CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

According to Dictionary.com social chaos means state of utter confusion or disorder, a total lack of organisation or order. While Wikipedia.org defines dictatorship as a form of government where political authority is monopolised by a person or political entity, and exercise through various mechanism to ensure the entity’s power remains strong.

African society have experience various social chaos and dictatorship in various period of her life. These was caused by mismanagement of political power. African writers as well have responded to problems besieging post-independence society through literature. The issue of social chaos and dictatorship, where adopted by African writer from real life but rearranged in different sequence of event in a creative way. Social chaos have been caused, as well mainly by oppression and subjection of the masses by those in power, African as a society with multi-ethnic groups find it difficult to coexist and so becomes intolerable to each other, which may break out to a serious social chaos as seen in the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970, also an Itsekiri and Ijaw culture crisis which result to a loss of human and economic destruction.              

However, many African writers down the ages have successfully reduplicated the debilitating experiences of African societies on their works. It is quite obvious that showing the world their existence and happenings, others write to correct the ills, others satirise the ills of the society prevalent at a certain period.

Adichie is an example of the aforementioned writers, for in her novel Half of the Yellow Sun, she condemns war and its accomplice, as well as exposing its effects on human and in Purple Hibiscus, she wrote on dictatorship, tyranny and religious hypocrisy but in domestic level and political sector.

African literature hence show people struggling to survive against all odds in different sectors of life in a harsh social milieu.

Literature as a creative activity projects those deeply ingrained and relatively enduring patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour of the society from which it is drawn. Apparently, literature captures the diverse forms of interaction between various parts of a society and its people. Mary Kolawole (2005:9) states that literature is not only an imitation of life; but also a concept which drives from certain sustainable principles. Literature relates most to the society and in all, to all aspects of the society be it historical, political, social, economic, etc. It’s main mission is basically to effect a change in the society.

The varying emphasis on social art, therefore, make literature of great importance, as it transcends mere entertainment to expose the significant moral and social views of the writer and of his environment which forms the nexus of his art. According to Alberto, in Demeterio (2001):

Literature is a social institution: it is created by the writer; who is a member of the society. Its medium is language, which is a social creation. It represents life, which is a social reality. It is addressed to men who for a social body. It is centrally conditioned by social and other forces and, in turn, exert social influence.

African literature constantly reflects an attempt at narrating the African experience, the struggles associated with imperialism and its relics of denigration and oppression which seems to remain visible features of post-independence Africa. This accounts for the African writers’ attempt at foregrounding the tension that exist within the shores of Africa, with the aim of asserting the African nation above all forms and conventions of imperialism and neo-colonialism. As it were, the African continent seems to stand at the crossroad as it negotiates self-redefinition against subtle forms of imperialism while grappling with new forms of subjugation perpetuated with the nation by Africans. Regrettably, the attainment of independence has not automatically portended the realisation of the cherished dreams of freedom, responsibility of self-government, socio-political and economic satisfaction. A new reality however unfolds, maimed by anarchy, chaos, coups, disillusionment, injustice, betrayal, poverty, social unrest, hunger, oppression, corruption and war. In fact, Africa has become embroiled in war on two front, one within and the other without.

African literature parodies episodes of religious hypocrisy, war, coup, tyranny and dictatorship. These problems cannot be ignored or neglected. Thus, they need to be curbed out.

This research will focus on how, the social chaos and dictatorship have dismantled the African society. We shall give our judgement on how these contemporary experiences can be tackled.

Significance of this study is that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does not only satirise the military regime and social chaos of our recent past, but also capture for us the prevailing experiences which Adichie criticises.        

The aim of the study is to examine Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie as a faithful writer dealing on experiences ranging from religion to political and social experiences.

These research work will focus on experiences, African society have encountered and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of the Yellow Sun will be used to sow how she uses her work to strongly relate to the problems besieging the society.

However, owing to time constraints and limited financial resources including tasking accessibility of related materials and high costs of books, only salient issues relating to the subject will be addressed. We shall make effort to touch all the experiences that have befallen the society.

The need for this research to be conducted is to examine the relevance of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of the Yellow Sun in highlighting social chaos and dictatorship in African literature/society. Although works have been carried out on different aspects on the subject. This research is intended to explore new area that previous studies have not delved into or thoroughly examined.

The primary source for this research is Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of the Yellow Sun. copious textual references will be made to the novel in highlighting contemporary experiences in our society. Others shall include library and internet-based materials and journals.

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