Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10397/53645
PIRA download icon_1.1View/Download Full Text
Title: Style, character, and the theme of struggle and change : Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah
Authors: Mwinlaaru, INI
Issue Date: 2014
Source: Research in African literatures, Summer 2014, v. 45, no. 2, p. 103-121
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.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Journal: Research in African Literatures 
ISSN: 0034-5210
DOI: 10.2979/reseafrilite.45.2.103
Rights: Posted with permission of the publisher.
Copyright ©2014 Indiana University Press
This article was published as Mwinlaaru, I. N. I. (2014). Style, Character, and the Theme of Struggle and Change: Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah. Research in African Literatures, 45(2), 103-121. ISSN 0034-5210. DOI: 10.1353/ral.2014.0022. No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or distributed in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Indiana University Press. For educationre-use, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center (508-744-3350). For all other permissions, contact the Press at http://iupress.indiana.edu/rights.
The article is available at http://muse.jhu.edu/article/547336
Appears in Collections:Journal/Magazine Article

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Mwinlaaru_2014_Style_character_theme_postprint.pdfPre-published version329.9 kBAdobe PDFView/Open
Open Access Information
Status open access
File Version Final Accepted Manuscript
Access
View full-text via PolyU eLinks SFX Query
Show full item record

Page views

3,283
Last Week
1
Last month
Citations as of Mar 24, 2024

Downloads

448
Citations as of Mar 24, 2024

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

4
Last Week
0
Last month
Citations as of Mar 22, 2024

WEB OF SCIENCETM
Citations

3
Last Week
0
Last month
Citations as of Mar 28, 2024

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.