The poem points to the people who always puff, jive and brag to be international, American, and Dangote’s son, but they are not. They don’t want to be known as local, African, and poor/ordinary citizens. This is hypocrisy!
Fake Life
I puff, I am international when I am local
I jive I am an American when I am an African
I brag that I am Dangote’s son when my father is struggling in the village
My real colour is hidden.
I always change garments like a chameleon
Whether I am yellow or blue
Pink or purple like a rainbow
Whether I am dark or white like a sky
Nobody can say
What I am today is not tomorrow!
I seem like a gorilla today, but a lion tomorrow!
I seem like a dove today, but a parrot tomorrow!
I seem like a giver today, but a snatcher tomorrow!
I seem like a human today, but a masquerade tomorrow!
I seem like an earthworm today, but a viper tomorrow!
I hold beef today, but a sword tomorrow
I will entertain with a delicious meal today, but poison tomorrow
Itism difficult to know
People can hardly explain to me
I pretend to be white when I am black
I eat like an American when I am an African
I dress like a white person when I am a black person
I talk like an American when I am an African
I always choose to be a copy-copy man
If people ask, I always reply, All is packaging
The modern style is the packaging.
The lie is substituted for packaging.
Fake life is replaced with packaging.
Packaging is a lie
Deceit is called packaging
All and sundry who are like me
It will be best if the world can grasp who you are!
Poet: Deola Adelakun
Briefs of the Poem
‘Fake Life’ is another poem addressing hypocrisy. The poet reveals how many people live a fake life. He continues to expose the ways of life of African people as we bend low and inferior to other cultures and values.
The poet points to the people who always puff, jive and brag to be international, American, and Dangote’s son, but they are not. They don’t want to be known as local, African, and poor/ordinary citizens. This is hypocrisy!
Many people like pretences. They always hide their personality. Other people cannot say who they are. I think that is not a manifestation of integrity.
These pretenders claim to be good today but something else tomorrow. The hypocritical people will seem like a gorilla, doves, givers, humans, and earthworms today, but the lion, parrots, snatchers, masquerade, and vipers tomorrow. This is hypocrisy!
Many blacks are inferior in their ways of life. They think their culture is not a good one. These people eventually imbibe the foreign culture in terms of language, dress, etc. Is it not hypocrisy?
Our people’s hypocrisy leads us to switch to the slang of ‘packaging’. The modern style is packaging and deceit are called packaging. This is also hypocrisy!
The poet advises that it would be best if people could stop pretending and deceiving others. Let people know you!
Theme
The poem has several thematic preoccupations in which the readers understand the poem better. Some of the themes are discussed below.
The theme of hypocrisy
A hypocrisy is an act of saying what he or she is not or boasting of what he or she has not become. The poet sees himself as a hypocrite who deceives people to call himself what he or she is not. He calls himself an international, but he is a local person.
No one can predict the colour because of his hypocritical nature. When he eats, he behaves like an American, so people will not know that he is African.
The theme of pretences
The poem records the poet as a pretender. What he is cannot be discovered. He begins to show his identity.
He doesn’t want people to see him as an African; that is why he boasts that he is an American. He never wants to be shown black; that is why he calls himself white. He chooses to copy foreign lifestyles.
The theme of arrogance
The poet is naturally arrogant. He arrogates to himself the boast of what he has never been or become. He puffs, jives, and brags so that people will say he is something, whereas he is not.
The theme of danger
The poet’s life is very dangerous because he is living the life of a chameleon life that people cannot predict. People cannot say precisely that this is where the poet is. It is very difficult to say whether he is yellow or blue, pink or rainbow, dark or white.
He is the one creature today and another creature tomorrow. The poet is difficult to know, and no one can explain him.
When he holds beef today, he will hold a sword tomorrow. When he entertains with a delicious meal today, he will entertain with poison tomorrow. This is the kind of life he is living!
The theme of deceit
The poet is deceitful and deceptive. He deceives people by calling himself and boasting himself what he is not.
The topic itself is deceptive, as the poet replaces “fake life” packaging. He says “packaging” while the packaging is a lie and deceit. People do not see this kind of life as a bad one. Those behaviours are called “Packaging”, which is deceit.
International versus local
The places the foreign culture over his culture. He belittles his culture, and he thinks his heritage is local (it is something people must see him with).
That is why he escapes from his own culture and sees himself as an International, American, and white, instead of local, African, and bl, ack. There is a clash between American and African cultures.
Language and Poetic Devices
The poet uses language and poetic devices that explain the poem understandably. Some of the languages are discussed below.
Stanzas and lines
The poem has 6 stanzas and 33 lines. The stanzas have good stressed and unstressed syllables, which give a rhythmic effect.
Rhymes and rhyming schemes
Each stanza of the poem has a good ending correspondence rhyming scheme. For stanza one is aabc; for stanza two is abcdef; for stanza three is aaaaaaaaa; four is abab; for stanza five is ababcdef; for stanza six is aabc.
Mood/Tone
The feeling of the poet is a correction. He tries to correct most African people who, like him, take the foreign culture over their own culture.
Slangs
The poet uses some slang to represent certain messages: “…copy-copy man”(line 26), “Packaging” (lines 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
Figures of speech
The poet uses several figures of speech to make his poem rich, and the researchers can work on it. Some of the figures of speech are discussed below.
Simile
The poet makes use of a simile to compare two objects with the comparative words “like or as”. The examples of similes in the poem are “lines 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 1516, 23, 24, 25, 32” of the poem.
Metaphor
The poet makes use of metaphor to compare two objects without the use of comparative words. The examples of metaphor are “Fake life as a topic is a metaphor”, “Fake life is replaced with packaging” (line 30), “Packaging is a lie” (line 31),
Irony
The poet makes use of irony, such as lines 1, 2, and 3, which are examples of irony.
Repetitions
The poet makes use of repetition for emphasis. The examples are “I, I am” (lines 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27), “Seem” (lines 12, 13, 14, 15, 16), “American and African” (lines 2, 23, 25), “Packaging”(lines 27, 29, 31, 31), “Like” (lines 6, 9,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 32).
Synecdoche
The poet makes use of synecdoche, such as “It will be best if the world can grasp who you are!” The word “the world is a synecdoche, which means the people in the world. Read the similar post on this page.
Practice Questions
1. Discuss the subject matter of the poem.
2. Explain the poetic devices of the poem.
3. Comment on the use of figurative expressions in the poem.
4. Say about the stanzas of the poem.
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