AFRICA :A HISTORICAL

SURVEY
STRUCTURE
20.0 Objectives
20.1 Introduction
I - 2012 Pre-colonial Africa
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.I 20.3 First Contacts With the Outside World
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20.4 Africa under Colonialism
20.5 The Decolonising of Africa
20.6 Let Us Sum Up
20.7 Glossary
20 8 Answers to Exer
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I 20.0 OBJECTIVES
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The primary objective of this unit is to trace, very briefly, the history of the African
continent since the pre-historic times. Special attention will be paid to life under
colonialism and also the process of decolonisation. This will help us understand African
literature in general and Things Fall Aparr better because, as we know, there is a close
relationship between literature and the society which produces it.
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20.1 INTRODUCTION

In most books of history written by Europeans, the continent of Africa is referred to as

'the dark continent'. This expression - the dark continent - was most probably first used
by travellers and missionaries who happened to visit the African continent much before
political claims on its temtory were made and it was colonised by various European
powers. The term 'dark' has been used for describing the continent of Africa because,
ftrstly, these early Uavellers as well as missionaries considered anything mysterious that
they did not understand much about. Secondly, and more importantly, these first visitors
considered Africa to be inhabited by people who were primitive, uncivilized and savages.
The colour of ignorance, as we know, is black. According to these early missionaries, the
Africans believed in magic and other irrational rituals and customs. Once again, magic is
associated with black colour as for example, the term 'black magic'. Finally, there was
the most obvious reason for calling Africa the black continent: its inhabitants had veq
dark skins. These opinions, particularly about the Africans being primitive and
uncivilized were accepted blindly by most Europeans who entered the continent either for
uade or for colonisation. In fact, the colonial administrations built upon this myth of
primitivism of the Africans by stating that Africa had no history, no culture, no past:
There was a sound reason behind accepting such an image of the Africans. The European
powers used the excuse of 'civilizing' these savages for enteFng Africa and for staying on
fix the economic and poltical exploitation of its people.
However, as later researches into the history, political and social organisation and cultural
achievements have shown, Africa was neither primitive nor uncivilized before the
Europeans occupied it. Civilization, as we know, is much more than technological
progress and cannot be equated with the possession of fly-by-wire aircrafts, coloured
television sets, personal comp~iters,cordless telephones, air-conditioned cars and
rnicrowave ovens. If this were so, people belonging to the most ancient civilizations like
the Indian, the Chinese, the E m t i a n and the South American, would all be primitive and
Things Fall Apart uncivilized. Like these, ancient Africa also boasted of various centres of civilization with
well-organised social and political bystems and significant achievements in the fields of
fine arts like music and dance.

PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA

20.2.1 Africa and the evolution of man

By now enough archeological and anthropological evidence is available to show that
during the evolutionary process our ancestor - Australapithecus Apicms or man-ape, as he
was called - fust emerged on the African continent. ~Yiftvalley region in East Africa was
the most probable place where it happened. Excavations at the Oldwvai Gorge in what is
now called Tanzania haveproduced ampleevidence of it being one of the oldest sites of
world culture. Discovery of primitive tools of hunting l d e the hand axe in not only East
Africa but also in the Congo Basin and Zimbabwe shows a parallel development of this
culture. This also compares well with the developments in other similar centres in India,
China and parts of Europe.

20.2.2 Africa and the ancient Egyptian Civilization

However, the most fascinating evidence about h e cultural development in Africa is
provided by a Senegalese scholar - Cheikh Anta Diop - who claims that the ancient
Egyptian civilization was set up and nurtured by black Africans more than ten thousand
years ago. - Relying upon evidence from various sources including historical accounts,
Cheikh Anta Diop convinces us that whpn the great Sahara started drying up about 7000
B.C., before which it was a huge lake, &section of Africans began to trek along the route
of the river Nile. They finally settled in the valley at the mouth of the Nile delta before
it empties its water into the Mediterranean. Here they set up the great ancient Egyptian
civilization with unprecedented progress in speculative scientific research. This cycle of
the civilizational progress lasted many thousands of years during the course of which thee
black Africans colonised neighbouring territories inhabited by whites. The Semitic world
of today is perhaps a result of a free cross-breeding between the two races.

20.2.3 Africa after the end of the Egyptian Civilization

However, like many other ancient civilizations, this civilization set up by black Africans
in the valley of the Nile also ran out of steam. In the course of time it was overrun by rhe
Persians. Then came the Macedonians, the Romans, the Arabs and the eurks in that
order. More recently, the French and the English occupied the temtory. This prolonged
colonisation resulted in rhe snapping of the links between the delta and the original centres
of the civilisation back in Africa. These centres lost touch with not only the Egyptian part
but with one another as well, suriiving for some time aS isolated pockets during which
period they concentrated more on the social, political h d moral organisation of their
societies rather than on material development. In the meantime, Europe benefitted from
the ancient Egyptian civilization via the Greeks and the Romans. Thus while Africa
lagged behind in technological progress, Europe marched ahead full steam. The great
empires of Ghana, Mali and Ife in West Africa, Ethiopia in the East, Zimbabwe in the
West and Congo in South West are a testimony to the great civilization that the Africans '
hnilt thousands of years ago.
Whether this hypothesis of Cheikh Anta biop is wholly true or partially false is really nl3t
so important for us for the time being. What matters is the fact that it establishes,
beyond any doubt, that Ancient Africa at that time was as much primitive or developed, as
much barbaric or civilized as any other part of the world, including Europe. It, therefore,
proves as false the opinion of the European powers that when they arrived in Africa they
 Africa :A brief historical survey
20.3 RECENT HISTORY : FIRST CONTACTS WITH
THE OUTSIDE WORLD

20.3.1 Africa : ancient contacts with Asia and the Middle East
While there is evidence of the ancient Africans having trade links with India and China,
more recent links with the outside world were established when during the eighth century .
Arakls came to the east coast with the mission of spreading Islam. They, however, stayed
on not only to trade, particularly in ivory and gold but they also occupied temtories to set
up their own political control over them. The Sultanate of Zanzibar on the Zanzibar
island near what is now Tanzania is an example of such an occupation of African territory
by the Arabs.

20.3.2 Africa and Europe : Early Contacts

African contacts with Europe were made on its west coast during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. Countries like Holland, Spain and Portugal which had became strong
navel1 powers launched big missions for discovering sea routes to the near and far eastern
part!; of the world. As we know through our own history, these missions were launched
for eventual control of the riches of India and China about which they had heard stories
from European and Arab travellers. Believing the earth to be round, such naval missions
wen: launched in opposite directions in the Atlantic ocean. One of these was to go along
the west coast of Africa, go rourid what is now known as the Cape of Good Hope and
come out in the Indian ocean on the eastern side. We also know that it was on one such
misc,ion that Vasco Da Gama had reached Calicut on the Southern coast of India.
Since the primary aim of these missions was to reach the near and far east, no attempts
were made to occupy African territories en route, except some small strips of land were
occripied on the coast to set up military garrisons. These were meant to provide
repl'enishment of supplies to the ships, provide recuperation facilities to the sailors and
also ensure safe passage. Once again, the activities of these Europeans, like those of the
Arabs on the east coast, were confined to areas close to the ocean and no major attempts
wen: made to strike inland and-occupy territories in the heart of the African continent. .
20.3.3 ~frica'andthe Slave Trade
However, things changed dramatically for Africa because of something which happened
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thorisands of miles away. At the other end of the Atlantic ocean Columbus discovered
America. It was decided to anaex the vast virgin lands from the American natives and
dev~dopthem for large-scale economic gains. This, however, needed a very large input of
labour . It was then decided by the kings of Spain, Portugal, etc. to take away, by force,
people from Africa and use them for developing American lands. Thus began one of the
darkest phases in the history of not only Africa but the whole of humanity. Millions of
black African were forcibly captured by Arabs, Spaniards,the British, the French and the
Poniuguese and sold as slaves to be taken away to America. Millions more died either
rwsting capture or braving extremely inhuman conditions of shipment.

20.3.4 Africa and European colonial powers I I

Africa therefore suffered a collosal decimation of its population. This in turn led to
weakening their resistance further, particularly when greedy traders, adventurers and
relicious missionaries swarmed the continent during the 18th and 19th centuries. Their
i stories of rich mineral wealth, huge hoards of game and miles of virgin fertile land
whetted the commercial appetites of their mother governments back home. These also
included the English and the French who had, in the meantime, supplanted the Spanish,
the Dutch and the Portuguese as superior naval powers. The alibi of stopping the
inhuman slave-trade came in handy for making their entry into the continent. Rival
political claims were maiie on various African territories by the English, the French, the
Gelmans, the Dutch, the Portuguese and many other European powers. The French
claimed northern parts of Africa, as also temtories in equatorial and west Africa. The
British preferred claims to parts of east, west and south Africa, while the Dutch confined
Things Fall Apad themselves to the south only. The Gennans claimed parts of east and south Africa while
the Belgians rushed to the south west parts of the Continent. This led to, at times,
military clashes between these powers. For instance, the Dutch and the British fought a
war for supremacy over Southern Africa. During all this time, none of these powers cared
at all about the original inhabitants of the continent, namely the black Africans who were
pushed out of these territories with the help df suprrior gun-power. The discovery of
diamond and gold in the last quarter of the 19th century in South Africa accelerated the
pace of such interventions. In fact the scramble for Africa began in right earnest after
these discoveries were made.

Exercise I
Answer the following questions briefly on the basis of what you have read in the
preceding sections df this unit.

1) Why is Africa referred to as 'the dark continent'?

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2) What was the reason given by Europeans for 'entering Africa?

3) Was ancient Africa '~rimitive'? If not, what were the various centres of civilization
in ancient Africa?

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4) In what way did the discovery of America affect the fate of Africa?

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Africa :A brief historical survey
210.4 AFRICA UNDER COLONIALISM
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20.4.1 Division of Africa

A:s stated in the previous Section many European countries came to clash with one another
during their scramble to grab as much African temtory as possible. In order to put an end
to this, a conference of the various contending powers was held in Berlin in 1884-85
wlnere the continent of Africa was apportioned among them by earmarking the area of
influence of each one of thep. Once again, no attention was paid to the possible fate of
black Africans as a result of this act of the Europeans.

20.4.2 Africa : two models of colonialism

b l c e the division had taken place, two kinds of models were practised for exploiting these
telritories. One was to take over the administration of these areas in the name of the
mother country and govern through'a colonial administration. The other was to invite
people from abroad, primarily from the mother country to come and settle there. As an
in1;entive they were promised land for cultivation or for mining either free or for a very
ncminal sum of money. France, for instance, followed the first model in temtories like
Senegal and the British followed the latter model in Kenya, Rhodesia and South Africa.

20.4.3 Africa and foreign settlers

The induction of foreign settlers created quite a [Link] in countries where
th~smodel was followed. For skilled labour work they could not rely on the native
Aliicans and so they imported indentured labour from another colony of theirs. In
Kenya, for example, such labour was imported from tl~eIndian sub-continent for
constructing the railways. The Africans were, however, used for working on the farms or
in the mines. But, first they were ousted from the areas which were most fertile or
minerally rich and forcibly taken away to far flung semi-arid areas called 'reserves' or
'lccations' where they were herded together in the most inhuman conditions. Blatantly
dir;criminatoxy laws were passed to legalise such forcible removal of the Black Africans.
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In Kenya, for instance, the Gikuyu tribe was removed from the most fertile area called the
Rift valley region and their land was 'appropriated' to the crown of England. They were
removed from these areas where they had lived for thousands of years and taken away to
arid areas up north. Since the Gikuyu are primarily agriculturists, their social
orl:anisation was completely disrupted. Similarly, the Masai tribe, who are primarily
caltle breeders were also removed from Masailand which was full of green pastures.
Other tribes which suffered as a result of this policy in Kenya were the Kamba and tl~e
Nandi tribes. In South Africa, the Native Areas Act of 1913, disallowed the Xhosa, the
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Zulu and scores of other tribes from land rights anywhere in tl~ecou~~try, leading to
unprecedented misery for the black South-Africanswho at times had no land - literally -
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I even to bury their dead.
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40i4.4 Black Africans as bonded labour
However, the settlers needed large inputs of labour to work an their farms. Therefore,
they pressurised their respective colonial administrations to force the Africans out of the
'reserves' or 'locations' and to work for them. As a result, the colonial administrations
passed laws, levying all kinds of taxes on the black people of Africa for which they had to
earn money and this money could be earned only by working for white settlers. .
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Moreover, since such supply of labour had to be coi~tinuousand for a long period of time,
adtlitional primitive laws were enacted whereby monetary fines could be imposed on them
on the most flimsy grounds and the Africans would have to earn their living by working on
the farm or the mine. As if that were not enough, carrying an identity card and a
certificate about the status of hisfher employment duly signed by the employer was made
cornpulsoxy for every black African. Since in most cases such certificates were not issued
by the employers, most Africans were forced to stay on the farms and work, salary or no
saliuy. In case they were found without such certificates, they were arrested on charges
of iunning away illegally from employment. This was in effect nothing but bonded
labt~ur.
Things Fall Aparl 20.4.5 Disruption of social life
Long absences away from the family also caused complete disruption of family life in
which each member had a certain role - social as well as economic - cut out for him or
her. Women were forced to work on the family fields in place of their men as also able-
bodied male members of the clan were forced to become wage-earners on farms or in
factories and mines instead of remaining farmers or cattle-breeders. The orientation of
the entire socio-economic organisation of such societies which was subsistence-oriented,
with barter as the major form of trade, was now changed into market economy with
money becoming the basis of trade. In the course of time women too were made victims
of the disruption of their system of social organisation when they too had to look for jobs.

20.4.6 Colonising the African Mind

The colonising forces of Europe were well aware that their hold cm the people of the
continent would not be complete without a hold over their minds. A slave can remain a
slave perpetually only when hisher mind is enslaved, only when s h e acquires the
mentality of a slave. In order to achieve this objective the colonising countries of Europe
introduced into the African territories under their control, their own religion, their own
cultural traditions, their own language, and above all their own system of education.
Christianity replaced the African's own religious practices which were generally called
animism and condemned by the Europeans as barbaric, inferior forms of religion which
could not save the souls of the people. All rituals, social customs and various kinds of
ceremonies were similarly labelled as 'savage' and most of them were disallowed. The
practice of polygamy, that is having more than one legal wife which was a common
practice among Africans, was disallowed by condemning it as inhuman. Similarly,
circumcision of girls which was a kind of initiation ceremony for girls at the onset of
puberty, was condemned as savagery and was disallowed. In certain communities, the
performance of certain types of dances and singing of certain kinds of songs was
condemned as obscene and uncivilized and therefore banned.

20.4.7 European languages and European Systems of Education in

Africa
Finally, the western system of education was introduced in place of the native system of
education which was quite different from the European system of institutions. A policy
of carrot and stick was used for popularising the western systems of education. That is to
say, those with such education were preferred for petty jobs. Once it had been impressed
upon the Africans's minds that western religion and the western system of education were
better, those practising African social customs like polygamy and circumcision of girls
were denied access to either church or school. Above all, Africans were disallowed from
speaking their own mother tongues in school situations and they were forced to speak the
languages gf their colonial masters, namely English, French or Portuguese, as the case
may be. In the case of the French, the use of French language was made compulsory for
pupils even outside the school situations and the black African students were encouraged
to complain against one another for disobeying this rule. Thus the cultural imperialism,
as this imposition of foreign Europeaa culture has been called, was enforced on the black
Africw with the intention of controlling their minds and perpetuating the colonial rule of
their territories. Such t u ~imposition resulted successfully in filling the minds of most
Africans with an extreme form of inferiority complex about everything which was
African. It, created the myth of the white man's superiority and invincibility in the minds
of most Africans thereby making them sceptical about their being capable of managing
their own affairs ever. Colonialism to them appeared to be their only salvation. The
African's misery under colonialism was thus complete and there seemed to be no way out
of it. Such was the situation of most African colonies towards the end of the twenties and
early thirties of the twentieth century. Their economic and political exploitation at the -
hands of the European powers was at their worst.
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1 201.5 DECOLONISING AFRICA ,
AMca :A bdel historid survey

28.5.1 Early Resistance against colonial Rule

Historical records bear testimony to' the fact that Africans began resisting foreign attempts
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to occupy heir lands as soon as such attempts were made. For instance, the Xhosa, the
Zulu and the Shona iq Southern Africa and the Mazrui in eastern Africa led to violent
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resistance against the European powers. However, as stated earlier, these attempts failed
primarily because of the miIitary and technological superiority of the Europeans.
91thoughsuch resistance was never given up completely, it definitely received serious
1 setbacks as the grip of the colonising powers tightened over the various African temtories.
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20.5.2 Africans and the Second World War

In the twenties and the thirties as the atrocities on the Africans increased, such resistance
began to gain strength. In the meantime great political upheavals were taking pla& in
Europe and towards the end of the thirties - in 1939 to be precise - Europe plunged into a
war of unprecedented intensity. Hitlerhtogether with Italy and some other friendly nations
after overrunning neighbouring countries had declared war on ~ ~ t aand i n France. Africa
was once again drawn into the Second World War as Britain and France began to draw
upon the Africans's resources - human as well as material - to support its war efforts.
Afiicans were recruited in large nliplbers as combatants to fight in Europe, the near east ' .
ancl the far east to fight on behalf of their colonial masters. Thus a lull occurred in the
sm~gglesby the Africans against their respective colonial regimes.

:I 20.5.3 Struggles for Freedom

Tht: end of the Second World War saw an unprecedented increase in the misery of the
Africans. Large scale demobilisation of Africans from the colonial armed forces led to
large scale unemployment which was already rampant due to post-war recession in the
world economy. As the war-ravaged European nations began to reconstruct their
economies at the expense of their colonies by increasing the imports of food and
agricultural products, the misery of Africans increased manifold due to scarcity of food
I itenns and steep price-rise. This fuelled further the simmering discontent among the
people and the struggles by Africans now broke into full-fledged freedom struggles.

20.5.4. Asia and African Struggles for Independence

African combatants who had fought together with the soldiers from the colonising
countries in various theatres of war brought back the impressions that their white masters
were not invincible. Moreover, they had also seen for themselves similar struggles for
national independence being waged in other parts of the world, particularly Asia. The
suuxss of the Indian struggle for independence soon after the end of the Second World
War inspired similar struggles in Africa. As it is, the weakened European nations were
finding it difficult to run the administration of the colonies. Intenstifid struggles
com~poundedtheir problems furtber and put additional financial burdens on their fragile
eco~~omies

1 20.S.5 Colonial responses to Africal struggles for Independence

The,= intensified struggles for independence in various parts of Africa immediately after
/ the :Second World War elicited two kinds of response from the colonial administrations.
' One, the administrationscracked down on such movements resulting in such struggles
becoming not only long and drawn out but also more violent and bloody. This, for
instance, was the case with Kenya, Zimbabwe, Algeria and Congo. Two, the
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administrations, seeing the writing or, the wall, initiated talks with the leaders of the
movements leading to their freedom with relative case. This, for instance, was the case
with Ghana and Nigeria. The process of decolonisation of Africa began with the
I independence of Ghana in 1956. Smn more African countries became free. The sixties
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cam,: to be known as the decade of decolonisation of Africa and by the early seventies
mosl. of Africa was free with the exception of Southern Africa. However, soon the people

I of Africa had to wage other struggles, this time against their govemments which denied
Things Foll Apart them basic democratic rights and failed to provide them with the basic necessities of life .-
like employment, food and shelter.

Exercise II

1. What were the two different ways in which Africa was colonised?

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2. What were the two ways in which the colonial powers responded to the freedom
struggle launched by Africans in vaxious countries?

20.6 LET US S U M UP
Contrary to the propaganda by Europeans, ancient Africa was a very vibrant society. It
boasted of significant developments in the fields of socio-political organisation as well ad
culture. In fact, ancient Egyptian civilization was the gift of Africa to the world.
However, African civilization fell into a decline around the beginning of the Christian e d .
Building on its achievements, Europe progressed to a scientific and t;chnologically
 supetior society. As a result, most parts of Africa were colonised by a number of AMca :A brlef historknl survey
European powers between the 16th and 19th centuries and exploited for the economic
development of Europe. The Europeans also tried to dominate the u~indsof Africans by
imposing their own religion, their language, their systems of education and their culture.
At ere same time they filled the Africans's mind with an inferiority complex by
cond~ernningthe Africans's religious and cultural practices as savage and barbaric. The
real aim behind all this was to hold on to Africa forever and exploit it perpetually.
This exploitation was resisted by the Africans right from the beginning but organised
resistance was offered after the Second World War. Such struggles soon became the
stru~glesfor national independence. In the early sixties a number of African nations
gained independence and by the end of the seventies most of AErica with the exception of
Southern Africa was free. However, the African people Bad to once again wage struggles
against their own governments for democratic rights and the basic needs of life.
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20.7
- GLOSSARY
arc heological pertaining to the study of ancient things, espcially remains of
prehistoric times eg. tombs, buried cities.
an~thro~o\o~icalpertaining to the science of man, especially the beginnings,
development, customs and beliefs of mankind.
by pothesis idea or suggesuon put forward as a starting point for reasoning or
explanation.
replenishment fill up again
recuperation becoming strong again
dtrimation * kill or destroy one-tenth or a larger part of
apportioned divided, distributed
in denture agreement binding an apprentice to his master
- demobilization release from military service
rcxession slackening of business or industrial activity.
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-2,0.8 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES

ICxercise I

I ) Africa is referred to as the dark continent because its people are consigered to be
primitive and uncivilized. Secondly, its socio-cultural activities were considered to
be related to irrationality and magic by early Europeans. Finally, its inhabitants have
dark skins. Refer to section 20.1 in this unit.

'2) Tbey 'entered' Africa on the pretext or excuse of 'civilising' its people. The real
reason, of course, was the economic exploitation of its human and material resources.

3) No. Conuary to the false stories spread deliberate1y.b~the Europeans, Africa is

neither primitive nor savage. It had built not only the ancient Egyptian civilisation
but also many other well-known centres of such development. The empires of
Ghana, Mali, Ife and Zimbabwe are some of these. Refer to sections 20.2.1 and
20.2.2.

4) After ~merica'wasdiscovered by Europeans, Africans were taken there by millions as

slaves for developing those virgin territories for economic exploitation by Europeans.
This led to not only a very inhuman treatment of Africans but also the depopulation of
the African continent which made its subsequent conquest by Europeans easier.

13
Things Fall Apart Exercise II

1) The two distinct models of colonisation of Africa were one, by settling Europeans in
the occupied temtories as was done in the case of Kenya, Rhodesia and South Africa
and two, by administering the temtories directly in the name of the mother country as
was the case with Nigeria and Senegal.

2) In some Counuies the colonial powers initiated negotiations for handing over power to
the Africans as was done in the case of Ghana and Nigeria while in the case of some
others the administrations cracked down on the freedom movements.

14
 I UNIT 21 : THE AFRICAN NOVEL IN *a

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ENGLISH :AN INTRODUCTION

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Structure
21.0 Objectives
21 1 Introductioi~

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21 2 African Writings : the Beginnings
21.3 African Novel in English: in various regions
1 21.4 Let Us Sum Up
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2 1.5 Suggested Reading

.I 21.6 Answers to Exercises

21.0 OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of this unit is to survey briefly the tradition of creative writing in
different regions of Africa since the pre-colonial era. While we would like to examine
the nature and forms of literature composed before the arrival of Europeans, our primary
focus would be on the development of the novel as a form of literature in Africa. This
uill help us place Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart in a proper literary perspective and
it will also help us in evaluating it in relation to other si~nilartexts.
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2,l.l INTRODUCTION
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l'o state 'hat there was no literature in various parts of Africa before the advent of

i l:uropeans is as false as the statement that Africa had no history aid no past before the
amval of the Europeans. And yet both these statements have been made by many
responsible European scholars and unfortunately many Europeans have believed them to
be m e as well.
'The misconception about the lack of any literary achievements on the part of Africa could
have arisen because of the fact that a large number of African languages lacked the
, lradition of a script or a writing system. In fact out of sevcn hundred odd languages
:;poken in Africa, there are no more than forty-four which have been used for written
literary expression. The literate western societies equated literature with literacy and the
,lbsenceof literacy in a number of African societies was interpreted as their having no
Literary padiqon at all.
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It is said that story-telling is as old as man himself. If this is true, story-telling must also
have originated in Africa because, as stated in Unit 20, the origin of man can be traced to
Africa. In the following sections, we shall look at the content and form of literary efforts
in different parts of Africa through the ages.

21.2.1 The Beginnings : Oral literature

Telling stories and singing songs are amongst the oldest fonns of literary activity and have
existed in human societies since most primitive times. This is true of not only Africa but
of centres of human development in other parts of the world as well. Accumulated over a
period of time these songs and stories became a part of the cultural heritage of a particular
society. This body of literature which was oral had a 'functional' role to play and was
used on social occasions like birth, mlriarion. wedding and death 9ince most of s l ~ r h
1Z
Things Full Apart societies did not have a script or system of writing down their languages, such literature
was preserved and passed on to succeeding generations through professional singers or
narrators. In one part of Africa these were called griot and in another they were known as
babalawo.

21.2.2 Beginnings of written literature

Most of the written literary activity begall with the arrival of the Europeans, although
some African languages did have a tradition of written literature even before their coming
into contact with Europeans. It was missionaries who took the initiative in setting up the
fir~t'printin~ presses and undertook the translation of the Bible and other religious books.
It is not surprising that the first efforts were made in the southern regions of Africa
because, of the seven hundred odd major languages in Africa, only forty-nine have a
writing system and some literary output. Eighteen of these languages are from Southern
Africa alone. Hwever, other regions were not far behind in following this lead. We
detail below, region-wise, such initial efforts at creating written literature.

21.2.3 Southern Africa

European influence was the most pronounced in Southern Africa comprising of Sesotho,
Zimbabwe and South Africa. The first language to come under the European influence
was SesoUio whose first inajor writers were Segoete and Mangoela both of whom drew
heavily on folk literature and folk poetry. They, however, combined it w~thChristian ,

moral ideas. Rut the most prominent synthesis of Uiis tradition was Thomas Mfolo who
was also the greatest writer of this early period. In 1906, Mfolo wrote a novel whlch was
later translated as The Traveller to the East which is a kind of [Link] about
Fekisi who seeks the Christian ideal giving up his tribal way of life. However, Mfolo's
most famous work is Chaka which was published in 1925 and translated in 1931. It is the
story of the great warrior king Chaka and his tragic life. Sol T. Plaatje is another major
writer wtiose books Native Life in Soulh Africa and Mhudi were well-received.
Xhosa was the next language to come under European influence and its pioneer writers
were Tiyo Soga and William Gqaba who were also iilflue~lcedby the Bible and John
Bunyan's The Pilgrjm's Progress. However, h e most important Xhosa writer of the
period was S.E.K. Mqhayi who tried to assert the independence of the artist from the
patronage of Christian religious bodies. Other prominent Xllosa writers include L.
Kakaza, J.R. Jalobe and D.D. T. Jabavu.
More literary efforts were visible in Southern African lnnguages such as Shona and
Ndebele of what is now called Zimbabwe. Its most important writers of the initial phase
were Mutswairof and Chivaura. The last to be drawn to the tradition was tlie Zulu
language. In tlle poems of B.W. Vilakazi, who is its most protninerlt writer, can be .
discerned anger and protest against tlle European settlers's exploit?tion of the Africans.
Other well-known Zulu writers include J.L Dube, and R.R.R. Duloma.

21.2.4 Western Africa

In western Africa, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa languages from Nigeria and Twi , Ewe and
Fanti languages from Ghana came under the influence of foreign missionaries around the
middle of the 19th century and a of written literary efforts was under way by the
beginning of the twentieth century. Is'aac Thomas is the first Yomba writer and his book
The Autobrogruphy [Link] is centred around life in Lagos. The book is an
interesting blend of serious morality and hilarious comedy. However, a more important
Yoruba writer of this phase is D.D. Fagunwa who while mtending~tomoralise to his
readers under t l ~ einfluence of Christianity, also borrowed t~eavilyfrom the very rich
Yoruba tradition of folk tales and ~antasy His prominent books include The Bruve
Hunler in the Forest ofthe Four Hundred Gods and The Forests of Oldumare. OUler
well-known Yoruba writers are Isaac Ilelano and Adeboye Babalola.
Hausa language which is spoken in the northern parts of Nigeria, came under the influence
of Arabic language around tlie eighth century but written literature in Hausa appeared,only
m the seventeenth century. Early literature was in praise of Islam and prominent I-Iausa
poets were Tahir Ihrahim and Shahu IJsman Ilan Fodio
 Ibo was the last major Nigerian language to be drawn into the orbit of written creative The African Novt!l in English :
An Introduction
literature and the first important Ibo writer was Pita Nwwa whose short novel Omenukn
was published in 1935. More than a hero quest story, Ornenukn examines conflicting
loyalties and the psychology of crime. In many ways. Nwana's book resembles Bunyan's
.b-
Pilgrim's Progress. L.B. Cram is another early Tbo writer whose novels were drawn after
Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. Another important Ibo writer of the early phase
is D.N. Achara whose novel Ala Bingo is an allegory.
The written literature in Ghana has been within the oral tradition, borrowing heavily from
the art of speaking and singing. This is obviously evident in the poems of J.J. Adaye and
Ephrairn Amu. The same strain is visiblein the writings of Fanti writer R. Gaddiel
Acquaah whose Oguaa Aban describes the wanderings of the Fanti, their contacts with
other uibes, the Ashanti war and the coming of the Christian missionaries. Otl~er
prominent Fanti writer is Joseph Crlartey. Ewe, the third major language from Ghana
showed a strain of pervasive sadness in its early poetry as can be seen in the works of
Kofu Hoh and Kofi Awonoor.

21.2.5 Eastern Africa

Written literature in eastern Africa has existed since the eighteenth century when verses
were composed in Swahili language, a language spoken in the coastal regions of Uganda,
Kenya and Tanzania. The Swahili language, which developed as a result of trade
cont?cts between the Arabs and the coastal people of east Africa, has verses which are
sung or recited on public occasions and are called mashairi which is the same as the
tradition of mushaira in Urdu in our own country. Early Swahili poetry has a strong
element of Islam and its most prominent writers were Muyka bin Haji and Mwana
Kupona.
I
Literature in other east African languages begins with Gikuyu writer John Mbiti whose
I
i book Mutunga and His Story appeared as late as 1954. Of the Ugandans, Timothy
Bazaarabusa writing in Runyoro is the most important writer whose well~knowubooks
include I will Never Die,At the point of Death and Kalyaki and Marunga, In the Luganda,
language, the poems of Y.B. Labu~nbulacaught the attention of the people quite early
because of his successful inclusion of the narrative tale into his verse. Kintu is an
important example of this.

21.2.6 Central Africa

In Malawi in central Africa, literary attempts were nude in Nyanja language only in the
early fifties and S.A. Paliani and Samuel Ntara are important writers. Once'again, the
influence of Christian morality is quite evident in the writings of these two. Jacob Zulu's
I stories also touch on moral issues in a quite superficial manner.

21.2.7 Conclusion
In coilclusion we would like to observe that most of the literary efforts in African
languages were made prinlarily in British colonies and hardly any worthwhile efforts in
this direction were made in either French or Portuguese colonies. The reasons for Ulis are
not difficult to seek. Encouraging Africans to develop their own languages and literatures
was contrary to the French and Portuguese policies of assimilation which had the aims of
absorbing the Afiicans completely into the culture of the colonis~ngnations, namely
French and Portuguese cultures respectively. They encouraged the Africans to learn
French and Portuguese respectively and write in them. In the course of time, African
writings appeared in not only these two languages but also in English which we examine '
in tlle next sectic~n,with special reference to the novel in English since that will help us
place Chinua Achebe's Things Fcrll Apart in the proper context of the African novel in
English.
Things Fall Apart
21.3 AFRICAN NOVEL IN ENGLISH :
THE BEGINNINGS

As we have seen in the earlier sectioi;, the carlrest literary forms-in which the .\fricans
expressed themselves were stories, play, and poems. There were two basic reasons for
these : one, all the three genres. that i>pcews, plays and stories, suited the oral form cf
literature since it is easier to memonse them ?,ld two, once again these three could be
easily associated with the community-orieoted ssprcts of life. That is to say, they could
be recited, acted or narrated on specific social occ;sions.
However, with the coming of Europeans and their syqti:m of education, everything in
African societies including the socio-economic as well as cultural kpects of their lives
was completely disrupted. Urbanisation, shift to a market oriented economy and
emphasis on literacy led to the emergence of a new genre of literature which was alien to
African soil. This new genre was called the novel. LJnlike story-telling, verse-reciting or
play-acting, novel-reading cannot be associated with any community-oriented activay
since it is not possible to narrate it, or act it or to recite it. The novel as a literary form is
a typical product of a society in which the emphasis is not on community-oriented cultural
activities but on those activities which can be enjoyed by an individual in isolatioil within
the four-walls of hidher room.
As we have seen in the earlier section, some of the attempts made in creating written
literature in African languages was also in the direction of writing novels. For instance,
Thomas Mfola's The Traveller to the East, Pitsang and Chaka and Plaatje's Mhudi could
be called novels. Similarly, the writings of Fagunwa also fall into the category of novels.
So are the writings of those from east African territories, After these attempts had been
made in African languages, it was only natural that soon some Africans would attempt to
use this newly acquired literary genre of the novel - writing for expressing themselves in
the languages of their colonial master.
Unlike the fiction in 'African languages which originated in southern Africa, the
beginnings in African fiction in English were made in Western Africa. Two novelists
from Ghana - E. Casely Hayford and R.E. Obeng - were pioneers in this regard. In 191 1,
Casely Hayford had published a narrative called Ethiopia Unbound which is an amalgam
of documeiltatio~~ and fantasy. Events in the life of Kwamankra, the hero, take him to
London, W. Africa and even to the underworld. Education, Christianity, colonialism and
of course love are the focal points of tlle book into which Fanti beliefs and customs have
been blended be'autifully.
R.E. Obeng's Eighteenpence is in many ways similar to Casely-Hayford's Ethiopia
Unbound, particularly in its moral preachings and detailed documentatio~~ which in this
case is UI legal system of Ghana. Eighteenpence is written as an allegory in which ,
2
Akrofi, e'principal character, borrows eighteenpence for buying a cutlass - a kind of
sword - io lieu of which he agrees to work free for his creditor, farmer Owusu. Owusu's
wife accuses Akrofi of attempting to rape her and thereafter begin a serieg of legal,
wrangles. Like Ethiopia Unbound, ~ i ~ h t e e n p e n too
c e shows the influence of the-Bible
not only in terms of a moral message but also in terms of language and style. However,
unlike Casely Hayford's book, Obeng's Eighteenpence shows signs of humour too

21.3.2 Beginnings in Nigeria

Amos Tutuola's Palm-Wine Drinkard published in 1952, is the first major attempt by a
Nigerian to write a novel in English and it was an instant success, primarily due to its
unusual and largely ungrammatical use of English. Critics saw in it, the birth of a new
variety of English. However, they were not sure if Tutuola's subsequent writings in the
same style would be as successful. However, Tutuola repeated his success many times to
show that there was more to his writings than just 'wrong English'. In fact, Tutuola had,
like D.D. Fagunwa before him, blended reality with fantasy. He had also drawn heavily
from Yoruba folklore material, trai~sfonningits myths to their modem vf rsions. It is in
this new use of Yoruba folklore that the intrinsic significance of Pnlrn- Wine Drinkard lies.
Tutuola was well-received internationally and his writings were translated into inany
languages of Europe.
 Other major Nigerian novelists include Cyprian Ekwensi, T.M. Aluko, Gabriel Okara, The African Novel in Engli ih :
An Introduclion
Wole Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa. Ben Okri and of course Chinua Achebe, -

whose works we shall discuss in subsequent Units.

21.3.3 East Central and South African novelists in English

Writers in English from East, Central and South Africa, unlike their counterparts in West
Africa, were considered rebels and the element of rebellion against the colonial authority
in their writings was due to the additional presence of the settler population in these
regions. As we have seen in the first Unit of this Block, settlers added to the problems of
Africans suffering under colonial administrations. This led to a kind of writing in west
Africa where, as we have seen above, a lot of emphasis was laid on documentation. In
East, Cenual and South African novels we find writers condemning the European's
superiority complex, particularly in the fields of art, culture and education.

21.3.4 East African novel

Ngugi wa 'Thiong'o from Kenya is the most important novelist from this region whose first
novel Weep Not Child was published in 1964. It is the story of the break up of a Gikuyu
family in the background of the Mau Mau struggle for independence. Through the
characte; of Njorage, Ngugi explores the relevance of the western system of education.
His next novel The River Between highlights the conflict between the two cultures - the
Gikuyu and the European through their attitude towards the African custom of
circr~mcisingfemale children at the age of puberty.
Ono: again, Ngugi explores the relative merit of the African system of education and
African socio-religious practices vis-a-vis the European systems of education and
Christianity. He links this up with their impact on the Kenyan freedom struggle, lending
a distinct political flavour to his novel.
Ngugi continued to explore the same theme of confrontation between the two cultures and
its impact on various classes of Kenyan society in his subsequent novels - A Grain of
Wheat, Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross and Matigari - giving him the status of not ,
only the foremost political novelist of this part of Africa but of Africa as a whole., Ngugi
wa 'hiong'o has been greatly influenced, particularly in his early phase, by the wQtings of
I Chtlua Achebe, i

* t
0th1:r East African r~ovelistsof significance include Leonard Kibera, Charles Maugua
Meja Mwangi, Stephen Ngubiah, Grace Ogot and Okello Oculi. i. '

Prominent Central African novelists include Legson Kayira whose novels The
I
I
Loomingshadow and Jingala explore the same themes of conflit betwen the two cultures.
particularly the tradition of Africa and the modernity of Europe.. Another important
novelist is Khadambi Asalache whose A Calabash-of LiJe is more in the style of a praise
poem.
Major South African writers include ~ o b eprize
l winning Nadine Gordimer, Alex La
Gurna, Peter AbraAams, and Ezekiel Mphalele. The most important single factor
affecting all South African writers including the novelists is the obnoxious policy of
apanheid pursued by the racist South African government. While this policy of apartheid
affected their day-to-day lives, each of these novelists also felt handicapped in discharging
her or his duties as a writer. Nadine Gordimer, for instance, talks of 'unscalable limits' in
understanding the black South Africans because being a white she lives on the other side
of tlhe colour barrier . Similarly, Alex La Guma, another outstanding novelist is pushed
into the slot of a coloured novelist because his themes are primarily centred around the
prol>lemsof coloured people in a society which is divided threeways into whites, blacks
and the people of Asian origin. Also because of severe repression on the people in
general and writers and artists in particular, a number of South African novelists had been
forced to leave the country and go into exile. Alex La Guma and Bessie Head are the
mo!;t promfnent examples while Nadine Gordimer is the only exception. Their early
wriltings were naturally full of the themes of protest against this segregation on the basis of
the colour of one's skin.
Hol~ever,a number of these South African novelists have made a deliberate effort to rise
'I'hings Fall Apart all South Africans. Writers like Alex La Gumn, Nadine Gordi~nerand Alan Paton have
succeeded in doing so and are therefore no more sectarian writers representing their own
racial constituency. Nadine Gordimer's Jrrly's People and My Son's S t o y , for example,
are centred around black and coloured principal characters respectively. These writers
can now even sntirise or criticise aspects of the lives of black South Africans withdut
running the danger of being dubbed as racists. Peter Abrahams, Alex La Guma and
Nadine Gordi~r~er do it ever so often.
L)ominic Muliiisho is perliaps the only novelist worth mentioning from Zambia and his
novtl The Tongr~eofthe Dr~tnh(1971) is an impressive novel depicting the power struggle
in an African village.
West African liovels are centred primarily around the claii or the tribe because tliere were
no white seltlers to mrrke life miserable for them . In the case of the east, central or
southern Africa, on tlle otlier hand, since a large number of white settlers liad made their
homes there the struggles for freedom were bitter and violent. which is amply reflected in
heir novels.
Attenipts have been made to divide the African novel into five types based on the themes
of the novels. It is, therefore, no clearcut division and there are overlaps. Tlieir order is
tlle chronological order in which African fiction is considered to have evolved'over the
years. These five types are :

1) Novels which portray the intial exposure to the West and the confrontation with
Cliristianity. Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ngugi's The River Between represent
this type. Since these novels also describe in detail the social aspects of the life of
their people, customs, rituals and kinship, they have also been called anthropo1ogic;ll
or sociological novels.

2) The second category of novels consists of probems relating to the adoption of tlie
westeni system of education. Weep Not Child by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Atnbigrror~s
Adventrtrer by Cheikh H'midou Kane fall ucder this category.

3) The third type of novels are those that portrary problems relating to the process of
urbanisation or the development of a city culture. Jagr~aNand by Cyprsaii Ekwensi is
an important cx:unple of a novel of this type.

4) The fifth and tlic last category coiisists of novels dealing with more individual life
styles. Armall's Frtlgments and Mphalele's The Wanderers fall in this category
 .................................................................................................................................... The Afrlcnn Nnvel in English :
An Introduction

if 3) What were the reasons far the beginnings of written literature in African in its
soulhem region?
Things Fall Apari
-
21.4 LET US SUM UP

Most literature in Africa before the arrival oflhe Europeans existed in oral form while in
some languages, parlicularly in southern Africa there did exist a tradition of writing. ,
Most of the literary activities in Africa were confined to the genres of poetry, drama and
stories since these suited the oral form of literature better. Novel as a genre of literature
is alien to Africa.
Most literary writings in Africa in the written form began after the European colonial
powers had introduced their own systems of education and their own religion -
Christianity - on the continent. The influence of the Bible is quite pronounced on these
early writings.
African novel writing in English is a direct result of the process of urbanisation,
introduction of market economy and the emphasis on literacy. The initiative in writing
-
novels in English came from the Western parts of Africa Ghana and Nigeria. South
Africa was perhaps the last to draw Africans to writing novels in English primarily due to
the government's policy of denying the Africans access to European languages.
The tradition of African novel writing can be divided into five major groups based on the
manner in which various themes have been treated in these books.

21.5 SUGGESTED READING 1

Larson, Charles. R. The Emergence of African Fiction-(The Macmilan Press Ltd,
London), 1978
Palmer, Eustace, An Introduction to the African ~ o v e l(Heinemann,
' London), 1972
Wright. Edgar, The Critical Evaluation of African Literature(ZIeinemann, London),
1973.
I
21.6 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES
1) Literary efforts ~trmostparts of Africa before the arrival of the Europeans were oral
I
because only a-few languages of Africa had developed their own writing systems.
The most prevalent forms of literary creation were poetry, drama and stories because
these suited the oral tradition more.
2) These forms did not include the novel because most of the literary activities were
community and performance-oriented. For example, while poems could be read
aloud plays could be performed and stories narrated before a large audience. it was
not possible to do so in the case of novels which needed just a single individual in
isolated conditions of the fourwalls of a reader's room.
3) The beginnings of written literary efforts in Africa were mqde in its southern parts
because a number of languages spoken in these areas had already developed writing
systems that is to say diey had scripts for writing their languages.
4) Novel-writing developed as a direct result of the introduction of the European
education systems with more emphasis on literacy or written aspects of education.
Secondly, the introduction of market economy and the process of urbanisation
disrupted the community-orientedlife including the cultural life in which people
participated in groups rather than individually. Novel-reading is primarily an
individual activity.
5 ) The beginnings of novel-wnting in English wereflade in Ghana in West Africa and
its pioneers were Casely-IIayford and R.E. Obeng whose novel Ethiopia Unbound and
Eighteenpence respectively were the first efforts in this direction. Both of these
novels, as also many others later, were influenced by the Bible in both morals and
 UNIT 22 : LITERATURE AND SOCIETY
IN NIGERIA

II 22.0 Objectives

II 22.1

22.2
Introduction

Nigerian Society through the ages

I
I
22.3
22.4
Early Nigerian Writings
Nigerian Novel in English
22.5 Let Us Sum Up
22.6 Suggested Reading
22.7 Answers to Exercises

22.0 OBJECTIVES

I The twin objectives of this unit are to survey, briefly, the history and social organiqtion in
Nigeria through the ages as also to look at the tradition of writing in Nigeria including t l ~ e
tradition of writing novels. This will help us understand not only the Ibo society ;rn ,
Nigeria about which Chinua Achebe writes in his novels, including Things Fall ~ p a bqj h
-nwcilf also help us know more about other ethnic groups in Nigeria and the contributiori'
these groups have made to the development of Nigerian literary writings, particularly the
novel written in English.
I
I 4- *
22.1 INTRODUCTION k.
i
' a

The Federal Republic of Nigeria lies in the Gulf of Guinea on the West Coast of Africa,
that is to say on the Atlantic coast. In terms of population, Nigeria is the fourth largest
African country with the Hausa, the Fulani, the Yoruba and the Ibo as its principal ethnic
groups.
I Surrounded by two other famous seats of ancient civilizations, namely Ghana and Mali.
Nigeria has been one of the oldest seats of human habitation where human organisation
reached significant levels of social and technical development. Excavations at the Nok
village in the Province of Zaria have shown that the Nigerians made good pottery and used
baked clay for making figures of humans and animals. They also worked in iron and
bronze and the world famous 'The Bronzes' and 'Benin Heads' are Nigeria's gift to the
sculptural world of today.
Since most of the Nigerian languages which number about three hundred were without a
developed script, not much is known about the literary achievements of this ancient seat of
civilisation. However, a fair guess about its developed state can be made from the folk-
literature, sayings and proverbs as also the customs and rituals which survive even today.
Besides the various African languages, Nigeria today has two more languages in its
linguistic profile. These are English which is its official language and pidgin, which is a
fascinating blend of English and some of the African languages.
Things FaU Apart
22.2 NIGERIA: SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
THROUGH TfIE AGES C

22.2.1 North-West : The Hausa people

The Northen~part of Nigeria is very different from the south and the east and this
1
difference is not due to geography and climatic conditions alone. The people living in the
northern parts of Nigeria were called the Hausa people and were primarily farmers. They
were conquered by Ule Berber people from further north around the eighth century A.D.
As we have stated in the Unit 20, it was around this time that people from the Middle East
and northern Africa c'une into the continent, primarily with the aim of spreading Islam.
Another group of Berbers came to the area a little later and completed the task of
conqueringthe remaining smes of northern Nigeria. Around A.D. 1000, these Berbers
even ventured to the south which is the land of the Yorubas and conquered part of it as
well. However, they could impose on the Yoruba people neither their language nor their
religion.
In the early parts of nineteenth century, the Hausa people in the north were overrun by the
Fulani who waged a holy war against them in the name of a purer and truer Islam under
the leadership of Usuman dan Fodio. The Fulani divided the area into small states called
'6mirates and ruled over them through emirs. These emirs also conquered Ilorin in the
south and began to trade in slaves towards the end of the nineteenth century, thereby
providing the British who were present on the west coast with an excuse to intervene. By
1903, the northern part of Nigeria had been brought under the British protectorate and was
ruled through the emirs without an interference in the social, cultural, religious and
educational affairs of the ~ a u s a ' ~ e o ~ 1 e .
=<

22.2.2 South-West: The Yorubas

The southern part of Nigeria was inhabited by the Yoruba people who were prim'arily
farmers by profession and pagan in terms of religion. As stated above, the Berbers had
conquered parts of their territory around the year 1000 A.D. but they had failed to impose
their religion or their language on the Yoruha people. Soon the Fulatli, who had overrun
the north also came down south and conquered Ilorin. They joined in thg slave-trade that
had been operating from the west coast by capturing the Yoruba and selling thetn to the
Europeans. Once again the British intervened and by 1861, the island state of Lagos had
been annexed. Instead of trading in slaves, they introduced trading in palm oil.. They,
however, were scared of malaria which was rampant in the region and bad therefore no
intention of setting up a permanent political structure. However, the presence of the
French [Link] Dutcl~in the vicinity forced them to conclude treaties with many local
chiefs and the Yoruba territory too had been annexed. The missionaries followed suit and
soon the "pagan" Yoruba had been converted into Christianity in very large numbers.

22.2.3 South East: The Ibo people

The east which was inhabited by the Ibo people has had a less advanced socio-political
organisation than the Ilausa and the Yoruba. Lesser material progress could be a possible
reason for this. In modern political jargon, Ibo socio-political organisation could be
described as coinprising 'village detnocracies' with the clan as the basic unit. Like the
Yoruba, the Ibos too were pagan in their religious beliefs. We can learn more about the
socio-cultural life of the Ibo people from our reading of Things Fall Apart which is a
novel based on the life of Ibos.

22.2.4 Nigeria : Independence and After

As stated in Unit 2 0 , the end of the Second World War saw the rise of nationalism in
various parts of Africa, including in Nigeria, primarily due to increased economic
hardships faced by the people in European colonies. Unetnployment was rampant and
inflation runaway. Three major political parties emerged on the political scene in
Nigeria. These were the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) backed by the

I
1bd people and led by the Hausa and the Fulani people and led by Abubaker Tafawa
Balewa and the Action Group backed by the Yoruba and led by Obafemi Awolowo.
 Internal autonomy was granted to the Eastern and Western Regions in 1957 and to the Liternturn and soclety In Nlgerla
Northern Region in 1959. A year later, that is 011 October 1, 1960, Nigeria attained
independence and Abubaker Tafawa Balewa became its first Prime Minister heading a
coalition government. However, internal struggle started soon after for the control of
power, since there were not only various ethnic groups but also there was a big difference
between the developed south and the underdeveloped north.
In 1966, the army intervened. Tafawa Balewa was killed and the power passed into the
hands of the army. Simultaneously, large scale killings of Ibo people at the hands of the
Hausa people started, leading to the declaration of independence by the Ibo people cdling
their eastern land Biafra. The civil war which ended only in 1970 claimed more than
150,000 lives. The Biafrm cause was lost. Nigerian economy boomed with the soaring
oil prices in the seventies and the early eighties but slumped later. Today Nigeria is back
in the hands of the armed forces.

1 22.3 EARLY NIGERIAN WRITINGS

1 -
22.3:l The transformation from oral to written
As has been stated in Unit 21 and also elsewhere, literary efforts in various Nigerian
languages were oral because the languages lacked scripts or systems for writing them
down. The tradition of written literature begins in the middle of the nineteenth century
with the arrival of the missionaries who introduced the British system of education which
laid sufficient emphasis on learning with the help of books. The printing press was
introduced and translations of the Bible, other religious books as well as some creative
literature were introduced. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress was a favourite prescribed text.
The only exception to this paradigm was the northern region where Arabic had been
introduced and some written literature in it had existed since the fourteenth century.
The introduction of tl~eBritish education system, Christianity, the market economy
together with the development of towns led to the complete disruption of the
homogeneous socio-cultural lives of Africans which favoured oral forms of literary
compositions-stories, plays and poems.

22.3.2 Early writings in Yoruba

Isaac Thomas's The Autobiography of Segilola: The Lady with the Delicate Eye-Balls was
perhaps the tirst attempt at imaginative writing in Yoruba. It was written in the form of
letters written by a prostitute to the editor of a newspaper, describing her plight in Lagos.
Later. the book was to inspire Cyprian Ekwensi to write about metropolitican life,
particularly of Lagos, in his novels of which Jagua Nana is the most well-known.
Ekwensi writes in English.
D.D. Fagunwa is the most important Yoruba writer whose blend of reality and fantasy in
The Brave Hrrnter in the Forest of the Four Hundred Gods and The Forests of Oldumare
are adventure stories with heavy doses of morality. Fagunwa has inspired a number of
writers to follow his style of mixing reality with fantasy. Among the better known of
such writers is Amos Tutuola whose novel The Palm Wine Drinkard has already been
referred to in Unit 21. Didacticism is a distinctive feature of Fagunwa's writings.

22.3.3. Written literature in Hausa

As stated in some parts of this very Unit, the Arabs had come to the land of the Hausa
people in northern Nigena around the eighth century. By the fourteenth century, Arabic
had establislled itself in the region and lcarned written texts had appeared on goven~ment
and religion. By the seventeenth century early attempts at creating literature in Arabic
were made and these were in the fonn of praise poems. Dan Marina, Muhammad b.
Muhammad and Usurnan Dan Fodio were pioneers in this respect. Among the prose
writers in Hausa, who came much later, are Muhammadu Dello and AbubaPter Bello. The
first Prime Minister of Nigeria Abubaker Tafawa Balewa was also a prominei~tHausa I
Things Fall Apart 22.3.4 Ibo literature
In 1935, Pita Nwana's short novelette Onrenuko was published after it had won a prize in a
literary competition and it became the first Jbo literary effort in writing. The story of a
slavetrader who after various adventures and misfortunes finally repents for his sins, it is
full of didacticis~n. Ttie book was to inspire Chinua Achebe to write about the life of tlle
Jbo people in Enghsh.
I,.R. Gnm's adventure story Odutnodu's Travels is modelled on Gulliver's Travels and has
allegorical implications. D.N. Acliara's Alu Bingo is an allegory too.

22.4 NIGERIAN
-
NOVEL IN ENGLISH a
'The nove1,as stated in lJnit 21, is a fonn alien to Africa, It is a literary import from
Europe. Ilowever, being a fonn which is a kind of hold-all, the novel is easily adaptable
and thus the Africans have adopted it to serve their artistic needs. Since the oral story was
the dominant form of literary expre,ssion in Africa, a number of Nigerian novelists have
very skilfully made use of h a t Ihm while writing novels. Take the case of [Link]
and Amos Tutuola. 130th of the111bind together, very skilfully, a number of short
narratives to create a longer tale. 111 Eict, no st Nigerian novelists in English. like their
counterparts writing in olhcr African regions, have continued to write short storics along
wid1 novels. Tile names of ~ h i n u ;'Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and Flora Nwapa spring to
one's mind immediate1y.
I,-

22.4.1 Amos Tutuola

Amos Tutuola, as we have stated earlier, is the first major Nigerian novelist in English
whose The Pr~ltn-wineDrinkarri published in 1952 sent European critics into raptures. ...
. While tliey praised it sky-lligli for its novel use of English, particularly his deliberate
ignoring of the regular structure of the 1ang~age~'Tutuola's fellow Nigerian writers were
cmb:urassed by his 'incorrect' usc of English.
However, Tutuola's novel wllicll is tlle story of &c adventures of a palm-wine addict in
search of his dead palm-wine tapper, is a serious attempt to fuse folklore with clodern life
and 'Tutuola succeeds fully in doing so. In fact, therein lies tlle instrinsic value and
strength of his book and not in his 'new' usc of English as had'been made out by his
European critics. Tutuola repeated his success in Mv Llte in the Rush of Ghosts, Sinlbl
und the Satyr oftke Dark J14ngle,TheBruve Africun Himtress, and Fer~tlzerWornun of the
Jungle.

22.4.2 Cyprian Ekwensi

Cyprian Ekwensi began as a writer of cheap, love stories meant primarily for titillaling the
young. Mflien Love U'llispers belongs to this phase. Ekwensi soon graduated to the realm
of scrlous llovelists and has spcci:tlised in exposing the seamy side of city life. People rf
tire Citv and Jagrdu lVnnc~.The 1)rutntner Roy :~ndAt1 A frrcun Night's Entertuinnlent all deal
w ~ t hthe theme of city life.

22.4.3 T.M. Aluko

'T.M. Aluko, unlike Chinua Achebe whose work we shall not discuss in this IJnit but in the
next IJnit, believes in debunking the tradition. Ile believes that all was not well with
many traditionit1 aspects of Nigerian life. One Man, One Wife and One Mcm. One
Mr~lclietare his well-known novels. To Alukc nothing is sacrosanct, nothing above
criticrsm and In a typ~cadstyle of African hrmiour. Aluko satirises the whole gnmut of
African traditlous and bel~efs. Kinstnen nnd fiirett~etzand Chief the Honoitrahle Minister
are his othcr novels.

22.4.4 Buchi Enlecheta and Flora Nwapa

Huchi F;mecheta and Flora Nwapa are among a host of women writers who have enriched I
I
the Nigerian novel in English by highlighl~ngthe problems of women both in pre-
26
 independence and post-independence Nigeria. 'They have also provided the negessary Litersture and society in Nigeria
women's to various aspects of Nigerian social, political and cultural life.
While Destintrtion Biafit1,Joys of Mofl~erhood,Bride Price and Second Class Citizen are
well-known works of Ruchi Emecheta who lives in London and publishes from there.
Efuru, Idu and'One is enough are well-known novels by Flora Nwapa.

: John Munyone's Only Son and Obi and Nkem Nwanko's Llanda are powerful statements
about the c l a ~ hbetween the two cultures - European and African. Ben Okri, who has
been awarded the Booker Prize for his Fcmished Road. uses the Yoruba myth of children
who are unwilling to be born to survey and critically evaluate the whole gamut of
contemporary Nigerian life and its history. Wole Soyi~~ka who won tlle Nobel prize for
literature a few yews ago and who is primarily a poet and a playwright, has also wduen a

Answer the following questions in your own words :

1) What are major ethnic groups in Nigeria and which parts of llle cou~ltrydo they

....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................

2) What kind of socio-polftical organisation did the Ibos have? How was it different
from the political organisation among the Eiausa and the Yoruba people? ,

.....................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................

3) What factors helped in the development of the written form of literature in Nigeria?

....................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

4) How is the novel as a literary form different from the other literary forms which were
prevalerlt in pre-European Africa?

...................................................................................................................................
Things Fnll Apart

5 ) Which,literary form from thc oral liternry tradition irzlped Nigerians in novel-writ~n?
and how?

- - - -

22.:. LET US SUM UP

Nigeria has been the seat of a famous ancient civilization. It is inhabited by f$ur
principal ethnic groups - the Hausa, the Fulani, the Yoruba and the Ibo. The Aausa and
the Fulani are primarily Muslim hy religious faith and live in die north while the Yoruha
and the Ibo are Christian or pagan by religious faith and live in the southenl ahd easteni
parts of Nigeria respectively.
Since the British missionaries first cmie to the south and tlle east and es~~blishedschools
there, the Yoruha and the Ibo concerned a greater share in development and occupied '
important posi,tions in the administration, leaving tlle Hausa and the Fulani far behind.
This led to inter-ethnic tensions in the post-independence era leading to a civil w'u - tlie
Biafran war - from 1967 to 1970 in which over 150,000 people lost their lives.
Early Nigerian writing showed tlle influence of Christianity. Although novel-writing was
foreign to African literary traditions, Nigerians have adapted themselves well to this new
form. Amos Tutuola, Chinua Achebe. Cyprian Ekwensi, T.M. Aluko, Ben Okri, Wole
Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta and Flora Nwapa are well-known Nigerian novelists.

22.6 SUGGESTED READING

Dathorne, O.R., African Literature in the Twentieth Centlip (Heinemann, London),

1976
Roscoe. Adrian Mother is Gold (C'unbridge IJniversity Press, Cambridge), 1971.

22.7 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES

I
1) ?he Hausa, tile Fulaii, the Yoruha and tlle Iho are the malor ethnic groups in Nigeria.
The Hausa and the Fulatii live in the north. tlle Yoruba in the south and the Ibo in the
east.
2) The socio-political organisation of the Ibos was village based and each unit was a
small autonomous village democracy. IJ~ilikethem, tlle Yoruhn. the Hausa and the
Fulani had much larger socio-political units with a strong central authority.

I
3) The written foml of literature developed primarily because ot the mtroduction of die
British education system in Nigeria. ('onversion to Clirist~anityand the introduction
of the printing press facilitated the change over froin oral to written fonn of literature
28
 The process of urhanisalion and the n~trtductionof a m'wket economy also pl:~yed Litemturn and wciel y in Yigeria
their role in it

4) Stories, poems arid plays were tlic prevalent Iiteriuy Sornis in pre-European Nigeria
and were all suited to the c o m m u r i t y - r i n d cul~r;llact~vitieswhich were prirnarlly
oral. Novel. on the other hand. IS more su~tahleto wrllieli fonn and does not need
group p'articipation.

5 ) Oral story is the form which lielped Nigeriiuis in taking to ~lovelwriting. Early
novels were a string of stories bound together skilfully. 'I'utuola and Fagunwa are
well known examples of these kinds of writings.
Unit 23 Chinua Achebe Life and Works -
Structure
23.0 Objectives
23.1 Introduction
The beginning: Ancestor worshipper
Later novels
Other Writings
Literature, Society and the Writer
Let us Sum up
Answers to Exercises

Chinua Aehebe

23.0 Objectives
The prim,uy objective of this Unit is to familarise you with major events in the life and the
literary career of Chinua Achebe. This will help us understand him better as a. writer
We shall also summarise briefly the themes of his writings which will help us in
understanding his development as a writer. Finally, we shall examine his views about
literature, society and the role of a writer as expressed in his book of essays called
Morning Yet On Creation Day.

23.1 Introduction

Chinua Achebe is the best known novelist not only from Nigena but from the entlre
continent of Africa. I-Ie is perhaps the first African writer whose books have been
prescribed as a part of the cumculum in Africa, although his earlier writings were
definitely aimed at foreign audiences in Europe and America. As the first black novelist
from Africa, not only has he got an appreciative global readership but also an acclaim
which is richly deserved. He is now not only one of the most widely translated novelists
in the world but is also one of the most universally respected ones too. For example.
Things Fall Apart is ,an important part of the heritage of world literature and is considered
a classic.
Achebe was born in Ogidi near Onitsha on the banks of river Niger in 1930. His father
was a missionary, one of the earliest Ibos to take to that profession. By the time Achebe
went to school major changes due to the intervention of colonialism had already taken
place and were a reality.
His school education was at Umuahia Govt. Secondary school. After having been selected
for medicine and after spending a year in that course, Achebe strayed back to University
College of badan to take a graduate degree in humanities. This brought him in close
contact with European culture and particularly the European literary traditions.
Simultaneously, his interest in the history of Nigeria grew and he started filling the gaps in
his readings by asking questions about the pre-colonial society, although remnants of it
were still around in the day-to-day lives of the people.
However, when Achebe began to write In the latter part of the fifues, he was quite
conscious of the fact that he was writing about a part of the world with which his foreign
readers in Europe and America would be quite unfamiliar. While analysing the details of
 societies and assessing their cultural worth, which were strange to the modem world, Chinuam Achete :Life and
Achebe evokes values which go beyond the narrow confines of space and time. WO*

Like his other fellow African writers Achebe too finds himself in a unique situation as an
interpreter of a society whose traditions have been disrupted by the intervention of
colonialism. H i s novels, therefore, reflect on the changes which have come about in Ibo
society in psnicular and Nigerian life in general as a result of what he calls a 'chance
encounter' between Europe and Africa during the colonial period. '
Achebe's novels, therefore, are unique and quite different from those written by his
counterparts irt England, although attempts have been made to fit them into the tradition of
novel-writing in England. While it is true that his formative years were saturated with the
influence of Christianity as well as the English school system and while he has
acknowledged that a number of European writers, particularly Joseph Conrad, Graham
Greene and Evelyn Waugh, have influenced his development as a writer, it would be
unfair to put him in the tradition of any one of these or any other European writer, for that
matter. This is because Achebe, once again like other African novelists, has modified the
form of nov~:l as a genre while adopting it for the specific needs of his society where the
traditron of literature has beell primarily oral and has been entrenched for hundreds of
years.
'>
Ilonoured with scores of awards, medals, honorory degrees, fellowships and the editorship
of a series of publications of African literature, sixty-one year old Chinua Achebe is still
active aid busy writing, despite a serious accident a couple of years ago which has
restricted his physical movement severely.

23.2 The Beginning :Ancestor worshipper

'
Once asked to describe himself, Achebe called himself an 'ancestor worshipper'. On
another occasion he stated that "I would he quite satisfied if my novels (especially the
ones set in the past) did no more than teach tile readers that thelr past - with all its
imperfectioos - was not one long night of savagery."
Chinua Achebe's fmt three novels - Thtngs Fall Apan,(1958) No Longer At Ease,(1960)
and Arrow of God - which may also be read as a uilopy af related themes, as all are about
societies and persons whichlwho were divided be!ween past and present, between the old
world and ll~enew and between Europe and Africa. All the three novels are about the
people of 'the two worlds' who weft: bewildered .by both the scale and the suddeness of
these changes. While attempting tc, come to terms with them, they met their tragic ends.
Although Achebe was a child of colonialism w h began~ to write when Nigeria was almost
free, Achebe's veneration for the past is very transparent in all the three novels. However,
Achebe's respect for the past is not un~[Link] he himself put it. 'we cannot pretend
that our past was one long technicolour idyll'. In fact, in this lies the strength of Achebe
as a nwvelisr.

23.2.1. Things Fall Apart

Chinua ~ c h e b e ' sfirst novel Things Fall Aport was published in 1958 and was an instant
success with his readers. In fact, it was the first novel written by an African that put the
literature from the continent immediately on the map of world literature.
I

While we shall analyze the text in greater details in the next Unit, it will be sufficient to
'\
outline here that the novel is about Iboland, in the eastern region of present day Nigeria in
the period betwen 1850-1900. This was the period just prior to and after the arrival of
white men in this part of West Africa. Expressed in the idiom of the Ibo villagers which
he translates into shndard Nigerian English, tile conflict is highlighted through the fate of
Qkonkwo, the protagonist and other villagers of IJmuofia and its neighbourhood who are
out manoeuvred by white- men represent~nga technologic&lysupenor European culture.
Things FaU Apad 23.2.2 N o Longer at Ease
[Link] at Ease is a sequel to Things Fall Apart in the sense that its protagonist Obi is
the grandson of Okonkwo who was the hero of Things Fall Apart. He is the son of Nwoye
who had converted to Christianity and had taken the name Isaac. The action takes place
partly in the same village of Umuofia and partly in Lagos the big city, the likes of which
had developed all over Nigeria since the days of Okonlcwo.
The theme of the novel is public corruption - a phenomenon which like many other ills is
the direct offshoot of the introduction of colonialism in Nigeria. Obi Okonkwo has
returned from England after obtaining a B.A. degree and is excitedly looking forward to
some responsible position in the Civil Service. However', he is soon caught in a web of
pressures of various kinds - from the people of his own village who had financed his trip
to England-andwho now want special favours in return, liom his girlfriend Clam who
wants to legitimise their relationship through marriage, from his parents who refuse to
permit him to marry outside the clan and finally from the people at large. Pressed from all
sides, Obi succumbs to temptation and accepts a bribe. Ht: is caught and is awaiting trial,
public humiliation and punishment.
As we can see, once again Achebe is concerned with changes which have been brought
about in Ibo society after its encounter with colonialism. Once again, he highlights it
-
through the havoc colonialism has wrought on the people's lives through bribery, graft and
corruption. The major difference between the fate of Obi and Okonkwo, his grandfather
in Things Fall Apart, is that while Okonkwo dies for his convictions however rigid and
unreasonable those might be, Obi totally lacks the moral courage in sustaining whatever
convictions he has. In fact, Achebe had hinted at the shape of things to come at the end ofc
Things Fall Apart itself when he had shown the villagers of Umuofia, rich with money
from the sale of palm-oil and kernels, refusing to support Okonkwo's killing of the District
Commissioner's emissary who brings the message that their meeting had been disallowed
by the District Commissioner. The moral rot has set in since then and has hollowed the
society completely. Once again, Achebe's sense of loss of a simple but morally vibrant
Ibo society of pre-European days is quite evident throughout the novel.
f

23.2.3. ~rro,G'ofGod
Arrow of God is Acbebe's third novel of the series in which he further explores the
'encounter' theme at greater length since it is Llle most voluminous of the three books. In
terms of time frame, it is located somewhere between Things Fall Apart and No Longer at
Ease. It is a period when colonialism has become well-established in Nigeria. The locale
-
is Umuaro, which like Umuofia earlier. is a cluster of villages this time six instead of the
nine in the earlier book. While commenting on his repeated return to the past, Achebe had
remarked that he felt that 'My first book is no longer adequate'. I have learned a lot more
about these particular people ... my ancestors' and something ... has to be done before I
move on the contemporary scene In Arrow of God, like in Things Fall Apart earlier. the
forces of a primitive, self-sufficient society are pitted against the forces of colonialism -
chruch, government and trade. Once again, the resultant crisis destroys not only the
-
portagonist but also the very roots of tribal life. The protagonists Ezeulu - is a more
complex character. He is the chief priest of Ulu - a newly created god by the people of
those six villages of Umuaro. Ezeulu has to fight simultaneously on two fronts - one, the
internal strife represented by Nwake, a powerful chief and Ezidemili, chief priest of
another god ldemili, and two, the European culture and religion represented by Captain r

Winterbottom, the head of the local colonial political administration. So Ezeulu loses at
the end.
I
Achebe's Ezeulu. although similar to Okonkwo. is a more complex character. He thinks
about the causes of vmous events and has an open mind. He is even ready to come to
terms with Europeans, Christianity and colonialism but only upto a certain point so that
his dignity and self-respect is not compromised. Pushed beyond that. he fights and meets
the same tragic fate as Okonkwo did in Things Fall Apan. While dealing with this more
complex situation. Achebe also invokes more complex details of the tribal life - births,
deaths, marriages. celebrations, religious ceremonies. customs and rituals which may. at
times, appear to have been introduced for their own sake, but like the details in Things
Fall Apan are an integral part of the life of the people which is what he intended to
highlight through his protagonist.
Achebe's fmt three novels. therefore, enliven very dramatically and powerfully both in Chlnuaa Achebc I LUe and
Worka
personal and societal terms the past of the Ibo people. However, the manner in which
Achebe tells the tragic tale of those people raises it to a higher level, making it a part of
the ebb and flow of human history, which, incidentally, is the real 'hero' of all the three
novels.

23.3 Later Novels :The Contemporary Scene ,

As stated by Achebe himself, he was ready to move over to the contemporary scene after
writing Arrow of God wb;ch was a kind of swan song tribute to the Ilm way of life that
was.

23.3.1 A an of the People

With the publication of A Man of the People, Achebe plunged into the contemporary way
of life in Nigeria. Glossing over the period in which the freedom struggle was launched
and the independence achieved after quite an intricate interplay of conflicting ethnic
sentiments egged on by the colonial and imperialist forces, Achebe makes the post-
independence Nigeria the theme of A Man of the People. It is a Nigeria in which, like in
many other newly independent nations in Afriqi and elsewhere, a nexus between politican
and criminals had emerged and entrenched itself to loot the national ~uealthin
collaboration with imperialist forces represented by powerful transnationals. And all this
is done by befooling the people in the name of democracy which in elffect is only a facade
for a coterie of vested interests. Media too plays a major role in dividing the people in the
name of ethnic loyalties and by diveiting their attention from the real issues facing the
people.
The chief characters in the novel are Chief M.A. Nanga. who has risen from being a band
master in a school to a minister's position by jumping on to the political bandwagon at an
appropriate time and Odili a young teacher who is full of idealism and is determined to
expose the likes of Chief Nanga. Full of details of political intrigues within the ruling
party and even the cabinet, the role of money and musclepower in elections including
murders, political confrontations and compromises in the name of icjeology, exploitation
of the ordinary people, particularly of women in the name of both bradition and modernity,
the novel could be located in any other modem nation-state by mer~:ly changing names of
Nigeria immediately by predicting the shape of things to come. The ending of A Man of
the People shows the military intervening in the sordid political affairs of the country -
something which was unthinkable in Nigerian polity at that time. JHowever, wiibin a few
months of the publication of the novel, a military coup had actually taken place in Nigeria
and political power had passed into the hands of the army with which it has stayed more or
less continuously since then.

23.3.2 Anthills of the Savannah

Achebe's next novel Anthills of the Savannah was published in 1987, J t e r a gap of more
than twenty years - twenty-one to be precise after the publication of A M'an of the People.
So much had happened in Nigeria during this time. Nigeria had gone through a very
- -
bloody civil war the Biafran war in which more than 150,000people had been killed.
The worst sufferers were the Ibo people - the ethnic group to which Achabe also belongs.
Achebe himself had to suffer for allegedly aiding the seccesionists. During this time,
Nigeria had also seen the bubble of material prosperity bloom and burst :as oil prices rose
and crashed in the international market. During this period, Nigeria also had a brief brush
with democracy before things went out of hand. Once again the military intervened.
Anthills of the Savannah is. therefore, a result of the literary maturation of Chinua Achebe
subseqent to all this.
The theme of the novel is the now familiar theme of a Nigeria plagued with inequality,
poverty, social injustice, public betrayal and political and military intrigues, with
repression, intimidation and calculated murder being the order of the day. Since violence
begets violence, those trying to remedy the situation are also forced to rebrt to violence.
So we have a military coup in order to get rid of a military coup.
The locale this time is an [Link] Republic of Kangan and the dictator is President Sam.
Pitted against him are Ikem, Chris and Beatrice. Ry showing a woman - Beatrice - take
over the leadership, Achebe seems to be suggesting that women could perhaps prove to be
better leaders and better managers of political affairs too.

23.4 Other Writings

It has been mentioned in anotl~erVnit earlier that stor) ttXllingwas the forte of African
literature before the arrival of Europeans and literate culture. It has also been mentioned
that it came in very handy while African writers look to novel - writing which was a form
of writing alien to Africa. The result was that moa African novelists also continued to tell
stories, this time in writing. Achebe too has written and published stories all this while.
Some of these like Chike and the River are exclusively for children in the tradition of tlle
father telling stories every evening to his children whom he called to his obi. There are
others like Girls at 'War which portray both the traditional and modem life. Chinua
Achebe is a poet too. His collection Beware Soul Brother is a very moving portrayal of
the tragedy of the Biafran war. Achebe has also written a book about the problems of
Nigeria - The T r o d l e with Nigeria.
-
23.5 Literature, Society and the Writer
- - -

A large number of African writers like Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Senghor, Wole Soyinka,
Alex La Guma and Nadine Gordimer have expressed their well-thought out views about
the relationship between literature and society, the role of a writer in society, the clloice of
a particular language as the medium of creative writing and a host of other related matters.
While Nadine Gordimer talks of the 'unscalable limits' imposed on a writer's creativity by
the policy of apartheid, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o pleads for decolonising the mind. While
Senghor would like the superiority of the black African asserted through a concept like
'negritude', Wole Soyinh would like to join issue with him by dubbing his concept of
'negritude' as racist. All these views and opinions are a part of another struggle being
waged by african wiiters -- to free Afncan literary criticism or evaluation of .Afncara
literature from the bondage of European theories of literary criticism . These writers
would like African literary texts to be judged by a different set of criteria primarily
because Europeans, I~avingnever been colonised, are simply incapable of evaluating
adequately literary responses of societies where colonialism has been a fact of life for
prolonged periods of dike. In other words these writers are pleading for a different
-
aesthetics either an e:xclusive one for Africa or one which it shares with other former
European colonies in ,Asia and Latin America. Chinua Achebe too has expressed his
views about some of tl'lese very significant matters, some of which have been collected in
his book of essays called Morning Yet on Creation Day, which we summarise below:

23.5.1 Morning Yet on Creation Day

- -
Writing about the role of art and this includes literature in society, Achebe says that
'Art for art's sake is just another piece of deodorised dog-shit'. Achebe believes that art
is, as it has always been, 'in the service of man'. All myths, legends and stories have been
-
created for 'a human purpose'. Artists and that includes writers - created their works 'for
the good of thaltsociety'. This is what Achebe writes in "Africa and her Writers", a
leading essay in the collection.
As for Europe, Achebe says that 'somewhere in the history of European civilisation the
idea that art should be accountable to no one and needed to justify itself tc nobody except
itself, began to emerge'. On the other extreme, Achebe tells us, is yet another stream En
Europe where 'a poet is not a poet until the writers' Union tells him so'
Achebe pleads with African writers to look to their own sources for a definition of art.
'The making of art is not the exclusive concem of a particular caste or secret socieues'
Art belongs to ;dl and is a 'function' of the society.
We have stated in I Jnits 20 and 21 that Europeans coildemned everything African as
barbaric, savaye and uncivilized.,And this was not confined to heir customs and rituals
alone but applied as much to their dances and songs and dresses. The result was that over
the years Africans developed an inferiority complex of extreme sorts. They were ashamed
of everything that was African - even the African weather. Now Achebe thinks that as a
novelist it is his duty and also of other fellow novelists, to 'educate' such Africans and
restore 'their faith and confidence in themselves their heritage and help them 'decolonise'
their minds. According to Chinua Achebe, therefore, a novelist is primarily a teacher.
A controversy has been raging among African writers for quite some time now about the
choice of language in which they should express themselves creatively. There are those
who would have nothing to do with the languages of the former colonial masters. They
are for shedding the legacy of colonialism completely and going back to their own
'tongues'. Then there are others who shout that language is not the private property of any
single community or nation. Achebe defends his use of English by saying that for him it is
a matter of pragmatism and not principle. 'A language spoken by Africans on African
soil, a language in which Aricans write, justifies itself. 'I feel', says Achebe, 'that the
English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will
have to be a new English still in full communication with its ancestral home but altered to
suit its new African surroundings'.A

Exercise I

(1) Why does Achebe call himself an 'ancestor worshipper'?

(2) Which major changes brought about by colonialism in traditional Ibo society are
highlighted by Chinua Achebe in his novels?

(3) Why had Achebe's A Man of the People suddenly caught the attention of the people
in Nigeria?

(4) Why have most African writers including Chinua Achebe expressed their opinion
about the relationship between literature and society?

....................................................................................................................................
 23.6 Let Us Sum Up

Achebe's choice of writing about the pre-colonial Ibo society has been a deliberate one.
His respect for the positive aspects of that society is reflected very clearly in his first three
novels - Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God. The tragic loss of that
society occurred because of their encounter with a technologically superior society. Also -
there were some inherent weaknesses like rigidity in Ibo society.
The themes of those novels based on the post-independence situation in Nigeria have been
political intrigue and thuggery and the exploitation of the people through a nexus between
the politician and the criminal. Since this is true of most newly-liberated nations of the
world, Achebe's novels have found an appeal which goes much beyond the confines of
Nigeria or Africa.
Achebe views the role of a Writer in a society similar to that of a teacher. This is so
because literature in Africa, unlike its counterpart in Europe, still affects people in their
day-to-day life. It is still 'functional'. Achebe does not feel any pangs of guilt for using
the English language as the medium for his literary activities instead of the use of his
mother tongue because he feels that he has modified English sufficiently to serve his
Purpose.

23.7 Answers to Exercises

(1) Achebe calls himself an 'ancestor worshipper', because of his love and respect for (he
positive aspects of the pre-European Ibo society. This is quite evident from his first
three novels.
(2) Achebe highlights primarily the clash between Christianity and African religious
practices, Ibo ways of socio-political organisation and the European manner of
t
governmelirand finally the Ibo system of economic organisation and the European
concept of trade. Naturally these clashes also led to a clash between the socio-
cultural values as well.
(3) Achebe's A Man of the People caught the attention of the Nigerian people because of
.- its prophetic prediction about Nigeria's fust-ever military coup. It took place within a
few months of the publication of the book.
(4) Achebe, like many other African writers, believes that because of diffeent socio-
political circumstances between Europe and Africa, European critieria for evaluating
African literary texts are grossly inadequate. The basic difference of Europe having
. -hever been colonised makes all the difference. Hence these writers, including Chinua
Achebe have expressed their opinions to highlight the need for a new aesthetics 'for
Africa and other newly-liberated nations of Asia and Latin America.
Unit 24 Things Fall Apart : detailed analysis
Structure
24.0 Objectives
24.1 Introduction
24.2 Things Fall Apart : detailed analysis
24.3 Let us sum up
24.4 Answers to Exercise .
- - - - -

240 objectives

The primary objective of this Unit is to analyse chronologically and in detail Achebe's .
Things Fall Apart. This is being done with the express aim of supplementing your reading
of the novel and is not, in any way, a substitute for your reading of the novel.
Additionally, an attempt will be made to highlight those aspects of the novel - events as
well as characterisation.- which are significant and will help us in evaluating the novel
critlcally.

24.1 Introduction

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart was published in 1958'and it was this novel which put
African Writing in English on the map of world literatures in English. It inspired scores of
writers across the continent of Africa who shed their diffidence and began to write in
European languages in a big way. Since then Achebe's Things Fall Apart has been
translated in about forty languages across the world'and has sold millions of copies which
is an adequate testimony to its significance not only as a great African novel but as part of
the human heritage. Although Chinua Achebe wrote two lhore novels in continuation of
Things Fall Apart to form a trilogy, yet Things Fall Apart remains a class apart.

24.2 Things Fall Apart :detailed analysis

24.2.1 Part One
Things Fall Apart which is divided into two parts and twenty-five chapters opens with a
description of Okonkwo, a resident of a cluster of villages called Umuofia. Okonkwo, as
we come to know on reading the novel, is the principal character around whom the whole
plot of the novel is woven. The author tells us in tbe very first chapter that Okonkwo was
a famous person, primarily because of his physical powers. He had defeated the strongest
-
man Amalinze - in a wrestling contest when he was only eighteen. Now he is thirty eight
and he is still considered a very strong person.
The author further reveals to us that Okonkwo was a man of short temper and very little
patience. He had no respect for people who were physically weak. His own father was
one such person and therefore Okonkwo did not have much respect for his father Unoka.
The author draws a contrast between the father and the son, between Okonkwo and Unoka,
by stating that not only was Unoko very weak but he was also lazy and managed his
household affairs very badly. However, like his son, Unoko too was a famous pepon.
While the son Okonkwo was known for his physical strength and powers his father Unoka
was well-known for his musical qualities. ,
Unoka was perpetually in debt to his neighbours and friends. And he was quite
unashamed in acknowledging this. He was also a had payee as the author shows through a
conversation between Unoka and his friend Okoyo who had lent IJnoka some money.
Unlike his father, Okonkwo was not only physically strong but he also managed his
household affairs well, as a result of which he had become quite rich.
 W h o will wrestle for our village ?

The first chapter also gives us a good peep into the Ibo society of the times. It was a
society in which people were respected and publicly honoured for physical strength. It
was a society in which people judged a person on his or her own performance and not on
the basis of the status of the parents. It was a society in which a person's wealth could k
judged from the number of public titles he possessed or the number of wives he had
because for acquiring both - a title as well as a wife - a person had to pay a substantial
amount of money. Okonkwo had both - a number of titles as well as a number of wives.
We also come to know that the Ibo were quite fond of speaking in proverbs, that is to say,
they liked saying things indirectly by referring to anecdotes and stories. This is a sign of a
culturally sophisticated society.
Achebe ends the first chapter by referring to an ill fated child named lkemefuna who come
to stay with Okonkwo thereby creating the necessary suspense and curiosity for what
follows in the next chapters.
The second chapter opens with the cner informing the residents of Umuofia to gather at
the market place the next day. Okonkwo discerned a distinct tragic note in the voice of
the crier and wondered as to what could have happened. The next morning saw about ten
thousand men gathered to listen to Ezeugo, who was a powerful narrator. Ezeugo soon
infonned the audience that a woman of Umuofia, the wife of Ogbuefi Udo, had been
murdered by residents of Mbaino, a neighbouring cluster of villages. As was the custom
in such situauons, it was decided to serve an ultimatum to Mbaino that they choose
between a compensation of a virgin and a youngman or the onslaught of a war. Since
Umuofia had the reputation of king very strong both in terms of wamors as well as
casting magic spells, neighborn were afraid of going to war with it. So Mbaino also
decided to pay the compensation the girl was to replace the murdered wife of Udo while
the boy's fate would be decided by the residents of Umuofia later. This is how Ikemefuna,
the ill-fated boy from Mbaino-came to live in Okonkwo's house during the interim period.
 I[ is once again emphasised that Okonkwo was a strong man who created a sense of tear Things FUIVApad r
Detalled Analysis
even among his wives and children. Okonkwo handed over Ikemefuna to the charge of his
second wife whose own son Nwoye was of the sane age. Ikemefuna was completely at a
loss about the reasons of his having been taken away from his parents and brought to a far-
off strange place together with a girl whom he never saw again after reaching tlre new
place.
I
1;lnce again, we come to know more things about the Ibo people and their customs. Apart
from the description of the manner in wh~chpublic gatherings are held and households
~nanaged,we come to know that the society was very rigid and cruel In many ways.
Justice was based on the principle of revenge as is clear from the surrendering of a virgin
girl and an innocent boy as a compensation for a murdered woman. An individual's life,
therefore, was completely in the hands of the clan or the tribe. l'hat is why an innocent
Ikemefuna is surrendered to the residents of IJmuofia although he had nothing to do with
the murder of the woman personally.
Chapter three recalls the struggle Okonkwo had to go through to set himself up as an
independent fanner even when his father Unoka was alive. Since Okonkwo did not have
resources of his own, he went and borrowed 800 yam seeds from a wealthy fanner
Nwakibie and another four hundred from another friend of his father's. As per the
practice of sharecropping prevalent in that society, Okonkwo would be entitled to only one
- third of the total crop. But he had no choice since his father had nothing to support him
wlrich made Okonkwo quite angry.
That year the crops failed badly since it did not rain at the right time. After Okonkwo had
sow11the first part of his seeds of yam, instead of rains, a scorching sun shone, burning the
seedlings. Half of his seeds had been lost. When he sowed the other half after clearing
the fields once again, it was excessive rains which destroyed everything this time.
Okonkwo was ruined. But he was a die-hard optimist and an extremely hard-working
young man. He said to himself that if he had been able to survive tlrat particular year, he
would be able to survive subsequently because nothing could be worse than what had
happened that year.
The chapter also tells us more about the social orgrul~satipnof the society: how to honour
guests and how to please elders. It also tells us that the Ibo people believe in the spirits of
ancestors as well as an almighty oracle or Ciod whom they consult in times of need.
Certain superstitions are also referred to. For instance, any one struck with the disease of
swelling of the stomach or other limbs was abandoned to die in the jungle. Unoka,
Okonkwo',~ father had been struck with this disease and left to die like that. The chapter
has a number of proverbs as manners of expression for certain specific situations.
Chapter four brings the story back to the present and shows how after initial resistance,
Ikemefuna came to accept Okonkwo's household as his home. Not only did be become
quite friendly with Nwoye, Okonkwo's son, but he also earned the love of Okonkwo
himself, although Okonkwo never showed his emotions openly. That he considered to be
weakness m a man. Ikemefuna even called Okonkwo his father.
The chapter also describes in detail how preparalions are made for the sowing season of
yam which is a kind of tuber plant of the root family. Ibo people observe a week of peace
before the sowing begins. This was done to be in the right frame of mind for the hard
work. Th~syear Oko~lkwohad disturbed the peace by beating one of his wives during the
week and he had to appease the god and his priest.
The next chapter describes the Feast of the New Yam in IJmuofia which is held just before
the harvesting begins and it also coincides with the beginning of the new year. It is held
to honour Ani, the goddess of earth and fertility. There is a lot of feasting on this
occasion. Okonkwo's household also celebrated the feast with a lot af pomp and show
and the most excited was Ikemefuna. The second day of the celebrations was resewed for
wrestling which aIso generated a lot of enthusiasm. It was on one of these occasions that ,

Okonkwo had defeated Amalinze, the Cat and had won the heart of Ekwefi, who had
become his second wife, deserting her husband. The chapter once again describes in great
detail the liousehold chores as well as the manner in which various wives of a man manage
their respective duties.
Things Fall Aparl Chapter six gives at1 extensive account of the wrestling match and also a brief
conversation between Ekwefi and another woman named Cbielo who also doubled as the
priestess of Agbala, the Oracle or the God.
Chapter seven is a very crucial section of the novel which describes first, how Ikemefuna's
stay in Okonkwo's home for three years has had a very positive irrfluence on Nwoye.
Nwoye wllom Okonkwo had earlier considered to be lazy like his own father Unoka, was
now quite enthused about undertaking difficult masculine tasks like splitting wood or
pounding food. Okollkwo considered this change to be a result of Ikemefuna's company.
He had grown quite fond of Ikemefuna.
Clkonkwo often called them to his obi-his hut - and told them the stories of the land. Since
the harvest season was over, Oko~ikwohad enough time for this.
During one of those days Ogbuezi Ezeudu came to visit him and brought him the unhappy
news that the clan had finally decided to kill Ikeinefuna. He, however, warned Oko~lkwo
not to have a hand in Ikemefuna's death since the boy loved him so much and even called
him father.

For whom Is It well, for whom is It well ?

The next day it was all worked out by the elders in Okonkwo's house and Ikemefuna was
informed that he would be taken home the next day. On the morning of the day, men set
out with Ikemefuna. Okonkwo was one of them. Ikemefuna waspade to cany a pot of
wine. At sunset they were in the midst of a jungle. Although apprehensive, Ikemefuna
was oblivious of any harm because Okonkwo walked right behind him, Okonkwo whom
he loved as his own father. He started thinking of his mother and sister, as he had seen
them three years ago. He had very vague mental pictures of them. He was not sure if his
mother would be alive.
Suddenly a tnan drew Ikemefuna's attention by clearing his throat and as the child looked
back, the man struck him with his matchet which is a kind of sword. As Ikemefuna cried
 and appealed to Okonkwo for help, Okonkwo himself struck him down with his matchet. Things Fall Apart a
This he did lest his fellowmen consider him to be 'weak'. This ends an important section Detal led Andy&
of the novel.
Chapter eight begins with Okonkwo feeling completely disoriented for a couple of days
after the killing of Ikemefuna and at his own role in the killing.
Soon his friend Obierika came to invite him as his daughter's suitor was coming to thein
to settle the bride-price. In most African societies, it is customary for the young man to
pay a mutually agreed price to his in-laws for asking a girl's hand in marriage. While they
discussed the relative merits of their sons, Obierika told Okonkwo that he had not done
well by taking part in Ikemefuna's killing and the goddess of earth might punish him for
that.
The chapter then describes in detail the custom of settling the bride-price and feaqtihg
after it has been settled. This is done when the bride-price for Akueka, Obierika's
daughter is being settled. In the concluding conversation it is hinted that some white men
had been seen passing through their area, particularly a man named Amadi. This appears
to be the first contact the area has had with the people with the 'white skin'.
Chapter nine begins with his favourite daughter Ezinma suddenly becoming ill with
shiverings. Okonkwo goes out looking for some medicinal leaves, grass and barks of trees
which could cure this disease which he calls iba, a kind of fever. While he is out looking
for those herbs, the author gives us a background about the life of Ezinma and her mother
Ekwefi. Ekwefi had lost nine of her children in infancy. When a woman loses her
children one Ster another. the Ibo people believe that it is the same wicked child entering
its mother's womb again and again. The cur5,Jies in the hands of a medicine-man. A
medicine-man is like an astrologer or a Tantrik h Indian societies who finds a solution to
a problem through various ritualistic practices. One such medicine-man named Okogbue
had cured the mother of the curse and the next child, Ezinma, had survived.
Soon Okonkwo returned with the required leaves and barks which were boiled to a ckrwn
specified limit and Ezinma was given a steam-bath which cured her of her shiverings and
fever.
The next chapter tells us of details another ritual among the Ibo. It shows how disputes
between the people of nine villages of Umuofia are resolved at the hands of a group of
nine adjudicators who represent the spirits of the ancestors collectively and who are called
egwugwu, The adjudicators are from amongst the people and are transformed into
egwugwu after performing some rituals including the wearing of masks.
Chapter eleven describes yet another ritual - that of the Agbala, or the Oracle. Chielo a
woman from the village who was Agbala's priestess came out on this particular night and
went to Okonkwo's hut saying that the Oracle wGted to see Ezinma, his daughter. She
put the child on her back and disappeared in the dark of the night screaming the name of
Agbala. Ekwefi, Ezinma's mother was scared to death about the well-being of her child
and she followed her till the mouth of the cave of the Oracle into which the Agbala's
priestess had disappeared with the child. Ekwefi waited outside the cave and was
pleasantly surprised to find Okonkwo coming there with his sword and both of them
waited outside till Chielo came out of the cave.
In chapter twelve which opens on the day after Ezinma's visit to the Oracle, Obierika,
Okonkwo's friend is celebrating his daughter's Uri which is a kind of engagement
ceremony. Okonkwo had been invited to Obierika's compound along with his entire
family. A lot of cooking for the feast was going on. Soon the in-laws arrived with fifty
r pots full of palm-wine. The ceremony ended witli a lot of eating, drinking and singing and
also a dance by the bride.
Chapter thirteen which is the last in Part One, begins with the news that Ezeudu, a village
elder universally respected had died. Since his was a warrior's funeral, guns were fired as
the time for the burial drew near. Suddenly an accident happened: the dead man's sixteen
year old son was killed by Okonkwo's gun going off accidently.
Ibo people believed tl~atmanslaughter was a major crime against the earth goddess and the
man had to flee from his home and clan along with his entire family. Since Okonkwo's
crime was inadvertent, he could return after seven years of exile. Okonkwo fled to
 .
Mbanta, a nearby village of his mother's kinsmen. His house was then ransacked and
burnt as a part of the ritual of revenge for the earth goddess.
We find Obierika musing over the fate of people suffering for doing something
inadvertently. He recalled his having thrown away his twin new-born children for such
was the custom in their society.

24.2.2 Part Two

Chapter [Link] is the first chapter in Part Two, opens with Okonkwo beginning
his life afresh in Mbanta where he is given a piece of land for building his compound and
another two or three pieces of land for farming. His uncle and his cousins helped him by
giving him seed-yams.
Oko~~kwo worked hard but his heart was not in it. He had hoped to become one of the
lords of the clan and had worked towards it but this accident had shattered his hopes and
had forced him to flee from his clan. His chi or personal god had not destined him to do
great things. However, Okonkwo's mother's brother- Uchendu- comforted him and asked
him to realise that his was not tl~egreatest suffering in the world.
Chapter fifteen opens with Obierika, Okonkwo's friend paying him a visit at the end of the
second year of his exile. He brought the shocking news that the village of Abame nearby
had been wiped out by white men and some of the survivors had fled into Umuofia. He
then went on to narrate how a white man on an iron horse had come to Abame. Scared,
the villagers of Abame had killed him and had tied his iron horse to a tree. In retaliation.
three whitemen and some Africans who had come after many days, had fired and killed
most villagers on a market day. While they are all disturbed at the news, Obierika also
told them that he had heard stories about the white men making very powerful guns and
taking away Africans and selling them as slaves across the seas.
About two years passed and the white missionaries were already in Umuofia. This was the
news which Obierika brought on his next visit about which we read in chapter sixteen.
There was already a church and also a few converts although these converts were not
important people. Obierika remarked that Okonkwo's son Nwoye had been seen with the
missionaries in Umuofia.
Soon we discover that a white mnn accompanied by some Africans had come to Mbanta
and had persuaded the villagers to adopt his religion. He had appealed to them stating that
the gods they believed in were all 'false gods'. While most villagers had made fun of the
white man's views about their gods, there was one amongst them who had appeared to be
impressed - not so much by the lecture of the white man as by the singing which had
followed the Iccture. That young man was Nwoye, Okonkwo's first son. While listening
to the hymns, Nwoye had recalled the harrowing experience of Ikemefuna's killing as well
as the throwing away of twin new-boms both of which were a part of the African's
religion. The hymns had given him a strange sense of relief and peace.
Chapter seventeen countinues with the story of the preaching of the Christian gospel by
the missionaries in Mbanta. When they had asked the villagers for a piece of land for
building their place of worship, the villagers had given them a piece in the 'evil forest',
which was a place where no one lived because it was there that those who had died of
dreadful diseases like leprosy and small pox were buried. The people believed that any
one inhabiting such a place would himself be dead before long. However, when nothing
happened to the missionaries after living there for many days, a whisper started that ..
perhaps the god of the white men was more powerfulathatthat of the Africans. A couple
of Africans had also converted to the white man's religion. When Okonkwo discovered
that Nwoye too had become a convert, he tllreatened him as a result of which Nwoye left
home and went to work in the tnissionary school for the converts at Umuofia. This was a
big blow to Okonkwo and his male ego but he could do nothing except sulking.
The next chapter opens with the news that the white men had brought not only their
religion but also a government. They had built a place of judgement in IJmuofia for
protectii~gthe converts to the religion of 'Jesu Kristi'. There was also the story hat an
African had been hanged for killing a missionary. In Mbanh a crisis arose when the
converts from the village refused to sit with Osu converts, who were some kind of
.outcasts. As the missionary Mr. Kiaga questioned. such beliefs he and the missron staff as
42 well as the converts came into clash with the people.
 I
Chapter nineteen opens with Okonkwo making preparations to leave Mbanta for Umuofia
since his seven years of exile were coming to an end. I-le organised a big thanksgiving
feast where after the feasting and expression of gratitude, one of the elders warned then1
against the impact of the new religion on their children and their lives. 'I fear for you; I
fear for the clan;' is the wming he gives and as subsequent events show his words prove
I to be prophetic.
.d
24.2.3 Part Three
1
Chapter twenty which is the first of Part Three, opens when Okonkwo has returned to
Umuofia. He, however, was a sad man because he knew he had lost his chance of taking
the highest title of the clan and also of leading his fellow men in the war against the new
religion. He had been struck a major blow when his son Nwoye had converted to the
white man's religion. He bad found that the Umuotia he had returned to was a different
place with a court of justice having been set up by the white man where a district
I commissioner judged cases of dispute. There was even a jail where African employees of
the white man's government, Kotma, as they were called, beat people mercilessly
I
irrespective of their status in the clan. People were punished for obeying their Afric'm
I
I
customs and rituals.

His return should be marked by his people

While Okonkwd had advocated that they fight back the white man and was confident that
they would be able to defeat him, his friend Obierika was not so sure because they had
been l~opelesslydivided. The clan did not act in unison any more since the converted
people from the clan sided with the white man. 'He has put a knife on things that held us
.together and we have fallen apart', Obierika had said to Okonkwo and both had fallen into
hence.
Chapter twenty two shows how the white man had gradually changed the entire life in
Umuofia. Besides the religion and the government, there was also a trading store where
palm-oil and kernels could be sold for money. Umuofia had become rich.
Things Fall Apad Mr. Brown, the white missionary, had also exercised resuaint upon his followers by
asking them not to provoke those who had still not converted to Christianity. He had,
therefore, come to bc respected even by the clan. Clever as he was, he wanted to win
them indirectly and not through a frontal attack. So be had a hospital built in Umuofia
and also had a school built for the children of the people. He also told them that if their
children did not come to the school and learn to read and write, Africans from outside
would corne and rule the~nby serving the District Commissioner like the Kotma who bad
come from Umuru on the banks of River Niger.
Mr. Hrown had succeeded in bringing people and their cbildren to his school. Thus church
and education went hand in hand in Uinuofia and the neighbouring villages. However,
Mr. Brown had failed to m'ake a dent in Okonkwo's mind despite the fact that
Okonkwo's son Nwoye, now called Isaac, had been sent to a training college for teachers
in Umuru. Okonkwo had turned Mr. Hrown out of his obi when Mr. Brown had corne to
see him. Soon Mr. Brown had left Umuofia due to bad health. The chapter closcs with
Oko~ikwofeeling grieved not otlly for hiself but 'for tlie clan which he saw breaking up
and falling 'apart'.
Tlle next chapter shows Reverend James Smith, Mr. Rrown's successor, condemning his
policy of 'compromise and accommodation'. He believed in open confrontation between
evil and good, between black and white. He encouraged overzealous converts like Enoch
who had once killed and eaten the python whom tile villagers considered sacred.
Enocll had un~naskedan egwugwu during the annual ceremony in honour of the earth
diety. I-ie had 'killed' an ancestral spirit. Next day, tlle egwugwu from the entire area of
nine villages had descended in IJmuofia and destroyed the church.
1

I
Thlngs fall epat.l; the centre cannot hold,.

Okonkwo felt very happy at thesc developments. This is how chapter twenty tllree begins.
But his happiness was shortlived because soon the leaders - six of them - were summoned
by the District Commissioner for discussion and were arrested. Okonkwo was one of
 Uiem. They were ill-treated and beaten in the lock-up by the Africao guards. Tlic slilage
I was asked to pay a fine'of 250 bags of cowries (small shell used as nioney in parts al'
Africa) to save them from hanging.
('hapter tweuty four finds them released since the village had paid the fine. However. the
six men were sullen from the humiliation tlley had suffered while in tlie lock-up.
Oko~lkwowas seething with anger for revenge. At the next day's meeting the peoplc oi
llniuofia were horrified to hear a group of messengers come and tell them to stop the
meeting since it had been declared illegal by Lhe District Commissioner. Okonkwo was
furious and in a fit of anger he drew his matcliet and beheaded the messenger. 'There were
murmurs among the people, asking: 'Why did he do it'?
The last chapter shows the body of Okonkwo hanging from a tree when the District
Commissioner comes to arrest him. Finding himself completely isolated from the
villagers, Okonkwo had committed suicide. However, his fellow villagers had refused to
even touch his body since it is sinful to touch someone who had taken his own life. In
fact, he could not even be buried as per the normal customs and rituals. Thus Okonkwo's
1
tragedy was complete: once an aspirant to tlie highest title of the land. he had now died

i \
the death of a pariah dog. As his friend Obierika put it to the District Commissioner -
'That man was one of Ule greatest men in 1Jmuofin. You drove him to kill himself and
now he will be buried like a dog ...'
The Ilistrict Commissioner, however. was busy thinking about his hook on the Ibos. He
decided to devote a whole chapter to the story of U~islnali who had killed the messenger
and then had commitled suicide

Exercise LI
Answer the following questions on tlie basis of your reading of the text of Things Fa11
Apart and this IJnit.

(1) What do the following expressio~ismeal :

(a) proverbs are the palm-oil wid1 which words are eaten. (chapter one)

.....................................................................................................................................

(b) if a child washed his hands he could eat with the kings. (chapter three)

.....................................................................................................................................

( c ) a toad does not run in the day-time for nothing. (chapter four)

(d) those whose palm-kernels were cracked for diem by a benevolent spirit should
not forget to be humble. (chapter four)

(e) when a man says yes. his chi says yes. (chapter four)
............................................................................................................................
Things Fall Aparl

(2) Why was Okonkwo ashan1 J of his father lJnokar?

(3) Why did Ezeudu advise Okonkwo not to have a hand in the killing of Iken~cfuna?
Why did Okonkwo not heed his advice?

.......................................................................................................................

(4) Who were egwugwu'! What was tlle~rspcc~l~ctuncl~onin Iho society?

( 5 ) In what way did IJlc cl~ristianmissionaries confront lllc Al'ric;~nsin' Mhanta?

..............................................................................................................................

( 6 ) What were Lhe consequences of Llle while man's arrival in 1 Imuoti;l?

I ................................................................................................................................... Things Fall Apart :
Detailed Analysb I
...................................................................................................................................

(7) List d ~ major

e [Link] Okonkwo's personality

".."".""." .......................................................................................... .........................

24.3 Let Us Sum Up

The first part of die novel describes how Okonkwo was able to go up 111 life through sheer
hard work although his fadicr had die reputation of being boUi physically weik imd lazy.
It also describes die circumsu~icesunder which a hoy from one c~fdie neighbourii~g
villages cornes to Ilmuotia and is assigned to stay in Okonkwo's house. It also describes
how Ikemet'una was finally killed by die villagers of IJ~nuoAaiIS a revenge for one ofllieir
own women having been killed by a person from the village to which Ikernefunn
helonged.
Tlle closing chapter of Part One adso describes how Okonkwo hid to flee from liis village
and clan because he h:ld killed a hoy from the village accidentally.
Part two o f die novel describes pri~nafilyOkonkwo's life i n Mbanta during his exile for
stveo ycaus. It also describes how during tliose years [Link] niiLIi - first die
missio~~auies and later die administrators - bi~dcome and entrenched Uiemselves in
I knuofia niid its neighbouring villages.
The last part of die novel describes 11owOkonkwo, dixlppoiiited id his not being ahle to
earn Uie h~ghesttitle of Uie land through ii quirk of ftlte, decides to show liis personal
vdour and'cour:lgc hy confronting the wl~iteman's administration. Fillding liilnsclf
isolated iilier he lias killed Ihe white man's nlcsseagcr, Okoiikwo c o ~ m i t suicide.
s hi die
Iho code of eliics, committing suicide is so ahominablc a sin that he cannot get even'a
proper burial. Thus ends the tale of an individual who at one time was the most
respected ind~vldualin 11111uoliabut who had hcert defcirtcd by his tcmperiunent as well
dle changed circumsuiices So was the Ibo society which too like Okonkwo had grown . .
too rigid to recognisc die need for adapting ilsell'to changing circumsliulces. I%odiof
them are swept away by the onslaught of a more powerful and cuoiiitig - thc Europcan -
way ol' life.
-

24.4 Answers to Exercises

(a) pioverhs facilitate expression; diey help us express Uiiogs hcttcr ancl more
eflectively.
(b) iT one works hard arid prepares liimself/licrself well. one car1 achicve thc highcsr go:il
I
In life

(c'I- U I I U S U ~events
~ iuise hecause of significalnt reitsons.
I
(d) one should be grateful for good-luck I
 (e) God helps lhose uhcl tlelp themse~vr~
(2) Because his father was a wznk ant1 l a ~ yperson and in the Ibo society only physically
strong and hardworknng penple wcrc respected
(3) Because Okonkwo had brought up rhe ho)' !or thrt: ears a d Tken~efunalooked up to
Okonkwo as his own father. As per Ibo customs, ~ 1 would1 ~ kc a crime against the

earth goddess. Okonkwo did not need the ad\ r c I~11 ius friend Ezeudu because he was
afraid that others would consider him a coward.
4) Egwugwu were the adjuJicatois representing the qpnts of tl~cancestors of the clan.-
They were members of the clan Itself in whom dlc spirits of thc ancestors here
believed to have entered after the performing of certain rituals 'Their specific task
was to dispense justice in cases of dispute arnoug the members of the clan.
5) The Christian missionaries successfully challenged tlle superstitious beliefs of the Ibo
traditional society thereby claiming a superiority for their ow11religion Christianity -
over the traditional religious practices of the !bs.
6) The society was divided among tlle converts and the non-cotlverts. Once the clan
stopped speaking in a unified voice, the white miin took over the function of the
administrator of the society. The white man also introduced trade by way of
monetary incentive, thereby further div~dingthe hitherto homogeneouz, Ibo society
7) Okonkwo was physically very strong and hardworking. However, he was impatient
and short tempered, often resorting to pllysical violence to assert his superiority. He
was very conscious of his public image and dld everything to guard it. 6konkwo was
very rigid in his views and outlook and refused to adjust himself to the changed
situations. While imposing his will and views upon others, he refused to grant them
the freedom to have a1 independent opinion or outlook As a result of this
inflexibility in his character. Okonkwo failed to view and assess a situation
realistically and this proved to be tlle primary reason of his isolation from fellow
Umuofia~sand his tragic end.

48
 UNIT 25 : SPECIFIC FEATURES OF
THINGS FALL APART
Structure
25.0 Objectives
25.1 Introduction
25.2 Simplicity
25.3 Universality
25.4 Language and Style
25.5 Let Us Sum Up
25.4 Suggested Reading
25.7 Answers to Exercises

The p h a r y objective of this Unit is to highlight those specific aspects of Things Fall
Apan which have made it a favourite tqxt of not only readers all over the world, but also
of critics, translators and teachers of literature.

25.1 INTRODUCTION
Chinua Achebe's first novel - Things Fall Apart - remains the most favourite of his novels
with his readers and critics, despite the fact that he himself considers Arrow of'God as his
most powerful work - his tour de force. Since the publication of Things Fall Apart more
than thlny yeam ago, Achebe has written four more novels, a hook of short stories, a
couple of story books for children, a book of poems and a book of essays. And yet his
reputation as a writer rests most f m l y on Things Fall Apart. It is one of the most widely
discussed novels of our times. If one were to collect all the critical material publislled on
Things Fall Apart, it would run into scores of volumes if not more, there would perhaps
be hardly any expression from the book which would have been left without a comment.
Such bas been the impact of Things Fall Apart on the modem literary scene.
nings Fall Apart derives its mesmerising strength from a number of specific features
'which make it an ideal text. Achebe's sensitive perception of an ancient society at the
crossroads of history, his artful mastery of telling a complex story quite simply and his
effective blending of the techniques of oral narration with written discourse is h e strength
of the novel and makes it what it is - a modem classic. Some of hese features we:
simplicity, universality and the language as well as the style of narration. Let us examine
each one of these in detail.

25.2 SIMPLICITY
9
Things Fall [Link] to be, on the face of it, a simple tale of h e rise and fall of an
obstinate man. Okonkwo; who was also impatient and short-tempered. -Vis insistence on
participating in the killing of Ikemefuna whom he had treated like his own son for a
number d years is an example of Okonkwo's obstinacy. Again. the author tells us in the
very first chapter about Okonkwo's impat~encewith people who were physically weak. It
is because of this that Okonkwo had no patience with his own father. A typical example'
of Okonkwo's short-temper is his beauiig his wife during the week of peace which the
people of Umuofia observed immediately before the beginning of the sowing s e w n for
yams.
49'
 The novel appears to have no complexity by way of either depth of character portrayal or
plot construction These virtues have been considered essential for any novel of
. significance and have been extolled by almost all western critics of the novel as an art
form, ranging from Henry James to [Link]. It appears that the character of .
'
Okonkwo is portrayed by the author with the+elp of a few incidents like winning a
wrestling match, killing Ikemefuna, beating one of his wives, killing his friend Obierika's
son accidentally and his beheading the white man's messenger. There is no attempt, it is
suggested, to delve deep into the psyche of Okonkwo to find out if there are any
hesitations and dilemmas, hopes and fears or regrets and elations about some of these acts
of his. In short, the author appears to have provided no psychological dimension to the
character of Okonkwo. As for the other characters, they are simply peripheral and they
have not been provided with any major roles even in events and happenings.
Finally, it has been suggested that at the level of style, Things Fall Apart is primarily told
in simple structures and with very few words.
However, this quality of simplicity is quite deceptive in the case of Things Fall Apart. It
is not, as has been made out to be, the story of the rise and fall of a single individual.
namely Okonkwo. It is, in fact, the story of a whole clan, a whole society, a whole way of
life which met its tragic end at the crossroads of history. The Ibo society on the eve of
colonial takeover is 'the real hero' of Achebe's Things Fall Apart. It is because of this
that Achebe has included a number of incidents which have no direct bearing as
Okonkwo's character but which are very significant from the point of view of depicting
the Ibo society at Umuofia.
We must, therefore, look for the depth of character in this 'real hero' rather than in
Okonkwo or Obierika and others. although this is not to say that *ere is no depth of
character in Okonkwo. The complex society that the pre-European Ibo world was, it is
presented in its awe-inspsiring glory through details of its various customs and rituals. its
daily chores, its travails and jubilations, through i_ts mournings and celebrations In the
first chapter itself we are told about the society and its norms - respecting those who have
physical strength and pitying those who had none. The contrast between Okonkwo and
his father Unoka has been presented to highlight the death of a woman of Umuofia at the
hands of residents of Mbaino and the demand for a virgin and a young boy as
-
compensation the latter for killing - which has been described in details in the second
chapter highlights yet another asjxct of the Ibo society namely, blood for blood. It also
highlights the plight of ordinary people who were in total control of their leaders. Thus
Ikemefuna has to pay with his life for a crime in which he had no hand. As the novel
progresses we see Achebe describe in detail the manner in which justice was publicly
dispensed with'the help of egwugwu masks, hor fetrility gods were propitiated by the
observance of a peace week before the sowing season and how a man had to pay a very
heavy price even for accidentally killing someone. Achebe gives us enough evidence of
various other customs and rituals connected with marriage and death. All these details
have been provided by Achebe for that matter - was not primitive but quite complex. It is
this society rather than individuals like Okoilkwo who are the focus of Achebe's study in
Things Fall Apart.
As for individual characters like Okonkwo, we have already listed in the last Unit the
traits of his personality. He is strong, he is hardworking, he is impatient, he is short
tempered, he is 'correct' in behaviour, he is conscious of-hispublic image and he is rigid
in his views, This makes h i quite a complex character. However, Achebe follows a
different technique in chhracter building. Instead of dilating on the details of each of these
qualities, Achebe reveals them through brief references to certain episodes. Things Fall
Apart has, therefore, a deceptive aura of simplicity around itself, only half revealing a
very complex text within, which is a magor strength of the novel.

25.3 Universality
Achebe has stated in one of his essays called 'Novelist as Teacher (included in Morning
Yet On Creation Day) that one of the primary purpose of his novels is to educate his
readers about the glory of their past, pre-colonical life. This he does with the intention of
'correcting' the distortions which were deliberately introduced by Europeans into the
history and culture of Africa in o,rder to create an inferiority complex in the minds of
50 Africans. It is with t h i s aim ir &z(: !hatthey went on repeating the statement that Africa
had no culture, no history, no past. They justified their colonisation of Africa by stating
that they had come to Africa to 'civilise' them. The frequent use of the expression 'white
man's burden' for black Africans shows the same frame of mind of whiteman's superiority
as well as his philanthropic spirit. Obviously, this statement about the African being
without any history, or culture is blatantly false. In fact, this was a strategy to perpetuate
their hold over the minds of the colonised people. In this respect, Things Fall Apatl is a
text about a specific
, '
-
society the Ibo people - with a specific aim of restoring their self-
confidence
However, Things Fall Apart is more than that. It is, at another level, the story of
individuals or societies wholwhich grow rigid in their outlook with the passage of time
and refuse to recognise changes in their circumstances, let alone coming to tenns with
them. This in turn puts them out of tune with contemporary reality, leading to their tragic
end. This is true not only of Okonkwo and the Ibo society of the late nineteenth century
but also of any other society at any other time. This is, for instance. equally true of
ancient Chinese, Indian, Greek and Egyptian civilisations. In this sense the novel is about
the human predicament itself and is universal in character. It is not that Achebe is
unaware of this dimension of his novel or that this universal element has 'crept' into the
text unintentionally. Let us not forget that when it came to choosing a title for his book,
Achebe chose it from a poem- The Second Coming-by the famous Irish poet William
Butler Yeats which talks about the cyclic movement of human history in terms of order
and anarchy. This shows quite clearly that the idea of creating a text which, although
beginning with the story of a specific people but expanding to encompass mankind at large
was very much present in Achebe's mind from 'the very beginning.

25.4 Language and Style

One of the strongest virtues of Tltings Fall Apart is its style and the use which Achebe
makes of the English language to weave this apparently simple but highly sophisticated
story of the passing away of a way of life.
The language is very simple. and B i c t and so is the syntax. This is very much in keeping
with firstly, the art of oral narration which was a significant feature of the society Achebe
describes in the novel and secondly, with the 'educational' role that Achebe assigns to his
novel.
However, as in the case of the story and the characterisation this simplicity at'& level of
style in also very deceptive. Look at the ease with which Achebe builds a large number of
Ibo words into his English language structures. While it is uue that Acbebe provides a
glossary of such terms at the end of the novel, it is also true that in most cases a reader is
able to 'guess' the meaning from the context. Let me take a couple of exanlples. In
chapter one, the following sentence occurs:
He could hear in his mind's ear the blood-stirring and inrriate
rhythms of the ekwe and the udu and the ogene and he could hear his
own flute weaving in and out of them decorating them with colourful
and plaintive tune.
It is not difficult to guess as to what the Ibo words ekwe, ude and ogene stand for. They
must be musical insuuments. The ease with which we are able to make the guess is not
only because of their being juxtaposed with words like 'rhythm' and 'tune' but also
because of'the naming of one of the instruments -flute-in English. Let us take anolber
example, this time from chapter twelve:
On the following morning the entire neighbourhood were a festive air
because Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, was celebrating his daughter's
urr'. It was the day on which her suitor (having already paid the
greater part of her bride-price)would bring palm-wine not only for
her parents and immediate relatives but to the wide and extensive .
hnsmen called umunna.
We can immediately 'guess' that uri must refer to some kind of an engagement ceremony.
However, the most important feature of Achebe's style in Things Fall Aparl is the use of
Ibo proverbs. Even a cursory reading of the novel draws one's attention to a very
extensive use of proverbs by Achebe as an important stylistic device. First, their use lends
authenEicicity to Achebe's portrayal of the Ibo society in which not only is the use of
proverbs in day-to-day life quite popular but it is highly prized as well. Those who can
use these proverbs frequently during a conversation are considered to be better speakers.
This is also true of the Yoruba people in Nigeria itself and the Ashante people in Ghana.
Secondly, the use of proverbs fits in well with Achebe's didactic function which he
assigns to every novelist. Every proverb, as we know, has some kind of a moral or lesson
to draw from. Finally, proverbs lend an element of precision to Achebe's style of writing.
What may need paragraphs of elaboration may be put more easily and effectively through .
the use af a [Link]. Here is an example: instead of saying that to coexist is a-virtue and it
is advisable to do so witl~outcoming into conflict with another person, an Ibo would
-
simply say 'let the kite perch and let the eagle perch', or, signifiying the importance of
appropriate behaviour, the Ibos say - 'If a child wahsed his hands, he could eat with the
kings." Again, Ibos believe that circumstances are favourable to only those who try to do
things .themselvesand this they say in the following manner: when a man says yes, his chi
says yes. Chi incidentally is the personal god or spirit assigned to every Ibo individual at
the time of hidher birth and is supposed to stay at hidher shoulder all the time.
Thus Achebe's use of Ibo words, Ibo proverbs translated into gnglish and the use of
simple structures which are a characteristic of the oral style of narration make up the style
of Things Fall Apart. Add to this his frequent use of irony and you have quite a 6
formidable style of writing.
 -- ---
25.5. Let us Sum up
--
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apar? has been a favourite book with reader, critics and
translators d l over the world.
It is sometimes suggested that the book is a very simplistic account of the life of a
character who lacks depth of complexity. This impression of Thin@ Fall Apart is
erroneous. The novel, in fact, is quite a complex portrayal of a society which is in itself
5 quite complex. In fact, this society-the Ibos towards the end of nineteenth century - is the
'real subject' of the book.

4
Achebe also builds into his analysis of the society a universal element which sets the book
free from the fetters of time and place. The novel is about the human predicament itself.
This makes Things Fall Apar? specific and universal at the same time.
It is also suggested that the style and tbe language of the book, like its structure and
characterisation, is very simple. Once again, this is not true. Achebe has borrowed a large
part of his technique from the oral art of narration which is quite common among the Ibos
and which gives the impression of being simple but is not really so. Achebe makes use of
'Ibo words quite frequently, weaving tbem skilfully into his suuctures of English. Again,
-
extensive use of proverbs which he translates from Ibo sometimes literally, sometimes
after modifying them significantly - also lends complexity to his style and the use of
language.
It is because of these specific features that Things Fall Apan is considered a modem
classic.

25.6 Suggested Reading

Achebe, Chinua, Morning. Yet on Creation Day (~einemann,c on don),' 1975

Dathorne, O.R., African Literature in the Twentieth Century (Heinemann. London).

Killam, G.D., Chinua Achebe (Heinemann, London). 1969

Palmer, Eustace. An Introduction to the African Novel (Heinemann, London), 1972
~ a y t h i e rClaude,
, 7'he Literature & Dought of Modem Africa (Pall Mall Press,
London), 1964
Wright, Edgar, The Critical Evaluation of African Literature (Heinemann, London),
, -
"
,
a

25.7 Answers to Exercises

I
I
I
(1) Things Fall Apart is both specific and universal because while dealing with specific
I characters in a specific society at a specific point of time. Achebe invokes the very
predicament of man. The novel thus transcends the barriers of time and place.
b
(2) The style of 77tings Fall Apar? is simple in appearance only. It is so because Achebe
adopts the style of oral narration. However. on closer scrutiny we find many features
of style and uses of language which make it quite sophisticated. The use of Ibo words
and proverbs is the most prominent of these features.