TRAGIC VISION IN ELECHI AMADI, CHINUA ACHEBE AND JOHN MUNONYE

TRAGIC VISION IN ELECHI AMADI, CHINUA ACHEBE AND JOHN MUNONYE

Abstract:

In this thesis an attempt is made to appraise the tragic vision in Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine, The Great Ponds and The slave; Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God and John Munonye’s The Only Son and obi. The study pools in one single analysis the tragic world view of these writers, showing the nature of the influence of the gods on mankind’s fate and the impact of traditional religious beliefs and Christianity on the lives of the Ibo speaking people of Nigeria.. Despite the differences in the methods of approach to these subjects, Amadi and AChebe are agreed on the issue that mankind is predominantly responsible for the tragedies in his life. Munonye shows that the African’s psyche gets battered, the consequence of which is a warped image of himself, when he deliberately abandons his traditional religious beliefs for Christianity. Chapter one reviews existing literature on Amadi, Achebe and Munonye. It also puts the study within a social context. An examination of aspects of igbo culture relevant to the study is undertaken showing the history and entrenchment of Christianity in Igbo land. Chapter two is centred on Elechi Amadi. In the concubine, The Great Ponds and The Slave, he paints a picture of a society gripped by a paralysing fear of the gods. Despite the people’s trepidation, they try to struggle against the gods and become broken in the attempt. They thus become authors of their ruin. Chapter three examines Chinua Achebe’s contribution to the riddle of mankind’s tragedy. In Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, he portrays a universe where mankind is in firm control of his fate and the gods puny fixtures created by the people. Chapter four shows how John Munonye in The Only Son and obi dramatizes the collective spiritual crisis created in the Africans converted to Christianity as their traditional ideals wrestle for dominance with their new faith. It also shows that, even though Christianity gains an upper hand, the converts still cling to their old traditional religious practices. Chapter five summarizes the contribution of these writers to the search for meaning in life and to literature.

TRAGIC VISION IN ELECHI AMADI, CHINUA ACHEBE AND JOHN MUNONYE