“Us” and “Them” in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe: A Critical Functional Approach of Othering

Abstract

“Us” and “them” or othering often brings about world’s most feared phenomenon, xenophobia. This qualitative study purposes to disclose attitudinal strategies used in Chinua Achebe’s “things Fall Apart”. An excerpt from it was analysed through the “APPRAISAL”, especially the “ATTITUDE”, and ‘PERIODICITY” theories. Results reveal that “us” is framed with 4 (+) values and only 2 in (-) while “them” is constructed through only 1 (+) value and 3 (-). The vast majority of the attitudinal strategies used is “Jdg.”, occurring 7 times making up 70%. The other which emerges is “Apr.” which appears only 3 times and contributes 30%. As commonly held, “us” is narrated in more favors and fewer negatives and “them” in the opposite way to achieve planned hidden goals of persuasion.

Analysis of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart From Eco-Translatology Perspective

“…Previous literature on Things Fall Apart has been explored and examined from various perspectives, such as literary (Altintas, 2015; Arbaoui, 2018; Dlnya, 2021; Rashid, 2018), linguistics (Abua Ebim, 2021; Livina Nkeiruka & Otagburuagu, 2022; Purnomosasi et al, 2021), and Translation (Arenberg, 2016; Ayoola, 2021; Babaii & Rashed, 2017; Mary, 2018; Mkhize, 2000; Moruwawon, 2012; Paziraie, 2012). The translation of Things Fall Apart into 61 languages has led researchers to explore and investigate the various translations of different languages, such as English, French, German, Yoruba, Swedish, Swahili, Xhosa, and other languages except for Chinese.…”

“…The translation of Things Fall Apart into 61 languages has led researchers to explore and investigate the various translations of different languages, such as English, French, German, Yoruba, Swedish, Swahili, Xhosa, and other languages except for Chinese. Meanwhile, it is also noticeable that most previous literature primarily focused on using theories such as the Critical Discourse Analysis (Abua Ebim, 2021), Functional Approach (Purnomosasi et al, 2021), Foreignization and Polysystem (Arenberg, 2016), and Van Leeuwen model (Babaii & Rashed, 2017), within-to-within approach (Ayoola, 2021) to analyze challenges and problems in the translation of Things Fall Apart . However, those prior studies had shortcomings since their prognostics might be myopic and focus primarily on linguistic equivalence or communicative effectiveness.…”