tion. Ofeyi meets him during his travels abroad, seemingly byaccident. However it transpires that Demakin is one of the Aiyero men himself. He appears to represent the militant,urban-guerilla thrust of the revolutionary movement. Demakin, more than any of the other figures, clarifies the characterisationof Ofeyi (and his ideas) by a process of reflection. By presenting the Dentist as a determined, no-nonsense figure and havingOfeyi react to his various opinions, Soyinka is able to chart the progress of Ofeyi's movement along the Aiyero road. As thatprogress also represents the possibility (or otherwise) of the Aiyero ideals being realised, Demakin has a significant role to play.Ofeyi sees the Dentist as a "self-effacing priest of violence ... whose single-mindedness had resusicitated his own waveringcommitment" (p. 22). He later remarks on the Dentist's "unassailable logic of extraction before infection" (p. 92) and listenswhile Demakin contends that the spreading of ideals by the intellectuals is not, by itself, sufficient. "'Rich black earth or richblackguards - you can only shoot one'" (p. 96), the Dentist says. Demakin strives for the creation of a situation wherein theAiyero ideas can take root. As to envisaging what will happen then, he leaves that to Ofeyi. While Ofeyi is, as the Dentist putsit, occupied with "'seminal rounds of the distant ideal'" (p. 118), Demakin is concerned with channeling what he sees as theinevitable violence and with directing it towards the necessary targets. By means of this continuing dialogue, the text bringsunder scrutiny the potential coalition of the radicalised intellectual reformer and the practical revolutionary. The narrative thrustof Season of Anomy enforces the view that such a coalition is a necessary one.During a key meeting with Ahime and Demakin at Cross-River, Ofeyi's role is contrasted to those of the others. Ofeyi is shownwondering about the link between his work for Aiyero and his sea...
