The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
Abstract
This research work was on cultural affirmation in Chinua Achebe’’ s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. With reference to the analysis of the two novels, the study has shown that Achebe’s novels dramatize African cultural conflicts during colonial rule and their consequences on African ways of life. The novels also portray the history of the colonizers and the colonized at the time of the pre-colonial era. It is on this point that Achebe insists that art is the service of man.
For instance, he uses traditional Igbo religious, political philosophical, and artistic motifs in Arrow of God combine to illumine the abstract notion of duality. From the opinion of critics in the review of related literature, the research has shown that Chinua Achebe’s writing portrays Africa’s cultural identity and its ways of life. The study further revealed that Achebe’s work serves as an exemplar of Igbo tradition and social formation in society.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Chinua Achebe is one of the famous African writers whose works of art portray cultural affirmation in African society. This cultural affirmation as portrayed by the author is seen in these two novels under investigation…Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. In these novels, Achebe examines how the Igbo culture and tradition are practiced. For instance, in Arrow of God, Achebe portrays the events in the village of Umuaro with its focus on the tragic fall of its protagonist, Ezeulu in nine months.
Apart from Ezeulu’s fall, Achebe also portrays how his fall came as a tragic end of Igbo culture, and also the inequality, humanity, and oppression suffered by the Igbo people at the hands of the colonial masters. They did not have any king, and the chief priest was their supreme authority… the strongest among their clan, but on the contrary, he is a very weak man in the six villages in Umuaro. On the other hand, Achebe portrays another element of cultural affirmation in Things Fall Apart using the protagonist, Okonkwo a traditional African man, who is also a wrestler who defeated another wrestler champion with a nickname, the cat who never lands his back on the ground.
The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
However, Achebe portrays how Okonkwo’s drive to escape the legacy of his father… leads him to be wealthy, and powerful among the people of his village. In another instance, Okonkwo is the leader of his village, and he has attained a position in his village that makes him strive hard in his lifestyle. Consequently, it is on this point that the researcher research cultural affirmation in Achebe’s Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart with a view to investigating its root in African societies.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
One of the major concerns in this research work is a way of investigating the cultural affirmation in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God with reference to African society.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The main purpose of this research work is to examine the cultural affirmation in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart the study will also expose and bring out some other cultural practices in Africa.
1.4 Significance o the study
This research will be significant to the entire African society and what Achebe’s writings are all about, with reference to the two novels in this research work. The study will also be of great importance to literature students and other researchers who will find this research work important.
The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
1.5 Objectives of the study
The following are objectives of this research work are;
- to investigate the cultural affirmation as portrayed by Achebe in these two novels under study.
- to examine the author’s aims of writing Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart.
- to analyze and portrays what cultural affirmation is all about and the author’s intention toward African practices.
1.6 Research Methodology
The primary method in this research in this research work will basically focus on Achebe’s Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart, while the secondary method will examine other African literary novels, libraries, the internet, articles, and magazine for more information on the research work.
1.7 Scope and Limitation of the study
The scope of this research work will be limited to Achebe’s Arrow of God and Things Fall Apart.
1.8 Bio- Data of Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe was born Albert Chinulumogu Achebe on the 16 November, 1930. He was raised by his parents, in the Igbo town of Ogidi in Southeastern Nigeria. Achebe was excelled at school and won a scholarship to study medicine, but changed his studies to English and literature at the University College, now the University of Ibadan. Achebe became facilitated with world religions and traditional African culture and began writing stories as a University student. After his graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), and later moved to the metropolis of Lagos Nigeria.
The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
Achebe gain worldwide attention for his novels, Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s, while his later novels include; No Longer at Ease in 1960, Arrow of God in 1964, A Man of The People in 1966 while Anthill of the Savanna 1987. On the other hand, Achebe wrote these novels in English and defended the use of English, a language of the colonizers in African literature. In 1975, his lecture An Image of Africa.; Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, features a famous criticism of Joseph Conrad as a thoroughgoing racist; it was later published in The Massachusetts Review…amid some controversy.
The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
In 1990, Achebe returned from the United States and began their eighteen-year tenure at Board College as the Charles Stevenson professor of Languages and literature. In the year Things Fall Apart was published, Achebe meet a woman named Christiana Chinwe Okoli, who had grown up in the area and joined the (NBS) Nigeria Broadcasting Service staff when she arrived however, they were blessed with children until he died on 21 March, 3013 at the age of 82 years.
Other of his short stories are, Marriage is a Private Affair 1952, Dead Men’s Path 1953, The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories 1953, Civil Peace 1971, Girls at War 1973, and African short stories 1985.
The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
The Theme of Cultural Affirmation in Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God
