INTRODUCTION
In this unit, we shall examine anti-colonialism as themes in Nigerian Novels. Most works of Nigerian literature in all genres have the thematic perspective of revealing mostly, the negative import of colonialism. Most elite Nigerians have come to realize that colonialism affected almost every aspect of Nigerian culture and sociology. There are reasons to believe that the educated Nigerians who embraced European values and attitudes have started retracting their colonial mentality and thereby exposing the evils associated with colonialism. Nigerian writers have been at the fore-front of this retraction. They have often exposed the evils of colonialism and have strongly proved that the anomalies in Nigerian politics stems from European indoctrinations. They have often attacked the Nigerian politicians, leaders, intellectuals and other people who practice European ideals against their rich Nigerian values. We shall use Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God and Festus Iyayi’s Violence in treating this theme.
3.1 General Overview
Nigerian novelists have been at the forefront of satirizing and criticizing colonialism in all facets. Even though Nigerian novels today treat vast themes, one still senses the underlying sarcasm that everything bad that happens to Africa (Nigeria) has an imperialist link. Chinua Achebe set the pace in these anti-colonial sarcasms but other Nigerian writers have shown disgusts in several ways against colonialism. These themes have been treated in several ways. However, the magnitude is perhaps the least of the difficulties facing the critic in attempting to give a fair view of this troubling theme. A more formidable problem arises from the fact that Nigerian writers are writing two different kinds of anti-colonial fictions. The first is the social-realistic narrative convention that has been familiar to readers and still exists because it attacks the known colonial problems. While the second is the socialist realistic category in which a new language prevails which attacks colonialism by attacking the institutions that emanated from it. Both are prevalent in contemporary Nigerian novels. This is premised on the awareness that there is always a close relationship between Nigerian literature and its historical context(s). The multiple paths that are followed include a thorough examination of the ideologies and context(s) within which the society is built, the consideration of the expression of life of disenchantment and pain in the polity. All lead to the unmasking of the novel as a socially symbolic act, that is, a reflection of the problems of the author’s immediate society, in particular, and the Nigerian society in general.
Many Nigerian novelists have been termed anti-colonial because of the manner in which the colonial experiences are attacked in their works. It also exposes the traumatic effects of colonial power on Africa’s development. Chinua Achebe and Festus Iyayi have often been described as anti-colonial writers because they have often chronicled the experiences of Nigerians during and after the colonial days. They write to draw sympathy and direct Nigerian properly in avoiding the repetition of colonial experiences or practicing colonial ideologies in their new or nascent polity.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
It is the duty of the writer to direct his society properly. Explain how anti-colonial Nigerian novels try to achieve this.
3.2 Anti-Colonial Themes in Arrow of God
Arrow of God centres on Ezeulu, the Chief priest Ulu, the god that protects the whole villages of Umuaro. Ezeulu has been very careful in the management of the affairs of the village since his position as the Chief Priest bestowed on him powers akin to that of a political head in village. Ulu the god is seen as the great protector of the village, revered and feared, so its priest is respected beyond the usual spiritual control to a political height. He determines the day for the new yam feast as he meticulously eats each of the select 12 yams at the appearance of every new moon. The eating of the last yam predetermines the date for the new feast.
Umuaro village is in peace until the arrival of the colonial masters into the hinterlands of Nigeria. Ezeulu saw the whites as people with high wisdom. He sees their religion as something powerful. He decides secretly to send his son Oduche to the church in order to acquire their power. He was challenged by his arch-rival, Nwaka, of Umunneora village. Nwaka, the Chief Priest of Idemili, senses that Ezeulu’s decision might affect the efficacy of Ulu. He openly challenges Ezeulu on the matter. The rivalry becomes severe when Oduche imprisoned a python in a box. He was attempting to kill the highly revered snake which is the symbol of worship of Idemili. More so, Ezeulu’s insistence that the land, which was in dispute between Umuaro and Okperi, belonged to Okperi sparked more trouble for him. Although this sincerity on the land issue drew him closer to the colonial administration in charge of the area, Captain Winterbottom, little did he know that it would cause much harm to the village of Umuaro. Captain Winterbottom had no option but to appoint him a Warrant Chief because of his sincerity and integrity. He refused the offer and was held in Winterbottom’s custody for three months within which period he could not eat three sacred yams. He expected that his people would come and rescue him from the Whiteman’s grip but they never budged. He was really provoked and vowed to make life miserable for them. He was expected to eat the three sacred yams he missed as a result of his arrest but he refused insisting that he would begin his count from the day he was released. Ezeulu’s stubbornness led to famine and starvation in Umuaro Village because he refused to name the day for the new yam festival. In all the confusion, he lost his most beloved son, Obika and even went mad in the process. The confused villagers had no option but to go to the Christian god for solace and protection.
The novel is anti-colonial because it exposed the inconsiderate attitude of the colonialists who believe that the Africans have no mind of their own. Imagine the detention of Ezeulu for refusing to accept an appointment from Winterbottom. He was treated with disrespect and unnecessarily detained which led to the famine in the land. Laws are imposed on the Africans as if they have no human rights. More so, the use of arms in settling local conflicts was intimidating. Africans were meant to believe that they were inferior to the whites.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
Ezeulu and Captain Winterbottom represent two different cultures. Explain Achebe presented them with regards to their sense of politics and religion.
3.3 Anti-Colonial Themes in Festus Iyayi's Violence
Festus Iyayi has been interested in exposing the after-effect of colonialism on the social and economic well being of Nigerians. Socialist realism as exemplified in Violence questions an existing social order and articulates a revolutionary option. Capitalism is an economic system in which the factors of production are concentrated in a few hands resulting in the alienation of property from the direct producers - the workers. Capitalism was the imperialist’s tool of discord in Nigeria. The means of production thus shifted, become the property of the capitalist - the movers of the bourgeois society. The direct result of this is apparently a dichotomy between two classes - the labourer (the worker) who receives his means of subsistence in exchange for his labour-power, and the capitalist who receives the worker’s labour and appropriates all the proceeds arising from it. The worker only receives an insignificant portion of the proceeds only for survival. Social crisis is therefore bound to arise as a reaction by the exploited workers who are in the majority.
The worker in the capitalist society is an exploited and alienated worker. He is without capital or investment or ground rent and lives entirely on his labour. He is used “just like a horse needs only receive so as enables him work” He is not considered for leisure as a human being and rather than fulfill himself in the work, he does deny himself. He does not develop freely a physical and mental energy but is physically exhausted and mentally debased. While at work, the worker feels homeless because the work is not his own. Since he works for someone else, he does not belong to himself but to another person. These conditions are the consequent creation of the capitalist society as portrayed by Iyayi’s Violence.
In the story, Idemudia struggles with unemployment and poverty in a social background of class intolerance. The masses are depicted in a dilapidated tent in a shanty slum. Idemudia unfortunately ends his secondary education in class four when his father could no longer pay his school fees. He is alternatively thrown into the labour market unprepared. He fails to secure employment after many years. Marries and has a son, he sends the child to the village. He is forced to hang around Iyaro for hire as a common labourer - a life of agony of having to feed a loyal and determined wife who grows increasingly bitter because of their condition. Iyayi portrays Idemudia’s dilemma as not only arising from his poor education, but also lacking an opportunity to improve himself through his labour. In the Nigerian capitalism, even the educated are unsafe from exploitation. The bourgeois take advantage of Idemudia’s unskilled labour to exploit him, so that though he works hard, he is underpaid and his condition suffers consistent degeneration. Idemudia, his wife and his three friends, (Osaro, Omoifo and Patrick) represent the Nigerian worker. Their social dilemma and deprivation are the subjects of Iyayi’s criticism in Violence.
This explains his argument that capitalist ideals, a result of colonial enculturation, alienates and dehumanizes the Nigerian worker. An indebted Idemudia and his wife cannot pay their debts yet the man works hard but is paid so little – a paltry sum of N5 at the end of the month. Iyayi postulates that there is too much injustice in the system. The Nigerian employer who Queen Obofun represents is constructed as a slave driver who is insensitive to the basic needs of workers. She is ever ready to extort and exploit especially those who lack the guts to say No! And Iyayi calls this violence.
When a man is denied opportunity, of being educated, of getting a job, of feeding himself and his family properly, of getting medical attention cheaply, quickly and promptly, the act of violence is committed against him (193)
An overt contrast to this condition is the world of the opulent depicted by Obofun and his wife, Queen, whose ill-gotten affluence places them on the apex of the society. The Obofuns whose wealth is accumulated through fraud in collusion with the government live in sheer luxury, own a fleet of cars, and own a chain of hotels. While Idemudia is so poor that he cannot even replace an old broom in his room, the wealthy Queen (his employer) throws away left-over food in her refuse bins. The employment of labourers in her construction company is to save her low-cost housing contract which the government had threatened to terminate for her delay in executing the project. At the work-site, work condition is extremely unbearable. The workers are slave-driven, sacked at will, intimidated and denied the opportunity to negotiate for a higher wage. This condition eventually forced Idemudia and his co-workers to embark on an industrial action. And Iyayi argues that physical violence is a moral option against psychological violence.
Class dichotomy in a capitalist society generates class discrimination and breeds hostility. In Violence, class intolerance affects even the running of the hospital. Idemudia’s illness and subsequent admission to the hospital reveals class consciousness in the administration of the hospital. Idemudia can only go a lower Ogbe hospital where the general wards are so congested that patients are paired up in beds irrespective of the nature of their diseases. Unlucky patients are forced to sleep on the bare floor along the corridor in front of the wards. “Senior service” wards are for the rich and in most cases the executive wards are virtually empty, because the rich who seldom fall sick have the best hospital facilities reserved for them while the poor who are prone to frequent ailments have no hospitals. Iyayi portrays this situation as injustice against workers. Idemudia and Osaro sell their blood to a man in a Mercedes Benz car, showing that capitalism saps the last drop of blood of the common man and rapes his manhood.
In the mock-drama embedded within the plot of the novel, also titled “Violence”, the Defence Counsel puts the whole society on trial and postulates that the society lacks moral qualification to punish crimes. Iyayi through the Defence counsel argues that every form of sabotage, crime or prostitution in the society is a direct consequence of lack of opportunity propagated by irresponsible government as well as intolerant class stratification. The lack of privilege and opportunity to the worker is a greater violence than whatever reaction the aggrieved worker might project. Here again Iyayi insists that it is the social institution that makes the man and determines his level of morality. In fact, through the Defence Counsel, Iyayi calls to question the moral eligibility of judges; because individuals are no more responsible for their actions than the society conditions them. Iyayi insists that it is the poverty of Idemudia’s family, the lack of food and the lack of money to pay Idemudia’s hospital bill that drive Adisa to adultery. Adisa must convince herself that her poverty justifies her offering her body as a way of solving her material problem. Festus Iyayi sees the Nigerian capitalist society as committing various forms of violence against the masses. To him capitalism is violence, and violence should be answered with violence. He advocates for a mass revolt which hopefully would usher in a new socio-economic order that is basically Nigerian. Thus, he wishes that the true African ideals of justice, fair play and compassion should be practiced against the hard imperialist capitalism that extorts and exploits innocent Nigerians.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
Explain how Iyayi attacked colonialism in the contemporary Nigerian state.
4.0 CONCLUSION
It is clear from the two novels under study that Festus Iyayi and Chinua Achebe have revealed to a large extent, the negative influences of colonialism on the Nigerian society. They have explained how Nigerians were made slaves in their own country and how customs and traditions were manipulated to suit the interest of the colonial master and the new bourgeoisie and elite class. African people were given the orientation that they were inferior to the whites. They were told that African religion was fetish while the European religion was the only key to meeting God Almighty. They were taught that African culture and systems of government were impracticable and should be discarded. All these issues and more were attacked in the two novels under study and these are anti-colonial elements.
5.0 SUMMARY
Anti-colonial novels are reactions by Nigerian novelists to the challenges of colonialism. Chinua Achebe stated in his authorial creed that he “would be quite satisfied if his novels especially the ones he set in the past could do no more than teach his readers that their past with all its imperfections was not one long night of savagery by which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them”. He explained that Africans did not hear of culture for the first time from the Europeans. His novel Things Fall Apart was a direct reaction to Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson which was a novel filled with ugly pictures about Africa and the African people. Chinua Achebe, Festus Iyayi and most Nigerian writers have been writing anti-colonial novels as a reaction the ugly presentation of Africa (Nigeria) by European writers. Most Africa’s problems emanate from colonial times and there are evidences of European manipulation of African governments in order to have positive gains while imposing negative vices like war and injustice on the people.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
Answer these questions carefully:
1. Explain the attack on Christian religion as presented in Arrow of God
2. Defend the statement by Achebe that Africans did not hear of culture first from the Europeans
3. If anti-colonial novels attack colonialism, what do they teach Africans?
4. Is it possible for a novel to be anti-colonial without discussing colonialism?
5. Discuss capitalism in Iyayi’s Violence as an anti-colonial issue.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Achebe, Chinua (1968). Arrow of God. London: Heinemann.
Achebe, Chinua (1975). Morning yet on Creation Day. London: Heinemann.
Iyayi, Festus (1989. Violence. Ibadan: Longman.
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