CHAPTER 6: TRANSFORMATION OF THE AFRICAN MALE WRITERS
6.2 Chinua Achebe
6.2.1 Things Fall Apart (1958)
Things Fall Apart is a classic novel written by Achebe (1958) before Nigeria was liberated from colonial rule. The summary of this novel is provided in the literature review. Since its publication various authors, both males and females have provided a literary criticism of Things Fall Apart. The storyline of the novel centres on Okonkwo who is the protagonist in this novel. The reader is afforded a glimpse of the traditional customs and culture of the Igbo tribe through the people of Umofia. What has been of concern to many feminists a few decades ago was the question posed by Stratton (1994), “how could things fall apart for whom they were never together?”
Stratton further notes that,
Things Fall Apart was written and published in the years preceding Nigerian independence in 1960, a transitional period when political power was being transferred from colonial rule to a Nigerian male elite. Things Fall Apart legitimizes this process whereby women were excluded from post-colonial politics and public affairs through its representation of a pre-colonial Igbo society as governed entirely by men (Stratton, 1994: 27).
Throughout the novel Okonkwo’s prowess as a warrior, wrestler and political leader in Umofia remains dominant. The use of a male person as a central character facilitates the presentation of the fictional world through a male perspective leading to the exclusion of female insight. Marriage is an expectation in the Igbo community and the fully-grown daughter in her prime is the pride of her family. This is the reason
166
why Okonkwo persuades his daughter not to marry in exile so that he will benefit from the honour that her marriage will bring. The greatest expectation is that of motherhood that brings the new generation and ensures continuity.
Okonkwo looks down on women, thus he beats his wives. Clearly more women than men in Things Fall Apart have been presented as inferior human beings. The few women with privilege and power appear to be the only ones vested with religious authority in the community. Therefore, the novel is said to be inherently masculine and displays ostentatious male strength. One can conclude that Things Fall Apart reveals a serious male bias. “Despite his critical stance, Achebe does not relate the brutality of masculinity to the excess power a patriarchal society assigns to males.
Hence, what he advocates is not a dismantling of structures of male domination, but the incorporation into the male personality of qualities conventionally associated with the feminine” observes Stratton (1994:37).
6.2.2 Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
The setting of Anthills of the Savannah is Kangan, an imaginary country in West Africa, where Sam a military officer- also known as His Excellency, has taken over power through a coup de’tat. The national tragedy is relayed by three friends: Ikem, Chris Oriko and Beatrice. The political crisis in the novel escalates to counter coup de’tats, power games, political assassination, feminist agitation and many other incidents. The political turmoil in the novel stems from class struggles and power play, which are arguably fuelled by cultural materialist imperatives.
Ikem’s has a girlfriend, Elewa, who is semi-literate and works as a shop assistant.
She is pregnant with his child. Chris’ fiancée Beatrice is a well-educated woman, and holds a position of administrator at one of the state offices. Beatrice has known Ikem from childhood. She works for Sam therefore she has links to all the major characters. She observes the government activities and Chris and Ikem’s reactions.
Beatrice expresses her concerns to Chris and Ikem that their approach to the problems is not the solution simply because they are not connected to the people and the land.
167
Sam commands Chris to fire Ikem from his position as editor of the National Gazette but Chris refuses. Sam strongly believes that Ikem is involved in the ‘protest’ staged by the delegates of Abazon. Ikem is fired and soon thereafter he addresses a student group at the University of Bassa. In this gathering Ikem even makes a joke about the regime minting coins with Sam’s head on them. This very joke is turned to propaganda against Ikem. He is accused of wanting the president to be killed. Ikem is taken by the state police and charged of treason and conspiracy. He is later shot and killed.
Chris realises how dangerous Sam has become and goes into hiding after using his contacts within the international press to publicise the truth about Ikem’s murder.
With the assistance of Emmanuel, a student leader, and Abdul, a taxi driver, he is able to leave Bassa and heads for Abazon. Meanwhile the government of the day demands Chris’ arrest and further threatens anyone who withholds information about Chris’ whereabouts. Whilst travelling by bus, Chris hears the news that Sam has been killed and his regime overthrown in another coup. Whilst still on the bus, Chris witnesses a woman named Adamma being dragged off by a soldier to be raped.
Chris rushes to her rescue and the soldier shoots and kills Chris. Emmanuel, Abdul and Adamma return to Bassa to share the news of what has happened with Beatrice and others. Although Beatrice is grief- stricken, she is able to host a naming ceremony for Ikem’s child, born after his murder. Men traditionally perform the ceremony, but Beatrice fulfils this role here. She names the child Amaechina, a boy’s name which means “May the Path Never Close”.
6.2.3 Tranformation in the representation of women images by Chinua Achebe
Women, in Things fall Apart have no voice and are powerless as indicated in chapter 2. Achebe shows male superiority over females as part of the design of his work.
The only women that are afforded some respect by men are those that are imbued with spiritual powers. Achebe has been accused of minimizing the place of women in his novel through the androcentric portrayal of marriage as the enslavement of women and the exploitation of their labour. The wives of the main character
168
Okonkwo are abused, beaten and intimidated by their husband, who ridicules women as weaklings. When his third wife fails to make his afternoon meal ready at the prescribed time, Okonkwo goes to her hut, questions his other wives, and eventually beats the aberrant spouse (Stratton,1994:26). Acholonu in Azodo makes this observation about Achebe that:
Achebe’s earlier works, whether set in the urban or rural environments, the women are invariably made to live, be seen, and appreciated essentially through their husbands, lovers or children. The resultant artistic invisibility, coupled with the disability of inferiorized and stereotyped characterization, is a necessary technique for proving the man’s undisputed superiority and masculinity. This conscious marginalization of the womenfolk cannot but result in the creation of women who are more of outsiders than insiders in the complex drama of existence (Azodo, 2012: 44).
Achebe appears to have overlooked the female communal power, in Things Fall Apart. Instead he places undue importance on male power and privilege without acknowledging the female counterpart. Okonkwo’s wives and mother are kept in the background in order to project Okonkwo’s masculinity and prominence. Okonkwo attributes strength and power to men because he comes from a society in which patriarchy encroaches oppressively on every sphere of women’s way of life maintains Mezu (2006: 212).
Bicknell cited in Nwagbara (2012:136) observes that, Beatrice, in Anthills of the Savannah exemplifies Achebe’s commitment to giving meaning to womanhood against the demands of traditional values. Through Beatrice’s actions in the novel, it is understandable that she renounces the fact that women are restricted to mere mother type roles in the society Beatrice is Achebe’s first central female character in the novel and depicted as an independent woman. According to William (1977: 54),
“she is Achebe’s ideological and aesthetic contribution to the whole arsenal of debates to rid our world of gender chauvinism- and to make it more accommodating and more humane. Therefore, this change in artistic presentation is a transition from gender inequality to equality, which is an indication of a changing practical consciousness”. Beatrice is given the authority to name a new- born child which signals change in the power relations of the Kangan community. Beatrice is more than a character in Anthills of the Savannah, she symbolises a new Nigeria and a new world, where gender equality, human rights and socio-economic stability will
169
hold sway in the society. Her persona in the novel arouses a sense of renewed and liberated womanhood asserts Nwagbara (2012: 151).