In his writings, the veteran Nigerian writer seeks to correct the distorted view of the African continent held by Westerners and authoritatively argues that the novelist is a teacher who needs to re-educate the people, writes CHARLES NGENO
In the past few days upon his death, several pages have been written about Chinua Achebe. Interestingly most, if not all writers, have described the literary icon in the superlative.
He has been described as the most popular of all African writers, most read African writer, Africa’s greatest writer.
He is largely credited for introducing African Literature to the rest of the world.
Achebe’s ideas have shaken the literary world, particularly in the West, where he launched his career by writing an article in which he accused the great English writer Joseph Conrad of being a racist.
In his writings, he seeks to correct the distorted view of Africa held by the Westerners and argues that the novelist is a teacher who needs to re-educate the people. In so doing, Achebe does not become a propagandist but write humorously and even at times becomes self-critical.
Literary giants
Most literary giants have extensively dwelt on his contribution as a novelist and given inadequate mention to his contribution as a short story writer.
‘Uncle Ben’s Choice’ and ‘The Voter’ are some of his souvenir short stories that every student of literature will inevitably encounter in their course work. ‘The Voter’ is a blend of satire, dark humour and skill, flavoured with Ibo proverbs. It is a criticism of the corrupt political systems.
In the story, Rufus Okeke, popularly referred to as Roof, a serious campaigner for Chief the Honorable Marcus Ibe, the Minister of Culture in the out-going government, is bribed by Ibe’s opponent on the eve of the election.
He is made to swear by the iyi (a curse) from Mbanta that he will vote for Maduka, Marcus opponent. At the polling station, torn between allegiance to his friend Marcus and the fear of acting against the iyi, Roof folded the paper, tore it into two along the crease and put one half in each of the boxes.
‘Uncle Ben’s Choice’ is a story set in the twentieth century urban Africa. Achebe presents the supernatural as a possibility or perhaps living in the imagination of the principal character.
Magic realism, which features prominently in ‘Uncle Ben’s Choice’, is a style of writing where there are elements of fantasy. He adeptly exploits colloquial forms of English. He makes Uncle Ben narrate his story in much the same language as he would use in his speech.
Whether told in realistic or in a more magical mode, Achebe’s stories have gained a great deal of their power from his skillful exploitation of language.
In fact, telling these stories to Achebe was as natural as breathing. Through his writings Achebe had a peculiar way of bringing out his characters, which in a way ended up reflecting our own collective view and ideas.
Achebe successfully mimics the storyteller’s craft in speaking to an imaginary audience. He does this by using a language that is closely aligned to the spoken word. That is to say he uses English with African language expressions as a way of finding a point of connection with the audience.
In all his works, Achebe has not shied away from confronting the social, political and moral issues of the day. In the beginning, he dealt with the realities of the clash of cultures before more recently dealing with corruptive social structure and search for justice.
Throughout most of his literary jewels, Achebe adopted the first person narration. He not only tells his stories first hand, but succeeds in making his narrations immediate and vivid.
In Uncle Ben’s Choice the narrator is an interesting person whom we the readers are conscious of his presence and enjoy his company.
Women issues
The African short story has always shown concern for the position of women in the society. He successfully shows the subjugated position women occupy without betraying his opinion.
As a writer, Achebe had the artistic power to hold the readers captive. He managed to fascinate them. He artistically succeeded thus by making use of suspense, vivid description, imagery, humour, satire and irony.
He preferred to write simply and directly, so that the writings become the window through which the reader looks directly at himself and or his society.
Achebe was born in 1930 in Ogodi, Eastern Nigeria. He attended the University of Obadan.
