The Psychology of Criminality in F. O. Orabueze’s Men Behind the Masks

This study examines the psychology of criminality in F. O. Orabueze’s Men Behind the Masks, with particular attention to the motivations and behavioural patterns of characters involved in criminal activities. While previous studies of the text have examined its Marxist, mythological, linguistic and stylistic dimensions, this study focuses on the relationship between individual motivations and dysfunctional social structures. Anchored in Robert K. Merton’s strain theory, the study employs qualitative textual analysis to examine how socially prescribed goals, particularly the pursuit of wealth and social status, interact with unequal opportunities and institutional corruption to encourage deviant responses. The analysis reveals that criminal behaviour in the novel arises from diverse motivations, including economic deprivation, greed, vengeance, thrill-seeking, exploitation, altruism, lust and the pursuit of social recognition. Keally’s criminality, for instance, is connected to poverty, unemployment and unequal access to legitimate opportunities, while the corrupt conduct of public officials demonstrates how criminality extends beyond the economically disadvantaged. The study argues that Orabueze presents criminality as both an individual and structural phenomenon. It concludes that dysfunctional social institutions, economic inequality, corruption and the unequal distribution of opportunities can create conditions conducive to criminal behaviour.