Style, Character, and the Theme of Struggle and Change: Chinua Achebe's <em>Anthills of the Savannah</em>

Abstract

Following insights from stylistic studies on European and American literature, as well as few earlier attempts on African literature, there has been a recent growing interest in the stylistic analysis of the African novel. The present study is meant to contribute to this growing literature by exploring Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah, primarily from a systemic functional linguistics perspective. Critics of the novel have emphasized that it represents Achebe's most articulate ideology on the sociopolitical situation of postcolonial Africa, in general, and Nigeria, in particular. The present study sheds new meaning on the thematic concern of the novel by exploring the interaction between narrative situation, transitivity patterning, and symbolism, on the one hand, and the characterization of Chris (one of the protagonists) and the themes of struggle and change, on the other hand. The study demonstrates that the systematic variation in narrative situations and transitivity patterns in which Chris is cast across key passages in the plot of the narrative show a transformation in his character, from powerlessness and ineffectiveness through perplexity and fear to self-reformation and bravery. This narrative and linguistic configuration of Chris's characterization, together with the symbolic intervention he makes in saving a girl from abuse towards the end of the novel, realizes the theme of struggle and change. Through Chris, Achebe urges the enlightened but apathetic citizen to rise up and transform his society through struggle. The study has implications for studies on Anthills of the Savannah, stylistic analysis, and further research. It particularly shows that linguistic analysis and the tools of literary criticism can complement each other in the interpretation of literature.

Gaya kebahasaan Rahmat Djoko Pradopo dalam antologi “Geguritan Abang Mbranang”

“…Gaya bahasa merupakan bagian dari pilihan kata atau diksi (diction) yang mempersoalkan cocoktidaknya pemakaian kata, frasa atau klausa tertentu, untuk menghadapi situasi-situasi tertentu (Mwinlaaru, 2014). Gaya bahasa bersifat pribadi, dengan mempelajari gaya bahasa dari seorang pengarang atau sastrawan, akan dapat mengetahui dan menilai pribadi, watak, dan kemampuan dari si pengarang tersebut.…”

Matriarchy to Take Over National Duties? A Result of Failure in Nigerian (And African) Political Patriarchy of Neo-Colonial States

“…Their story has unraveled the code, as Abdoulaye (2014) puts it: they are ensuring that "the anthills surviving to tell the grass (Beatrice, Elewa, et c) of the savannah about last year"s brush fires" (AOS: 31) do not miss details of the nation"s past horrors implied in the fires of, for example, genocide since the 1960"s. The Chief says "Nkolika" (Recalling-Is-Greatest) is a great name given a child as an affirmation and justification of something important to remember. To us listening to the Chief"s story and the Hymn, it is the struggle for true nationalism as implied also in Abdoulaye: 2014;Mwinlaaru: 2014;Gogoi: 2015. This is in answer to Chief"s question personifying the story: "Why do I say that the story is chief among his fellows?" Ikem and Chief have partly answered it: because the new generation is being taught how to "see" the proper way to the struggle, to "see" in a special way, to "see" what they have never known before (Marla Solomon: 1990).…”

Foregrounding the Verbal Process

“…On transitivity analysis of literary texts, several studies have made insightful contributions to African literature (Boukari & Koussouhon, 2018;Ezzina, 2015;Mwinlaaru, 2012Mwinlaaru, , 2014Somone, 2017). The much research in transitivity by Mwinlaaru (2012Mwinlaaru ( , 2014 has added to the repository of investigating African literature.…”

“…On transitivity analysis of literary texts, several studies have made insightful contributions to African literature (Boukari & Koussouhon, 2018;Ezzina, 2015;Mwinlaaru, 2012Mwinlaaru, , 2014Somone, 2017). The much research in transitivity by Mwinlaaru (2012Mwinlaaru ( , 2014 has added to the repository of investigating African literature. In 2012, he applied transitivity analysis to the narrative style of Ngugi's Weep Not Child, from which he reported that the transitivity patterns inscribe some functions to determine the psychological perspective the narrator relates to the story.…”

“…From the review of previous studies, most scholars have focused on specific characters in relation to particular themes to add to the styles of the work (Beale, 2018;Mahlberg & McIntyre, 2011;Mwinlaaru, 2014). Delineating from this strand, the researcher dovetails into the lexico-grammar (grammar of experience) and how it implies meaning through the development of themes.…”