Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 5

Volume XXII Issue V Version I 8 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals A A Social Ecological Reading of Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow military regime in the country. Admiral is able to amass wealth for himself during his service years and lives in affluence after retiring from the Nigeria Navy. He lives alone in his mansion with his butlers. He is a divorcee; the marriage with his ex-wife produced two kids, a boy and a girl, the ex-wife now lives in Spain with their kids, who are about the same age as Zilayefa. Admiral treats his children especially his daughter, Alaere, with so much love whenever they visit him in Nigeria. For Zilayefa, growing up without a father leaves her very desirous of such fatherly love and care she witnesses Admiral displays on his daughter, Alaere. In her quest and desire for fatherly care, Zilayefa is attracted to Admiral because she “saw him dote on his daughter” (p. 133) and so wishes to also get such affection from a father figure. Unfortunately for her, she is looking for the right thing at the wrong place. She ignores, and fails to learn from the facts of Admirals legendary sexual escapades with teenage girls. This is because she is “hoping that the relationship would give me a taste of close paternal affection that I had never had” (p. 138). At age seventeen, she starts a sexual relationship with Admiral though she is confused and unclear about what she wants. She reasons that “I had not even stopped to consider whether I liked Admiral or not, much less thought of having sex with him or having him caress my body” (p. 133). In her naïve and confused state, Admiral takes advantage of her like he did with other teenage girls, lavishes money and gifts on her, and exploits her a great deal. The relationship is an unfair, unequal and unbalanced one owing to the wide gap in their age, economic, social background and status. It leaves Zilayefa at a disadvantaged position and susceptible to exploitation. Owing to this difference, Zilayefa cannot have any meaningful discussion with Admiral because she is always mindful of the age difference between them. She finds it very difficult to inquire from Admiral of those things that are of concern to her. According to her, I could not ask him about his alleged girlfriends, or ask that he confirm or deny all the rumours about himself in the tabloids. Despite his familiarity, I could not bring myself to forget he was an elder… I would not even be allowed to look him in the eye because that will be disrespectful…. I couldn’t say a lot of things for fear of being rude – or worse, insolent. (pp. 135-136) Owing to Zilayefa’s desire for paternal care and naivety, she fails to understand that she was heading for the slaughter even when Admiral tells her that he will exploit her. On the first night of their meeting, through a wide grin he says to her “You do look like you’d be sweet to bite, but I’ll save that for another day” (p. 130). She does not understand what he mean by that because of her inexperience and she confirms that “seventeen years is not enough time to learn the things one needs to know in order to have any kind of relationship with a sixty-year-old man” (p. 132). Eventually, she gives her virginity to him but she hopes to get a special place in Admiral’s life. She ponders that “Admiral had taken my innocence, which I had given willingly and happily to him. I hope it gave me a special place in his heart” (p. 144). However, after having sex with him, she is surprise at herself for having an affair with a man that is way above her social class. She expresses it when she notes that: I was in such awe of Admiral and was taken by the fact a man of his place in society wanted to be with me… I wanted to make him happy and hoped that in return I would experience the emotional comfort, attention, and protection that I had seen between him and Alaere. (p. 145) After the first sexual encounter with Zilayefa, Admiral disappears for almost two weeks without informing her of his where about. Zilayefa got so worried because she cannot just go to his house without invitation. Hence, she affirms that the relationship is indeed an exploitative one devoid of concern for her when she says “I was torn and worried about the one-sidedness of the relationship” (p. 149). However, Admiral shows up after about two weeks and Zilayefa sulks about his disappearance and the fact that she cannot visit his home at will for fear of not gaining access through the security details. In order to pacify her, Admiral introduces her to his cook as “my small friend Laye” and to the security man at the gate as “this face” (p. 151). This implies that he does not regard her as anything other than one of his victims of sexual gratification. Due to her naivety, Zilayefa falls for his deceit and claims that he had introduced her as a special guest when he had just referred to her as “my small friend” and “this face” right in her presence. Again, Admiral did not introduce Zilayefa to any of his friends or business associates whenever they converge in his house for their meetings because of her social status. As a result of this, she resorts to sneaking in and out of the house through the back door by the kitchen whenever there is such gathering at Admiral’s home. According to her, “…when I arrive on such nights, I had to sneak into the house through the kitchen” (p. 151). As time goes by, Admiral becomes busier with his business and has little or no time to spend with her and consequently she feels empty because what she seeks from Admiral, “companionship and male affection” seems to be eluding her, and that is not unrelated to their class difference. It eventually downed on her that Admiral does not take her any serious when she discovers that she is pregnant. The callous side of Admiral becomes clear to her when he gave her money and instructed her to “go to Island Clinic and ask for Dr. George. Tell him you need a pregnant test, and if you are pregnant, he will help you get rid of it” (p. 162). She becomes heartbroken because she expects Admiral to marry and take her in since he has the means to take care of her and the