CHATTEL: A Review

Mohammed Dauda, Author of Chattel

Review: BeYunus

This book speaks about slavery and emancipation in the late 15th century where Aggrey Tandoh, a prince of a kingdom, defies the orders of his father by freeing the slaves.

He dreams of travelling abroad in his pursuit of freedom. Along the line, he falls in love with a slave and, because of his choices; his royal status is stripped, affecting his chances of travelling abroad.

The story is simple to read and thrilling as well and it comes with rich proverbial sayings, which are very healthy to the reader. It does so by using one of the elders, Ebo, mostly as a mouthpiece for these sayings.

Dauda’s Chattel takes a different story structure from other plays or novels. Whereas some might depict brothers, elders, or a stepmother envying the prince because of the throne, Chattel speaks of the prince being rejected by his own father. This is because of his keen vision about the liberation of slaves in their kingdom as well as his God giving talent (music).

Another key difference is the Aggrey’s father seeking for pardon after banishing him. Other works might either state the death of the King with the prince later returning home after several persuasions or the banished prince lying in wait for things to cool down before assuming his rightful position.

The same can be said, when the play takes a swift change, where the King vetoed the selling of humans in exchange for other items simply because he was against the union of Aggrey and Adiepena. As they say, nothing good comes free, he and his relatives suffered for such hasty decisions.

Aside the pair of spelling errors seen in page 178 (Aggrey; Bustard) and 179 (Ebo; Prple), I would rate the play as a thrilling one that keeps the reader in suspense every minute.

As Omahene put it in Chattel, “I wouldn’t want to spill it all”, so would I. It would be befitting and great if everyone gets a copy of this concise but profound play by Mohammed Dauda.