SOURCE: "J. P. Clark's The Raft: The Tragedy of Economic Impotence," in World Literature Written in English, Vol. 15, No. 2, November, 1976, pp. 297-304.

In the essay below, Egudu characterizes The Raft as "an outright indictment on economic cannibalism and a sincere plea for the observance of the Marxist principle of an equitable distribution of the basic means of human existence and survival. "

The Raft is a tragedy of a group of four economically weak lumbermen who have undertaken a journey by a raft on a river. Their journey is not without cause. The purpose of the journey is to take logs to a rich trader resident in Warri, who will pay them some money for their service. The journey is therefore a deliberate effort on the part of the four men to make a livelihood. This information is given early in the play, where Kengide addresses Olotu:

… You and...