Africa Tell Me Africa
Is this your back that is bent
This back that breaks under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun
But a grave voice answers me
Impetuous son, that tree young and strong
That tree there
In splendid loneliness amidst white and faded flowers
That is Africa your Africa
That grows again patiently obstinately
And its fruit gradually acquire
The bitter taste of liberty
- David Diop, 'Africa'2
Chinua Achebe is a post-colonial Nigerian writer who almost all his
life has been struggling to bring back to his own nation the sense of dignity which
had been lost in the process of colonisation and gaining of independence. The
purpose of this study is to present Achebe's ways of contradicting the long lasting
idea of wild, uncivilised Africa. However, one should pay attention to the fact that
Achebe does not put blame for what had happened to Nigeria on the white man
only. He admits that what has been taking place in his country after the end of
colonialism to the present day is the pure example of neo-colonialism.
The poem quoted at the beginning of my thesis refers to complex
history of African path to the twice-lost freedom. First, this freedom was taken
away by ignorant Westerners, who came to Africa and claimed it as their own.
And it was taken away for the second time by African leaders who, under the
disguise of the saviors, gave the false liberty a 'bitter taste.'
Although Achebe has written much more literature than is analyzed
here, I have chosen four, probably most important novels.Things Fall Apart
(1994),Arrow of God(1974) and No Longer at Ease(1994) create an African
trilogy. Their main purpose is to display step by step the impact that the advent of
the white man had on the Nigerian nation. Achebe introduces the Igbo3 people
since he is the descendant of their tradition. He is on the crossroads of cultures
because his parents were converted Christians but the rest of his family remained
faithful to the tribal Igbo tradition. In effect he was given the possibility of
learning both the religion of the colonizers and the culture of his ancestors. That is
why the deep insight into two different and antagonistic worlds enabled Achebe to
objectively display the past culture of the Igbos and the relationship between his
nation and the Europeans. He is very critical about the white man's attitude
towards Africans.
Equality is the one thing which Europeans are conspicuously
incapable of extending to others, especially Africans. But anyone
who is in any doubt about the meaning of partnership in that
context need only be reminded that a British governor of Rhodesia
defined the partnership between black and white as the partnership
between the horse and its rider (...) For centuries Europe has ruled
out the possibility of a dialogue. You may talk to a horse but you
don't wait for a reply! (HI,23)
Since he does not expect the white man to clarify the true vision of past Africa,
and, moreover, he is not willing to give the white man such a right, Achebe feels
inclined to show to his people that they had a civilized and rich past.
Things Fall Apart is the novel which describes the life of the Igbos
before the coming of the colonizers. It introduces the complex religion and
political systems that operate within the tribe. The social and moral values seem
very often controversial, but at the same time they show the loyalty and
faithfulnes of the Igbos towards the systems they had constructed themselves.
Arrow of Godis the continuation of the previous novel since it reflects the
situation of the Igbo people right after the meeting with Europeans and the
dangers they faced when accepting the new religion.No Longer at Ease, the last
novel from the trilogy, introduces to the reader the situation the young generation
of Nigerians is put into right after the gaining of the independence. There is the
atmosphere of hopelessness and being lost in the disarray of old values and the
new ideas about modernity with its corruption and ignorance. The main characters
of these three novels fail because of the lack of flexibility in their personalities.
However,the novels themselves do not carry negative pictures of these
characters because they failed. The meaning of those novels is rather that the
three men were left for themselves , they were abandoned by their kinsmen. And
a single person, even if he or she has got the right intentions, cannot possibly
realize them by him- or herself.
Anthills of the Savannah is the fourth novel analyzed in this study and,
at the same time the latest one written by Achebe. It is different from the three
mentioned above in the way that it shows the change of Achebe's attitude towards
the situation of Nigeria. In this novel Achebe does not accuse colonialists for the
devastated condition of his country any more. He makes it clear that these are
Africans themselves that are responsible for the actual state of things in Nigeria.
He proposes definite solutions for saving Nigeria from the impotent leaders. He
claims that writers should take a strong stand and not hesitate to criticize the
hopeless governments that reside over Nigeria.
In this analysis I will try to combine all those ideas presented by
Achebe in his novels and divide them into the three most crucial themes:
female position, the Igbo art, religion and language, and politics. They all
constitute Nigeria as the country of 'peoples that did not hear of culture for the
first time from Europeans; that their societies were not mindless but frequently
had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty, that they had poetry and,
above all, they had dignity. (HI,25)
2 The poem comes from Anthiils of the Savannah and it begins the last chapter of this novel.
3 The name Igbo appears in this thesis written in two different ways. Achebe himself names his native clan Ibo, and in this form it appears in his novels. Critics, such as Ogbaa, prefer using the term 'Igbo'. Both forms are correct.
