Today on bookflash Wednesday, we are spotlighting Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe. Published in 1987 as a political fiction, Achebe reviews the aftermath of the so much celebrated independence of the 1960s. This novel, as The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born did to Ghana, concluded as regretting that independence has been a bomb, well timed for a season. We can recall that the Nigerian independence in 1960, did not last long in its suppose freedom. Three years after, there were tussles over keeping the parliamentary system of government or switching totally to presidential. In 1964, the western region was plunged into electoral crisis, as well tribal mayhem. A year after, the whole country was thrown into election crisis. It didn’t settle, until the coup and countercoup in 1966, and the three-year civil war.
Many intellectuals began to question if independence hadn’t come too early. Writers also joined in this conversation. Sarah’s In Dependence for instance, although published in 2009, took a drive down to the era and reviewed the timing for the independence. Their cumulative conclusion was that Nigeria should have taken clue from the several pre-indepence crises before deciding if it wants the independence. This partially, was what Chinua did in this novel.
Set in the Republic of Kangan, a fictional west African nation, Chinua replicates the bedevilled inequalities tribes in Nigeria are facing. In Kangan, the south has a better infrastructural life that the north. The reason, he insinuates, is drought. The opening chapter has some delegates from the north marching in solidarity protest to the south. In Nigeria, the civil war claimed so much lives and properties, leaving most easterners traumatised. As an eyewitness, Achebe couldn’t withhold his fair shared of the trauma when describing how the ancient Abazonians conquered the land, took it, then faced unpredictable famine.
The novel begins after Sam has become the military ruler of Kangan. Before becoming Head of State, Sam was a friend and university contemporary of Chris Oriko and Ikem Osodi. The three men had once been close, but Sam’s rise to political power fundamentally changes their relationship. Sam now expects absolute loyalty from Chris and Ikem. Chris serves in government as the Commissioner for Information, while Ikem is the editor of the independent newspaper, the National Gazette. The problem is that neither man is completely comfortable with Sam’s dictatorship.
Chris attempts to work within the government while maintaining some moral distance from Sam’s authoritarianism. Ikem, however, becomes increasingly critical of the regime through his journalism. Ikem’s newspaper begins criticizing the government. Sam becomes increasingly suspicious of him and believes that Ikem is using the newspaper to undermine his authority. The tension becomes worse when Sam summons Ikem and tries to persuade him to support the government. Ikem refuses to become a propagandist. His position is essentially that a writer and journalist must retain the freedom to criticize those in power.
Ikem becomes more outspoken. He gives lectures and speaks publicly about the responsibility of intellectuals and writers to ordinary people. He argues that writers should not simply produce literature for educated elites. They must engage with the realities of the people whose lives are affected by political decisions.
But Achebe does not portray Ikem as completely flawless. Although he is progressive in his criticism of dictatorship, his understanding of women and gender remains imperfect. This becomes particularly important in his relationship with Beatrice Okoh. Beatrice is one of the novel’s most important characters. She works within the government and is romantically involved with Chris. Unlike many of the men surrounding her, Beatrice is capable of seeing the connection between political power and gender relations. She understands that the men around her often reproduce patriarchal structures even while presenting themselves as progressive intellectuals. Her character therefore provides an important alternative perspective to the male political world.
Achebe gives Beatrice intellectual and narrative authority, making her much more than simply Chris’s lover. Eventually, the conflict between Ikem and the government reaches a breaking point. Ikem is arrested by the security forces. Chris is deeply disturbed by this development. He understands that the arrest is politically motivated, but he is unable to prevent it. The situation becomes even more dangerous because the government begins portraying Ikem as a threat to national security. Ikem is killed by the regime, and Chris eventually becomes a target himself. He leaves the capital and goes into hiding. During this period, the novel moves away from the world of government officials and intellectuals and brings Chris closer to ordinary people.
This is significant because Achebe wants to show that the nation does not belong exclusively to politicians, soldiers or intellectuals. The ordinary people are also participants in the nation’s future. Eventually, Chris becomes involved in an attempt to rescue a young woman who has been threatened by soldiers. In the process, Chris confronts the violence of the military state directly. He is eventually shot and killed.
After Chris’s death, Beatrice becomes even more important. The ending shifts attention toward her and the possibility of renewal. Beatrice participates in the naming ceremony of a child, Amaechi, who becomes symbolically important to the novel’s conclusion. The ceremony represents continuity and hope. The old political order may be collapsing, but life continues. Through this ending, Achebe shares the kind of hope any common man in Nigeria will have. 39 years after writing and publishing this book, this hopeful prophecy hasn’t materialised.
Achebe examines some themes in Anthills of the Savannah, which include:
Power and dictatorship. This is perhaps the novel’s dominant theme. Sam begins as Chris and Ikem’s friend, but political power transforms their relationship. Friendship becomes subordinate to authority. Achebe demonstrates how dictatorship doesn’t depend only on the dictator. It also depends on: fear, silence, propaganda, political institutions, intellectual compromise, and ordinary people’s vulnerability. Sam’s government therefore becomes a system rather than merely the personality of one tyrant.
Journalism and the responsibility of the writer. This is where Ikem Osodi becomes particularly important. Ikem believes that the writer must confront injustice rather than simply produce beautiful literature. Achebe therefore raises a question that is extremely relevant to journalism and creative writing: Should the writer remain an observer, or should the writer become an activist? Ikem represents the writer as a public conscience. But Achebe also complicates this position. Ikem is passionate and courageous, yet he has his own ideological limitations, particularly concerning women.
Women and the limitations of patriarchy. This is one of the most interesting dimensions of the novel. Beatrice Okoh isn’t simply a romantic character. She is educated, politically sophisticated and intellectually independent. Achebe uses her to challenge the assumption that political and intellectual authority belong naturally to men. The novel’s treatment of gender becomes especially significant when Beatrice criticises the ways men construct political and social worlds around themselves.
Chinua Achebe, born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe on 16 November 1930 in Ogidi, Anambra State, Nigeria, was a renowned Nigerian novelist, poet, essayist, critic and one of Africa’s most influential literary figures. He studied at Government College, Umuahia, and University College, Ibadan, where he switched from medicine to English, history and theology. After graduating, he worked with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation before gaining international recognition with his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), which challenged distorted Western representations of Africa. He subsequently published No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987), among other works. His experiences of Nigeria’s political instability and the Nigerian Civil War deeply influenced his writing, particularly his concerns with colonialism, corruption, leadership, political violence, culture and the responsibility of intellectuals. Achebe also taught at universities in Nigeria and the United States and received numerous international honours, including the Man Booker International Prize in 2007. He died in Boston, Massachusetts, on 21 March 2013, aged 82, leaving behind a monumental literary legacy that established African literature as a major force in world literature.
Author
Paul Olayioye
