The Swamp Dwellers by Wole Soyinka.

• The Swamp Dwellers is a play by Nobel prize winner writer Wole Soyinka.
• The play is very short, but it opens up deeper layers for discourse.
• The Swamp Dwellers is a close study of pattern of life in the isolated hamlets of the African countryside as well as an existential study of the simple folk who face rigors of life without any hope or succor. the play is a necessity for a balance between the old and new. Soyinka is not for excessive glorification of past. In the play we can see Soyinka's crusade against authoritarianism, complacency and self delusion.
• The play expresses a kind of angst, showing the wrong effect of colonialism, imperialism, globalization etc.
• Before interpreting the play it is necessary to know the time and place of book of written. For example  text of 16th century will be quite different than 21st century text. 
• The Swamp Dwellers was written nearly at the end of colonialism. it was published in 1958, a year after Ghana's independence and few year before Nigeria's anticipated freedom.
• So, rather than just presenting or criticizing other, it focuses more on where should we move as a society and Nation.
• Makuri and Alu are husband and wife. Their two sons Awuchike and Igwezu went to city to make money. Igwezu returns in village all alone, without his wife. Because his wife Desala left him and she chooses Awuchike, Igwezu's brother only because of money.
• The play is very serious debate on the concept of tradition and modernity. 
• In the play village stands for tradition, at the same time city is for modernization. older people think city as a breeding place of immorality, corruption and rottenness. Alu & Makuri's son went into city and they changed, so parent's hate for city becomes stronger. Priest Kadiye also comes because he thought that Igwezu came from city, so he might have money. The swamp dwellers have mixed feeling about city. for many people city is the place of comfort, money and luxury.
• The concept of Modernization is connected with colonialism, imperialism and industrialization.
• The play mirrors the socio cultural pattern, the pang and the suffering of the swamp dwellers and underlines the need for absorbing new ideas.