Negotiating the Male Egoa Masculinist Interpretation of John Ruganda’s Play, Black Mamba
Chimdi Maduagwu
Journal of Foreign Languages, Cultures and Civilizations, 1(1), pp. 23-32.
Abstract
The study of maleness, both at the physical, physiological, socio-economic and psychological levels is becoming an area of strong attraction even in African Studies. The bench mark in such a study appears to be suggested in the basic nature of man, as “the other sex,” when compared with the woman. This ifference, or otherness, is in consideration of the total form, or constitution of man - the man as seen and accepted by himself; the man as seen and accepted by the larger society; the man who has been able to internalize societal values and norm, and having allowed such to blend with his innate or inherent traits, emerges with an acceptable personality, both tolerable by his raw instincts and reflexes, as well as the tamed societal standards. In John Ruganda’s play, Black Mamba, there is a creative portrayal of man in very special ways. First, there is the man who struggles with both his personal ideas and societal values as he attempts to form a stable selfhood. Next, there is another, who believes himself, after a supposed self assessment, that he has a definite ego that must not only remain, but must be carefully protected and sustained. Then there is also the stock character, which represents the man that is in the process of a realistic self appraisal of not only himself, but also the other two categories, in relation to the lager society; with a view to drawing conclusions as to the true nature of the masculine being. This paper examines the various shades of characters, present in that play, as depictions of possible real life characters of diverse psychological propensities. It will adopt psychoanalysis, especially the ego states and ego identity hypothesis, as it tries to unravel the male ego.

Black Mamba is a play written by John Ruganda, a contemporary African playwright from Uganda. This play was published by East African Educational Publishers (EAEP) in 1973. Although it has been almost four decades since its publication, comments and studies by commentators and critics are few, if not nil, about it. But the play is so topical that one wonders why it is so. These days that the nature and constitution of man is becoming a worthwhile academic endeavour, it has also become somehow politically correct to revisit works like Black Mamba. In this play, Ruganda focuses on the age long human occupation, prostitution.

However, there is, in addition to the orthodox and commonplace views, an intellectual approach to the concept and practice of prostitution. A man, Berewa, is a “houseboy” and in the service of another man, Prof. Coarx. He is male, but is involved in “domestic works,” a kind of job traditionally restricted to females in the African setting. He feels economically oppressed because his income is unable to meet his needs; here, there is his idea of his needs, which are the things he is convinced that he is actually in need of. Then there are, on the other hand, societal demands on him; his idea of what he believes the society expects of him. In course of our knowledge of him, his personal needs are superseded by the society’s prescribed needs for him.

As he attempts to respond to societal demands, or the prescribed needs, he experiences a measure of handicap; however, he still strives towards improving his present condition.His needs are gradually revealed as the plot of the drama unveils. First and above all other things, he feels a need for the restoration of a one-time wealth, bequeathed to him by his father, which unfortunately dissipated as a result of his wife’s carelessness. Part of the restoration bid would be a drive towards acquisition of personal housing. Next, there is a need for improved external appearance, especially in dressing. And of course, upward mobility, in the social strata would be a highly desirable achievement and this will be based on how effective the drives towards other needs turn out to be.

But there is no miracles that can make these happen if he must depend on his earning as a houseboy. He thus must necessarily explore other means through which he could actualize his dreams. As a result of this, he studies his environment for possible avenues of success and part of his findings, about his master and employer, Prof. Coarx, will set him into action. Prof. Coarx, according to Berewa’s observation, has a tendency of being generous to “the woman of easy virtue,” if the transaction is kept within the bounds of the room in which it takes place. In fact, in one single night encounter, the Professor pays a prostitute one hundred shillings, exactly the same amount he pays him for one month of service in the house.

Armed with this, Berewa plots a strategy that will, to his own imagination, be of benefit to all parties involved. The parties are conceived to be his master, his wife and himself. The strategy is for him to offers his wife, Namuddu, to the Professor for the normal fee for such an encounter. The Professor needs a woman to sleep with for a fee; he needs the fee that the Professor is willing to pay for use within his family; his wife, who hitherto had been indolent and supposedly unprofitable would have the opportunity to contribute to their “happiness.” However, he would conceal the identity of his wife to the Professor. This sets the conflicts and the suspension in the play.

The play begins in the morning after the first successful encounter between Namuddu, Berewa’a wife and “her client,” Prof. Coarx, Berewa’s employer. Despite the fact that Namuddu expresses dissatisfaction and disgust over the matter that her own very husband has given her over to another man for “sex for money,” and even insists that she would not continue with the deal, her husband Berewa persuades her to continue. He reinforces his stand with blackmail. Namuddu is accused of being responsible for the poverty in their life. She has caused a fire outbreak which gutted their entire house, making them homeless.

She has also made Berewa to spend a huge sum of money on her brother’s education, only for her brother to reject them afterwards. Most of all, Namuddu has not been able to contribute to their family in any positive way. The development of the play gets quite interesting when characters like Odiambo, an inquisitive student in the department of Sociology and Catherine Smith, a lecturer in the same university are introduced. The presence of these intellectuals compliments the seemingly banal appearances of Berewa and his wife, Namuddu. The creative impulse of John Ruganda carefully weaves a web of actions between the highly educated and the ill-educated in the society. In some way, it is an effort towards a marriage of the town and the gown.

II

The play, at its early part, reveals an expression of happiness by Berewa, who has just received a sum of one hundred shillings (Ugandan money) from his wife. This is her wage for a night of sex with Prof. Coarx. Berewa is quite excited because this night’s earning by his wife is equal to his month’s wage. It is somehow palliative and results in a change of mood.

On the other hand, his wife is uncomfortable with the “deal” and would prefer not to continue, but if the endeavour could present an opportunity for negotiation for a better standard of life, she also would be amenable to it. She attempts to negotiate by first, accepting the job as her contribution to the development of their home, even though it does not conform to her sincere desire. It will be a means towards maintaining a measure of equality with her husband who had hitherto provided for the home in absolute terms. Then she goes on with the lower elements in the negotiation by making demands for clothes, necklace, shoes etc.

Berewa, rather than acquiesce, goes on to remind her of the need for hard work, on her part, based on the new opportunity through Prof. Coarx’s bed as that would be her own singular contribution to the growth and development of their home. The act would be capable of mending her faults, especially in relation to the depletion of their finances. The subtle suggestion here is that women are incapable of economic contributions to the home in the patriarchy. She must therefore be grateful for any form of opportunity to become an effective or economic partner in the home or family.

Thus, as Berewa makes it clear that the least irreducible determinant of life and existence is finance; he equally educates his wife on her new status as a possible partner in progress giving her new contributions. For him, it does not seriously matter, how that contribution is made. Prostitution, which is one of the main themes of the play, is approved by Berewa for his wife. This is an unusual development, since men naturally will disallow their wives from such a profession. By giving approval to that, Berewa is submitting his “male ego” for negotiation. In the play and indeed, the society in general, prostitution is a trade associated with the poor and ill-educated.

More importantly, it is also feminized. For a long time, it is usual to have prostitution restricted to women. A prostitute is a woman. She is usually poor and either uneducated, undereducated or ill educated. Ruganda creatively interrogates the concept and practice of prostitution in relation to those who practice it, those who detest it, and those who make laws against it and those who enforce laws against it. Since the orthodox practitioners, as has been the notion in the society over a long time, are women, the ignorant and the uneducated ones, the action in the drama is somehow like the woman pitched against the societal notions of prostitution.

However, the society is patriarchal and thus male dominated; therefore, the whole argument comes back to the female against the male. The whole issue is complicated by the sudden realization that the woman is not alone in this game. For instance, Namuddu, the woman has clients, Berewa and Prof. Coarx. These clients are of the opposite sex, or at least must play from the other side of the sexual pitch. Since this is the case for a complete transaction, then it is not really, a woman’s game. Thus, accepting it as so would be one sided. From another perspective, it is also a game associated with the poor; since the poor must exchange her body for money, certainly from those who can afford it, people of means; it also means that the poor is not alone in the game.

All these make the drama an avenue for “negotiation” and as such, quite engaging. A reading of the play suggests that women are in general terms, less privileged and thus less endowed than men. They are also less educated than men and poorer than men. They are, for these and other reasons, in the mainstream of prostitution. The men are protected because they are supposedly dragged into it through sympathy and patronage. This is the “male ego.” The protection of men is drawn upon the culture, which they control. This state of the men, carefully articulated within culture control is the male ego.

In the play, Prof. Coarx sits in his house and the prostitute is smuggled into the house. He is not to be publicly identified with her. It is a secret deal, paid for, to remain so. The payment is not only for the pleasure of sex, but also for the pleasure of self-preservation. The Professor’s personality must be protected and preserved by the payment. It is a complete contract, even though it is not signed on paper. Culturally, Prof. Coarx is well endowed and economically empowered. His advantage, as a result of financial superiority in the society confers on him a measure of prestige (ego) that others, less endowed and empowered do not have. All these raise questions about the personalities of the characters in the play.

Despite his venerated position, in terms of hierarchy, Prof. Coarx occasionally descends and mingles with the less privileged, like Namuddu, the (constructed) prostitute. But at all times, he asserts his privileges; first as a man, then a Whiteman, further as a highly educated and financially endowed person. He, as it were, has become three times more privileged than Namuddu, two times more privileged than Berewa, who is a mere uneducated domestic servant, and a nudge ahead of his student, Odiambo, who is educated but black. All these combine to provide for a personal definition of his male(ness) or masculine ego. According to Brown and Fromm,

the ego is that conglomeration of functions dealing with the outside world and which, within the personality, moderates between the demands of the drives and those of the superego (the conscience). These functions comprise perception, motility, cognition, imagery and fantasy, attention, memory, talents, defenses, integrative and coping mechanisms, and the unconscious as well as the conscious decision-making processes. (52)

Prof. Coarx’s male-ego is externally determined. He must, therefore have himself presented to the external world in particular ways, and of course, the ways the external has also, largely, determined for him. This is not peculiar to him alone. Other characters like Berewa and even Odiambo equally manifest male ego states that have direct deals with external world. Like Prof. Coarx, they too have perceived themselves, through the societal mirror, and must strive towards presenting a corresponding image of such perceptions. Male ego, thus becomes the sum total of the characters’ personal observations of the world around them, the internalization of such observations, and their final acceptance of the elements observed into their beings.

At the end, their inner beings accept and integrate such elements into the total personality. For instance, Prof. Coarx carefully internalizes elements from the external world, like his relationships (with his wife, servant – Berewa, student – Odiambo, colleague – Cathrine Smith and prostitute/mistress – Namuddu), and evaluates the various shades of characters around him against his perceived self-value. As he concludes that he is superior to all others, he works towards maintaining the status-quo. It is against this background that he relates with all other characters in the play. In a very interesting scene in the play after he uses Namuddu and does not feel any need for her again, the following conversation ensues:

Namuddu: So I am useless to you now?
Prof.: you can get another man if you so wish. It’s only a question of wriggling your behind along the street…
Namuddu: Do I deserve to be tossed about so carelessly?
What do you think I am, a play thing?
Prof.: A woman.
Namuddu: and what do you care about a woman sir? What is a woman to you, sir?
Prof.: just a ball. Nothing really. You are the small round thing they play with, passing it from one player to another – kicking it carelessly in all directions…
Prof.: and you know how crazy people are about a football match. There are those who would rather watch the game and improve their tactics; there are the professionals whose duty is to play all the time; and everybody wants to gossip about the result of the match. That’s what a man-woman relationship is – a football match. We do the playing of course, you are both the field and the ball. (56-57)

It is obvious that this is a careful personal study of man-woman relationship by Prof. Coarx who is a social scientist. It is an essential part of what forms his ego and character as a male and thus defines how he reacts to females. It creates a permanent image of the woman in his memory, a woman as an object to be kicked about by men. It gives him inner confidence and impetus for domination (hegemony) and he must constantly defend it, consciously and unconsciously.

As such an image of the woman gives him a definition of her, it equally constructs for him, a self-image of a strong domineering figure. This has become acceptable to him and thus must be guarded with great emotion. More than any of the afore mentioned considerations, one important point is that the state, which results in the relationships does not originate from inside Prof. Coarx, thus, male ego is not internal to the male character; it is acquired by long associations and relationships with the external world.

111

Placing Prof. Coarx at the epicenter of the play, other male characters in the play like Berewa and Odiambo seem to have developed ego identities too, which shape their identities. Again, beginning with Prof. Coarx, the audience is made to believe that he is a respectable gentleman, an intellectual and elite. He has built up a “well-formed identity” and parades such with a measure of pride. This he has done over time and it has become, as it were, a kind of public image for him. This image exudes certain traits that have become associated with him, and resists other traits that are contrary. For instance, he is foreign, no doubt white in a predominantly black society.

The whites or people from the west are supposedly more civilized and superior to the blacks in terms of culture and behavior. Thus, there are important and peculiar traits that are expected to be apparent in his natural behaviour, both as a man, generally, then as a civilized westerner and also as an educated person; and also other traits to be indicated in his acquired behavior as a teacher and leader in the society. As a college Professor, well paid, highly placed in the society and thus very much respected, he is expected by the society to be a custodian, an exponent and defender of the social norms, especially those that have to do with society’s notions of decency, decorum and propriety.

He shows awareness of this as the play develops further to reveal that the society is at war with prostitution, and he apparently joins in the battle against prostitution. There is a combined onslaught on prostitution by the elite and the law enforcement agencies, among other concerned persons and groups.

This appears to be more conventional than topical because virtually all societies of all times have rejected prostitution. Prof. Coarx, as an elite is expected to be active in the campaign. This is his public or social self. However, there is another personality inside him, which is attracted to “the prostitute” and which deals with “her” amiably. This leaves for the audience, another character strand, still within the overall character configuration of Prof. Coarx. It thus shows a complicated character frame that proves interesting in the analysis of Prof. Coarx. It is also within this complicated frame that masculine ego is to be negotiated, albeit, from time to time.

Prof. Coarx is apparently not the only persona that parades this complexity. The other major male character in the play Berewa, also presents a complicated personality. While Professor’s complications are deep because much of his internal traits appear to have become submerged in a new consciousness governed by external image frame, Berewa’s complex character appears to be the opposite, in which external values (artificial in nature), already internalized pretend to be original and thus attempt to govern or dominate apparent external images. For instance, Berewa is aware of the ills associated with prostitution (external), but he works out a plan that involves his wife (he too is involved) in prostitution and when his wife protests, he craftily justifies it:

Berewa: …Imagine dear Namuddu, just last night you made a hundred shillings. I have to work for a whole month to get the same amount. My wife, I don’t see why you should be so upset by this idea…
…
Namuddu: But how can I go on sleeping…how can I do it? O
God!
Berewa: Think of something else while you are doing it.
…
Berewa: …think of me, think of our poverty, think of our future riches when you are doing it.
…
Namuddu: Did you expect me to do this when you called me to the city?
Berewa: If less beautiful women have been able to do it, why not you, Namuddu?...poverty hooked us, we must hook riches. That’s the fashion these days. Many families have become prosperous that way…
Namuddu: Like the prostitute, Namatta?
…
Namuddu: She is unfaithful to her husband Berewa: There you are. That’s what everybody says, but it’s part of the game, Namuddu. That’s the mark of good business when everybody misunderstands your tactics… (11-12)

By making reference to their deplorable social condition, characterized by poverty, Berewa is able to water down Namuddu’s conscience thus, prostitution is made to transform from a horrible social ill to a means of upward mobility in the social hierarchy. Namuddu is persuaded into believing that what people say must be considered irrelevant when one is in pursuit of his or her progress or happiness.

For Berewa, prostitution, in their case, is business and the seeming unfaithfulness, which characterizes a married woman, having an affair out of marriage becomes part of the business tactics. All these bear direct relationship with male ego. Poverty, deprivation, social and economic insecurity, lack of fulfillment, amongst other unpleasant social issues make Berewa feel less than a man in the real sense of masculine prowess. His ego is influenced by his state and feelings. Like Prof. Coarx, he also parades distinct male ego, at any time, but while Prof. Coarx manipulates the social forces, he on the other hand comes under the pressure of the same forces. His ego is, therefore, informed almost entirely by social forces. He develops a feeling of incompetence as a result of some form of economic disempowerment (see Maduagwu 2013).

He thus seeks empowerment in order to restore his competence. This, he also tests through his envisaged competence as a husband. Although he is unable to excel in many aspects of life, he believes that his status as a husband can be used to his benefit. It is, perhaps, for this reason that he invites his wife Namuddu to play the part of a “sponsored prostitute” in his employer’s house. From the insights into the two characters, it is not out of place to conclude that they do not parade clear cut ego states each, and thus matching identities. However, it is possible to construct their identities through a negotiation with their male ego states. Ego based strategies, especially the Status Model of Ego Identity Hypothesis prove to be useful instruments in the negotiation of male ego as a means of either creating or clarifying identities.

According to Dunkel, Curtis and Papini, Dennis, The status model is composed of two criteria namely: identity Exploration and Identity Commitment. They continue to explain that, “Exploration is defined as actively investigating one's identity options. Commitment is deciding to pursue a particular option and investing in it” (1). The two characters Berewa and Prof. Coarx fit into the two criteria; Berewa, into identity exploration and Prof. Coarx, into identity commitment. Right from the beginning of the play, Prof. Coarx has been consistent. He exhibits a clear public image, which could pass as his identity. He is committed to his social self: the elite and intellectual. He apparently invests on, and pursues this single identity option. He is willing to pay exorbitantly, to retain that option.

He even would get into unorthodox acts so as to protect and preserve the same much cherished identity. On the other hand, Berewa, recounts his earlier days as a relatively comfortable person, or as one in a better social and economic situation than he is currently as a domestic servant. For this reason, he equally believes in the possibility of his upward mobility. He thus, has not accepted a specific identity and fits into the identity exploration category because he is still investigating identity options available to him. He is aware of various steps or stations in the social ladder, especially those above his present station and he decides to explore possibilities of moving up the ladder, since, by his conviction, moving up will redefine his identity.

Dunkel and Papini further go on to indicate how this can apply to persons: Individuals can be further classified into statuses based on these two criteria…identity achieved if they exhibit exploration and commitment; identity moratorium if they exhibit exploration without commitment; identity foreclosed if they exhibit commitment without exploration; and identity diffused if they do not exhibit exploration or commitment (1).

So, in relation to “identity exploration” and “identity commitment” categories, characters in the play respond directly and indirectly as they react to prostitution. Prof. Coarx and Odiambo are associated with the later, at least at the social level, while Berewa and his wife Namuddu fall within the former. Since Prof. Coarx is to a considerable extent a well-established character and thus committed to his personality, he is expected to be consistent with a steady and stable ego. He is thus within the status of “identity achieved” because despite the fact that he belongs to the category of identity commitment, he equally exhibits identity exploration.

This may not be the case with the other two characters since, for Odiambo, there is yet to be a steady and definite frame while for Berewa, there is not even a definite direction toward which to locate and frame his ego. Both, therefore, exhibit identity moratorium. The concepts of ego and their states prove to be very useful paradigms for literary analysis of the masculine characters in the play. This illuminates the rather complicated ego identities, in relation to commitment, exploration, foreclosure and moratorium. According to Zimberoff, Diane,

Paul Federn (1952), a close associate of Freud's, was perhaps the first to formulate the concept of "ego states." He recognized that the experience of selfhood can vary depending on what state the person is in at a given moment. Thus he conceptualized these various states as separated by boundaries that are more or less permeable and perceive themselves as the subject ‘I’ (5).

From the point of view of the statement above, it becomes risky to believe that Prof. Coarx, Berewa or Odiambo has a permanent ego. Each character’s individual selfhood is governed by several ego states from time to time and the specific personality is determined by the state of the ego, at any given time. The truth therefore is that conditions around the individual characters combine to form “states.” Each condition, or set of conditions, stirs up a commensurate reaction from the individual characters. The reactions are identifiable as character traits bound together and somehow different from each other.

All the seemingly separate traits are what, according to Fedem, “perceive themselves as the subject I.” In simple terms, “ego states” presupposes that within each character, there is a set of potential ego expressions which is well managed by the organizing principle of the character’s individual selfhood. These ego expressions constitute ego states, which are buried inside the inner personality and only one state exhibits at any given time. This psychological propensity makes it sometimes difficult to properly predict or define the character of a particular individual. Zimberoff, Diane again states,

“An individual lives through the day not as one consistently present ego state, as most people believe, but rather as a never-ending succession of different ego states, each of which hands off the baton of the `I' experience seamlessly to the next.(7)

This also corroborates the statement made by Watkins and Watkins that “every individual incorporates numerous discreet ego states, with boundaries ranging from non-flexible to highly permeable, making up a "family of self'” (Watkins & Watkins, 1982). In furtherance of discussions, Ego states hypothesis thus proves to be better understood in terms of the individual and collective reactions of the characters to prostitution, since prostitution is central to the plot of the play. Collectively, prostitution is both condemned and disdained. All characters project an apparent aversion for it, which is supported by the dialogue below:

Berewa: As for women, I hate them utterly. I remember my father saying “women are dangerous…the farther from them the safer for a man.”…I take after him, sir…
Odiambo: Never mind. The thing is that the government will need your services, Berewa.
Berewa: are we going to war, sir?
Odiambo: A war of a different kind. The people’s government has declared war on “the sweet plague” – the plague that ‘takes reason prisoner!’ The sweet opium that the depressed easily resort to.
Berewa: What is that?
Odiambo: Prostitution.
Berewa: Prostitution?
Odiambo: Yes, Berewa, prostitution. It seems everybody is obsessed with lying, cheating, swindling and money grabbing. Our society is falling to pieces at a very fast rate. And the root cause of it all is prostitution. Our citizens are committing all sorts of crime so that they may get money to pay for a prostitute – to drive away their worries and frustrations. (17-18)

This is the general state. Odiambo captures the state of the ego of everyone in the play, in broad strokes. It means that both individuals at the upper and lower levels, as well as the government and her agencies are poised against prostitution, which they all are involved in, on the other hand. Because of this, at different points in time, there are shifts in the states of the ego of the characters, which result in inconsistencies. These inconsistencies are natural psychological propensities. But while it is quite pronounced in characters like Prof. Coarx and Berewa, it is almost absent in Odiambo. Inconsistency in ego states is informed by the flexibility of the ego.

First, Berewa gets along very well with Odiambo’s campaign against prostitution. Then, he presents an initial ego, moderately masculine and hegemonic over his wife. There is also a presupposition that he has internalized reasonably, some elements of the larger society in relation to protection of his wife, more especially the sanctity of his wife’s body (as it is the case for all married women). Despite these, Berewa gives his wife away into prostitution and even when his wife reminds him of the need to preserve her body for him, he rebuffs it. Again, the same Berewa consciously covers the truth about his wife for Prof. Coarx, his master and allows him to sleep with her for money, and in addition, provides a cover for Prof. Coarx against the larger society.

All these show Berewa’s personality, shaped by his ego, respond to different situations in different way. It reveals that Berewa’s ego state shifts in reaction to situations and circumstances that he finds himself. For these reasons, Berewa thus is capable of “never ending succession of ego states,” or “numerous discrete ego states,” which according to Watkins and Watkins, make up “a family of self.” They are all intricately interwoven, but manifest “seamlessly. These ego states define several Berewas, or a family of Berewa’s selfhood:

Berewa, the husband (who is expected to protect his wife), Berewa who promotes his wife as a prostitute (the pimp), Berewa who agrees with Odiambo in the fight against prostitution, Berewa who denies his loving wife, and Berewa who, knowing that Prof. Coarx patronises prostitution, remains mute about it, even before the law enforcement men. Ego states hypothesis is equally valid in assessing how Prof. Coarx negotiates his male ego amidst conflicting desires. Although Coarx appears like an individual with an established, consistent ego, since he belongs to the “ego identity commitment” category as against Berewa’s “identity exploration” group, he still battles with multiple ego states. This is explained by his ambivalence.

At the social level, he projects a well formed and jealously guarded ego state, but at the domestic front, he manifests an ego that is capable of accommodating some hitherto suppressed desires. For instance, while he joins in the general societal fight against prostitution, at the social level, he admits, keeps and enjoys the services of a prostitute, at the domestic level. Also, while he rejects female domestic servants in the presence of his wife, he welcomes a female prostitute in the absence of his wife. Again, while he raises a strong voice against prostitution as his contribution to a research in progress by his student, Odiambo, he has, hidden somewhere in his house, a resident prostitute.

Finally, while he is supposedly, a respected intellectual and elite, ranked above petty lies by the society, he blatantly denies Nammudu, the emergency prostitute when she makes a rather dramatic appearance before him, his student Odiambo, his servant, Berewa and the law enforcement men. All these point to different ego states within the selfhood of Prof. Coarx. It is a confirmation of Watkins and Watkins’ position that an individual is made up of “a family of self.”

Therefore, from this family of self, the individual draws upon relevant elements that he negotiates with in order to establish an ego state. Whether the individual character is, like Berewa, who belongs to the ego identity exploration category, or like Prof Coarx, who belongs more to the identity commitment counterpart, there is a psychological tendency that each day of his life is flooded by several ego states that he must endeavour to manage properly, allowing each state, according to Zimberoff, Diane, to “seamlessly hand over the baton of “I” from one state to another. By so doing, the psychological transactions that results in an outward projection of the “I” or ego in masculinity will be insured. It is, however become unending in the selfhood of the typical man irrespective of his ego identity.