Conflict in Chinua Achebe's Things fall Apart and Arrow of God (Research Paper Sample)

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN AFRICA
TRAGEDY AND CONFLICT IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S
THINGS FALL APART AND ARROW OF GOD
A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES IN EDUCATION
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF EDUCATION
SUBMITTED BY: ROY MATHEW KARIUKI
REGISTRATION NUMBER: BED/1335/02/3
MAY 2014
DECLARATION
I declare that this project is my original work and has never been presented for any academic award in any other University or College. All information obtained from other sources has been dully acknowledged and all rights preserved and documented.
NAME:
REG. NO:
SIGNATURE:_____________________________________
DATE:__________________________________________
This Project has been submitted with my approval as the College Guide.
SUPERVISOR:
SIGNATURE:______________________________________
DATE:___________________________________________
It has been accepted and approved by the College Dean of Faculty of Education.
NAME:
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DATE:____________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Chapter1: background of the study
1.1: Statement of the problem
1.2: Significance of the study
1.3: objectives
1.4: Hypothesis
Chapter two: literature review
Chapter three: research design and methodology
3.1: description of research instruments
3.2: data collection procedures
3.3: data analysis and procedure
Chapter four: presentation and analysis of findings
4.1: conflict in Arrow of God
4.2: Tragedy in Arrow of God
4.3: Tragedy in Things Fall Apart
4.4: Conflict in Things Fall Apart
Chapter five: summary, conclusions and recommendations
5.1: summary
5.2: conclusions
5.3: recommendations
Bibliography
DEDICATION
This project is dedicated to all people of goodwill; all those who strive to make the society a better place.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Dr. Selline Oketch for her unconditional support and patience as I undertook this project and the treasure of knowledge she has imparted upon me throughout the years in college.
I would also like to thank my parents for the moral and material support they offered throughout my course. A special word of thanks to my siblings, friends and relatives who are all people of goodwill. May God bless you all.
ABSTRACT
The Study aims at focusing on the use of tragedy and conflict in the novel as a genre of literature as opposed to its traditional use in drama. My scope is limited to Chinua Achebe’s novels; Things Fall Apart and Arrow Of God.
Achebe being among the earliest African writers used this themes to enlighten the Africans on the introduction of western civilization through colonization and introduction of Christian missions which deemed African values and cultures as inferior and uncivilized.
Through his enlightment by using the novel, Achebe helped the Africans endear the changes of pre and post colonial dogma in a more liberal style , in fact he deserves to be regarded as an architect of modern Africa by the use of language as an influential tool to the rise of independent nations and thus removing the wig of colonial artifact that Africans were inferior .The aim of the study is to show how tragedy and conflict are utilized in Achebe’s novels and how thy are artistically crafted to show the impact on the African society in relation to the traditional values and western norms of culture and colonization .The study proves that the two themes win affection in the novel as much as they do in drama and are an effective communication tool both in drama and in the novel.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Many a time conflict and tragedy have been employed in African literature, it demands the development of individual characters as well as situations, while conflict involves opposing ideals and values between characters in a society or between opposing forces .The study aims to prove the effectiveness of these two themes in the novel using a case study of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow Of God.
Achebe remained in his traditional surroundings for a long period and therefore learnt all that he needed to know for his novels from direct experience. The collision of cultures in his novels indicates that Achebe uses the word curious rather than conflict to describe his feelings as a child about the dual culture he witnessed. His novels mainly focus on culture and political conflicts despite the fact that Africa was not a cultural vacuum before the advent of the Europeans Africans have been led to reject the past and regard it as inferior to the western civilization introduced to them thus suppressing their own customs, Social and religious aspects in favour of western customs. This study will focus on a thorough analysis of tragedy and conflict in the two novels and their relevance in bringing out the meaning of the two texts.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how the themes of tragedy and conflict have been explored by Achebe in his texts and how he uses them to bring out the meanings of the texts using language as a tool to recreate the past and also reconcile the readers to it as well in relation to the current socio-economic, cultural and political situation that Africa is facing currently under the influence of western culture introduced to the Africans through colonization and missionary activities in the continent. Owing to the fact that conflict and tragedy are mainly utilized in drama and the fact that this was used by writers from the west, makes it unique in that Achebe applies them in the novel as a genre in a very effective manner in expressing his plight that the African socio-economic and political ideology was as relevant as the western culture and the effects of western contamination on it, thus making it a relevant area of study because even after five decades in the market arrow of god and things fall apart remain one of the best literary works in Africa.
Despite many literary scholars having analyzed or written critiques about the novels, many of them like Gikandi have majored on the aspect of style and the rise of folktales and proverbs in the novel, others like Soyinka have done intensive analysis on myth ad religious aspects in the two novels all of which are richly utilized and only touching thinly on conflict and tragedy as features of style but which undoubtedly form the backbone of the story in the two novels.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
My interest on carrying out an in depth study of the two themes is to show how they are relevant in developing the story in the novel as a genre as effectively as they are in drama with a precise interest on the African novel where many of the early African writers like Jommo Kenyatta and Ngugi wa Thiongo unlike Achebe largely ignored the western approach when writing their literary works but preferred integrating the traditional systems which are informally used to enlighten the readers from the various backgrounds they came from, for example Ngugis type of theatre system did not apply to any conventions that apply to theatre but was very effective in enlighting the locals while Jommo opted for direct narration about the kikuyu culture in his novel, Facing Mount Kenya. Thus the main aim of the study is to show that the themes of tragedy and conflict are effective in the African novel just like in drama and other western novels.
1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study aims to help the literary scholar understand how Achebe as a writer uses the themes of tragedy and conflict in bringing out the meaning in his novels. It will also be of importance in the academic field by opening up fora for further discussion on the use and functions of the themes of tragedy and conflict in Achebe’s works.
The study also aims to show how Africans were victims of cultural unease and disintegration all of which the playwright expertly portrays through tragedy and conflict. It also portrays how the missionaries were unable to make the communal ideals of Christianity workable among the Africans’.
African humanism is effective in what is now alien society based on the divisive individualistic ways of the western society adopted by the Africans. The study also aims to show how Achebe exploits the themes of tragedy and conflict in order to assert the validity of pagan values which the Christian feels compelled to minimize or deny and show that the main aim of the novel was to liberate the Africans identity and history from the ethnocentric images that have been enshrined in the psychopathology of the colonizers language and also help reverse the colonists mode of perception.
1.4 OBJECTIVES
1. To find out how the themes of tragedy and conflict are portrayed in Achebe’s novels.
2. To give a thorough analysis on the impact of tragedy and conflict in Achebe’s novels.
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
1. The themes of tragedy and conflict are common in Achebe’s novels
2. The themes of tragedy and conflict carry the meaning of the text in Achebe’s novels.
3. Achebe represents the society appropriately through the themes of tragedy and conflict.
1.6 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Mimesis -"imitation", "representation"
Catharsis - variously, "purgation", "purification", "clarification"
Peripeteia - "reversal"
Anagnorisis - "recognition", "identification"
Hamartia - "miscalculation" (understood in Romanticism as "tragic flaw")
Mythos - "plot"
Ethos - "character"
Dianoia - "thought", "theme"
Lexis - "diction", "speech"
Melos- "melody"
Opsis - "spec...