Thesis
Thesis
Thesis
Chinua Achebe (b. 1930), a Nigerian novelist, short story writer, essayist, poet,
critic, editor and author of children‘s literature, is famous for his profound novels
describing the effects of western customs and values on traditional African society.
Achebe‘s satire and his keen ear for spoken language have made him one of the must
highly esteemed African writers in English. He is widely known as the father of African
gloriously gifted with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent‖ (qtd. in Achebe, A
Man, cover page). Similarly Michael Ondaatje, the most acclaimed international author
with Sri Lankan roots, adds some precious words in respect of Chinua Achebe that
Achebe is ―One of the few writers of our time who has touched us with a code of values
that will never be ironic‖ (qtd. in Achebe, A Man, cover page). Achebe is regarded as the
finest Nigerian novelist of the 20th century and his literary criticism and sociological
essays also have won praise. Achebe‘s writing has relevance beyond the anthropological,
Achebe is one of the most significant writers to emerge from contemporary Africa
with a literary vision that has profoundly influenced the form and content of modern
African literature. Achebe always raises a strong voice for African literature and against
of colonialism, was born in Ogidi, Eastern Nigeria as a son to a Christian evangelist and
teacher. He attended Church Mission Society School where he learnt the Bible. He
continued his study at Government College in Umuahia from 1944 to 1947. In 1948, he
joined at the newly established University College in Ibadan, run by the University of
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London and took his Bachelor‘s degree in 1953. He went to London and studied
1958 to 1961 and as a director from 1961 to 1966. He left the job after the massacre of
Igbos in Northern Nigeria in 1966 and moved to the eastern Nigeria. Over the course of
his life he has written nearly 300 books and he has become a powerful personality even in
writers‘ writings react to the discourse of colonization. They deal with the issues of de-
colonial rule. They also criticize the texts that carry racist or colonial undertones and it is
what can be noticed in the work of Chinua Achebe. So he is a great postcolonial writer.
Besides this, his works also deal with the universal qualities of human nature. As Achebe
himself says:
fostering respect for all people. Such respect can issue only from
that choke them. Africa meeting with Europe must be accounted a terrible
easily convinced herself that there was nothing there to justify the effort.
There are several postcolonial writers and critics who oppose Euro centrism,
racialism, imperialism and colonization like Homi K. Bhabha, Frantz Fanon, Leela
Gandhi, Gayatri Spivak, Helen Tiffin, Robert Young, Griffiths, Hamid Dabashi, Bill
Ashcroft, V.S Naipaul, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Bharati Mukherjee, Nadine
Gordimer, Michael Ondaatje, Anita Desai etc. Among them Achebe is an African
postcolonial writer whose writings especially focus on race relations and the effect of
Achebe is the first generation of African novelists and his wrings are really
Chinua Achebe is a prolific black writer and he is considered one of the most
original literary artists writing in English. Achebe has always taken as a primary concern
particular reality of modern Africa which is rich in variety of ethnic and cultural
identities, but it is complicated by the impact of European colonialism. His works are
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and savages by colonizers which are changed with their alternatives sets of tradition,
ideals, values, and behaviors. Achebe is even dismayed, however, to Africans themselves
internalizing these stereotypes and turns away from their cultures to interpret the African
past from an African‘s point of view. He wrote short stories and novels illuminating the
Achebe, one of African writers in the west, whose works explore the impact of
argues that for most African societies, which have been enough through colonialism,
English is a national language. It helps the diverse ethnic communities to speak to one
another. Achebe opines that national literature of Nigeria will be written in English. In his
English language gave them a language with which to talk to one another.
If it failed to give them a song, at least gave them a tongue, for singing.
There are not many counties in Africa today where you could abolish the
language of the erstwhile colonial powers and still retain the facility for
to write in English or French are not unpatriotic smart alecks with an eye
the process that made the new nation states of Africa. (26)
of language. Language forms a huge part of the culture of a people–it is through their
language that they express their folk tales, myths, proverbs, history. For this reason, the
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imperial powers invariably attempted to stamp out native languages and replace them
with their own. As Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin point out, ―There are two possible
chosen the idea of subversion rather than rejection. As Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin say,
―Achebe‘s writing displays a process by which the language is made to bear the weight
Achebe uses the language of the colonizer to convey the Igbo experience of that
colonization. The idioms, proverbs and imagery of these books all invoke his Eastern
Nigerian culture, forcing the reader to accept on Achebe‘s (linguistic) terms, the story he
has to tell. Indeed, his purpose is to drive out the colonial myth of the primitive Africa
and to establish a true picture of the people and their culture. Primarily he wants to make
western readers know that Africa has its own myth prior to colonial myth and to remove
challenges European exposing African‘s history, religion and civilization through his
powerful writings.
In his first successful novel Things Fall Apart (1958), he successfully corrects the
imperialist myth of African primitivism and savagery by recreating the Igbo culture of
the Eastern Region of Nigeria; its daily routines, its rituals, its customs, and especially its
people dealing with one another in a highly civilized fashion within a complex society.
The interpretation necessitated, as well as a look at the invading culture; Achebe tilted the
has emerged from these spiritual contests with a deeper and more comprehensive sense of
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what it means to inhabit the alternate worlds of post colonialism, worlds that are at once
aristocratic and democratic, heroic and ironic, ancient and contemporary. Similarly, his
second novel No Longer at Ease (1960) follows Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of the
protagonist of Achebe's first novel, throughout his failure to successfully combine his
traditional Igbo upbringing with his British education and affluent lifestyle in Lagos
during the late 1950s. Describing Igbo village life during the 1920s, Arrow of God (1964)
centers on Ezeulu, a spiritual leader, whose son Oduche attends a missionary school to
learn about Western society and technology. When Oduche comes home, he nearly kills a
sacred python, which precipitates a chain of events culminating in Ezeulu's loss of his
position as high priest and his detention by British authorities. Highlighting the
widespread graft and abuse of power by Nigerian leaders following its independence
from Great Britain, A Man of the People (1966) focuses on the tribulations of a Nigerian
teacher who joins a political group working to remove a corrupt bureaucrat from office.
The Man of the People is the jolly, cosy image created by Mr. Nanga,
later, inevitably, the hon. Dr. Nanga. The story is told in the first person by
offers of bribes and threats of destruction. This lands him in hospital, but
the days is saved by a military coup which sends the Minister of Culture
(1971), which later was republished as Christmas in Biafra (1973) reflects on the human
tragedy of the Nigerian civil war, using plain language and stark imagery. Similarly,
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some of the stories in Girls at War (1973) are about aspects of imminent war. Most of the
stories deal with the conflict between traditional religious values and modern, secular
mores, displaying the full range of Achebe's talents for humor, irony, and political satire.
Divided into two parts, Morning Yet on Creation Day (1964) addresses a number of
literary and political themes, with special emphasis on traditional and contemporary roles
of art and the writer in African society. Set in the fictional West African country of
Kangan, Anthills of the Savannah (1988) is about three childhood friends who hold
influential governmental posts. When one of them fails in his bid for election as president
for life, he works to suppress his opposition. After successfully conspiring to murder one
friend, he meets a violent death during a military coup, while the third friend dies in a
street riot. Generally considered Achebe's most accomplished work, Anthills of the
Savannah illustrates the often dire consequences for society when individual
responsibility and power are recklessly exploited. While retaining the use of Igbo
proverbs and legends to enhance his themes, Achebe also pays more attention to the
development and role of the women characters in this novel. In the book, Achebe gives
women strength and composure as the agents of traditional morals and precepts. Finally,
Hopes and Impediments (1988) gathers new and previously published essays and
racist. The book also includes a tribute to American novelist James Baldwin, along with
both traditional oral literature and from the present and rapidly changing
society. Thirty years ago Chinua Achebe was one of the founders of this
new literature, and over the years many critics have come to consider him
known writer Rose Ure Mezu pays respect to him by adding some precious words:
The greatest accolade given him was summed up in one metaphor: the
eagle on the iroko. Now, anybody familiar with the African landscape
knows that the iroko is the tallest, strongest tree in the forest and that the
eagle is, of course, the king of the birds. It is not an easy feat to scale the
tree; that is why the Igbo proverb insists: ‗One does not climb the iroko
appropriate all that he finds there: he may not be able to do so again. The
eagle, however, can both scale and soar above the tree over and over. (26)
In this metaphor the iroko then represents the field of African literature; the eagle,
Chinua Achebe. Achebe has, of course, literarily climbed and soared above the iroko
several times. More than those of any other African writer, his writings have helped to
Achebe focuses especially African writers and African literature. He wants all
African writers should prefer writing their own experience in their own style so as to
make known African literature widely popular sharing the history, culture, civilizations
and religion of Africa And for the same it is essential to have a strong commitment
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among African writers. Achebe says, ―Most African writers write out of an African
It is obvious that a writer should write for reformation of the society and the
nation. A good writer sacrifices his whole life for the national goal and social welfare. A
writer should also be involved with contemporary issues to explore in depth the human
society regain its belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years
education, in the best sense of the world. Here, I think my aims and
Achebe basically remains constant in his role as a social one. He sees his task as
essentially that of restoring dignity to his own people. He helps his society to regain
belief in itself. He seems to suggest in fact, that the public responsibility and communal
tie are more essential then creative value for any African writer.
In Achebe‘s essay book Morning Yet on Creation Day he has embraced instead
the idea at heart of the African oral tradition that ―art is, and always was, at the service of
man" (13). ―Our ancestors created their myths and told their stories for a human purpose‖
(14). For this reason, Achebe believes that any good story, any good novel, should have a
message, and should have a purpose. Achebe believes that the novelist must have a social
regeneration that must be done . . . I for one would not with to be excused.
past) did no more than just teach my readers that their past – with all its
imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the
Achebe has given especial focus to the Nigerian women is his work because they
have a very important role, duty and responsibility in the society. Without their support a
nation can not be progressed. So to pay respect, he gives diverse role to Nigerian women
in his work; it is because of his love of Nigerian people and the society which can be
Women constitute (and still do) the core of the rural workforce – farming,
women [are] to be seen not heard, coming and going, with mounds of
foofoo, pots of water, market baskets, fetching kola, being scolded and
beaten before they disappear behind the huts of their compound. (36)
Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian
influences, and the clash of values during and after the colonial era. His style relies
heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward narration with
representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. His especial concerns with African
culture, African tradition, African religion, African literature, African nation and
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prevailing problems of African people of postcolonial era made him a great postcolonial
black writer.
Igbo cultures are the customs, practices and traditions of the Igbo people of
southeastern Nigeria. It comprises archaic practices as well as new concepts added into
the Igbo culture either by evolution or by outside influence. These customs and traditions
include the Igbo people's visual art, music and dance forms, as well as their attire, cuisine
and language dialects. The same culture is highlighted in Chinua Achebe‘s works. It is
not because of he belongs to the Igbo culture but because of his love of African culture
and rejection of western culture. Every culture has its own importance and significance.
is done by Achebe through his literary works. Cultures are reflected through many things
like music, art, dance, mythology, language, tradition, feast and festival and so on.
In Igbo Culture, a sense of tradition was highly significant. The Igbo people
would carry out the various traditions that had been passed down from their ancestors
centuries ago in their everyday lives. These traditions or customs that came in the form of
funeral ceremonies, one‘s manners, rites of passage, and more were the backbone of the
Igbo culture. They brought the tribe closer by allowing the people to come together and
One of the most notable Igbo traditions is the rite of passage for young girls and
boys maturing into adulthood. This rite of passage is not a sudden acceptance into
adulthood but rather a series of rites they must go through over time before they become
a true adult. Only eight days after birth, a child goes through the rite of circumcision.
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Every boy and girl must be circumcised in order to be part of the Igbo culture. Boys and
girls must also complete the rite of wearing cloths. This entails going from wearing
(fattening a girl before marriage). This custom is done to promote healthy offspring as
well as a healthy marriage. Itu Anya is the fourth rite of passage, lasting for eight days,
where one becomes a diviner. During this time, the child has time to think, reflect, and
even communicate with spirits in order to gain the power, knowledge, and courage that is
needed to become a diviner. The last rite of passage for a child in Igbo culture is Igba-
Mgba or wrestling. In this activity one shows his true strength and courage and with
The Week of Peace is a sacred time for the Igbo people. Before any one is
allowed to plant their crops they must live in peace with their neighbors for a week to
honor Ani, the great goddess of the earth. It is ordained that if this peace is broken than
they will not receive a blessing from Ani and their crops will not grow. Achebe
demonstrates how important this week is to the Igbos through Okonkwo‘s beating of his
wife. As Achebe writes in Things Fall Apart, ―Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and
left her‖ (33). It was a shocking moment for Igbo people when they heard of Okonkwo‘s
actions because it was the first time for many years that a man had broken the sacred
peace.
Mbari, a popular ceremony among the Igbo people, is a festival of the visual arts.
For them art is created for the service of human being and is to make the life of people
is more a festival of the visual arts, the plastic arts, though drama and
songs are presented there as well. There you will find, I think, what our
people thought of art and that‘s the reason I am referring to it. Some of the
statements made by Mbari are very profound. One is that art is in the
invented to make the life of the community easier, not to make it more
Another similar tradition in honoring the gods is the New Yam Festival. At this
time of the year, before the harvest begins, the Igbo people celebrate the joy of a new
harvest year. At night they throw away the yams of the old year and all of the cooking
pots and pans are thoroughly washed. This is also a time to honor the earth goddess again
and the ancestral spirits of the clan. ‗Yam Festival‘ and ‗Harvest Season‘ have a great
importance to Igbo men, women and children. The same thing has been vividly picturized
Every child loved the harvest season. Those who were big enough to carry
even a few yams in a tiny basket went with grown – ups to the farm. And
if they could not help in digging up the yams, they could gather firewood
together foe roasting the ones that would be eaten there on the farm. This
roasted yam soaked in red palm – oil and eaten in the open farm was
Aside from ceremonial traditions, the traditions of telling stories have great
importance in Igbo culture. It is not only fun but also educational because through these
folk tales, myths, riddles, and proverbs the young Igbo children can learn about their
Similarly Achebe highlights Igbo culture even in A Man of the People ―Five or six
dancing groups were performing at different points in the compound. The popular ‗Ego
Women‘s Party‘ wore a new uniform of expensive accra cloth‖ (1- 2). Here he glorifies
Igbo women‘s cultural dance which has great importance in their culture. New Year Yam
Festival, no doubt, has great important and yam food is also equally important in
accordance with their culture. Whenever some guest comes to home they serve ‗yam
food‘. Once Odili visits his friend‘s house where his friend‘s parents serve some boil
home village was too far away and I didn‘t want to spend the holiday in
school I decided to go with one of my friends to his home which was four
or five miles away. His parents were very happy to see us and his mother
If some people go to visit to some special person, they bring the gift of yam, ―There were
Finally Achebe‘s writing career is so firmly attached with Igbo culture which
cannot be separated. His very popular book Things Fall Apart has given good description
of Igbo people and their culture like ‗Yam Festival‘ and ‗Harvesting Season‘. In all of his
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writings, he presents and highlights Igbo culture whether it is novel or story or essay or
with the Achebe phenomenon. She seeks to distill from close readings of
all Achebe‘s writings – short fiction, novels, essays, children‘s books, and
poetry – beliefs that could reflect the ideology of both his specific Igbo
The first chapter of this research is a general introduction to the novelist, Chinua
Achebe, a postcolonial black writer which proves this research is fairly based on
postcolonial perspective. The second chapter deals with methodology that applied to test
the hypothesis of the research with general introduction to philosophy of colonialism and
and it proves the text to be influenced with colonialism and its consciouness. Odili, the
chief character of the novel A Man of the People, is conscious about it and revolts against
it strongly. The final chapter illustrates the finding of this research in brief.
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and referred to Romans who settled in other lands but still retained their citizenship.
Colonialism was a process that began by fits and starts in the different parts of the world
but everywhere it locked the original inhabitants and the newcomers into most complex
and traumatic relationship in human history. Though this process of forming a new land
was not temporarily identical around the world, its effect aftermath was homogenous in
its kind. The new communities were unformed or reformed with a wide range of practices
large body of writings is responsible for such practices. Such imaginative production
includes a wide range of writings including public and private records, letters, trade
. . . notably, the United States, Britain, France, and to a lesser extent, West
Germany and the Soviet Union are at the center of scientific research and
land and goods. It is not merely the expansion of various European powers into Asia,
Africa or the American from late 15th century onwards because it is a recurrent
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acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory.
metropole and the social structure, government and economics of the colony are changed
between the metropole and the colony; between the colonists and the indigenous
notion of expansion of society beyond its original habitat. These processes of expansion
The term colonialism normally refers to a period of history from the last 15 th to
20th century when European nation states established colonies on other continents. In this
period, the justifications for colonialism included various factors such as the profits to be
made, the expansion of the power of the metropole and various religious and political
beliefs. The colonialism literature had produced a variety of discourses such as the myth
of power, the race classifications, and the imagery of subordination. Such discourse were
social change. Working within the global capitalist system, colonialism is closely
monopoly capitalism via colonialism and Lenin advocates forcefully for the self-
No matter, the European colonizers moved for the settlement and plantation in
America, or for trade in Indian or for the civilizing mission elsewhere, it resulted an
enormous global shifts of population in the passage of time. Both the colonized and the
colonizers had moved. The colonized were not only slaves but also people from the
diverse profession and class including labourers, domestic servants, travelers and writers,
definition. Elleke Boehner defines the colonial literature in his famous book Colonialism
and Postcolonialism Literature as, ―. . . writing concerned with colonial perceptions and
experience, written mainly by metropolitans, but also by Creoles and indigenes, during
colonial times‖ (4). He also talks abut the colonialist literature, which is informed by
theories concerning the superiority of European culture and the rightness of empire.
the imperialists‘ point of view. He says, ―From the days of colonization, not in text in
general but literature, broadly defined, underpinned efforts to interpret other lands,
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offering house audiences a way of thinking about exploration, western conquest, national
majority and a minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decisions affecting the
lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit
of interests that are often defined in a distant metropolis. Rejecting cultural compromises
with the colonized population, the colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and
their ordained mandate to rule. As John Decker says in ―The Neocolonial – Assumption
a hierarchy of cultural importance and value is imposed by the colonizing power, both on
the conquered indigenous societies, and on the white agents of colonial oppression
themselves‖ (445).
Colonialism can be defined as the conquest and control of other people‘s land
and goods. For Stephen Slemon colonialism is, ―All kind of social oppression and
discursive control‖ (50). Colonialism is over now because their direct ruling over the land
has come to end. In the colonial period they invented a new way of controlling over other
through different other mediums like language, culture etc. As Said says:
with colonial expansion on the whole it was literature written by and for
is defined in the following way, ―Colonialism has lead to racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance, and . . . Africans and people of African descent and
people of Asian descent and indigenous people were victims of its consequences‖
(Ferguson xii). Thus, colonialism was a cruel form of subjugation which only resulted in
the discrimination of the indigenous people living mostly in Asia and Africa. They were
―Colonialism is not satisfied merely with holding the people in its grip and emptying the
native‘s brain of all form and content. By a kind of the perverted logic it turns to the past
of the oppressed people and distorts, disfigures and destroys it‖ (170). The colonizers by
employing ruling ideas in their discourse started domination over the natives. Homi K.
reality which is at once. An ‗other‘ and get entirely knowable and visible.
(70-71)
Historians often distinguish between two forms of colonialism, chiefly based on the
number of people from the colonizing country who settle in the colony:
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land to farm.
resources to export to the metropole. This category includes trading posts, but it
applies more to the much larger colonies where the colonists would provide much of
the administration and own much of the land and other capital, but rely on indigenous
In both cases, people moved to the colony, and goods were exported to the metropole. A
However, in this case there may be other immigrants to the colony - slaves to grow the
and the result was either a culturally mixed population or a racially divided population,
very different from a colony. However, there is some similarity with exploitation
According to Hans Kohn there are two kinds of colonialism; they are settlement
and dependence. The first one is really very dangerous to natives. As he says in the
Review of Politics:
of mere dependence. The former ones are more dangerous for the natives.
The out standing example is the United States where the settlement of the
In fact most of the indigenous people of colonial territory were oppressed and enslaved
by the occupying power. Sometimes they were even deported from fertile land or
imperial outlook, thereby creating a consequential relationship between the two. Through
Imperialism means formation of an empire in which one nation has extended its
exploitation of the native land and people. It is a process of exploiting the foreign land
through direct rule and invasion, making the inhabitants of the invaded land the subject
people and treating them as cheap labours and slaves, whereas imperialism rules the
distant land through economic exploitation. It is an attitude constituted by the west about
a distant land which it governs through economic and political dominance. As Edward
Said says:
‗Imperialism‘ means the practice, the theory and the attitude of the
Imperialism is indirect rule over the distant countries especially the countries of
Third World, by the European power whereas colonialism is the outcome of the
imperialism which consists of implanting settlements on the distant territory for direct
exploitation of both nature and beings. Similarly Osterhammel says, ―Imperialism is the
creation and control of what he calls trans- colonial empires. Colonialism concerns only
colonial politics, but imperialism implies both colonies are not just ends in themselves,
advanced nations upon underdeveloped and developing countries. For Philip G. Altbach
their influence in developing countries‖ (452). It is similar to old colonialism but the way
of domination and control is different since the old colonies are no more today. They
have got independence. That‘s why new controlling power emerged replacing traditional
colonialism. As he says, ―The old colonial era is almost dead. Formerly colonial areas are
now independent nations. On the ruins of traditional colonial empires, however, has
emerged a new, subtler, but perhaps equally influential, kind of colonialism‖ (452). For
A policy whereby a major power uses economic and political means to perpetuate
neocolonialism persist in the economic relations of the rich and poor countries. Political
former colonial powers were or are used to maintain control of their former colonies and
dependencies after the colonial independence movements of the Post-World War period.
The term neocolonialism can combine a critique of current actual colonialism (where
some states continue administrating foreign territories and their populations in violation
states, and that this economic control inherent to neocolonialism is akin to the classical,
European colonialism practiced from the 16th to the 20th centuries. In broader usage,
neocolonialism may simply refer to the involvement of powerful countries in the affairs
of less powerful countries; this is especially relevant in modern Latin America. In this
powerful nations behave like colonial powers of imperialism, and that this behavior is
says, ―As long as imperialism exists it will, by definition, exert its domination over other
Africa, soon after the process of decolonization which followed a struggle by many
national independence movements in the colonies following World War II. Upon gaining
independence, some national leaders and opposition groups argued that their countries
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were being subjected to a new form of colonialism, waged by the former colonial powers
and other developed nations. Kwame Nkrumah, who in 1957 became leader of newly
independent Ghana, was one of the most notable figures to use the term. According to
of imperialism.
postmodern literature, is a body of literary writings that consist of reactions to, and
analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. Postcoloniaism is a set of theories found
religious and theological studied, and literature. It often involves writings that deal with
contemporary postcolonial discourse that has been shaped over recent times. It attempts
to re-read this very emergence of post colonialism and its literary expression itself. As
colonial process. Post- colonialism, rather, begins from the very first
colonialism brings into being. In this sense, post- colonial writing has a
them is absolute because it covers vast area of studies. Some critics have argued that any
colonial period, may be defined as postcolonial, primarily due to its oppositional after
(45). Any way this vast field of postcolonial studies has been gaining prominence since
the 1970s. It is used in various fields like professional fields and heterogeneous subjects.
enterprises‖ (50). Some scholars would date its rise in the western academy from the
terror or sidestep the pain and wrong that it is the objective of a terrorist
through and beyond terror and shocking breaks in time it inflicts, and
(149)
Post- colonial theorists are providing space for multiple voices. This is especially
true of those voices that have been previously silenced by dominant ideologies. It is
widely recognized within the discourse that this space must first be cleared within
academia. Edward Said, in his book Orientalism provides a clear picture of the ways
social scientists, specifically Orientalists, can disregard the views of those they actually
study - preferring instead to rely on the intellectual superiority of themselves and their
was concerned. The orient was almost a European invention, and had been
had happened, its time was over. . . . Orient is not only adjacent to Europe;
it is also the place of Europe‘s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the
source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of
its deepest and most and most recurring images of the other. (1)
Some post-colonial theorists make the argument that studying both dominant
knowledge sets and marginalized ones as binary opposites perpetuates their existence as
homogenous entities. Home K. Bhabha thinks, ―the post-colonial world should valorize
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spaces of mixing; spaces where truth and authenticity move aside for ambiguity. This
space of hybridity, he argues, offers the most profound challenge to colonialism‖ (113).
And he further says, ―offer the most profound challenge to colonialism‖ (113).
nations or groups which have been colonized once. Colonialism, in fact, is a Eurocentric
identity of all groups of people throughout the world. Simon During argues, ―Post-
colonialism is regarded as the need, on nations or groups which have been victims of
drawing the colonizational relationship between the East and the West. In the article
published in the Frontiers of Philosophy in China, Yang Geng and Zhang Qixue write:
about the global relationship between the East and the West. Post-
colonizational relationship between the East and the West in the process of
western centrality and shares some ideas with Marxism. This article
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Postcolonial literature works through the process of writing back, re-writing, re-
Said asserts:
cultural works, not to demote or somehow dish dirt on them, but to re-
them of some version of the master- slave binary dialectic. . . . The idea of
the formerly colonized. In A Man of the People, Chinua Achebe‘s protagonist is shown to
be exploited in several ways like politically, economically, socially and so on. And he is
western ideas and literary practices in the academic courses of universities throughout the
discursive‖ (96). Such a literature emerged as a result of the changing global scenario
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which was no more Eurocentric and it advocates for the minority and ‗other‘ groups. He
also adds:
its determining relations with its material situation. The danger of the first
essentialism. (96)
There is not single and absolute meaning, definition and features of postcolonial
literature. Postcolonial literature has taken on many meanings. Although it covers vast
2.4 Decolonization
forces encounter each other- opposed one marked by violence. Decolonization is painful
because it demands the social structure being changed from the bottom up. However, it
does not just overthrow the old colony but it follows the old suppression and people will
be suffering as in colony. Old tradition will be replaced by new one which will be equally
another species of men without any period of transition; there is a total, complete and
absolute substitution‖ (35). The recently decolonized homeland is invaded by the colonial
remnants that leads to the political and socio-cultural alienation of the native in his own
land which can be described as one of the many traumatic experiences as heralded by
colonialism in various spheres of colonized nation states. Still there is the impact of
European imperialism in the recently decolonized countries even though the countries
have already been decolonized. After decolonization, when the colonizers leave the
country, some sort of cultural, political and psychological components are left by them in
the nation states. As a result of that, colonialism does not end along with the end of
In the similar fashion, Achebe himself has been the critic of colonial impact upon the
And so our world stance in just as much need of change today as it ever
did in the past. Our writers are responding to something in themselves and
acting also within the traditional concept of and artist‘s role in society-
Regmi 32
using his art to control his environment has addressed themselves to some
of these matters in their art. And their concern seems to upset certain
people whom history has dealt with differently and who persists in
denying the validity of experiences and destinies other than theirs. (1197)
―colonialism does not end with the end of colonial occupation‖ (17). However, ―the
very notion of colonial after-math acquired a doubleness inclusive of both the historical
scene of the colonial encounter and its dispersal‖ (17). Thus, though the empire leaves the
country, the psychological components that ruin and rule still remains at the aftermath of
colonialism.
Revolt is the outcome of imperialism and colonialism which had played very notorious
role against the spirit and values of African people. Colonialism concerns with the policy
of occupying other‘s territory and exploiting its natural resources physically, militarily or
The missionaries taught their converts that life could be separated into
basis of African culture namely the unity of religion and life. Missionary
teaching thus attempted to attack the cement which held African societies
belief in spirits and supernatural forces and gods… taboos and veneration
Historically, the practice of colonialism has initiated from the extension of Roman
Empire that led to Spanish, French and British imperialism coherently up to mid
twentieth imperialism in Africa commenced from 1885 and lasted up to 1960 by running
the state affairs more than seven decades. At this pitfall, Nigeria was colonized by British
Empire in early decade of expansion and got independence after a revolution in 1960.
Christianity was dominant during colonial period and dominating culture British
empire applied its own religion as means of colonialism. On the other hand, Africans
applied religion as a means of tit for tat to fight against colonial force with the synthesis
or support from ancestors and gods, except the converts, other native people fought
against British Empire. K. Asare Opoku presents, ―African used their religion as a
weapon to resist colonial rule and often relied on magic and intervention of their
Writing a book against imperial influence is itself resistance. So, post colonial
literature presents counter attack in against of colonial literature on colonial ethos through
Regmi 34
writing. The writers had to resist the colonial influence by dealing with native culture and
social affairs. They also had to awake the people through writing. Elleke Boehmer writes
To mend the self negating disjunction between language and lived reality,
colonized writers had to begin to imagine the world from their own point
of view. it was the writer‘s task, Nugugi has sad, to assert to right [of the
once colonized] to name the world for ourselves‘ (‗Moving the center‘,
1991) Chinua Achebe is, too has spoken of the imperative need of writers
to help change the way the colonized world was seen, to tell won stories,
Anti-colonial resistance denotes the expansion of hatred and arrogance over the
colonial practice through culture, literature and revolution as well. It is the resistance
against colonial mentality and its performance. Some writers have conceived colonial
postulates bitter arrogance against white as criminal by using 2 nd person ‗you‘ in her well
celebrated essay ―A Small Place‖, ―For isn‘t it odd that the only language I have in which
to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime? And
what can that really mean? For the language of criminal contain only the goodness of the
forces encounter each other colonizer and decolonized one marked by violence. The true
intellectual generation of native culture seems ready to change and be changed as Odili in
A Man of People. Drawing the scenario of violence, the prominent post-colonial figure
Regmi 35
Fanon writes in his book, The Wretched of Earth, ―The naked truth of decolonization
evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives which emanate from it. For if
the last shall be first this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle
In terms of resistance, the native people react and sharpen their knives over the
realizing that the western ethos is all false and misguided ones. The native is always
has been given which is chiefly applied to carryout this research work i.e. post-colonial
theory. Aiming to make the theory clear and comprehensible to all, some related
‗Neocolonialism‘ and ‗Imperialism‘ with ample citation from the works of profound
theorists; otherwise it may not be practical and meaningful to prove the text as purely
text from the postcolonial perspective i.e. colonial consciousness in Achebe‘s A Man of
the People.
Regmi 36
understanding of the concept ‗self‘, the subjective experience and the ability to
experience ‗feeling‘. Besides, it denotes the executive control system of the mind. It is
Consciousness depends on an individual experience. Everyone has not the same type of
individual. It makes link between present awareness to past experience. For John Locke,
a modern philosopher and great thinker, consciousness is, ―the perception of what passes
conscious of an external object and the quality of being aware especially of something
within oneself. In Merriam- Webster Dictionary, it is defined as, ―the quality or state of
being aware especially of something within oneself; the state or fact of being conscious
of an external object, state, or fact; awareness; especially; concern for some social or
Chinua Achebe‘s A Man of the People is his forth but must powerful novel set in
introduction to Things Fall Apart, ―Achebe published A Man of the People, a novel
located outside of Nigeria that explores the corruption of post-colonial society‖ (XX).
The novel is a political satire that narrates, with the misuse of power by postcolonial
political leaders, a worry that reflected in all of Achebe‘s literary contributions. However,
Achebe was able to deal with this critical subject in a mode of satire that is frequently of
A Man of the People vehemently criticizes the drawbacks of military rule which
had usurped power in the guise of clean administration which had turned out to be worse
than the democratic government in the hands of politicians in post- independent African
Nigeria have been described. There is a custom to offer bride-price to father of the bride
to marry her by the bride-groom, ―Chief Nanga had paid a bride-price of one hundred and
fifty pounds for his daughter‖ (148. The character Obi Okonkwo is ready to pay not only
the bride-price but also 100 pounds for bride‘s educational and incidental expenses as
demanded by bride‘s father, ―one hundred pounds on her education and other incidentals‖
British companies still wields their power in business dealings which demonstrates
neocolonial influence by the British in their former colony. Further, the above company
Regmi 38
makes hefty contributions to the campaign funds of the ruling ‗People Organization
Party‘s mainly to see that party was in power to furthering their business interest, ―British
Amalgamated has paid out four hundred thousand pounds to P.O.P. to fight this election?
Yes, and we also know that the Americans have been even more generous, although we
don‘t have the figures as yet‖ (147-48). Thus, Achebe divulges how a strong Western
contribution has its effect on the African corruption and greed that he satirizes in the
novel.
portrayal of Nanga as a selfish man helps to make the title of the novel is wholly ironic.
In his novel, A Man of the People, he vividly dealt with the ―corruption in high places‖
situation. Thus, the proposed remedy rendered implies that Achebe was susceptible to the
accusation that he had prior insider‘s knowledge of military plans. Further, Achebe exerts
his technique of identifying the competition between competing value systems for
This novel describes various political and social changes that have been taken
place in Africa (Nigeria) since its publication. The novel describes Nigeria in its post-
independence phase, during which time the country became a cesspool of corruption and
misrule in the context of colonial-style of social and economic development. In the back
traditional village and the modern city, A Man of the People brings
past, while trying to make its way into an independent future. (Cover
page)
In the novel, Odili, the protagonist, has colonial consciousness while Nanga,
celebrated by ignorant villagers. He gets his name, fame and financial benefit. He is
approachable politician‖ (1). He seems to be a true man of the People/ politician/ leader/
guardian of the country. On the other hand, Odili is observing every incident very
attentively and critically. The influence of the corrupt politician upon people; and the
That after noon he was due to address the staff and students of the Anata
Grammar School where I was teaching at the time. But as usual in those
highly political times the villagers moved in and virtually took over. The
Assembly Hall must have carried well over thrice its capacity. Many
villagers sat on the floor, right up to the foot of the dais. (1)
Although such leaders cannot lead the nation in the right path, they try to lead for their
selfishness. Nanga, being a corrupt Minister of Culture, exploits the ignorant people
Regmi 40
using power and position and leads the nation to instability. It is the fossils left by
colonial empire. Just Odili and his friends, mostly the educated people are conscious
about it.
taught during his early career. Odili, a teacher at the school, views the ensuing
celebration by the illiterate massed and the arrival of Nanga hesitantly. Hoping for
something miracle to happen for destruction of evil practices in his native land as well as
drastic change in the mentality of native people by erasing blue printed false image of
As I stood in one corner of that vast tumult waiting for the arrival of the
ignorant villagers dancing themselves lame and waiting to blow off their
gunpowder in honour of one of those who had started the country off
down the slopes of inflation. I wish for a miracle, for a voice of thunder, to
hush this ridiculous festival and tell the poor contemptible people one or
two truths. But of course it would be quite useless. They were not only
The local song played on the old ―Grammar-phone‖ (1), women dancing to
celebrate the occasion, and the gunfire by Nanga‘s hooligans all perfectly portray this
kind of situation and reflect how African (Nigerians) can sacrifice national interest for
personal interests. In the novel, Odili remembers his childhood when he praised Nanga as
his ideal, honest politician. This image of Nanga is shattered during Odili‘s last visit to
Parliament, when he watched the political assassination of minister of finance, who was
Regmi 41
―a first rate economist with a Ph.D. in public finance‖ (3). The minister of finance
presents a complete plan to avert the financial crisis to cabinet, but the government reject
it because it will result in its defeat during the upcoming election. Any politicians
supporting the minister of finance were fired and the corrupt politicians accuse the honest
minister of being a traitor being un-African, and of ―aping the white man‘s mannerisms
and way of speaking‖ (4). Odili is shocked to see these lies being used as political
Let us now and for all time extract from out body-politic as a dentist
economics and aping the white man‘s mannerism and way of speaking
with are proud to be Africans. Our true leaders are not those intoxicated
with their Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard degrees but those who speak the
language of the people. Away with the damnable and expensive university
education which only alienated an African from his rich and ancient
i.e. cheating in election, bribery, corruption, misuse of power and position for personal
interest and so on. It is noticed by Odili, ―Nanga must have gone into politics soon
afterwards and then won a seat in parliament. (It was easy in those days – before we
During the transitional period, intellectuals are badly treated or abused using bad
and immoral words like ―Traitor, ―Coward‖, ―Doctor of Fork your Mother‖ (6) and make
ignorant people puppet in the hands of opportunist like Nanga. They promise to do a lot
Regmi 42
of things for the welfare of the country and people but practically do nothing else. Some
so-called intellectuals become puppets in politicians hands, ―But the teachers in that
school were all dead from the neck up‖ (7). Odili like intellectuals are only conscious
about the matter and living in great tension. Odili expresses his felling, ―Perhaps it was
their impatience with this kind of hypocrisy that made men like Nanga successful
politicians while starry-eyed idealists strove vainglorious to bring into politics niceties
and delicate refinements that belonged elsewhere‖ (11). However, Nanga like politician
tries their best to tempt even the conscious people about their dirty game by offering
some things and opportunity to them, ―Odili, I think you are wasting your talent here. I
want you to come to the capital and take up a strategic post in the civil service‖ (12).
Mostly, newly independent countries from the hands of colonial rule are highly
influence by nepotism and misuse of power. People in the power use power for personal
benefits and for the welfare of their nearest people and relatives:
matter what you knew but who you knew. And, believe me, it was no idle
talk. For a person like me who simply couldn‘t stoop to lick any Big
Man‘s boots it created a big problem. . . . I took this teaching job in the
Odili‘s political views are inseparable from his character. His opinion of his girlfriend
Elsie is also significant in revealing his character; he thinks that he has been unlucky in
Elsie was, and for that matte still is, the only girl I met and slept with the
same day – in fact within an hour . . . I can‘t pretend that I ever thought of
marriage, but I must admit I did begin to feel a little jealous ay time I
found her reading and rereading a blue British air-letter with the red
Queen and Houses of Parliament stamped on its back. Elsie was such a
and widely known. He used to earn money not only from his fair service but also
corruption. People used to see him with gift because of his ―fear‖ (29). He did not learn
to work without bribery, ―There were all those people who brought my father gifts of
yam, pots of palm-wine or bottles of European drink, goats, sheep, chicken. Or those who
brought their children to live with us as house-boys or their brides-to-be for training in
politics; and uses this opportunity to exploit common people. Odili‘s father is a corrupt
―District interpreter‖ (28) get chance to ―plunged into the politics‖ (31) and later he is
elected from our village as ―the local chairman of the P.O.P‖ (31).
Odili admires chief Nanga in the very beginning of the story because he is
unknown about his naughty behavior but later he has got opportunity to watch Nanga
closely in his brief stay at his house. Life at Nanga‘s house during the first few days
undermines Odili‘s clear cut views, which are somewhat eroded by the opulence:
All I can say is that on the first night there was no room in my mind for
assigned to me. When I lay down in the double bed that seemed to ride on
Regmi 44
a cushion of air, and switched on that reading lamp and saw all the
beautiful furniture a new from the lying down posit9ioj and looked beyond
the door to the gleaning bathroom and t the towels as large as a lappa I had
Moreover, Odili even begins to feel sympathetic about the temptations faced by
men in power:
A man who has just come in from the rain and dried his body and put on
dry clothes, is more reluctant to go out gain that another who has been
indoors all the time. The trouble with our new nation – as I saw it then
lying on the bed – was that none of us has been indoors long enough to be
able to say ‗to hell with it‘. We had all been in the rain together until
yesterday. Then a handful of us – the smart and the lucky and hard ever
the best – had scrambled for the one shelter our former rulers left, and had
At this point in the story, it is clear that Odili‘s disapproval of the country‘s
politicians is mixed with his new understanding of how a common man could be tempted
by power. Still, politicians like Nanga are the villains of the story; however attractive
may be, they seem immoral. The so-called politician Chief Nanga is found to be immoral,
mannerless and lecherous. A leader should be of good morality, good manner, good mind
and even not polluted by sexual world. Such good qualities are not found in Chief Nanga.
In Odili‘s words:
Regmi 45
sophisticated, assured manner. The way she spoke she must have spent her
After all, I told myself, Chief Nanga who was barely literate was probably
In the story, men like Nanga take bribes and use the money to build apartment
blocks ―of seven storey luxury flat‖ (101), which they rent to earn profit. They also make
false promises to the population about future rewards if they are re-elected.
When Odili meets Jean and her husband at Nanga‘s house, differences arise
between African and European codes of conduct. Odili attends a party at Jean‘s house
while her husband is away on business, ―advising . . . government on how to improve its
public image in America‖ (44). Odili finds this situation particularly ironic as he learns
about the corruption in Nigerian government through her. Jean takes him on a tour of the
city as she takes him home, and Odili senses a hidden purpose, as he notes that ―some
certainly knew the city well, from the fresh smelling modern waterfront to the stinking,
maggoty interior‖ (54). Odili laughs uneasily at the signs of corruption and inequality in
Bori bit is simultaneously suspicious of Jean‘s motivation, wondering if the tour was
simply out of curiosity or for ―some secret reason, like wanting me to feel ashamed about
my country‘s capital city. . . . who the hell did she think she was to laugh so self-
righteously? Wasn‘t there enough in her own country to keep her laughing all her days or
Odili‘s sense of affinity with Nanga is badly shaken when he takes Elsie, his
girlfriend, to stay at Nanga‘s house. Odili refers to Elsie, ―she is just a good-time girl‖
Regmi 46
(60). Before Odili can gather courage to enter her room at night, Nanga enters her room
and rapes her while Odili listens in a crisis of inertia to her apparent screams and calls for
help:
I rushed into the sitting-room and made to bound up the stairs when I
trudged up the stairs in the incredible delusion that Elsie was calling on
me to come and save her from her ravisher. But when I got to the door a
strong revulsion and hatred swept over me and I turned sharply away and
went down the stairs for the last time. . . . Recollection and panic
followed soon enough and then the humiliating wound came alive again
and began to burn more fresh than when first inflicted. My watch said a
few minutes past four. And Elsie had not come. My eyes misted . . . I took
off my pajamas, got into other clothes and left the room by the private
door. (71-72)
Elsie‘s rape by Nanga is the best portrayed immoral, corrupt and mischievous
nature of so-called politician. This incident brings drastic changes in the mentality of
Odili. Out of anger and humiliation Odili leaves Nanga‘s home at midnight but returns
later to take revenge, ―What a country! I said, You call yourself Minister of Culture? God
help us.‘ And I spat; not a full spit but a token, albeit unmistakable one‖ (74). Nanga
offers him another girl instead of Elsie but Odili‘s estrangement is final and continues
throughout the novel joining with Max forming a new political party as a political
revenge. Since then he becomes very much careful about Nanga. Nanga likes so-called
‗Man of the People‘ who apparently seems very innocent but in reality they are degraded,
Regmi 47
corrupt, ravisher and so on. It is Chief Nanga, Minister of Culture who seduces his own
student, Odili‘s girl-friend and lives happily in the house made out of corrupted money:
. . . another man had wrenched my girl-friend from my hand and led her to
bed under my very eyes, and I had done nothing about it – I do nothing . . .
would go back to her hospital that day or spend another night with Chief
Nanga. (76)
Odili is obviously conscious about ruler and ruling system of the government in
the country; that is not free from the colonial ruling system and the tradition of it. After
forming new political party joining with many other friends like Max, he commits to save
the country from the grip of corrupt politicians. In this newly formed party, there is not
any corrupt and ―illiterates like Chief Nanga‖ (78) but there are ―intellectuals like Max‖
(79). There are many intellectuals from different fields in the new party including ―a very
beautiful Lawyer who… met at the London School of Economics. There was a trade –
unionist, a doctor, another lawyer, a teacher and a newspaper columnist‖ (78). Max, Odili
and some other friends are very serious because whether their hard-won freedom will
finish in the hand of corrupt politicians. Whether they can save the country from them by
lunching a new party or not, ―Max and some of his friends having watched with
deepening disillusion the use to which our hard-own freedom was being put by corrupt,
mediocre politicians has decided to come together and launch the Common People‘s
Convention‖ (78).
Regmi 48
can start great revolution but not by the common people like ―the worker, farmer, the
revolution to end suppression, exploitation and dirty game of so-called Nanga like
politicians by giving a historical example of great revolution, ―And I‘d like to take our
friend up on a purely historical point. The great revolutions of history were started by
intellectuals, not the common people. Karl Marx wan not a common man‖ (80). Odili
expresses his patriotic feeling in the form o f poem in which mother refers to ―Earth-
mother‖ (82). His deep ―tragic feeling‖ (82) has been poured in the following verse along
with his ―high promise‖ (82) to make the country a fine and holy place freeing she from
the grips of those sons who makes her sad, ―And the son she has pinned so much hope on
I will rebuild her house, the holy places they raped and plundered,
And I will make it fine with black wood, bronzes and terra-cotta. (82)
Odili discovers that this new party is backed by a junior minister in the current
government and wonders why the minister does not resign if he is so discontented. He
insisted that max not take any assistance from such politicians, ―I would have thought it
was better to start our new party clean, with a different kind of philosophy‖ (84), but he
gradually begins to realize that idealism does not work when a whole ―country is on the
inaugural campaign meeting, Nanga‘s men laugh at Odili in front of a crowd and Edna‘s
father threatens him with a machete with the suggestion that he withdraw his nomination:
to a bull. The tick fills its belly with blood from the back of the bull and
the bull does not even know it is there. He carries it wherever he goes – to
eat, drink or pass ordure. Then one day the cattle egret comes, perches on
Odili‘s focus on revenge keeps him steadfast despite humiliations brought on him by his
headmaster, Mrs. Nanga, and Nanga‘s supporters; his focus on revenge changes into a
genuine desire to destroy Nanga and the corruption he represents, as is clear in his
statement, ―although I had little hope of winning Chief Nanga‘s seat, it was necessary
nonetheless to fight him and expose him as much as possible‖ (110). At this point, Odili‘s
character has two clear aspects. Publicly, he wants to expose Nanga for his misdeeds in
the hope that there ―may be someone who would get up and say, No, Nanga has taken
more than the owner could ignore!‖ (110). Privately he wants to marry Edna out of love,
as revenge on Nanga.
When Odili began his political campaign, he recalled that when he was at
university, his sole ambition was to become ―a full member of the privileged class whose
symbol was the car‖ (110), and that ―many of us vowed then never to be corrupted by
bourgeois privileges of which the car was the most visible symbol in our country‖ (111).
By this point, however, Odili has undergone a great change; he has acquired a new car
through party funds. He assesses his present position, ―and now here was I in this
Regmi 50
marvelous little affair eating the hills like yam – as Edna would have said. I hoped I was
safe, for a man who avoids danger for years and then gets killed in the end has wasted his
care‖ (111)
What would happen, if I were to push my way to the front and up the
of that blabbing buffoon and tell the whole people – this vast contemptible
crowd – that the great man they had come to hear with their drums and
dancing was an Honorable thief. But of course they knew that already. No
single man and human there that afternoon was stranger to that news – not
While Odili considers his nest step, He is spotted by Josiah, now an ally of Nanga. Nanga
calls Odilia thief, forcing him to pause in order to respond. Nanga calls him to the dais
and publicly ridicules him, beginning with his own interpretation of the past:
This is the boy who is thrusting his finger into my eye. He came to my
house in Bori, ate my food, drank my water and my wine and instead of
saying thank you to me he set about plotting how to drive me out and take
over my house. . . . He was once my pupil. I taught him ABC and I call
take a girl on whose head I had put the full bride-price and many other
expenses – and who according to our custom is my wife – this girl here. . .
.(140-41)
Regmi 51
Then Nanga thrust the microphone into my face. At the time Odili thinks he has a chance
to expose Nanga‘s corruption and exploitation and he says, ―I come to tell your people
that you are a liar and . . . ‖ (141). While speaking Nanga pulls the microphone away
smartly, and slaps him on his face. To Odili‘s shock, the crowd joins in the beating:
he got one fairly good kick from me. He slapped me again and again. Edna
rushed forward crying and tried to get between us but he pushed her aside
so violently that she landed on her buttocks on the wooden platform. The
roar of the crowd was now like a thick forest all around. By this time
blows were falling as fast as rain on my head and body until something
heavier than the rest seemed to split my skull. The last thing I remembered
was seeing all the policemen turn round and quietly away. (141)
Achebe presents Odili as an educated man who is conscious about the corruption
and suppression and who wants to bring drastic change in the society but fail because
they are easily finished by villains. Max and Eunice are Odili‘s friends. Max is killed by
an election jeep belonging to Koko, a ministerial colleague of Nanga, and Eunice kills
Koko out of anger after Max‘s murder, ―she opened her handbag as if to take out a
handkerchief, took out a pistol instead and fired two bullets into Chief Koko‘s chest‖
(144). When Nanga elected unopposed from Anata, Private armies begin to rampage,
―sacking one market after another in the district, seizing women‘s wares and beating up
people‖ (144) and in this state of anarchy, the Prime Minister reappoints the old cabinet
to office. The army can not accept this decision and ―by staging a coup at that point and
Regmi 52
locking up every member of the Government‖ (147-48). The political turmoil serves to
help Odili, after Nanga is arrested, Edna reveals that she never wanted to marry him,
―Marry him? To be frank with you I did not want to marry him. . . . All the girls in the
college were laughing at me . . . it was only my father . . .‖ (146). Still, despite the
military coup Odili knows that nothing has changed and refuses to accept this simple
No the people has nothing to do with the fall of our government. What
happened was simply that unruly mobs and private armies having tasted
blood and power during the election had got out of hand and ruined their
masters and employers. And they had no public reason whatever for doing
Overnight, Max becomes a ―Hero of the Revolution‖ (148), and the people who
have previously idolized Nanga and Koko now denounce them. Odili comes to
understand the entire ethic of social acceptance and rejection within African (Nigerian)
society, ―Max was avenged not by the people‘s collective will but by one solitary woman
who loved him. Had his spirit waited for the people to demand redress it would have been
waiting still, in the rain and out in the sun? But he was lucky‖ (149).
As Odili seeks to understand why private loyalty seems to be more important that
public morality, he remembers the story of Josiah. Rejected by the whole village at the
beginning of the novel for stealing a blind man‘s stick, Josiah ends up as Nanga‘s most
morning for stealing . . . and later in the evening saw him again mounting the altar of the
new shrine in the presence of all the people to whisper into the ear of the chief celebrant‖
Regmi 53
(149). This exemplifies how priorities can change suddenly, when individual self-interest
comes into play. In this way, Josiah‘s story foreshadows events later in the novel. In this
regime just ended – a regime which inspired the common saying that a
man could only be sure of what he had put away safely in his gut . . . in
such a regime. I say, you died a good death if your life had inspired
someone to come forward and shoot your murder in the chest – without
Africans. Their Igbo culture is influenced by westerners‘ culture, ―After Christmas. You
know Eddy‘s father is going to America‖ (39). Here, indigenous people are celebrating
westerners‘ festival i.e. Christmas. Language is also very important aspects of culture.
Without language no culture can be transmitted to new generation. If the native language
chances to collapse native culture, ―they would become English people. Don‘t you see
they hardly speak out language? Ask them something in it and they reply in English‖
(39). The wearing cultures has also highly influenced from capitalism. Odili once
attaining in a programme where Chief Nanga is delivering his speech but he observes the
There was one man I noticed particularly. His robes were made from some
strange these days. But what surprised me was that the tailor had retained
Regmi 54
endless and clear black type: 100% WOOL: MADE IN ENGLAND. (65)
Finally, Achebe has suggested that if a nation is to progress and to end the
―oppression and corrupt government‖ (149), it must take proper care when selecting
leaders, otherwise corrupt politicians will always get their way and citizens will simply
be a means by which they can fulfill their corrupt goals. An electorate needs to be strong
enough to withstand the opposing pulls of private and public pressures. National interest
must be given supreme importance as opposed to self-interest, which has the power to
corrupt leaders. Achebe successfully projected his own ideals through Odili Samalu, the
Chinua Achebe has reflected pathetic and tragic story of post-independent African
countries in postcolonial term through A Man of the People. The colonizer wants to
reestablish colonization. In fact, the colonizer never forgets the sweet or taste of
colonialism and wants to see the past in the future with the sense of returning to the
period when they were free and held power in their own hands. On the other hands, there
is a mass of colonized people who are accustomed to live in such an impure situation and
relationship between the colonizer and the colonized; except a few educated and
Achebe, through his powerful writing, vividly portrays the real picture of
lawlessness, anarchy, chaos, exploitation and suppression in African countries rather than
consciousness and sense of protest in African countries. In the novel, the protagonist
Odili Samalu, an educated and conscious citizen, is the representative of all colonized
Africans while Chief M.A. Nanga, antagonist, illiterate politician, is the representatives
of the colonizer who is habituated to suppress and exploit the common people through
corruption using his power and position in post-independent African countries. When his
evil deed reaches the climax, Odili, joining with his friends like Max forms a new
political party to end the corrupt politicians‘ rule for ever. Aiming at overthrowing the
Regmi 56
corrupt government of Nanga-like politician, Odili has decided to fight for the
membership of the parliament from the same constituency wherefrom Nanga fights in the
forthcoming election. But unfortunately, the nomination paper, in which Odili has signed,
is seized by thugs from his people on their way to the Electoral Office. So Nanga is
elected unopposed. Odili cannot achieve his goal. So the dreams of all the Africans‘ are
shattered and now they have realized that no freedom, liberty and equality can be
achieved without joint protest against suppression. If the people were not divided, their
The novel deals with the social and psychological impact of European
African consciousness in the twentieth century. After colonial rule no nation can live
independently and no leader can lead the nation towards prosperity because of
When anarchy, suppression and exploitation reaches its climax, people should strongly
protest against it to give the way to the country from the situation of national crisis and
chaos. But here Achebe presents Odilia as a hero, intellectual and very much conscious
leader who fights against political instability, suppression, domination, and exploitation
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