CAS EN 141 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Culture Of The United Kingdom, Tragic Hero
1 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Achebe
• Born in Nigeria into a colony of Great Britain
• Grows up in a missionary school
• Writes his book in defense of Africa and for a westernized view of Africa
• Defense of Africa (against racist charges) and defense that there is in fact civilization
• Wants to dispel the current attitude (of condescension/ignorance) towards Africa and its
country
• In the reception of the book there is a strange warping of perception (how each side is
portrayed)
Political in 2 Ways
• Content – the novel is about the destruction of Africa, the coming of the Europeans and
their conquest to colonize Africa
o Seen in the way the foreigners treat the Africans
o “Britain brought not only a missionary but a government.”
▪ Essentially about imposing a government by force
• Technical (how the story is told/how the novel is structured) – the fact that Achebe is
writing a novel is an act of reverse colonialism (novels are seen as a European concept so
this inherently Africanizes the book and reverses the power dynamic between Africa and
Europe),
o Narrative Pace (how the story is told) – the first part is told at a leisurely pace
with no clear direction (gesture towards African culture), the third part is
straightforward with the plot moving quickly (gesture towards British culture)
▪ Achebe controls the pace to match the state of Africa
o Fable/Anecdote (small stories/memories to be told) – told primarily in the first
part, Achebe is willing to interrupt the novel in order to tell these small anecdotes
(this is a gesture to his understanding of the European norm but also an example
of how he defies it)
o Word Choice – syntax/grammar is hard to understand (ex: vowels/words not
being used, strange name choices)
▪ This is meant to contradict European qualities (ex: complicated African
names v. Mr. Smith/Mr. Brown)
▪ Achebe uses traditional African names and words but does not explain all
of them which leaves us (European audience) at a disadvantage, which
creates a conflict of power (who is changing for who? who is dominant
over the other?) in Africanizing
▪ Proverb (a short, non-literal way of saying things, can often reference
nature, but is done indirectly) – seen throughout the book as longer
metaphors for things that can be described in one word (ex: crowded room
= if you threw up sand it could not land)
Storylines
• There are two storylines: one of Okonkwo and another of his clan/how they function
• Portrayal of the Clan
• Progress is regarded highly in Europe
o This inherently implies that nations that do NOT progress are inferior
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