REVIEW OF CHINUA ACHEBE'S ANTHILS OF THE SAVANNAH

 

Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe was the September Book of the month at Moncoeur Global Concept. Jenefa Kubua explicitly reviews the book of the month. Have a great read.

The book represents the indecision and hesitation of government officials to question their leader, burying themselves like ants in the dry soil of the savannah. They represent cracks in the landscape brought to light by the death of vegetation because of the oppressive sun -- a metaphorical parallel to the fractures in a government exposed by incompetence from above.

This is a must read book for anyone that wants to understand post-colonial strongman African dictatorships. The concepts in the book still apply to modern day African governments. The tale seems to have many layers: exploring the effects of their education abroad on the way they view their country; the corrupting properties of power; losing and regaining connections to their homeland; shifting dynamics of friendships in the face of power; and much more.

So many topics are tackled in an original and thought–provoking way: the role of women, the role of a writer, military dictatorship and censorship, the charade of "government" and associated cocktail parties, interactions with the West. All this is set against a backdrop of real everyday struggles that ordinary people go through, the maid, the taxi driver, the spectacle of public executions, the politicization of water in an arid desert, etc. The book also centers around greed and power lust, showcasing socio-economic issues and governmental corruption in some part of Africa, as well as how hard it is to speak out against a not-so-democratic government and then attempt an escape from your home.

What was interesting for me was the divergent paths of the three childhood friends – Chris (a Government Commissioner of Information in the President’s Cabinet), Ikem – (the Editor in Chief of the country's leading newspaper) and Beatrice – (the woman important to them both) who ascends to leadership within their country, had different views of life and how they should interacted with it. Chris basically has the final say in what gets printed in the country's newspapers and broadcast on the airways. Ikem and Chris have been friends since school. Beatrice and Chris are romantically involved, while she and Ikem have a close but strictly platonic relationship. We are shown a crumbling regime from both a humorous and a tragic point of view.

We learn that both Chris and Ikem are also friends of the President, whom his ministers address as "His Excellency." Chris often talks about how he, the President, and Ikem are the three most important people in Kanga. Ikem's fundamentally communist ideals would argue that it is the 'peasants' and workers that are the important citizens, and indeed it is these proletariat that end up moving the plot and the fall of the government forward. His Excellency took power in a military coup that was intended to quash instability and then restore democracy, but as in most real-life African military governments, it stayed on after this original mandate had expired and turned into a full-fledged dictatorship. His Excellency is the archetypical African ruler. Trained in a European military school, he quickly rose through the ranks because of his loyalty to his superiors, and when he seemingly accidentally gets installed as the new ruler, expects similar obedience from his aides. 

Like all authoritarian rulers, His Excellency feeds off playing his subjects against each other. Eager to curry his favor, His Excellency's ministers spread rumors about each other and attempt to sow discord. Both Chris and Ikem received their college education in the U.K. and returned to Kanga hoping to build a vibrant democratic nation, only to get sucked into the web of corruption and authoritarianism that has been so typical of post-colonial Africa. Both try to deal with the situation in their own ways. Chris is more pragmatic; rather than open insubordination to His Excellency, he thinks that he can try to reform the situation from the inside. Ikem, on the other hand, openly criticizes the government's policies in his editorials.

For me, Ikem was the most convincing and sympathetic character. While he openly criticizes the regime, he is a no naïve revolutionary. There is a great scene in which he gives a lecture to a group of university students. While he urged them to vigilantly pursue their convictions, he also took a few jabs at Marxist theories of imperialism. The character of Beatrice, while sympathetic, did not seem as instrumental to the story as that of the two men. Achebe clearly intended for this character to represent an educated African woman, and there is even an interesting chapter written in the first-person from her point of view. 

The ending of the story was unpredictable for me but I could see why it evolved to the inevitable events. As in reality, power ultimately corrupted one minister and led to his downfall sadly taking the other two along with him. If you are intrigued by how external influences affect the government of third world countries, this is a good read. It begs the question, Can developing countries escape the corruption and greed that cause the people to suffer?

Overall, I think that Achebe portrays an intriguing and realistic portrait on corruption of African political leaders. He also depicts the genuine humanity and indomitable will of both ordinary people and leaders who are trying to bring about change.

#EndSARS #EndSWAT #EndPoliceBrutality NigerianLivesMatter #NewNigeria

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jenefa Blessing Kubua is a freelance creative writer, an astounding editor and an environmental scientist. A coauthor of an academic paper titled, "Acoustic Overexposure versus Human Health". 

The Abuja-based writer is an amazing pet lover, a baker, a foodie and a Christian. When she is not cooking, she is either reading or listening to music.