude from giving Dennis, his childhood friend the
same respect she gives to him as her husband. Listen to what he tells Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem:
“Then as I said to my boys in the morning, if you find any form of behaviour that makes you feel
uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to tell me. Even if it is from Gertrude” (Ibid: 145). Maximillian’s call for “a
unified and harmonious” existence in his house becomes an unconscious projection of the unity
between the ego, id and superego in any healthy person’s make-up.
The new clothes and the slippers, which Dennis receives from Max, are expressions of his unconscious
acceptance of his New World. What Dennis says when he is given a new pair of slippers is revealing:
I shut the door, sat down and lifted the pair of slippers to my nose. I was not exactly sure
of the difference between their smell and that of my own in the bag, but I was inclined to
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believe that the ones Max had given me had a more superior and healthier smell. I
would never ever open the bag, I resolved (Ibid: 141)
Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem’s decision to settle in his new home is further revealed in these words:
I went to bathe in the bathroom, which belonged to the room I occupied. Gertrude had
washed and hung some five white ladies’ pants on the line inside. I went closer, took one
in my hands and examined it very carefully. Then I took off my own blue ‘polo’ pants and
scrutinized it childishly, taking particular notice of the black margin of dirt staining the
seat. I held one of the white ones to my nose and drew in my breath, kept it back and then
smelt my own pants. The odour from mine was so repulsive that I seized the white pants
I had just replaced and holding it against my nose began to breath in and out as if it had a
magical power to restore some damages my own pants had done to my lungs (Ibid: 142).
The odour from the slippers and from Gertrude’s white pants, which Dennis inhales, become an
expression of his love for the world Maximillian and Gertrude represent and symbolize.
Dennis’ acceptance of the New World compels him to wear the new clothes, which Maximillian buys
for him:
I took off the dirty threadbare jumpa and trousers; my old stinking pants and socks and
carefully stuffed them at the bottom of my bag under the bed. I suddenly became
ashamed to see or even think about anything I had ever owned in life. And before Max
returned home that evening I had washed myself and dressed the way I thought they
expected of me - in new clothes. I tucked in my white pant to show above the belt at
the back, and constantly bending down or turning round as if done unconsciously, in the
hope that they would see and know that I had changed even the pants too (Ibid: 157-8).
An in-depth analysis of Dennis’ words above reveals that Maximillian’s burning desire to cause Dennis to
be born again into a new life can be considered as putting new wine into old wine skins. Dennis’ cynical
remark: “... I had washed myself and dressed the way I thought they expected of me - in the new
clothes” shows that like Manda, Maximillian does not understand him. Dennis’ words about
Maximillian’s inability to understand his behaviour emerge in these words:
They saw me only when I did not see myself. I knew that I still thought like my old, dirty self.
I knew that no matter how often I bathed, I still smelt like my former self. I could therefore
never run away from myself, from my true self - an object of ridicule, a diseased, stinking
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piece of bone and flesh. My true self, half of my true self, lay buried in those tattered
clothes and rotten underpants and socks at the bottom of my handbag under the bed. I
was anxious to wear them again, to remind myself that I had not yet actually died, that I
was still the same Dennis Nunqam, the wretched of the earth (Ibid: 165).
Dennis’ change is outward only. Max is deceived into thinking that an outward change implies an
inward change as well.
Having been convinced by Dennis’ new clothes that he now belongs to his scientific dream world, he
chooses the subjects for him to study. Within one month in the science laboratory Dennis breaks over
200 test tubes and a countless number of beakers” (Ibid: 175). The breaking of 200 test tubes is of
psychoanalytic relevance. The significance of the huge damage which Willie and Max do not understand
signifies Dennis’ unconscious rejection of science as a discipline.
Joachim and Nchenibo share Willie’s view that Dennis is making no progress in his studies. Joachim’s
further remark that Dennis seems to me to have a serious emotional or let’s say, a psychological
problem” is embarrassing to Max. Max’s remark: “What good was I as a doctor if I could not diagnose a
psychological problem?” (Ibid: 186) reveals that nobody at Menako understands Dennis Nunqam
Ndendemajem. Max’s regret that he did not do psychiatric medicine implies that to understand Dennis’
neurotic behaviour we must turn to psychoanalysis. Max’s final resolution: “I will undertake to teach
you myself” (Ibid: 195) means that he has still not understood that Dennis has rejected science.
Max’s return to Mbongo at Christmas Eve shows him Dennis’ fondness for painting. He also discovers
that Dennis had once been jailed because he was trying to enter Britain illegally to study art. Max’s
conclusion: “Dennis loved art, and must be helped to achieve success in that field” (Ibid: 122) reveals
that he has now understood the cause of his neurosis. He takes Dennis’ latest paintings to Elkon Moore
who confirms his talent as an artist.
In reaction to Elkon Moore’s appreciation of Dennis’ rare talent as an artist, Max states: “The man I
saw on the screen that afternoon was the Dennis Nunqam I once knew, the one I had in mind when I set
out to cure him of his misery and lowliness. The one I was thinking about when I said Medicine was the
profession of professions” (Ibid: 227).
Max is disappointed when he discovers that Dennis cannot do medicine, which, according to him, is
the “profession of professions”.
The arrival of Manda and her children to Maximillian’s house further helps to bring out Gertrude’s
greed. Gertrude’s shabby treatment of Manda, a woman she has not met before draws these words
from Max’s mouth: “If Gertrude could behave with calculated cruelty towards a woman she had never
seen before, I could imagine her thinking, then it was impossible to gauge the extent to which she must
have made life in that house unbearable for Dennis” (Ibid: 260)
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Maximillian’s further discovery of Gertrude’s greed forces his anger to explode:
I never asked you for marriage. It was my uncle who posted you to me in Europe. And you
came there already pregnant. Berlinda is not my child. You honestly know that I have been
struggling for years to forget it and take you as my wife. But you keep reminding me that I
was a fool in the first place to have admitted you into my house with somebody else’s child.
You have slept with my colleagues, you have gone to bed with my drivers, one of whom
is in the parlour now. You take the slightest opportunity at parties to go looking for men
in bushes. Then you come to ask my own personal friend whom I have invited to live with
me to wash your under wears; you mark crosses across the pictures of my own friend as if he
were dead. You wish him dead, but you will be the first to die. I can stomach this no more.
(Ibid: 269).
This startling revelation, as stated earlier, lays further stress on Gertrude as the id or greedy part of
Dennis’ make-up in particular, and human nature in general. Asong Linus Tongwo sums up our
standpoint in these words:
God had created us to show to the world the two possible faces of human existence the
glorious and the repugnant. Essemo, Dr. Maximillian Essemo Alek-wieunchaa, came to
show, in fact, was sent purposely to show the world the achieving side, their successful
side, the side that they should aspire to always. And I, Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem, I had
been sent to show man his other side, his back, the side of shame... (Ibid: 272-3).
Asong’s words are fraught with intense meaning and lead us to this remark: If Max is “the achieving
side” of Dennis; if Gertrude is the repugnant side of Dennis then we are, in effect, saying that Max and
Gertrude are projections of Dennis’ ego and id respectively. Still arguing in this vein, Dennis becomes a
projection of his superego, the part of his psychic personality that broods, that judges, that feels
defeated, that feels guilty in the eyes of society; in short, that part of Dennis that contemplates his
worthlessness.
Dennis’ Quest of his Ego (self) at the Colony.
Asong’s Salvation Colony, the sequel to No Way to Die continues to examine the self of Dennis
Nunqam Ndendemajem. Dennis Nunqam’s attempt to commit suicide at the start of Salvation Colony
brings into sharp focus his image as a failure in life in the eyes of Max and William Eshounti:
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Mr. Dennis Nunqam was sitting on a mound like a bundle of excrement on a rock, a long
rope hanging round his neck. His head was lowered in shame, his hair disheveled, his shirt
torn in front and behind, and there were bruises on his right shoulder. The leg of his trousers
was torn from the knee to the ankle. He was shoeless, and sat with his hands clasped
between his knees (Asong, 1997:7).
At the start of Salvation Colony, as the above quotation reveals, Asong captures his protagonist
“sitting on a mound like a bundle of excrement on a rock”. This is Dennis’ portrait pure and simple
depicting his misery and disappointment in the scientific world of Maximillian and William Eshounti. If
this painting is captured on a tableau and handed over to Elkon Moore, he will see what Mossah, Manda
and Max cannot see. In short, Dennis’ attempt to commit suicide at the start of Salvation Colony is,
psychoanalytically speaking, an expression of his desire to escape from the grip of Max’s medical world.
Dennis’ dream world is the world of art, a world where nakedness conveys meaning. This is what
Maximillian does not understand; this is the tableau we often come across in the paintings of celebrated
artists. Stated differently, we can say that like darkness, which conveys meaning, Dennis’ dark selfportrait which Asong captures “sitting on a mound like a bundle of excrement on a rock”, is fraught with
meaning. William Eshounti, like those who troop in Max’s house to see Dennis’ dark self-portrait, does
not understand it because his knowledge of art is shallow. Dennis’ attempt to commit suicide reveals
that he is still a neurotic character searching for his self or ego.
While Dennis sits on “a mound like a bundle of excrement on a rock” contemplating his misery,
Gertrude is ordered by Maximillian to pack out of his house for good. If Max, as we pointed out earlier,
is a projection of Dennis’ ego then rejecting Dennis means that his psychic personality is not complete;
little wonder then that he continues searching for his ego or true self. This search for his ego brings him
to the colony where Shrapnel lives. Before Dennis is brought to the colony by Pa Matty, he takes time to
wash himself. At this juncture, we can ask this question: Is Dennis’ bath of any psychoanalytic
relevance? The answer is a categorical yes. The bath, as we can say, stands for Dennis’ unconscious
wish to wash away the world of Maximillian and William Eshounti off from his memory because it is a
world, which rejects art.
Shrapnel’s world, on the contrary, is a world of the rejected people of society, a world that readily
receives Gertrude and Dennis Nunqam Ndendemajem. In this new world, Shrapnel becomes a
projection of Dennis’ ego while Gertrude, Maximillian Essemo’s former wife becomes a projection of
Dennis’ id and Dennis himself becomes a projection of his superego.
Like Maximillian who became the God of Manda, Shrapnel become the God of Dennis and the other
destitute. Shrapnel’s kindness, like that of Maximillian, earns him the name “our father”. In this New
World Shrapnel, as fate will have it, discovers Dennis Nunqam’s talent as an artist and encourages him in
this branch of knowledge till he blossoms into a genius. Dennis succeeds in Shrapnel’s world because he
is encouraged to do art, which he likes unlike Maximillian’s world where he is compelled to do science,
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which he detests. The Dennis who returns to Maximillian’s house to collect his paintings is a new Dennis
indeed. He is one who has cultivated a new personality, thanks to Shrapnel. William Eshounti is quick to
notice Dennis Nunqam’s high-spirited personality. Eshounti’s remark to Essemo: “Doc, do you notice a
phenomenal change in this fellow?” (Ibid: 123) is a case in point. William Eshounti’s question to Dennis:
“What have you been doing to yourself that you are looking so good, so high-spirited?” (Ibid: 123) lays
bare his admiration for one who has discovered the self or ego he has been searching for. In other
words, Dennis is “so high-spirited” because Shrapnel has discovered his talent as an artist and has
encouraged him to develop it. Taking over from Shrapnel when he dies means that he (Dennis) is
successful in life not as a medical doctor but as an artist. The Dennis whom we meet in Salvation Colony
is no longer a neurotic Dennis but a “high-spirited” Dennis whose ambition to excel in art has been
fulfilled, thanks to Shrapnel.
References
Asong, L. T. (1993) No Way to Die. Bamenda: Patron Publishing House.
Brill, A. A. (1938) The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. (ed.) New York:
Drever, James (1952). A Dictionary of Psychology. Harmondsworth:
Random House.
Penguin.
Freud, Sigmund (1960) The Ego and the Id. The Standard Edition. New
York: W.W. Norton
Hall, Calvin S. (1954). A Primer of Freudian Psychology. New York: The
New American Library.
Hall, Calvin S. and Gardner Lindzey (1978). The Theories of Personality.
John Wiley and Sons.
Hanks et al (1971). Encyclopedia World Dictionary. (ed.) New York: Hamlyn.
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Third Edition. New York: