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LIBERATION MOTIF IN SELECT NOVELS OF MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHlNUA ACHEBE :
A SEARCH FOR A NEW PARADIGM IN TERMS OF RELEVANT THIRD WORLD FICTIONAL STRATEGIES
Thesis submitted to the Pondicherry University for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in
ENGLISH
BY
FR. A. LEO ANTONY TAGORE, S.J.
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY PONDICHERRY 605 014
APRIL 1993
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is with a tremendous sense of gratitude and appreciation that I recall
the services rendered t o me by numerous friends, well-wishers, colleagues,
scholars and professoein the process of my completing successfully my Ph.D.
thesis. The journey has been at once challenging and hlfilling, exhausting and
enriching. However the role that these persons played all through the process
has been nourishing and sustaining me.
I owe my debt of gratitude first and foremost and in an abundant
measure to Dr. P. Marudanayagarn, Ph.D. Professor and Head of the
Department of English, Pondicherry University, who guided my research with
critical interest, scholarly insight, friendly concern and above all, with a
perfectionist's eye for the correctness of language, aptness and
appropriateness of style and format of the thesis, and the overall evolution of
thought and the impact of theme. I remember wi th a deep sense of gratitude
the long hours he has spent with me, discussing the different aspects of the
thesis, clarifying, criticising, elucidating and eliciting. I t has been an extremely
enriching experience relating to him as my mentor teacher and fiend. He has
introduced me, by his example and teaching, t o fascinating and hitherto
mchartered areas of research and investigation, specially to the infinite
research potential that is there in the domain of Commonwealth Literature
and that of Comparative Literature.
My sincere thanks are also due to my Professors in the faculty of
English of Pondicherry University. Their positive approach to me and their
timely suggestions and ideas have sustained my research fervour.
I express my deep sense of thankfulness to a host of my Jesuit friends
who were a constant source of encouragement and support : Fr. Xavier
Alphonse, S.J. who was instrumental in my conceiving and relentlessly
pursuing the topic that lent itself for fruitful research; Fr.G.Packiaraj, S.J.
who has all through rendered help by way of offering suggestions, comparing
notes and above all, by providing a stimulating companionship; and my
religious Superiors and fellow Jesuits who have given me the necessary
support and encouragement.
I place on record my sense of gratitude to Dr. C.D. Narasirnhaiah, for
his rare insights and views, and his monumental collection of works on
Commonwealth Literature in his Dhvanya Loka Library a t Mysore. The
American Studies Research Centre, Hyderabad, the Central Institute of
English, Hyderabad, the Central Library, Pondicherry University, the library
of the Department of English, American College, Madurai, the library of the
Regional Institute of English, Bangalore and the libraries of St. Joseph's
College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli and Loyola College, Madras have been
the resource centres I have visited and benefited from.
I remain grateful to the Pondicherry University and particularly to the
English Department for kindly allowing me to do research. My special thanks
are due to Rev. Sax, S.J. who &om Nigeria generously supplied me with
primary and secondary source materials on Chinua Achebe-
Finally let me thank Mr. Charles and Mr. Esther for the excellent
typing of the thesis and Profhirthan, M.Phi1. of the Department of English
of St.Joseph's College, Tintchirappalli for his meticulous reading of the rough
draft of the thesis and his suggested corrections and alterations.
April, 1993
Dr. P. Marudanayagam, P ~ . D . Professor and Head Department of Engl~sh Pondicherry University Pondicherry 605 01 4
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis entitled LIBERATION MOTIF IN
SELECT NOVELS OF MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHINUA ACHEBE : A
SOllURCH FOR A NEW PARADIGM IN TERMS OF RELEVANT THIRD
WORLD FICTIONAL STRATEGIES submitted by Fr. A. Leo Antony
Tagore, S.J., is a research work done during 1990-93 under my supervision
and that the thesis has n o t previously formed the basis fo r the award to the
candidate of any Degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or other similar
title.
I also certzy that this thesis represents complete independent work on
the part of the candidate.
Fr. A. LEO ANTONY TAGBRE, MA Department of English Pondicherry University Pondicherry 605 014.
DECLARATION
This is to certify that the thesis entitled, LIBERATION MOTIF IN
SELECT NOVELS OF MULK R A J ANAND AND CHINUA ACHEBE : A
SEARCH FOR A N E W PAILADIGM IN TERMS OF RELEVANT THIRD
WORLD FICTIONAL STRATEGIES submitted by me is a research work
done during 1990-93 under the supervision of Dr.P.MARUDANAYAGAM,
Ph.D., Professor and Head of the Department of English, Pondicherry
University , Pondicherry - 605 014 and that the thesis has not previously
formed the basis for award to me of any Degree, Diploma, Associateship,
Fellowship or other similar title.
I also certify that this thesis represents complete independent work on
my part.
PREFACE
It was during my fairly long stint with a College students' movement as
its national adviser that I began to dabble in liberation theology and liberation
movements and struggles in various third world countries. As it became an
absorbing interest I felt urged to make a study of some third world English
novelists who have sought to capture the liberationist aspirations of their
people and their struggles in their novels.
It was at this juncture, that a friend of mine who had already examined
the cultural assumptions of a group of South Indian novelists, proposed that
I could consider the possibility of a comparative study of two third world
novelists from the perspective of liberation. As Mulk Raj Anand of India and
Chinua Achebe of Nigeria came across to me as novelists with a basic
liberative thrust, I decided to work on theh keeping in mind the liberation
parameters and the literary aspects of a study like this. I discussed this topic
with colleagues and professors of English. I found their responses quite
positive and challenging.
The topic, however, assumed its present form only after I held a series
of discussions with my guide. It was he who enabled me t o understand the full
import of such a topic and the hurdles I would have to cross in order to
complete my research successfully. It dawned on me during these sessions that
an investigation of the novels of Anand and Achebe from the perspective of
liberation could not only yield some invaluable insights into the perceptions
and performance of these two wr ikrs as committed novelists but throw light
on some hitherto unexplored areas in the realm of third world English fiction.
This was how I commenced my research odyssey realizing that, while
investigating the comparative merits of h a n d and Achebe as committed
artists, it would not be an iduence study but an analogical one. In point of
fact, the whole exercise turned out to be a fascinating and liberating one, as
it helped me to rethink my own traditional and stereo-typed approaches .to
literature in general and fiction in particular and to be open to culture -
specific literary categories, outputs and approaches.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
In the present study, citations from Mulk Raj h a n d and Chinua
Achebe are from the following editions. Abbreviations here indicated are used
throughout.
h a n d , M u l k Raj
Untouchable (London : Wishart, 1935)
Coolie (London : Lawrence and Wishart, 1936)
Tulo Leaves and a Bud (London : Hutchinson, 1945)
The Big Heart (London : Hutchinson, 1945)
Gauri (New Delhi : Orient, 1976)
The R o d (Bombay : Kutub, 1961)
Achebe, Chinua
TFA Things FUZZ Apart (London : Heinemam, 1958)
NLAE No Longer At Ease (London : Heinemann, 1960)
AOG Arrozu of God (London : Heinemann, 1964)
AMP A man of the People (London : Heinemarm, and New York :
John Day 1966)
Anthills of the Savannah (Kenya : Heinemann 1987)
JTWE: Journal of Indian Writing in English
TBP The Banasthali Patrika
KJES The Kakatiya Journal of English Studies
WLWE World Literature Written in English
BW Black World
LHY The Literary Half Yearly
513s
CWQ
JCT;;;IVL,
LC
ALT
MFS
TLE
JLC
IJES
REL
CI3
Research in African Literature
Journal of Black Studies
Commonwealth Quarterly
Journal of Commonwealth Literature
Literary Criterion
African Literature Today
Modern Fiction Studies
The Literary Endeavour
Journal of Literary Criticism
The Indian Journal of English Studies
Review of English Literature
Chandrabhaga
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CERTIFICATE
PREFACE
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND RELEVANCE O F "LIBERATION" IN THE THIRD WORLD CONTEST
MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHINUA ACHEBE AMONG THEIR CONTEMPORARIES
LIBERATION MOTIF IN THE DELINEATION OF PROTAGONISTS
TRADITION VERSUS MODERNITY
CLASS WAR AND CASTE POLITICS
LIBERATION FROM THE FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
ART AND COTUIMITMl3NT
SUMMING UP
PAGE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
----------------------- I N T R O D U C T I O N -----------------------
This study aims at investigating the fictional writings of
Mulk Raj Anand and Chinua Achebe from the perspective of social
justice and liberation. While Anand's oeuvre is marked by a
deep-seated desire to portray and probe the hitherto unsung
plight and predicament of India's poor and marginalised people,
AchebeJs relentless logic and artistic fervour succeed in
reconstructing the glorious past of the Igbo tribe and in
indicting the havoc, psychological, social and cultural, wrought
by the colonial confrontation. The characters that people the
novels of Anand are the underdogs, the untouchables, the
unlettered and the unwanted categories, who would never have
found an entry into the world of literature, but for Anand8s
pioneering and bold initiative. Achebe has filled his fictive
canvas with men and women, drawn from the Igbo heartland
enacting the unheroic but warm, homely, intense and moving drama
of life, in its pristine purity and r a w innocence,
Both these writers are wedded to their respective national
history, culture and people as it emerges from their novels.
They not only love and respect their people and their traditions,
but are irrevocably committed to the task of educating and
conscientizing them and the Europeans, about the rich and
colourful cultural heritage and achievements that their respective
country can boast of.
In other words, Anand and Achebe are both committed
writers. Their novels are classified either as the political
novel or as the novel of dissent or protest. Achebe has, time and
again, confessed that ,he is a political writer and that he
believes in the politics of universal human communication and
mutual respect. Anand is a humanist and his humanism manifests
itself in a realistic representation of the inhumanity of the
situation of the oppressed masses, suffering various types of
disability, discrimination and alienation.
Anandfs humanism was the natural outcome of the impact of
his childhood experiences and observations, chastened and
purified in the crucible of his systematic and intense study of
the different systems of Western thought and philosophy. It is a
synthesis of a sort, which, in due course, becomes a unified
perception of the Protagorean dictum, ItMan is the measure of all
thingsM. The simmering anger and impatience that one often senses
in his works, are the product or offshoot of his passion for
social justice and human dignity.
It should nonetheless be added that Anandrs commitment as a
writer has been a target of scathing attack from several
literary quarters. Critics have been haggling over the question
of Anand's writings being pure agitprop or propaganda. Anand has
been charged with being propagandist in his writings. Moreover
he has been branded as a Marxist, leftist and a socialist because
of the predominance of social themes, stories and plots
of his novels.
While Anand admits that he has studied Marxism
systematically, he never professes himself to be a Marxist. He
may have been influenced by Marxian thinking and approaches to
social reality. His rejection of, and disaffection with
religion, creed and cult and his scant respect for superstitions
and irrational beliefs and fears are certainly expressive of his
Marxian sympathies. Nevertheless it may be unfair to label
him as a Marxist. His philosophy of life and approach to art
are still 'sui generisf. The societal analysis that undergirds
his fictional portrayals nay have been inspired or dictated by
Marxism. His anti-capitalistic sensibility as expressed in novel
after novel is a sure sign af his socialistic persuasion.
It is interesting to note that influences of Gandhi, Tagore
and Nehru are discernible in Anandts writings, Thus his concern
for the poor and the untouchables is not imported from the West,
but the byproduct of his association with Gandhi and learning in
the school of Gandhisrn. His socialist and modernist conception
of a new India is without doubt an echo of Nehru's political
philosophy. However, Anand reminds one of Rabindranath Tagore
when he touches the depths of the human spirit and pathos in some
of his novels and engages in probing motives and deeper
sensibilities of characters.
Achebe resembles Anand in some of his characteristics as a
writer. He too is a committed artist with a missionary zeal for
the restoration of dignity to his people. Achebe is a consummate
artist. His craftsmanship is nowhere in jeopardy. Without
sacrificing his overall aim of evoking the splendid past and the
harmonious but simple life-style of his ancestors, he has
succeeded in creating credible characters, substantive stories
and enthralling and absorbing plots.
While Anand doesn't conceal his sensibilities and political
posturing on occasions, Achebe merely shows up the
contradiction and chaos thrown up by the colonial regime and
leaves it to the reader to make his own judgement or inference.
Where Achebe wants to indict the arrogance and imperialism of the
British, he takes recourse to the ironic or satiric mode,
Thus we notice that there are similarities and variances
between Anand and Achebe as writers and artists. Nevertheless
what interests one here is the possibility of an in-depth analysis
of the novels of Anand and Achebe with a view of establishing
their liberationist angle and scope for libterationist
interpretation and illustration.
A host of critics and scholars both Indian and foreign have
studied the works of Anand and written elaborate critical
commentaries on individual novels and on Anandfs merits as a
novelist, Similarly Achebe has attracted a number of African and
foreign scholars and students of English literature. There is a
fairly sizable corpus of critical scholarship on Achebe and his
works. Considering the short span in which he engaged in active
literary output, the quantum of writing on him is quite amazing.
While a plethora of criticism of Indian Scholars is
available, only critics such as K . R . Srinivasa Iyengar, S .C.
Harrex, C.D. Narasimhaiah, Saros Cowasjee, G.S. Balarama Gupta
and some others who have shown extraordinary interest
in Anand1s literary career and produced significant critical
scholarship are taken up for review. Among the Western critics
it is, Margaret Berry, Marlene Fisher, Alastair Niven, D.
Riemenschneider and Jack Lindsay who have written extensively on
Anand and ofcourse a score of others who have published well-
documented, research articles in leading journals.
K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, in his Indo-Anslian Literature
(1943) renamed as Indian Writins in Enslish (1962), has devoted a
chapter to Mulk Raj Anand. Iyengar starts with a brief
life-sketch of Anand where he traces the carftsman's industry and
meticulous attention of Anand to his father, who was a
copper-smith turned solidier, and his common sense and
compassionate understanding to Anand's mother. He takes up all
the published novels till date and assesses objectively the
merits terms craftsmanship, art, characterization
and style. The writer pays a rich tribute to Anand for having
chosen to paint, in his works, the predicament and plight of the
bottom dogs in 1ndian society and for having done it
spontaneously without any self-conscious display of *
proletarianism. In other words, the uniqueness of Anand consists
in his portrayals being the outcome of his personal knowledge and
experience of such outcastes and underdogs in his life, and
identification with their lot.
He declares that Untouchable is perhaps the most compact
and artistically satisfying, coolie is the most extensive in
space and time and Two Leaves and a Bud is the most effective as
a piece of sarcasm and satire. For him Bakha is both a prototype
and an individual. The Lalu trilogy is an impressive work that
comprises local and national politics. Iyengar commends the
terrific intensity and concentration of The Bis Heart and Anand's
familiarity with the theme that he is treating. He is rather
negative about Private Life of an Indian Prince from the point of
view of style and treatment, Later in a postscript he has
revised his opinion and expressed appreciation of the novel's
autobiographical strand, sense of history and narrative power.
He further adds that Anand's remarkable qualities are vitality
and sense of actuality. His characters are real and full of
flesh and blood. They are allowed to act, react and interact on
their own. He, moreover, emphasises the universal against the
particular.
Iyengar's criticism is quite perceptive and unbiased. While
assessing the individual merits of a novel, he is able to point
out the finer artistic aspects of the work. He has probably
belaboured the point that Anandfs commitment is not artificial or
obtrusive but natural and spontaneous.
Jack Lindsay has contributed a very stimulating and
insightful study of Anand's works in his book, The Elephant-and
the Lotus: A Studv of the Novels - of - Mulk Rai Anand (1965).
Lindsay's minute sketches on the individual novels are immensely
elucidating and scholarly. He brings his erudition to bear upon
his critical judgement. One of his objectives seems to be to
bring out Anandrs capacity to define the general in the
particular. Starting from an analysis of Untouchable. Lindsay
runs through the whole canon of Anand's major novels published
till then and shows how his protagonists are both individuals and
types. Moreover, Lindsay points out the technical superiority of
Anand as compared with Premchand whose fictional canvas bears
close resemblance to Anandfs. While asserting Anand's variety
and fecundity in terms of his style and theme, he is able to
recognise the influences in Anand of both Tagore and Prem Chand.
However, Lindsay is of the opinion that Anand displays a
beautiful blend ot Tagore's full humanistic focus symbolising
universalism, and the compassion or solidarity with the
suffering mankind that Prem Chand so spontaneously exuded.
Lindsay compliments Anand on his ability to command a philosophic
detachment from his subject and characters. In his attempt to
harmonize the Eastern and Western traditions, he is an heir to
Tagore and scores a creditable victory in novles such as The Biq
Heart, Untouchable and The Road. Lindsay makes Anand out to be
a citizen of the world, who strives through his writings, to
create a new India, a new society and new harmony.
D. Riemenschneider has a monograph that must have, when it
appeared in 1967, been a breath of fresh air in Anand criticism,
as the author maintains that Anandfs conceptual framework is
quite limited and therefore it is his artistic and creative
acumen that must have enabled him to create a whole gamut of
people in his novels. The article entitled "An ideal of Man in
Mulk Raj Anandrs Novelsw (1967) sets out to show how from Munoo
of Coolie to Maqbool in Death of Hero there is one line of
stereotyped heroes but how there is a constant development, an
ever deeper insight into man's nature and the different stages in
the process of self-realization. From one protagonist to the
other, there is a higher level of maturity, a spiral process of
growth in self-awareness, According to the author, Gauri and
Ananta are two characters in whom Anand has expressed his idea of
man clearly and convincingly. Anand seems to advocate the ideal
that the most a man can do, is to sacrifice his awn self for the
sake of his ideas or his fellow human beings.
C.D. Narasimhaiah in his book, The Swan and The Easle
(1969), has devoted a whole chapter to Mulk Raj Anand
with a subtitle "The Novel of Human centrality" and makes an
impassioned appeal for a revival of interest in ~ n a n d ~ s writings
both in India and\abroad. While asserting that Anand is guilty
of a propagandist streak in his short stories like "The Barberst
Trade Unionu and "The Tractor and the Corn Goddessnt, the author
goes on to make a detailed critical analysis of three of Anand's
novels, namely, Untouchable, Coolie & Heart. C.D.
Narasimhaiahfs attempt is praiseworthy as he exculpates Anand of
the allegation of being propagandist, leftist or Marxist in
conviction, by pointing out the artistic merits of each of the
novels, in terms of the story, theme, characterization, plot and
structure. For the author, Anand is a humanist and therefore
his novels are concrete artistic expressions in human terms of
the predicament of vast majority of Indians. He pays tribute to
Anand's rich repertoire of novelistic tecniques and his fecund
imagination. In fictional techniques and topics, Anand is
declared a pioneer, a trail-blazer, not withstanding his
occasional failure as a craftsman or his passionate social
philosophy getting the better of his artisitic judgement. His.nove1
can be called the novel of human centrality according to C.D,
Narasimhaiah. S.C. Harrex has a fine study, in his book, The
Fire and the Offerinq: The Enalish Lanauaae NaveI ef Xndia
1935-70, Vol.1 (1969), of Anandfs literary career and his
achievements as a novelist, He severely criticises Anand for
his lapses or shortcomings in style and language, pointing out
samples of such "slipshod writingaa to illustrate his criticism.
He comments on the realism of Anand as portrayed in his novels
and appreciates the manner in which Anand identifies himself with
his protagonists and looks at the sordid reality and the
revolting situation, through the soul and the eyes of the victims
of exploitation. While Harrex is inclined to accept the term
'aProletarian arta1 as applied to a novel like Coolie he is opposed
to the neat schematization of values and people according to the
Marxist dialectic allegedly operative in Coolie.
Margaret Berry has published a full length study of Anand
and his works in her book, Mulk R a t Anand: The Man and the
Novelist (1970). Her approach to Anandfs novles seems to be
dictated by her conviction that Anand is a die-hard socialist
with a humanist depth and a Marxist bias. She focuses her
attention on the novels as a product of Anand's socialist and
humanist persuasions and therefore as reflective of the
oppressive mechanism underlying the unjust social reality and the
iniquitous relationships. Understandably she examines the
various novels from the parameter of forces that impede social
change and social and economic transformation, thus proceeding to
determine Anand's solution to the impasse. Having 'abjured his
faith in God and as a consequence having renounced religion and
all forms of worship except the worship of man, Anand becomes a
social iconoclast. He demolishes most of the accepted traditions
and practices, that, in his opinion, militate against social
equality, freedom and brotherhood.
Thus social institutions like religion, caste, certain
traditional aspects of marriage and sex and s s e m of education
were construed by him as detrimental to the natural growth of the
individual and society. He attacks these social and the other
economic and political evils with vehemence and the passionate
zeal of a crusader.
According to Berry Margaret, Anand offers a plausible
solution to this deadlock by advocating bhakti-yoga understoood
as the relation of personal, efficacious love as the integrating
factor. She believes there is a credible attempt on Anand's part
to blend humanism, socialism and bhakti in his The Heart.
his new religion, for Anand, will combat not only the external
symptoms but also the root of all this in the socio-politico-
economic structures.
Balarama Gupta has to his credit a voluminous work
entitled Mulk Rai Anand: A Studv of JIis ~iction Humanist
Pers~ective (1974). The central interest of the author is
riveted on the humanism of Anand. Therefore, Gupta strives in
all the chapters to marshal all his critical matter to establish
his premise that Anand is first and foremost a humanist. He has
listed the characteristics or tenets of Anandfs humanism in
chapter 2 titled "The Humanism of Mulk Raj Anandn. He undertakes
thereafter to make a close reading of all his fictional works and
shorter fiction from the perspective of Anand's humanism.
Balarama Gupta winds up his study by stating that Anand as a
humanist has surpassed Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the first
Bengali novelist and even Tagore, his mentor and model, in
respec t of the psychological approach in fiction, as Tagorefs
interest was confined to the genteel upper middle class and
affluent society. Anand has scored a point over Prem Chand,
Gupta concludes, in this, that the former's fictional men and
women are by far more reflective, speculative, articulate and
even assertive than Prem Chandfs ensemble of docile, submissive,
static, helpless characters. Gupta has also underlined some of
Anandfs defects as a writer, specially his preoccupation with an
ideology at the expense of his style.
Alastair Niven's The Yoke of Pity: A Studv in the
Fictional writinss of Nulk Raj Anand (1978) offers a whole
spectrum of insights into the techniques and fictive approaches
of Anand as exemplified in his novels. He has tried to
investigate the message of Anand in each of his novels. by
situating the story and action of the novel in the overall
perspective of his social philosophy and aesthetic principles.
Niven's perceptive study of Gauri and The B i u Heart have yielded
some refreshing and exhilarating insights that make the message of
Anand come home to the reader with great force. He affords some
rare modes of critical appreciation of characters and Anand's
techniques. Moreover he is not blind to some of Anand's flaws
and pitfalls, where it concerns language. Niven upholds the view
that Anandfs intellectual formation and systematic training in
Western philosophy and literature provided the soil in which his
compassionate humanism is founded and without it, his fiction
might have plunged into "ranting hysteriat1. According to him,
both the intellectual desire for objectivity and emotional urge
for commitment qualify and stimulate each other in Anand and
account for his central energy and tension.
Marlene Fisherfs The Wisdom of the Heart: Study of the
Works of Mulk R a t Anand (1985) is a laudable work, that, as the
title signifies, reduces all the impulses and sensibilities
portrayed in Anand's novezs to the basic, primal experiences and
impulses stored in Anand's heart. In other words, Anand looks
into his intimate personal storehouse of impulses, good and bad,
right and wrong, sad and happy. However, Fisher has discovered a
deep quest in and through all Anandys chain of sufferings,
sorrows, struggles and failures. Love, in the end, seems to
provide the answer to all the problems of Indian society, as
projected in his novels U J Coolie, pro Leaves and a Bud
and The & Heart. Technically, Marlene Fisher admires
the first novel and The Bia Heart as both these have a compact
structure and plot. In Two Leaves and a Anand is so
overpowered by his sentiments and social and political
principles, that the ulitimate impact the novel suffers the
process. All said and done, Marlene Fisherrs analysis is more
descriptive and confined the perspective the wisdom the
heart that should rule all areas of human life, communications
and relationships.
R. Shepherd, in his essay "Alienated Being: A ~eappraisal of
Anand8s Alienated HeroH, maintains that Anand's perception of
revolution as stated in his novels, springs from his consistent
theme of t h e individual's struggle against social injustice. In
a very scintillating essay entitled ttQuest for strucutres: Form,
Fable and Technique in the Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand", S.C.
has through systematic approach, arrived the
conclusion that Anand's art form or genre is Western in origin
and form; yet he has used it so intelligently and creatively as
to make it an apt medium to convey Indian ideas, ideals, values,
symbols and facets of reality. Thus he appreciates the unique
contribution of Anand to the sphere of Indian fiction in Enligsh.
In the book of the title Perspectives on Mulk
Anand,there are some interesting essays by different scholars.
Gillian Packham, in his essay entitled "Mulk Raj Anand and . the
thirties movementt1, has tried to trace the roots of his humanism
to the different political happenings in Europe and India,
particularly to the Marxist protest movement in literature of
which' Anand became an ardent member. Anand's concern with the
development of individual consciousness and individual values
seems to have sprung from his ~arxist roots, by now radically
altered or transmuted into humanism. Dieter ~iemenschneider, in
his article IIAlienation in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand," deals
with the concept of alienation as represented by Anand in his
novels. The concept stems from a Marxist understanding of
labour, which is at the root of alienation in capitalist form of F
production process. He points up the paradox in this that the
working classes or the labourers are alienated precisely because
the objects of their labour in effect rule over them. This
concept is being creatively used by Anand in nolvels like Coolie.
Two Leaves and a Bud, The Biq Heart and The Old Woman and the
Cow, where the whole action and plot seem to hinge on the fact of
alienation at different levels, and in different forms. The
author makes an analysis of two characters: Panchi in The Old
Woman and the Cow and Lalu in The Village, who are considered to
be the owners of their means of production.
H.M. Williams, in his book ~ndo-~nalian Siterature
1800-1970: A Survev (1976), is merciless in criticising.the
artistic lapses of Anand specially in Two Leaves and a Bud an&ha
propagandist vein in the same novel. He is unwilling to
accept the Marxist interpretation or economic colouring given to
the different situations in coolie where Munoo is involved.
Williams makes out the story of Munoo, to be part of a long line
of innocents in literature, thus becoming archetypal in nature.
In his book The Literature of Labour:-200 years of
writinq (1985), Gustav Clans has included a brief examination of
Anand's novels Coolie and Untouchable. He praises t h e taut plot
and the psychological growth of Bakha so meticulously observed
and depicted by Anand. He, however, faults Anand with having
precluded any wider vista of Indian society, by choosing a
protagonist from the lowest saatum of society. Munoo typifies
t h e millions of Indian peasants who have per force to adapt to
t h e capitalist mode of production as they are pulled to the
cities in search of employment/livelihood. Anand has creatively
appropriated the picaresque tradition in order to project the
inevitability of the advent of modernity. The author, moreover,
appreciates Anand's deliberate and conscious avoidance of the
pitfall of naturalism in such a situation and his bold
presentation of antifatalistic and defiant attitudes in
characters like Ratan and Sauda who strive to form a trade union,
despite initial opposition and failures.
There is a fleeting but incisive reference to Anand's ~auri
in Shantha Kirshnaswamyrs thought-provoking work titled, The
Woman in Indian ~iction in Enslish (1974). Anand is hailed as a --- pioneer in championing the cause of the woman in the
post-independence era. He takes up the cudgel in literature on
behalf of the silent half of India, the women, who are the
poorest of the poor for Anand. His novel is a historic land-
mark in terms of authorial shift in sensibility in Indian fiction
towards the woman.
Saros Cowasjeefs fairly lengthy article titled, Coolie:
Assessment (1976) has a brief life sketch of Anand and a lucid
expos6 on Anandls literary creed in addition to a fine analysis
of the artistic highpoints of Coolie, While assessing Anandf s
literary creed or his avowed humanism, Cowasjee cautions that we
must go by what is expressed in Anandfs concrete creations, that
is, his novels and not get played out by his numerous
protestations, generalisations or definitions. Anand has set
himself, according to his own protestations high standards, of a
writer being the fiery voice of the people or the great god
Brahma. Notwitstanding the flaws in his style and technique,
Anand is, in his own right a good artist as, despite his
emotional involvement in his subject and characters he is able to
command a detachment from his work. He has a ItChrist-like, all
embracing compa~sion~~ as Arnold Bennett termed it. Coolie is a
big departure from Untouchable, as it ushers the readers into a
more complicated and devious world built on profit-seeking and
cash-nexus. Anand, through Munoo's predicament, raises the
question of freedom in a capitalist society-
From among a whole mass of articles and papers dealing with
Anandfs literary creed and achievements, published in leading
national and international journals, it may be worthwhile
reviewing a few notable and recent ones.
M.K. Naikls article under the title, "The Achievement of
Mulk Raj Anandn published in Journal of Indian writinq in English
(JIWE) (Jan. 1973) probes the question of how far Anand succeeds
in reconciling his humanistic ideal with artistic integrity.
Based on the premise that a writer has a right to be judged by
what he attempts to do and can do rather than by what he cannot
do, Anand emerges as a committed writer by conscious intention.
Further Naik lists Anandf s own views on commitment and art and
comments that there are a few questions unanswered in Anand'Is
self-defence. There are a few defects in Anand that flaw his art
and constantly interfere with the progress of the action and plot
and the organic growth and interaction of the characters. The
Banasthali par t r ika (BPI 1969, carried G.S. Balarama Guptags
article, I1Anandfs The B i s Heart: A study1B. The author calls this
novel an effective dramatisation of the consequences of
industrialisation on the conservative and closed-up community of
the thathiars. It is a compact novel with Anand cutting out
unnecessary details of early life of Ananta and making him ready
for action when the novel opens. The author praises Anand for
having successfully avoided the danger of praducing a
propagandist work, given the theme of conflict between the
labourers and the capitalists.
The (12, 1969) includes Saros Cowasjee's essay, "Mulk
Raj Anand and his criticsfl, wherein the author summarises some
statements of select critics and assesses the same. After
quoting extracts from some of the outstanding Western critics,
he singles out Mrs. Meenakshi Mukherjeefs criticism of Anand.
Mrs. Meenakshi Mukherjeefs criticism appeared under the title
"Beyond the Village" in critical Essavs on Indian writinq
Enslish (1968). He takes exception to her statement that Anand
has been subjected to the least amount of critical scrutiny. H e
blames her for making some unwarranted and generalised
allegations on Anandfs writing. She attacks his '!habitual
overstatement and translation of Hindi and Punjabi idioms into
English and disapproves of Anand interpolating ~indi words in
English sentences and changing the spelling to imitate the speech
of the uneducated.
The main section of hex criticism pertains to Anand's
characterisation. According to her, Anandfs characters fall
neatly into three types: the sufferers, the oppressors and the
good men. C o w a s j e e challenges her to place characters like
Lakha in Untouchable, Babu Nathoo Ram, Mr.W.P. England and Mrs.
Mainwaring in coolie in their proper niches.
Mrs. ~ukherjee points to the lack of a "sustaining mythu as
the major cause for Anandf s failure as an artist. As a result,
she adds, Anandrs characters are tlrootless and rnythless and
appear somewhat unnaturaltg. Mrs. Mukherjee should recognise that
Anand has tried to create a new myth, and that is, his projection
of social outcastes and eccentrics as heroes, thus exploding
the myth that only aristocrats could be heroes.
Saros Cowasjee has an essay entitled "The B i q Heart: A New
Perspectiven in ACLALS Bulletin (4th Series, No.2, 1991) where he
traces the different conflicts in the novel to the one basic or
fundamental economic problem. Hence he concludes that all
freedom is reducible in Marxist categories to economic freedom.
He moreover, commends Anand for making a significant deviation
from his earlier narrow frame of interest in order to recognise
the good even in an otherwise evil system like, for instance,
the cornpossionate factory owners and machines in the context of
individualistic profit-seeking industrial capitalism. The
article throws light on the humane and positive side of Anandfs
personality.
The spring 77 issue of the Pakativa Journal of Enalish
Studies (KJES) has articles by Jack Lindsay and G . S . Balarama
Gupta. In "Three views on Cooliew, Jack Lindsay sets out to prove
that Anand was a trail-blazer as one, who in his novel, presented
the manifold and variegated glories and aspects of India and its
people. In this way he has made it possible for Indian novel to
enter the realm of world literature and for a whole new
literature of the oppressed and colonised people to make its
debut in the world arena. Anand as a pioneer drew on the works
of the Spanish writers, Latin American poets and' novelists and
joined hands with African, West Indian and other Asian writer*o
constitute a new brand of internationalism.
G.S. Balarama Gupta in his essay "Anand in Lettersmm,
provides a brief and illumnating summary of Anand's letters to
him on the model of Saros Cowasjee's Author &Q critic. According
to Edge11 Richwood, Coolie is a rich panoramic spectacle of
India's life in the villages and the cities. Anand has taken a
poetic view of life and given it a fictive representation. In
this, his Western mastersf quintessential ideas have been of
great help, The second view expressed by Edward Burra is that
Munoo is a universal figure. Hilla Vakeel observes that Coolie
presents the moving tragic drama of the life of Munoo, a harassed
underdog, a victim of fate and circumstances. The human depth
that offsets all the unmerited sufferings and buffetings of Munoo
is the central strand of the whole novel.
ROT. Robertson has written an article under the title
"Untouchable as an Archetypal Novelu in World &iterature Written
in Enalish (WLWE) . - He has explored the possibility of
categorising the novel Untouchable as an archetypal novel, as it
displays characteristics of an individual, typologically
representing a group and of the conflict reaching epic
proportions at the end. The novel leaves the unmistakable
impression of the central paradox of Bakha being both isolated
and entangled in a society, torn and fragmented by the colonial
confrontation. The archetypal figure is Bakha and the concept is
that of untouchability. As the context is the colonial
situation, it becomes a pattern for all commonwealth literature.
Robertson's approach is original and hence may be an impetus to
further investigations along this line-
There is an enormous amount of scholarship and criticism on.
Chinua Achebe. More than books, we have a lot of articles,
papers, essays and monographs published on Achebe and his
fictional achievements. Arthur Ravenscroftrs Chinua Achebe (1969)
is one of the early commentaries on Achebe's first four novels.
Ravenscroft displays good grasp of the history and past
traditions of the Igbo clan in his critique of Thinqs Fall A~art
(TFA) and Arrow of God (AOG) , Moreover he is quite nuanced in
his comparative analysis of and AOG, the two novels dealing
with the Igbo past and A man of the Pe0~I.e (AMP) and No Lonaer At
Ease (NLE), the ones repsresenting the modern, urbanised ethos of
the Igbos. Ravenscroft compliments Achebe on his range of the
English language and his adaptation to suit a given character or
situation. Even Achebefs use of pidgin, although presenting a
1
difficulty t o non-West ~frican readers, makes for authenticity,
according to the author. The author admires Achebe's ability to
vary and change the style and tone in accordance w i t h the theme
of the novel. The satiric mode and the sardonic and cynical tone
of Achebe in and NLE are preeminently suited to the novels,
their themes and characters.
G.D. Killam is one of the more popular ~ornmentators of
Achebe. He wrote his first book on Achebets novels in 1969 under
the title, The Novels of Chinua Achebe. He has a lucid and
informative introduction wherein he presents Achebe as a
committed and supremely endowed artist. Achebe is said to be
convinced t h a t a writer" task in Africa today is to recreate its
glorious past and achievements in all departments of human --.c-.-dpz.pIc.--
affairs and to restore dignity and pride to t h e African race.
Killam's detailed analysis of the action, characterization and
structure of each of Achebe's first four novels is quite
illuminating and elucidating. He has a good grasp of the matter
he is criticising and therefore his commentaries are a useful
guide to understand the spirit and texture of Achebe's novels.
Although Achebe's basic vision is tragic, there are reasons to
affirm that he believes in the ultimate triumph of the African
spirit, as Killam avers.
Charles Larson, in his book titled The mersence of
African Fiction (1971), commented on Achebets unique contribution
to the novel in Africa and attempted to elucidate the different
scenes and actions in the novels. According to Larson, TFA is not
a novel about an individual, but about a community: it is not a
novel of character, but a novel of situation. Larson moreover
praises Achebe for his creative, artistic and effective use of
Igbo figures of speech and proverbs.
In M.G. Cookef s book, Modern Black ~ovelists: collection
of Critical Essays (1971), Anne Tibble has a brief article on -
Chinua Achebe. According to her, in all his novels Achebe is
preoccupied with the moral conflict of values and is trying to
sift them and show them as the perennial challenge to the race.
David Cook's book entiled African ~teraturg: Critical
View (1977) has an essay on Chinua Achebe under the title "The
Centre Holdsu. This essay in effect turns out to be an in-depth
examinaion of the character of Okonkwo. The ultimate question
is: "1s Okonkwo dishonoured in his death or the people who did not
have the courage to defy the whitemen's messenger^?^^ The answer
is evident. Okonkwo even in his abomination of death by suicide
rises over the others in eminence and dignity. The irony' is
quite poignant.
Jonathan A Peters has in his book, pance of Masks
(19781, lengthy critical sketches on the first four novels of
Achebe. What is novel about his critical writing, is his
approach from the assumption, that it is the cultural heritage
and its traditions and symbols, like the mask, that constitute
the substance of Achebefs stories. Peters perceives a
well-conceived plan behind all the four novels commencing from
the glorious pinnacle that was Igbo past as protrayed in TFA and
deteriorating gradually with the advent of the white menfs
religion and administration, as represented in the other three
novels in subtle situations and actions shot through with an
ironic and satiric vein.
Critical Pers~ectives ~hinua Achebe (1978) edited by
Innes and Bernth ~indfors contains some useful, informative
essays. The pieces included here are not all that new, even as
the purpose of the editors was only to offer a good collection of
critical writings on Achebe to readers. The articles on TFA are
certainly qualitatively superior to others.
Bernth Lindfors has an essay titled "The Palm Oil with
which Achebefs Words are E8atenI1, in African Literature Todav
edited by Eldred D.Jones. The author's main argument is based on
Achebe1s successful and effective use of the English language and
specially his inimitable employment of Igbo proverbs, similes
and tales to evoke the cultural milieu where the action takes
prace. The way Achebe varies his similes in the rural and urban
novels is striking.
Eldred Jones in his article, "The ~ecolonization of
African Literature" in The Writer in Modern ~frica edited by
Per Wastberg, contends that in the postcolonial era colonialism
or decolonization has become a common and predominant theme of
most African writers and rightly so. He points out the two
approaches to the problem, one of pure invective against the
foreign rulers and the other of extolling the past civilization
and traditions of Africa in a bid to restore her to former glory
and dignity. Writers like Achebe and Soyinka have struck a
balance by not glossing over the imperfections of modern Africa-
Robert M Wren's study entitled Achebe1s World: - Historical and Cultural Context of Chinua Achebe (1979) provides a
refreshing peep into the assumptions, allusions and the novel's
context in general. He goes on to unravel some of the mysterious
and unexplained symbols, practices, rituals and terms so
commonly used by Achebe in his novels. His illuminating
commentaries and explications are a great help in appreciating
the beauty of Achebe1s art.
Ulli Beier has edited a collection of essays on African
writers, entitled Introduction 9 African Literature: An Anthology:
of Critical Writinq (1980). Ezekiel Mphahlelels article under - the title, "Writers and Commitmentv is a lucid presentation of
the concept of commitment and its relationship to literature as
defined by Marxist critics and writers of the left and as applied
in practice to African literature by leading paets, dramatists
and novelists of Africa. While admitting that commitment implies
the propagandist vein in practice, he asserts that it depends on
the handling of propaganda. He cites tlnegritude" as one eloquent
example of this type of writing. The novelists who document even
as they dramatise are committed, with the abler kind of novelist
allowing for a free use of irony. Achebefs themes of the
conflict between n e w ways of life and new beliefs and the old and
of the consequent frustration and disillusionment are expressive
of his commitment to the African ~etting~origins, history and
past. The writer expects that any African art should give
expression to a new spiritual point of view that explores the
human situations in general and concedes our weaknesses.
Abiola IreZe in the same anthology has an essay entitled
"The Tragic conflict in Achebef s Nove1sl1. It is a perceptive
analysis of Achebefs art which is at home with the tragic medium.
The tragic vision permeates not only the situations but also the
individual characters. The author examines the first four
novels of Achebe from this perspective. The strength of Achebefs
tragic presentation depends largely on the central character
whose tragic destiny is symbolic of the social drama. By the
same token, the writer points out, Lonser & Ease is a
disappointment because the central representative character is
inadequately drawn. He doesn't possess the tragic substance or
the stuff of which a tragic character is made. Abiola 1rel.e
characterises his style as sober, disciplined and economic, and
his prose as utilitarian. He is not only a keen observer and
recorder but a committed African novelist who is involved in the
process of "African Becoming1l.
In Twelve African writers (1980) by Gerald Moore, there is
an article on ~hinua Achebe. He perceptively points out the
circularity quite evident in the principal characters of
Achebe1s novels. The fate that is met by Obi in NLE is in no way
different from that encountered by his grandfather Okonkwo in
TFA. By striving to do better than their progenitors or fellows,
they do worse and end up most pathetically. According to
Moore, there is a certain sirnialrity, cyclical fate that hounds
the Okonkwos. The author, further, refers to AchebeJs style
and range of language and his capacity to enrich and embellish
his language with a judicious intermingling of Igbo proverbs,
myths and anecdotes. He discovers subtle manifestations of racial
superiority on the part of the British officials created by
Achebe. For him A Man of the Peo~le is a disappointment as
compared with the tragic grandeur of Arrow of God.
Nkosi Lewis has published a book entitled Tasks and Masks:
Themes and Stvles of African Literature (1981), wherein he has
commented on Acheber s style and fictional strategies in several
places. In chapter three with the title ItHistory as the Hero of
the African Novelt1, Lewis holds up Achebe as a superb model of
how the African past can be put to good use by an imaginative
writer. Achebe has proved that he is both an inventor of
t'fictionsn and a recorder of "social historyu. He is devoted to
the past not merely as an auditor of his peoplers past traditons
but also a creator of tffictionsll. While exploring the inner
dynamics of an Igbo society steadily reeling under the impact of
a& outside power Achebe highlights the inner movements and
conflicts of the protagonists.
There is no dearth of journal articles and essays on
Achebe. We are forced to make a good selection and confine it to
the recent ones. In Black World (June !73), Omalara Leslie has
analysed the first four novels of Achebe from the point of view of
alienation in her article entitled "Nigeria, Alienation and the
Novels of Chinua Achebe". Basing herself on Rousseaufs
definition of alienation as representation of a community by a
smaller group, the writer concludes that it is the colonial
administrative and political set up that caused the upheaval in
the Igbo society and even politics.
Ihechukwu Madubuike in Black World ( D e c , 1974) has an
article entitled IlAchebers Ideas on LiteratureN wherein he sets
out three areas of concern for Achebe: the interpretation of the
African past from within ; the problem of interpreting this past
in a foreign language; and the responsibilities and obligation of
the writer to his own people. The writer goes on to show h o w
these concerns blend in all Achebefs novels. In th+ame issue
Mavreen Warner Lewis i n his essay *tEzeulu and his God" probes
the novelfs central and dominant charactersf internal conflict
as mirroring and to a large extent triggering the strife in an
already disunited clan.
The Literary Half Yearlv XXI, I, Janf80 issue has the
following articles on Achebe and his art. Robert Wren titles his
article "Achebe's Odili: Hero and clown". ~ccording to Wren, it
is the natural wisdom of the past, preseved in traditons,
proverbs, tales and songs that finally infuses hope into Odili
who is otherwise a natural opportunist and holds out hope and
promise to the nation. IfChinua Achebe and the structure of
colonial tragedyw by Bruce F.Macdonald is an attempt at
projecting Okonkwo as a tragic hero, not cast exactly in the
mould of an Aristotelian tragic hero, but in his own right
fitting Achebers vision and parameters of a tragedy. Here the
social disintegration wrought by the colonial forces and .the
inner chaos caused by Okonkwofs excessive fear of annihilation
are presented. Thirdly, Hugh Webb has tried to discover a
reasonable theory underneath the fictional matrix of A Man of
the People. -
His article, "Drawing the Lines of Battle: A Man of the Peo~le." - argues that Achebets approach in this navel is realistic and
therefore the actual military coup in ~igeria in January 1966 was
not a mere coincidence. ~t was a vindication of Achebe1s
"realistupresentation, he asserts.
Andrew Peekfs interesting article, ltBetrayal and the Question
of Affirmation in Chinua Achebe1s No Lonqer At Eases1 throws light
on a dimension probably little probed earlier. The author
concludes that it is the so called betrayal of obi, by his
elitist Western education, symbol of the overall situation of
chaos and ambiguity in the colonial. period, that people at
large find it difficult and challenging to cope with.
Lastly there is the essay by Rosemary Colmer, ##The start of
Weeping is always hard: The ironic structure of No Lonser &
Ease," where the author's main contention is that Achebe denies
the novel and robs Obi of the only chance of a tragic moment by
placing his public humiliation at the beginning. There is no time
for a tragic understanding on Obits past or for cathartic
experience on the reader's side.
Kalu Ogbaa writing in World Literature Written in Enalish
(WLWE) (Aut. '81) puts forth a n e w interpretaion of the cause
of Ezeulurs death in his art'icle, ''Death in African Literature :
The Example of Chinua Achebe**, It is interesting to read his
arguments to show that Ulu, the God of security of Umuaro is
different from the Ulu created by Ezeulu or his personified
obsession for revenge. In this opinion he differs from better
known earlier commentators such as G.D. Killam and David
Carroll. The same writer advances a variation of this view in
his article "A cultural Note on Okonkwors suicideu that appeared
in Kuna~i~i (111, 2, 1981). According to his perception Okonkwo
commits suicide because he feels abandoned by both his clan and
his god for his triple murder. Murder, according to the Igbo
beliefs, i s an abomination and is avenged by ~ n i , the earth
goddess,
In the journal, Research in African Literature (RAL) (vol. 13
19821, Simon ~imonse has an essay titled "~frican Literature
between Nostalgia and Utopia: ~frican novels since 1953 in the
light of the modes of production approachw. Simonsels argument
is that it is more f r u i t f u l t o approach the African novel from
the Marxist perspective of the modes of production and their
articulation than from an approach that focuses on its specific
African content. The writer describes Achebe as being
particularisk and opposed to universal themes or problems to be
treated by African writers. Achebe has tried to define the
boundaries of African literature, He assumes the Marxist view of
the novel as literary form in which fundamental social
contradictions are reflected. According to him, Achebe
concentrated on the symbolic order of the pre-capitalist tribal
society. Thus it becomes the confrontation between the social
order of the African society and non-African within these
societies and within the tribal society, between the insiders and
outsiders.
Ibe Nwoga has an article in Literarv Half - Yearly (Jan. '86) entitled "The Igbo World of Achebe's Arrow of God" where
the writer establishes the artistic credibility and mastery of
Achebe. He maintains that Achebe first settles on a particular
theme and chooses events and characters and the social and
historical material suitable for his specific treatment. His
focus is not so much on the individual as on the clan or
society,
Catherine Lynette Innes has produced several useful and
illuminating studies on Chinua Achebe. Her expertise is
descernible in every one of her studies. Her book entitled Chinua
Achebe (1990) has an interesting introduction wherein Innes has
attempted a profile of Achebe as a novelist, She has restated
some of the major tenets and key principles of Achebefs fiction
writing. She spells out his main themes, of rejection of the
image of Africa as a cultural foil to Europe, of offering new
alternatives and of challenging the Western view of individual
autonomy. The essay on Anthills of the Savannah is rich in.new
and original insights. What is most interesting is Innes'
perception about Achebets investigation of the concept of power,
of its different manifestaions, corruption and distortion in this
novel, Her insights about the multiple narration and its
relationship to sharing power and decentring administration and
the satiric vein that runs through the whole work are worth
pondering. The final point about the racial and historical
importance of stories and story-telling is quite illuminating.
She throws a lot of light on AchebeJs presentation of the role
and function of women in this novel and of the eschatological or
apocalyptic elements contained in the novel particularly after
the death of Ikem and Chris.
In Journal of Black studies (JBS) (June 1990) there is an
essay by Joe E.obi, under the title, "A critical Reading of the
Disillusionment Noveltt. The writer devotes quite a lot of space
to discuss AchebeJs contribution to this type of fiction in
Africa. The fiction that came into vogue in the mid-sixties is
significantly known as the disillusionment novel. The novelists
of disillusion like Achbe and Soyinka, reflect the present
disaffection of the people, the lack of clarity and political
will among politicians and in general, the existential angst and
anger of the people and therefore they are very much
circumscribed, and operate in a limited framework,
In F s ~ e c t s of Common Wealth Literature (Vol 1, 1990) we come
across the essay by Mary Ebun Modupe Kolawole entitled "The
Omnipresent past and the quest for self-retrieval in African
Novelu. The author's thesis is to establish that among other
objectives, African novelists desire to reflect the past as well
as reflect on it in order to understand the present better.
Writers like Achebe have been consistently focussing on the past
so that identifying the root of the present problems, a search for
solution may be initiated. There is a good analysis of Achebefs
latest novel Anthills of the Savannah. The ultimate goal of all
this retrospection is not romanticism but a transformation of the
present.
In the autumn ,91 (Vol 37, Number 3) issue of Modern ~iction
Studies we find three fine studies on Chinua Achebe. Robin
Ikegami has offered a new interpretation of the role of story
telling as a political and social act, as a demonstration of
knowledge and an exercise of power. The author proceeds to
investigate the novel Anthills of Savannah from this angle.
There are several story-tellers each with his or her own way
of story-telling. Probably the most reliable and informed story-
teller is Beatrice who eventually proposes a new role to
stroy-telling, that of doing something. She believes in intiating
changes at all levels. Her performance of the naming ceremony of
Elewafs daughter too is symbolic of the convergence of the past
and the present and the emergence of women as a powerful segment.
The focus of this novel is on the future. The second essay is by
Kofi Owinsu under the title, "The politics of Interpretation: The
Novels of Chinua Achebe", The main thesis of this essay is the
importance and inevitability of interpreting stories. The role
of interpreters or critics is important and responsible. The
author infers from this that rereading and relearning of Achebe, .---'
and indeed of all African writers is called for today. *he third
piece is "Achebe and Negation of Independence" by ~nyemaechi
Udumukwu. The author sets out to clarify the nature of Achebe's
reaction to the negation of expectations of independence from /---'
colonial rule. The postcolonial &le can be identified as kl
neocolonial. He takes two novels of Achebe, A Man of the People
and Anthills of the Savannah as the basis for his investigation.
Achebe points out the inherent truth or rather the mistakes and
lapses of the rulers and exposes the nature of the security
apparatus. Achebe is not pessimistic but offers signs of hope,
hope of change and transformation.
The above survey is certainly very impressive and the extent
and quality of the scholarship extant on both Anand and Achebe,
are commendable. While Anand has had a rather biased critical
review at least from some scholars in India, he has been reviewed
objectively and in fact positively by a good number of Indian and
foreign critics. Nevertheless it has to be admitted that Anand
as a writer is not altogether free from flaws. His artistic
failures as pointed out by even neutral and scholarly critics both
fareign and Indian, have a basis in his works. While it. is
difficult to agree with Mrs. Mukherjee with regard to some of
her charges,one has to concede that Anand oversteps his limits
when his humanist impulse gets the better of his artistic temper.
All credit should be given to Anand, as critics have never failed
to point out, for his pioneering efforts and fighting qualities
so evident in his introduction of and persistence with the
marginallised and outcast people in his fictional works,
notwithstanding an orchestrated propaganda against him.
Achebe, on the other hand, has had a fair critical review.
There has been hardly any adverse or deliberately maligning
propaganda against his works, barring perhaps the controversy
over his alleged denigration of the ~ritish colonial agents.
This allegation, however, could not mar the overwhelmingly
positive response to him, as his novels on the post-independence
rulers and educated elite are a powerful and at times
devastating critique of their topsy-turvy and anti-people
attitudes, values, corruption and abuse of power. Achebers
artistic excellence, range of his language and style, grasp of
Igbo culture, history and ethos, have all been meticulously
observed and praised by critics and comentators. All said and
done Achebe emerges as a consummate artist, always striving to
create and innovate in terms of style, techniques,
characterization and theme.
A run-down of the survey of critical scholarship on both
Anand and Achebe amply justifies a comparison between the two-
They share a whole gamut of interests, concern and artistic
traits. Both the writers are confirmed as committed writers,
committed to the cause of the downtrodden each in his country.
Both have stuck to the parameters of creative writing whose
fictional matrix is the colonial history, the culture, life,
toil, struggle, the aspirations and hope of the masses of their
countries, labelled as third-world countries. They have been
consistent in addressing people's problems in a bid to create
awareness and conscientization not only in the victims but also in
the victimizers.
There are, however, areas where both these writers differ as
it is clear from the critiques of several scholars. While there
is a near unanimity among critics about Achebefs artistic
achievement and virtuosity, the decisive verdict of critics in
the case of Anand's artistic competence is not forthcoming as
yet.
PURPOSE QF THIS SUTDY:
Many of the above-mentioned critics have investigated the
themes of Anand and Achebe by making critical analysis of
individual novels, The interpretation of Anandfs ultimate goal
or thrust is understood as the representation of the stark
reality of poverty and exploitation on the one hand, or the
exposure of the culprits who are the British colonizers, or the-
ruling classes. Individual emancipation is said to be Anand's
ultimate vision of society, but an overpowering pessimism and
fatalism, an integral part of hereditary or cultural inheritance
of every individual, come in the way. Personal conversion or
transformation or amelioration through self-realization and
self-awareness is held out as one mode of changing society.
Compassion or bhakti or Yoga is projected as an efficacious W a y
of combatting social evils such as casteism, class conflict,
exploitation, alienation and social inequalities. There is,
however, a hint, according to a few critics, to collective action
or bold individual decision geared to making a dent in the
citadel of outmoded thought patterns and actions.
Achebers fictional aim or purpose has been interpreted by a
number of critics, from an analysis of both his fictional and
non-fictional output, to be, to teach his fellow-~igerians,
Africans and Europeans about the past glories of African
tradition, culture, religion and literature and to restore
dignity and pride to his people who lost it in their encounter
with the white race, Achebe's n o s t a l g i c and grandiose evocation
of the Igbo tribe's harmony and its unparalleled religious
practices and convictions is cited as irrefutable proof of his
espousal of the cause of his people's freedom. Achebe is open to
change and to any democratic system of government that is
willing to accord top priority to the needs of the masses.
According to some critics, Achebe engages in a systematic
analysis of power equations, use and abuse of power at different
levels in precolonial tribal society, in the colonial
administration and in the post-independence days. Power is said
to be at the centre of all the activities of the tribe, and
therefore Achebe probes the different approaches to it in the
different novels. He seemingly advocates shared power and group
leadership in preference to centralised, autocratic power
structures.
The specific purpose of this study is to prove the
possibility of a liberationist interpretation of the themes and
stories of the novels of both Anand and Achebe. As committed
writers both have identified themselves with their people,
specially the oppressed and exploited masses. The rather
strident voice of anger and protest heard in Anandrs writings and
the subtle notes of protest sounded by Achebe in his novels are
sufficient . . . dication that they are committed to a cause.
Reading the novels of Anand and Achebe and making a deeper
analysis of the same, one cannot fail to perceive the
underpinning ideology. In other words they are both political
writers. They have a basic perception of their respective
societies vis-a-vis the larger society, the different
organisms nd structures that go to make up their worlds and their I. people's lives. Anandrs ideology may be prompted or illumined by
Marxian tools or method of societal analysis. Achebe' s
perception has to do with the havoc wrought to a harmonious
tribal society by the colonial masters and rulers who introduced
forms of religions,administration, trade and education which had
unsettling and destabilising effects on the African society. The
contradictions caused by capitalism are discernible in every
third-world reality. Anand and Achebe are aware of these
contradictions and the subtle and intangible causes underlying
these.
Liberation as a process and an end, is claimed to be the
universal clamour and experience of all oppressed peoples of the
world. while this process may have the special cultural hues and
historical trappings of a particular nation, the general
ingredients and basic impulse and thrust are comaon. The
ideology component is very important and therefore, it may be
prescribed that a liberationist writer has a corresponding creed
or philosophy or vision a.$ Anand 3Eikud.I:~aga in his non-f ictional
writing as well as in his fictional works. Achebe has time
and again voiced his concern for the liberation of his fellow
Africans and has articulated his motives and goals in writing*
What follows in the thesis purports to elucidate the
hypothesis that such a liberationist framework is not absent from
the novels of Anand and Achebe. Their protestations and
confession relating to their literary creed and personal belief
and vision, though very convincing and credible, do not deter us
from delving deep into their respective oeuvre. What follows
will demonstrate how a critical search into the works of art of
these two novelists, will bear ample evidence to the fact that a
liberationist interpretation is very much in order. This
investigation will therefore not only take us inta the labyrinth
of the artistsf wealth of material, content, story line or theme,
but also bring us face to face with the techniques, linguistic
and artistic variations, adaptations and innovation and stylistic
patterns.
A B S T R A C T
Chapter one, Introduction, introduces the topic and furnishes
a critical review of the extant critical scholarship on both
Anand and Achebe. It further provides an abstract of the matter
dealt with in the chapters that follow and states the specific
purpose or aim of the study.
Chapter Two, "The Historical ~volution and Relevance of
Liberation in the Third-World Contextu, provides the historical
and conceptual background of the term llliberationla. It traces
the etymological evolution of the term and the historical context
in which it developed. A fairly comprehensive understanding of
the connotation of the term is attempted, Anand and Achebe as
third-world fictionists do fit into this liberation pattern at
least germinally.
Chapter Three, "Mulk Raj Anand and Chinua Achebe among
Contemporaries~, situates Anand and Achebe among their
contemporaries and proceeds to underscore their unique perception
and singular contribution in the area of political and prophetic
literature geared to liberation of the oppressed masses.
Chapter Four, takes up the study of the I1Liberation Motif in
the Delineation of protagonist^^^ by Anand and Achebe- Anand's
protagonists like Bakha of Untouchable, Munoo of coolie and
Ananta of The Biq Heart are not traditional or conventional
heroes. However, they are representative individuals. They are
models of liberated induviduals drawn from the class of
outcastes, the marginalised and the labourers. Achebe's heroes
are either tribal chieftains like Okonkwo and Ezeulu or the
educated, elitist Africans like Obi and Odili. They are
presented as types of their respective groups and therefore
signify in their own persons, lives and manner of their end, the
predicament of the Igbo tribe after the descent of the Europeans*
Anthills of the Savannah is Achebe's critique of centrialised
power in the person of Sam, and his proposed alternative of a
pluralistic leadership or shared power.
Chapter ~ive, "~radition Versus Modernity", dwells at length
on the manner in which Anand and Achebe have dealt with the
burning issue of traditon as opposed to modernity. Although
this topic is a pet theme with both Anand and Achebe, it is given
an in-depth treatment in The Biq Heart by Anand and in No
Lonaer & Ease, by Achebe, Anand is a stout advocate of
modernity and all that goes with it. His hero Ananta becomes his
mouthpiece and is, in a sense, a symbol and prototype of all
Indians, specially the rural segments, caught between the two
realities. Anandfs brand of modernity or modernism is marked by
moderation, unwilling to jettison humanistic values and ideals
while retaining a pragmatic approach to scientific and
technological changes that are rapidly transforming the face of
the earth in India.
Achebe's protrayal of this historic conflict boils down to
Obi, the principal characterts struggle to balance his idealism
against the insuperable temptation of the consumer world and
culture. He succumbs to the pressure of demands for leading a
life in consonance with his high position and elitist education.
Achebe projects the evils that can be spawned by an unrestricted
or unregulated pursuit of comforts and luxuries without a basic
moral consciousness. Obi has moral awareness and idealism but
lacks the strength of character that alone can withstand the
weight of materialistic and consumeristic demands. Achebe's
context is the Nigerian scene in a state of turmoil and disquiet,
as a consequence of the inroads made by Western ideologies, modes
of production and ownership and the value-systems centred on
money and acquistiveness.
Chapter Six, "Class War qnd Caste ~olitics" takes a critical
look at the treatment of exploitation by Anand and Achebe. In
Marxian analysis of social systems, class plays a crucial role in v.-
maintaining the exploitive character of a capitalist society. 1
Class conflict or class war eventually yields to proletarian rule
and the stateless and classless society accprding to Marx - Anand probes the class character of exploitation in several
novels, the chief among them being, coolie,. Two Leaves and a
Bud and The Bis Heart. Anand seemingly subscribes to the Marxist - view of class struggle preceding final liberation in the form of
classless society and stateless socialism. Munoo and Gangu,
although they are kshatriyas, are discriminated against and
exploited simply because they are poor and downtrodden. Z k @&l
Heart is a moving and heart-rending tragedy of ~nanta who dies a
martyr for the cause of educating and conscientizing his people
to accept the inevitability of modernity. Anand portrays the
heinousness and dissects the per se evil of casteism and
untouchability in Untouchable and The Road. c his twin sin and
shame of ~ndia is projected by Anand as equally responsible for
the social and economic inequalities that persist so many years
after Independence.
Achebe has not addressed class or caste problem explicitly
in his novels. However, his approach to the theme of colonial
confrontation includes a critique of the class distinctions that
emerged from the prevalence of market-economy and liberal use of
money. He deplores the fall in moral standards in the wake of
the advent of capitalism and points to the monumental corruption
in high places as an eloquent example of moral decadence. The
only instance of Itcaste" that can be identified in Achebe's
novels is the ostracism of a slave caste known as "Osu" as
presented in No Lonqer Ease. Achebe does not hesitate. to
pinpoint the irrational beliefs or practices that are divisive.
discriminatory or reactionary.
Chapter Seven, ItLiberation from the Feminist
Perspe~tive~~~attempts a feminist interpretation of Anandfs and
Achebe's study of exploitation. Women's Liberation as a
political or social movement and feminism as a literary or
artistic theory had its origin in the West and therefore the
Indian brand of feminism is not without its Western trappings,
biases, slants or excesses. However, the Indian equivalent has
had its measure of success, specially, thanks to the numerous
writers, particularly novelists, who have espoused its cause or
the cause of the exploited and maltreated women of India, in
their works of art. Anand without doubt, finds a place among
Indian writers who have aided the cause of the Indian woman by
drawing portraits of liberated or enlightened women who rebel
against time-worn or outmoded traditions. Anandrs Gauri is a
historic landmark in the evolution of the feminist novel in
India. Achebe may not be a hardcore Eeminist. Nevertheless his
presentation of women likd~eatrice and Elewa in Anthills of
Savannah can be studied from the feminist angle fruitfully. For
both Anand and Achebe, the woman is an integral and indispensable
part of any process of liberation.
Chapter ~ight, ItArt and ~onunitrnent~~, tries to resolve the
apparent dualism between art and commitment. It has been at the
centre of literary debate over the years. It is contended in
this chapter that-art and commitment are not mutually exclusive4
In fact they are complementary and mutually enriching. Even the
Marxist critics and theorists concede the autonomy of art and
therefore a committed writer need not neglect art or make it
subservient to content or subject matter. Anand1s subject matter
reveals his profound involvement in the lives and fortunes of the
people, specially the oppressed masses, Anand1s language, style
and fictional techniques reveal certain flaws thus inviting
unfavourable critical review. Achebe however comes across as a
master craftsman whose identification with his people, the Igbo
tribe, is near total. Literary commitment should not be equated
with propagandism. While Anand has been searching for the right
style and technique to suit his fictional matrix, he is not
altogether free from propagandist pitfall. Achebe, on the other
hand, has achieved the fine tuning between his art and
ideological conviction, matter and form. He has a rich
repertoire of fictional strategies, and a range of techniques
which are fascinating.
Chapter Nine, ltSumming UpM, is a summation of all that has
been said in the preceding chapters, We have gained a fairly
comprehensive grasp of the liberation motif in Anand and Achebe
through a systematic investigation of their stories, themes .and
artistic features, such as language, style, techniques of writing
and characterization. The ultimate success of the two novelists
is judged by the measure of success achieved by them in striking
the right balance or rhythm between their ideological
sensibilites and the demands of the literary genre. Moreover
this chapter goes on to maintain that the pioneering work of
these two writers provides the framework f o r f u t u r e research i n
the sphere of literature on liberation. The bold experiments
done by both Anand and Achebe, in making heroes of the
disinherited and the wretched of the earth, provide a fresh
impetus to more such experiments in future. More innovative and
creative work in fictional themes, forms, approaches and aim
modelled on Anand's and Achebefs paradigm are in order. Novels
with political and prophetic slant have a crucial role to play
in the liberation dynamics of any third-world country.
------------------------------------------------------ THE H l STOR l CAL EVOLUT l ON AND RELEVANCE OF 'L I BERAT I ON' ----------------------- - -- ............................
------------- - 1-1--------- IN THE TW IRD WORLD CONTEXT --------------------------
The third world context which forms the backdrop of the
novels of Mulk Raj Anand and Chinua Achebe has certain
characteristic socio-economic features. And it is against this
socio-economic scenario that problems like alienation
neo-colonialism, exploitation, starvation, growing gap between
the rich and the poor, poverty, illiteracy, corruption and
erosion of values in public life have to be examined. The
strange irony of it all is that this situation prevails despite
numerous policies and programmes of individual governments to
promote economic growth and to accumulate national wealth as far
as possible so as to increase the per capita income and the gross
national product. It is moreover assumed by the policy-makers
that the benefit of development will accrue to the entire
population including the poor and the rnarginalised in course of
time.
The flaw underlying this assumption is that it
ignores the existing socio-economic structures that favour the
accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few and keep the vast
majority of the population in want and misery. The lacuna
becomes glaring as it dawns on us that poverty need not be the
real problem of the third world countries. We are obliged as a
consequence to examine the dynamics of society and the mechanisms
that operate within the socio-economic structures in order t o
unravel t h e problem. Julius K Nyerere has stated this issue
forcefully and clearly thus:
Poverty is not the real problem of t h e modern
world, f o r we have knowledge and the
resources which will enable us t o overcome
poverty. The real problem of t h e modern
world - the thing which creates misery, wars
and hatred among men - is the division of
mankind into rich and poor. We can see this
division at two levels. within nation states
there are a few individuals who have great .
wealth and whose wealth gives them great
power. But t h e vast majority of the people . .
suffer from varying degrees of poverty and
deprivation. And looking at the world as a
collection of nation states, we see the same
pattern repeated: there are a few wealthy
nations which dominate the world economically
and therefore politically; and a mass of
smaller and poor nations whose destiny, it
appears, is to be dominated.
(Nyerere: 8).
It is in this context of shocking disparities and imbalance
between individuals and between nations that social thinkers,
religious and spiritual leaders down the decades have addressed
themselves to the question of social justice. Social justice has
been variously defined. Time there was when social justice was
made out to be a harmonious balance of the three traditional
types of justice, namely, the commutative justice (the relation-
ships between individuals among themselves), the distributive
justice (the relationship of society with regard to the members)
and the legal justice (relationship of individuals to the common
good). It should be conceded that a purely political and secular
notion of justice as propounded by Aristotle was later modified
radically by the introduction of man's relationship to God as
provident Father as the basis of all justice. It was the
scholastic philosophers and in particular St. Thomas Aquinas who
maintained an intrinsic and almost inseparable relationship
between love and justice. The definitions of the three kinds of
justice have been derived from ~quinas' Summa Theoloqica.
While the notion of social justice comprehends all these
above ideas and values, it cannot be restricted to the economic
order only. Popes Leo XI11 (in his epoch-making encyclical Rerum
Novarum 1891) and Pius XI (in his encyclical Quadrauesimo Anno.
1931) have attempted to further refine and clarify the term
"social justice" by applying it to the specific and new economic
situations arising out of new developments in industry. Both
these Pontiffs were concerned about the reformation of the
economic order by advocating the reign of social justice. Social
justice was propounded as the directing principle of all economic
life, activities and relationships. Although both the Pontiffs
were explicit in making the common good the purpose of s o c i a l
justice, "this common goood is the economic common good,"
(Drummond: 1955 : 27) . It was Pope Paul VI who in his outstanding encyclical
Po~ulorum Proclressio (1967) defined social justice in its most
comprehensive scope as "the integral development of everyman and
of all menq1 (Pope Paul VI 1967 - article 5). Probably the
inspiration for this global vision of social justice was provided
by the teachings of the Vatican council 11, Its document titled
t h e "Constitution on t h e Church in the Modern Worldf1 a major
highlight of the council affirmed that the Church in todayls
world must be committed to the creation of a better world, to the
promotion of justice, to the development of peoples and to the
defence of human rights.
Pope Paul VI in his encyclical sounded a note of urgency by
recommending bold transformations, innovations that go deep and
urgent reforms without delay if the human race, the peace of the
world and the future of civilization should have a chance to
survive.
It is in the context of all these history-making events,
declarations, pronouncements and socio-economic developments,
that the meaning and import of the word 'liberation1 is to be
sought. Probably a practical way of elucidating the term
"liberationf1 is by studying its origin in the Latin American
Continent. Ssgundo Galilea, a leading exponent of Liberation
Theology in Latin America, sums up the process by which the term
"liberationf1 came to be used popularly by the groups of people
engaged in t h e struggle for freedom as well as the Theologians
who began to reflect on the praxis of these people, in the
following manner:
Its immdediate an tecedent is t o be found
in Paul VI's Populorum Proqressio (1967).
Before this Encyclical was issued (that is to
say during the 50's and a good part of the
6 b r s ) , we spoke of 'developmentf a s a project
aiming to rescue the Latin American peoples
from their poverty. Paul VI transcends this
concept and speaks of 'integral development'.
For it was felt that unspecified notion of
development was inadequate; it was too closely
related to the material and economic aspects
of life and overlooked other dimensions of
t h e human person. @'Integral developmentw, on
the other hand, means man's advancement in all
his dimensions, both moral and religious; it
is every process that leads from Itless human
to more human conditionsa1, (Populorum
Progressio, art.20). This conception which goes
beyond the pure and simple, 'desarrollismo' of
the industrialised world, greatly influenced
the second Latin American Episcopal
Conference, held at Medellin in 1968. Even
before this event it exercised its influence,
though a more limited one, on many Christians
who in the early 60s were speaking of
llliberationu. It was in fact at Medellin
that the word was used officially for the
first time. Since then it has remained a
key-word in the reflection and tasks of
Latin American Christians.
(Segundo, 1978 : 336)
llLiberationu, according to the same writer has richer
shades of meaning as compared with the term "integral
developmentu and it posits man as the subject of his own destiny
and history. "Liberationu thus achieved legitimacy not only
among the people but amidst theologians of the Church in Latin
America.
Pope Paual VI indirectly gave his seal of approval to use
the term "liberationf1 by himself using the term in his apostolic
letter Evanqelii Nuntiandi (1975). For him liberation signifies
"the effort and struggle to overcome everything which c~ndemns
those peoples to remain on the margin of life: famine, chronic
disease, illiteracy, poverty, injustices in international
relations and specially in commercial exchanges, situations of
economic and cultural neo-colonialism, sometimes as cruel as the
old political c~lonialisrn~~. (Pope Paul VI 1975: art.30)
While we are not directly interested in a detailed analysis
of the theology of ~iberation, we can't altogether ignore certain
of the premises, methodological sources and tendencies of this
brand of theology. his position can be justified by the fact
that the theology of liberation is localised or situated in the
liberative praxis of the masses. Hence liberative praxis or
actions for justice or the socio-economic reality of the people
becomes the locus of theological reflection and elaboration. And
this is precisely the arena where changes, be they slow or
revolutionary, take place as a result of the liberative praxis of
the people, aware of their dehumanizing situation and of
their collective power to overthrow such oppressive structures.
Liberation theology starts off from human, social and
historical reality, ponders the existing relationships based on
injustice in a global frame and analyses the mechanism by which
the poor are oppressed. This theological reflection is obviausly
done in the light of the Christian faith in the context of Latin
America but the assistance of human science, specially of the
scientific tools of societal analysis available in Marxism is
sought.
What interests us here is the liberation dialectics that is
not the preserve of Latin ~merica, but can be, and in fact, is a
reality in other third world countries such as India and
continents such as Africa. Liberation is the universal clamour
and experience of all oppressed people in one form or the other.
It may have its cultural and historical nuances and specificity.
For instance the socio-economic reality in 1ndi.a has been
certainly affected by the historical event of colonialism and her
multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-racial cultural milieu.
Similarly we could suppose that the socio-economic situation of
Africa, apart from the common factors of domination and
oppression of the majority by a dominant minority is marked by
"its colonial past, racism or apar the id , non-literate culture,
multiplicity of tribes and languages and neo colonialism.
In this connection it may be fruitful to state what
Aloysius Pieris,S.J., one of t h e front-line Asian Theologians
from Sri Lanka has to say. Speaking about the indigenization of
theology of liberation in the context of Asia's ~ocio-political
and cultural reality, he observed that lithe religiousness of the
poor and the poverty of the religious masses together constitute
the complex structure of Asian reality which is the matrix of an
Asian Theologytf.
The same writer concludes to a new paradigm of liberation
emerging in Asia as a consequence of an inversion of values
effected by ~arxism, a widespread and popular ideology in many
Asian countries today. The two old models of liberation found in
India were the elitist exercise of retiring to a sequestered and
comfortable nook for pursuing philosophical or religious
speculations and the other of renunciation of or flight from the
world in order to have a 'desertf or forestf experience. The
new paradigm of liberation emerging today has none of the
features or elements of the former model which was elitist but
has apparent links with the latter model. "In the eyes of many
enlightened "pr~letariate~~ it is the elite of the leisure class
including religious leaders that need to be liberated and
this liberation can be achieved only in and through the
self-redemptive action of the masses, the commoners, the
hoi-~olloi, the poor, the oppressed who are thought to be
invested with a messianic mission for the humankind's total
liberation."
(Pieris , 1986: 275)
And it is significant as Pieris points out that this model
is akin to the twofold biblical doctrine of the renunciation of
Manunon within one's inner self and indirect and silent
denunciation of a world order built on ~ammonic values. Thus the
two principal axioms of the new paradigm of liberation are:
a) The irreconcilable antagonism between God and Mammon (a
universal spiritual dogma found in some form or other in all
religions of Asia particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism).
b) The irrevocable covenant between God and the Poor (a
spefifically Biblical axiom that may prove explosively true if
transposed to the context of a marxist analysis),
The messianic or the liberative role of the poor in third
world countries particularly in India could be meaningfully
viewed .in the light of what the Bible says about the poor.
George Soares-Prabhu,S.J., an Indian Biblical Scholar delineates
the biblical portrayal in his paper "The Kingdom of God: Jesus'
Vision of a New SocietyH, by qualifying the poor of the Bible as
(a) a sociological group, (b) a dialectical group, and (c) a
dynamic group. These three biblical tenets do bear resemblance
to Marxist theory which see$ the poor (proletariat) as a social
class at once victim and creator of human history.
At this stage it may be useful to examine another important
model of liberation dialectics, Karl Marx's elaboration of the
tools for a scientifc analysis of socio-economic reality merits a
close study as it attempts to critique the existent older models
of liberation. The oft-used 'liberative praxisf as one term gives
us clue to the importance or shall we say, primacy of praxis in
the process of liberation in any milieu, as propounded by Marx.
Let us investigate the original meaning of praxis before trying
to understand Marx's theory.
The word 'praxisf is Greek and has invariably found favour
with many commentators in preference to the English word
'practicef which does not adequately capture the nuances of
meaning implied in the Greek usage. It is neither theory nor
practice existing by itself. In one sense if, combines the
meanings and nuances of both in a unique fashion.
It was Aristotle who first posited three kinds of knowledge
designated by the terms theoria, praxis and poiesis
corresponding more or less to three kinds of living that we may
call the contemplative life (philosophical), the practical life
(political), and the productive life (survival activity)
'lThe~ria~~ is directed to the life of contemplation.
....tPraxis', on the other hand, is concerned with the
personal participation of the individual in the life of the 1
Ipolisf. More specifically praxis is directed to the right
ordering of human behaviour in the socio-political world..,.
'Poiesisf, the third form of human activity,is a process of making
those things which are necessary for the survival of human being.
Poiesis is about production: it is the exercise of technical
skills by different people; it is creation of artifacts; it is a
process of human making."
(Cited in Lane 1983: 3 4 ) .
To summarise Aristotlefs ideas on theoria, praxis and
poiesis, it should be pointed out that he never envisaged a
separation or dichotomy between the three, although, "theoriaW
was for him an end in itself, to be supported by "poiesis" and
"praxisu. He advocated a unity and interplay of all three and %
further wanted to keep politics and philosophy, the practical
life and contemplative life together.
We now proceed to an understanding of the ideas of Marx
concerning praxis. By and large primacy of theory dominated the
philosophical and theological thinking of the period preceding
the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment however,the shift
from the individual as knower to the individual as Agent took
place. The discoveries of science in the eighteenth century
opened up hitherto unknown possibilities of human
creativity. Kant reflected this new found enthusiasm and
confidence in his critique of pure reason and his avowed
preference for practical reason. "The human person is no longer
determined simply by a given cosmic order. Instead the
individual as subject constructs his or her own world. However
the problem with Kant was his failure to grapple with the social
and historical conditions of human existence and to apply the
importance of the turning towards the subject to the
socio-political world. This failure of Kant undoubtedly
influenced the works of Hegel and Marx significantly," (Lane, 1983
: 36).
Hegel postulated the Absolute Spirit at the centre of
history and all reality. Praxis for him is the praxis of spirit
reaching itself in history, Theory for him was the rational
articulation by the individual of that praxis. A1 t hough
Hegel posited unity between praxis and theory, this unity is
between the praxis of the spirit and theory proposed by the
individual. Hence he was not concerned with the praxis of the
individual person in the world. This lacuna provoked Marx into
developing his own particular view of theory-praxis relationship.
"Marx criticised Hegel's understanding of praxis as too
idealistic and ultimately ideological. That praxis did nothing
to change the course of history or to bring about freedom in the
world. Marx replaced the praxis of the spirit with the praxis of
human beings. The subject of world history is not Spirit guided
by Providence but the praxis of individual human beings," (Lane,
1983: 38).
Marx's understanding of praxis belongs to the large
complexus within his works which consists of the existence of two
streams referred to as ~ciensific Marxism and Critical Marxism.
The 'scientific stream is that part of Marx's thought that
explains the structures of the capitalist society as governed by
blind and necessary laws that maintain presently t h e capitalist
mode of production but will eventually bring about a classless
society. This introduces forms of materialism and determinism
into Marx's thought. On the other hand the critical stream is
concerned with changing the structures of the social and
political reality of day to day living. And this change
according to Marx can be effected by adopting a creative praxis.
The two streams yield two perceptions of praxis, namely the
blind praxis of unreflective labour of the scientific stream and
the creative praxis of the critical stream. While the former .is
the source of alienation within society, the latter is directed @ towards changing the social conditions of the working masses
whose basic aim is liberation. Taking the clue from Hegel, Marx
affirms that the individal is what he or she does and the human
person is shaped by praxis, At the same time the products of
praxis embody some aspects of the individual as the individual
puts something of himself or herself into his or her world of
product. These 'objectifications' of praxis become sources of
alienation only when the products of one's praxis are taken over
by others and turned into instruments for dominating, controlling
and dehumanizing the person leading ta alienation.
According to Marx it is life that determines consciousness
and not the other way about as Hegel maintained. It is this
principle that is at the basis of Marx's scientific materialism.
And Ifhistorical materialism in Marx implied that the
conditions of life, specially the historical mode of producing
the material means of existence determines the shape of human?
consciousness. Theory is the expression and articulation of
consciousness based on the material conditions resulting fro@ i
praxis, vg (Lane, 1983: 41) . Marx's primary concern in his study is directed to a
diagnosis of present social conditions. Therefore Marx is quite
resolute that praxis mu& be informed by a critical analysis of
societal dynamics. The only way to change the world is to
diagnose the present circumstances via a nrelentless criticism of
all existing conditions. .. not afraid of its findings and just
as little afraid of the conflict," (Cited in Lane, 1983: 4 2 ) .
Marx advocates relentless criticism and the purpose of such
criticism is the transformation of social reality. This
criticism is expected to bring to self-consciousness the reasons
why people are suffering and alienated and what they can do to
alter the causes of such suffering. In his eleventh thesis on
Feuerbach he states: nThe philosophers have only interpreted the
world; the point is to change it." Thus at the bottom of his
concept of revolutionary praxis (practical critical activity) we
perceive the combination of critical understanding and human
activity. Dermot A.Lane concludes his brief but perceptive
analysis of Marx's concept of praxis by saying "praxis is a
multi-layered concept embracing in varying degrees relentless
criticism, human activity, historical change, labour, production
and alienation," (Lane, 1983: 43).
And it is this conceptual richness and importance that
compelled us to study at length its manifold aspects and
meanings. Liberation theologians and thinkers have always
insisted on ''praxisw being clubbed with liberationtf . Thus
liberative praxis becomes the central concept and a very dynamic
and rich instrument of theory and practice in the whole corpus of
liberationist literature.
But what is common in all these different liberative
experiences and models is the fact that men and women have begun
to perceive or discover the world of the poor and the
underprivileged as never before, It is a new awareness of an
existent reality. A realization that people, individuals and
groups of persons who have hitherto been on the fringe of
society have begun to take their destinies into their own hands
and to articulate fearlessly their frustrations, hopes and
aspirations. Gustavo Gutierrez, one of the foremost and
pioneering liberation theologians of Latin America, has captured
the emergence of this new world and new awareness among this
people in the following manner:
Recent years in Latin America have been marked
by a real and demanding discovery of the world
of the other-the poor, the oppressed and the
exploited. In a social order that has been set
up financially, politically and ideologically
by a few for their own benefit, the 'other' of
this society are beginning to make their
voices heard. They are beginning to have
their direct say. They are starting to
rediscover less and less through
intermediaries now and are beginning to have
their direct say. They are starting to
rediscover themselves and to make the system
aware of their unsettling presence. They are
beginning to be less and less the objects of
demagogical manipulation or thinly disguised
social services and are gradually becoming the
agents of their own history, forgers of a
radically different society.
(Gutierrez 1983: 37)
It is a powerful depiction of the radically new situation
that is emerging in the third world as a whole. The ideological
underpinnings are not difficult to perceive. However, what is
central to this action for liberation is the involvement o r
commitment. This commitment implies an active solidarity with
the struggles of the masses in one form or the other. Gutierrez
from his own and his people's christian vantage point explains
commitment thus:
The ixruption of the 'otherr onto one's own
scene, the perception of the world of the
poor, leads one to an active solidarity with
that other's interest and struggles. It leads
to an involvement, a commitment, which
translates into a pledge to transform a
social order that generates marginalised and
oppressed persons. participation in the 1 praxis of liberation places us at the very 'I -
heart of a concrete conflictual history in
which w e meet Christ who reveals God to
us as Father and reveals our neighbours to us
as our sisters and brothers.'!
(Gutierrez, 1983: 38)
While liberative action calls for involvement and
cmmmitment marked by active solidarity with the struggling and
oppressed masses, the degree of intensity of this commitment and
mode or manner of involvement may vary from person to person. it
is in this process that we situate the role of the
intellectuals, writers and artists, as one of being at the service
of the struggling groups and movements. Their role is primarily
one of reflecting the level of consciousness of both the
participants and others. It will be their task to capture the
mood of the people, the ferment, the anger, the protest that is
generated in the process. Moreover they aid the onward thrust of
the process by projecting not merely the plight of the exploited
groups, but also by playing a prophetic role in terms of the
future course of their praxis and the goal of all their
endeavours. We have a very fine expose of this type of function '
of an intellecutal in Paulo Freiref s 'Pedaqoqy of the Qp~ressed'
wherein he dwells on 'conscientizationf as a concept that
signifies the process of the oppressed masses becoming aware of
their ignoble and inhuman situtation and power for changing it,
by means of an educational programme rooted in their
socio-economic and cultural milieus aided by the inspirational,
animational and prophetic role of committed intellectuals.
In this brief examination of the evolution of the concept
of liberation and the different models of liberation, w e have
consistently noticed that it has been interpreted variously
depending on the dominant ideology or culture of a particular
society or individuals at a given time. As in Latin America, in
India and in African countries too the pendulum has swung from an
elitist, personal, spiritualistic perception of fsalvation' to a 1
more societal, grass-roots, change-oriented, poor-centred option
for integral liberation. Several religious streams
and philosophical strands have contributed to this evolution.
Nevertheless the part played by Marxism in this process has been
remarkable and unprecedented. The rapid spread of Marxist
ideology sweeping through most Asian and African countries has
been in a large measure responsible for the radical rethinking of
political and economic policies, programmes and goals in many of
these countries. It should however be conceded that the almost
one sided economic bias of Marxism in its analysis of societal
dynamics has ben criticised by Asian and ~frican liberationist
thinkers.
The dimension of culture so very deep-seated in the
liberationist approaches, has been stressed as an indispensable
constitutent of the liberative processes of their countries. It
has been pointed out that 'even the Latin American approach to
liberation is one-sidedly economico-political and that it does
not pay sufficient attention to cultural, historical and
religious aspects of its reality.
In this context, what we have already said about the
religiousness of the poor in India, assumes greater significance
and relevance. If integral liberation must include cultural
liberation, it means in terms of India, t h e role of religion
which is the heart of their culture :
While culture sets up the symbolic worlds
that structure the life and relationships of
a community, relgion deals with the meaning of
it all, some would say, the ultimate meaning.
Because of this it provides deeper goals and
motivations. Religion, specially in its cultural
expression, may be conditioned and limited in
history. It- can be abused and can become
alienating. But it has also shown a prophetic
power to challenge existing situations.It
(Amaladoss, 268)
A concrete instance of religion's alienating and ambivalent
role is the establishment and perpetuation of caste hierarchy and
the division of people into high and low castes and ritually pure
and impure. While certain individuals and groups or movements i
have attempted to concretise the prophetic dimension of religion
by denouncing the caste-based inequality and untouchability as
anti-God and anti-human, the fact is, casteism and untouchability
have not been eradicated. Castebased discrimination is reflected
in all areas of the nation's social, economic and political life.
The reason for this is perhaps that we have not attacked this
social evil from a religio-cultural angle, systematically.
The prophetic role of religion lies also in its duty to
denounce the values of consumerism and acquisitiveness which are
an integral part of today's social fabric. The values of
voluntary poverty and the spirit of non-attachment of any
religion, as w e have pointed out earlier, may be one way to fight
effectively oppressive poverty. In short, it should be affirmed
that no project f o r the liberation of people in India can ignore '8
the liberation potential contained in great religions such as
Buddhism and Hinduism.
It is in this context that andh hi's ideal of nonpossession,
trusteeship etc., acquire great significance in terms of
liberative praxis in India. Gandhian vision is in sharp contrast
to the concept of class war advanced by the Marxian thought- The
system of Gandhi is rooted in the basic goodness of individuals
and built on an optimistic view of human nature. He was first
and foremost a spiritual leader of the masses seized with a
relentless quest for a more humane and just social order.
Gandhi recognising the fact of all being imprisoned in a
situation of bondage and alienation, posited that individual
persons should be liberated, so that the rest may attain
liberation.
Gandhism "making an analysis of the behavioural struture,
which is at work in an alienated social context, recognises the
active and passive roles respectively of the oppressed and the
oppressor in the process,lt (Statement of Indian Theological
Association, 1985: 18).
Gandhi evolved strategies of non-violent non-cooperation
and civil disobedience. In a bid to invest the whole exercise C
with a spiritual dimension, andh hi imposed voluntary suffering or
self-suffering not only as a sanction for the breaking of bondageJ
and oppression but also as a source of strength to the
participants and of emancipation to the oppressor, thus
reconciling both in a new human fellowship.
Gandhism envisages a just and fraternal communion, a society Ci
functioning within the framework of a self-governing and self-
supporting village or town without the paraphernalia of a huge
centralised governing machinery :
"In this way Gandhi brings the I
religio-spiritual heritage of India to the
liberative task and at once merges it with the
Christian model of Christ's suffering love
which breaks the oppression of the sin of
the world. Thereby challenges
to a rediscovery of the liberative potential of
its own paradigm. It
The
(St at ement Indian
Gandhian approach suffers from
Association,
lack systematic
socio-structural and political analysis as evidenced by his
implicit faith in the basic goodness of individuals and in the
possibility of social transformation to emerge from a moral or
spiritual conversion or mere change of behaviour.
"His vision of equality within Varnadharma again seems
unrealizable in practice. Trusteeship likewise depends too much
on the goodness of the individualst1.
Despite all these deficiencies ~andhism has certain very
valuable insights that can enrich the cultural components of the
new paradigm of liberation.
The liberation movements and traditions of Africa have a
marked cultural bias. The people of Africa have been
particularly wary and resentful of the destruction of their
cultural identity by the colonial powers. The impact of foreign
cultures on theirs has been far too difficult to withstand.
Hence the universal phenomenon of the people, the intellectuals
and writers in particular, seeking above everything to restore
dignity and respect to their native cutlure. Politically tbey
may be free; but culturally and even economically they are
dependent, and are objects of manipulation and exploitation by
the foreign powers and their agents. Hence they are inclined to
stress cultural liberation, more than economic or politcal
liberation. This concern is perceived palpably in the works of
writers from different African countries.
The above &study reaffirms the idea that liberation can
become an actuality only if the projects of liberation or the
liberative praxis takes into accoMt the peculiar cultural and
religious traditions, perceptions and streams of the milieu in
which it is immersed. It iq all the more important as liberation
is being worked out by the oppressed people themselves who, as we
have asserted earlier, are not only poor but religious. Thus the
religiousness of the poor and the poverty of the religious poor
of the third world countries constitute the indispensable two-
fold base on which the liberative praxis can become efficacious,
subversive, historymaking and enduringly people-centred.
MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHINUA ACHEBE AMONG THE l R CONTEMPORAR l ES
Mulk ~ a j Anand (1905 - ) has carved out for
himself a niche among the all-time celebrities in the domain of
the English novel in India. Hailed as one of the ill~strious
trinity, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao being the other t w o , Anand
has dominated the scene for the past five decades and more. He
is a prolific writer who has authored sixteen novels to date and
has to his credit over half a dozen volumes of short stories.
Being a versatile scholar, his interests encompassed a vast range
of subjects. While his principal passion was tied up with the
fortunes and vicissitudes of India's teeming millions, he wrote
on sophisticated subjects like Indian art, poets, painting,
architecture and even Indian cuisine. His Apoloqv for Heorism is
an autobiography of ideas, a remarkable literary venture at once
fascinating and informative.
Anand was born at Peshawar i n 1905. His fa ther came of a
traditional coppersmith stock, while his mother belonged to a
sturdy Punjab peasant family. His father joined the army and
distinguised himself as a disciplined soldier owing loyalty to
the British. Anand must have inherited his insatiable thirst for
adventure and novelty, his keen power of observation and
attention to details, from his father whom he admired and
respected. It must be from his mother that he derived his robust
common sense and his compassion for the poor and t h e downtrodden.
Anand had his education at Lahore, London and cambridge and
took a doctorate in Philosophy:
'Vmm 1930 to 1945 he divided h i s time between
literary London and Gandhifs India while
undertaking his long editorship of the Bombay
arts magazine Marq. Sophisticated and
cosmopolitan, impatient of transcendentalism,
sceptical of religion, Anand looks Indian life
fully in t h e face. His realistic novels, angry
at injustice, satirical yet warm, reveal
generosity of heart and great sympathy with t h e
unfortunate .... His fiction consistently
upholds the value of living and awarenessn,
( T h e Cambridge Guide to L i t i n Eng: 1988, 27)
Indian writing in English o r creative writing in the
English language by Indians is, in its own right, an accepted
genre with a history of nearly a hundred and fifty years. The
term "Indo-Anglian" was given popular currency by Dr.K.R.
Srinivasa Iyengar. He wrote a book with the title Indo-Anslian
Literature in 1943. This term is unacceptable t o many scholars
and students of English literature, although it had been i n vogue
many years before Dr.K.R. ~rinivasa Iyengar popularised it.
Today the corpus of English works by Indians is called Indian
writing in English, All said and done, I11ndian ~nglish writingB8
as Dr. Anand has declared, has come to stay as part of world
literature. Although it is a class by itself, this garden
variety of English literature is deemed to be part of the larger
phenomenon known as Commonwealth Literature. his variety of
literature includes all the literatures in English, of the
countries, once ruled and colonised by the British. The African
writings in English fall under this category thus affording some
common parameters for abcomparative analysis between the literary
works of different countries. Chinua Achebe, being a frontline
novelist and short story writer from Nigeria, stakes his claim as
one of the foremost African and commonwealth writers.
Indian writing in English has gone through a turbulent but
chequered history. It had its origin in the first half of the
nineteenth century. However most of the early experiments were
in verse. Prose of a non-fictional variety existed. But the
novel as a literary genre did not see the light of day until
after many years. For a very long time the 1ndian novelists were
confining their interests to history and romance. R.C.Dutt,
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and ~abindranath Tagore were the
illustrious fore-runners of fiction in India and in Bengal in
particular. Many of their Bengali novels were translated into
English by them, thus providing the timely fillip to the
contemporary Indian novelists in English. It is only with the
emergence of this magnificent trio that the Indian English novel
came to be recognised within and outside India. The approach of
these writers was both philosophical and social. Of course
Tagore brought the psychological dimension to the novel making a
cocerted effort to probe the innermost recesses of the human
mind. Mulk Raj Anand who began writing fiction much later showed
unmistakable signs of Rabindranath Tagore's influence.
It is with the advent of the "Big Three" on the horizon of
English novel in, India that we notice remarkable change for the
better. Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao with their mature
approach to the techniques and content of fictian and an
extraordinary command over the English language and idiom aided
by an unparallelled zest for Indian history, culture and reality,
guaranteed for Indian-English fiction a permanent position of
eminence and importance in the midst of world literatures in
English.
All the three novelists are more or less contemporaries and
have occupied the Indian literary scene for the past five or six
decades. Probably Mulk Raj Anand was the first to write and
publish novels and his first novel Untouchable (1935) was an
instant hit. He followed it up with Coolie (1936) and Two Leaves
and a Bud (1937). It must be remembered that Anand had to fight -
gamely before he could prevail upon the ~ritish publishers to
accept the manuscript of Untouchable. The role that E.M. Forstex
played in getting his Untouchable published is common knowledge
now.
The quality that distinguishes
from ~ a j a Rao, R.K. Narayan and from a host
of his younger contemporaries, is his humanist angle. As a
consequence of his social themes, realistic treatment and
concealed option for the underdog in Indian society, his
fictional approach has been called realism, social or socialist
realism and his novel, protest novel, political fiction, humanstic
or realistic novel or novel of human centrality. He has been
accused of being Marxist in his convictions and sensibility on
account of the consistently pro-poor or pro-worker stance that he
has adopted.
A comparison of M.R. Anand with his comteporaries,
particularly Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan, may not be altogether
fruitful or warranted. In point of fact, Anand himself
disapproves of assessing or judging a writer on the basis of
some pre-conceived ideas or theories or criteria, Anand asserts
in his "Reflections of a ~ovelist: Some Notes on the NovelH:
No critic can then, reproduce the essence of a
novel, through neat little theories of realism,
subjectivism, naturalism, social realism or
anti-novel-novel metaphysics. Because, the novel
is generally a whirlpool, in which we get
involved, and go round and round, being unable to
extricate ourselves until some startling event
restarts the flow. (in Amrrr (ed); 1985, 10)
Given Anand's avowal above, he can't be expected to
formulate a theory or code for writing a novel. Right enough
there are only fragmentary utterances and statements about novel
writing that convey Anand's preoccupations or professed fictional
strategies. Nevertheless from a study of his novels and short
stories, one can easily derive or arrive at a set of rules that
might have guided Anand. Although Anand may not advocate a
comparison with other novelists, it may not be altogether out of
place to study the relative merits of a few writers more or
less contemporaneous with M.R. Anand.
R a j Rao's novel has been termed as the "metaphysical
novelr1. His essential fictive matrix is the Indian view of
reality and he looks upon literature as "Sadhana", not a
profession. For him "SadhanaU is the consequence of the
metaphysical life. His fictional universe is universe as defined
by the metaphysical. We see a spiritual continuum in his later
novels beginning with The Ser~ent and the Rope and ending in
The Cat and Shakespeare. It is s and hi an strain that permeates --- the story, characterization, theme, and action of Kantha~ura. He
has fused poetry and politics, the perennial with the present, as
Dr.K.R.S. Iyengar points out in his chapter on Raja Rao.
( I y e n g a r , 1962: 394)
Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao differ in their fictional
strategies and approaches and to a lesser extent in terms of the
subjects they deal with. While commitment to the underprivileged
is the central quality of Anand, the metaphysical and
philosophical probing and analysis engage the attention of ~ a j a
Rao. Likewise R.K. Narayan has his own approach and subjects
that mark him out as a humorous writer, highly creative and
culturally rooted. He is a master of south Indian middle-class
psychology and manners. He is the father of the regional novel
in India, as his prime interest lies in the imaginary township
called "Malgudin inhabited by South Indian middle class gentry.
Among his numerous novels, The Guide is a tour-de-force of
technique. He is a serious artist like Raja Rao and pays
meticulous attention to smallest details of style, language,
strucutre, plot and characterization,
Among these three novelists, R.K. Narayan is probably the
most popular and enjoys the highest international renown as a
novelist. Nevertheless Raja Rao has his select readership as his
manner of writing evokes enthusiasm only in serious- minded and
philosophically or religiously oriented readers , Anand's appeal
is universal and for all time and categories of people,
His novel read like stories and therefore appeal to children and
adults alike. While the style of R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao is
urbane and elitist, Anand deliberately adopts a rugged and
colloquial style often marred by an excessive use of Punjabi
expressions and swear words transliterated into English. All
said and done, Anand outshines the other two by his inimitable
fluency of language. The flow and the force of his language is
almost proverbial.
Mulk R a j Anand is still engaged in writing. He has yet to
complete three more novels of his projected seven volume
autobiographical work, A s he has been writing continuously for
the last six decades, he has kept company with a whole gamut of
novelists. Apart from R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, a host of
others like Ahmed Ali, K.A. Abbas, K. Nagarajan, G.V. Desani and
a few others belonging to the 30's and 40's have been Anand's
comtemporaries.
During the period between 1950 and 1979 some more new
novelists appeared on the scene. Sudhin N. ~ o s h , Bhabani
Bhattacharya, Khushwant Singh, Manohar Malgonkar, B. Rajan, A r m
Joshi, Chaman Nahal and a group of talented and versatile women
novelists like Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Ruth Jhabwala
and Anita Desai are quite active even today and are contributing
enormously to the growth and reputation of the English novel in
India. During this phase M.R. Anand came out with some valuable
collections of short stories. And others like Khushwant Singh and
Bhabani Bhattacharya have also augmented the repertoire of short
stories with their own colIections. Moreover Anand continued his
fictional vein and brought out four novels - The Old Woman and the Cow (19601, The Road (1963), The Death of 2 Hero (1964), and --
his largest novel porninq Face (1970). R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao
also came up with a few titles during this period.
The typical trend of this period was the abiding interest
in introspection arnd psychological investigation or probing into
the inner goings on of characters. While this is found to be the
principal and overriding concern of novelists of this period, it
must be acknowledged that various traits of the successive phases
were found to be overlapping in any one phase. Anand who is
essentially a writer of social themes with an undercurrent of
satire and critique aimed at the colonial masters and the feudal
and capitalist system, came out with a psychological novel
entitled The Private Life of an Indian Prince.
Mulk Raj Anand, like R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, has made
valuable contributions to the growth of the novel in India. They
have experimented with different techniques in writing novel and
thus blazed the trail for innovations. Anand perfected the
Joycean art of the stream of consciousness in his Untouchable and
set an example for other younger novelists to follow. AnandJs
Coolie is a triumph of the picaresque genre in Indian writing. He
has made extensive use of the technique of interior monologue in
places where he is interested in laying bare the subconscious and
innermost movements of characters. While he owes a lot to his
Western education and to his readings in Western philosophical
systems including the Marxist one, it should be conceded that he
has always been committed to and interested in the social,
political, cultural and other realities of ~ndia. chief among
these was the all-pervading phenomenon of ~andhism or andh hi an
movement that beccarne AnandJs passion for many years. This was
the inspiration behind some of his novels.
All said and done, M.R. Anand occupies a unique place in
the history of Indo-Anglian novel, as one who originated the
novel of protest or the political novel centred on the uniqueness
of the human person and on the life and struggles of the
disinherited and the wretched of ~ndia, to rediscover their
identity as human beings and as Indians. It was a bold and
revolutionary step that met with a lot of opposition and critical
censure. Anand waged a relentless battle against all such
hostile forces and eventually triumphed and established himself
as a novelist par excellence of the oppressed masses, exploited
in the name of religion, caste, class and ruthlessly kept out of
the democratic process for ever.
Chinua Achebe is without doubt one of the highly regarded
of African writers in English. Achebe literally burst on the
African literary scene and in a sense put Nigeria on the world
map of English literature with his first novel, a classic in its
own right, entitled Thinqs fall Apart in 1958. He followed this
up with three other novels, No Lonser && Ease (1960), Arrow of
God (1964), and & Man of People (1966). It has taken nearly -
twenty long years for Achebe to produce his next novel,
Anthills of a Savannah (1987). He has two collections of short
stories namely, The sacrificial Eqg and Other stories (1962) and
Girls at War (1972). He has besides written some poems collected --- under the titles Beware Soul Brother and other Poems (1971) and
Christmas in Biafra and other Poems (1973).
Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi, E. Nigeria on 16th
November 1930. After completing his secondary schooling at
Government College, Umuahia, Achebe graduated from University
College, Ibadan, in the year 1953.
He served in the Nigerian Broadcasting corporation from
1954 to 1966 and was in Nigerian government service during t h e
civil War (1967-70). We taught in American Universities after
war. Besides a chequered literary career as Founding Editor,
Hinemann African Writers Services, Director, Heinemann
Educational Books Nigeria Ltd., Editor, ~kike, a Nigerian journal
of new writing and Chairman, Society of ~igerian Authors, he has
the unique distinction of having been the recipient of an
impressive array of awards, prizes and fellowships from d i f f e r e n t
Institutes and Universities round the globe.
His merits and achievements as an African writer in English
are summed up in the following manner in The Oxford Companion
Enslish Literature:
.... Achebe's reputation largely rests on his
four novels which can be s een as a sequence,
re-creating Africa's journey from tradition to
modernity. Things Fall Apart (1958) seems to
derive from W.B. Yeats, its vision of history as
well as its title; it was followed by Longer
At Ease (1960) ; Arrow of God (1964) a portrayal --
of traditional society at the time of its first
confrontation with European society (a
traditional society recreated in Achebefs novels
by the use of Igbo legend and proverb): A Man of
the People (1966) which breaks new ground. - Bitterness and disillusionment lie just beneath
the sparkling satiric surface and the novel
provides further evidence of Achebe's mastery of
a wide range of language, from English of
Igbo-speakers and pidgin, to various levels of
formal English.
(Drabble ( e d ) : 1989)
By his own admission Achebe is a political writer. He
believes in the politics of human communication which is based on
understanding issuing from respect. According to Achebe, the
greatest casuality in the historic encounter between Europe and
Africa was precisely this human understanding and respect for
the human person. Achebe comments:
... Africa's meeting with Europe must be
accounted a terrible disaster in this matter of human
understanding and respect. The nature of the
meeting precluded any warmth of friendship.
First Eilrope was an enslaver, then a colonizer.
In either role she had no need and made little
effort to understand or appreciate Africa. Indeed
she easily convinced herself that there was
nothing there to justify the effort. Today our
world is still bedevilled by the consequences of
that cataclysmic encounter.
(Cited in Kirkpatrick ed. 1986; 6 )
Achebe derives his, literary and fictional goal from this premise.
In fact his first novel was a backlash against the traditional
European representation of Africa in fiction. He is at pains to
evoke the civilized values and recapture the egalitarian life
style of the pre-colonial Nigerian or Igbo sdciety in this novel.
He proceeds to establish his thesis that it was the colonial
regime with its missionary, political, administrative and
commercial imperialism that fractured and fragmented this time -
honoured unity and brotherhood.
Achebe looks upon the role of the writer as a teacher or
educator. The writer is committed to his society and therefore
it is his duty to tell his people, that their society had
poetry,philosophy, culture, literature and dignity before the
Europeans came into the picture. Thus it becomes incumbent on
the writer to restore dignity and self-respect to the African
people. It is the predominant duty of an African writer i n
today's context as spelt out by Achebe in h i s essays, lectures
and interviews :
In his "The Novelist as Teacher1', Achebe has contended:
Perhaps what I wri t e i s applied a r t a s distinct
from pure. But who cares? Art is important, but
so is education of the kind I have in mind. And
I don't see that the two need be mutually
antagonistic,
(Achebe, 1965: 161-162)
Achebe and probably many others of h i s contemporaries have
internalised this conception of a writer and have striven to
reflect public concern in their writings. In African tradition,
art has always been a public gift or exercise and therefore a
sense of social commitment has been considered mandatory for the
artist. This concept is so entrenched in ~frican culture and
psyche that a non-committal or uncommitted art is a contradiction
in terms.
Africa, and ~ i g e r i a in particular, had oral traditions or
orature from time immemorial. But the novel form took a l o n g time
to find a conducive climate for its growth and development.
Although the Africans had an ancient and rich heritage of
stories, legends and myths, nothing was committed to writing.
Thus it was the English novel form that was espoused and promoted
by writers like, Tutuola, Aluko, Wole Soyinka, Achebe, Ekwensi,
Ngugi, Ohot, Beti, Okara and Senghor. Although Amos Tutuola had
published his two most popular novels, The Palmwine Drinkard
(1952) and Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954) before ever
Achebe came into the limelight, it should be conceded that it was
Achebe who not only blazed the trail as an African novelist with
his all-time classic Thinas Fall A w a r t (1958) but drew
international acclaim as an English novelist with a rare native
charm and extraordinary commitment to his people and to his art-
Other great artists like Wole Soyinka, Arnadi, Armah, Awoonor,
Farah, La Guma and Ngugi commenced their fiction writing only in
the 1 9 6 0 s or after. Each of these writers h a s made his Own ,-
contribution to the African belles-lett*s and particularly to
the art of fiction writing in Africa.
It was in this decade that the so called novel of
disillusionment came into being with Achebefs publication of A
Man of the Peowle and SoyinkaJs The Interpreters. In other
words, this moment in ~frica's literary history was a significant
turning point, even as African writers were turning their backs
on a purely inward looking exercise of affirming the black race
and extolling the negritude or the virtue of being black. In the
newly independent African countries, writers and thinkers began
to sense the disillusionment caused to the people, by the failure
of the indigenous ruling elite. It was in this atmosphere of
disillusionment and anger that Achebe wrote his A Man of the
People which virutally became a prophetic foreshadowing of the
civil war that broke out soon after.
Like Achebe, T.M. Aluko has dealt with the subject of the
consequences of the collision of values that marked the
colonization of Nigeria in his One Man, One Wife (1959) and One
Man, One Matchet (1964). Nevertheless it should be added that
Aluko does not capture, as Achebe does, the complexity of this
historic conflict.
Armah is another of Achebe's better known comternporaries
whose commitment to the African past in terms of its influence
over the present or its role in the trnasformation of the present
is absolutely unmistakable. He reveals a quest for a new society
or a new alternative through history, myth and ideology. In his
The Beautiful One's Are Not Yet Born, Fragments, Why are We
Blest and Thousand Years, Armah is not only artistically
recreating the past, but is pointing to a resolution of the
present conflict and crisis through collective action.
Achebe's contribution, however, has been unqiue as he set
the tone for this literary reconstruction and retrieval of the
past in a bid to restore honour and pride and importance to
Nigeria's and Africa's traditional precolonial past and to expose
the havoc wrought by the colonial regime. Achebe is certainly
more sympathetic to the Western - educated elite who govern the
country. As an artist Achebe far excels Armah and his other
contemporaries in this that his novels, rich in historical and
anthropological details, do nonetheless have compact structures
and characters, who are credible individuals, and illustrate a use
of the English language so apt in the mouths of his Nigerian
characters.
Mary Ebun Modupe Kolawole has spelt out this common quest or
concerns of the Nigerian or African writers in the following
words :
Among other objectives, African novelists desire
to reflect the past as well as reflect upon it to
understand present. Existing socio-political and
economic set-ups in Africa call for concern.
Inchoate political systems create social unrest
and economic burden. So, writers assume the role
of social ventriloquists, exploring the historical
hindsight to explain the predicaments that exist
while searching for a future direction.
.... Grounding literature on concrete reality,
they explore the effect of colonialism
externalized and internalized as well as
neo-colonialists, on the contemporary set-up.
(Kolawole : 125)
Wole Soyinka is more a dramatist than a novelist.
Nevertheless he won international acclaim and attention with his
tour de force The Interpreters. Soyinka is a powerful artist who
commands extraordinary mastery over his language. He creates
characters who are all cynics or reactionaries, albeit good,
reflecting the creator's cynicism. Ngugi points out Soyinkafs
defect as a writer, in his essay "Satire in Nigeria":
Although Soyinka exposes his society in breadth,
the picture he draws lacks depth, it is s t a t i c ,
for he fails to see the present in the historical
perspective of conflict and struggle.
(Pie terse and Munro (ed. ), 1969: 69)
Ngugi Wa Thiongfo is counted among Africa's leading
novelists. With his first novel, Weep Not Child (1964), he
revealed his exceptional talent as a novelist. His other two
novels The River Between (1965) and A rain of Wheat (1967)
appeared in quick succession, and earned him the singular
distinction of a very young writer endowed with creativity and
linguistic ability. NgugiFs point of departure was, as with the
other ~frican writers, the clash of two cultures in the wake of
colonial confrontation. Neverthelss his third novel revolves
around the disillusioning developments in the newly independent
Kenya.
The pattern that we perceive in Achebe is discernible also
in Ngugk. Of course, Achebe has moved away from this bias with
the passage of time. His latest novel Anthills of && Savannah
is an eloquent testimony to Achebe's rich repertoire of
fictional strategies.
Among all the novelists of Africa, Achebe stands out as the
better known writer, with a universal appeal that transcends the
boundaries of Nigeria and even Africa, He is the major exponent
of the modern African novel imbued not only with the sense of the
value of writing in authentic English, acceptable to the native
speakers of the tongue but of the necessity of writing for a
global readership in the context of Africa's prestige, pride and
future. It should be asserted that Achebe has today become a
household name not only in the anglophone African countries but
in the English speaking countries all over the world. True to
his avowed aims, he has earned for himself a permanent place in
the English literary firmament. Perhaps, it is to a considerable
extent, thanks to Achebe's example, that no ~ f r i c a n writer has
sought the raw m a t e r i a l f o r his/her work outside Africa, or has
t u r n e d his/her back on his/her own culture. G.D. Killam sums up
Achebe's contribution to the African literary world thus:
Achebe is in the front rank of these writers and
h i s prose writing reflects three essential and
related concerns first with the legacy of
colonialism at both the individual and social
level; secondly with the fact of English as a
language of national and international exchange;
thirdly, with the obligations and responsiblities
of the writer both to the society in which he
lives and to his art.
(Killam, 1975: 3-4)
Both Anand and Achebe broke new grounds in using the novel
as a powerful means of educating the masses and specially the
intelligentsia concerning their national situations of injustice,
inequality and unfreedom, In this sense they are pioneers of a
new brand of fiction that is unorthodox and unconventional in its
subject matter and treatment. While Anand's realistic portrayal
often amounted to a commentary or documentary on social reality,
Achebe's accounts are a n o s t a l g i c and imaginative recreation of
the past in order to elucidate the present crisis and to
extrapolate into the future. Anand's novel is political as much
as Achebets is, as both these writers w r i t e with an e x p l i c i t aim
or programme. In this sense, both of them serve as models of
committed writers who for the first time in their countries took
a serious view of t h e writer's r o l e a s t h e voice of consciousness
and conscientization or education of the oppressed masses whose
power for societal transformation they recognised and wanted to
harness.
CHAPTER FOUR
--------------------------------------------------------- L l BERAT I ON MOT l F I N THE DEL l NEAT l ON OF PROTAGON t STS ------------- --- ----- -- -------- -- ------ ------------------
Liberation as we have already established is not just a
concept or merely an attitude that underlines the power of the
poor and the oppressed to emancipate themselves from their
dehumanizing situation, but is a praxis comprising a relentless
scientific analysis of the present socio-political reality geared
to positive action for transformation of unjust, unequal and
oppressive social structures. Liberation as collective action
for empowering the poor has become the hall-mark of all the
aspirations of the third world societies. As a collective search
or struggle for freedom from all shackles, economic, palitical,
social, religious and cultural, it is more pronounced and
articulated in some third world countries than in others. While
social justice for all, equality of opportunities and freedom
from all forms of exploitation, constitute the core of the
liberative movement all over the wrld, we should carefully define
the vital importance of the cultural and peculiar political and
historical dimensions of a country.
Hence the cultural heritage and political situation of the
Nigeria of Achebe and of the India that Anand is portraying have
a significant place in the liberation drama that is being
enacted. Similarly we should take cognizance of a very
fundamental postulate of the liberation thinkers. According to
it, man, particularly the dispossessed and disinherited man, is
the subject of his own destiny and history. In other words, the
perspective of liberation is not that of the elite classes, but
that of the proletariate, the poor, the commoners, the oppressed
masses. The belief or assumption underpinning this is
that the poor have been invested with a messianic mission for the
total liberation of the humankind. Therefore liberation is not
thought to be achieved by a handful of leaders or educated
intelligentsia alone, but by the self-redemptive action of the
masses.
It is from this premise of the liberation dialectics that
we proceed to evaluate Achebe's and Anand's delineation of the
protagonists of their novels. Both these third world novelists
are professedly committed to transformation of the unjust
structures operating in their respective countries. They have
enunciated very clearly the ideological framework within which
they function as writers and novelists. Thus it becomes
incumbent on them that they justify and legitimise tlfeir stand
vis-a-vis their social impulse on the one hand and their
fictional strategy on the other. As such we presume that both
Anand and Achebe are genuine searchers not only as social and
political thinkers but also as artists. In fact, this is the
acid test of their authenticity as ideologues and artists. The
hero of a novel occupies a central position in the action and
story, thereby determining the overa l l thrust and impact of the
novel. An examination of some of the protagonists of Anand and
Achebe should yie ld valuable insights i n t o the author's
perception in terms of liberation.
It is widely accepted that Anand as a novelist presents
powerfully his view of Indian society and its maladies through
his skills of characterisation, It is no exaggeration to say
that he is a character novelist. In all his novels we find
one or more leading characters who dominate the action of the
novel. His protagonists are invariably drawn from the underside
of society, the voiceless and marginalised sections of India.
It is interesting to learn from his article titled "The
Sources of Protest in my Novel", that Anand's spirit of protest
as a writer was aroused and inflamed by a statement of Edward
Sackville-West:
I made first conscious protest as a writer,
when I came away from Bloomsbury after hearing
the critic, Edward Sackville-West, declare:
"There can be no tragic writing about the poor
They are only fit for comedy, as in ~ickens
The canine can't go into literature."
(Contemporary Indian F i c t i o n in English : p.23)
And C.D. Narasimhaiah has paid a fitting tribute to Anandgs
brave innovation as a novelist saying that he introduced into
creative literature whole n e w peoples who have seldom entered the
realms of literature in India.
It is in this sense that we attribute wheroismn to the
central characters of his novels. Anand certainly made a
revolutionary departure from the existing practice and from the
principles laid down by Aristotle and other classical masters.
What is meritorious is that Anand has clung to his conviction
with great tenacity despite censures from all literary quarters
and marginalisation by critics and scholars in India and abroad.
In point of fact Anand was a pioneer in this type of fiction in
India. All his protagonists are tragic heroes in their own
rights, but their tragedy is not merely personal but symbolic or
typical of the tragic situation of large segments of 1ndian
population.
In his very first novel, Untouchable, Bakha the sweeper boy
is the protagonist. He belongs to the lowest rungs of the
caste-hierarchy that existed in the punjab. The higher castes
who had religious sanction for their caste superiority considered
these low-born untouchable. Hence, Anand in this navel has set
himself the task of exposing the darker, heinous and diabolical
aspects of the caste system perpetrated by the caste Hindus.
Anand does this by probing the consciousness of the half-starved
poverty-stricken sweeper boy, as he goes through his daily rounds
of sweeping and cleaning against the background of his family,
friends, playmates and the series of humiliations and insults he
is subjected to. Anand has achieved his purpose in a remarkable
fashion by observing and portraying Bakhafs acting and reacting,
in the short span of a day. Bakha may lack the maturity or
courage necessary for him to achieve the status of a protagonist.
But Anand has endowed him with a keen sense of his own personal
dignity and an irrepressible zest for the good things of life
aspiring to dress and behave like the sahibs.
While Anand has paid meticulous attention to every detail
of Balcha's life as he goes about his daily chores, he hasn't
failed to investigate and indicate his innermost anguish and
search for his own identity. Anand no doubt emphatically depicts
Bakha and his father Lakha, brother Rakha and sister ~ohini as
struggling to eke out an existence which is sub-human, confined
to their dreary and monotonous routine of cleaning latrines,
sweeping and begging for food which is their only reward for
their daily drudgery,
Anand portrays Bakha as a sweeper, untouchable with a
difference. There are a few subtle artistic strokes by which
Anand projects Bakha as a nimble and intelligent boy who was
discontented with his anonymous position. He wanted to better
his position and was unhappy about his status that merited only
contempt and ill-treatment from t h e caste people. He wanted to
d r e s s and l i v e like the Tommies. All in all, Bakha lived in a
world of phantasy and illusion. But in and through all t h i s we
ca t ch a glimpse of Bakhafs search for i d e n t i t y , or recognition a s
an individual, as a human. These comic and pathetic touches of
the writer enhance the poignancy of Bakhats consciausness as a
mere untouchable.
Bakha is torn between two worlds, one illusory, fashioned
by his acute imagination and the other the grim r ea l i t y of his
nameless ex i s tence . A l l t h e insults heaped on him, the
humiliations and harassment, mental, phys i ca l and even sexual
suffered by his sister Sohini notwithstanding Bakha is able to
retain h i s sanity and flare for life, thanks to the 'fire that
was a smouldering rage in his soul'.
The question he poses to himself in his depth of dejection
and depression is : "Why was all this?" Anand makes Bakha go
through a painful process of introspection and self-
confrontation. That is also a moment of truth, of illumination
that Bakha is afforded as a r e s u l t of his soul-searching. The
root-cause of all his agonising and tormenting experiences, it
now dawns on him, is the fact of his being an untouchable. He
finds himself imprisoned in this cell, for no fault of his.
Bakha is depressed, but not desperate. His consciousness
of his pathetic predicament strengthens his will to fight against
this oppression. He will not be a pushover. He is looking out
for a solution. He is not easy cannon-fodder for any demagogue
or orator or evangelist. Of the three alternatives proposed, he
is not fascinated by the Christian preacher, attracted somewhat
to Gandhi's charismatic personality but captivated by the third
alternative that promises immediate liberation from the filthy
and despicable work done by the untouchables.
Bakha is an individual untouchable, all right. He has his
personality, feelings, reactions, aspirations all very authentic.
Nevertheless Anandls delineation of Bakha leaves no trace of
doubt as to the formerr s intention that Bakha is a type of all
untouchables who suffer similar discrimination and have no power,
position or money with which to resist or protest. Bakha8s spirit
is protesting. His anger although ineffective in one sense, can
generate a strong determinatian to fight discrimination and
restore dignity and equality to the untouchables. He seeks
deliverance from a work that makes them contemptible and dirty.
Bakha is a symbol of the rage and indignation simmering in
thousands of untouchables. If thousands of Bakhas can channelise
their awareness and anger along positive, liberative action, one
could reasonably hope for a radical transformation of not only
the community of the untouchables but of the whole society.
It may be argued that after all Bakha too is a prisoner and
victim of his own self-pitying, self-recrimination and meekness
and therefore is not the subject of his own destiny. He is more
acted upon than acting, a passive victim of fate and of the
system that annihilates him and the likes of him. But one cannot
fail to perceive that Bakha is a die-hard optimist and warms up
to the teachings of ~andhiji and the poet Igbal Nath ~arashar.
He is disgusted and dismayed by the hypocrisy of the world he is
living in. But he doesn't give up. He is still confident of a
better future if only Gandhifs idealism and the poet's much
vaunted rnechanisation and modernization could eventually remove
the stigma and the social ostracism of the untouchables and
rehabilitate them as equal citizens of India. He returns home at
the end of the novel, not with a vacant mind OT a pervasive
feeling of desperation but with his mind and his whole being
echoing the fiery words of the poet, a harbinger of good tidings.
Bakha finds in the poet and to some extent in Gandhiji an
affirmation of his own deep-seated yearning for liberation. And
irvland has revealed in an unmistakable w a y his own predilection
fox mechanisation as a route to achieving a socialist democracy.
In Coolie it is Munoo's sojourn and travails that become
Anand's symbolic representation of the unequal class
relationships sharpened by the capitalist system with the
underlying hope of a crisis and an alternative. Like Bakha,
Munoo is a victim of hostile circumstances from his birth having
lost both his parents. He belongs to the Kshatriya caste but on
account of poverty and its attendant disabilities he is driven
from pillar to post in search of a better life.
The story is cast aginst the background of a capitalist
society ushered in by the colonial rule, where caste-hierarchy
notwithstanding, it is injustice and exploitation and cut-throat
competition that govern the relationships between the powerful
business class and the silenced and subjugated working class.
While Anand doesn't pretend that caste is no more a force to
reckon with, he turns his attention to another crucial problem. He
follows with compassion and concern the relentless battle and
struggle waged by a whiff of a boy barely fourteen years old.
But his delineation of the protagonist, though charged with
pathos, doesn't betray romantic idealism or threadbare
sentimentalism. Munoofs ill-fated odyssey started from his home
in the scenic Kangra Valley, wended its way to the household of
Babu Nathoo Ram, then to the warm and kind-hearted hearth of
Prabha, his wife and their pickle factory in Daulatpur, then to
the Bombay cotton mills and finally to Sirnla as a rickshaw-puller
for Mrs. Mainwaring.
The untimely death that Munoo faces as a consequence of
tuberculosis does by no means putthe lid on his ever vibrant and
patiently enduring spirit. The very flexibility and suppleness
of his youthful body lend strength to his character at once
dignified and proud of his caste and minimal education. Of
course he was an orphan whom nobody wanted except for the purpose
of exploiting him, He was literally hounded out by society and
driven mercilessly to his doom.
We certainly feel let down by the writer when Munoo
succumbs to a wasting sickness. What happens to his robust
optimism and positive outlook in the face of a relentless fate
not allowing him to enjoy the sunny side of life or the
legitimate pleasures accessible to a boy of his age? Munoo
achieves a heroic character albeit in a minor key or limited
sense, in this that we admire him more than we sympathise with
him, Moreover in Munoofs vicissitudes we are enabled to witness
with deep concern the tragedy that is the life of millions of
workers in our country. Anand has moreover portrayed striking
parallels and contrasts in his study of human nature under the
impact and onslaught of capitalist values of self-aggrandizement,
profiteering, selfishness and dishonesty. Anand has juxtaposed
the innocent hard working and basically contented coolies and
labourers and the unscrupulous, opportunistic, self-degrading
employers, traders and bureaucrats. Between the two, Anand makes
his judgement clear and unmistakable, It is a superb piece of
satire without a trace of contempt b u t compelling our acquiescence
to the moral judgement on the depravity and inhumanity of the
business class. Anand ratifies the central tenet of liberation
ideology that it is only the dispossessed masses who should work
out their own liberation and not expect any dramatic conversion
or change of heart on the part of the wealthy. Munoo finds
fellowshiup and brotherhood only in the company of coolies and
others in a similar predicament. The attitude of the rich people
is one of cold indifference or positive animosity.
There is one hint which Anand has consciously thrown about
Munoots awareness of the injustice of the situation and how the
trade union was one legitimate means of redressing the grievances
of workers and even sometimes of overthrowing an anti-labour
management. Just before the close of the navel as Munoo is
confined to bed suffering from the ill-effects of consumption,
Anand says:
When the haemorrhage occurred he looked
terribly frightened. But when the sun shone
and his breathing was a litle better he became
intent and absorbed in himself. He wanted to
get well. And he made plans in his head.
Ratan had written to him to come to Bombay to
a small job in the pay of the Trade Union
organising the fight against the Pathan money
lenders, the foreman and the factory wallahs.
Munoo felt he would go... .
(Coolie: p.326)
But it was too late, this enlightened resolve, Munoo fell
a prey to consumption not long after. Anand has made a subtle
suggestion about the inevitability of revolt and rebellion and
the necessity of struggle if such a dehumanizing system could be
dismantled and a more human dispensation has to become the order
of the day.
This and numerous instances in the novel where workers join
together to display their solidarity and collective bargaining
power and the attempt to forge and strengthen a Trade Union at
all costs and to demand their basic rights are an eloquent
testimony to Anandys unshakable belief in liberation, be it only
economic and social, of the downtrodden groaning under the weight
of an anti-people system.
Now let us examine Anandfs delineation of Ananta in The
Heart. Ananta a coppersmith of Billimaran Lane in Amritsar with
his
the
experiences
respect
working in cities like Bombay
most the thathiars but also
commands not only
their admiration
and fear. He is moreover a man of tremendous physique endowed
with endearing qualities such as deep concern for human beings
living in misery, starvation and squalor and readiness to extend
any help to them and a disarming simplicity that: appeals to
children. While Lalu of the village trilogy discovers that
harmony with oneself, self-control and self-renunciation are
prerequisites for success in any action for liberation late in
life, Ananta possesses it right at the beginning of the novel.
H e is convinced of the absolute need for unity and solidarity in
order to combat suppression and exploitation and of the truth
that the destruction of the machine that is threatening to ruin
the coppersmith class is not a solution to the problem. Instead
he vows to engage in concerted and positive action in order to
bargain from a position of power with the factory management.
Anpnd has sought to find a solution to the question of man
or the machine or tradition versus modernity in his fictional
context. In this endeavour Ananta, the protagonist, becomes his
powerful spokesman and an inspiring symbol. Ananta advocates a
middle path of accommodation but not at the expense of human
values but in a bid to master one's destiny. And in this he is
not just a passive spectator or a demagogue indulging in radical
rhetoric.
His life depicted by Anand in the space af a day, shows him to
be a man of action, of optimism and hope and above all of warm
humanity. Probably it is this last trait that has blinded him to
the social stigma that is attached to his living with Janki, h i s
mistress. This is disapproved by the thathiars who are champions
of tradition and conventions and vehemently opposed to
mechanisation and modernisation.
Anantats efforts to moblize the thathiars for collective
action to help all the coppersmiths thrown out of job to secure
employment in the factory are finally doomed to fail because of
Anantafs association with Janki and of the unfortunate incident
wherein Anantats receipt of the balance of his wages from the
younger brother of the factory owner is miscontrued by his
thathiar brethren as a bribe. The narrow outlook and the
prejudiced views of the coppersmiths stand in the way of their
unanimous approval of his proposals. S t u d e n t Satyapal and his
crew mouthing some Marxist slogans and indulging in inflammatory
and emotion-charged rhetoric prevent the people from listening to
Ananta. Finally madness and mob f u r y get t h e better of wise
counsel and more planned a c t i o n . In the orgy of violence and
destruction let loose by Satyapal and group after gatecrashing
into the factory, Ralia runs amuck and in the act of mindless
vandalism, murders Ananta who tries to dissuade him from
destroying the machines.
The death of Ananta at the hands of a fellow thathiar in
the very act of preventing anti-social and mindless violence and
vandalism from destroying the cause of thathiar unity and
solidarity is significant, In other words the pathetic death of
Ananta although paradoxical, becomes a martyr's death,
spbolising the sacrifice demanded of any grass-root leader in
the cause of liberation of the working class. Ananta is first
and foremost liberated from the curtain of suspicion,
insinuation, jealousy and mudslinging that separated him from his
people when he was alive. In this violent death, Ananta shines
as a hero and champion of the coppersmiths even as the poet Puran
~ingh Bhagat articulates a rare insight while pay ing a tribute t o
Ananta's indomitable spirit :
"All stories end in death, Jankain the poet
s a i d . "But childling, even i f one is given a
short life, it becomes shorter if it is
guarded selfishly. On the other hand, think
of the joy of living for others, of helping
others.
(The Big Heart, p. 229)
Anand sums up the essence of what it is to be committed to
the cause of liberation. Ananta had earlier spelt out that it is
not by- just one instance of rebellion that change can be realised
but by a many a conflict between the employers and workers in
several places, at different times, all this having a cumulative
impact of making a dent in the system that is oppressive.
Anantafs death is a triumph of such faith, signalling the beginning
of the end. The remorse-filled thathiars mourn the death of Ananta
as an irreparable loss but translate their anguish in a
determination to carry on his fight, the struggle. Above all,
the single most striking result of Anantafs death is the dramatic
transformation that takes place in Janki after manta's dea th ,
Janki vows to practise bhakti and, to organise the women comrades
in future.
W e hear Anand's voice when t h e poet Puran Singh Bhagat
utters these words:
"You must not be afraid, JankaiM he s a i d .
"You are so sens ib le and have such
understanding. What a great thing it would be if
women like you who possess such gifts of
sincerity and grace, give yourselves to
'bhakti', devotion, to working for othersn.
(The Big Heart , p-229)
Janki has begun to respond t o the cal l t o become a new
woman, to overcome fate by daring all criticism and provocation
and taking risks in order to make Anantafs dream come true.
Anand's heroes are tantalizingly complex. There is a
certain flatness and static quality about them given their
predisposition to love, compassion, suffering, endurance and
sensitivity. However, they don't stagnate but have the capacity
to relate their own personalities to the realities of the world.
Speaking about an ideal of man in Anand's novels
Mr.D.Riemenschneider asserts:
Munoofs intellectual capacities, for instance,
are f e w and he is purely a suffering human
being; BakhaJs rebelion is almost likewise
limited by his little education and Lalu lacks
the sense of proportion in his struggles.
Ananta, on the contrary, represents a
harmonious balance between sensitivity and
intellect though t h e final test of his strength
occurs at a t i m e when he himself cannot grasp
its significance. In Gauri we face a
repetition of the whale development from a
slightly different aspect because she is a
woman. In Naqbool, sensitivity, reflection
and action combine in such a perfect way
that they triumph over the absolute challenge
of annihilation,
(Riemenschneider: p. 24) ,
This concept of self-effacing sacrifice echoes the teaching
&G of Jesus as propounded in: ... unless a grain of wheat falls into
the earth and dies, it remains alone:." A. ~hepherd~in his essay
''Alienated Being: A Reappraisal of Anand's Alienated Heron
reiterates:
Anand believes in the values of unrelenting
struggle despite all obstacles, real or
imaginary; there are really no other
alternatives. It is t h e untriurnphant hero
whom he celebrates in his novels: Kanwar
Rampal Singh, La1 Singh, Ananta , Maqbaol,
men whose good intentions are exceeded only
by their personal limitations in a struggle
based on the ideal of right: "It must be
remembered that the literature of each age
becomes significant through the confrontation
of the hero of the opposing death forces and
by showing through his struggle, even if he
fails, the possibilities of a nobler, bolder
and near superhuman destiny - the
affirmation of life itself against death in
all f omsn (Anand) . (Shepherd in Perspectives on M. R. Anand: p. 151)
Anand has wittingly or unwittingly hit at the central
paradox of the liberation praxis. A E ~ irmation of l i f e for the
suffering masses underscores the need for sacrifice and struggle
aimed at eliminating all forms of death, liberation . from a l l
forms of death-dealing forces and establishment of a new society
upholding life and pro-people values. In and through all his
novels and protagonists Anand has tried to scrutinize and explain
this paradox. All his heroes are caught in this paradoxical
predicament at the end of the novel. It is when they come
closest to success that they meet with apparent failure or
disillusionment. His characters, especially the central
characters, embody the contradictoriness of human nature in its
extent and depth. After all, the gap between the real and ideal
in life is what spells the difference between successful men and
others who face apparent defeat. If it is an inseparable part
of human life, it is also an intrinsic element in the whole
logic of liberation praxis.
Chinua Achebe's portrayal of characters, specially the
major characters, is consistent and convincing. In all his five
novels we perceive his stamp as a creator of authentic
protagonists. In Thinss Fall Awart Achebe has skilfully drawn
the character of Okonkwo on whose fortunes revolves the fa te , the
rise and fall of the ~ g b o clan of Umuofia. His death at the end
of the novel signifies the death of the old traditions and ways
of life. This is how Achebe has depicted the symbiotic
relationship between Okonkwo and the people, culture and fortune
of Umuofia.
Achebe presents Qkonkwofs character as self-willed,
self-opinionated, proud, courageous and power-conscious as well
as human and expansive. People fear him as much as they respect
him and admire him for his valour, wealth and other achievements,
Although he is a character of intense individuality, he is also
one in whom the values most admired by the Xgbo peoples are
consolidated* His stature is heroic as presented by Achebe at
the beginning of the novel. His heroic nature is flawed because
of certain shortcomings and deviations apart from the inexorable
element of fatality symbolized by the 'chif that seems to work
against him in the final analysis. His impatience and irratianal
rage elicit from him rash responses ta situations. Above all h e
was a man tormented by a nagging fear of failure and weakness
that characterised his father Unoka, who incidentally had been
nicknamed "agbalaW (woman) as he had taken no title.
T h e r e is a clear split in Okonkwofs personality between his
strong and positive qualities and the weaker side dominated by
excessive ambition. The final catastraphe, that seals the process
of destruction of t h e old values and symbolises it, is sharpened by
Okonkwo's obstinate refusal to accept t h e unsettling changes
brought on by the advent of the white administration, religion and
trade. His suicide is certainly a desperate act but not done out
of cowardice. It was prompted by a sense of helplessness and
rejection by his clan. It knocked the bottom out of his personal
view of his clan's right response to the current phenomenon. He
was a man totally frustrated as he saw his best hopes dashed to
the ground. The refusal of the kinsmen to stand by him when he
attacked t h e white authority's messenger was an insult and shame
he could not bear, Hence he took the most extreme step- But
protest he did. He disapproved of his clansmen's meek
submission to a foreign power and foreign religion that
undermined the traditional fabric of the tribal society and
culture. Even in his ignoble death by suicide, considered to be
an abomination and unworthy of a burial by his kinsmen, Okankwo
doesn't lose the tragic eminence. W e don't despise him in his
death, but we sympathise with him and in fact feel inclined to
admire him. Okonkwo achieves his tragic status by rising above
the sceptical relativism of his'people and by standing for the
essential values of the community. His death is an assertion
that there are certain things which are absolute. But the irony
is that the same attitude is a denial of the basic tenet of Igbo
reality which finds stability in flexibility and relatedness.
Achebe projects the classic dilemma of open, flexible societies
encountering powers, monolithic and unscrupulous.
His death only heightens t h e irony of t h e final scene where
the novelist holds up to mild ridicule t h e 'civilizing missionr
of the colonial masters. The total lack of understanding
displayed by the British of the native social and cultural
heritage is highlighted in the last paragraph, although, a mild
ironic strand runs through the whole novel. The death of Okonkwo
and the general falling apart of all cultural and social customs
and values are symptomatic of the colonial notion o f a divine
mandate given to it for civilizing the Africans, at the cost of
destroying the indigenous system. The process of liberation
commences here even as Okonkwo teaches his clansmen what it is to
lead a dignified life without losing one's self-worth. The white
man's wiles, subtle and sinister designs and hypocrisy should be
exposed. This seems to be the message that Achebe delivers
through the principal character's death. It is hoped that even
Okonkwols death by suicide could serve as a historic reminder of the
colonial rulersf apathy to the Africansf predicament and the
traumatic psycho-social wounds suffered by the natives.
In Lonaer & =seAchebe1s central character is Obi
Okonkwo, the grandson of Okonkwo, the protagonist of his first
novel. He is son of Nwoye who betrayed his father by deserting
to the new religion, Nwoyers experience of the brutality of his
father Okonkwo in murdering Ikemefuna the boy-hostage who became
attached to him, forced him to become a ~hristian. obi has
returned from England with a B.A. degreee full of an idealism to
rid his country of corruption and to create a new nation. He
starts well enough. He is appointed to a responsible post as
12 1
Scholarship Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education. But
Obi's affair with Clara an a8~su1~elonging to an inferior
caste, a descendant of slaves, complicates the situation as
his family and kinsmen vehemently disapprove and oppose this
relationship as unbecoming foreign educated young man*
O b i , who is an idealist and sets out to root out corruption
and establish a model of clean and upright public life, runs into
rough weather as conflicting demands are made on him. While he
is asked to pay back the loan given him for his studies abroad,
he is expected to display a standard of living appropriate to his
"European" rank. This is a severe test to his security and
integrity. Obi is no longer at ease. He is pulled by
conflicting demands and pressures. He is in a state of confusion
reflecting the contradictions that characterize his society in
the wake of a new order and a new set of values as a natural
outcome of it, Obi is shocked and stunned by the contradictory
values and opinions held by his contemporaries and his own
parents. Achebe leaves no doubt about the truth that this state
of affairs was caused by the import of Western value-system,
life-style, habits and customs that upset the traditional
balance. In ather words, materialism and its twin
acquistiveness, have become the modern day monster that is
ruining the Nigerian body politic, corruption is the logical
extension of acquistiveness which was released in Nigeria by the
forces of colonialism. Obi is a victim and product of this
situation.
The opening scene wherein Obi is convicted of taking bribes
is certainly powerful and subtle indictment in Achebe" idiom of
the moral and ethical decadence set in motion by the colonial
ethos. But the interesting point is the irony that is underlying
the whole scene, The Urnuofia men are distressed not because Obi
indulged in corrupt practices but rather because he was 'caughtr
accepting bribes.
Obi's strength is his moral consciousness but unfortunately
it is not supported by an equally strong moral courage. A s a
result when he has to take a stand he falters and fails
miserably. Moreover he lacks the capacity for consecutive
serious reasoning. This twin inadequacy ultimately let him down
and led him to h i s doom.
Achebefs ironic vision reahes a poignant stage in the story
as Obi's trial and conviction take place even as he is beginning
to realise his moral guilt and his responsibility to turn over a
new leaf . But Achebe has succeeded superbly in asserting his
moral vision and his historic perspective through the skilful
delineation of his protagonist.
Obi's characterization has helped Achebe in masterfully
probing a moral problem and an ethical question with astute
intellligence and great objectivity and detachment. He neither
condemns outright Obi nor does he exonerate him. While taking a
rigid traditional line with regard to public morality, he points
his finger, very subtlely through an ironic-cum-satiric mode of
writing, at the real perpetrators of such an ambiguous situation.
In fact by the end of the novel Achebe wins our sympathy and
admiration for Obi who is a transformed person.
Obi is a type of a host of educated new elite in Nigeria.
They are well-meaning and intelligent and determined to rid
their society of rampant corruption and other evil
practices. They may be for a while rattled by the contradictions
thrown up by a polity that is no longer at ease. They may be
victims of this.predicament. Nevertheless they axe the hope of a
young nation like Nigeria, The educated new elite are a single
most talented group that can catalyse the movement for change of
structures and establishment of a more humane and fraternal
system. This, in effect, is a definite programme in view of
liberation. of course, no nation can pin all its hopes an its
intelligentsia. But it is a group that cannot be ignored or
marginalised in any liberation package.
In Arrow of God Achebefs interest is ostensibly to evoke
the glorious and col~urful Igbo-past by elaborately describing
the rituals, customs, historical happenings, beliefs and
The ultimate victory is an affirmation of the wisdom
contained in the saying, "no man however great can win judgement
against a clanN. The power of the people in liberative praxis is
brought out by Achebe in the way he has delineated the character
of Ezeulu. Between Ezeulu and the people, it is the people's
power or grass-root struggle that will ultimately triumph.
In Anthills a the Savannah where Achebe further probes the
function of power and particularly of military power, his
literary form has been dictated by his political vision and the
subject he is dealing with. He breaks new ground by not only
making a departure from his own practice but by striking a
posture altogether different from other African practitioners
faced with identical socio-political situation and rage. The
triumvirate at the helm of affairs in the fictional African State
of Kangan are Sam, the General and His Excellency, the Head of
State and h i s two friends and rivals, Chris, the Commissioner for
Information and Ikem Osodi, the editor of the National
Gazette.1t is through the observations and articulations of Chris
and Ikem that Achebe mainly develops and portrays the perversion
and corruption of power, herein typified by the person and
functioning of the President. These two have their own theories
and views and share and discuss these in the company of Beatrice
Okoh, Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and
the fourth major character in the novel.
Of the four, Achebe has drawn in detail only the characters
of Ikem, Chris and Beatrice, giving very little attention to the
depiction of Sam's character, probably indicating his inevitable
failure as dictator and the irrelevance of dictatorial regime in
the African context. Of the three, it is Ikem Osodi who is also
poet, novelist and playwright who gets, the most extensive
treatment. He is a crusader against the abuses of power and uses
his editorials to ridicule, parody and disclose such
malpractices. He is a fiery character, a young Turk possessed of
an anarchic spirit coupled with a determination to prevent any
further corruption by unquestioned power. He believes, "Only
half-wits can stumble into such enormitiesN speaking of the
hazards of power. Achebe however decides to reeducate him as he
does the other main characters. In the novel we observe how Ikem
turns from a passionate xadical and freelance theoriser to a
prospective martyr, a model of a new leadership role.
Innes C.L. has noted with perspicacity in her book Chinua
Achebe :
It is Ikem who begins to articulate both an
alternative political creed, a new radicalism
in defiance of the President, and a mythic
account of what is happening to Kangan. In
bath of these roles he seems to speak more
directly than anyone else on behalf of the
author, His radicalism is sceptical,
opposed to the present orthodoxies of
deliverance of all kinds: ttExperience and
intelligence warn us that man's progress
in freedom will be piecemeal, slow and
undramatic," he writes in an essay on
oppression. Millenarian solutions Itwill always
fail because of man's stubborn antibody
called surprise," Society, like the
individual, must be reformed around - "its core of reality; not around an intellectual
abstraction^..,.
( I n n e s 1990: p. 173)
One can't easily miss the voice of Achebe in these
words.Ikem, as Beatrice foretells, has to die but his death just
as he begins to translate his convictions in his life situation,
violent and premature and tragic, has all the grandeur and
solemnity of a martyr's death. Achebe places this at the
threshold of a n e w awakening in the masses of the people of their
own power and responsbility to react and protest which in turn
provides the necessary environment for re-education of Chris,
Ikem and Beatrice.
As the political crisis deepens Ikem sets his political
credo and activity in motion and Chris resigns in sympathy. The
plotting and counterplotting and the attendant everyday
occurrences of life under a military rule are all powerfully
projected by Achebe as taking place in Bassa, the Capital city.
The focus of the various episodes is the way in which the masses
react to the machinery of oppression.
Ikem now realises that the root cause of the failure of the
Government is the failure of the rulers to re-establish vital
inner links with the poor and dispossessed of the country, with
the bruised heart that throbs painfully at the core of the
nation's being. He, in a moment of illumination, abandons his
editorship of the National Gazette. Later he addresses the
students at the University of Bassa in defiance of the
government. Echoing Achebe1s favourite aphorism, 'where
something stands, something else will stand beside it', Ikem
adopts the dialectics of affirming and contradiction. He
unleashes an attack on half-baked orthodaxis of all kinds and
their provision of easy answers. He believes in a
self-transcending and self-perfecting ideology that eschews
self-righteousness and extremism.
Shortly after his inspiring speech to the students he is
accused of inciting the students and of engineering a conspiracy
to overthrow the government. While he resists arrest he is
fatally wounded. Thus Ikem fulfils the prophecy that he would
d i e a martyr's death.
In fact Ikemfs life, activities, theory, ideas and views
and finally his heroic death for a cause underline h i s life-long
yearning 'to connect his essence with e a r t h and earth's people'.
Achebe has emphatically and artistically resolved the
question of the solution or alternative to the present
oppressive, military or civilian rule. Ikem articulates it not
only when he places the cause of the failure of the government in
its failure to re-establish vital links with the poor and
dispossessed of the land, or when he composed the meaningful
"Hymn to the Suntf but more emphatically by his death precisely
while trying to make real this dream of his. He doesn't build
his dream on hope of a millenarian but by initiating a piecemeal
reform of society around its 'core of reality'.
Achebe has propounded through a fascinating web of
incidents and episodes woven round the triumvirate against the
background of a despotic regime, his own perception of an
alternative to social and political chaos which has been the
actual scenario in Nigeria since Independence. He has
aesthetically concluded the novel by harping on the concept of
eschatology, reincarnation and resurrection in the person of
Beatrice who is the biblical remnant to carry on the task of
linking up not only with the present generation but also with the
past precursors such as Ikem and roadmakers such as Chris.
Elewafs daughter who is Ikemrs 'living speck' is named Amaechina
(May-the-path-never close) signifying the beginning of this
process ascribing a crucial role to women as never before done in
Nigerian history.
Achebe in a way celebrates the convergence of the women
Beatrice and Elewa and the people at the syncretist naming
ceremony. It is his tribute to the new alliance of people guided
by enlightened and committed women which i s a symbol of people's
struggle that will remain reincarnated in this story to be
repeated generation after generation. Achebe has convincingly
reiterated his hope in same kind of renewal and regeneration
through an engagement with the oppressed as both Ikern and Chris
embody in their lives and deaths. Ikemfs "Hymn to the Sun" is
Achebe's perspective of creation and decreation, ultimately
emerging in a world of dialectic and mediation as against the one
of unilateral power throwing up monsters of leaders.
There are strong similarities and subtle differences in the
manner both these novelists approach characterization. While it
is easily perceptible that Anand is a character novelist by and
large, it is difficult to assert this of Achebe. Nevertheless
charcterization is a strong point of both the writers, And it is
quite evident that both Anand and Achebe depend on their
characters, mainly the principal ones, in order to narrate the
story and to build the plot and action with the cause-effect
logical structure.
Anand's protagonists are drawn invariably from the
oppressed sections of society and are therefore types of a
particular segment of class of society. While individuality is
not sacrificed,one cannot miss out Anand's intention of
projecting them as types of people whose lives and struggles he
was determined to give artistic expression to. Even as types,
Anand's protagonists have their individual personality which
makes them credible and real. Achebe on the other hand,
delineates his protagonists as strongly personalised individuals
more often than not idiosyncratic and therefore differentiated
from the rest in the novel. While Okonkwo and Ezeulu are highly
individualistic and even unparalleled in their own clan Obi of
Lonser Ease and Odili of A Man of the People are certainly
representatives of a particular segment of Nigerians. Obi and
Odili are drawn from the sophisticated educated, town-bred
Africans who are the cream and hope of Africa or Nigeria.
Nevertheless their individuality is not sacrificed and they
exist, act, react and interact in their rights as individuals.
While there is an unavoidable ring of sameness or monotony
in the types of protagonists chosesn by Anand, Achebe delights
the readers with a refreshing range and novelty in choice of
protagonists. Anand's Bhikhu of The Road, is Bakha of
Untouchable. Of course Anand is constrained by his fictional
purpose to confine himself to a narrow spectrum of individuals.
But Achebe, although limited by his deliberate choice to the Igbo
tribe and its pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial
experiences, has nonetheless produced characters who move, live
and have their being in the artistically evoked Igbo milieu of
the particular novel. However Anand displays his creative
fecundity in filling his canvas with myriad minor characters.
In Anand and Achebe the characters inevitably become the
spokesmen of the novelists. Nevertheless, it should be conceded
that Anand whose protagonists in effect become vehicles through
which he conveys his views and voices his protests, has used
extreme caution and subtle literary narrative techniques in order
to perform the task. His method is not crude preaching or
sermonising or exhorting except in some places, where
propagandist intent mars the aesthetic and artistic finesse.
Achebe has his share of the propagandist mechanism subtlely
pressed into service through the narration or commentary of
characters. He has in particular a wise man in every novel who
affects the authorial voice that presents a sane view-point,
offers wise alternative or drives home a traditional saying or
proverb or aphorism in order to instil a sense of the clan into
some key characters,
Achebe escapes critical censure for doctrinaire or
propagandist approach by allowing his protagonists to a
considerable degree, to develop on their own without making them
his mouthpieces or spokesmen. He has circumvented this pitfall by
creating s p e ~ f a l characters in the clan who are recreations of
the traditional wise men or elders of an Igbo clan. The
protagonists however grow in an organic fashion, given their
qualities good and bad and the milieu of the clan. The author
hardly intrudes into the growth process of or imposes his
viewpoints on his protagonists.
Anand however tends to impose his opinions quite overtly on
his central characters thus doing harm to their authenticity and
credibility. Mrs. Meenakshi Mukherjee has severely castigated
Anand, in an exaggerated fashion, for this defect thus:
... But when his convictions are imposed
upon his heroes, who are usually countrybred
or unsophisticated people the characterization
fails. Anandfs characters are lonely misfits - not lonely in the tradition of the modern
European protagonist of fiction, whose
loneliness is a form of intellectual alienation,
but lonely because Anand has transferred his
own loneliness to them. They lack the necessary
background, are thereby rootless and mythless
and appear somewhat unnatural.
(In N a i k et a l . 1977 : p. 245)
While the accusation that Anand interferes in the organic
growth of the protagonist with his personal views and conviction
is real, it is not tenable that his characters are all rootless.
In fact the disarming innnocence, unmerited suffering and
breathtaking naivete' of protagonists like Bakha and Munoo far
outweigh this defect. In fact one never for a moment suspects
the reality of these characters. His other protagonists such as
Bhikhu, Gangu, Ananta and even Gauri exhibit characteristics of
maturity and adulthood which balance the novelist's occasionally
inordiante intrusion or pulpit-preaching at the cost of their
individuality.
Another charge levelled at Anand is that his characters are
either good or bad lacking the real life mixture of good and
evil. While this allegation may apply to a host of his minor
characters, his heroes are not all paragons of virtue or
incarnations of evil. Munoo and Bakha barely out of their teens
are represented as free from adult vices or inclinations.
Nevertheless Anand adds a comic touch when he endows them with a
flare for some outlandish or exotic adventure. Bakha, for
instance, likes t o imitate the sahib$ in the way they dress and
behave and in playing hockey like them. Munoofs irrepressible
yearning for life and good things of life including his sexual
maturation and misadventures, nevertheless adds a new dimension
to his characterisation. Ananta is a judicious mixture of good
and bad qualities with his innate goodness outweighing his moral
deviancy. Gangu and Gauri strike us as perfect individuals who
are more sinned against.than sinning.
Achebe avoids this pitfall and therefore his protagonist
cannot be put into neat categories. Achebe's heroes are all
life-like and real and almost defy the illusion of fiction. The
way Achebe has painted Okonkwo, or Ezeulu or Obi or Odili,
precludes any danger of the characterization becoming
melodramatic or stereotypical. They are products of a society
and culture which had its legitimate share of the good and the
bad, of nobility and meanness, of openness and
narrow-mindedness, idealism and corruptibility and all
shades of spirituality and materialism.
All said and done both these novelists with their
characterization of the protagonists have sought to drive home
their own perceptions of liberation and societal transformation
conditoned by their own socio-political and cultural backgrounds.
And both have exercised caution and restraint in not overdoing
this and in allowing this motif to operate as an undertone and as
a subtle, and subdued aspiration simmering in the subconscious of
the heroes. Certainly this unconscious yearning for liberation
at different levels can be interpreted as the partially
internalised and articulated aspiration in the race, caste,
class or tribe for which Anand and Achebe have become spokesmen.
CHAPTER F IVE
------------I---- - --------- TRAD I T ION VERSUS MODERN I TY ---------------------------
That the colonial intrusion brought about changes sometimes
drastic, sometimes superficial, in the social and cultural
structures of both India and Nigeria, is an irrefutable
historical datum. The British brought with them an alien
religion and a western system of education that opened up new
visctas of knowledge and a whole new world of ideas and values.
A hitherto unalphabetical African society turned into a literate
one. In India, the western ideas and values equipped the people
with new tools for thinking and analysing and in fact provided
the educated people with new opportunities for furthering their
own prospects and expanding the horizons of their knowledge and
awareness.
With the British came the novel i n t o ~ n d i a and Nigeria.
Although the Indians with their ancient literate background were
able to make a creative use of this literary genre in t he
nineteenth century, t he Nigerians arrived at the scene of
literary creations only about five or six decades ago. Thus ' the
emergence of the novel in India and ~igeria is related to t he
advent of the agents of colonialism.
This explains why the colonial writers have predilection for
portraying the consequences of the clash of two cutlures or two
different worlds. The colonial writer is overtly conscious of the
irreconcilable divergences between the two worlds and of the
damage wrought not only to the country's economy and politics,
but also to the psyche of the people, their culture and vision.
In other words, writers in Nigeria and India have always
displayed an abiding interest in this sphere of cultural
confrontation between the East and the West and the inevitable
and logical con~eqz::,ce of the infusion of modern values and
modern ways of living and thinking, into societies which were
predomiczn:klt,. traditional, rural and conservative, Anand and
Achebe are typical examples of this trend in India and Nigeria
respectively.
The novel , as it has been creatively employed by Anand and Achebc, nas a close affinity to the social processes, which it is
trying to depict. It could also be maintained that the novel
form assumed greater power and thrust as it became an instrument
for expressing the inner dynamics and contradictions apparent or
hidden when two cultures encountered each other. O.P. ~oneja
expresses this concept in these words in his essay, llFictional
Strategies for colonial consciouness: An African PerpectiveN:
Novel is that bright book of life which is basically
rebellious in nature and reflects fragmentation and loss of unity
implicit in the movement of the society from traditional to
indutrial, rural to urban, collective to individualistic and
colonial to noncolonial. It flourishes particularly wherever
there is a change in the social structures, as there exists a
close relationship between the internal structure of a literary
work and the social structure, Goldmann calls it a ,homology of
structures'.
(In Gowda 1983: 187)
Both Anand and Achebe are addressing themselves to the
unsettling consequences of the imposition of the colonial rule
each in his own country. Thus the conflict of cultures, values,
attitudes and interests is focused in most novels of Achebe and
in some of the novels of Anand. If there is one dominant theme
in Anand's novels it is tradition versus modernity. In other
words Anand attempts to artistically project the contradiction or
antinomy between the values mediated or advocated by the Western
culture and those of the indigenous culture. In a broad sense
these two variant cultures are indicated by the term tradition
signifying the sum total of practices, values, ideas, attitudes
and interests of the colonised country and the term modernity
signifying the more open, urbanised, industrialised values of the
colonizer. The question of tradition versus modernity has engaged
the attention of scholars, writers and philosophers ever since
the dawn of the era of science and technology. Although it has
been a problem faced by advanced countries of the first and
second worlds, the third world countries with a colonial history
have also been faced with this problem. While modernity has been
held up as an ineluctable option for any developing country, the
target people were never involved in the process, as the
decision-making was always in the hands of the colonial rulers.
This is precisely where the process of modernisation or progress
ran into rough weather.
Anandrs The Biq Heart more than his other novels portrays
the struggle between the forces of tradition and modernity in a
dramatic and realistic manner. Ananta, the protagonist is
Anand's own alter ego in so far as he professes a pragmatic
approach to mechanisation and modernity and becomes eventually a
martyr in the cause of disseminating the inevitability and
indispensability of machines for progress. Through Anantars
frequent harangues and discourses, Anand lashes out against the
narrow, myopic perception of life and progress by people who
blindly swear by the past and defend all that is old and time
honoured. Poet Puran Singh sees in Ananta the foundation and
prototype of a modern Indian who eschews all cultural prejudices
and superstitions and bravely crosses hedges laid by an
obscurantist religious and caste dogma, in a bid to usher in the
era of prosperity and modernity.
Anand gives sufficient indication of his intended theme of
the conflict between tradition and modernity right at the
beginning of the novel as he paints the setting of the novel:
It must be remembered, however, that Billimaran is
not a blind alley. Apart from the usual mouth,
which even a cul de soc keeps open, it has
another which makes it really like a two headed
snake. With one head it looks toward the ancient
market, where the beautiful copper, brass, silver
and bronze utensils made in the lane are sold by
dealers, called Kaseras, hence called Bazar
~aserian. with the other it wriggles out towards
the new Ironmongers' bazar where screws and bolts
and nails and locks are sold and which merges
into the Booksellers' mart, the cigarette shops
and the post office replete with the spirit of
modern times. (Pp. 16-17)
The Ironmongersf Bazar stands for modernity symbolizing
the advent of industrialization and mechanization while the
'Bazar Kaserianr signifies tradition. Images by which modernity
is connected- screws, bolts, nails and locks-show the author's
partiality for tradition. Bookshops, cigarette shops and
post-office are certain ingredients of a modern setting,
juxtaposed deliberately in an awkward manner to highlight the
inexorability of modernity. A s if to mark its measured and
inescapable march, Anand has placed a clock tower with a
fourfaced English clock at one end.
Anand is ostensibly biased in favour of the coppersmiths
and their traditional or hereditary occupation displaying
tremendous skill, artistry and finesse, The Kali temple and the
Golden temple represent the traditional religious values and the
magnificent architectural skills of the traditional artists,
artesans and architects. But Anand is not a blind extoller of
the bygone age of obsolete traditions and values. While he is
not for throwing overboard ancient values, traditional skills and
practices, for the sake of appearing to be modern, he advocates a
properly perceived and assimilated modernity, which will be at
the service of human being particularly of the poor, oppressed
masses. As Ananta time and again declares, machines we need, but
man must master the machines.
Anand has a fine perception af the slow but sure collapse af
the old order and old way of life in India in the throes of a
vast, engulfing, social, economic and political upheaval. His
protagonist is a man of this world, not a paragon of virtues,
but with an unmistakable grasp of the changing scenario. Just
like Anand, he is not a dreamer or a utopian theorist. Ananta is
painted as a spontaneous roguish Adam whose large heart and
sympathies are evident in his favourite refrain", There is no
talk of money, brother, one must have a big heartc. The slogan
is obviously anti-capitalistic and pro-people in its core. The
people of Billimaran Lane call the age that is bygone, the age of
truth and the new age 'the iron ager . There is a sense of the
existential entrapment among the people at large in the narrow
confines of the Billimaran Lane. Anand has this to say:
Caught in t h e nousetraps where they are born,
most of them are encaged in the bigger cage of
fate and the various indiscernible shadows that
hang over their heads. And they do not know the
meridian beyond the length and breadth of
Billimaran until the day when they are carried
out, feet first, to join t h e elements. (P-17)
Anand has artistically and realistically recreated the
life, experiences and struggles of peaple living in a corner of
Arnritsar with their age old beliefs and superstitions and
primitive lifestyle and approach to work. It is into such a
milieu of self-enclosed traditionalism and conservatism that the
new culture irrupts causing violent upheavals, factions and
internecine quarrels. The most serious consequence was the gap
between the coppersmiths steeped in ancient traditions reluctant
to change and the other of the same community typified by the
hero Ananta who, while being open to change, to accept the
machines, are prepared to pay the price by mobilising and uniting
the workers and weld them into a union for the purpose of
negotiating with the management on equal footing.
In the process of unfolding the character and attitudes of
Ananta, Anand exposes some more chinks and flaws in the same
people who pride themselves on their religiosity and morality.
Anand tears down their mask of hypocritical morality when he,
by his refined techniques of subtle irony, brings on the
censorious critics of Ananta" alleged illicit liaison with Janki,
discomfiture and embarrassment by almost apotheosizing Ananta in
his martyrdom and by idealizing Janki as a potential liberator.
In fact the life, behaviour and activities of Ananta which are
cast in the mould of a self-effacing hero are a cohstant reproach
to his carping critics. Anand uses mild irony in these scenes,
but his hidden sympathy for their outmoded way af thinking and
behaving is quite obvious,
All said and done, Anand's hero is apparently vanquished
because of his own shortcomings,moral weaknesses and agnosticism.
As a militant thathiar committed to the cause of the
deliverance ofhis fellow thathiars from the fetters of ignorance,
traditionalism and conservatism, he ought to have been more
sensitive to the religious and ethical expectations and
prescriptions of his community,
Anand, in this struggle between two world-views and systems
of values, is able to discern, with his uncanny sense of truth 1
and justice, that a convulsive overthrow of all long cherished
ideals or an instant solution to all social ills through
revolution or bloodshed, is misplaced and misguided enthusiasm at
best. Ananta fails, when chips are down, to deliver the right
result and therefore he jeopardises his worthy cause. He is
unable to see his ideas through by offering a concrete tangible
solution.
Sawos ~owasjee has captured this point effectively in h i s
essay, 'The Big Heart: A New Perspectivef in the following
words :
But above all, he (Ananta) is unable to
dramatize his cause and he is hence unable to
offer an immediate remedy for the misery of the
unemployed. To the strircing workers, who want an
immediate return for joining the Union, he offers
a post-dated cheque for a better life in the
distant future:
The Revolution is not yet. And it is not
merely in the shouting. Nor is it in this single
battle in Billimaran, brothers. It is only
through a great many conflicts between the
employers authorities and the workers, in a whole
number of battles which our comrades elsewhere
are fighting, that there will come the final
overthrow of the bosses (p.194). Sound Logic, but
not to the hungry (In A C L Z S , 4-2: 89)
Anand while portraying the conflict between tradition and
modernity has highlighted, with subtle strokes of his genius, the
different aspects of this question. He has created t w o characters
in Ananta and poet Puran Singh Bhagat who are crusaders, each in
his own way for the adoption af a pragmatic and realistic
approach to the phenomenon of modernity in the form of
mechanisation. While Ananta is more practical and action-
oriented, the poet is more abstract and out of touch with the
ground reality. However it is the poet who articulates the
approach and the thinking that underpins it. But Anand has
brought out very emphatically and artistically the twin aspects af
his humanism, Ananta signifying the qualities that should form
part of the personality of a social reformer and the poet
standing for the need to articulate the facets of reality and the
mechanics of the reformation to be undertaken.
S.C. Harrex has expressed this aspect af Anand's creative
humanism thus:
... The poet sees in Ananta the foundation of the new modern man. However, it is the poet who
articulates the humanism which the hero enacts:
I believe in the restoration of man's
integrity..,. the reassertion of man's dignity,
reverence for his name, and a pure love for man
in all his strength and weakness, a limitless
compassion for man, an unbounded love especially
for the poor and downtrodden. (PO 142)
Thus, Ananta emoodies those qualities of the
heart and the poet, those of the head which in
combination will create the new Adam of Anandrs
future society, The Poet's discourses at the end
of The B i q Heart are not merely a choric comment
on the tragic action, they are intended to leave
the reader with the image of a desirable social
form for which Ananta is a noble sacrificial
prelude. (in Guy (ed. ) 1982: p. 155)
Anand is aware that India needs both the types of people
who, in tandem, can c a t a l y s e a conscientizing movement among the
masses to channelise the unbounded energy available for
constructive purposes. Committed individuals like Ananta have a
very crucial role to play in spearheading purposeful action
against the impersonal and d e s t r u c t i v e p o t e n t i a l of t h e machines
and the modern trends and value-systems. The role of t h e
enlightened and educated individuals in a nascent democracy is
also being emphasised by Anand. They provide clarity and
necessary pieces of information to the people, apart from being a
prophetic voice furthering the cause of change, protest, struggle
and liberation,
The error in approach or the lacuna in Anantars thinking is
his failure to offer an immediate relief to the jobless and
starving thathiars. To that extent, his programme of
amelioration of the workers' lot, was defective and ineffective.
Anand wants us to take notice of this possible limitation given
the existential situaion of the people under the yoke of poverty,
ignorance, superstitious beliefs imposed by the capitalist system
and legitimised by an obscurantist religious leadership. Anand
will have no part in philosophy as professed and preached by
Satyapal, the student militant and his extremist comrades. Anand
has, however, not offered a solution to the unresolved and
contentious question of the justifiability of the use of violence
in any revolution or reform package. He seems to leave it to the
dynamics of the process of change to deal with violence not
pre-planned but unforeseen.
In Gauri Anand has once again dealt with this theme
although not in an extensive fashion as in The Biq Heart. In the
latter, the theme of tradition vs modernity runs through the
whole narrative and is woven into the structure of the action of
the novel. In ~auri the theme is implicit and highlighted
towards the end as the action reaches a climax. The protagonist
of this novel is a woman and therefore Anand has taken immense
pains to draw her in vivid details. She is a creature of the
culture and milieu in which she has grown, and which she has
imbibed. There are clear signs of her self-effacing 4s eaccep&
h @ p h~.5h3*84ard live$ with him despite his insolence and sadistic
treatment. She even submits to the humiliation of being sold to
an elderly banker and of returning to panchi who had thrown her
out.
Though Gaurits journey towards her self-knowledge and full
realization of her inner reserve, forms the substance of the
novel, the tragic experiences of Gauri stem from the woeful lack
of enlightenment on the part of her folks, including Laxmni her
mother- Anand endows Gauri with an innate awareness of the world
and the dynamics of life which contrasts sharply with the total
absence of it in her kinsfolks and others.
Alastair Niven sums up Anand's presentation of Gauri in
these words:
.... The girl herself has no idea of the full
reserves of her character and the reader only
gradually sees them as she suffers one rebuff
after another to emerge with knowledge and
assurance at the end, Her cow-like qualities
remain - Anand may not be conventionally religious himself, yet he defers to the symbolic gentleness
of the sacred animal-but her humility is
fortified by an awareness of the world and some
sense of its future which the other women in the
community totally lack. The 'fullr Gauri,
educated in a vision made practical, does not
emerge until the last page of the novel. Anandrs
command of his narrative never slackens and he
leaves off the novel at exactly the moment that
Gauri8s knowledge of herself and of her
responsibilities has crystallised
(Niven 1978: p.107)
The tragic finality of the action of the novel is such that
Gaurifs ultimate maturation and her intimate self-realization
coincide with the still stagnant and static civilization of the
people of her environment. Mellowed and stung to the quick by
some of the terrifying experiences in the hospital, she agrees to
return with Lami to panchi and resume her life with him. But
Gauri, albeit a devoted and caring wife, is not free from the
influences of modern life as experienced in the hopsital. She is
a liberated woman and therefore tends to display signs of modern
womanhood, her habit of lowered dupatta and using sweet-smelling
soap being singled out among them by Panchi for harsh
remostrations and abuses. This shows the utter lack of sympathy
orsensitivity on the part of panchi, who is a rabid
traditionalist, to the changes wrought in ~auri by her
experiences as a working woman.
Anand highlights another negative aspect of the process of
human liberation when he constantly refers to the habit of gossip
and character - assassination indulged in by the villagers. his
orchestration of vicious vilification of persons has a
demoralising effect and detracts from the constructive moves
geared to social change.
In this context Dr. Mahindra becomes Anand's powerful
spokesman. He tends to become didactic and even monotonous and
artificial at times. But his central message is clear. He pleads
for a world made free of prejudice and meaningless traditions
that only stymie positive and change-effecting actions and
processes. With his broad liberal principles and humanistic
values Mahindra enters the life of Gauri just at the moment when
she is dismantling form the altar of her life and belief system,
the traditional gods occupying high pedestals. She exclaims in
utter despair and anger, 'May the Gods die if they favour these
dogst, a half-suppressed blasphemy in the context of her
recent revolting experiences.
Mahindra is not only Gaurirs idol but the powerful exponent
of Anand's ideology. In delineating the basic principles of his
own vision Anand has insistently stressed the need for courage
and daring. The woes and failures of characters like Panchi,
Laxmi and Dr. Batra are compounded by a fear-psychosis of 'What
people will think'. Mahindra proposes the antidote, 'We must not
be afraid and weak and cowardly and small-minded. We have to
reform the whole of our country, every decaying part of
it* ' (p. 242)
A certain fearlessness and scant respect for what people
say or think is a necessary concomitant of a meaningful human
life based on a universal human love. This once again focuses on
the conflict between values and perceptions that are traditional
and modern. Gauri f i n a l l y bids goodbye to her traditional
meekness and conformity and turns her back on the maligning
crowd and marches into a brave new world of freedom and
self-determination. She wants to shape her o w n destiny without
being bothered about what the v u l g a r crowd has to say about her
standards.
Anand's fictive representations of his perception of the
conflict between tradition and modernity, or the clash between
values associated with indigenous culture and those associated
with the west, can be counterchecked with his own writings
pertaining to this area. In his Anolosv for Heroism Anand
expresses this conflict in different ways:
But I believe that the decay of values arises
primarily when the myths which clothe the desires
of men, which embody in the form of art, the
inner aspirations of men to grasp the realities
outside them, become outworn, and inept prophets
go on using the old legends, catch words and
cliches without making any attempt to reinterpret
values in the light of fresh knowledge ...(p. 143).
. . .That is a task which wif l require all the energy, intelligence and devotion of men. Only,
they have got to be new men, whole men, who have
the critical spirit to see the machine age for
what it is worth, to distinquish technology with
it, to sift grain from the cha'ff . And they will
have to be men who are sincere, disinterested and
free, men who are willing to save the world so
that they can live in and through it, men who are
human, who represent humanity everywhere and seek
a new way of life in freedom. ( ~ 9 1 4 5 )
From the standpoint of his comprehensive historical
humanism Anand has found it necessary to have a modern outlook, a
weltanschauung that accommodates a critical openned to the
necessity and inevitability of science and technology and a
possession of the scientific rational temper shot through with
profound sincerity, real freedom and human interest.
Achebe, being a highly motivated writer who looks upon his
role as a crusader with missionary zeal, has used the navel as a
medium to project the Igbo society before and after the colonial
encounter. He uses the Igbo past, traditional culture, religious
beliefs, ceremonies and rituals as the r a w materials for
fashioning out his fictional narrative, action and plots. The
anthropological density that is found to overabound in Thinss
Fall Apart and Arrow of God, is a clear proof of his keen
historical sense, interest in the past and involvement in the
present and future of Nigeria. Of course the first navel
projects the colourful Igbo world in all its richness, simplicity
and ingenuousness. The contradictions and commotion resulting
from the descent of an alien rule and culture form the substance
of No Lonser Ease, Of course a consummate artist that Achebe
is, he does this by a meticulous analysis of the protagonist
Obi's character, his rise and fall, his intellectual and moral
strength and weakness. It is set in modern Nigeria in the day
immediately before Independence. The novel opens ominously with
the hero on trial for accepting bribe as a civil servant.
G.D. Killam maintains that this novel is an effective
fictional representation of Achebe's view of the conflict between
traditional values, beliefs and structures on the one hand and
the modern western values imported into Nigeria by the colonial
rulers on the other. He asserts:
, . , . Obi is a modern man and his story comprises a modern tragedy. In this novel Achebe provides
a record, transmuted by his personality and
personal vision of, on the one hand, the nature
of 'modernityf - in terms of its social,
political and economic impfications - imposed
through colonial action on Nigeria, and on the
other, t h e price Nigerians have paid for it.
(Killam 1975: p. 37)
Achebe deals with this question in Obif s efforts to face
t h e pressures, brought on him by the expectations of the Lagos
branch of the Unuofia Progressive Union on the one hand and the
parSentsf irrational and hypocritical demands on the other. His
idealism gets a battering and crude shock when the Umuofia
Progressive Union, both wants him to repay the loan they had
advanced for his studies, and to improve his standard of living
in accordance with his foreign education and social status. This
becomes a severe test of his integrity by threatening his.
security and by eroding his equation with his kinsfolk.
In addition to paying back the eight hundred pounds to the
tagas branch of the Umuofia Progressive Union, he feels obliged
to buy an expensive automobile and to lease and furnish a posh
flat, merely to keep up his veneer of Europeanness, conferred on
him by his foreign education and his job as scholarship secretary
at the Federal Ministry of Education. He has moreover to send
hone money every month for the education of his brothers.
Obi is presented as an educated Nigerian with a keen sense
of moral right and wrong and idealistic at the beginning of his
career. He resists temptations to bribe and maintains a clean
record. But the milieu in which he lives is vitiated with all
sorts of venal practices being the order of the day. It can be
termed as a venal era of ethos, He is exposed to constant tests
to his moral uprightness even as he strives to keep himself at a
safe distance from such morally reprehensible practices or
offers. He is even capable of resisting an occasion that came
his way of taking advantage of a girl.
But the atmosphere is so morally perverted that Obi is
unable to withstand the pressure for too long. The maral laxity
is all too pervasive and the culture so permissive that his
moral consciousness gets a rude jolt. His friend Christopher who
almost holds a brief for endemic corruption and venality, is a
real representative of the contemporary culture and philosophy of
life. According to him corruption or taking bribes is part of
the game and has come to be accepted as a way of life. Much
worse, he justifies having sex with a girl as it is not doing any
material harm to her, as taking a bribe which makes the man
poorer.
Achebe portrays the gradual perversion of the mind and
moral consciousness of o b i , hemmed i n by enormous expenses
entailed by his high style of living and the luxuries imposed by
his status. Obi is shown as waging a two-fold battle, one
against his people represented by U.P.U. and the other against
parents. While the former pits him against the slow erosion
of moral values symbolised by bribe and graft in return for
services rendered, the latter involves him in a more personal
kind of wrangle as his parents oppose his affair with Clara as
she is an "Osu". Here Achebe deftly uses his ironic power in
this that although Obi's parents are Christians, they are not in
a position to discern the unchristianness of this discrimination
and condemnation of an individual only because she is an outcaste.
Achebe is sharp enough to expose the dichotomy between the so
called modern views and values of the Christian dogma and faith
and the die-hard ancient social practices espoused by the
Christians. Even the Christians become victims of this
contradictions resulting from the clash of two diametrically
opposed world views.
While Achebe does not justify all that is modern or western
uncritically he does not advocate a blind adherence to some
traditional practices, beliefs or superstitions that stand in the
way of the African society coming to grips with the modern
trends and values. He disapproves of O b i r s parents' and his
village people's stout opposition to his marrying Clara, a member
of an accursed slave community. Moreover Rchebe is critical of
Obi's inconsistency and lack of guts in the act of repudiating
Clara, using her lowly and indefensible pasition. In the same
vein he assails the hypocrisy and double standard of Obi's
community.
Achebe's interest centres around the confusion and
ambiguity caused by the colonial rule. The one case in point is
the life of Obi, a determined, enlightened and conscious young
man, who is unable to sustain his moral rectitude in the midst of
a society that is no longer at ease. The people at large are
going through a process of moral degradation and decadence,
initiated and precipitated by the lack of clarity or confusion
that prevails in the wake of the intrusion of the westerners. On
the one hand the Nigerians are entering a new phase of
development symbolised by new education, job opportunities,
access to money, power and other luxuries and opportunities.
Neverthelss, the ancient and traditional, moral and religious
values are the first casualty even as material welfare and
acquistiveness become the be-all and end-all of the present
society,
Obi's life ends in a tragedy made more poignant by the fact
that he is candemned and humiliated just as he is realising his
personal guilt and immorality and is ready to turn his back on
his former unethical ways,
Achebe pleads for a basic sympathy and broad vision on the
part of his people who, flush with the sudden acquisition of
wealth and power, make, in their over enthusiasm, unrealistic and
impracticable demands on the newly educated, young elite. In this
they are liable to forget that in their culture and tradition
they have more lasting values. Achebe deplores this tragedy. It
is this tragic irony that he focusses in all his novels and
particularly in this novel. According to him young idealists
like Obi are the backbone and future of an emergent Africa. It
is all the more important that the elders, leaders and people at
large should exercise greater patience and understanding without
expecting dramatic improvement or miracles from them.
Nevertheless, it is imperative that the elders guide the young
intelligentsia of Nigeria,
Another notable feature of this unease and confusion is
that people are loath to disabuse themselves of some of the
regrettable elements of beliefs and practices of the past, while
repudiating the more positive and community building values. It
is probably a sociological phenomenon occuring in any society on
the threshold of a modern epoch. Nevexthelss, this dangerous rot
should be stemmed lest it endanger the whole society-
The point af view as expressed by Christopher and Joseph on
two different occasions in conversation which obi is symptomatic
of the time and symbolic of what Achebe predicts for a country in
the thraes of a new birth. Christopher says to Obi:
. . . You may say that I am not broadminded, but I do not think we have reached the stage where we
can ignore all our customs. You may talk about
education and so on, but I am not going to marry
an l0suf, (P- 1301
Joseph addresses Obi in these words:
Look at me Obi.., what you are going to do
concerns not only yourself but your whole family
and future generations. If one finger brings oil
it soils the others. In future, when we are all
civilized, anybody may marry anybody. But that
time has not come. We of this generation are
only pioneers, (P-68)
While Achebe is not for compromise, he certainly advocates
moderation in ushering in changes and reforms where it conerns a
very stable, cohesive tribal society rocking under the impact of
an avalanche of an alien culture, religion, administrative
system, education and trade.
At this point one does see the appropriateness of the
quotation from T. S. Eliot from which the title of the book is
taken:
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no
longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods,I
should be glad of another death.
( T h e Journey of the Magi)
While Anand becomes didactic in his fictional
representation of his perception of the conflictual nature of the
encounter between tradition and modernity, Achebe maintains a
rational and emotional detachment in portraying the same
intensedrama in his novel'. The latter scrupulously avoids long
harangues which are common in Anandfs Biq Heart, while at the
same time, eminently succeeds in building up the tragic theme and
tempo by creating events and sequences that are lively and human.
While there is no dearth of human warmth and passion in Anand's
portrayal, he is time and again carried away by his ideological
convictions and humanist zeal. However, Anandrs success as an
artist in this novel as in some other, consists in the compact
structure of the novel, providing just sufficient space for Anand
to spell out emphatically his theme. He has achieved his
thematic end by laying greater stress on the rhetoric of Ananta
and Puran Singh than on the characters or their interaction.
Achebe has skilfully interwoven his fictive purpose into the
story and plot with the result there is no trace of didacticism
or monotony in the manner of rendering. The titanic conflict
between the world that is struggling to be born and the one that
is vanishing, is masterfully presented as taking place in the
miniature intersection of these two forces in the life of the
hero.
CLASS WAR AND CASTE POLITICS -----1- ---- -----------------
The word 'exploitation' sounds the keynote of the themes
that Anand and Achebe proceed to examine in their novels. In
fact, the processes unleashed in the socio-political and cultural
realms of a country as a consequence of colonial intrusion, are
marked by an overwhelmingly exploitive character. It will be nQ
exaggeration to affirm that Anand and Achebe have consistently
investigated the theme of exploitation. Exploitation in Marxist
jargon, signifies the iniquitous relationships that prevail in
the economic sphere only.
It is again from the Marxist perception of poverty and
exploitation at the micro and macro levels that we have
inherited terms such as class, proletariat, labour, surplus,
means and mode of production, used to analyse a capitalistic
system. According to Marx, a society is diviaed into two classes
the poor and the rich, also called the ruled and the ruling
classes or the dominated and the dominant classes.
Marx predicted a class struggle consequent upon the
appropriatcon and accumulation of surplus value in the hands of
owners of capital and the deprived proletariat becoming poorer
and poorer. In his views, the history of modern society is the
story of the struggle between these two classes. The phenomenon
of production of extremes of poverty and wealth, pauperism and
luxury will sharpen the class-struggle until it breaks into open
revolution. The end-product will be a stateless socialism
wherein production will be carried on for the good of all and
bring about the classless society.
No wonder then that Anand who came under the influence of
Marx's writings and was fascinated by Marxist theory of social
change and revolution, set out as a writer to expose the evils of
a capitalist society divided into these two polarities or
classes. In particular Anandgs attention is focussed on the
aftermath of the colonial imposition of an alien world
order.Margaret Berry sums up Anand's method of attacking the
capitalist system in this manner:
Anandfs attack on the capitalist system is
executed in the novels by direct and indirect
presentation of the evils of private
ownership, private enterprises and the profit
motive in business. Even in the first
novel, Untouchable, Sasshar the socialist
calls f a r a casteless and classless society.
In depicting the road to such a society,
Anand does more than dramatize the issues with
plots, themes and settings. His %approved'
characters boldly expound the socialist
program and with dialectic and oratory,
compound their opponents - villains,
'respectable8 compromisers, and sincere but
unenlightened men.
(Berry, 1970: p.63)
Anandrs Coolie (1963) and Two Leaves and 2 (1937)
portray the scandalous gulf existing between the rich and the
poor in pre-Independence India. Hence Anand aims at highlighting
the role of the British in bringing about this unfortunate
situation. Industrial capitalism was imported from the West by
the Colonial rulers. This upset the applecart of the 1ndian
social and cultural relationships and polity And this
development was made possible by the ~ritish who introduced
Commerce and trade based on mere profit-seeking and cut-throat
competition. And it should be noted that the Indian soil was
just ripe for accepting this western product as it had been
preconditioned by forces such as mechanisation, industrialisation
and scientific materialism.
As a direct result of the interplay of these forces,
Indian society of the thirties was losing its cohesion and
stability, the hallmark of its social fabric before the onset of
industrialisation, Money became the principal symbol, measure
and means of well-being and happiness, Moreover all
relationships and interactions began to be scrutinized and judged
by the criterion of possession or non-possession of money.
Munoo, the central figure of Coolie and Gangu the hero of
Two Leaves and q Bud are both Kshatriyas, the second highest in --- caste-hierarchy. But they come of an indigent background and,
therefore, become victims af the cruelty and marginalisation that
are associated with the upper classes.
Munoo and Gangu are represented as labourers or coolies who
depend for their livelihood on the wages paid to them for selling
or hiring out their labour. Munoo is driven from his home in the
sylvan setting of the Kangra Valley merely beause, "my aunt wants
me to begin earning moneymf. Anand makes sure that we are briefed
about the havoc played by the landlord in his fatherfs life by
seizing his five acres of land in return for the interest on
mortgage not paid, Munoo's family was a hapless victim of an
U ~ S C ~ U ~ U ~ O U S landlord, Thus Anand underlines the role of
feudalism in wrecking the lives of innumerable, unlettered,
ignorant, unwary villagers who sought the help of the land-lord
money-lenders for loans. Munoofs plight is symbolically
presented by Anand as he makes his child-hero wander from place
to place in search of a job, a livelihood,
Munoofs experiences in Sham Nagar in the family of Babu
Nathoo Ram are evidence enough to bring out the kind of
ill-treatment meted out to a poor wretch just becuase he is
destitute. He is told clearly that he is no more than a servant
and hence cannot hope to mix with people of the rank and dignity
of Babu Nathoo Ram's family. His sojourn in Daulatpur, working as
a labourer in the pickle factory owned by Prabha, a former coolie
and Ganpat a crooked and villain~us partner who eventually
swindles him, has been described by Anand with a keen eye for
details of Munuafs psychological reactions, revulsions and final
disillusionment. He is made to realise that it is only the likes
of Ganpat and Sir Todar Mall who have access to big money and
therefore to influence and power, who can lead a comfortable,
easy-going and pleasure-seeking life while honest and hard
working poor have no chance of survival.
Anand further pits his waif-hero against the powerful and
U ~ S C ~ U ~ U ~ O U S world of the rich mill-owners in Bombay. Here again
Munoo wilts and withers under the heavy oppressive weight of a
system biased in favour of the rich and powerful. The strike
organised by the workers is put down with an iron hand and the
revolt quelled mercilessly by the unilateral decisions of the
British management aided by their 1ndian henchmen. The worst
irony of it is that the whole strike is undermined and debunked
as sparking off communal clashes. In point of fact, communal
riots were engineered by the anti-worker lnanagement in orderto
*-:blacklist and denigrate the striking workers and the labour
union leaders.
Finally we see a hunted and hounded out Munoo seeking
asylum in the household of a half -caste, scrupulous and
over-sexed Mrs. Mainwaring at Simla. Here again Munoo becomes a
victim of all the whims and fancies of this rootless caricature
of an Anglo-Indian woman. The last days of Munoo as he wastes
away under the effects of consumption are one long night of
sorrow and pain only terminated by his untimely death.
Anand contrasts solidarity, endurance and friendliness of
the pavement dwellers in Bombay and the paar coolies in Bombay
and other places with the sordidness, complacency,
.self-righteousness and superciliousness of the rich. The novel
is a severe indictment of the capitalist system that spawns such
inhuman monsters without a trace of concern for the deprived,
side by side with hosts of workers, coolies and destitutes like
Munoo whose life is one long nightmare of thwarted ambition,
unrewarded honesty and hard work and unrequited love and service-
They are condemned to a life of slavery and abject poverty with
no way out, however much they may struggle and strive.
Sauda in the Bombay phase seems to have penetrated into the
mechanics of a class society when he echoes Anand's ideas:
nThere are only twa kinds of people in the
world: the rich and the poorn, Sauda
continued, "and between the two there is
no connection. The rich and the powerful, the
magnificent and the glor ious , whose opulence
is built on robbery and theft and open
warfare, are honoured and admired by the!
whole world and by themselves, You, the poor,
and the humble, you the meek and the gentle,
wretches that you are, swindled out of your
rights, and broke= in body and soul, you are
respected by no one and you do not respect
yourselves. l1
(Coolie, Pp. 265-266)
Child labour is one of the evils of the capitalist system as it
provides the factory owners with cheap labour in most inhuman and
abominable conditions. Anand's description of this most heinous
practice endorsed by the rulers is as pathetic as it is
mind-boggling.
Two Leaves and g Bud is another novel that is devoted to
the theme of exploitation built around cash-nexus of the
capitalist mode of economic organisation. This novel is more
concretely about the class of coolies represented in the novel by
Gangu the central character, who is a hapless peasant lured
to the plantations of Assam with false promises of better
material prospects. The irony of it all is that apart from being
cut off from his roots, losing his freedom and self-dignity in
serfdom and bonded labour, he eventually dies at the hands of his
diabolical boss, Although Gangu is sceptical of the exaggerated
overtures of Buta, he is finally beguiled by Buta who uses the
peasant's strong love of land as a decoy.
Gangu's destiny is inextricably wedded to the plantation
from now on. He will lose his wife after an epidemic of cholera
takes a heavy toll of the coolies. The filth and squalor of the
coolies' lives defies description. As if these hazards at the
work places were not sufficient, the coolies and their children
are exposed to untold health hazards. The British overlords have
not an iota of sympathy or concern for the workers.
Anand analyses the relationships existing between the white
masters and the coolies. It is a condescending and contemptuous
attitude with no concern whatever for their well-being, safety or
happiness. The coolies are herded together in plantations as if
they were cattle and have no need for the higher pleasures of
family life and human solidarity.
Reggie Hunt, the assistant planter is an embodiment of the
cruelty, heartlessness, and frivolity of the white planters and
the class of planters as a whole. He prowls around the
plantations seeking for a prey to devour. He is not only brutal
in terms of his treatment of deviant coolies but a sexual wreck
who seeks to satiate his lust by preying on any coolie woman. H e
has no moral qualms about his unethical behaviour and immoral
exploitation of t h e plantation workers.
De la Havre is an exception to the general apathy,
inhumanity and ruthlessness associated with the planters. He has
a different perception of the deplorable plight of the coolies
and the injustice and sinfulness of the system that is operating.
However he is powerless and finally deported after being labelled
as a non-conformist, anti-British humanitarian. He is not only a
compassionate doctor but a champion of the cause af the coolies.
Coming to the coolies, we find them averse to any protest or
reaction. They are illiterate and ignorant and it is their crass
stupidity that makes them resigned to their inhuman situation.
They are incapable of making a protest, leave alone mobilising
the group to wage a battle against the consistently anti-labour
policies and practices of the British planters. The mild protest
organised by the leaders of the group ends in a fiasco as they
are overawed by the presence of the white masters, particularly
Reggie Hunt. Gangu is a typical character belonging to this
group. He is fatalistic when it comes to the crunch, be it his
wifef s death or his daughterf s narrow escape from the rapacious
grasp of Reggie Hunt syrnbolised by her escape from the python.
The climax of this story of subtle satire on the white bosses
in relation to the natives is achieved when the court finally
acquits guilty ~eggie. This, in other words, is symbolic of the
ultimate triumph of evil in the capitalist world of the ruling
class suppressing the working class and treating them as the scum
of the earth.
Anand8s portrayal is grim and is a vehement plea for the
subverting of this system so that the workers will not only get
adequate wages and recompense but will come in possession of the
means of production. This is what is declared by Anand through
his mouthpiece de la Havre. As perpetrators of an unjust
system of capitalist exploitatan and the resultant furtherance
of social stratification, the British administrators have no
right over the land of the Indians.
The Biq Heart is another novel where Anand has addressed
this question from the point of view of mechanisation. Clasg
consciousness can eventually overtake caste which as of now is a
powerful factor in all human commerce and relationships. The
coppersmiths who have attained to wealth and prosperity and a
better social position in the caste hierarchy, look down upon the
others and forge new ties with their business counterparts.
Murli Dhar who excludes this thathiar brotherhood from his
sons's betrothal ceremony is made to rue his decision by the
thathiars who boycott the function, The thathiars may be poor.
But caste should be respected. Murli who asserts his class
superiority at the expense of caste unity is taught a lesson.
Gokul Chand regrets to have formed a partnership with a man of
lower caste at the risk of losing his own. Ananta takes a middle
position while the ather thathiars reject the machine and
mechanisation altogether and uncritically. Ananta stands for a
rational approach and wants to eschew violence and vandalism.
Machine is the sign of the advent of the capitalist mode of
production. The thathiars resist it as they sense a threat to
t h e i r profession. But Ananta is able to perceive the wisdom of
accepting t h e machine. But he believes in the solidarity and
unity of the workers which alone can achieve the desired goal.
Paradoxially, Ananta dies at the hands of a frenzied Ralia
in the very act of dissuading him from mindless violence.
Ananta's death is not t he end, but t h e beginning of the new
alliance of workers and women to be forged by Ananta's friends
and admirers t o g e t h e r with Janki who vows to carry on the
struggle, launched by Ananta.
Anand has masterfully laid bare t h e mechanics of a class
society marked by greed, acquisitiveness, jealousy, rivalry and
fissiparous tendencies. The cause of the workersf unity is
thwarted not only by the relentless strangle-hold of the owners
of the factory but also by the fatalistic, unenlightened
approach of a section of coppersmiths themselves. Moreover t he
presence of different ideological postures within the group
accentuates the division and polarisation. Anand in this novel
pleads for unity and solidarity of workers in the larger interest
of securing their rights and privileges and of eventually
mastering the machine and owning it.
Anand moreover emphasises the principle that money should
not rule the mind of man, and what is essential is possessing a
'big heartr. This is the refrain af the protagonist which falls
on deaf ears- And his heroic death stings their simmering
consciences and rouses them to the reality of multiple
exploitation they are victims of.
Dr. Rengachari has effectively summed up Anand's fictional
goal in these novels thus:
Coolie is concerned with a different social
aspect. The treatment of the caste system is
turned upside down in this novel.
Caste-hierarchy dwindles into insignificance,
for Mammon is represented as the undisputed
ruler in the world of Coolie, Money is the
summum bonum of human existence. It can
catapult a pariah to a respectable position
and Dr. Merchant is a case in point.
Indigence can plunge the high-caste Munoo
into the ignominious depth of obsequio~sness .... . . . .The Bi_s Heart highlights the inbuilt
irritants in relationship between the
different strata of higher castes, among
the kshatriyas, kaseras impelled by a
sense of superiority stemming from the
assumption that they have descended from Lord
Rama, become snobbish and supercilious and
look down upon the thathiars.
.... he chastises their inherent shopkeeper
mentality, the mercenary motive of the
Britishers in Leaves and 3 Bud. The
British never do anything, he says, without
trying to extort the maximum advantage out of it.
(in Polymeh 1989: p , 9 9 ) .
A dispassionate analysis of the situation of the
unbridgeable gap existing between a small group of the wealthy
and the overwhelming majority eking a subsistence level ox below
poverty line existence, unfolds the undeniable fact that the
British were the prime cause as they introduced the capitalistic
form of trade and commerce. of course later it became an
unavoidable and inevitable phenomenon any country or society has
to reckon with. Saros Cowas jeee in his ,Coolie: An AssessmentJ
remarks :
But the plight of Munoo and his kind is the
direct result of the British rule and the
industrial revolution they introduced without
paying sufficient heed to social reforms,
Munoofs position in life raises the question of
freedom in a capitalistic society. A s Anand
sees it, freedom to Munoo, as to millions of
others, means no more than being beaten from
pillar to post.
(Cowasjee 1976 :17)
And Margaret Berry seems to agree with Anand's point af
view vis-a vis the role of the British when she comments:
For pre-Independence India, capitalism was
identified with colonialism: the great
political enemy was the British. Anandfs
pre-1947 novels quite naturally attack the
English Sarkar at every turn, as the major
source of India's ills, the preserver of
corrupt social institutions, the exploiter of
Indian labour and wealth, the tyrant over
civil liberties.
(Berry, 1970: P. 67) . Anand's spokesman de la Havre in Leaves and a Bud
verbalises Anand's own perception and anger in the following
crisp woxds:
"And when, after enjoying the monopoloy af
Indian trade for generations, our Britons, who
never, never shall be slaves, found they had
cut their own throats by introducing the steam
engine into India, not only because their home
manufactures competed with their colonial
manufactures, but also because the Indian
moneyed classes were pressing for a share in
the industries of their country, they began to
bully the coolies and bleed them as much as
they could before the judgement day arrived."
" . . . But what is a contract with a slave? Less than a scrap of paper: And that is yaur
Empire. (P. 1106-107)
de la Havre seems to have gone to the root of the question
of exploitation and squarely placed the blame for it all, on the
British colonisers. His perceptive insight is not altogether
bereft of a sympathetic concern for the s w e a t and toil of the
condemned coolies. He says that 'a single cup of tea contains
the hunger, the sweat and the despair of a million Indians'.
If this was true of India during the British Raj, it is
more poignantly descriptive of the contemporary Indian
predicament.
Achebe hasn't explicitly addressed himself to or dwelt
on, except in passing or by implication, the whole area of class
distinction or class-consciousness in the aftermath of the
tribe's encounter with the colonial world in his novels,
Thinss Fall Apart and Arrow of God. Of course in his other
novels he is specifically probing the political situation in
Nigeria before and after Independence. In Anthills of the
Savannah, there is a systematically worked out anatomy of power
in all its dimensions, manifestations, functions and
corruption, Achebe has exercised his social and artistic
conviction bearing on the conflicts and contradictions resulting
from Class-distinction, an off-shoot of capitalism.
In Thinss Fall ADart, Achebe has made an allusion to the
colonial trade or market based on money introduced by the British
into the tribal milieu. In chapter twenty nine, there is a
reference to this:
"The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion, but he
had also built a trading store and for the first time palm-oil
and kernel became things of great price and much money flowed
into Umuof i a m (p. 161) . Achebe is perceptive enough to p o i n t to the capitalist
trade or market system as one of the two major changes that began
to challenge the vitality and the relevance of the traditional
f oms. The t rauma that the tribal economy suffers i s
dramatically expressed in the most essential commodities like
palm-oil and kernel becoming dearer and the whole market system
dominated by money. This is the beginning of the capitalist
economy making inroads into a primitive tribal economy. The flow
of money into Umuofia suggests that trade and commerce based on
cash had become a regular and predominant feature of the economy
of the clan,nay of the whole of Africa.
Achebe is quick to point out that erosion of traditional
values because of the western patterns imposed on the tribe, had
begun to show unmistakable symptoms, the most glaring one being
corruption. He makes only a mild reference to it in chapter
twenty where Obierika and Okonkwo are engaged in a conversation
and Obierkka seizes him of the latest happenings in the world of
their clan. Speaking about the land dispute which resulted in
the hanging of Aneto, Obierika alleges that the white man's court
decided it should belong to NnamaCs family as they had given much
money ta the white man's messengers and interpreter. This 2s as
shocking as it is revealing. But in the context of the new form
of market economy that is functioning, it is quite understandable
and in fact to be expected,
In Arrow of God Achebers interest is focussed, on the
conflict between the forces of oppression and the traditional
structure that is showing signs of breaking up. Nevertheless he
has made sure to direct his ire against the third enemy the
economic system, the white administration and the religion being
the first two, In this novel he has created several characters
who listlessly flit between the two cultures in a bid to
assimilate the new values without being alienated from their
cultural roots.
Nwodika is one such character whose ambition
is to reconcile the two opposite or contradictory cultures and in
the process to earn money. He starts a trade and joins the
market for the sole purpose of making a prof it. Nwodika is a
prototype of the new class of rich businessmen yet to emerge on
the horizon of Umuaro, He is shown as a precursor and the voice
of the future. While he testifies to the Igbo flexibility and
adaptability, he is unwillingly hastening the breakdown of
traditional Umuaro, cutting across its time-honoured loyalties
and allegiances. The class system just originating in the
terrritory of Umuaro is an offshoot of the capitalist market
economy introduced by the British for the purpose of augmenting
the profits accruing to the mpire.
No Lonsar At Ease narrates the story of Obi the grandson of
Okonkwo, his ups and downs as a western-educated, idealistic
young man who eventually succumbs to the pressures of a modern
Nigeria under the colonial regime. It has a very ominous opening
with Obi being convicted for taking bribes. Achebef s satire is
quite penetrative and subtle as he probes the political and
economic conditions that mark the Nigeria of his novel.
Obi's failure is in one sense attributable to the
irresistible attraction and temptation of material comforts and
riches chracteristic of the urbanisation and industrialisation
that were overtaking Nigeria. The modern Lagos is a melting pot
of cultural and social values emanating from the West. It is to
this Lagos that Obi comes armed with his western categories of
knowledge, values and principles. In Lagos however the emphasis
is on money, success, luxury and class distinction, While this
development is inevitable in the context of advance and progress
sweeping through the entire universe, Achebe regrets its
supplanting the traditional spiritual values.
Corruption has become the way of life of the people so much
so, they are not distressed about Obits accepting the bribe as
much, as about his being 'caught* by the police, It is a sad
commentary and a satiric narration of Achebe. Obi wants to root
out corruption by sticking to a rigid code of public morality. I
But he belongs to the new elite class. He can't afford to dress,
live or behave differently. Thus he is torn between the ~ W Q
pulls. To make this worse for him, his own village people who
advanced a laan far his studies abroad demand the loan to be
repaid while at the same time placing very high expectations in
terms of his external appearance and overall life-style. In
other words they want him to be a foreign educated man of the
world. This pushes him against the wall and his resistance fails
and he becomes corrupt.
With the onset of capitalistic system of business, the
temptation to conform to oners class at all costs is great. It
is important to note that this moral decline or decadence is
itself a symptom of the fundamental changes occurring because of
the colonial rule, The whites pride themselves saying that they
have outgrown bribery of the overt kind. Anne Tibble in her
essay "Chinua Acheber puts it this way:
First Obi gets into debt over taxes, then over
his new car, then over sending money to his
people. Next he takes bribes. The white
leaders are not free from using personal pull
in well-diguised or civilized 'innocent~~forms:
such as that you're most likely to gain
promotion if you go to church and say you are
a Christian, if you let it be known that you
have been t o a well-known school, or even if
your aunt slept with a king . . . As if unaware
that any of these things are not in the
deepest sense corrupt, they are supremely
critical of the African new officials' form of
corruption, their addiction to stark bribery,
by money or gifts.,..
( T i b b l e , p. 127)
A Man of the Peowle analyses Nigerian politics after
Independence and with a prophetic foresight foredooms Nigeria to
coups and counter-coups resulting in a military dictatorship.
Odili the principal character is originally in league with Chief
Nanga . The struggle between the profoundly religious and
spiritual values of the old world and the pursuit of material
things flaunted as a value by the new order is further explored
and sharpened. As G.D. Killam avers:
The emasculation of traditional religion is
complete by the time of the action of & Man of
the Peo~le. Achebe conveys this powerfully in - a very brief scene. The brevity of the scene
and the nature of the religious comment made
186
offers an exact ironic reflection of the
efficacy of the restraining force of the
traditional religion in the contemporary
social situation, It is Christmas time and
the hero of the novel, Odili, is visiting the
wife of Chief Nanga M . P . Among other things,
comment is made on the new house which is
being built for Nanga. One townsman says:
"Look at the new house he is building.
Four storeys: Before, if a man built two
storeys the whole town would come to admire
it, but today my kinsman is building fourH.
(Killam, 1975: p. 35)
It is later announced that the house was being built free
of cost by the European building firm of ~ntonio and Sons to whom
Nanga has given the half million pound contract to build the
National Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The casual and ironic way of providing this information is
sufficient to underline the rampant corruption in high places
which was corroding the very fabric of Nigerian society. The
novel is a telling comment on the degree to which materialistic
values, acquistiveness, general moral decline and unrestrained
corruption have come to be syonymous with the way of life of
Nigerian politicians and the uppish new elite. It is ultimately
the capitalist system which has thrown up people like Nanga and
Koko and seeks to suck in well-meaning people like 0dili and Max.
Odili though an idealist has a desire to create a better
country than that he lives in. Nevertheless Odilirs idealism is
tempered by an awareness of the pragmatic realities, assisted by
a capacity for decisive action, unlike Obi the hero of Lonaer
At Ease. Max who is a rebel and a dreamer is nevertheless quite
practical and does not hesitate to accept a bribe from Koka and
to use it for his own capaign.
Nanga, with his uncanny ability to get closer to the masses
and to get away with anything, is presented almost as a mafia
leader indulging in thinly disguised system of bribery,
corruption and nepotism in order to keep his position of power.
His style of living and functioning is an eloquent testimony to
the callousness, unscrupulousness, corruption scams and
scandalous deals that were the order of the day in ~igerian
government circles.
From Achebe's narration of the story it is quite obvious
that he was pinning down all the woes and ills of the Nigerian
political situation to the excessive love for money among the new
elite of the country and the crucial role money played in all the
political transactions. Even Odili and Max who eventually
becomes a hero and a martyr by his death are not altogether free
from 'corruptf practices albeit for a cause. In fact even
Odili8s father who is otherwise a good man asks his son if his
party C.P.C. has provided h i m with sufficient money to conduct
his campaign. And he has no scruples about using his son's car
for h i s personal requirements. Of course Nanga's misuse of power
and his strategy of wooing voters through bribes, his control of
the media of the government and employing hired thugs
masquerading as policemen are the very epitome of the moral
degradation and erosion that has taken place in the wake of the
capitalistic made of production and the central place accorded to
money in the country's economy.
Achebe squarely places the blame for all this anarchy on
the economic system based on competition and profiteering and
acquisitiveness, which was at least originally introduced by the
colonizers. Of course the system functions now, quite
successfully, as the moral base of the Nigerian society has been
already knocked out. And the new elite, educated, idealist youth
of the country are victims of this system and not all
perpetrators or supporters of anti-people, anti-social
activities,
In his latest novel Anthills of the Savannah Achebe continues
the same theme but declines to predict any viable form of
government or any alternative to the present malaise- The
polemical tone of A Man of the Peowle is softened to a
considerable extent as the omniscient narrator is missing. The
very form and structure of the novel are understandably tailored
to promote Achebets pluralistic vision of the future of Nigeria.
AIL said and done, Achebe's investigation of the theme of
power and its manifold revelations and corruption, centres round
the moral decadence that has crept in, after the onslaught of the
powerful capitalistic system and values. The triumvirate ruling
the fictional African state of Kangan, namely, Sam, Chris and
Ikem are friends and rivals at the same time. They are products
of the interplay of the oppressive colonial system and the new
independent Nigeria still struggling to find its moorings, to
settle down in the context of new found freedom and its
concomitant of irresponsible leadership. Sam metamorphoses into
a dictator ruling the country with a sycophant cabinet unwilling
to displease the President. However, Chris and Ikem have
different notions about power and policies and ruling. Once they
are disillusioned with the Presidentfs authoritarianism,
neo-colonial mentality, susceptibility to flattery and
hero-worship, they turn sour and resign from their respective
posts in the government and take to meeting the challenge in the
midst of the masses.
Achebets disaffection with the excesses of the military and
dictatorial regime and the vagaries of the political leaders of
the young independent Nigeria is powerfully expressed when,
abruptly, he introduce the myth of Idemili and the formal
structure and the theme of this myth and the hymn to the Sun,
focus on the theme of creation and de-creation. Achebe blames
the African leaders for causing a rupture with the religious and
moral past of the people and far their subservience to foreign
manipulationsr and adoption of 'inherited second-hand
capitalism'.
MarSy EPlun Modupe Kolawole recapitulates Achebets concerns
as projected through this novel in the following words :
Achebe therefore dwells on the past to
identify the root of current problems, in a
search for social rehabilitation and
transformation. He considers the present
society too gullible and susceptible to all
forms of orthodoxy. But the social X-ray is
comprehensive as he asserts that the past and
colonialism are not the only forces that have
caused the present predicament. He blames
African leaders for ' the subservience to
foreign manipulation' and for adopting
'inherited second-hand capitalismy. But he
goes beyond this to .highlight the role played
by corruption, repression, intimidation,
neglect of the poor majority, insensitivity .
and inefficiency. He also blames the present
leaders' mediocrity, parasitism, and fraud
cover-ups.
(Kolawol e, p. 125)
From a reading of Achebe's Anthills of && savannah, it
becomes obvious that Kolawolers analyses are objective. The
novel is commentary on the unprincipled and egoistic lives of the
political leaders of past Independence Nigeria, and a timely
caution that the common people are going to call their bluff and
expose their knavery whatever sacrifice and struggles it may
entail
All in all Achebe's analysis of the present societal malady
yields this precious insight that an artificially and
uncritically transplanted capitalist mode of production and
market and the attendant cut-throat competition and
acquisitiveness are at the root of the present predicament. Of
course Achebe refrains from going into a full-length
investigation of the class-system as it operated in Nigerian
society. It doesnot mean that class is not a reality there. On
the contrary class consciousness and class formation in ~ f r i c a n
society are a reality that has come to stay in Nigeria.
Modernization or modernity is one facet of the capitalist system.
And the traditional tribal society of ~igeria has undergone a
sea-change specially after the advent of the Western trade and
capitalist modes. The tribal economy and social life are marked
deeply by the consequences of the capitalist system as understood
and developed by the business class and the ruling elite.
While Achebe is interested in the ethical crisis and
political instability that have been caused by the capitalist
system and not in its external manifestations, Anand is an angry
man and seized with a righteous indignation and determined to
expose the seamy side and the horrendous injustices and
oppression unleashed by the class distinction and consciousness,
an intrinsic part of the capitalist world. Hence, we have some
moving, pathetic, gruesome, mind-boggling and tragic scenes and
details of the social underdog's experiences at the hands of the
rich and powerful people who call the tune in a capitalist set
up. Anand is out to denigrate not only the system as a whole but
also the individuals and groups that manipulate the system in
order to orient it in favour of their personal aggrandizement and
profit-seeking. Anwd is realistic in his approach to this
theme, often reminding one of ~ickens. Nevertheless his purpose
is first and foremost to expase the insincerity and one-sidedness
of this class character of a capitalist society. In order to
highlight the inhumanity and injustice of it all he sometimes
exaggerates the cruelty and barbarity of individual
capitalists, particularly the British colonial masters in
relation to their lowly subjects or employees.
Achebe doe&nft dwell on these aberrations at any length,
probably his fictional matrix comprising the colourful
precolonial past and the subsequent contradictions and
confrontations does not really admit of such a treatment. Achebe
is faithful to his avowed goals in his fiction writing even as
Anand is true to his proclaimed social convictions.
Now we turn our attention to the caste system which has
been instrumental for so much of exploitation in India and to a
lesser extent in some other countries. It is believed that caste
as it is today, is a remnant of the varnasramadharma. a
differentiation of castes made on the basis of one's occuption
for the common good of a given society. However, there is another
theory which maintains that the Hindu religion originated the
caste system as it favoured the so called ruling caste.
According to this Hindu belief the four different castes emanated
from the Brahma but from his different parts. The Brahmins, the
highest in the caste hierarchy were said to proceed from the
forehead of the Brahma, the Kshatriyas from the shoulders, the
Vaishyas from the stomach and the sudras from the foot of the
Brahma . While the division based on the kind of work performed by a
particular group is quite agreeable to reason, the theological
explanation offered is an outrage to human dignity and becomedthe
basis for the ignominious and iniquitous social evil called
'untouchability1.
For Anand casteism and untouchability are two great wounds
in the Indian psyche that need to be healed or two cankers in the
body politic of our society sapping its very vitality. In this
Anand is a fervent disciple of Gandhi. Anand had first-hand
experience of this insidious practice of untouchability as his
childhood was spent in the midst of children of all castes
including the untouchables, His Bakha of Untouchable is but a
fictional recreation of Bakha, h i s childhood friend. His
experience in Gandhifs ashram had instilled into him an
abhorrence of this social taboo which is a sin against man and
God according to Gandhi. Gandhi is said to have advised Anand on
the manuscript. His own segregation and isolation on board a
ship by some westerners left an indelible mark an him and a
realization of the humiliation of being treated as an
untouchable.
Hence Anand took it as a challenge to depict the lowly and
colourless lives of the untouchables in his novels. 1n
Untouchable obviously and in The Road Anand has created two
immortal heroes drawn from the scum of the so called casteist
society. Bakha of Untouchable has a perennial appeal as a child
hero who grows from innocence to maturity and as a celebration in
fiction of a sweeper boy, the likes of whom never entered the
realms of literature before Anand's bold venture,
The sweepers* colony is described at considerable length by
Anand, thus underlining the fact that they have an existence of
their own, if it may be called an existence, about which the
caste people, whose dirty jobs these untouchables do, have no
concern or knowledge. It is a symbol of the filth and squalor
that mark their persons and their lives, This is the paradox
that the persons who are responsible for maintaining the hygiene
and cleanliness of the high caste people are systematically
deprived of their basic rights to hygiene or cleanliness.
But this is just one level or kind of discrimination. But
the belief that their proximity or their touch or contact can
pollute and contaminate a high caste person is an outrageous
denial of the basic humanness of these men and women. It is a
contradiction in terms as thase who practise it take it as a
religious mandate and the untouchables themselves have
assimilated it i n t o their psychology and being, as their fate and
as ordained by God Almighty. The privileged caste Hindus
proclaim in a11 sneer and callousness: "They ought to be wiped
off the surface of the earthM(p.54).
Bakha's insignificant daily life is filled with insults and
humiliation. The climax occurs when he is said to have
inadvertently touched a caste Hindu and is slapped by him. Being
a sensitive and smart lad Bakha could not brook the injustice and
shame of it. Anand makes this the moment of truth in Bakha8s
life as he has an unprecedented illumination and clarity as to
why he is being hated, and maltreated. He realizes painfully
that his status of being an untouchable makes him a sucker, a
pushover, a good for nothing in a caste-ridden society.
Apart from exposing the absurdity and stupidity of caste
consciouness Anand also probes the different levels of casteism
practised. In this novel he is able to point out the degree of
caste among the low caste groups. There are castes and
subcastes. Bakha is a sweeper or scavenger belonging to the
lowest sub-caste. It is this that makes Gulabo a washer-woman
look down upon Sohini who is a sweeper girl, This is
untouchability within untouchability, if one may say so. K . R .
Srinivasa Iyengar observes:
.... there are degrees of caste among the tlow-caste8
people, there being none low without one being lower still.
(Iyengar, 1962: p.337)
Anand has a cool dig as it were at the practice of touching
a Mohammedan to neutralise the pollution caused by an unholy
touch. The irony is that the high caste Hindus ordinarily regard
the Muslims as outcastes.
Anand takes pains to uncover the ridiculousness of this
system while at the same time castigating the high caste people
and the Hindu religion which are repsonsible for the perpetuation
of this unholy practice. He points out the several myths that
have grown up around this system. He reproaches the
untouchables for their sense of inferiority and self-effacing, of
course a patrimony of thousands of years of serfdom and
servility. He ridicules the high caste superciliousenss that
thinks that it is presumption on the part of the
plebeians to smoke like the rich. He is angry with the
high caste housewives who favour the lazy sadhus with hot
vegetable curry and rice while they fling stale bread at the
untouchable. He is irritated by the segregation of the
untouchables in hotels by allotting separate tumblers.
Bakha is created by Anand as a sweeper with a difference,
He is endowed with a keen sense of his own lowliness and the
possibility of his escape from this sordid reality into a world
of the tommies. This opportunity is provided him by some of the
babus and sahibs who are more friendly towards him. His
make-believe world consists of his occasional puff at a cigarette
thrown by the high caste people, his sporting the clothes of the
white man and his fondness for hockey. These are little details
that work up to give a credible and authentic picture of Bakhats
genuine aspiration to transcend his own limitations.
Anand after providing three different alternatives for
Bakha8s liberation leaves it to him to choose one. But Bahkha
doesn't find any of the three solutions too enchanting. He is
nevertheless fascianted by Gandhiys suggestion of liberation from
their inferior status by their refusal to accept the 'leavingsf
from the plates of high caste Hindus and by seeking free access
to wells and temples. He is moreover attracted by the poet' S
proposal to end their drudgery by adopting flushout system and
mechanisation,
Anand's approach to this problem as manifested in the
novel is one of actions done for the amelioration of the
untouchables and a corresponding distrust of abstract propositions
and solutions. He steers clear of any intellectual or
philosophical approach to this problem so entrenched in the
culture and psyche of our people, Anand finds it a moral
obligation to respond to this human problem not only on the part
of individuals, but society as a whole, In this it is not so
much Anand the Marxist, as Anand the Humanist wha is grappling
with this ancient problem that has defied solution till today.
His socialism is not revolutionary or violent but well grounded
in ethical principles and rooted in India's cultural values. His
approach is existential, viewing the pernicious practice of
untouchability from the victim's situations and perspective. The
perspective of the subaltern is a necessary pre-condition for any
objective analysis of their situation. Anand moreover brings to
his job an artist's detachment as he by caste is a Kshatriya and
not an untouchable. However he is able to strike a sympathetic
chord as his heart vibrates with the untouchable's abject state
and his artistic genius finds the fictional correlative to make
the story and plot convincing.
His novel, The Road published in 1961, is again a
reaffirmation of Anand8s emotional involvement in the problem of
untouchability, Anand created this 'enchanted mirrorf primarily
to illustrate to Nehru that untouchability is still a reality all
the government's protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.
Fourteen years of independence had done nothing to remove this
social stigma from them but in fact had intensified the
opprobrium of being an unwanted segment used as a mere tool.
Bhikhu the protagonist is a road-worker who has to contend
with the ideology of a power structure that tolerates no change
in the status quo. The road also symbolises the road to
emancipation from an inhuman situation. And this is going ta be
an arduous and well-nigh impossible task given the
socio-political situation today.
Anand, by means of a deft handling of irony and mild
satire, reveals some of the psychological forces that operate in
both the high caste Hindus and the untouchables in their inter - relationships in the context of a changed socio-economic
situation. With the introduction of certain reforms in the
village administrative set up and village economy, the government
of an independent ~ndia, has paved the way for a slow
amelioration of the condition of the untouchables. They can work
and earn moeny as their wages. Thus the control hitherto
exercised by the upper caste Hindus over the life of the
untouchables is slowly disappearing. Hence they are stricken
with fear coupled with jealousy that a progressively liberated
and independnet untouchable community may attain to the status of
the 'twice born1, A sense of insecurity has been generated in
the high caste Hindus as the outcastes are climbing up the social
ladder helped by government's economic and poverty alleviation
programmes.
Anand uncovers the hyprocrisy and double standards involved
in the high caste Hindusr attitude to the untouchables. They
refuse to touch the stones touched and 'pollutedf by the
untouchables. Nevertheless they have no shame about enjoying the
yield of the fields tilled by them. Pandit Suraj Mani who swears
by the Vedas and demands a high standard in observing the
prescriptions of religion and caste dharma, is an embodiment of
this contradiction. He has to carry with him a little earth to
avoid treading on what has been 'soiledt by the untouchables but
he finds nothing wrong in eating the mangoes plucked by the
untouchables.
The repeated and almost nauseating allusions to the divine
origin of caste and duty of everyone to fulfil its obligations in
order to work out one's salvation put in the mouth of landlord
Thakur Singh and andi it ~ u r a j Mani are a powerful critique of the
hollowness of such a theory and its hypocrisy. Anand is not
sparing the chamars either. He presents them as socially
aware and better off and bold enough to withstand the opposition
of Thakur ~ingh, Lachman and ~ajnu. But their self-awareness
though better, is not deep enough to stand them in moments of
crisis. They are unnerved and defeated by their own sense of
inadequacy and inferiority. While Anand wants to shake the high
castes out of their spurious sense of superiority and
complacency, he also attacks the lack of self confidence,
self-awareness and courage of the chamars, of course
sympathetically and with concern.
Dhooli Sinqh who belongs to the majority high caste and is
Lambardar is an interesting portrayal of the change that can come
about in a high caste Hindu who realizes that 'no one can enter a
little door seated on a camelr. He is convinced that the road to
progress and prosperity lies in casting off the shackles of
orthodoxy and in building a broad alliance with people of
all kinds including the untouchable chamars. Modernity cannot
become an actuality if one is too conservative or closed in upon
oneself.
Anand makes the character of Dhooli Singh quite credible as
he strives to show that although he has a reformist fire in him,
he is not altogether free from his traditional mental-sets and
attitudes to untouchability. He wouldn't want his daughter to
set her affections on the mean. But his son Lachman's puerile
incendiarisrn that consumed in a fire all the huts of the chamars,
helps him to overcome such reservations and ambivalence. He
stands up courageously for the victimised chamars and offers his
land and valuables to them as a compensation for their loss. He
not only cuts across caste lines here but identifies himself
totally with the pathetic situation of the chamars. No doubt
Dhooli Singh is Anandrs vision of transforming the caste-ridden
society into an egalitarian one.
Bhikhu is a mere symbol. He seldom reacts or retaliates.
He is neverthelss a leader of his group deeply involved in
bringing the fruits of modernity to his village. Of course he is
up against a massive road-block, the curse of untouchability.
However he is determined to lay the road which alone can aid his
people to move into the mainstream of national life, destroying
in the process, the barriers laid by caste and pride of wealth
and power.
The conclusion of the novel is hazy and ambiguous leaving
the reader to keep guessing. But one thing is clear that caste
discrimination and untouchability, though legally abolished in
India, continue to bedevil our so called modern democracy. The
likes of Bhikhu have no other alternative but to escape into
anonymity and die a slow death in the darkness of their
loneliness. Bhikhu is a frustrated individual even as his
superhuman efforts to construct the road, Anandfs symbol for
eventual progress and modernity, fail to elicit appreciation from
his high caste brethren, He feels rejected and betrayed. Anand
in this novel has mounted a bitter but ironic a t t ack on the
contradictions and hypocrisy t h a t mark the attitudes and
behaviour of the ostensibly superior castes. He lashes at their
complacency and issues a stern warning that this caste system
will not stand the test of time as the so called low caste
people, thanks to widespread availability of education and
opportunities for employment, are slowly shedding their complexes
and are aware of their inhuman situation and their responsibility
to pull themselves out of this pathetic situation.
Anand has treated the same topic in his The B i q Heart but
from a new perspective. He examines the snobbery that marks
inter-high caste relationship. The thathiars and Kaseras are
sub-castes of the Kshatriya community, the second and highest in
the branch of castes. The orthodox Kaseras look down upon the
thathiars as low and have only contempt for their people and
culture. Murli Dhar, a thathiar and Gokul Chand a Kasesa are
partners in the factory management. Nevertheless Gokul Chand is
in no mood to accept the invitation to attend the betrothal of
Sadanandrs son as he is a thathiar. He is frightened of the
consequences of associating with the thathiars as his own
brotherhood would frown on it. Although in business they are
partners, in social relationships and functions they prefer to
keep their caste identity and distinction.
Another interesting sociological development very
artistically expressed by Anand is the tendency of the rich and
business calss of the low castes trying to move out of their own
caste identity by striking alliances with the high caste. In
this manner they feel their stigma as untouchable is removed, and
they come to be regarded as members of the affluent business
class. Here is a very interesting and comical scene described
with Anand's typical eye for the humorous and the ironical
wherein the betrothal of Nikka, grandson of Murli Dhar takes
place. He has invited only a few important Kaseras like Gokul
Chand and a few Arya Samajis and some leading thathiars. The
rest of the thathiar brotherhood is not invited by Murli Dhar for
he considers them 'low'. But at the ceremony Gokul Chand is
horrified not to see Murli Dhar's kin, This is a moment of utter
confusion and discomfiture for Murli Dhar. He is emphatically
told that he can't afford to ignore the kith and kin, just
because they are poorer.
Anand's perception of class being more powerful and
exerting greater influence than caste in the long r~n~contradicts
the theory of Periyar, E.V.R. who held that caste is not going to
be altogether eradicated given our religious and cultural
traditions, Not that caste is going to be
altogether eradicated. But caste differences can be sunk and
forgotten if the class association or alliance is strong.
Achebe evidently has not touched on caste as it is not to be
found in his country in the £ o m in which we find it in
1ndia.While class plays a rather serious role in the action of
Achebe's novels caste is not mentioned at all. However, if caste
has to be broadly defined it could include distinctions of groups
of people as undeeirable or outcaste or ostracised,
It could be by extension applied to a category of people
referred to as 'Wsuu" specifically mentioned in Lonser
Ease where the protagonist Obi Okonkwo is in love with Clara who
is an 'Osu' . In fact the conflict in Obi's life commences when
this truth is revealed to his Christian parents who vehemently
oppose this move. His whole village is against his marrying an
"Osu" girl. Osu is an outcaste traditionally treated so by the
Igbo tribes. Probably the real reason for this is hidden in the
misty past or shrouded in mystery just as their many other
beliefs were.
Anne Tibble explains the significance of this practice in
the following manner:
Presumably 'Osu' are outcastes because of some
crime or social misderneanour one of their
ancestors has been guilty of. The village
elders attempt to identify themselves with
relentless 'national' laws of punishment:
they the guardians of the community's morals,
cannot trust to present mercy and forgive the
innocent descendant of an offender- They must
hold to implacable logic of judgement.
Simple human forgiveness would be thought weak
and sliding.
(Tibble p t in Cooke, p.125)
It is undoubtedly a clear case of social ostracism which
brands a whole section of people, generations of a family as
outcaste, Although the concept of caste cannot be applied here as
it is, it can be extended ta it. Achebe disapproves of this
'caste' division within the same tribe. The fact is that such a
distinction however limited it may be, exists among the tribes in
Nigeria.
The scandalous side of this story is that Obi's parents who
are Christians and profess and preach equality, are most
inflexible in holding on to this discirrninatory practice. The
deepseatedness of this prejudice in the minds of the people is
thrown into bold relief by the reply phrased by Obi8s father
Isaac to ObiFs first announcement of his affair with Clara, the
'0su8 :
I know Josiah Okeke very well,. . . . I know him and X know his wife. He is a good man and a
great Christian. But he is "OsuW, Naarnan,
captain of the host of Syria, w a s a great man
and honourable, he was also a mighty man of
valour, but he was a leper ..... " 0 s ~ ~ ~ is like leprosy in the minds of our
people, I beg of you, my son, not to bring
the mark of shame and leprosy into your
family. If you do, your children and your
children's children into the third and fourth
generations will curse your memory . . . ( p . 121).
And his mother literally shattered the fervent hope he
nurtured by swearing that he would marry Clara only at the cost
of her life. Unable to bear this, Obi decided to repudiate
Clara. It was an astounding decision on Obi's part but it
expalins the pressure brought on him by his parents.
There is a reference to HOsu88 the outcaste in T h i n s s Fall-
Apart, where a dispute arose in the young Church of Mbanta about
admitting wOsu'l into the church. The new converts vehemently
oppose the idea of receiving 1rOsut8 into their midst. The Osu is
said to be a person set apart, a taboo forever, a slave who
always carried the mark of his forbidden caste-long tangled dirty
hair. The collective and ancient wisdom of the clan could not
prevail against the force and vigour of the new faiths preached.
Though one may not insinuate there was 'caste' in the
social structure of the Nigerian tribes, we are sure there were
outcasteand the taboo was quite widely accepted and passionately
adhered to.
Anand and Achebe are equally aware of the overwhelming
power that class system can command, given the capitalist mode of
production, distribution and consumption, The class division
which is inevitable will spawn conflicts and struggles. The real
problem of the third world is that of the gap between the rich
and the poor. And the gap has been widening over the years
as the inherent logic of capitalism dictates. The continued
pauperisation of the poor will escalate the conflict between the
rich and the poor classes. This conflict cannot last long.
Anand and Achebe advocate different approaches to solving
this impasse* Anand believes in action of 'bhaktif which means
selfless action for the betterment of society, Anand expects
every oppressed individual and group to engage in affirmative
action for social transformation or universal liberation. He
believes in a socialist, egalitarian, fraternal and
caring society to emerge from the embers of the vanishing
society. The writer or the intellectual has an important role
toplay in exposing these contradictions, in clarifying
alternatives. He/she has to be the spokesperson or the 'fiery
voicef of the voiceless. In other words he has to play a
prophetic role.
Achebe too believes in the unique role of a writer or
intellectual in the emerging social change. He/she acts as the
privotal point in the process of education and liberation.
Therefore the writer becomes a teacher or educator according to
Achebe. Achebe proposes struggle as the only way out of the
Present political and social muddle, He assigns a specific and
important role to the new elite of ~igeria in this process of
liberation. They need to be reeducated and regenerated. They
should not be swallowed up in the rat-race for money and power
and popularity. The writer becomes the conscience of the people-
They have to educate and pull up the drooping confidence and
2 09
morale of the people. Struggles at all levels need to be carried
on if the ultimate triumph has to be a historical reality.
Anand condemns caste discrimination as a pernicious,
shameful and inhuman practice. Caste consciousness and casteism
are so much a part of our cultural and religious heritage that it
devolves on every Indian particularly the victims of this system
to raise their voice of protest. Anandfs commitment to humanism
shines through every one of his novels and underlies his powerful
indictment, in some of his novels, of the atrocities perpetrated
against the untouchables in our country.
Neither Anand nor Achebe is an obscurantist. They both
appreciate and welcome the revolutionary changes in life-style,
modes of thinking and relating, introduced by the processes of
modern scientific and technological development. ~achines are
useful and are in a way indispensable. However man should master
the machines. Human values cannot be sacrificed, Machines are
good slaves, but bad masters. Therefore it is necessary to have
machines for the purpose of making progress, But human dignity
and respect for the human being as a person should be at the core
of any programme for social change or liberation. Anand's and
Achebe's ideas of social transformation seem to echo the
following words of Aime Cesaire in t iDiscourse on colonialism"-
It is n e w society that w e must create . . a society rich with all the productive power of modern times, warm with a l l the
sharing of olden days.
(Cited in Caspersz , 1992).
CMWIPUiER SEVEN
L l BERAT i ON FROM THE FEM i N l ST PERSPECTI YE -I-------- ---- ... ------- - -----------------
In the context of the ancient Indian classics, social and
familial structures and customs, and cultural images and concepts,
what is imperative today is a de-mythologising, demystifying,
deromanticising and in short, a radical overhauling of the
understanding of Indian women. The conventional images t o
typify women a r e those of Sita and Savitri as perpetuated by
the ancient Indian classics and the one t h a t equates her with
t tSakthi", the goddess Durga and Kali. The male-dominated,
male-defined Indian society has laid down rules and norms,
customs and rituals that make women inferior to men, forced to
live in self-exile and self-imprisonment, subjected to life-long
servitude and self-sacrificing sub-ordination to man. She is
conceived both as a goddess and property to be sold and bought.
Both these concepts successfully continue t o keep her out of the
mainstream.
In Childhood a woman must be subject t o her
father, i n youth to her husband and when her lord
is dead to her sons. A woman must never be
independent.
(Quoted in Krishnaswamy, 1984: 9 )
This has been the traditional attitude to women in India as
embodied in the epics and vedas and other ancient classics, given
the official seal a of approbation by Manu, the Hindu law-giver.
As several scholars and social commentators have pointed out, the
worst tragedy of the Indian woman is the fact of the women
acquiescing in the conceptual framework, conforming to these
self-defeating and self-demeaning norms and images and
internalising them. In other words, the woman is a perfect foil
to the chauvinist Indian male who wants her to be a paragon of the
virtues traditionally associated with her. She has to be
patience, love, purity, docility and gracefulness personified.
Nevertheless, there is a silver lining in this dismal
scenario and that is the voice of protest or revolt that is being
raised by groups of women in India as elsewhere in the world. The
women of pre-independence India or of Gandhi's struggle for
freedom sought to break out of their solitary confinement by
making their presence felt in public life. Just as in the
Western hemisphere, in India too, women's education, franchise
and participation in public life and national self-determination,
promoted and passionately advocated by Gandhiji, paved the way
for the resurgence of Indian women. It should further be noted
that women's liberation movements and feminist approaches in art
and literature have gained ground in the post-independence India.
of course Western ideals and practices that were disseminated
through Western education played a crucial role in preparing the
ground for such a revolutionary point of departure.
The women's liberation movements or the feminists worked,
or rather clamoured for the emancipation of women, not on
sufferance but by right. The extent and the nature of the
freedom or emancipation demanded were the same as those of the
men. In other words, they condemned subjugation and
discrimination of women based on sex and demanded equality of
the sexes. Both the early and contemporary feminists have
engaged in a radical re-appraisal of the role of women in all
spheres of life and in the area of relationships between man and
woman in all national insitutions. While one should admit the
political and often polemical slant of the women's liberation
movements of the West and even those of India, w e need not be too
apologetic about it. Pheextreme shades assumed by the feminist
phenomenon are common knowledge. Nevertheless, one should be able
to critically probe the historical and sociological reasons for
such extreme developments, and appreciate the balance or
equilibrium that is being achieved today by most exponents or
spokespersons of feminism. The stigma attached to the lable of
"feminism" is slowly being given the go-by, even as male
chauvinism and the macho ideal are being frowned upon by writers.
It is very gratifying to note the emergence and ascendancy
of a host of women novelists in India over the last four decades.
Nay, what is more, a number of men writers have espoused the
cause of women and have voiced their aspirations and yearnings
for freedom and equality. While novelists like Raja Rao, Bhabani
Bhattacharya, R.K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand manifest the
sensibility towards women, they cannot be labelled as feminists.
The women characters in their novels, at least some of them, have
been drawn with such great care and tremendous sympathy, that one
cannot fail to perceive the author's deliberate intent behind
such portrayals.
The image of the new Indian woman, a by-product of a modern
civilization began to exercise the minds of Indian writers. The
traditional or mythic images such as Sita and Savitri or
pativrata disappeared giving place to more enlightened and
liberated types of women. The roles of women have changed in the
family, in public life and in society at large. The novelists in
India and Africa have been influenced by such developments and
changes and therefore they have tried to project either women in
their modern roles or educated or enlightened girls facing a
trditional or conservative household or husband or society. It
is this latter dilemma that is frequently encountered in novels by
Indian writers in recent times.
Mulk Raj Anand himself has successfully portrayed the
conflict arising out of the imcompatibility between a woman's
individuality and self-awareness and the traditional views of her
husband and her kinsfolks in his novel Gauri. The protagonist of
this novel, Gauri, the first and probably the only female
protagonist of Anand, is a welcome and revolutionary departure
from the novelistic tradition for him, as for many other
contemporary novelists. For S. C. Harrex, Gauri is "the modern
Mother Indiatf.
Shantha Krishnaswamy in her comprehensive study titled The
Woman in Indian Enslish Fiction has the following to say about
this novel:
Gauri breaks away from t h e established pattern of
saved males and doomed females. At novel's end
she had been rejected by Panchi her husband, on
the standard Hindu charges of inauspiciousness
and impropriety, She acquires enough
self-assertion to take the road to the town
towards t h e hospital of the humanistic Dr,
Mahindra. It is panchi who now stands doomed in
the slough of rejection and existential ,
loneliness, (Krishnasvamy 1984: 26)
Anand has, in his novel taken a bold stand on behalf of
millions of Indian women tortured and hounded by unsympathetic
husbands, crafty in-laws, fault-finding and censorious kith and
kin and above all, by deepseated guilt-f eeling and self -accusing
remorsefulness on the part of the woman, born out of centuries
of psychological subjugation and bombardment. Gauri by her
attitude of mature revolt and defiance when the chips are down,
delivers a lethal blow to the machismo ideals of a male-dominated
society. Gaurifs experiences as a daughter, a wife and an
employee are all marked, by a shattering sense of the futility of
expecting her husband or the other males and females around her
to vibrate with her predicament. Although Anand draws a parallel
between the cow of the story and the meek cow that Gauri is he
nonetheless presents her as a modern day Sita, who is undaunted
in the face of traumatic and humiliating experiences at the hands
of an unsympathetic and money-minded Lakshmi, her mother. Her
anger and resentment, although unexpressed, keep swelling to a
point when Gauri can no longer bear it. She has the courage to
walk out of her husband and his egocentred world, into an
uncertain future, but with a gritty determination to shape her
future and that of her child to be barn.
Anand focuses his attention and the reader's, on the
fortunes, the stress and strain and the psychological and
emotional respones of Gauri. There is a very slow progression in
her self-awareness. The ~auri of the first half of the novel is
a perfect replica of her mythic counterparts. She is tolerant,
self-suffering, self-sacrificing even to the extent of allowing
herself to be sold as a concubine to a rich old merchant. She
suffers enormous injustices and exploitation at the domestic
level. She almost allows herself meekly to be manipulated by her
mother, uncle and otherg* Nevertheless, Anand has shown uncanny
and keen interest in Gaurifs inner development, growth as a
persan from being a near non-person. It is on this growth
process that Anand focuses his attention and ensures that she
develops into a strong person endowed with moral courage,
intellectul clarity and awarenss of the reality around.
Marlene Fisher has this to say about Anand's effective
manner of expressing Gaurifs growth juxtaposed to Panchi's lack
of it:
The fullest fictional expression of Anand's
advocacy of freedom for women is his novel, The
Old Woman and the Cow, published in 1960. This - narrative is convincing and effective, in part,
because, the sympathy Anand evokes for young
Gauri is not at the complete expense of her
husband Panchi. The latterfs inability to keep up
with his wife in her growth into selfhood is due
to his own immaturity, his blind, orthodox Hindu
views governing the relationship between husband
and wife and the pressures of earning a
livelihood in a period of drought and famine. An
orphan brought up by his aunt Kesaro, Panchi is
hard put to deal with Kesaro8s jealousy of Gauri
or with an effort to retain her own hold over her
nephew. (Fisher 1985: 99-100)
Thus Gauri becomes a fascinating study of a woman in
travail and despair, of how she faces the challenge of a moronic
and sadistic husband and comes out of this crucible, chastened,
purified, enlightened and emboldened. The weight of meaningless
traditions and values that bends her down for years is cast off
by Gauri, the moment she realizes her own inner potential and
reserves. Her final act of departure from her household is the
death-knell she rings, for all the customs, rituals and
structures, legitimised by religion and glorified by ancient
literature as absolute values, while they always militated
against basic human dignity, personhood and sanctity that inhere
in the woman as a human being. Anand questions the values of
female inferiority, subjugation and dependence underpinning some
of the gruesome traditional practices such as sati and dowry,
outmoded marriage and family laws, inheritance rights and
atrocities such as abortion, rape and many other. If Dr.
Mahindra is his mouthpiece for proclaiming his revolutionary
counter-ideology, Gauri is his objective correlative, a symbol of
his protest against social and sexual inequalities and
discrimination. The following words of Shantha Krishnaswamy seem
to mirror exactly what happens in the action of this novel,
specially in the elaboration of the theme in and through the life
of the central chracter:
The awakening of the woman's consciousness
establishes a new set of values in the fictive
system. The typological experiences of these
women have constant elements like an abrupt
awakening, intense introspection, a s t a s i s in
time and action, and an abrupt ending with a
conscious decision. The ending does not lead to a
resolution of her problems, but the fictional
shaping of a very specific kind of crisis seen
through her eyes is rewarding, for it leads to
inner enrichment, a sense of exhilaration and
vicarious achievement as we see her battling
through harsh reality. (Krishnasvamy 1984 vii)
Anand has successfully resolved the binary opposition, of
woman as subject versus woman as object in this novel. While most
of the women characters, including Gauri of the earlier phase,
function as objects, passive participants, it is only Gauri who
emerges as a subject of her own life and destiny. She is unable
to stand the injustices heaped on her for too long. Therefore
she decided for herself and becomes her own saviour without
depending on or expecting her husband or other male champions to
defend her cause. She conducts her own defence and doesn't allow
anyone else to interfere with or intervene in her life. Although
Dr. Mahindra has played a conscientizing and ennobling role in
her life, he is no more than a mentor or guide. It is Gauri who
makes the decision to quit her legitimately-wedded husband.
Thus Anand emphatically portrays Gauri as a subject of her
own destiny. Anand's intention of making the woman a subject is
very clearly observed in Gaurifs arbitrary and almost non-chalant
exit from her husband's abode. Indirectly Anand has denounced
male dominance, as a value that should be eschewed by Indian
society. Anand richly deserves the encomium paid to this work by
Meenakshi Mukherjee in these words.
This novel is unique among Indian novels, in
rejecting rather than extolling, the time
honoured womanly virtues of patience and
submission. (Hukherjee 197,k 159)
In point of fact Anand has done much more by creating a
character like Gauri and making her a ficitive prototype of a
modern Indian woman of the village, whose institution as a woman,
more than her education, had led her to a stand that changes the
face of the women's situation in India and signals the
changed roles of women, not only in fiction but in reality.
Anand, being a social realist and a committed artist, is
able to perceive Gauri as, not just an individual radical or
revolutionary, but as a focal point between the growing and
expanding human consciousness and the fundamentalist and
obscurantist walls and blocks that prevent human solidarity or
stall progress. Anand believes in universal human solidarity and
salvation or liberation in which the woman has a crucial role to
play. As an intelligent student of social dynamics, societal
change and transformation Anand knows that such a process sans
the enlightened and self-determined woman is bound to be lopsided
and abortive. The woman can be and is a potent rallying point
f o r all the forces of liberation. I£ continuous on-going
struggle on all sides and at different levels is the only answer
to today's multifarious societal problems and questions, the
woman can never be ruled out as an active agent and catalyst of
social transformation. She represents an oppressed section of
humanity endowed with remarkable qualities of endurance,
acceptance and compassion, so very essential for human
liberation. Anandfs Gauri constitutes a singular impetus to the
liberationist zest and trends found in the Indian sub-continent
and its literature, and is a boon to activists and literary
men/women committed to the cause of liberation of all oppressed
peoples and of women in particular. While it cannot be labelled
as a handbook for liberation activists, it is without doubt a
magnificent clarion call of a committed novelist to his
contemporaries not to ignore the silent half of ~ndia, the women,
without whom the process of liberation can never succeed. It is
a superfine novelistic affirmation of the crucial role that women
can play in actualising the dream of visionaries like Anand for
the total emancipation and real freedom of the teeming millions
of India.
The situation of the women in African societies has been an
altogether different story. As the colonial encounter upset
the applecart of the traditional harmony and egalitarian
political, and social structure, the reality of women did
undergo considerable change. The woman in the tribal society
did not suffer much discrimination or exploitation although her
role was more confined to the domestic world. W i t h the advent of
western education and western political and other structures,
women had greater access to modern values and ideas. A
reawakening of a sort must have taken place among ~frican women,
a new awareness of their capabilities and potential. What is of
importance or relevance to us here is the perception of Achebe
relating to women's role in his society. Achebe s
women,specially in the precolonial or colonial society are quite
independent and mature, of course within the limited sphere of
the home or the household or clan. Equality of the sexes among
the tribals was never questioned or jeopardised. Functionally or
occupationally they are subordinate to the man, the husband or
the father. Nevertheless, none of the ugly forms of repression
and subjugation still extant in India or elsewhere is found
prevalent in any African society. In Achebe8s novels we are
presented with a picture of African womanhood that is quite
liberated, uninhibited, assertive and dignified. It is in his
novels about independent Nigeria and her indigenous leaders that
Achebe has tried to portray some full-blooded women characters*
If at a11 there is a feminist strand in Achebe's works, it
is evident only in his latest novel Anthills of the Savannah.
Here Achebe has created women, who are intelligent, reflective,
radical and bold. The part played by eatr rice in the plot pnd
action of the novel is quite significant, specially viewed from
the context of ~frica's post-independent history and from the
Perspective of feminism in African creative writings.
Achebe is quite critical of the inferior status accorded to
women in Nigeria's present scheme of things. Through subtle
portrayals of the attitudes of the male characters to women and
by employing the ironic and satiric mode in delineating the
chauvinistic postures taken by the sycophantic group around the
dictator, Achebe has laid bare the hidden sentiments of the
dominant male vis-a vis their female companions. Achebe doesn't
hesitate to expose the hypocrisy of even the highly educated,
enlightened and motivated characters like Chris and Ikem, where
it concerns their attitudes to or relationships with women.
Chris, in spite of his loudly-asserted passion for cleaning the
augean stables of the body politic of Kangan, is guilty of a
condescending attitude to his fiancde Beatrice. The latter time
and again points to this weakness in his personality as also his
generalised reluctance to listen to others' opinions or to be
open to other alternatives, alternative subjects, alternative
motives or alternative audiences. In fact, it is only when Chris
is declared an enemy of the leader that he will begin to listen
to his fiancge Beatrice, to ~raimoh and his fellow taxi
drivers, and to Emmanuel the student leader. Thus the
reeducation of Chris, incorporates his outgrowing the
unwillingness to accept and appreciate women's role in
liberation.
There are many other instances of male chauvinist
attitudes displayed by the chief characters of the novel. The
president-turned dictator, Sam's smug celebration of a cynical
refernce to 'African Polygamy', the invasion of the Women's
Hostel by soldiers quelling a student protest and the attempted
rape of a girl by a po&cp-officer even as Chris was fleeing Basso
for safety, are all so many cases in point to underscore the
prevalent attitude of scorn and condescension towards the
womankind.
Beatrice is an ambivalent symbol of female oppression on
the one hand and female resurgence and resilience on the other.
She pensively recalls some of her childhood memories, such as,
her given name Nwanyibuife meaning, "A female is also something",
her mother's painful narratives of her father's ill-treatment and
beatings, and her father's angry out-burst whenever she behaved
as a I1soldier-girln. Beatrice's past childhood experiences are
replete with images of male-superiority and male-dominance.
Neverthelss, in the final stages of the novel she becomes the
concrete embodiment of Achebe's views on women's specific role in
Africa's reconstruction and the indispensable and unique part
that women should and can play in Africa's and Nigeria's search
f o r a better political alternative. Beatrice becomes a lone
warrior for the rights of women and refuses to admit that she is
ambitious- She holds a brief for Ikem and Chris and defends
their activities and posture. She champions their cause not
always for egotistic reasons. However, a streak of the feminine
fear psychosis is not altogether absent. Innes C.L. has made a
very perceptive assessment of Beatrice's character and
typological role in this novel:
She too has changed by the novel's end, so that
she has become the focus of a new nucleus of
hope, providing a place and an intellectural
testing ground for the discussions of Emmanuel.
Captain Abdul, Braimoh, Elewa and even Agatha a
group significantly more varied in class and
ethnic origin than the gatherings to which, she,
~ h r i s and Ikem had formerly been accustomed. In
a metaphor carefully chosen to subvert its usual
connotations of gender role, eatr rice is
described as "a captain whose leadership was
sharpened more and more by sensitivity t o t he
peculiar needs of her companyw.
(mnes 1990: 158) (AS, P.229)
The last chapter wherein the naming ritual of ElewaCs
daughter takes place is certainly a masterpiece of Achebe's
creative imagination and artistic verve. eatr rice becomes the
village priestess combining in herself the mythological past and
role of a modern prophetess. After the death of the triumvirate,
it is her responsibility to symbolically enact the eschatological
times in apocalyptic terms. Achebe skilfully weaves this
fantastic climax by introducing the female myth of Idemili and
the male myth or the prose-poem of Ikem, the lVHymn to the Sunn,
the mythical version of the realistic aspects of the political
situation. The destructive and creative dimensions converge in
Beatrice as she performs the naming ritual, assuming the
traditionally male prerogative and making the entire ceremony a
colourful, collective, symbolic and effective sign of the birth
of a new awakening, new hope, a new generation, a regeneration
and reincarnation.
Elewa's daughter is given a male name, Amaechina, which
means, "may-the-path-never-close". This group becomes the
biblical remnant in effect, anticipating the eschatological
regeneration after death and destruction. Ikem and Chris become
part of the process, a necessary and inevitable, vicarious
sacrifice in the cause of the nation's metamorphosis. The w h o l e
ritual, the language, the conversation, the dialectics, the
spirit and the people, are shot through with an extraordinary
sense of solidarity, vibrancy, and above all hope. It is an
amalgam, nay, a fusion, of the past and the present, the mythical
and the
realistic, the male and the female, the Christian and the
Mohammedan creeds, a rare intimation of the eschatological
reality.
In this vision, the role of women is ernphasised and
Beatrice, Elewa, Agatha and the elders together form the remnant
which has its links with the past through Chris and Ikem and look
forward to the future as if in a continuum. The birth of a child
and the presence of the young and the old, the men and women of
different creeds and socio-econmic and educational backgrounds
unite to create a new myth or image of human solidarity and
ongoing struggle with the women in the vanguard. The creative
rondo, encapsulated in Achebe's line "Stories create people
create stories" has been passed on by Ikem, the male story-teller
to Beatrice, the female story-teller. The torch of hope is being
handed on to the people. The triumvirate is dead. The remnant
represents not just one section of people, but all peoples who
are engaged in the struggle. The struggle is important; equally
important is the story-telling. Both must go hand in hand. In
this process the role of the enlightened and committed women like
Beatrice becomes electrifying, imperative and crucial.
Both Anand and Achebe lay great store by the liberational
potential of the women, committed to the cause of social and
political emancipation. While neither specifies or explicitates
the nature or dynamics of the would be struggle, they are both
positive about the direction it will take, its outcome, above a l l
about the role of women in the struggle. Anand focuses Qn t h e
agony and the injustices experienced by a vast majo r i t y of Women
in India and voices their protest and demand for justice,
redressa l and rehabilitation. Most of his characters a r e silent
s u f f e r e r s , symbolic af the masses of women in India, who suffer
ignominy, humiliation, violence and marginalisation simply
because they belong to the feminine gender. The gender-bias in
Indian culture, religion, society, politics and even in law has
been imbibed by both men and women as a matter of course. Anand
portrays it, in its naked reality, in the poignant tragedy 9f
Eaur i . Gauri triumphs i n her moment of discomfiture and
ostensible rebellion against the accepted norms of religion and
Society. Anand has given a superb artistic expression to h i s
vision of a free, liberated and self-determining womankind- It
is not only Anand0s dream but he projects it as the unarticulated
aspiration of millions of the oppressed and exploited warnen-
Gaur i stands for these awakening and ques t ion ing women, who evoke
sympathetic responses from c r e a t i v e artists like Anand, who
declare themselves as committed to a new society where a l l
discrimination and exploitation based on sex, race, caste, class
or creed will be rooted out.
Achebe, when compared with Anand, appears to be a champion
of total emancipation of the African society in which the role of
women is crucial and strategic. Achebe stresses the
irreplaceable service that women, specially educated women, can
render to the cause of social transformation. Achebe1s women,
particularly in Anthills of the Savannah do appear to be victims
of a male-dominated political structure. Neverthelss, they are
in the thick of the battle, as confidantes and one, a topnotch
official with a measure of independence. The marginalisation
occurs notwithstanding the fact that the elite group at the top
goes through a process of disaffection, disillusion and eventual
rebellion in the context of the president of the state
metamorphosing into a tyrant. eatr rice, for example, observes
the political trends and events, comments on the course or
direction that the country is taking and, in fact, critiques
every move, plan and idea of Ikem and chris who are the top t w o
ideologues reflecting and reflecting on the sad plight of the
masses resulting from Sam's despotic rule.
While Anandfs Gauri enacts a revolutionary and symbolic
protest against all conventions, Achebe's Beatrice gathers around
her a remnant group and performs an apocalytic ritual replete
with gestures, symbols, words, myths and responses all indicative
of a nationwide movement for the emancipation of women from the
man-made yoke of obscruantism, and culture of silence and
subordination. While Anand expects individual women to revolt and
express their indignation and frustration, Achebe welds
the enlightened and battered women and galvanizes - them
i n t o a c o l l e c t i v e force t o make a dent in the male-citadel,
nay, to rock the ship of the state and cleanse it of all
undersirable people and ideas.
Both these aspects are important. Individual realisation
and conversion of the kind portrayed by Anand are necessary
however difficult it may be. The collective act of struggling
on a political platform with a well-thought out programme of
strategies so admirably depicted by Achebe, is the other side of
the coin of liberation. In short, liberation is a process that
has to be commenced both at the personal and collective levels.
In other words, it is a process of re-education and regeneration,
initiaed and operated by the people with the intellectual elite
playing the key role of giving the movement, the thrust forward,
the intellectual stamina and dynamism without which it may not
survive till the last. Achebe's accent on the story-telling
aspect of the struggle supplies the latter dimension. It is the
collective consciouness, historic memory that uphold the sagging
morale and spirit of the people.
Anand and Achebe have touched reality i n the raw, each in
his own inimitable way and in the context of his own peculiay
national situation and cultural heritage. From a feminist angle,
both Anand and Achebe have scored remarkable victories, as their
portrayals can serve as potent starting points for further
elaborations in creative parlance, of a social reality, which is
still very depressing, mind-boggling and defying solutions.
ART AND COMMITMENT
"Commitment1I understood in its broad moral and religious
connotation was the underlying concept in Horace, Plato and
~ristotle as each of these classical exponents, tried to define
the nature, extent and aims of literature in general or of
different genres of literature. Spenser down to Dr. Johnson
in England spelt out the purpose or aim of writing in terms of a
concrete moral or spiritual or intellectual or behavioural change
to be achieved in human beings. Invariably every one of these
writers emphasises the pragmatic view of art as a means to
achieving either pleasure or instruction. According to M.H.
Abrams, it is this manner of viewing art as an instrument for
getting something done and of judging its value according to its
success in achieving that aim, that has been the principal
aesthetic attitude of the Western World from the time of Horace
to the eighteenth century. Dr. Johnson's following statement
almost approximates to the notion of commitment as understood
today. "It is a writer's duty to make the world better, and
justice is a virtue independent of time and place?
(Raleigh, 1908: 16, 20-21J
Commitment took on a social and political hue with the
emergence of the Romantics burning with a passion for the dawn of
a new humanity and new society free from corruption and
injustice. They were poet-prophets steeped in t h e "politics of
vision". Being rooted in the mundane realities of existence they
envisioned and proclaimed liberty and equality as ideals to be
cherished and fostered. The Victorian Age witnessed the
emergence of a new literary genre - prose of thought perfected by
Carlyle, Ruskin, Matthew Arnold and John Stuart Mill. The
Victorian novelists such as Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte and Mrs.
Gaskell with their eloquent and vivid portrayal of contemporary
social evils and iniquities allied to poverty and social
disparity, were admired by even Marx. The political novel became
a powerful tool for expressing social commitment in the hands of
Disraeli, George Eliot and Trollope. The Victorian Age also saw
the growth of the ~eligion of Beauty and the aesthetic doctrine
of laart for art8s saken.
The Marxist writers' thinking is founded on two basic
postulates, both stated by Marx. The first, stated in E
contribution ta the Critique of political Economy, says: "The
mode of production of material life conditions the general
process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not
the consciousness of men that determines their existence but
their social existence determines their consciousness8~.. The
second constitutes the eleventh of the Theses on Feuerbach: 'The
philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways8
the point however is to change it8.
Jean-Paul Sartrefs What is Literature? (1947) made a
vehement plea for "engagedl1 , or committed literature. Sartre
wrote of "titterature-engaggg' in the after math of the years of
German occupation in France, recapturing and reflecting the
disillusionment, indignation, despair and pessimism of a defeated
nation. Sartre underscores in this treatise the social
responsibility of the writer and demands that the writer must be
at pains to discover the work within his unique historical
situation. Commitment is a translation of the French word
''engagementfB used by Sartre. The central theme of What is
Literature? is that the writer should propose, in each work, a
concrete liberation on the basis of a specific situation.
Sartre being an Existentialist philosopher proclaimed man
as freedom and regarded liberty as an integral feature af human
condition itself. He declares:
The writer, a free man addressing freemen, has only one
subject - freedom. (Sartre, 1947: 46)
For Sartre this preoccupation with freedom is not a mere
attitude. It needs a political purpose. Literature must be
subservient to a political cause, For him literature, truth,
liberty and other human values are bound up in a kind of
programme.
This brings us to the current debate on the question of
propaganda and literature. Accusation of propagandism is thrown
at any writer taking the side of the poor and the downtrodden or
speaking on their behalf, no matter what forms or techniques
he/she may employ. It cannot be denied that every writer has a
belief or doctrine or a point of view which helshe is trying to
put across through the particualr work of art. Does it mean then
that he/she is trying to impose a point of view on the unwary
reader or advocating a specific ideology? To a large extent
writers are doing this in one way or another, according to
several critics. But then this is what is expected of them after
all. Writing is an outcome of their commitment to a concept or
cause with or without a particular political affiliation or
programme,
But those who equate 'propagandisml with commitment are
labouring under the notion that commitment is another form for
the political assault on the freedom of the writer engendered and
engineered by the Marxists. Thus a sinister eft-wing plot to
impose on the artist hard fetters of doctrine is suspected by
such critics. John Mander has reformulated the whole question
thus :
. . . . But is there no more to be said on the subject of commitment? Is not rather more
implied in 'tcommitting onself" to a concept or
cause than merely showing the flag whether red,
white or blue? Is it not in the first place,
a moral rather than a directly political
question? But is it not, also a question to
be asked of an artist's work rather than his
life? And could one not reverse the question
and ask whether, since every artist is
committed to something (even if only to the
significance of his own art), the idea of a
wholly uncommitted art is not a contradiction
in terms?
(Mander, 1981: 7)
Thus commitment can be contra-distinguished from propaganda
and accepted as a multi-faceted concept signifying not just a
political stance but a moral responsibility of the writer
vis-a-vis his existential sitaution and his society. The writer is
not only committed to his belief or point of view or vision of
society but also to his art. Thus it becomes a two-fold
commitment. While propaganda in the right persepective is
~ennissible and at times inevitable, one cannot by the same token
assert that propaganda is necessarily conducive to great
literature. What matters is the way in which a writer conveys his
message: is it too overt and explicit or subtle and
imperceptible? Ezekiel Mphahlele has this to Say regaxding the
issue :
Propaganda is always to be with us. There
will always be the passionate outcry against
injustice, war, f a s c i s m , poverty etc. It will
keep coming at us, r e m i n d i n g us that man is as
wicked as he is noble and that the mass
audience out there is waiting to be stirred by
passionate w o r d .... It was Brecht who said:
' I have noticed that we frighten many people
away from our doctrines, because we appear to
have an answer to everything. Should we not
in the interests of our propaganda, draw up a
list of those problems that we consider
totally unsolved?'
(Brecht : Keunerareshichten)
Indeed in great literature propaganda cannot
be easily separted from the way thought is
conceived by the author and the manner in
which he presents it.
(Mphahlele : Villi)
While it becomes obvious that commitment in literature
need not lead to propaganda it may not be all too crudely
Propagandist if the writer can make his stand known without
advacating it openly. Nevertheless people tend t o suspect
political commitment. The underlying fallacy in this general
attitude derives from the misplaced concept of politics as narrow
or partisan loyalty to a party. This fear or misunderstanding is
based on a false dichotomy of 18politics1t from other human
activities. As John Mander points out, Is... this is a heresy
peculair to our age; it is not the traditional view!'
(Mander 1963: 13)
In Ancient Greece and in the Middle Ages there w a s not this
dividing line between politics and other areas of human
activitity. Thus it follows that there is no criticism of life - and literature is in the Arnoldian sense "criticism of life" - that does not have both 'social' and 'politicalf implications.
Therefore political commitment need not be misconstrued as a
left-wing plot to deprive writers of their freedom or to impose a
party line of thinking on innocent readers. It is well within
the framework of a work of art arising out of a given
socio-political milieu and addressing specific issues confronting
contemporary society.
One will do well to remember in this context that contrary
to what the so-called vulgar Marxists declare, both Marx and
Engels took a highly complex view of literature, marked by a
sensitive response to literary works. Nkosi Lewis asserts:
There was never a crudely reductionist view of
literature which merely means reducing poem to
the political conditions of its existence.
"In no sense" wrote Marx in the manuscripts
"does the writer regard his work as a meansH.
They are an end in themselvesa. Neither is
art reducible to ideology, although it enjoys
a close coexistence with ideology. Art
continually undermines the ideology of the
author himself. This is what enabled Lenin to
call Tolstoy a ngreatw writer in spite of his
connection with the landed Russian aristocracy.
"Indeed, art is so ideologically powerfuln,
writes a latter day Marxist critic, Terry
Eagleton, "precisely because it isn't just
Having cleared this misapprehension and misplaced fear, the
crucial question of whether commitment of any artist must be
sought within the work itself or in his/her views about the work,
has to be squarely faced. There are critics who favour the idea
that the writer's commitment should be sought in the work itself
and not in his other writings or pronouncements. There are
others who categorically maintain that in order to understand or
assess the commitment of the writer it is useful and often
necessary to know hisJher views on the work and on hislher
Perception of commitment and literature in general.
In this connection it may be helpful to take a look at the
poetry and belief debate involving great literary luminaries like
T-SI Eliot and I.A. Richards. T , S . Eliot has formulated the
problem clearly in his essay "Goethe as the Sage" in the
following manner:
The question is as to the place of ,ideasr in
poetry and as to any 'philosophyf or system of
beliefs held by the poet. Does the poet hold
an idea in the same way that a philosopher
holds it; and, when he expresses a particular
philosophy in his poetry, should we be expected
to believe this philosophy or may we
legitimately treat it merely as suitable
for a poem? And furthermore is the reader's
acceptance of the same philosophy a necessary
condition for his full appreciation of the poem?
(Eliot, 1957 : 222)
The first aspect of this question relates to the basic
honesty or veracity of the writer, while the general opinion
maintains that no poet will commit to verses an idea in which he
doesn't believe, it is common knowledge that certain poets have
made such attempts at least in some poems.
The second and probably the more crucial aspect of this
Westion is, if the reader should have faith in the doctrine or
belief system embodied in a poem or work or art in order to
appreciate it fully. While numerous critics in the past were of
the opinion that a corresponding belief on the part of the reader
was essential, the same is disputed given today's culture of
pluralism in the sphere of knowledge and belief. While Coleridge
advocates a "willing suspension of disbeliefN, Matthew Arnold
argues for an objectless religion which can give us the
emotional satisfaction without demanding the commitment.
I.A. Richards in his Principles of LIterarv criticism.
Science Poetrv, and Practical Criticism has posited t w o types
of knowledge or truth. He distinquishes between scientific truth
which is empirically verifiable and the Ittruth" of poetry which
he calls tlpseudo-statement". According to him the poem's worth
is to be found in the nature of the right reponse to it. It can
be inferred from this that it is not what the writer says that
makes it great but the manner in which he/she says it.
Eliot's views on this question traversed a whole spectrum
till at last he settled for a very flexible and broad perspective
including the possibility of poetic inspiration, the
indispensability of religion to art and the extreme position of
considering doubt and uncertainty as a variety of belief.
Between the two extremes of Mongomery ~elgion's "I like
Poetry merely for what it has to sayu and of I.A. Richard's "1 like
the poetry because the poet has manipulated his material into
perfect art", T.S. Eliot has posited a middle position. He saw
the possibility of a continuous range of appreciations each of
which having limited validity. Eliot has remarked that 8tpoetry
is not the assertion that something is true, but the making that
truth more fully real to us". Thus Eliot has indirectly
commented on the relationship between commitment and art or
belief and form. While belief or commitment need not
distortthe art form or expression, the formal side of the work
enhances and enriches the content. Eliot in a sense touches the
core of commitment when he asserts that belief has infinite
gradations from doubt to assent, concerns all activities of life
at a given time, comprising thought, feeling and will. He
moreover, hints at the intrinsic relationship that should exist
between commitment and art when he points out that this belief
system depends on the emotions of the reader and therefore a
matter of sympathetic understanding, not of mere rational
demonstrability, Here T.S. Eliot has instinctively arrived at a
sharp perception of the essence of art and its relationship of
mutual enrichment and transformation to commitment.
It is in the light of this brief analysis of the debate on
Poetry and belief that one should examine the premises and
arguments of those who criticise committed art as being entirely
content-oriented.
According to some critics commitment seems to be at odds
with modernism on the one hand and formalism on the other.
Marxist critics have accused the modernists of being isolationist
and defeatist despite their avowed espousal of the cause of
society in general. Lukacs has gone so Ear as to equate realism
with the forces of peace, and modernism with those of war in the
post-war world. He has paid a rich tribute to the great
bourgeois critical realists such as Anatole France, Romain
Rolland, Bernard Shaw, Theodore Dreiser, Heinrich and Thomas Mann
for their effective contribution to a progressive rearguard
action against the dominant forces of imperialism and war.
Perhaps the more interesting literary wrangle that should
engage our attention is the one between the avant-garde and the
committed writers. The former have severely censured the
committed writers as biased in favour of content and theme to the
total neglect of art and form. With its insistence on the primacy
of form it questions if the so-called committed art has a right
to call itself art.
Several critics are inclined to agree with this view as
they find most committed writers, the ~arxists in particular, not
interested in literature as art. while there is some substance in
the above criticism, the fact that a considerable number of
Marxist writers and committed writers in general display keen
interest in art and form makes such a sweeping generalisation
untenable and unfounded. Moreover Marx and Engels have expressed
themselves very clearly on the autonomy of art and its potential
for social transformation.
The prejudice against all committed art seems to stem from
a misplaced belief that literary commitment is the preserve of
the Left. Matei Calinescu contradicts this position when he
observes :
"The first advocates of the idea that writers
should commit themselves politically and use
the aesthetic means at their disposal for the
achievement of a political goal were
representatives of reaction during the period
that followed the French Revolution of 1789.
(Calinesdu, 1982: 126)
The strange irony of it all is that the same censorious
critics not only accommodate but single out for exceptional
eulogy writers of the ~ightist line who are ultra-conservative
and even reactionary. The answer to this is not far to seek. It
is their ideological stance vis-a vis the E s t e r n bloc and its
system of Government that warps and distorts their critical
Perception. David Caute, expresses the same view when he asks:
"Could it be that Sartre, rather than Camus,
provides the whipping boy for nine out of ten
critics hostile to commitment, because,
Sartrers commitment tended in one political
direction and Camus in another?"
(Caute, 1971: 37)
Brecht was by his own confession a committed writer, who
neverthelss respected his art and its inner dynamics. He was
wedded to the concept of 81~itterature-engagt$11 and in fact
perfected this art by his deft, intelligent and innovative
handling of his artistic tools, forms or models. Thus Brecht
provides us with a model wherein the content and form or
commitment and art fuse into one whole, interlocked unit. While
his commitment or responsible writing is lent credibility and
respectibility by his artistic expression, the latter get a
polished and perfected as a fit medium for committed writing.
John Mander has not only paid an extraordinary tribute to
Brechtfs commitment as an artist, but has moreover highlighted
the paramount value of an artist's handling of his medium in
relation to his content in the following words:
... the biographical fact that Brecht never became a member of the Communist Party does not help us to decide the important
and difficult question of how far Brecht realised his Marxist
ideology in his dramatic work. Brecht s commitment like that of
any other artist, must be sought in the work itself, not in
Brechtfs views about his own work.
(Mander, 1961: 13).
Likewise the real reason for ~olstoy's greatness, as G.
Lukacs has it, has nothing to do with the eternal verities of the
human condition, but to his having given coherent expression to
the world-view of the peasantry.
Thus it becomes clear that any committed writer worth his
name does not have to depend for his credibility on props such as
his speeches, letters or lectures or other writings for
vindicating his bona fides or honesty as a writer. One need not
seek his/her ideology or belief outside his/her work. Instead
the work of art itself bears sufficient testimony to his
authenticity and commitment and carries indeaible marks of his
creed as a writer and his attitude to art and aesthetics.
Now we are in a better position to situate the third world
writers vis-a-vis commitment or committed literature. First of
all it is imperative to remember that any literature emerging
from a third world country is ipsa facto conditioned by the
environment social political and cultural, peculiar to that
country. The overriding concern of the third world writers has
been with vindicating their own native culture and restoring it
to a position of pre-eminence, autonomy and dignity. In other
words, the committed writer of the third world wants to be
recognised as a third world person and therefore strives to
identify himself with the most oppressed people of his country
and to be their spokesperson. In the words of Peter Nazareth,
commitment for the third world writer "is to accept an identity,
an identity with the wretched of the earth.. . (and) to determine
t o end a l l expolitation and oppressionw.
It moreover can be perceived in Achebets cultural assertion
and cultural reconstruction. Almost echoing Sartrets verdict
about a writer that HWillynilly he is involved in his time;
impartiality is impossiblett, Diana Brydon says that the idea of
the uncommitted writer, like that of the totally objective
scientist is a myth. Of course she is referring to the third
world writers.
With this background knowledge of the nature of commitment
and its relationship to art and its scope and sweep w e come
to the study of Anand and Achebe as committed artists of the
third world. While both these writers have the reputation of
being writers of nlitterature engagglt, they are also known as
writers of political engagement or of revolt or of dissent,
Anand for one has been in the centre of a storm of controversy
over the nature of his commitment and has been severely
crit icised and hostilely reviewed over the years by partisan
critics and academics who charged him with tt~ropagandism".
Probably it is this trend among critics both Western and
~ndian that has been the stimulus to Anandrs apologies including
his work titled Fpoloay for Heroism. He has, besides, a score of
other articles and speeches that constitute in effect, Anand's
'apologia pro vita sua'. More correctly this corpus of writing
should be termed as Anand's defence of his literary creed and his
Weltanschaaung. In Anand's Credo as a novelist the content or
sensibility has the highest priority. According to several
critics and in Anandrs own admission, he attaches greater
importance to content than to form. Saros Cowasjee one of the
better known and more objective critics and commentators of Anand
has this to say of Anand's creed as a novelist:
Marxian dialectics, the social impulse is as
with the writers of the thirties, at the heart
of his writings. A work of art, be it a novel
or a painting or a play, is first of all a
social event. This explains why he gives
maximum emphasis to the duties of a novelist
(and what a good novel should be), and very
little to the tools at his disposal. In his
dozen or so articles concerned with the novel,
he has to my knowledge only one comment an
the need fox a style. "Of course it is not
enough to want to say something. Everthing
depends on how one says - how the imagination
of a writer can transform the various
realities, inter-penetrate characters with
insight and connect the poetry and prose. And
certainly there has to be some kind of styleq1
(Creative writing is the Present crisisw in
Indian Literature, VI, No.1, 1963, p . 7 4 ) .
This is a half-hearted acceptance of the
importance of style, almost a concession,
since there seems no way out of it. However,
Anand seems to leave the impression tha t
neither style nor form is basically fundamental
to the novel. "What is the use" he wrote to
me angrily, 'of keeping the f o r m , the kerb and
t h e edge all right and destroy the bloody
horse - R o y Campellfs phrase, not minet. This
outburst is not without its irony, for his
novels are not formless nor is he a writer
without style.
( C o w a s jee, 1976: 10)
Cowasjee warns us against being taken in by
the specious arguments Anand advances in his
F n o l o q for Heroism in disapproval of
propaganda. At t h e same time he states that
Anand "is no facile propagandist; he is what
George Orwell was, an expositor, a political
novelist, one who sees his characters and their
actions in relation to the social, economic
and political upheavals of his timew.
(Cowas jee, 1976: 11)
Although Cowasjee himself employs considerable quotations
from Anand's non-fictional writings, letters and lectures, he is
not in favour of simplistically accepting his ideas and comments
without critical scrutiny . ~lthough he discourages such
uncritical or unquestioning attitude, he is not averse to using
Anand's writings where necessary in order to clarify a point or
affirm an opinion. His own essays on Anand are studded with a
string; of quotations from Anand1s essays and lectures. B u t
Cowasjee is able to approach Anand's works of art with an
extraordinary detachment and objectivity.
S.C. Harrex takes an altogether different approach to
Anand's works and particularly to the formal and technical
aspects of his fiction. He goes to the extent of asserting that
a study of the formal and technical aspects of Anand's fiction
necesitates consideration of Anand's intentions, attitude and
themes. He states:
Anand explores aspects of the human condition
mainly Indian, from the point of view of
certain assumptions; his stories, characters
and themes evolve out of the interactions of
these assumptions with mirror images of "real
lifen, his dramatization of these interactions
constitutes a quest for a coherent world view.
I would therefore postulate a close
correlation between this quest for ideological
structure and his quest for the fictional form
compatible with his instincts and prejudices
as a writer. Whether the ideological pursuit
initiates or takes precedence over the formal
pursuit (or vice-versa) is difficult to
determine though I suspect that in most of his
novels Anand has taken the view that form
should be subservient to content.
(Harrex, 1982: 142)
Harrex offers the theory that for Anand both the
ideological pursuit of the socialist humanist restructuring
and his own fictional pursuit of the appropriate form and
technique are complementary aspects of one and the same
Process. Harrex describes his standpoint or ethical base as
cosmopolitian-lndian, anti-Brahmin, this rather than other world-
oriented and gives his ultimate form of fiction the name of the
socio-political messianic novel.
Harrex moreover contends that there is often a fusion or
merger of Anand1s intentions as a writer and social reformer.
He is able to achieve, probably consciously, a perfect unison
between the moral, social questions he is addressing and the
formal technique of the narrative, so much so, one can't suspect
the commitment at both these levels. An examination of the
structure of his first novel Untouchable, does illustrate this
point. The writer's basic problem must have been how to
perceive and express experience from the untouchableslpoint of
view. As a socialist humanist his dilemma is: how to enter such
an alien, individual and caste consciousness? The final product,
the novel, demonstrates beyond doubt Anand1s exquisite handling
of this two-fold problem in such a way that at both levels
Anandrs commitment is unmistakable. He has succeeded remarkably
in identifying, agencies and aspirations of the untouchables that
Bakha is both an individual and type. His moving portrayal of
Bakhals revolutions, resentment and dejection in the face of
public humiliation such as the slapping by the brahmin and the
high caste woman's contemptuous flinging of bread, is a tribute
to his mastery over form. He finds a congenial medium for his
social content or purpose in the technique of
stream-of-consciouness. It has enabled him to enter
imperceptibly as it were into the inner and most intimate
recesses of Bakhars self-tortured, agonising and dehumanising
feelings and above all his seething anger. He used this method
because he was convinced that "the application of this technique
to the labyrinths and substrata of Indian mind could alone
metamorphose the inner realities of our soul".
Anand has masterfully employed the method of interior
monologue in unravelling Bakha's unarticulated but intense
feelings and reactions in the face of indignities heaped on him
just because he is an untouchable.
The scene where Bhakha is being insulted and slapped by a
caste Hindu whom Bakha is supposed to have inadvertently touched
and defiled is a masterpiece of Anandrs craftmanship. He buuilds
Up the cresando of Bakhafs discomfiture and embarrassment,
confusion and anger through cleverly contrived incidents that
heighten Bakha's pathetic state and by nirroring his conflicting
emotions and feelings now and again. A s if to relieve the
mounting tension and to offset the overwhelmingly hostile scene,
Anand introduces the tonga-wallah with a refreshing sense of
sympathy for the abused and ill-treated Bakha.
The climax of the scene is yet to be. Anand is still to
Probe the mind and inner feelings of Bakha who has barely managed
to bottle up his surging rage and to present a humble and
repentant face thus staving off any further abuses or physical
assault. Anand begins to probe the consciousness of Bakha at
this hour when his cup of woe and humiliation was overflowing:
And in the smoky atmosphere of his mind
arose dim ghosts of forms peopling the scene
he had been thro~gh.,..~~Why was all this?" he
asked himself in the soundless speech of cells
receiving and transmitting emotions, which was
his usual way of communicating with himself.
"Why was all this fuss? Why was I so humble?
I could have struck him'... I should have
been the high-caste people in the street.
That man; That he should have hit me; My poor
jelebis; I should have eaten them. But why
couldn't I say something?. . . The slap on my
face: But why couldn't I say something? .... The slap on my face; The coward: How he ran
away, like a dog with the tail between his
legs. The child: The liar: Let me come across
him one day. He knew I was being abused. Not
one of them spoke for me. The cruel crowd;
All of them abused, abused, abused. Why are we
always abused?.... They always abuse us.
Because we are sweepers. Because we touch
dung. They hate dung. I hate it too. That's
why I came here.. . They don't mind touching
us, the Muhammadans and the Sahibs, It is only
the Hindus, and the outcastes who are not
sweepers. For them I'm a sweeper, s w e e p e r
- untouchable: untouchable: untouchable:
That's the word: untouchable: I'm an
untouchable:
(Untouchable : p. 56)
Bakha has achieved a singular illumination as to the root
cause of all his iniquities. ggUntouchablew is the a n s w e r to his
soul-searching, tormenting question "Why all thisn. This single
passage is an eloquent exposition of the reality of
Untouchability, its extent and intensity and the mute passivity
of the majority who through their silence acquiesce in it. The
authorial voice may be heard here and there, but every word
Uttered has the area of authenticity and realism reflecting the
goings on in the mind of Bakha whose perception of his own
situation has matured and crystallised, thanks to his sensitive
and intelligent nature.
The whole story evolves and progresses as the by-product of
Bakha's interaction with his neighbours and the continuous
process of reflection and introspection that he is engaged in.
The realization of Bakhafs own inferior status and the injustice
of it has aroused the smouldering rage in him. His own
experiences of maltreatment and exploitation and those of his
fellow-untouchables become so many experiments with the truth.
The novelist not only allows the character of Bakha to blossom
gradually but in the process, develops the story woven around
Bakhafs experiences and maturated as an individual untouchable
and a type of the untouchables come of age.
Anand has achieved a high degree of success in correlating
moral, social questions to formal narrative problems. He has not
only succeeded supremely in identifying himself with the life and
experiences of the untouchables in India but in finding the most
appropriate medium to express these. There is a perfect fusion
of Anand's view of the situation of the untouchables and his
attempt to artistically project it. In this, he has masterfully
employed techniques such as the 'stream of consciousness~ and the
'interior monologuef. He has moreover made the structure of the
novel taut by restricting the entire action of the novel to a
single day - a remarkable achievement for an Indian novelist writing in the thirties. Anand himself calls his fictional form
"poetic realismtt by which he meant a synthesis of the subjective
formalism and social realism of the Western schools of
literature, Anand could probably have cut out the last part made
up of three long and monotonous harangues on alternatives and
still have preserved the organic unity of the entire novel-
While Anand has skilfully and consciously avoided turning Bakha
into an intellectual abstraction, his obsession with societal
change or transformation has got the better of the artist in the
final section of the novel. Nevertheless it must be admitted
that his fictional strategy in this novel and particularly h i s
style which is his own are a landmark in the history of Indian
writing in English particularly in the field of novel.
William Walsh comments on the novel's content and style in
these words: His sharpest, best organised novel is untouchable
which was very highly thought of by E.M. Forster. It is an
interesting combination of hard material, narrow specific theme
and throbbing Shelleyan manner.
(Walsh: p.7)
The Bis Heart is another successful novel of Anand wherein
he has handled a theme probably hinted at in Untouchable and
Coolie, It is the classical question of man or the machine that
finds a fictional presentation in this novel. In other words,
Anand is trying to grapple with issue of conflict between
tradition and modernity, a very real problem for India at the
threshold of an industrial and scientific era. Anand uses the
terms '@the age of truth" and "the iron age1' t o denote the t w o
eras.
While Anand's purpose as a socialist humanist believing
in modernisation and mechanization is quite obvious all through
the novel, he hasn't sacrificed the character of t h e hero Ananta
or the form of the novel in the interest of propaganda. Alastair
~iven his book titled, The meof Pity makes the following
comment :
Though the novel is undoubtedly propagandist
it has a wide and humane scope, surveying the
problem - humanitarian, social, cultural,
economic, political - which are inherent in the radical changes which India has to undergo
if the lot of the common people is to be
improved.
(Niven A, 1978: p.81)
While we can easily perceive Anand's own biases and pet
theories voiced by the protagonist and the poet Puran Bhagat
Singh, we admire the manner in which Anand has carefully drawn
the main characters and the events which ultimately lead to the
climax. The didactical overtones of the debates featuring the
coppersmiths and their warring groups do not in any way detract
from the powerful delineation of the closing scenes that hasten
the dramatic finale by heightening the tension and triggering a
crisis of leadership. The sober ending that caps the dramatic
and gripping action wherein AnantaJs mistress Janki is integrated
into the mainstream of struggling coppersmiths is a stroke of
genius on Anandfs part. The sudden void created by Anantafs
death is more than compensated in the hint that the struggle will
be carried on by his comrades. The novel ends on a note of hope
for the future of the struggle of the workers against the
exploitation of the employers eventually against the capitalist
system geared to profit at the expense of the labour. Ananta who
dies a martyr for the cause of the worker's unity and unionizing,
epitomises Anand's stand for replacing the present capitalist,
profit-oriented, power-mongering and elitist form of business and
commerce by a more humane, egalitarian, worker-oriented and
democratic form of business and government. Anand perceives the
nexus between the Government and the big buisness class and
therefore pleads for proletarian unity for over throwing such an
oppressive and powerful system.
While caste-discrimination is the central problem in
Untouchable, the class-consciousness is at the heart of Coolie.
The Bis Heart deals with both these problem but emphasises the
truth that the class is more powerful than caste and may
eventually relegate caste into the background. The novel
underscores the importance of the solidarity of labourers by
exposing the lack of unity of workers and the forces that
undermine such a unity. Undergirding this discrimination and
polarisation is the conflict between tradition and modernity.
The divide between the two groups is so pronounced that an
ultimate resolution is not to be expected. Hence Anand makes the
protagonist undergo a martyr's death which signals the release of
ongoing and invincible revolutionary zeal rooted in the life and
ethos of the labour class. Poet Bhagat Singh sums up this belief
of Anand in these words addressed to a heart-broken Janki:
ll.. . . Perhaps you are right. Because men
don't really learn from speeches as much as
they learn from examples, Perhaps the life of
Ananta - I mean the way he lived may be a greater example for them than any words he
could have spoken. Why, they may even recall
the wise things he said to them now that he is
dead. For what can be more persuasive than
the death of a man who loved themtt.
(Pp. 228-229)
T h e s e words of Anand1s spokesman poet Bhagat ~ingh embody
the outlook of the author which is crystallised in t h e word
'tbhaKti" meaning service of one's fellow human beings out of
selfless love. Anand believed this to be the foundation for a
classless, casteless, just and egalitarian society. The marvel
is that Anand hasnft produced a political or moralistic tract or
documentary to convey this philosophy. Rather he has created an
absorbing life-like story filled with living and credible people
acting out a body-soul drama in a given socio-economic situation
that could be witnessed in any part of India in the thirties.
And this he had done by narrowing down the action to the
happenings of a single day.
G.S. Balarama Gupta sums up this unique harmony - of the political vision and artistic commitment on the part of Anand in
the following manner in his essay IVAnandfs The Biq Heart" A
studyH :
The conflict between the capitalists and the
labourers is a theme which could easily have
produced a propagandist novel. But The Big
Heart escapes this criticism not only because
of Anand's intimate knowledge of the problems
. he writes about - he himself is a descendant
of coppersmiths - but also because there is perfect naturalness in what the various
characters say or do. It is a merit of novel
that there is a perfect integration between
the novelistfs philosophy of humanism and the
novel's artistic excellen~e.~~
(Gupta in B . P . 1 3 , 43)
Anand may not have been as successful in mantaining this
balance between his political creed and demands of an art form in
his other novels. Nevertheless an examination of one of his
other novels may be fruitful at this stage. In coolie Anand has
used a much wider canvas. Not content with one aspect of the
spectrum of exploitation and discrimination in Indian society as
in Untouchable, Anand has widened the horizons of his fictional
world by introducing the theme of the consequence of
indutrialisation in the towns and cities and its impact on the
middle classes and the poor peasants in the villages. Munoo the
innocent and sprightly lad from the hills is made to go through a
series of chance contacts, accidents and circumstances, as a
result of a remorseless historical process. Although Anand has
peopled this novel with numerous good, benevolent, malicious,
evil, and even comical characters, the focus is always on Munoo
and his response to the situations he is faced with.
The tragedy of Munoots life, as, in fact it is of a majority
of the poor and the downtrodden, consists in his suffering and
deprivation despite his desire to ameliorate his lot and his
earnest efforts to realise his dream. He is an innocent victim,
unaware of the hostile forces and structures he is pitted
against . Although he is not discriminated on the ground of
caste, as he is a Rajput, he is nonethelss tortured and hounded
out sirnply because he is indigent and seeks to eke out an
existence by clutching at whatever job may be offered to him. He
arrives at the folllowing inference after some painful
experiences and humiliations:
..-. there seem to be only two kinds of people in the world. Caste did not matter. I am a Xshatriya and I am poor,
and Verma, a Brahmin, is a servant boy, a menial because he is
poor. No, caste does not matter. The babus are like the
sahib-logs, and all servants look alike: there must only be t w o
kinds of people in the world: the rich and the paor.
(P-69)
Coolie's single most striking feature is the treatment of
Munoo with his variegated experiences and existential situations
till his premature death. It is Munoo who provides the thematic
unity in the novel. It is through the sieve of his adolescent
mind that Anand analyses and criticises the world of the
capitalists. While Anand exposes the foibles, psychoses,
machinations and inadequacies of the ambitious middle C ~ S S
People, the bourgeoisie and the white bureaucrats, he displays
tremendous sympathy, compassion and concern when he deals with
Munoo and the working classes. Anand's technique of expressing
the general and the universal through a careful portrayal of the
particular has paid him rich dividends in this novel. Almost a l l
the characters of the novel, including Munoo a r e meticulously
drawn and individualised, still the reader can't fail to
realise that each of these characters typifies a group or class.
As Jack Lindsay avers, this novel has been well-conceived and
excellently structured till the point when the adbortive strike
in t h e mill takes place. With the advent of Mrs ~ainwaring the
tight structure and the absorbing n a r r a t i v e sf the novel, nay
even the theme and message s e e m to suffer a setback. This phase
of the s t o r y lacks the organic quality which we perceive in the
other parts of the novel.
The language and style of Anand is consistent with his
theme and fictional objective. The manner of narrative being
picaresque, the style and language are extremely relevant. O n e
instance of Anandfs capacity for adapting the tempo and rhythm of
his prose is where the narration is attuned to the varying speed
Of- the train suggestive of the urban and rural scenes that
are passed. Even the abusive language and t h e swear words of
different characters do not jar as they sound natural in the
mouths of the respective characters. Although Anand does not
always exercise artistic restraint in the use of such 'uncivil'
language, he has struck the right measure in this novel. In fact
the artistic value of this work is immensely enhanced by the
s t y l e and language that Anand has masterfully contrived and
employed. Anand adapts and modulates his language to su i t
different characters and situations thus providing a raciness to
it. A word about the conclusion of this novel may not be out of
place. Anand subjects his protagonist to an agonised death
caused by tuberculosis. He is a victim of fate and
circumstances. Munoo seems to succumb to his fate without even a
semblance of a fight. This ending seems a logical outcome of the
passive self-suffering charac te r that Munoo is. However, we
feel, as C.D. Narasimhaiah and Saros Cowasjee have declared, that
Anand contradicts himself by legitimizing the fatalistic view of
life and by allowing much good to go waste. C.D. ~arasimhaiah
has observed:
In the circumstances sheer survival must be looked upon as
a triumph of the spirit, t h e very will to live must be reckoned
as strength.
(~arasimhaiah 1969: p. 119)
The author, however, seems to have a difficulty about
resolving the riddle of the life of Munoo endowed with
irrepressible zest for life and for the good things in life.
Anand can not consciously advocate a meek submission or
resignation to the so-called fate, given his refutation of
doctrines like fate and Karma. Nevertheless he finds himself in
a tight spot as to the ending of the novel. There is a pervading
sense of hopelessness and despair looming large in the final
scenes. The smouldering ember of revolt and ambition in Munoo
could have been creatively used by the writer to spark off other
currents of revolutionary fervour geared to the toppling of the
oppressive system that is built on cut-throat competition,
profiteering and cash nexus. The lust for life in Munoo, sparks
of which a r e occasionally revealed in his musings and reactions,
amounts in the ultimate analysis, to a desire for liberation,
personal and communal, physical, material and spiritual. In an
otherwise well-constructed and beautifully designed novel, the
way Munoo ends up strikes a discordant note. One is tempted t o
say, Anand has missed out the prophetic under-current that could
have heightened the narrative verve and enhanced the personal and
universal value of the theme of the novel.
These three novels have been singled out for investigating
the relationship between Anand the humanist and Anand the artist,
as these novels, more than others highlight both these aspects in
an abundant measure. The social motive or theory is the solid
rock on which the fictional matrix of these novels revolves.
Moreover, it is in these three novels that Anand has not
consciously allowed himself to be dominated or swept off the feet
by his theory or ideology, The structure and the fictional
strategies employed by Anand in these three novels have a
dialectical or mutually enriching and transforming relationship
to the content or sensibility, powerfully expressed by Anand.
William Walsh while finding fault with his habit of preaching
remarks :
But when his imagination burns and the dross of propaganda
is consumed, as in Untouchable, Coolie and The Biq Heart (1945)
there is no doubt that he is a novelist of considerable power.
(Walsh: p.7)
It is no mean achievement on the part of Anand that despite
his personal involvement in the topics or problems he is
analysing, he has been able to maintain that measure of
detachment that makes for a successful novel, probably because,
most of his novels are concerned with people not of his own caste
or class. All said and done, it has to be admitted that where
this artistic detachment or objectivity deserts him and his
compassion for his characters who are all victims at some level,
gets the better of him, his plots are loose, narrative
monotonous and language and style artificial or far-fetched.
Chinua Achebe has time and again declared that he considers
the restoration of African 'dignity' and ,self-respectf as his as
well as what ought to be every African writerrs responsibility.
In his essay, "The Role of the Writer in a New Nation1@, Achebe
says :
.... that African people 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. It is this
dignity that many African people all but lost
during the colonial period and it is this that
they must now regain.
(Achebe, 1964: p. 158)
Thus Achebe by his own conscious choice has committed
himself to convey to his people "What happenedtt and "what they
lostn. In other words he has tremendous respect for the past as
he is deeply involved, in his peple8s present reality and its
transformation. However Achebe insists that a novelist must do
this "by showing in human terms what happened to them". And
Nkosi Lewis in his book entitled Tasks and Masks says that Achebe
means to do it through a social reconstruction of the past in
novels which deal with recognisable people in recognisable human
situation.
Achebe has styled himself a politcal writer. And he has
defined his politics as universal human comunication across
racial and cultural boundaries as a means of fostering respect
for all people. True to this definition Achebe has addressed
himself in all his novels to clearing the channels of
communication by removing the misconceptions and misinformations
in the minds not only of Nigerians but also of others regarding
the precolonial past of ~igeria and how they lost it in their
encounter with the Europeans. With his characteristic raciness
he asserts:
The writer can tell the people where the rain
began to beat them. After all the writer's
duty is not to beat this morningrs headline in
topicality, it is to explore in depths the
human condition. In Africa he cannot perform
this task unless he has a proper sense of
history. He should moreover be concerned with
the question of human values.
(Achebe, 1964: p. 158) f-- 'Achebe believes in educating the people. He terms the
writer a teacher. Therefore the writer has to be committed to
his task. The task becomes all the more difficult as the legacy
left behind by the whites, together with the positive gains to
the country, has done untold harm in engendering in the minds of
the people self-defeating and self-negating values and complexes.
In other words if Africa is viewed as the negation of Europe one
could imagine the magnitude of psychological harm perpetrated by
the colonial masters during the colonial regime and afterwards.
Achebe is no starry-eyed romantic. He is aware that he and
his fellow writers are up against a very complex situation. He
is convinced that their colonial past with all its gruesome and
bitter memories is not altogether devoid of brighter moments.
Nor for that matter is the history of the Nigerian people before
the colonial period one long ,technicolour idyllf. He warns
fellow African writers against the temptation to select in their
writing only those facts which flatter them. He further adds
that "it's not the writer's personal integrity as an artist that
is involved, but the credibility of t h e world he is attempting to
recreatet1. Achebe maintains that Ifany serious ~frican writer who
wants to plead the cause of the past must not only be God's
advocate, he must also do duty for the devilu.
While Achebe's sole purpose in all his five novels is
without doubt an analysis of t h e Igbo historical past which
encompasses t h e precolonial, colonial and post-colonial or
pre-independence and post-independence days, his choice or
material, organisation and treatment of it, his narrative
techniques and characterization differ from novel to novel. His
first novel ~hinqs Fall Apart presents a view of the Igbo tribe
in Umuofia with its daily ritual of work and play, its religious
rites and its own administrative set up. Okonkwo is t h e central
character through whose vicissitudes, strengths, and weakenesses
Achebe examines the internal cohesion and harmony of the Igbo
society showing signs of exhaustion and internal disintegration,
T h e fortunes of t h e tribe seem to r ise and fall w i t h Okonkwo as
he is portrayed as the representative and key figure of the
entire community.
The first part of the novel reveals the composite picture
of traditional Igbo life cut off from any outside or foreign
influences. It is a self-sufficient, harmonious, self-enclosed
society not brooking any threat, to its internal cohesion. There
is virtually no plot as such in the sense of a well-knit cause
and effect structure in this part. There is no major conflict
confronting the protagonist except the minor day to day problems.
It is only in the last chapter of the first part that there is
some attempt to create a major problem leading to a crisis. That
is Okonkwofs exile as a punishment for accidentally killing a
tribesman. And it is only at this stage that we come across the
first encounter between this closed but ordered Igbo society and
the t w i n foreign forces of Christianity and the British colonial
rule,
The llplotless" nature of the narrative of t h e first part
has made a lot of critics point t o the structural weakness of t h e
novel. According to Gerald Moore this structural f l a w is the
consequence of Achebets introduction of s e v e r a l digressions
removing the reader from Okonkwo: anthropological background and
explanations, substories and several forms of old t r a d i t i o n s .
ene edict Chiaka Njoku however takes except ion t o t h i s criticism:
One of t h e points made by critics of the
novel is that it is structurally weak because
many of its main events t u r n upon chance
r a t h e r t han by design. True, great literature
has des ign , where one set of action leads to
ano the r and leaves nothing t o chance. But the
sober reality is t h a t Achebe seems t o have
overcome t h i s problem by his masterful control
of the narrative voice. T h i n s s Fall Apart is
told in third person by a t h i r d person
narrator, no t by an omniscient being who acts
as a God capable of being in many places at
the same time, knowing t h e Igbo past,
n ine t een th cen tu ry world view and the future,
able to penetrate i n t o the psyche of every
character and capable of creating and
motivating o t h e r c h a r a c t e r s by h i s
infallibility. But Achebe's story is narrated
by a seemingly wise and compassionate and
sympathetic elder, who is ably conversant
with Igbo worldview, philosophy and culture.
He is aware of the past and is cognizant of
the intrusion of Christianity and European
cultures, which are making "Things Fall Apartw.
(Njoku, B. C. , 1984: pp. 16-17)
Invoking the Igbo cultural and social background Achebe has
made a liberal but judicious use of the village meetings a
permanent feature of the Igbo social organisation and of music
and the big drum or the gong which played a significant role in
the communal drama. The eqwuwu, the Igbo traditional cult was
used to settle disputes within the community, thereby ensuring
order, tranquillity and solidarity. Achebe has taken pains to
bring out the role played by the communal drama and the eswuwu
in the daily rituals of the Igbos.
Ancestral worship signified by eswuwu, respect for the
elders and dead relations and place of importance and eminence
given to the doyens of the community are all hoary traditions
recreated artistically by Achebe. The local meetings which Achebe
has sought to introduce into the action of the novel are not
only foci of major decisions but contain veritable gems of
literature. Igbo idioms abound in these meetings and poetry and
rhetoric blend to refine the speech constructs. In fact,
Achebe1s merit lies in the dynamic building up of events and
details that go to enrich the narrative.
As oral traditions were part of the everyday life of the
people, Achebe strews his novels with oral forms such as stories,
folktales, proverbs, anecdotes and songs. They play a
significant role in shaping the values and beliefs, actions and
behaviours of the people, For Achebe, as for many modern Nigerian
writers, traditional forms, rituals and ceremonies provide a
frame work for expressing reality. Achebe uses folk tales as
affording answers to certain practical needs in inculcating moral
and social values. Ekwefi's tale of how the tortoise broke its
shell conveys the moral of the evil consequences of greed and
selfishness and the value of sharing. Again Uchendu, Okonkwo's
uncle, suggests a strategy for confronting the whiteman by means
of a folk-lore, Like the mother kite, who warned her offspring
to keep away from the silent duckling, the villagers must avoid
and fear the silent white stranger.
Achebe draws his tales and stories from the traditional
repertoire and renders them with consummate skill. The tales are
integral to the framework of the novel and become a part of his
narrative technique.
The other oral form which Achebe introduces is the folk
song. He has certainly blazed a trail in integrating folk-songs
into the novels, basically a western form, without violating
conventional norms. One of the gripping songs appears in this
novel, the song sung by Ikemefuna as he is led to be slaughtered.
The song is part of a game which he often played as a little boy.
It is left untranslated as if to heighten its evocative power and
the suspense and the pathos of the scene:
Eze, elina, elina ! Sala
Eze ilikwa ya
Ikwaba akva oligholi
Ebe Danda nechi eze
Ebe uzuzu nete egwu Sa la
He sang it in his mind and walked to its beat. If the song
ended on his right foot his mother was alive. If it ended an his
left, she was dead. No, not dead, but ill. It ended on the
right. She was alive and well. He sang the song again and it
ended on the left. But the second time he did not count. The first
voice gets to Chukwu or God's house. That was a favourite saying
Of children. Ikemefuna felt like a child once more. It must be
thought of going home to his mother.
The liberal but skilful use of stories and folklore in his
novels can be seen in proper perspective if one understands the
g r e a t importance Achebe attached to the function of imagination
in the context of liberal-mindedness and materialistic outlook of
the modern dispensation. ~ccording to him, there is an
imperative need for the ttcreative energy of storiestt in the
process of diagnosing Nigeria's social ills and cultural malaise
and application of the corrective. Itpeople create stories create
people; or r a t h e r , s t o r i e s create people create storiesw.
Achebefs prose in this novel has been described as
wleisurelylt and ltstatelylt. Probably Achebe's emotional and
intellectual detachment from the issues he describes and
dramatizes in the novel has influenced his style of writing. The
fact is, even the restrained pace of his style enables the
novelist to move the story forward with a sense of inevitability.
It is Achebe's supreme craftmanship that has enabled him to
sustain the ironic mode of narrating all through, even to the
extent of toning down or completely veiling t he intensity of t h e
life the novel evokes through a casual approach and leisurely
style. G.D. Killam points out:
The novel is in fact a structure of
ironies-irony of the tragic kind which shows
an exceptional man see his best hopes and
achievement destroyed through an inexorable
flow of events which he is powerless to
restrain, tragic irony suggested and supported
by a carefully integrated pattern of minor
ironies throughout the work - the accidental shooting which brings about his exile, the
irony of the appeal of Christianity to Nwoye,
Okonkwo's first born in whom he placed his
hopes, the irony contained in the persistent
comment by Okonkwo that his daughter Ezinma
ought to have been born a male child.
(Killam: 1975, Pp. 32-33)
It should be stated to Achebe1s credit as a novelist that
he never once deviates from his central purpose of presenting
forthrightly the clash of ideological beliefs and cultural
traditions between the t w o systems and pointing out unambiguously
that the basic problem is the de facto divergence and disparity
in terms of ideas and attitudes between the two sets of people.
The image of the "iron horsett (bicycle) as used by Obierika in
his matter-of-fact narration of the story of the advent of the
British administrators and missionaries serves to throw into
relief the two disparate worlds, these two categories of people
belong to. Even the casual and matter-of-fact manner of
announcing the descent of the British missionaries,
administrators and traders on the peaceful and self-sufficient
Igbo society is characteristic of Achebe's artistic approach. He
thus maintains a low key in terms of his narrative style in order
to forcefully bring out the conflict which is volcanic in its
emegence and subsequent manifestations., ; ." * - - - --"""
The characters in the novel are real and credible. The
central character, Okonkwo, displays inexhaustible energy and
optimism although plagued by a fear of failing in life like his
father. He is highly individualistic but epitomizes the views
and aspirations the entire community. ambitious,
expansive, self-willed and self-opinionated and strongly
entrenched in the traditional beliefs of his people. It is this
lack of a broad vision that finally brings about his own doom and
signifies the crumbling of the foundations of the Igbo society at
the impact of new doctrines, new structures, new government and
new ways of trade and commerce. He is in one sense a pre-eminent
symbol and embodiment of the Urnuofia community which races to its
dislocation and downfall as a result of its own internal
inadequacies evidenced by disruptive trends and polarization
based on some irrational rules and customs. That was a
centrifugal impulse challenging the very idea of order. After all
Okonkwo, his valour as a fighter, his wealth and his influence
notwithstanding, becomes a target of attack that comes in the
form of a protest current that refuses to accept his physical
power as the ultimate power granting stability to society. The
whiteman could not have succeeded as they did if these
disintegrating trends were not already discernible in the clan.
Okonkwo was unable to understand or accept the writings on the
wall forcefully signalled by his son Nwouye's desertion to the
new religion. His ultimate decision to commit suicide need not
be construed as an act of cowardice or aimlessness. His action
proceeds from a profound sense of loss of traditional values as
crystallised in his Kinsmen's betrayal of him. In other words
he is not prepared to live an alien in his own land. There is a
certain aura of pride and invincibility even about his
self-destruction.
Prafulla C. Kar, says that Okonkwo, .... becomes a victim
both of an error of judgement and an unknown deterministic force
operaring from outside.
(Gowda; 1983 : P. 154)
Okonkwofs friend Obierika has been portrayed by Achebe as
a counterpoint to the former. He almost becomes Achebe's
spokesman in his realistic conception of the change overtaking
Africa, his philosophical approach to different issues and sober
but critical comments on customs, events and behaviour. His
sagacity is obvious when he comments on the irruption of the
white administrators and missionaries into the Igbo heartland:
The White man is very clever. He came quietly
and peacefully with his religion. We were
amused at his foolishness and allowed him to
stay. Now he has w o n our brothers and our
clan can no longer act like one. He has put
a knife on the thing that held us together
and we have fallen apart. ( P O 160)
Achebe's third novel Arrow of God depicts
the s t a t e of shock and confusion experienced
by an Igbo clan living in Umuaro under the
inescapable impact of t h e colonial r e l i g i o n ,
administration and trade. While Things F a l l
Apart and this novel have a similar background
of the Igbo people's daily routine, religious
practices, rituals, f e s t i v a l s , and other
colourful celebrations, the situation is quite
different as the colonial p o w e r is we11
entrenched in African s o i l with its
concomitant erosion of the tribe's p o w e r
centres, It is clear that these two worlds or
structures are locked in an acrimonious
tussle for supremacy. Hence this novel cannot
be called in any strict sense a continuation
of Thinas Fall Anart, Moreover the protagonists
of the two novels have nothing in common.
Achebe himself has endorsed this view in h i s
interview in A f r i c a n Writers Talkins:
It is the same area - the supporting
background and scenery are the same. I am
writing about the same people. But the story
itself is not - i n fact I see it as the exact
opposite. Ezulu the chief character in AOG is
a different kind of man from Okonkwo.... He
sees the value of change and therefore his
reaction to Europe is completely different
from Okonkwols. He is ready to come to terms
with it - up to a point - except where his
dignity is involved. This he could not
accept, he is very proud. So you see it is
really the other side of the coin, and the
tragedy is that they come to the same sticky
end.
(Duerden and Pieterse: 1978, P.17)
The situation gets complicated as Achebe introduces a third
force in the form of A f r i c a n missionaries who are converts to the
White men's religion. The conflict i n this group arises over the
method of proselytising and preaching, and advocating extreme
intolerant approach and the other a less extreme form of
Peaceful, coexistence. Achebe allows these three groups each
with its own intragroup conflict to interact. A series of
incidents occur, the Okperi war, Oduche's imprisoning the sacred
python and the whipping of the second son of Ezeulu by the White
man. These incidents further compound the already strained
relations between the three worlds.
In Ezeulu's own life there are a number of incidents which,
beginning with his imprisonment by Winterbottom for no culpable
fault of his, conspire to pit him against the entire community as
a lonely adversary who is finally driven mad when his son Obika
dies after performing as Ogbazulobodo. Achebe has masterfully
interwoven these different strands and fashioned a plot that is
quite well structured and relentlessly moving to the climax,
In Ezeueluts character and behaviour Achebe had made a very
incisive analysis of power and power equations in the Igbo clan.
It is his power-consciousness that blinds his eyes to see the
total inhumanity and illegality of not announcing the New Yam
Festival. He contrives, to some extent, of course egged on by
his god Ulu, the final catastrophe. And Achebe uses his
inimitable ironic touch to give the climax a twist that is as
breath-taking as it is cataclysmic for the clan. The Christian
Church's announcement of the festival and the immunity offered by
them draws the clansmen in large numbers. The Igbo saying that
no one ever won a judgement against his clan provides the
enigmatic answer. In this case, the clan wins over its haughty
but well-meaning high priest, no doubt. But at what cost? The
whole cultural, social and religious fabric is lost in the exodus
of clan's people to the Whiternen's religion. The last few lines
of Achebe are masterstrokes, providing as it were the punchline to
the tragedy not merely of a single individual, but of a whole
people, a civilization:
If this was so then Ulu had chosen a
dangerous time to uphold his wisdom. In
destroying his priest, he had also brought
disaster on himself like the lizard in the
fable who ruined his mother's funeral by his
own hand.... the Christian harvest which took
place a few days after Obika's death saw more
people than even Goodcountry could have
dreamed. In his extremity many an Umuaro man
had sent his son with a yam or two to offer
to the new religion and to bring back the
promised immunity. Thereafter any yam that
was harvested in the man's field was
harvested in the name of the son.
(Pp. 262-263)
Achebe has used a number of proverbs and stories in the
narrative that highlights the simmering tension between the old
religion and the new and the eventual collapse of the old order
and the ascendancy of the new dispensation. This is one of the
devices by which Achebe sustains the ironic mode and underlines
the ambiguous and ambivalent trend of the Umuaro dynamics. In
and through all these events, Achebe drives home his perception
of the colonial encounter that a series of errors of judgement
committed by the colonial rulers eventually culminated in the
total rupture between the two realities. The worst evil that
befell the clan, according to Achebe, is the supplanting of the
spiritual and communitarian values of this society by materialism
of the worst kind. Achebe regrets this loss more than all the
others.
The criticism that Achebe's handling of the scenes devoted
to Winterbottom amounts to a polemic attack on the Europeansf
style of administering and their attitudes to the natives, seems
to be a little misplaced. While Achebe does strain to point out
the lack of apprehension of the Igbo customs on the part of the
British rulers, it should be mentioned that he does not fail to
lay the blame on the natives' squarely. Achebe endorses the
theory of Ezeulu who tells Akwebue that the white man has been
shown the way to their house and given a place to sit on. In
other words, the European colonisers could not make any headway in
their scheme to subjugate the Africans unless they are helped by
the Africans themselves.
~rtistically this book i s a masterpiece a s Achebe seems to
realize his goal as a writer to the full. He proceeded to
instruct through an imaginative recreation of the Igbo world soon
after the take-over by the British. The psychological trauma of
the characters and social and cultural convulsions suffered by
the clan while encountering a hostile foreign power are
clinically investigated by the author and convincingly presented
by evocation of the Igbo past in all its manifold forms,
multifarious activities and rituals, not without its flaws and
peccadilloes. It is a marvellous portrayal of the diverse ways
power operates vis-a-vis the colonised. Through his judicious
and controlled use of ironies and ambiguities, Achebe has
succeeded in making "the tragic pathetic, the inevitable
accidental, the final relativeu.
A glance through Achebe's latest novel Anthills ef &&
Savannah published in 1987 impresses one by its extreme economy,
novelty of narrative technique and of course the topicality of
its story and theme. It is a subtle indictment of the political
system operating in Nigeria. The fictional locale is Kongan a
backward West African state that replicates the political
scenario of contemporary Nigeria. The satiric mode that Achebe
has so appropriately adopted has paid him rich dividends.
This novel more than its predecessors, affirms Chinua
Achebefs predilection for the themes of power in human
relationships and its pluriforrn manifestations, aberration,
corruption, abuses and their tragic consequences. His
perspective in all his novels seems to pertain to the concept
and functions of power in the context of the colonial oppression
of the natives in Nigeria. In Thinss Fall A~art and Arrow of God
Achebe has depicted the collapse and virtual liquidation of
native power structures and the mounting of colonial power.
Lonaer && Ease is a critique of the handling or mishandling of
power by the native elite. & Man a o f Peowle is a sad
commentary on the fiasco that was the first Republic. And now it
is Anthills of && Savannah, a cryptic and crisp account of the
vagaries and misadventures of the military junta in power.
It is the story of three intimate but "connectedM friends
Sam (His Excellency), Christopher Oriko (the Ninister for
Information) and Ikem Osidi (the editor of the National
Gazette) . The Sandhurst trained army officer Sam transmutes himself
into a dictator overnight. The cabinet consists of officious and
slavish sycophants who are lawyers, professors, university
graduates, in short, the hope of the African nation. Fear
appears to be the inseparable twin of power. The powerless fear
"powerw while those in power fear losing it.
Chris, the commissioner for Information, turns sour and
becomes a critic of the projects and policies of His Excellency.
Ikem, the editor of the National Gazette is wedded to action and
turns anti-authority. He begins to articulate an alternative
political creed, I8a new radicalismtt. Ikem done to death by the
government attains a martyr's glory. Sam His Excellency is
kidnapped and killed and his dead body abandoned even without a
funeral. Chris gets killed in a bizarre incident wherein he was
rescuing a girl from a molesting cop.
It is, however, Beatrice a spinster and a highly placed
bureaucrat with an Honours Degreee in English literature from the
London University, who comprehends the nuances of the present
situation better than others. She is clearsighted and quite
objective in her judgement. She becomes Achebef s image of the
new woman of Africa in the throes of becoming a modern nation.She I
begins to articulate and synthesise their experiences by writing.
She inhabits simultaneously the world of modern politics and that
of ancient myths. She is not a model woman in the sense of a
feminist, but moulded after the Igbo tradition of "the village
priestess who prophesies when her divinity rides hern. eatr rice
puts on the mantle of a prophetess when she utters these words.
It is on now and I see trouble building up for us. It will
get to Ikem first. No joking, Chris, he will be the precursor to
make straight the way. But after him it will be you. We are all
in it Ikem, you, me and even Himw.
(Anthills, Pp. 114-115)
The triumvirate is eliminated and only Beatrice is left to
guide the future generation.
Achebe is quite surely back again on his avowed goal of
reeducating and reorienting the intelligentsia, the writers and
the artists. They are at the centre as keepers and decoders of
ideology. It is their responsibility to replace old hegemonic
pattern with p o w e r structures more consistent with liberation
and equality. This presupposes identification with the
disinherited m a s s e s . They should get to the core of the
indigenous culture. Innes C.L. observes in her book Chinua
Achebe :
The way in which the future role of women may be glimpsed
is characteristic of Achebe; the intellectual debate is abondoned
and the past is recovered.
(Innes: 1990, P. 176)
The myth of Idemili is abruptly introduced into the
narrative; Achebe elaborates the myth of Idemili thus:
Idernili comes down as a pillar of water linking the earth
and heaven. peop1e.i.n various parts of Africa worshipped her in
the form of "a dry stick". To this emblem of the Daughter of
Almighty, any rich and powerful man to come and offer sacrifices
and seek blessing in order to gain nadmission into the powerful
hierarchy Of ozo". He must be accompanied as mediator, by his
daughter or the daughter of some Kinsman. If Idenili finds the
aspirant unfit, she sends death t o smite him. If she approves of
the plea Ithe will be alive in three years' time". The myth of
1demili is an expression of the divine disapproval of man's
"unquenchable thirst to sit in authority on his fellownt (p.104)
This, according to some critics, is a very crucial moment
in the novel when there is a shift from the realistic mode to the
mythic and AchebeCs prose is vested with poetic and oracular
quality. The result seems to be to dismantle unilateral power
and the notion of 81centrality11.
Even as Achebe condemns concentration of power, he feels
the need for diffusion of narrative or narrational authority in
the text. He is so democratic that he desists from prescribing
one way of seeing or one formulaic alternative. Hence he adopts
the technique of multiple participant points of view. The author
intervenes occasionally. Thus the narration shifts from one to
the other signifying that the insignia of power should also
rotate without vesting or concentrating in one individual. The
reader is faced with a revolving narrational pattern and
therefore it is for him to reconstruct the t ex t .
The leader of the Abazonian delegation to meet the
Excellency narrates the parables of the "tortoise and the
leopardw. his parable serves as a metaphor for the framework of
the novel underlining the need for struggle even in the face of a
formidable opposition to checkmate power.
The leopard is always on the lookout to kill
the tortoise. When the latter is about to die
he pleads with his killer to give him a few
minutes for mentally preparing himself for
death. The leopard granted the innocuous last
wish of the tortoise. The tortoise began to
behave crazily, scratching with hands and feet
and throwing sand furiously in all directions.
The leopard asked the tortoise what his
curious behaviour meant. Pat came the reply:
. . . . even after I f m dead I would want anyone
passing by this spot to say, y e s , a fellow and
his match struggled here1'
(p.128)
Achebe's motif of the imperative of struggle is embodied
and forcefully expressed i n this parable. As a matter of fact
the final phases of the novel underscore the necessity and the
inevitability of struggle, if justice, liberation and equality
have to be realised.
Another novelty of Achebe is when he makes Beatrice accept
Agatha a born-again Christian, and a "prophetess of Jehovaw and
when she herself is transformed into prophetess, a reincarnation
of the priestess and prophetess of the hills and caves. The
motif of the apocalypse and eschatology is writ large right
through the novel. This has been a persistent strand in Achebefs
fiction going by the title of the first two novels.
Achebe has drawn with his own magic touch the culminating
incident where Beatrice comes forward to sponsor, conduct and
direct the naming ceremony of the child of Ikem and Elewa,
ordinarily a man's privilege. The baby girl is given a boy's
name, Amaechina, meaning "May-the-path-never-close". Beatrice in
this manner fathers the child. The overawed uncle of Elewa
exclaims :
"...in you young people our world has met its matchu
(P. 227)
Thus Achebe articulates his own response to the problem,
artistically told in the novel, particularly through the myth of
Idemili, of, who is to provide the alternative. The women now
left with the charge of carrying on the task, so valiantly begun
by Ikem, start the process in the naming ceremony. While Achebe
refrains from naming the alternative, he certainly highlights the
unique role of the women in the process of lire-formn, o f society
around its locore of reality". The celebration that follows is a
tribute to the potentialities of a community in solidarity not
only among themselves, but with the past precursors and
road-makers, a people who can consciously transcend factors that
divide and regroup to engage in our ongoing struggle.
More than his multiple narrative technique, which is
certainly a laudable device to make his theme more powerful is
the mythic dimension of metamorphosis and reincarnation. Achebe
becomes a master story-teller. One is reminded of the ringing
line of Achebe "Stories create people create storiestt. The myths
and legends provide meaning and continuity amidst the anarchy of
power. Innes, C.L. concludes her comprehensive study of this
novel with the following words:
... 'As Achebe writes in one of h i s recent
essays: 'stories create people create storiesf.
It is this universal "creative rondow that we
experience as the characters inform and are
informed by the myths and lengends which provide
meaning and continuity amidst the anarchy of
power. And for the novelist, it seems to
provide hope also. The despair at t h e end of .
A man a the people has been replaced by a belief in some kind of renewal through an
engagement with ,the oppressed. " A t such
critical moments new versions of old stories
or entirely fresh ones tend to be brought into
being to mediate the changes and sometimes to
consecrate opportunistic defections into more
honourable rites of passagef. In the story the
people's 'struggle will stand reincarnated
before us; - like the scorched anthills of the Savannah, both as a warning and promise.
(Innes C. L, : 2990, Pp. 184-185)
The greatest merit of this novel is Achebef s evolving of a
new fictional form dictated by the exigency of the theme of the
novel. Thus a transformative relationship is established between
the text and the ideology thereby allowing the reader to have an
insight into the ordinarily concealed aspects of ideology,
This innovative exercise consists in the multiple
protagonism and the concomitant multiple narrational technique
with everyone of the central characters taking on the narrative
role by turns. The message that his novel method conveys is
Achebe's and in general people's disenchantment with the colonial
model of governance which is unilateral and authoritarian as
well as the leader-centred despostic military regimes of the
neo-colonial variety. Achebe has turned into an ideologue and
therefore evaluates and censures certain developments in ~ i g e r i a
in the last two decades.
While Achebe1s attempt at providing re-education and
regeneration to the intellectuals of present day Nigeria hasn't
been very convincing, he has certainly achieved a fantastic feat
in enriching his art by incorporating African myth and legend in
a novel of contemporary politics, In other words, his strength
in this novel lies in his belief in story and its various
expressions in myth, legend, parable and folk-tale, It is a
pioneering experiment that will stand the test of time as a model
for relevant fiction in the context of not only African
socio-political milieu but that of any third world country.
It may be fruitful at this stage to compare these two
writers with reference to their mode of expressing their beliefs
or stand point through the medium of the novel. While Anand
and Achebe are committed to radical change of social structures,
there are shades of variation of perception and point of view.
The peculair individual, religious, educational, cultural and
experimental background of each writer accounts for this.
Achebe has had his share of alienation as he grew up in an
exclusively Christian milieu as his parents were converts of
Christianity and his father himself was a missionary. In Nigeira
those days the distinction between the natives and the Christian
converts was clear cut in terms of their style of life,
habitstliving quarters, spiritual practices and even culture.
~ecessarily, as it is obvious to us, there was a degree of
alienataion that Achebe experienced from his own cultural roots,
history and heritage. It is Achebef s unique merit that he has
overcome the enormous handicap and has on top of that acquired
not only valuable knowledge and insights in terms of Igbo history
and culture but a philosophical approach supported by a
scientific, analytical mind.
Anand by his own admission is a rationalist not believing
in any established religion or a personal God. For him Iuman is
the measure of all thingstf as the Greek dictum goes, He has
summed up his credo as, "1 believe in manut. He formulated his
philosophical system under the influence of Greek philosophy and
modern Western Philosophers. Nevertheless his comprehensive
historical humanism reflects the influence of Karl Marxrs
theories and hypotheses. Anand has no hesitation in declaring
that he has no faith in Gad and that he has no respect for the
social customs and insitutions that oppress man in the name of
religion, or caste or creed, He advocates a brand of humanism
that upholds the dignity and centrality of man historically
conditioned and culturally circumscribed. He is not in love with
man in the abstract but the human being in his precise historical
and existential context. In other words he is for comprehensive
historical humanism. He is a humanist cozing love for the man in
the street.
Despite an alienated education in the West Anand has succeeded
in retaining a basic respect for his culture and people. All his
novels and other writings demonstrate the deep interest he has
cultivated in Indian history, culture, heritage and
socio-political situation. One finds a similar trait in Achebefs
personality. Both these writers deserve all praise for a
consistent involvement in the political and social upheavals and
developments of their countries. Achebets oeuvre is an eloquent
testimony to this unassailable pride in his countryrs past, its
philosophy, poetry and dignity. Achebe and Anand have a
remarkable grasp over their national history, culture and
contemporary problems. Achebefs re-creation of the Nigeria a
hundred years ago is a veritable treat to any reader and offers a
rich multispangled panorama of the Igbo land, its people,
customs, rituals, beliefs and folklore. Anand's commitment to the
oppressed sons and daughters of India during and after the
colonial regime is so intense and overwhelming that his portrayal
of culture, customs and institutions is, though colourful, n o t of
such epic dimension. While Achebe is committed to expose to the
world the glorious rituals and beliefs and thus bring out the
essential antinomy between their world and the colonial world,
Anand ruthlessly undercuts the British regime and exposes its
chinks and fatal flaws.
Achebe as a novelist could not admit any dichotomy between
art and social commitment. He however made a distinction between
pure art and applied art and qualifies his own as applied art.
Art and education, which in his concept of an aritist's role,
need not be mutually exclusive. He insists that llsocial protest
is not antithetical to art and that the best craftsmen are not
those who have turned their backs to the social problems of their
time. For the African, 'the task of re-education and
re-generationr, is by far more important than the bogus and idle
theory of art for art's sake",
(Madubuike in BW : 1974, 67).
Anand's views on art or on his use of the novel as a
literary medium are available. Nevertheless it becomes
difficult to construct a coherent view of his literary creed
given the fragmentary statements made by Anand, passim, in his
writings and the gap between his statement and enactment.
Achebe's concept of art, though mentioned in an equally scanty
measure, Can be constructed from his works in a very convincing
manner. Achebe is reputed to be a conscious artist and master
craftsman, linguistically and materially equal to his task.
One has only to glance through his novels from Shinus pall
.- to Anthills of the Savannah to realise the almost
effortless and easy manner in which he uses the art form for
producing convincing portrayals of the Igbo clansmen, be it in
their primitive egalitarianism and pristine glory or in the
undivided social fabric being torn by divisive forces within and
without or in the sense of self-defeat and discomfiture brought
on by the leaders of the new independent Nigeria. The Igbo
rituals, customs, beliefs, social and religious institutions that
Achebe so magnificently recreates conjure up the magic world of
the Igbo clan in Things Fall Apart and in The Arrow of God-
Achebefs way of recreating the Igbo past and heritage is so
natural that one need not be an Igbo to appreciate this rich and
colourful world. Of course, Achebe adopts different techniques
by which he is able to accomplish his task with an uncanny
adowtness. He introduces into the narrative the folk language,
the folk tales, myths, symbols, songs and proverbs that form a
pattern in the whole narrative. The plot sometimes appears weak
or loose in structure probably because of the manifold events and
incidents that Achebe piles up in order to make the story more
true to life. Nevertheless it should be mentioned that his plots
are well-wrought with every event or incident moving the action
forward to a crisis or climax.
Anandfs strength as an artist lies in his remarkable
command over the language which he is able to manipulate. The
fluency of Anand is just proverbial. In novels like Coolie. Two
Leaves and 2 Bud and the Biq Heart, Anand has recreated the world p-
of the protagonists and the environments, be it rural or urban
with such minute details of colour, sound, tone and atmosphere,
that one wonders if he was an eye witness of all these scenes or
events. His descriptive style is sharp, rnelliffuous, meticulous
and captivating. His style achieves the cutting edge when he
wields his punitive pen to flay the colonial masters for their
insolence and vanity as in Two Leaves and a Bud.
While Achebe1s English is structurally faultless, he feels
free to innovate structures by infusing Igbo cultural patterns
into the English linguistic structure. He transliterates the
imagistic, symbolical and metaphorical views of the people of his
country into a foregn idiom. This is not to say his English is
faulty or that he is unconsciously influenced by the linguistic
patterns of his mother tongue. Without destroying the stru~tural
patterns of the English language, Achebe is creating a new
English, full of vitality and freshness, ~adubuike says in his
essay, "Achebe's Ideas on Literatures":
The linguistic originality of Achebe, the pleasures his
language gives us when we read him, all derive from the effective
and efficient use of ~ g b o verbal style which is so evident in his
writings.
(Madtrbuike in Black World: 1974, 6 7 )
Even Achebefs use of pidgin in novels like & of the
People and Anthills of Savannah becomes a positive quality in him
as Achebefs purpose seems to be only to convey the rhythm of the
language. And the reader does not have to continuously work to
get meaning from context.
Anand hardly innovates with his language. Hedoes not
introduce new linguistic structures. But there is a certain
plasticity of his language which enables him to create the
language or idiom suited to the particular character or the
specific situation. He has been found fault with for using ~indi
or Punjabi words or expressions specially in conversations. There
is also an abundance of swear words which although,are natural in
the mouths of the speakers sound offensive when repeatedly used.
Some critics justify Anandfs use of the swear words and phrases
as suggestive of the situation and characters indulging in them.
Nevertheless one can not legitimise a habitual use of such
offensive expessions by a writer of the calibre of Anand. An
overdose of even a good technique can vitiate an
otherwise-well-written narative. Anandfs occasional display of
metaphorical style and rhetoric gives one the proof of the master
who is behind it. For instance, in the following passage from
a B i l s Heart Anand handles the language with a lyrical touch:
The fact about water like time is that it will
flow; it may get choked up with the rubbish
and debris of broken banks; it may be arrested
in stagnant pools for long years; but it will
begin to flow again as soon as the sky pours
down its blessings to make up for what the
other elements have sucked up; and it will
keep flowing; now slowly, now like a rushing
stream,
( T h e Big Heart: p. 15)
C.D. Narasimhaiah has pointed out that in contrast to the
above passage, Anand has overdone his rhetoric and it vitiates
the portrait of Ananta, the protagonist in The Bis Heart. The
writer ends by piling up the abstract adjectives to the neglect
of the concrete:
But all the moral condemnation of himself and
others and his attainment of the splendrous
heights above the spurts of sulphurous regrets
in him, did not prevent him from succumbing to
the abysses of delivery in the volcanoes below
the stomach.
( T h e Big H e a r t )
C.D. Narasimahaiah further remarks that Anand at times
offends by exuding sentimentality in his language, as for
example, in a sentence like this:
The incarcerated sorrow wellled up in his
eyes, the saliva gathered in his throat , and
the whole of his fluid nature slipped across
the rocks of principles and the drifts of
i d e a s wept over all the languages, he spoke
and understood, and flooded across t h e cheeks
and his beard in hot scalding tears.
(The B i g Heart)
I t is when Anand the artist is overpowered by an onrush of
his sensibility or the social impulse that he commits mistakes of
becoming excessively sentimental or gushy and of packing too much
emotion into words and phrases or heightening the effect by
piling up adjectives. In fact there are numerous places where
Anand delights the reader by employing the right word o r phrase
or expression to highlight the action or emotion that is
depicted. He is further guilty of repeating expressions to the
point of exasperation in a bid to reproduce sounds.
It is from this perspective that Achebe who has his sight
set on his goal as a novelist, comes across to us as a self
disciplined artist and craftsman. Where Anand fails as a
consequence of his inability to restrain the flow of his fertile
imagination or to hammer his raw material into an artistic whole,
Achebe has his grip unrelawed over his creative mind even when
the story or theme he is treating is intrinsic to his world
vision or his stand vis-a vis the refashioning of the African
state.
All said and done, Anand is predominantly a novelist of
character, character as shaped by environment and strength of
will. The individual, for Anand, is in the process of change or
evaluation. He is not a plaything of the gods or Karma or any
sort of predeterministic or mechanistic force. Life experiences
and confrontation of reality shape him, his personality. True to
this theory Anand has created characters who are drawn from real
life and from his intimate experience of such people in his life.
After placing his Bakhas, Munoos, Gangus, Bikhus and Anantas in
situations hostile to the destiny of society, Anand probes their
consciousness at different levels. It is thus that his plots
evolve and create the type of catharsis that Anand as a novelist
expects to produce; compassion or karuna which is expiation
through art.
Anandfs success with character delineation is certainly of a
high order. ~ o s t of his characters are convincing, real, and fit
into his pattern of the inter-relationship between art and
vision, content and form.
Achebe's characters, specially his protagonists such as
Okonkwo, Ezeulu, Obi and Odili are really life-size characters
given the content of the pre-colonial or post colonial African or
~igerian predicament. Achebe does develop his stories and build
up his plots by allowing his central characters to interact among
themselves, with their environment and with their fellow human
beings. Nevertheless it must be said to the credit of Achebe
that he maintains an emotional detachment from his characters
that is extraordianry. Anand gets involved in his characters
and rightly so, but is loath to distance himself from them, thus
interfering with their individual development in some of his
novels. Where he is able to maintain a posture of a detached
observer his success is unprecedented. Certainly his delineation
of Munoo, Bakha and G a u r i is convincing and realistic as the
omniscient author's interference is kept to the minimum. The
characterization of Ananta on the other hand is hampered because
of Anand's frequent intrusions and sermonizing through him.
Both Anand and Achebe are in the habit of intruding into
the narrative in order to preach or comment or probe
consciousne~s and events. While Achebeys authorial voice is
modukted or disguised by means of distancing techniques employed
by him, Anand tends to be at times all too visible and
recognizable, through the prophetic frenzy of the tone of the
speeches.
Althusser has struck the key note of this tantalizingly
complex but inevitable relationship between form and ideology in
the following words in his book en in and ~hilosophvt
. . . . the peculiarity of art is to make us
see, make us perceive, make us feel something
which alludes to reality ... What art makes
us see is the ideology from which it is born,
in which it bathes, from which it detaches
itself as art and to which it alludes.
(Althusser: 1971, Pp. 203-204. )
Looked at from this perspective of a dialectical,
transformative relationship between art and sensibility, Achebe
comes through as a near perfect model while Anand, shorn of some
of his glaring inconsistencies and imperfections, passes muster.
In the foregoing chapters we have sought to discover the
liberationist outlook or impulse as manifested by both Anand and
Achebe in their fictional works. For this purpose we selected
six novels of Anand and all the five novels written by Achebe
till date. The study has followed a logic and dynamic of its
own. After stating the hypothesis or the problem in the first
chapter, the study proceeds to examine the different contours of
the problem by examining the artistic merits of the novelists and
by analysing the techniques and methods by which they strive to
achieve a perfect marriage between their political or social
creed and literary aims. There is no pretension however that a
satisfactory solution to the problem posed is found. But
certainly both these writers provide space and scope f o r a
libterationist interpretation and extrapolation in terms of the
type of fiction, novelistic techniques and themes. In other
words, we are trying to define "litterature engaggw or political
or protest novel in the context of today's third world situation.
"Commitmentt1 or 'Tommitted Writers" are terms used to connote
writers or writings with a social justice thrust. Liberation,
being a more comprehensive term, implies commitment. As a
Consequence, the question of the relationship of art to
commitment in the works of Anand and Achebe assumes great
importance. The classical pitfall of propagandism and
didacticism is to be consciously avoided by a committed writer if
he has to be credible as an artist.
Therefore we have examined both Anand and Achebe and their
works of art from these criteria. To start with, we have
provided a comprehensive review of almost all the literature
available on these writers in the introductory chapter. Scholars
both Indian and foreign have written critical commentaries on
Anandfs novels and merits as a writer. The foreign critics in
general are more positive and constructive, although they boldly
point out his weaknesses and limitations as a writer. Some
Indian scholars and critics display sharper insight into Anandrs
personality and cultural background and therefore their analyses
of individual novels are more revealing, enlightening and
enhancing. On the other hand, there are Indian critics who have
taken it upon themselves to castigate and lambast Anand by
exposing and exaggerating his stylistic deviations and in
particular his propagandist slant. However, there have been quite
a few champions of Anand who have striven to exculpate Anand of
such gross or deliberate psopagandism and to defend him against
captious critics or overcensorious scholars who have passed
strictures on Anand's flaws as a writer. All said and done,
Anandfs fluency and range as a powerful wielder of the English
language, his consistent and earnest pleas for eradication of
glaring inequalities, injustices and other social evils in India,
and his all-pervasive commitment stand out, And thus his narrow
canvas of characters specially the heroes and even the limited
conceptual framework and occasional propagandist forays are
liable to be overlooked. His humanism has not degenerated into
corny sentimentalism or melodrama, thanks to his intellectual and
philosophic formation and convictions. The novles sigled out for
compact structure and well-knit plot are Untouchable. Coolie, The
Bis Heart and Gauri. The last one has been hailed as a
fore-runner of feminist fiction in India.
Achebe has had a more favourable and constructive review as
compared with Anand. Achebe has been complimented for his range
of the English language, the creative variation he is capable of
and the manner in which he is able to innovate techniques. He
has been hailed as a committed writer who has never sacrificed
his art for the sake of his convictions. is dominant theme has
been variously described as reconstruction of the Igbo past, as
the glorification of the tribe's traditions, conventions and
beliefs, as a critique of the misdeeds or the failure of the
present day elite leaders to deliver the goods, as an open-ended
examination of the tragic consequences of the rapid change of
Power equations in Africa and as a study of the moral conflict
that surfaced in the wake of modernization and westernization.
Some critics have been quick to point out that Achebers attack,
albeit subtle, on the white colonialists and their alleged
oppression and chicanery is not quite justifiable. It must be
borne in mind that Achebe has time and again affirmed that the
colonial past is not one of unrelieved gloom or series of
misdeeds. Almost all the critics seem to agree that Achebers
nostalgic retrospection into the Igbo history, is not prompted by
a tendency to romanticize the past but by a desire to transform
the present in the light of the past. Achebe's latest novel
Anthills of the Savannah is acclaimed as a pioneering and
trail blazing novel that uncterscores Achebefs predilection for the
subject or theme of power and its various manifestations and
constitutes an excellent demonstration of the power of stories
and story-telling and their interpretation.
The purpose of this thesis is spelt out at this juncture.
It emerges from the various critical studies that Anand
advocates, as a remedy to the social and economic ills and evils
that afflict ~ndian society, personal self-awareness, compassian
and bhakti and yoga. On the other hand Achebe's answer
to the tragic consequences of colonial intrusion or the
catastrophic misrule of the native intelligentsia, is ongoing
struggle, self-sacrificing and people-centred leadership of the
educated elite.
The specific purpose of this study is stated to be to probe
the liberationist interpretation of the themes and stories of the
novels of both Anand and Achebe, Both are committed to the cause
of freedom of their countrymen. In other words, they have a
political vision. As enlightened thinkers with a well-thought-
out weltanschauung, they are aware of the futility of any
reformist approach to transform society. Therefore they hint at
a liberationist approach to transform structures. Achebe in his
insistence on struggles of the masses animated by an enlightened
and committed leadership and Anand in his impassioned plea for
sustained impatience, anger and discontent with the status quo on
the part of the victims of oppressions, and compassion and love
on the part of all.
The abstract of the chapters is furnished at this stage.
It is a very brief statement of what is going to be discussed in
the proceeding chapters.
Having stated the scope and purpose of the thesis, we go on
to furnish the conceptual framework necessary for this study in
the second chapter. The key concept of liberation is sought to
be contextualized and defined in this chapter. The term
liberation, has come to be used largely in the context of social
injustice and unjust and opppressive social and political
structures. While social justice was, for long, a term that
adequately expressed the massive injustice that marked society,
it has been found lately in the context of third world, ati in
American, African and ~ s i a n countries, that liberation is a more
comprehensive term that adequately captures the oppressive nature
of society and the aspirations for emancipation af the victims.
The term wliberation" posits man as the subject of his own
destiny and history.
Liberation as a universal aspiration of all oppressed
peoples, has found cultural and literary expression in all third
world countries, including India. Indian models of liberation of
old were culture specific and confined to particular groups or
sections of society such as the higher echelons in
caste-hierarchy- Withdrawals to solitude for pursuit of
philosophic or religious studies and renunciation of mundane or
worldly attachments or pleasures w e r e two such expressions. Today
it is the religiousness or the divinely invested messianic power
of the poor that holds the key for human liberation. The Marxist
theory of societal transformation through class war and the
dialectics of historical materialism that trigger it, was a
historic landmark that brought under scientific scrutiny earlier
models of liberation. ttPraxis** as a combination of action for
liberation and a relentless criticism of social conditions was
defined by Marx. It has found its way into the theology of
liberation as propounded by the at in ~merican thinkers.
Gandhifs concept of non-violence and non-cooperation is
another approach to liberation. Nevertheless it suffers from a
lack of a global or scientific and realistic analysis of society
or understanding of human nature. He had implicit faith in the
goodness of individuals and hoped social trnasformation to emerge
from a moral or spiritual conversion. The African liberation
312
movement is more a cultural reality than a political or economic
one. ~eo-colonialism or psychological subjugation that the
~fricans are victims of today, are indicative of how the
erstwhile colonial powers try to secure their grip over
ex-colonies indirectly. The liberation movement is a reality in
different forms in the various African states. The one
overriding and dominant mark of these movements is that they are
firmly rooted in the African culture and history and aim at
restoring pride, respect and dignity to the race, its culture
history and heritage.
Attempt is made in the next chapter to situate Mulk Raj
Anand and Achebe among the comtemporaries of their respective
lands. Anand is stated to be one of the pioneers in the world of
English fiction in India, Together with R.K.Narayan and Raj Rao,
he constitutes the formidable trio who revolutionized Indian
writing in English and earned for India a lasting and impregnable
place in the domain of English literature, specially of the
English novel. Anand however, has the distinction of publishing
one of the earliest modern English novels which proved an instant
success, His Untouchable was published in the year 1935. While
the fictive matrix of Raja Rao is the 1ndian view of reality as
perceived metaphyscially, Anand makes the humdrum and prosaic
lives and struggles of the rank and file of India's masses the
stuff of his plots. R.K. Naryana's fictional interest centres
round the psychology and manners of the South 1ndian middle class
gentry as contrasted with the deep compassion exuded by
ÿ nand for the underdogs. While Anand is not a consistent artist
~ a j a Rao and R.K. Narayan are meticulous about details of style,
language, structure, plot and characterization.
Mulk Raj Anand is a prolific writer having authored
sixteen novels and more than half a dozen volumes of shor*
stories and other non-fictional writings of merit. Although he
grew up in Punjab and had his schooling and college studies in
India, it should be mentioned that he spent several years in
Europe and England mastering the classical works of Western
thought, philosophy and history. Thus while he derived his power
of observation, desire for novelty and adventure and his
compassion for the poor and marginalised from his parents and the
Indian cultural milieu, he owed his intellectual sophistication,
cosmopolitan outlook and the streak of religious scepticism to
his Western academic formation and pursuits.
Anand has moreover been a corntemporary of several
generations of Indian writers in ~nglish. The more popular
novelists of the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties have
all been his contemporaries and have benefited from his
pioneering and experimental novels. Anand has outlasted all of
them in a sense and still holds his own as an artist with a
definite idological bias in favour of "the Wretched of the
Earthu, to use the title of the terrific book of Frantz Fanon.
The high regard which the African writers and readers have for
Chinua Achebe is an irrefutable testimony to the almost
314
unparalleled reputation he enjoys as a novelist. Although he has
to his credit only five novels, and some collections of
shortstories, his impact and extent of influence as a frontline
African writer are incredible. After a brilliant career in the
Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and as a teacher in American
universities, Achebe served a stint as editor of some journals
including Okike, a Nigerian journal of New Writing. His
experiences as the son of a Christian convert with all the
privileges and patronage that it implied and conferred and his
fairly long stint as an editor and teacher at Universities,
eminently fitted and equipped him to be a writer steeped in his
culture and passionately attached to his people and their
history.He regarded the role of a writer as that of teaching and
educating not only the African readers but also the Europeans, to
appreciate the wealth of civilization, philosophy, poetry and
above all, dignity that their race possessed even before the
white men appeared on the scene.
Achebe proceeded to achieve his fictive purpose by evoking
in his novels the glorious past, traditions, beliefs, joys and
sorrows of his tribe, called the Igbo. However , Achebe has
a keen sense of the havoc wrought by the colonial regime and its
political, administrative, economic and religious organisation of
society oblivious of the peoplefs traditional system of
governing and time-honoured religious practices. The colonizers
overran the local cultural manifestations and imposed alien forms
of administration, education and religion. his sowed the seed
of dislocation. division, dissension and even ultimate eob,pse
The novel of disillusionment came into being with Achebe's and
Soyinka's novels. The rather stereo-typed inward-looking
exercise of the earlier novelists or contemporaries was abandoned
by Achebe. He was a realist. He did not hesitate to boldly
indicate the failures, the mistakes and misrule of the indigenous
leaders of independent Nigeria. Achebe's artistic recreation of
the past is not aimed at a nostalgic glorification of all that
was old but at proposing an affirmative action for transforming
the present. Achebe's penchant for myths, proverbs and stories,
making his presentation more authentic and meaningful is his way
of conveying the message that the novel, although a western
genre, can and should be effectively transformed by creatively
infusing and introducing the local or native cultural flavour.
Achebe has certainly created a unique model for a contextualised
third world fiction. In his latest novel Anthills of the e
Savannah he has demonstrated the possibility of new fictional
strategies and of widening the scope of the subject matter of
novels issuing from African countries.
Both Anand and Achebe have broken new grounds with the art
form. The creativity and originality of each of the writers are
tremendous. he same can be said of their unflinching commitment
to the cause of liberation of the downtrodden. Both have
pioneered a new brand of fiction, which takes the poor masses and
their struggles seriously and conveys the hope that through
Conscientization and education of the oppressed masses, societal
transformation could be achieved, The writers become the
prophetic voice of change.
From this point we proceed to investigate the presence of
liberation motif in Anand4s delineation of the protagonists in
the third chapter. A fundamental postulate of liberation
thinkers is that man, specially the dispossessed and disiherited
man, is the subject of his destiny, history and emancipation. If
the poor of the third world are invested with the messianic
power, it follows that in novels that claim to mirror the life
and struggles of th,e disadvantaged masses of the third world
countries, the protagonists should be projected as champions who
spearhead the protest movement. In the case of Anand and Achebe
this becomes ineluctable given their avowed social and political
persuasion and literary creed. Herein lies a challenge as both
these writers have opted to portray, by and large, the simple
folks and others destined to be forerunners of the revolution or
catalysts of social change.
In this crucial test, both Anand and Achebe have
established their credibility and craftsmanship beyond doubt.
Anand has created a host of characters full of flesh and blood
manifesting scars of the psychological wounds inflicted by
centuries of subjugation, subordination and starvation. Bakha, e
the sweeper-boy-hero of Untouchable, is not just another
untouchable scavenger of punjab. He is drawn on a rather *
flamboyant scale. He has an insatiable thirst for the joys and
pleasures of life. He likes to dress like the sahibs and smoke a
cigarette, the symbol of a higher status according to his fancy.
There are occasions when Bakha abandons himself to such flights
of fancy. The author obviously juxtaposes such scenes and the
most pathetic and profoundly sorrowful experiences of Bakha, the
untouchable. In a short span of twenty four hours, Anand has
masterfully handled these scenes and explored most adroitly the
inner reactions of anger, revulsion and loathing that Bakha
experiences. Anand builds up the crescendo of Bakha's
deep-felt-resentment upto the point when he launches into a
meditative and discursive interospection. He is determined to
discover the reason for his inferiority or his being treated like
dirt. It dawns on him that for no fault of his he was born an
untouchable. The caste is the ultimate villain. Now it is for
him to search for a solution, a viable alternative, be it in
Gandhism or in mechanisation or socialism. He is thus presented
as a messenger, an ambassador, shall we say, a prophet of a new
social order built on equality of castes and races.
The central character of Coolie Munoo, belongs to the
Kshatryia caste, but still is hounded by society as he hails from
a poverty-stricken family. He is at the mercy of a heartless
world, He is presented by Anand as a picaresque hero, of course
with a difference. Munoo is no roguish hero, but a victim of
circumstances, a waif of a hero whose fortunes fluctuate as he
swims along the current. There is a certain streak of fatalism
in the treatment of Munoofs character, specially as we watch
Munoo die of tuberculosis. Nevertheless the satiric pen of Anand
has not spared the perpetrators of such kinds of exploitation and
subjection. He exposes the basic insecurity, cunning, egotism
and inhumanity of all the other characters of this novel, with
the only exception of characters such as, Prabha in the Daulatpur
phase and Ratan in the Bombay phase. Before Munoo could bring
himself to achieve something concrete in his life, his life is
being terminated, as if to convey the message of his role as a
martyr for the cause of the exploited coolies and labourers.
The protagonist of The Biq Heart is Ananta, who is cast by
Anand in the role of an evangelist, a man with a mission, a
messianic hero. Of course, there are certain contradictions in
his life. His liaison with Janki his mistress is a perennial
stigma attaching to Ananta. He summons his thathiar brethren to
sink their differences and unite in the cause of facing the
challenge of mechanisation of the factory. His rhetoric is of no
avail as the coppersmiths are divided and are far too immersed in
orthodoxy and antiquated beliefs, and superstitions. The paradox
of such a hero's life is poignantly underlined when he dies a
violent death assailed by Ralia, in the very act of preventing
mindless violence and vandalism. AnantaOs death is a triumph of
faith in ongoing struggle for freedom. And the first convert he
makes is Janki who becomes a symbol of new Indian womanhood. She
resolves to carry on the fight started by Ananta, The thathiars
are stricken by a remorse and guilt that is an expression of
their willingness to further promote the cause of liberation.
Achebets protagonists are authentic and realistic. They
are drawn from real life situations. In fact heroes like Okonkwo
of Thinss Fall Apart, Ezeulu of Arrow of God and Obi of
Lonser & Ease bring out the symbiotic relationship of the
individuals with the tribal community or clan. The eventual
downfall of any one of these characters signals or symbolises
the disintegration of the clan. Okonkwots characterization is
quite complex and rich, making it difficult for us to go to the
root of his tragic flaw. Okonkwo's death is an assertion of some
absolute values when relativising values became the hall mark of
the clan. The irony in this depiction is unmistakable that the
same attitude is a denial of the basic tenet of Igbo reality
which finds stability in flexibility and relatedness,
Obi Okonkwo is the grandson of Okonkwo and is the
protagonist in NLAE. Achebe presents him as an idealist whose
moral determination is no match for his moral consciousness~ He
fails when the chips are down and is framed for taking bribe and
declared guilty. Achebe, while not absolving Obi of his moral
culpability, does, however, attenuate his guilt by pointing a
finger at his village leaders, his parents, who prevented him
from marrying an "OsuH and the whole political system
transplanted by the colonial masters that engendered corruption
and moral depravity.
Ezeulu of is also an interesting character. Achebe has
bestowed on him a dual personality as the priest of Ulu, the god
of the clan. He is human and divine. Therefore his role and
functions, though monotonous, become quite involved and
problematic in the context of the clan's tie up with its
religious rituals and practices. The god Ulu's hold over the
clan as much as over the high priest, is unparalleled. The
conflict in the life of Ezeulu consists in his loyalty to U l u and
his commitment to his clan. He commits several mistakes as he
becomes overtly conscious of his power and position. Thus he
becomes a victim of his awn excessive power-consciousness. The
power of the people in liberative praxis is effectively brought
out. The people's power or the grassroot struggle holds, in the
final analysis, the key to success of all liberation struggles.
In Anthills of the Savannah Achebe has no single hero but a
number of them. He has tried out a new technique in
characterization and narrative pattern. The ruling trio of
Sam,lkem and Chris holds the centre stage in the first half of
the novel. Even so, it is difficult to pinpoint one of them as
the principal character- Achebe has employed multiple narrative
technique, thus not allowing any one person to hold the reins of
power for too long- In the second phase of the novel, it is the
women who hold the fort. Achebe has turned this novel into a
vehicle for defining and clarifying his political ideology,
specially for spelling out his perceptions of the functions of
power. Decentring and pluralism seem to be Achebe's two dominant'
impulses in the novel. Similarly Beatrice and the women take
on the mantle of leadership and the role of narrators. The naming
ceremony of Elewa's daughter is a modern christening ritual shorn
of all the conventions surrounding it. It is the beginning of a
new order. It is a recreation and regeneration. The role played
by Beatrice in the story and plot is crucial, She seems to tie
up all the different strands and kinds of approaches and link the
new synthesis to the lives of the struggling masses. Beatrice
becomes the sign of the new African wornan and signifies the
beginning of a new era of wornenls liberation. lkem and Chris, in
their own way, are forerunners of the movement or new alliance
for a people-centred and culturally-rooted politics.
Both Anand and Achebe use the main characters as their
~pokespersons. Sometimes this degenerates into preaching or
sermonising. But it should be added that the didactic vein is
more in evidence in Anand than in Achebe. The latter uses subtle
devices to cummunicate his strong views and critiques. His
satiric or ironic mode of writing veils his authorial voice or
presence in most novels. While Anandts characters get stunted or
truncated in growth as a consequence of his frequent intrusions,
~chebe's protagonists are allowed to grow organically. Thus
Anand's treatment of protagonists and other characters is marred
by ideological biases. Achebe's treatment is realistic and
within limits of authorial intervention or presence.
In chapter five, an attempt is made to examine the novels
of Anand and Achebe from the perspective of tradition versus
modernity. This question has exercised the minds of sociologists
ever since modernity became a reality with the advent of
industrialisation, science and technology. As far as India and
Nigeria are concerned, it was the colonial encounter that firmly
planted modernity in the native soil. Thus modern outlook,
views, attitudes, approaches associated with science and
technology and western civilization have become a challenge to
native traditions and local culture- The dichotomy in this way
of thinking is obvious. Nevertheless the problem is real and
needs to be faced squarely.
The novel as a literary genre came to 1ndia and ~igeria as
a byproduct of colonialism. And it is a proven fact that
colonial writers have evinced an extraordinary interest in
exposing and depicting the vast disparities between the two
opposite cultures and systems and the sad consequences of this
historic confrontation. The novels of Anand and Achebe closely
resemble the social process that they seek to describe. And in
fact the novel assumes greater vigour and verve as it becomes, in
the hands of the novelists, an instrument for expressing the
inner dynamics and contradictions apparent or hidden in social
structures or social relationships, We are reminded of
Goldmann's concept of whomology of structure^^^.
Anand and Achebe present the conflict that took place when
the alien cultural, political, economic and religious structures
came face to face with their native counterpart. The term
tradition signifies the latter and the term modernity is used to
denote the former. While this is a recurring theme or motif in
most of the novels of Anand and Achebe, they have addressed this
problem more explicitly and powerfully in some novels than in the
others. This motif is seen to be part of the liberation dynamics
of any colonised country, The post-colonial reality of any third
world country is marked by the consequences of this conflict.
Thus the resolution of this conflict becomes a must for such
countries. Anand treats this in a convincing manner in his
Bia Heart. Ananta the protagonist is Anand's own alter ego in so
far as the former professes a pragmatic approach to mechanisation
and modernity and virtually lays down his life in the cause of
promoting the spirit of modernism. Through Anantags frequent
harangues and the rhetorical exercises of Puran Singh Bhagat,
Anand has powerfully projected the importance and inevitability
Of the machines and exposed the shortsightedness and myopic
approach of those who blindly adhere to time-honoured and
outmoded beliefs. The lron Mongers bazar and bazar Kaserian are
certain symbols of the new and old world views respectively.
Moreover Anand has meticulously painted the Billimaran Lane where
most of the action of the novel is set. The choice of symbols of
ancient times and modern spirit that dot the lane at both ends is
evidently Anand's strategy to underline the conflictual but
ineluctable nature of such a situation. Anand has not extolled
everything that is old or obsolete, but has advised moderation
while following the path of modernity and progressivism. His
philosophy as verbalised by Ananta is that machines are
necessary, but we must master the machines and above a11 we
need a big heart. Ananta's violent death is, in fact, turned
into a martyr's sacrificial offering on the altar of human
solidarity. Notwithstanding Anantafs ~lscandalous~ cohabitation
with janki, he is elevated as a model of such heroic living. In
otherwords, Anandfs apotheosis of Ananta and Janki is his fictive
tribute paid to all forms of struggle based on self-effacement
and self-giving without counting the cost or minding the wounds.
As a strategy for struggle geared to liberation Anand
perceptively points out a few indispensable ingredients. While a
radical structural approach to social injustice and disparities
is ideal it must go hand in hand with a practical down-to-earth
concern for the immediate material needs of the underprivileged.
He condemns the attitude that compartmentalises these two related
aspects of the liberationist struggle. Ananta fails as he is
unable to concretely translate his high ideals and goood
intentions in terms of actions here and now. High sounding
radical rhetoric alone cannot satisfy the hunger of the masses.
The hunger for ultimate freedom cannot be satisfied without
feeding their physical hunger. The second ingredient of a
liberation struggle according to Anand is the need for
complenentarty. The presence of the poet Puran Singh Bhagat is
Anand's assertion of the need for an ideologue, a visionary, a
prophet in a programme for liberation. Ananta stands for grit
and determination, conviction and action. The poet articulates,
clarifies and encourages. Both the types of people are necessary
if a struggle has to succeed in India. The role of the
enlightened and educated individuals in a democratic country like
ours cannot be overemphasised.
In Gauri Anand has highlighted this problem, albeit in an
indirect or, implicit manner. Although the protagonist Gauri is
cast in the mould of a conformist, tradition-bound, self-effacing
rural girl and wife, there is a dramatic change towards the end
of the novel. Her sufferings and humiliations have
mellowed her and facilitated her maturation. But the real
exposure to modern values and habits occurs in the hospital of
Dr. Mahindra and thanks to his example and efforts. There is a
sharp contrast between the Gauri that meekly accepts her unhappy
married life with panchi and her being sold to a rich merchant
and the Gauri of the last pages who stages a walk out on her
husband who refuses to acknowledge her fidelity or regard her
changed modes of thinking and behaving as indicative of her
personal growth as a working woman. Anand condemns the habit of
mudslinging and character assassination so rampant in Indian
society, as detrimental to the cause of liberation. In this
novel Dr. Mahindra becomes the spokesperson of Anand for
expounding his humanistic philosophy. Mahindra proposes the
antidote to fear and recommends a fearless and indomitable
spirit. Gauri carves out for herself a path and follows it with
devotion and conviction, whatever the maligning tongues of her
kith and kin may pronounce. She becomes the subject of her
destiny. She is the model of the new woman as perceived and
represented by Anand. ~auri is as much a creature of traditions
as a product of modern ethos and values. She is a symbol of the
integration of the traditional spirit and the modern scientific or
rational temper. For Anand, adherence to truth, sincerity and
human values is as important as scientific and rational outlook,
if Indian society should march towards progress and emancipation.
Achebefs fictional matrix is the colourful and glorious
Igbo past and culture. His first novels depict the tribal
society in its pristine beauty and simplicity, thus setting the
stage for the eventual catastrophe brought about by the onset of
the values, administration, political, economic and religious
structures of the British. Nevertheless more than in his
Thinss Fall A~art and Arrow of a, Achebe addresses tbe problem
of tradition versus modernity in his No Lonser & Ease. The
central chracter Obi Okonkwo has the stuff in him for a modern
tragic hero. In fact his discomfiture is announced at the
beginning of the novel as he is convicted of corruption. It is a
severe blow to t h e ego not only of Obi but of the entire village
community that expects much from him. But Obi's failure or
tragedy is t h e result of t h e convergence of many extraneous
factors and his own lack of will. His indebtedness as a result
of his yielding to pressures and demands both real and imaginary,
becomes unbearable and therefore he resorts t o the unethical
practice of accepting bribes. Obits perversion is only t h e
symbol of the general moral corruption and decadence that rocks
the whole of Nigeria. Achebe reproves the moral depravity of the
people of ~muofia and in a subtle manner attributes the
responsibility for Obits failure to the corrupt ethos and
decadent milieu and his parent for repudiating Clara
just because she belongs to the outcast group known as Osu.
Achebe exposes the hypocrisy and double-. standard of Obi's
parents and village people and the lack of grit on the part
Obi. 'I
Obits tragedy underlines the uneasy situation that prevails
in Nigeria in the wake of colonial confrontation. On the other
hand Achebe doesnf t fail to point out the woeful lack of
awareness on the part of the Nigerians who still cling to some
traditional beliefs, practices and prejudices. While blaming the
present moral crisis on the white man's subterfuges and
imperialist arrogance, Achebe finds the acquisitiveness and greed
of the people quite reprehensible and unacceptable. While not
npproving of Obi's moral deviations, Achebe provides hints to show
that he sympathises with the young, educated, elite leaders like
Obi who are caught in a bind, a dilemma wrought by the historic
clash of two opposite cultures and societies. While Anand
becomes on occasions didactic and preachy in achieving his
artistic end, Achebe does it by means of subtle devices of
charcterization, plot and structures and narrative techniques.
Achebe maintains a rational and emotional distance from the story
and action of the novel that makes its message credible.
From an examination of how the theme of "tradition versus
modernity11 & expressed in the novels of Anand and Achebe, w e
proceeded to investigate in the next chapter another important
issue in the whole gamut of liberation, and that is, I1Class War
and Caste politic^^^. Class war obviously recalls the Marxian
dialectics of how class war will eventually yield or lead to a
classless society, the withering of the state, and statelss
socialism. ~ h u s we are faced with the most serious modern
problem of exploitation that make the poor poorer and the rich
richer. rt is peculiarly capitalistic problem and one that has
been sharpened and made more contentious in the third world
countries after the imposition of colonial rules, The gap
already existing between the haves and the havenots began to
widen as the British introduced commerce and trade based on mere
profit-seeking and cut-throat competition.
It is this aspect of Indian economy that Anand explores in
his novels specially in Coolie, The Big Heart and Two Leaves and
a Bud. Munoo the central character of Coolie and Gangu the main - -
character of Two Leaves and a Bud are both kshatriyas the second
highest in caste hierarchy and still are exploited because they
come from an indigent background. They both are coolies who sell
their labour for making a livelihood. Money is the main objective
or goal of all their hard labour and inhuman sufferings at the
hands of their employers.
Munoo is barely past his childhood and the experience he
goes through in order to eke out an existence are beyond, the pale
of even an adult labourer, He is driven from place to place,
ill-treated, poorly paid and finally becomes a victim of a
wasting disease and dies, Exploitation is written large in his
life and predicament as the system he is trapped in, mercilessly
saps his life, energy, enthusiasm and idealism.. He is a mere
puppet in the capitalist system and is buffeted by all
anti-worker and anti-human forces. Nevertheless Munoo cherishes
an unquenchable thirst for the good things of life, for love and
friendship. In the last stages of his life he desires to rejoin
Ratan in Bombay to work for his trade union.
Anand's Gangu in Two Leaves and g Bud is another exploited
hero, a victim of circumstances and the glib talk and fraudulent
promises of brokers. He is drafted like thousands of other
labourers into the Assam tea-gardens. He like his other
fellow-labourers, is a clasic case of bonded labourers whose
chances of liberation are remote and virtually nil. Anand's
sympathies are quite obvious as he portrays the inhumanity of the
British overlords who are out to fleece the workers and enhance
the profit for the empire. The portrayal of some of the British
characters, specially the one of Reggie Hunt, the assistant
planter, is, though exaggerated, Anand's perception of the
cruelty and inhumanity of the system. Gangu nearly lost his
daughter as a victim of Reggie Hunt's lust, watched his wife
succumb to cholera and fell victim to Reggie Hunt's rage.
Anandfs portrayal which is grim, is also a vehement plea for the
subverting of the system so that the working class will not only
get adequate wages but will eventually come in possession of the
means of production.
The Bis Heart is another novel where Anand has addressed - the question of class struggle and its subtle relationship to
caste. The thathiars are traditional coppersmiths. The starting
of a large scale factory hits their business badly. Ananta
stands for a rational approach to the machines while a bulk of
the thathiars oppose the move. ~ u r l i Dhar, who has joined the
factory management as a partner, tries to form a new alliance
with the upper class kinsmen and ignores his poor kinsfolks and
treats them with contempt. The latter however teach him a lesson
by boycotting his sons's betrothal and thus causing him
embarrassment in front of his business partners. Class may
eventually triumph over caste. Nevertheless Anand seems to
assert that caste as a reality has came to stay and may not be
easily obliterated. Anand, however, advocates a moderate and
rational approach to mechanisation and industrialisation without
trampling, in the process, human values of unity, solidarity,
compassion, equality, brotherhood and justice. The title of the
novel "The Big Heart" is Anantaf s oft-repeated refrain and
encapsulates Anandfs version of humanness and humanism.
Achebefs fictional world does not allow of treatment
pertaining to class or caste. The tribal society was a cohesive
one and the problem that is directly addressed by Achebe is the
unsettling effect of the colonial presence and domination on the
traditional society. In this process, very seldom does Achebe
dwell on class reality and obviously never on caste, as it is not
a reality in ~frican society. Nevertheless he does allude to the
emergence of trade and business based on cash in Thinss FalL
A ~ a r t and Arrow of a, He does not develop this idea at length except in Lonser & Ease and A Man of the P e o ~ l e . In a
slightly varied manner he treats class conflict in Anthills 9f
the Savannah. In these three novels the class character of the - relationships prevailing between the principal characte* is
clearly brought out. The conflict between them is more often than
not reducible to money competition and profit making. One common
denominator of the presence of capitalist form of economy is the
ubiquitous presence of corruption. In No Lonser & Ease, it is
corruption of Obi that spells his disaster and throws up
questions regarding the system whose product and victim Obi
happens to be. corruption in high places is being studied in A
Man of People, where the chief Nanga is a personification of
corruption- The powerful influence of corruption is projected by
Achebe as he points out that even Odili's father or his great
comrade Max is not free from this virus, Achebe effectively
presents the moral degradation and erosion of values that are the
logical corollary of the capitalistic mode of production and
business centred on profit-making and self-seeking. The ruling
triumvirate of Kangan in Anthills of the Savannah gets divided on
account of warring perceptions on the nature of the state and of
governance. The radical element and protest spearheaded by Chris
and Ikem cost them their lives, but not before igniting the
revolutionary spark in Beatrice, a well-placed and educated
woman. She and her other companions vow to continue the
struggle. Achebe subtlely points to the dictator's subservience
to foreign manipulations and neocolonial mentality.
Achebers analysis of the tragic consequences of the
introduction of the capitalist mode of production and trade is a
perspicacious commentary on the ethical crisis and political
instability that are the order of the day in independent Nigeria.
He regrets that values of sharing, giving, equality and
brotherhood that were part of their heritage have been lost in
the aftermath of colonization.
Anand has dwelt on the problem or the social evil of caste
in a profound manner in his Untouchable, The Road and The B i q
Heart. Bakha the protagonist of Untouchable and Bhikhu the
central chracter of The Road are both sweeper boys, the lowest
among the untouchables. Casteism and untouchability are depicted
in their worst and most despicable forms in Untouchable. Bakha
is a type of the sweeper caste but is possessed of a keen sense
of his own lowliness and the impossility of his breaking out of
this rut, The conflict is portrayed powerfully as Bakha
goesthrough the notions of his daily chores of sweeping and
cleaning and begging his food. The climax occurs when he touches
a Brahmin unwittingly and he is made a laughing stock of
all-This incident however, opens his eyes to the injustice
and sinfulness of the system of caste hierarchy and
untouchability. Bakha's spark of revolt is smothered by
the futility of his rage and protest. Nevertheless Anand
offers him three different alternatives, that of Gandhi, that
of Jesus and that of the poet proposing a scientific and
modern solution to this vexatious question. AnandJs own
solution probably lies in a combination of all the three
alternatives. Of course his scientific, historical and
comprehensive humanism is his answer to the social evil of
casteism and untouchability.
Anand probes the psychological hang-ups and fears that
operate in the minds of the high caste Hindus and the
untouchables in their inter-relationships in his novel The Road.
As the title implies there are government-sponsored programmes
and activities that help the low caste or the so called scheduled
caste people to ameliorate their lot economically. Now they can
work and earn money, This has given them independence. ~conomic
freedom from their traditional caste masters is a boon to them if
they are prepared to work out their own course of action. Anand
uncovers the hypocrisy and double standards involved in the high
caste Hindu's attitude to Bhikhu the central character who leads
the road-building operation and the other untouchables. He
asserts the so-called caste dharma often proclaimed by Pandit
Suraj Mani and Thakur Singh. Anand also takes up the cudgel
against the chamars who wilt under pressure from the high caste
leaders. They are defeated by their own sense of inadequacy and
inferiority. Dhooli Singh is a very credible creation of Anand
and represents AnandJs vision of transforming the caste-ridden
society into an egalitarian one.
Anand completes his analysis of caste and casteism by
exposing in The Bis Heart yet another aspect of the class-caste
equation. The richer thathiars represented by Murlidhar and his
coterie are trying to dissociate themselves from their caste by
forming a new class alliance with Gokul Chand, a kasera. Economic
prosperity enables some to move upwardly and in the process to
declass themselves and join the ranks of a rich dominant class.
Anand might be putting forth his hope that class formation and
flexibility may be one way of liquidating the caste hierarchy or
at least casteism in Indian society. But it will be a long and
arduous road for the untouchables to shake off the stigma and
enter the heaven of equality and brotherhood built on human
dignity and personhood.
Achebe has not addressed himself explicitly to caste or
casteism in any of his novels simply because caste is non-existent
in Africa in the form or in the virulent degree that it is present
in India. The only instance of discrimination that we find is in
Lonser & Ease where the parents and village people stoutly
object to Obi marrying Clara, as she is an Osu which signifies
her belonging to a slave community or an outcaste group among the
Igbos. Achebe is highly critical of this discirminator attitude
and tradition among the Igbos and disapproves obi's repudiation
of the girl.
Both Anand and Achebe are not obscurantists, They believe
in the full and regulated spread of the scientific and
technological culture. Education as a means of widespread
conscientization is advocated by them. What is essential is the
right mixture of the modern spirit or modern scientific values
and the old human values. Person should be at the heart of any
programme of liberation.
If liberation has, as its objective, the installation of
the human person at the centre of world reality and as the
subject of his own destiny, it follows that the woman, as his
equal partner cannot be ignored. In fact women's liberation or
feminism has today won tremendous prestige amidst social
scientists, educationists, social reformers and literary artists.
Hence, it becomes imperative to examine Anand and Achebe and
their writings from the feminist perspective. d
Anand has created a number of women characters. But most of
them are cast in the conventional mould of housewife-mother.
Only in Gauri we come across a woman known by the same name, who
flouts all conventional female roles and norms and comraences a
life of her own. She determines her own future and courageously
walks out on her husband who is a personfication of feelings of
inadequacy, inferiority and fear of blame. Panchi, the husband
of Gauri fails to resonate with an awakened Gauri. Hence, ~auri
decides to leave him and shape her life and that of her child
whom she is carrying. This novel is a powerful indictment of the
heartlessness and lack of understanding of menfolk while dealing
with women.
Achebe examines this question in Anthills of the savannah,
while laying bare the different nuances and contours of power and
power relationships in the polity. Achebe makes women, the
successors to the legacy of liberative struggles. eat rice is
the lone survivor, having imbibed the spirit and daring of Ikem
and Chris who have died as martyrs of the cause. The feminine
element so essential and intrinsic a part of all human activities
is being emphasised by Achebe once the men quit the scene.
Beatrice, Elewa and other men and women enact the christening
ceremony of the child of Elewa, a traditionally male prerogative
in the tribal dispensation. The stage is set in a mythical and
apocalyptic fashion for the liberation struggle to be carried on.
Here is the biblical remnant seized with a profound sense of the
urgency of the cause and deeply linked to the past in the living
memories of Chris and Ikem. Achebe has masterfully interwoven
myriad strands drawn from history, mythology, culture, language,
literature, politics and society to fashion this novel which both
expresses an ideology and is its product and ends on a certain
note of hope, wiping out all the sorrowful and gloomy events of
the story.
While Anand's humanistic concern for the woman stops at
revolt and defiance at the personal and domestic levels ~chebe's
perspective on women prefers a larger stage or arena wherein the
main actors will be women spearheading the struggle, possessed of
a clear-cut agenda for liberation. While women like Gauri are
not easy to come by, the fire that is kindled in them can catch
and ignite more women in a similar travail or predicament.
Probabaly Anand sustains such a hope for womankind and society as
a whole. Achebe leaves no doubt about his intention and
objective of making women play a crucial role in the drama of
human liberation.
Having examined the perspective of liberation from various
angles in the works of Anand and Achebe, we proceeded in the
penultimate chapter to tackle the very problematic question of
the relationship between art and commitment. It is quite
appropriate and in a way essential that this queston was faced,
as "commitmentl~ can justifiably and meaningfully be applied to
the writings of both Anand and Achebe. From a critical analysis
of selected novels of Achebe and Anand, it emerges that they both
are committed writers with a definte purpose and goal, working
within a well though-out ideological framework. while affirming
that there is no doubt at all about the commitment of Anand and
A c h e b e , it, however, remains to be estblished that their
commitment to a cause, in this case, the cause of liberation of
the peoples, does not in any way mar their artistic integrity.
In other words, it has to be shown that both Anand and A c h e b e
remain faithful to the logic, inner dynamics and basic principles
of the art they are working with. As novelists, they are bound
by certain laws of the art or genre they are enegaged upon.
Hence it is expected that they strike a balance or the golden
mean between their ideological convictions or ideas or
felt-experiences and the form through which these are expressed.
Art-commitment controversy is as old as literature. From
Horace, Plato and Aristotle down to many British writers
including Spenser and Johnson have all spelt out the aim of
literature in terms of effecting a moral or intellectual or
behavioural change in the huamn person. The Romantics and the
Victorians wrote with a passionate attachment to a vision,
political or social or spiritual. Dickens was certainly a
trend-setter in realistic portrayal of social realities. The
political novel of the Victorian Age was probably an offshoot of
this trend. The aesthetic doctrine of art for art's sake was
also a product of this age.
The Marxian appraoch to literature was based on mode of
production which in turn conditions the social, political and
intellectual life. Marx averred that it was necessary to change
the world and therefore proposed a critical framework with which
to analyse reality. Jean-Paul Sartre made a vehement plea for
engaged or committed literature (litterature engage'). For
Sartre, freedom is the only subject of writing for any writer and
this freedom or liberation has to be specific, appropriate to a
particular context or situation.
There has been a controversy as to whether a committed
writer or a political writer is, by the very fact, a
propagandist. This confusion has to be clarified or else it will
have far-reaching consequences in respect of writers like Anand
and Achebe. The criticism that a committed writer always has an
ideological viewpoint which he tries to impose on an uninitiated
or unwary reader, is false and seems to be politically motivated.
Instead, one needs to frame the question this way. "Is not a
wholly uncommitted art a contradiction in terms?lq. Thus
commitment is viewed as a moral need, not to be equated with
propaganda. If this is progaganda, then we are going to have it
always and in all committed or engaged writing. Nevertheless it
is possible and important that a good artist avoids the
impression of being propagandist.
As an artificial separation of politics from human life is
at the bottom of this dichotomy, it may be useful to trace the
historical evolution of this relationship from ~ristotle down.
Neither the ancient Greeks nor even Marx propounded any dichotomy
between politics or society and literature. And still they
upheld the autonomy of a work of art.
1.A. Richards has written exensively on this question- He
has asserted that the manner of saying the truth is crucial in
any art form, T. S, Eliot has expressed a profound insight when
he suggested that the content of a work of art and its form are
closely related to each other and that this relationship is
~ t u a u y enriching and transforming. Hence, Eliot saw no
disjunction and much less contradiction between art and
commitment.
Thus it becomes intelligible to us that any third world
writer worth h i s name should be a committed writer. And this
commitment, to be real and meaningful, we may infer, has to
reflect the reality of poverty, illiteracy the gap between the
rich and the poor, exploitation and oppression, both colonial and
neocolonial. The works of Anand and Achebe need to be
investigated against this background. Of course, Anand has come
under heavy flak from critics within the country and occasionally
fr0m abroad for being overtly propagandist. There are however
more objective scholars and critics who have held a brief for
Anand and exonerated him by pointing out that Anand is genuinely
searching fox fictional forms that will suit his social impulses
or desire images. He has succeeded in finding the right form to
a large extent. Nevertheless it should be conceded that by and
large in Anand the form is always subservient to the content.
It should however be said in Anand's favour that out of
the works that we have examined in this study, Untouchable,
Coolie and The Biq H e a f i are superb creations of his artistic
Pen. fired by a creative mind and powerful imagination of a rare
quality. His novelistic techniques are quite variegated- He
tries the stream of consciouness and psychological probing of the
minds of characters in Untouchable and Coolie. It should be
conceded that Anand, more than any Indian novelist, has
successfully employed this technique and in a sense has improved
upon it by adapting it to the peculiar cultural variables of
India. He has moreover made use of the interior monologue rather
effectively in order to circumvent the much too obvious
aberration of the authorial intrusion, a defect commonly found in
Anand's novels.
Anand's technqiue of expressing the general or the
universal through the experiences or reflections of a single
character like Munoo in Coolie, Bakha in Untouchable or even
Ananta in The Bis Heart, Gauri in The Old Woman and the
speaks volumes for his artistic temper and commitment. Anand is
capabale of adapting his language and style to suit the mode and
tone of the narrative or story. His artistic detachment from the
story or plot or the characters in some of his novels is worthy
of commendation, His objectivity in these novels is
praiseworthy. It is true that the endings of coolie and
Untouchable are not in keeping with the tenor of the action and
plot of the novel and perhaps it is Anand's artistic faux pas.
Nevertheless, it has a legitimacy of its own, viewed within the
larger reality of helplessness and hopelessness that the present
situation of mass poverty and exploitation consistently projects.
The prophetic dimension underpinning such situations could have
been effectively tapped by Anand for rallying and mobilising all
liberationist forces of the world.
Achebe has time and again proclaimed his commitment to the
cause of exposing the tragic consequences of the colonial
encounter and of educating the masses of his people and the
colonial countries to perceive the beauty and grandeur of the
tribal society and culture. He has styled himself as a protest
writer, a teacher and an educationist. is technique of doing
this is by reconstructing the Igbo past and analysing the present
colonial and postcolonial reality in the light of the past. He
is neither a blind romanticizer of the past nor a jaundiced
critic of the activities of the colonizers. He is able to
command a respectable distance from the events portrayed or
action or the characters of his novels. while one senses the
author's pervasive presence in his novels, it is the greatest
merit of Achebe that his charcters are life-like and credible,
his situations realistic and plots extremely well constructed and
architectonic.
His use of the folklore and folk-traditions, stories,
tales, songs and proverbs, is a marvellous achievement on the
part of Achebe the masterful artist. These provide a framework
to Achebe for expressing reality. They in fact afford answers to
certain practical questions. These stories or tales invariably
convey a moral. Achebe has pioneered the skilful use of the folk
song in the narrative, that heightens the evocative power and
sometimes the suspense and pathos of the action. Achebefs range
of language, variation of style, adaption of different modes
suited to the paxticualr theme, his characterization and
craftmanship are all points that go to make up his profile as an
artist and a novelist. His early novels Thinss Fall Apart, Arrow
of God and No Lonser Ease show forth his power for nostalgic --
reconstruction of the past in an effort to contrast it with the
havoc wrought by the colonial intrusion. & man of the Peoule is
a fictional presentaion of the disillusionment that gripped the
people after the native elite took over the reins of government
in the aftermath of independence, His latest novel Anthills of
the Savannah is an artistic landmark in Achebefs career as a - novelist in that he has successfully experimented with new
techniques and a new novel form. While maintaining his realistic
tenor and the satirical mode, Achebe introduces a mythical mode
in order to show the need for multilateral power. He has
discovered a multiple narrative scheme that shifts the focus of
action on different individual leaders. Change of leadership or
multiple leadership style is in other words a decentring of
power. Achebe's form in this novel enhances the power of the
narrative and transforms the content even as the content provides
shape and thrust to the form. In other words, there is a
dialectical relationship between the form o f the novel and the
content emphasising the dialectics that should underlie the
relationship between the leaders among themselves and the leaders
and the masses. It is an absorbing novel that brings out the
power struggle and the tussle between power equations and power
centres in the new Nigerian political dispensation. The unique
feature of this novel is Achebe's portrayal of the crucial role
women have to or can play in liberation struggles. He has
moreover underscored the vital and indispensable realtionship
between story-telling and people.
In short, Achebe believes in the distinction of art into
pure art and applied art and qualifies his as applied art. While
being quite clear that there is no dichotomy between art and
political commitment, he insists on the educative and
regenerative values of any art, specially of writing.
Neverthelss it is meritorious on Achebe's part to have achieved a
near toal correlation between form and content, a perfect unison
between art and commitment.
While the same cannot be said of Anand's record as a
novelist, he has certainly been a trail-blazer and pioneer with
the teething problems associated with such a task. While some of
his novels are perfect pieces of art, he has not been consistent
in this commitment to the novel as an art form. His social,
political and moral convictions get the better of his aesthetic
or artistic impulse on occasions. This tendency has flawed or
vitiated not only his language and style but also the action,
plot and characterization of some of his otherwise well-conceived
novels.
POSSIBLE AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
The foregoing study had the burden of examining the
liberationist potential or thrust in Anand and Achebe as
novelists of the third world. The underlying assumption in this
study was that the perspective of liberation should permeate the
stories and themes of a third world novelist who professes
commitment to the people whose lives and struggles, he claims to
portray. It was therefore a search or investigation based on the
hypothesis that liberation or people's perspective should colour
the approaches, content, texture and message of such novels. A s
a result of a deep study, analysis and interpretation of select
novels of Anand and Achebe, it has been possible for us t o
discover elements of liberative urge, sentiments, themes, vision,
approaches, outlook and pedagogy in both the authors. In other
words, the commitment of these two writers as novelists has
redoubtably established their wroks as pertaining to the realm of
liberation of people as a whole, from subjugation, slavery and
Oppression of all kinds. Now the onus is on us to make
projections for future research possibilities. We shall examine
this possibility keeping the paradigms created by Anand and
Achebe in mind,
In Anand the subject matter or the fictional matrix .is
almost always the life and fortunes of the under-privileged
working classes, the untouchables or women. These people m a h e up
the fictional world of Anand. He hardly ever describes the
reality of an alien or foreign world, He has carried on, with a
crusader's zeal, the fight for making the underdog in society,
the eccentrics and the marginalised, the central characters and
subject matter of his stories. He has succeeded after a game and
relentles struggle to give legitimacy to the admission of such
characters into the elite society of the fictional world. Thus
the problems, concerns, aspirations, alienations and disabilities
at all levels experienced by the under-priveleged masses become
the very substance of his novels. Anand makes even children
heroes of his novels, Thus the stigma attached to such people in
the world of letters specially in the novel, has been removed.
They have been, in one sense, liberated by Anand from the
alienation or marginalisation committed on them by novelists with
a bourgeois bent or class orientation.
Achebe too has emphatically established the relevance and
importance of making the African society, African people's
cultural, social and political relaity the subject matter of
fiction in Africa. He has not only proclaimed it as an
ineluctable option for all writers, but has also created
successful models in his novels.
The objection of sameness, staleness or monotony can be
abviated by the fact the both Achebe and Anand have created a
whole gamut of stories and themes and have not suffered from a
dearth of material. It should be remembered that there are
numerous writers in various Indian languages, who, like Prernchand
in Hindi, Jeyakantan in Tamil, and Thakazhi Sivasankaran in
Malayalam, have espoused the cause of the downtrodden and have
used the lives and problems of these people as the raw
material for their novels with unprecedented succees and readersf
response.
Given the fact that there are quite a few novelists in
various Indian languages who are "Committedw in the sense Anand
and Achebe are, it should be fascinating to make a comparative
study of Anand and any other Indian novelist writing in an Indian
language. Such an investigation is bound to yield rare and
precious insights that will enrich reading of such novelists and
provide new avenues and areas to critics and comparatists.
Both Anand and Achebe have demonstrated not only the
possibility, but the inevitiability and necessity of depicting or
portraying characters who represent the larger reality of
suffering, deprivation and alienation as it exists in one's
country. The novelists should however guard against the pitfall
of becoming stereotypical or monotonous in characterization.
Novelistic techniques have to be adapted or innovated according
to the demands of the existential situation enacted and the plot
of the novel. Anand and Achebe have quite successfully done it.
If there is a specific area for further research, it is the
novelist's ability to make an absorbing story out of the humdrum
existential struggle of the oppressed masses. The works of Achebe
and Anand could be further explored from this perspective. In
other words the relative innovative and creative potential of
these writers could be assessed and compared with the novelists
of other Indian languages. Moreover it may be legitimate to
expect that any relevant third world fiction should reflect
realistically the existential angst and struggles of the
maginalised sections. To judge the relevance of a novel or a
novelist from this critical standpoint becomes necessary in the
context of the universal phenomenon of liberation movements in
the countries of the third world.
In Achebe the folk elements, particularly folktales,
proverbs and myths find a place in the story quite naturally
performing a specific function in the narrative and in the
structure of the novel. A special mention should be made of
Achebe's use of folktales in and AOG as paradigmatic.
Sometimes these tales serve a multiple purpose of revealing the
hidden conflict of a character, of teaching a universal moral
principle to one and all and of throwing light on the central
conflict or message or theme of the novel.
Anand has established a unique novelistic technique of
investing a novel with the qualities of a fable, of a folktale.
His Untouchable and Coolie read like tales and their structure
has all the ingredients of a fairy tale. This explains why these
novels have perennial appeal, to both young and old, to Indians
and foreigners.
A critical study of Achebefs and Anandfs use of national
cultural symbols such as folk tales, stories, songs, rituals,
beliefs, myths or puranas in their novels can by itself
constitute a veritable research subject. There is a difference
in the manner both Achebe and Anand exploit this rich cultural
heritage for making their novels more rooted and appealing as
liberative tools. Achebefs model in this regard is highly
original and variegated. Indian or African novels can become
once charming and educative if the cultural aspect is enriched by
incorporation of elements from national or racial repertoire o f
folklore and myths or puranas and proverbs. his cultural
dimension of a novel should be interwoven into the very structure
and fabric of the work.
It may be appropriate to note here that the folk character
of the form of the novel or in other words, the mass cultural
forms or technqiues are different from the transmuted or imitated
Western form or technqiues. Such a practice will be in itself an
affirmation of the culture and traditions of the masses. It is
by means of the magnificent array of oral traditions that Achebe
has infused a special quality into the texture and fabric of his
narrative. As a resul t of this a blurring of all cultural,
racial and geographic dividing lines occurs and the message is
driven home powerfully.
The novel is a popular and powerful medium with a universal
appeal. Depending on the personal vision and creed of the third
world novelist, it can either become a vehicle for conveying
personal epxeriences or for communication of knowledge to a
western audience. It should be conceded that in the masterly
hands of Achebe the novel has become a potent vehicle of
self-expression, that is, for expressing his perception and his
people's perception of their collective identity, consciousness,
aspirations, frustrations, past glories, traditions, successes
and failures. Anand too has demonstrated this dimension of
fiction with his relentleks portrayals of the underprivileged
masses of our country. In other words Achebers ideal of a writer
being a teacher or Anand's objective of a writer being the fiery
voice of the people becomes a critical yardstick for assessing
the worth of glcammitted'r third world writers. The committed
artists are fearless in voicing the injustice and inequity of the
contemporrary reality, be it colonial or neocolonial. The
writers, who have the western readers in view, may find it
legitimate to temporize or compromise,
Another fruitful area of further investigation may be a
comparative study af Anand and Achebe using Marxism or ~andhism
as the focal point. In as much as these two historical
phenomena have influenced and shaped Indian and African
thought-patterns, attitudes and practices, in one way or another,
it will be a valid starting point for a fruitful research work.
~eedless to say that Gandhi and his teachings played a crucial
role in reorienting Anandfs ideology in favour of the poor of
1ndia. And it is not difficult to discover Marxist overtones in
Anandfs fury and fulmination against exploitation and
inequalities. Explicit references to his knowledge of Marxian
approaches, pedagogy and categories abound in his non-fictional
writings. Achebe, like many other African writers, should have
come under the influence of Gandhi at some time in his life, It
may be more difficult to discern Marxian influence in Achebe1s
passionate plea for change of socio-political and economic
structures and his vehement outcry against colonial plunder and
inhuman attitudes towards the Africans.
The novel as the most flexible literary genre lends itself
to multiple manipulations, as demonstrated by Anand and Achebe
each in his own peculiar, personal and typical fashion. Such a
novel has a dual role of entertaining and instructing at the same
time. The novelist has the unenviable task of combining the role
o f a committed pedagogue and that of an artist, In other words
he is faced with the paradox of producing a fictional work that
constitutes a veritable photograph of the social dynamics and
structural mechanics that form the human drama that will
determine the ultimate shape of human civilization and the
destiny of the nations,
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
PRIMARY SOURCES
WRITINGS ACHEBE C H I NUA
Things Fall Apart. London : Heinemann, 1958.
No Longer at Ease. London : Heinemann, 1960.
A r r o w of God. London : Heinemann, 1964 ; Garden City : New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1969.
A Man of the People, London : Heinemann, and New York: John Day, 1966.
Anthills of t h e Savannah. Kenya : Heinernann, 1987- "The Role of the writer in a New ati ion". Nigeria Magazine 8 1 (June 64) : 158-160,
Morning Yet on Creation Day. Essays. London : Heinemann, 1974 - 'tThe Novelist as Teacher", The New Statesman LXIX (Jan 65) : 160-162.
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Untouchable. London : wishart, 1935, revised edition, London: Bodley Head, 1970.
Coolie. London : Lawrence and Wishart, 1936 ; Coolie, London : Penguin, 1945 ; New York : Liberty Press, 1952; revised edition, London : Bodley Head, 1972-
Two Leaves and a Bud, London : Lawrence and Wishart, 1937; New York : Liberty Press, 1954.
T h e Big Heart. London : Hutchinson, 1945 ; revised e d i t i o n , edited by Saros Cowasjee, New Delhi: Arnold-Heinernann, 1980.
The Old Woman and t h e Cow, Bombay : Kutub, 1960 ; as Gauri , New Delhi: Orient, 1976, T h e Road. Bombay : Kutub, 1961 ,
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Apology for ~eroism: An Essay in Search of Faith- London : Drummond, 1946 .
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"Trends in the Modern Indian NovelN- JIWE 1.1 (3an. 1973) : 1-6.
The Humanism of Jawaharlal Nehru. Calcutta : V i s v a - Bharati, 1978.
Conversations in Bloomsbury (reminiscences) ,, N e w Delhi : Arnold-Heinemann, and London : Wildwood House, 1981.
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