CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The environment is not only an essential element of Chinua Achebe’s novels, but also the vital component of the people’s existence in the society. In Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe vividly portrays the unique natural environment of the people and the people’s interaction with it. The environment intersects all aspects of the people’s lives in the society. It is the centre of their being. The representation of the environment in the three novels of Achebe reflects not only the levels of environmental consciousness of the people but also their different conceptions of the environment. Given the central place of the environment in Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah, as well as in the lives of the people, the environmental study of the three novels become very apt and essential. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate the representation of the environment in the three novels of Achebe.

1.2 Statement of Problem

The novels of Chinua Achebe reflect both the social and natural worlds of his native Igbo people and Africa at large. However, while a great deal of studies have been carried out on the social issues and the social sphere of Achebe’s novels, no comprehensive study of the natural environment in his novels seems to have been done yet. Thus, this study embarks on the environmental study of three of Achebe’s novels – Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah.

1.3 Scope and Limitation of Study

The study centres mainly on the environment in three of Achebe’s novels: Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah. It investigates how Achebe portrays the environment and its relationship with the people in the three novels. The study will be restricted to the environmental study of the three works.

1.4 Purpose of Study

The study examines the representation of the environment and its relationship with the people in the three selected novels of Achebe; the purpose, therefore, is to show that the environment gives “body” to the novels as stories, and authenticates the behaviours of characters and the themes the novels pursue.

1.5 Significance of Study

The study will provide critical information not only on the environment and environmental issues in the three novels of Achebe selected for study but also on the Africans’ relationship with and perceptions of the environment. This study will also show the relevance of ecocriticism to literary study in Africa. Furthermore, the study will be beneficial to literary scholars and students both in Africa and other places, contribute to the development and entrenchment of ecocriticism in African literary criticism and add to the stock of knowledge on environmental approach to literature in our world.

1.6 Research Methodology

The study was purely library-based. In conducting the study, three novels of Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah – were selected and as the primary sources of information. Other secondary sources of information were also consulted, such as online materials, critical works and essays. The study also adopts the ecocritical approach in the analysis of the texts.