What Is African Literature?
What Is African Literature?
What Is African Literature?
Chinua achebe’s things fall apart is a worthy archetype of the novel which
shows the tragic cosequences of african’s encounter with europe.the
village of umofia is a representative of traditional ibo society.a similarity
can be drawn between the changes in the protagonist okonkwo’s life and
the social change that nigeria under went before and after its encounter
the european culture.having examine the strains andstresses in ibo society
in the wake of colonialist’s advance in things fall apart and arrow of God
and the problems facing the educated class in societyin modern nigeria on
nolonger at ease, in a man of the people achebe shows what nigeria made
of their countryconsequent to the departure of the imperialist.achebe also
wrote things fall apart to present a complex dynamic society to a western
audience who perceived african society as primitives,simple and
backward.unless africans could tell their side of their story,achebe
beleved that the africans experiences would forever be mistold even by
such well meaning authors as joyce cary in”mister johnson”.cary worked
in nigeria as a colonial administrator and was sympathetic to the nigerian
people.yet achebe felt that cavy along with other western writers such as
joseph conrad misunderstood africa.many european writers had presented
the continent as a dark place inhibited by people with impenetrable
primitive minds.achebe considered this reduction poirtrayal of african
racist.
African literature is known for its rich traditions.in the novel things fall
apart, the social harmony of the village is evocked vividly through
achebe’s presentation of the customs and tradition extended from
birth,through marriage,to death and of the educatinal,religious and
hierachyical system in umofia village.achebe takes a strong satirical stand
in a man of the people, to show how the local traditions and customs are
expoited by the modern politician to meet their selfish needs.
Ngugi wa thiongo’s novel the river between has revealed ngugi’s interest
in society traditions and beliefs.he explores this field in the theme of
cultural conflict.the novel tells the story of the separation of two
neighbouring villages of central kenya caused by differences in faith and
set in the decades of roughly the earely 20th centuary.the bitternes
between them caused much hatred between the adults of each side.the
story talks about young leader waiyaki who has a role of uniting the two
villages kameno and makuyu through sacrifice and pain.the novel is set
during the colonial period when whites settlers arrived in kenya.ngugi wa
thiongo’s writings are interested in society,in his people’s day to day
activities and how these experiences affect their daily lives.this is
something he stated in in his speech he gave at the fifth general assembly
of the presbyerian church of east african in nairobi1970.ngugi’s writing
show great awareness of the fact that the social environment is open to
changes that affect man in his day to day existence.this is where ngugi’s
sensitivity lies as a writer. Ngugi does not merely look at the problems
affecting the individual line of his characters he goes further to expose the
pychological struggle and changes these problems produced in them.
Macgoye,o.m.1986).coming to birth.london:heinemann.
Abena,d.f.(.1991).the emancipation of women:an african
perspective.accra ghana university press.