Moonlight Law, Money Bags’ Cunning, and the Politics of Dissent: A Deep Dive into Act II of Adipo Sidang’s Parliament of Owls
In Parliament of Owls, Adipo Sidang takes us beyond the feathers and into the rot that festers within power. Act II, titled “Moonlight Law, Money Bags’ Cunning and Dealing with Dissent,” is not just political satire—it is a mirror held up to our own world, reflecting the circus of modern governance, the silencing of truth, and the self-serving theatrics of political elites.
Missed the Beginning? Revisit Act I: The Mourning of the Throne
Before the Moonlight Bill casts its long shadow, step back to where it all began — the funeral of ideals, the rise of ambition, and the first whispers of dissent.
👉 Start Here: Act I – The Mourning of Parliament of Owls
At its core, this act exposes how corruption, manipulation, and propaganda deform leadership into a grotesque performance.
1. Plot Overview: The Circus of Parliament
The act unfolds in the chambers of the Parliament of Owls. The scene opens with Money Bags, the ever-scheming politician who doubles as Mr. Speaker, wearing a lion’s mane—a theatrical mockery of authority. Around him sit owls pledging loyalty to Royal Owl, a symbol of autocracy.
Business begins chaotically. Socialite Owl, preoccupied with vanity, interrupts to complain that the Make-up Bill is missing from the agenda. In an ironic twist, Money Bags offers to buy her all the make-up she desires—showing how leaders use personal favors to purchase silence.
Soon, debate shifts to the Moonlight Bill, which Money Bags is determined to pass. But Feathered Beak, Iron Lady, and Straight-Eyed—the rebel owls—raise questions about fairness, dictatorship, and freedom. The Speaker swiftly silences them, weaponizing his dual roles as both referee and player.
The result? The bill is hurriedly passed, Iron Lady is thrown out, and loyalists applaud in blind devotion. Outside, protests simmer; inside, corruption reigns.
2. Themes and Messages
a) Abuse of Power and Political Hypocrisy
Money Bags’ manipulation of parliamentary procedure—silencing critics and flattering Royal Owl—mirrors despots who equate loyalty with patriotism. Sidang unveils how democracy can mutate into theatre when power goes unchecked.
His soliloquy reveals the ultimate betrayal: he has not been serving the kingdom but himself. His vow to “care for all little birds” becomes a chilling metaphor for state capture through dependency.
b) Corruption and Greed
From fried rats and baked mice with honey and mayonnaise to the bribes disguised as “compensation,” Sidang satirizes the transactional nature of power. Politics, he suggests, has become a marketplace of deceit.
c) Suppression of Dissent
Iron Lady, Feathered Beak, and Straight-Eyed represent reason and conscience. Their ejection dramatizes how regimes silence accountability. The Moonlight Law becomes a legal veil for repression—a law that outlaws truth.
d) Propaganda and Manipulation
Through Arum Tidi (the propagandist hornbill) and Tel Tel (the spin doctor), Sidang critiques how media systems manufacture loyalty. Humor becomes the playwright’s scalpel—exposing how lies wear the mask of patriotism.
e) Guilt, Fear, and the Psychology of Power
Money Bags’ dream sequence is a haunting portrait of guilt. In it, conscience manifests as nightmare; truth takes on wings. The dream and soliloquy strip away the arrogance of tyranny to reveal a frightened soul trembling beneath the robe of authority.
3. Character Analysis
Money Bags
Iron Lady
The moral backbone of the act. Her defiance of Money Bags’ hypocrisy makes her the voice of truth in a kingdom of liars. Her expulsion mirrors how truth-tellers are exiled from power corridors.
Feathered Beak and Straight-Eyed
These two embody intellectual rebellion. Their wit—“owls that have greater thinking capacity than the entire kitchen cabinet of Royal Owl”—mixes humor with defiance. They represent the conscience of a sleeping nation.
Arum Tidi
A tragic pawn in the machinery of propaganda. His death “fighting his own reflection” symbolizes self-destruction through deceit. His loyalty to lies becomes his undoing.
Royal Owl
A chilling portrait of absolute power—demanding loyalty, despising truth. His encounter with Money Bags in the dream shows how tyranny feeds on paranoia.
4. Literary Devices and Dramatic Techniques
Satire
Sidang wields satire with surgical precision. Debating a Make-up Bill while citizens starve mocks the vanity of modern governance.
Irony
Money Bags accuses others of treason even as he betrays the kingdom. His praise of Arum Tidi after killing him is the apex of political irony.
Soliloquy
Money Bags’ soliloquy opens a window into moral decay—how leaders justify evil as necessity.
Dream Motif
The dream is poetic justice. The oppressed (Oyundi and Osogo) rise to judge the oppressor. The line between illusion and reality blurs, reminding us that no tyrant escapes his conscience.
Symbolism
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Moonlight Law – disguised oppression.
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Lion’s mane wig – false authority.
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Arum Tidi’s reflection – self-destruction through lies.
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Flute – art as truth and resistance.
5. Exam-Ready Insights
a) Politics as a Dirty Game
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Bribery and manipulation in parliament.
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Suppression of opposition (Iron Lady’s expulsion).
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Propaganda through Arum Tidi and Tel Tel.
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Hypocrisy in praising victims they destroyed.
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Self-enrichment disguised as public service.
b) Dreams and Soliloquies as Motifs
Dreams externalize guilt, soliloquies reveal corruption’s psychology. Together, they humanize villains and deepen the play’s moral texture.
c) Arum Tidi’s Death and the Moonlight Law
His death is symbolic—proof that oppressive regimes consume their own once their lies turn inconvenient.
6. Essay Reflection
7. Final Reflection
Act II of Parliament of Owls is a mirror turned inward. Sidang warns that tyranny is not born in palaces but in parliaments, in silence, and in applause. The disease of power begins not with the ruler, but with the ruled who normalize deceit.
Money Bags’ nightmare becomes our own—a reminder that the greatest punishment for moral decay is not death, but waking up to the ruin one has created.
⚖️ Up Next: The Reckoning in Act III — Truth on Trial
As dawn breaks over the Parliament of Owls, the echo of the Moonlight Law still haunts the chambers. The masks begin to slip, allies turn into informants, and the dream that once frightened Money Bags starts to bleed into reality.
In Act III, Adipo Sidang sharpens his satire into a blade. Conscience takes the stand, and every lie told in moonlight now faces the glare of judgment.
👉 Coming Soon: Act III – The Reckoning of the Parliament — where guilt becomes law and truth refuses to die.
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