Proverb and culture in the novels of chinua achebe

This research paper attempts to explore Chinua Achebe’s use of Igbo proverbs and idioms as a dynamic cultural tool to glorify the tarnished and neglected pristine African Culture.

To learn more, view our Privacy Policy. To browse Academia. Proverbs are significant tools of conversation among Igbo people and Africans in particular. Among African writers, proverbs play major roles in their literary works and it gives a touch of African uniqueness, authenticity, and identity.

According to Anigbogu and Ahizih (), in handling proverbs and the Igbo speech of his characters, Achebe “readjusts and modifies the English language to suit the cultural norms, .

Through the use of proverbs, the writers project their culture, tradition, views and perceptions of their indigenous communities in spite of their communicating in a language alien to them. The use of proverbs in literary works does not just occur by chance nor are their efficacy to be compromised. They are natural linguistic tools loaded with sacred meanings, and with roles both in the literary works as vehicles of culture projection and the immediate communities as paraphernalia of oratorical ingenuity.

On the one hand, they give the works in which they are used a touch of originality, the user a linguistic brand or identity, and the characters that use them, a chance to project the exceptionally rich African culture and legacy. It aims at analysing the roles and significance of proverbs in the Igbo and African context as well as their application to achieve a unique language identity which can be traced to a cultural base.

In his novels sampled for study in this research, he has clearly chronicled the colonial hegemony in Nigeria and Igbo land precisely by the Great Britain as well as the conflicts that characterised that period. We shall see in this research how Achebe has through the use of proverbs and unique linguistic style, been able to enrich his narrative and engage the readers in continuous affection and a profound understanding of the rich Igbo culture.

Adedimeji Abstract: This article revisits the African novel by focusing on the writings of Chinua Achebe as a case study. This famous Nigerian writer who passed on in late March, is regarded as one of the pioneers of African literature who has left the younger generation of writers with particular literary aesthetics of which he is the founding father.

This article is written through a stylistics approach and it addresses the use of language with evocations of some controversies and criticisms over the language of the African novel. It brings to conclusions that Achebe has significantly contributed to the promotion anddevelopment of African literature as he belongs to the first generation of writers whose early literary productions have been harshly criticised, but have regained consideration over the years.

These two novels owe their roots to constructs and happenstances that range from myth and semi-myth to real-life events.