The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
by Ayi Kwei Armah

The unnamed protagonist, referred to as “the man”, works at a railway station and is approached with a bribe; when he refuses, his wife is furious and he can’t help feeling guilty despite his innocence. The novel expresses the frustration many citizens of the newly independent states in Africa felt after attaining political independence. Many African states like Ghana followed similar paths in which corruption and the greed of African elites became rampant. Corruption in turn filtered down to the rest of society. The action takes place between 1965’s Passion Week and 25 February 1966 – the day after the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president. The “rot” that characterized post-independent Ghana in the last years of Nkrumah is a dominant theme in the book.