The Famished Road

Azaro is an abiku, a spirit child, a liminal figure with one foot in the world of material reality and one foot in the realm of ancestral and fantastical spirits. While there are occasions when Azaro behaves like an ordinary pre-teen boy, most often, the emphasis is on his estrangement from the real world, from other people—even from his own family. When Azaro is returned home after he is lost the first time—his supernatural wanderings also mark his otherworldly origins—Madame Koto, who will become a sort of mentor to him, makes a pronouncement: “The road will never swallow you. The river of your destiny will always overcome evil. May you understand your fate. Suffering will never destroy you, but will make you stronger” (46-47). Azaro’s nocturnal wanderings, his constant encounters with spirits, and his communion with destiny all mark him as a symbol as much as a character: “I walked through books and months and forgotten histories” (307), he thinks. He bears the burden of history and the storyteller's responsibility; he is a fictional character who seems to be aware of his role as a fictional character. Even the spirits warn him, when he walks among them in their realm, not to partake of anything while there: “If you eat anything you won’t arrive and you won’t be able to return.