Representation of Post Independent Africa: A Man of the People

Abstract

Contemporary African fiction has been able to establish a tradition and aesthetic of its own in a short span of time. The last couple of decades have witnessed a phenomenal growth and interest in African writing. The dominant theme of African literature is the political and cultural emancipation of its people aiming at a reassertion, reinforcement and reinvigoration of the African character and identity. Almost as a rule the new African literature is a literature of protest, of disillusion, of tension and agony and deferred hope, of self introspection and self-assertion.

African writers are intellectuals and social critics in real sense, representing the conscience of the society. These writers have diagnosed the ills afflicting African societies and devised formulas to restructure societies by transforming the very mindset of the society. For it is the moral duty and responsibility of a writer to inspire, educate and guide people to fight against all authoritarian and anti-human oppressive exploitative forces that plagued their existence in order to attain identity and selfhood.

Colonial and postcolonial African literature is the product of the effect of encounter with European culture in general and European literature in particular. This was especially true of the African writers who had received European education in the educational institutions established by European imperial powers. The educational institutions were set up by the European colonizers in the guise of civilizing mission but only to mute the native tongue and to curb the native resistance. The African predicament in this sense is closely related to the Indian predicament.

European invasion in Africa caused fragmentation of African society and Africans were mentally colonized to the core. They blindly imitated their European predecessors in all walks of life. The colonization of the tribal people fragmented socio-cultural, political and traditional life of the natives that resulted into polarization. In the postcolonial African fiction the plight of Africans is largely explored. Contemporary African writing thus, constitutes a significant part of the postcolonial literary discourse. It has quickly established its presence and reputation in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The socio-political change to which Africa has been subjected since colonization find expression in the contemporary African fiction. The African novel dramatizes the tensions and conflicts that result from the effect of socio-political changes on the individual as well as on the community as a whole.

The fundamental concern of African literature is the reclamation of the past and recreation of African history. The contemporary African literature has been able to capture and express African sensibility in its true colour. The African writer has been much influenced by politics, probably due to the fact that African intellectual is an integral part of the political elite. Thus, African literature intends to reflect the numerous political phases of the continent.

The novels of Achebe are critiques of colonization and constitute a chronicle of life in Eastern Nigeria. The novels depict the Nigerian situation in different phases - precolonial, colonial, preindependence and postindependence. The success of Achebe as a novelist is attributed to his ardent desire to delve deep into African tradition. He writes about Igbo life as an insider and dispassionately mirrors the strengths and weaknesses of the Igbo traditional society. Achebe's primary concern has been to educate the Africans in the real sense, helping them to shed off disabling ignorance, illusions and preconceptions perpetrated by unfortunate subjugation to alien races. He ascribes the African writer with bounden duty to teach his countrymen about the glorious African cultural heritage. The contemporary African writer has willingly embraced the revolutionary role of awakening the masses and Achebe is the foremost pioneer in this mission.

It is evident from Achebe's fiction that the encounter with the aggressive and technologically advanced west in the form of colonial authority forms the corpus of his fiction generating intense conflicts within African societies. His novels, in one sense, assist the decolonization of the people, who have suffered the trauma of foreign conquest. His works form a series of continuum, and cover a period of about one hundred years of Igbo's history, and by implication of all African countries which have passed through similar experiences. He himself states that his novels serve the purpose of consolidating whatever gains people or leaders have made or imagined they have made in their existential journey through the world and they serve to sanction the change when it can no longer be stopped. The importance of Achebe's fiction lies in the presentation of men in action, in living reaction to their fate, as well as from his own perception that underlies his imaginative world and confers upon it relevance and truth. Thus, Achebe moves far ahead from merely delineating the traumatic effects of colonialism on subject people towards offering a positive vision.

A postindependent Nigerian novel, A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe is a scathing attack on political opportunism. It depicts the extent to which the traditional values are turned upside down in the aftermath of independence resulting in gloom, uncertainty and disenchantment. Achebe leaves the novel open ended, for an impasse in the political system has reached and military intervention is plainly not a viable solution to the problems of the political governance. The coup in the novel serves as a symbol of abolition of false regimes constituted by politicians like Chief Nanga and thus, the arrival of coup ensures a way, a hope, a path for better future. At the close of the novel, Odili begins to have a sense of what is to be done and his enlightenment allows the possibility of a new political attitude with a vision. It reiterates that no political order is permanent and the old order is to be destroyed to make the way for the new.

The novel questions the dichotomy of power and leadership in the newly emergent nation state. The country is now in the hands of native people, but there is no worthy leadership so as to speak of, and the leaders are governed by the drive of unrestrained acquisitiveness, unchecked political corruption and unbridled self-interest. The quality of the leadership and the response of the people to that leadership form the crux of the novel. The African people at the helm of affairs follow the footsteps of whitemen in their attitudes, actions and mindset dismantle the hopes and aspirations in the independent Africa.