This was my entry for an essay competition I entered in late July. The essay is centered around the prompt:
Discuss the function of loan words, translation, or non-English mother tongues in any piece of literature in English.
“For when language is seriously interfered with,
when it is disjoined from truth . . .
horrors can descend again on mankind. ”
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe’s 1958 acclaimed novel, tells the story of the fictional Nigerian clan of Umuofia and its later colonisation. Through exploring the life of tribe member Okonkwo, Achebe presents a previously unheard African perspective to colonisation, whilst also illuminating the complex but rich culture of the society in which Okonkwo lives. This essay will discuss Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and his use of English as a Nigerian writer. By reviewing his choice of language as a political criticism and observing how he modifies English to both preserve African oral traditions and subvert colonialist language, this essay will discuss what function non-English mother tongues have in post-colonialist literature. Moreover, it will explore the influence of Western linguistic and cultural traditions on indigenous culture through reference to theories of Edward Said as expressed in Orientalism . Finally, it will consider the work’s status in the post-colonial canon, and how this, in part, is a result of Achebe’s deliberate use of the English language.
There is much debate amongst post-colonial writers as to whether they should write in their own native tongue or the language of their former colonisers. This is a particularly poignant question especially when considering Africa’s colonial history, wherein the Berlin Conference of 1884 saw the continent divided between seven European powers. As a result of the conference, Africa became what historian Thomas Pakenham described as “a cake with everyone wanting a slice” . Within each “slice” the European colonisers received, tribal traditions and culture were destroyed to make way for the implementation of Christian teachings and Western traditions. At the same time, the new European rulers were pitting tribes against each other in order to weaken any opposition to themselves. Thus, some African writers see it necessary to write in their mother tongue not only to prevent their cultural subtleties from being lost in translation but to preserve their own culture, much of which had been erased by said European colonisers. Conversely Chinua Achebe, in his 1965 essay ‘English and the African Writer’ , argued that English “will be able to carry the weight of my African experience” but nonetheless he understood the plight of African writers with regard to translation and cultural subtleties stating that “it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home, but altered to suit its new African surroundings.” . Such ‘new English’ came to embody much of Achebe’s work, specifically his magnum opus Things Fall Apart, where the native language of Igbo is seamlessly merged into the English text, so the reader understands the meaning of most Igbo words by their context, while African heritage and culture remains. In short, Achebe uses ‘new English’ as a means of opening access for Western readers to indigenous culture, aesthetics, and cosmology.
However, Achebe’s use of language and ‘new English’ in the novel is expansive and incredibly varied, therefore, it is necessary to review Achebe’s ‘new English’ by discussing the three aspects of its construction in Things Fall Apart. It is important to note that these three aspects are not the only ones involved in creating such a complex hybrid of languages, but I believe them to be the most important. First, his integration of Igbo words into English; second, his integration of Igbo proverbs; and third, his integration of speech patterns and rhythms typically associated with the Igbo people. Through doing this, one can observe what function non-English mother tongues serve in English literature and how they can provide a pathway for readers to understand previously neglected foreign cultures and allow readers to consider the profound effects Western colonialism has had on both literary tradition and real life in those cultures.
Firstly, with regard to Achebe’s integration of Igbo vocabulary, this is perhaps best exemplified through Achebe’s use of the word “chi”. “Chi” represents an incredibly important theme in the novel and is a significant concept in Igbo culture, however it is virtually untranslatable. Achebe attempts to define it by exploring it in various contexts throughout the novel, with the definition becoming more nuanced as the plot develops. We are first introduced to “chi” when it is defined as a personal god in Chapter 3: “Unoka was an ill-fated man. He had a bad chi or personal god, and evil fortune followed him to the grave, or rather to his death, for he had no grave.”(Achebe 1958: 17). In this instance “chi” is the reason for Unoka’s (Okonkwo’s father) bad fortune. Latterly, this notion of “chi” comes to encompass the larger, more complex theme of the conflict of individual versus community, in which the conflict revolves around the Igbo conception of “chi” that Achebe rendered as a personal god. With the clan stating “man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi”(Achebe, 1958: 92) which corroborates to notions of individual versus community but also represents the larger, and more cosmological role ones’ ‘chi’ takes.
The second aspect of Achebe’s “new English” is represented through his incorporation of proverbs. The novel details the Igbo tribe, who are a completely oral society. In such a society, as literary scholar S.A. Alimi observes, “people regarded words as sacred and hence their utterances bore utmost significance” . This, Alimi further suggests, leads to Achebe using proverbs “as the depositories of values and customs. He [Achebe] gives expression to the philosophy of the Igbo world through proverbs and myths. He shows that the community could exist as a unified entity because of their strong adherence to the values and ideals embedded in the proverbs”. Indeed, in order to provide an authentic feel for Igbo culture, proverbs had to have a significant role in the novel. At the beginning of Things Fall Apart, when Achebe, in the mouth of his third person, omniscient narrator writes “Among the Igbo, the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten”(Achebe, 1958: 5) he both invites the reader to consider the proverbs closely whilst also discussing the role of proverbs in Igbo culture. Just as the cooked yams taste better when eaten with palm oil, so is conversation more edifying when laced with proverbs.
Moreover, despite the foreign origin of these proverbs, the Western reader can relate very well to many of them. As with Achebe’s use of the Igbo vocabulary, they are woven seamlessly into their context and rarely require explanation or elaboration. The proverb “We shall all live. We pray for life, children, good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to another, let its wing break.” (Achebe 1958: 14-15) is used by the character of Nwakibie. This proverb indicates Okonkwo’s recognition of Nwakibie as a great man in the land and his profound respect for him. Moreover, it illuminates Okonkwo’s personal ambition to be a great man himself like Nwakibie. In essence the proverb states the sky has room for both the weak and the strong birds, with the strength being represented by the “kite” and “egret”. Nwakibie advocates communal living and believes every member of the clan should have the opportunity to aspire to higher goals. Those who say “no” and thwart another’s attempts will be regarded as evil and should not be allowed to live. Such ideas of communalism are later adapted by Okonkwo himself “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes…We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so”(Achebe, 1958: 118). Ultimately Achebe uses proverbs, as with Igbo vocabulary, to both preserve aspects of indigenous culture, aesthetics, and cosmology, but also to allow Western readers to explore these aspects without losing important details through the process of translation, thereby conveying Achebe’s role as a non-English mother tongued author writing in English.
Thirdly, Achebe integrates the African surrogate language of drum language to further enhance the hybrid of ‘new English’. The drum, in traditional West African societies occupies an important part of language; it is used in order to communicate “people’s thought and culture through spoken language by means other than speech” . Indeed, Achebe uses it throughout the novel to represent heated moments or an exciting atmosphere: “The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the sunshine, and even in the trees, and filled the village with excitement.” (Achebe, 1958: 31). Here the drum language is personified as being omnipresent round the village representing the clan’s excitement before the Annual Wrestling Match. Achebe opens chapter thirteen opens with the language: “Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. Di-go-go-di-go.” (Achebe, 1958: 84). The use of the plosives (g) and (d) when paired with the vowels (o) and (i) is a clear attempt to replicate the drums by creating a percussive quality to the voice. While the plosives or occlusives block the vocal tract the vowels force it back and open. Importantly, Achebe states that the people in the village are aware of the beats’ meaning but he omits to tell the reader until later on that the beats translated to “Somebody was dead.” (Achebe, 1958: 85)
As shown by integrating languages Achebe is able to discuss the traditions and culture of the Igbo people without losing any important details through the process of translation. However, Achebe’s choice not to write in his mother tongue was a political one as well. Through ‘new English’, Achebe expertly dismantles previously held beliefs of the Igbo and other indigenous people being regressive, stagnated and in need of domestication. These ideas were ubiquitous in nearly all previous literary works on Africa and often maintained the notion that colonisation was good for the indigenous people and in fact it was, as Rudyard Kipling observed in his now infamous poem, “the White Man’s burden” to impose Christianity on and domesticate such societies like the Igbo.
Many critics have pointed out that one of the major reasons for Achebe becoming a writer was “his desire to counter the demeaning image of Africa that was portrayed in the English tradition of the novel” . One such demeaning image was presented by Joseph Conrad in his novel, Heart of Darkness, which depicted African people as primordial and animal like: “They shouted periodically together strings of amazing words that resembled no sounds of the human language…the responses of some satanic litany.”(Conrad, 1899: 98) Conrad depicts the people as preternatural through stating that their language “resembled no sounds of the human language” . By “human” Conrad presumably means English, illuminating the tendency of ignorance and Eurocentrism amongst English writers in regard to Africa. While describing their activities as a “satanic litany” Conrad exemplifies Edward Said’s later proposition of the role Christianity played in the Occident’s view of the Africa, and how many believed that indigenous people were demonic, but salvation could be achieved through colonisation and implementation of Christianity (Said, 1978: 100) Achebe viewed Conrad’s description of the people in Heart of Darkness “inappropriate.” stating how he “realised how terribly, terribly wrong it was to portray my people — any people — from that attitude." Thus, Achebe used Things Fall Apart to critique not only Conrad’s depiction of Africans, but to critique the tradition of English writing on Africa as a whole. Crucially, by writing the novel in English or ‘new English’ Achebe was able to directly access the minds of his colonisers and seek to propose a new and more accurate depiction of Africa. Arguably, this political decision led to Things Fall Apart becoming one of the greatest African novels of all time through its widespread, international publication. It is now read in over 50 countries and occupies a prestigious spot in the post-colonial canon. It may be argued that it would not have reached such prominence if it was written in Nigerian as opposed to English, due to the level of English spoken around the world. Therefore, the function of Achebe’s non-English mother tongue is indispensable, because by adopting English to fit his needs, as a writer, a more accurate and truer portrait of indigenous life is created.
In conclusion, as a non-English mother tongue, Achebe offers his readers an extraordinarily unique perspective on indigenous life and colonisation. Through creating an entire new variation of English, Achebe has been able to both educate the Western reader in the ways of the Igbo people and the complexity of indigenous society, and also challenge their political beliefs and, in turn, the English literary tradition. Moreover, Things Fall Apart represents the beginning of a long line of post-colonial writing all over the world still existing to this day with works by African writers such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who is often cited as Achebe’s literary daughter . Therefore, Achebe’s ‘function’ as a non-English mother tongue is utterly indispensable, not only for illuminating a real perspective to colonisation, but also for expanding the literary horizon to make way for new voices, previously unheard.
Bibliography
Achebe, Chinua (1958) Things Fall Apart. Penguin.
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Jay Frederick Palombella 05/08/21
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