Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
Anthills of the Savannah is written against the background of the political environment of post-independence Nigeria. The novel is also placed within the period of the successive coup d’états in Nigeria that addresses many socio-political issues affecting Nigeria when the country was granted full independence by the British in October, 1960 as a federation of three regions, namely, Northern, Western and Eastern Regions. The novel centres on a story of three friends; namely, Sam, Chris and Ikem, whose relationship is being tried in the interlocking power relations in the politics of the fictional nation of Kangan.
The novel is opens with Sam, the military ruler, at a meeting with his Cabinet discussing the issue of his visit to Abazon. Sam is mad at his Cabinet and especially Chris, the Commissioner for Information, who is persistently insisting on the president’s visit to Abazon. Unfortunately, the meeting ended and the president ruthlessly and unceremoniously dismisses his Cabinet, than a delegation arrives from Abazon to plead for water supply in their community. The arrival of this delegation is the point of attack in the misunderstanding that becomes the configural event around which the conflict is built on. Sam who wants to be the life president instructs Professor Reginald Okong, Commissioner for Home Affairs, to receive the delegation on his behalf, a strategy he adopts to avoid negotiation with the delegation. He also instructs Chris, the Commissioner for Information to arrange for a photograph to be taken of the delegation.
Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
As Professor Okong tries to convince Sam that Chris especially Ikem, the Editor of the National Gazette for News Paper are not loyal members of his government. This interaction between Okong and Sam lays the foundation for the hatred and suspicion that Sam has for Chris and Ikem. Chris calls Ikem and instructs him to send a photographer to cover “a goodwill delegation from Abazon” (26). Upon which they have a supposedly usual but vitriolic argument over editorial policies and principles, Ikem out of curiosity, departs to the presidential palace to meet the delegation himself and apparently find out what they have come to do exactly.
In another instance, Ikem and Elewa his girlfriend at his residence got into quarrels. At midnight, Ikem insists that Elewa does not sleep in his house with the anger; he informs the longstanding argument between him and Chris over his crusading editorials. Ikem also describes the awful public execution of convicted criminals and tells the masses how, through his crusading editorials, he has been able to persuade the president to abolish it. He presents Sam as a man with goodwill who is being turned into a ruthless dictator by the sycophancy of some of his Cabinet ministers, such as Professor Okong. He notes that it is his as well as Chris’ obligation to save Sam from this situation.
Later, Chris, Ikem, Beatrice, Elewa, Mad Medico and Dick meet in Mad Medico’s residence, where they drink and converse on several issues, including their previous pleasant relationship with Sam before they all got themselves entangled in power politics. Sam invites Beatrice to a party at the Presidential Retreat at Abichi, 40 miles away from Bassa, the capital.At Abichi, Beatrice Chris’ girlfriend who is a Senior Administrative Secretary at the Ministry of Finance meets “the new power-brokers around His Excellency” (76). When Beatrice remarks on Sam belittling himself for Miss Cranford, his American guest, Sam gets annoyed and sends her back home in the middle of the night. This party marks the turning point in the novel when Chris visits Beatrice the next day; she tells him that there is trouble coming for them:
And I see trouble building up for us. It will get to Ikem first. No joking Chris. He will be the precursor to make straight the way. But after him it will be you. We are all in it, Ikem, you, me and even Him (Sam). The thing is no longer a joke (114).
Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
She cautions that Chris and Ikem settle their differences and jointly save the situation, but Chris is reluctant to take the initiative. Achebe regards the females in the present Nigerian societies, as well as their position in Nigerian context as second class citizen by giving women mirror roles in his novels while limiting them to domestic work in their husband’s houses or parental families. Achebe uses Beatrice to portray in this contemporary society that:
Women are people with intelligence; who can stand on their own to carryout duties which were assigned to only men previously in the society and in Nigeria. Beatrice as a woman in the novel is from a well to do parental family. Achebe portrays her as a woman in action because in her family she is very active, energetic and very strong as she carries out her domestic chores (51).
From here, events rush to climax as Ikem interacts with the Abazonian delegation at Harmony Hotel. He is later accused of engineering the Abazonian visit and together with Chris, sabotaging Sam’s ambition to be president for life.
On the other hand, Sam himself was a soldier and after the military coup that ousted the last civilian government, he returns to his state to become a head of state in his country. According to Achebe:
Sam His Excellency became over ambitious and officious and wanted to be a life-president was stopped by a referendum which was organized to that effect. He sees Ikem and Chris as brains behind his failure and he became unhappy with them. They become the first set of people to suffer in the hands of his Excellency’s government because; he took Beatrice, Chris girlfriend, right from Chris house to among other things (214).
As His Excellency’s leadership become very riotous and unbearable, Chris and his friend Ikem who is the Editor at the National Gazette, a government owned newspaper and attack his Excellency, Sam. Ikem also uses his influence at home in Abazon to ruin the referendum which would have installed his Excellency as the life-president of the country. The power of writing according to Achebe is shown after Ikem is taken away in the dark of the night by his Excellency to be killed. After the event, Chris uses his contacts within the international press as a means of informing the world about what happened to his friend, Ikem.
This politics according to the author among friends who are intellectuals is a mark of political problems in Nigeria societies with the idea of one bad turn deserving another. Following his suspension as editor, Ikem delivers a captivating political speech at the University of Bassa. His message is cunningly misinterpreted and he is later arrested and murdered, thus bringing events to climax. The metamorphosis Chris undergoes, his disappearance and the subsequent search mounted for him by the security forces still drive events to an anti-climax. On his escape journey to Abazon, Chris receives news that the government has been overthrown and Sam has been assassinated. Before he returns to Bassa, however, he is shot dead by a drunk soldier as he attempts to rescue a student nurse whom the soldier wants to rape.
Achebe portrays what happen to friends Sam, Ikem and Chris as a clear picture of bad government and leadership styles in the political cots in Nigeria. According to Achebe, Sam is the Excellency in the novel who dreams to be a life president; Ikem and Chris are classmates who attended the same college abroad. The novel also portrays a strong and enduring sense of community among the people despite the fact that they have no political rights. Achebe suggests that this unity is what keeps the community and its heritage and culture intact even when it is ravaged by unjust political regimes. The novel ends with a gathering of a multi-divergent group at Beatrice’s residence on account of the naming ceremony of Ikem and Elewa’s daughter.
The Theme of Bad Leadership and Oppressive Government in Achebe Anthills of the Savannah
The government of Kangan is corrupt and this can be seen in its treatment of the poor in Abazon. Ikem is killed by His Excellency because he spoke out and the government even tries to cover up the murder by saying it occurred in a struggle. While His Excellency began his rule with good intentions, his hunger for power grows and knows no bounds. As soon as his power is questioned, he begins to silence those who doubt him and stand in his way, including his long-time friends, Ikem and Chris. His Excellency did not only want to exterminate the people, who speak out, but also the ideas they are promoting and he does this in his attempts to discredit them after their death. The claim that Ikem advocated for regicide is an example of this. The extent of the corruption spreads into every aspect of life and every relationship that the state has with its people.
At the beginning of the novel, Chris tries to appease His Excellency and believes that there may be an opportunity to operate from a place of reason. As the novel progresses, however, it becomes clear how irrational His Excellency’s despotic behaviour is. There is no reasoning with it or tempering it—His Excellency does what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants. Chris realizes that he cannot negotiate with someone who behaves like this, but it takes the majority of the novel for him to accept the irrationality of his friend’s behaviour. There is no point in being reasonable or pacifying His Excellency, as he will do as he pleases no matter what.
Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
The corrupt government of His Excellency dominates as an overarching theme, but there is more time and attention dedicated to the ways in which the minions of the government perpetuate this corruption than the actual acts of His Excellency. The behaviour of His Excellency sets the tone for the rest of the administration, who has a more direct impact on the well-being and experiences of the citizens of Kangan. The best example of this is the behaviour of the police force, from accepting bribes from the bus drivers to the attempted rape that ultimately leads to Ikem’s death. While the reader is primarily concerned with the corruption of His Excellency, ultimately, it is the corrupt acts of the nameless and less significant characters that lead to the death of Ikem. These ancillary characters’ corrupt actions have major ramifications for the plot and for the civic health of Kangan.
His Excellency is an example of the old adage, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” While he did not set out to have absolute power and initially shunned the idea of ruling for life, he soon ignores past statements, betrays his friends and ultimately lies to the public in order to advance his own agenda. He is willing to do anything to protect his power—silencing protesters, spreading misinformation, and assassinating those who stand in his way. The drive for absolute power, and to protect his absolute power, drives him to corruption.
Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
On the other hand, throughout the novel, the characters struggle with the tension between perception and reality. This occurs in multiple places, such as between Ikem and Chris, Chris and His Excellency, and the elites and the lower classes. Ikem and Chris perceive their relationship to be much more contentious than it actually is. Chris perceives His Excellency to be less threatening and worrisome than he actually is. Most notably, the elites in Bassa cannot see the realities that are true for the rest of the country. There is immense poverty and struggle throughout the country, but they are unable and unwilling to see it from Bassa
Style in Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
Achebe uses the omniscience third person or eye of God narrative. The novel is written in the first person point view, depending on which character is speaking at the time. For example, the first chapter is about Christopher Orike, so he is speaking in the first person.The story is told from multiple points of view, comprising first person and third person omniscient narrative techniques. In Chapter One, the story is told from the perspective of ChrisOriko.
In Chapters Two and Three, it unfolds from the perspective of the omniscient narrator. Ikem Osodi relates the events in Chapter Four while Chris takes over the narrator’s role again in Chapter Five, with Beatrice coming in as narrator in Chapters Six and Seven. Chapters Eight to Eighteen are told from the perspective of the omniscient narrator. The narratives given by Chris, Ikem and Beatrice serve as witnesses that accrue from their individual experiences and the part that they play in the politics of Kangan. In some situations, there is no temporal link between the events presented in a chapter and the one that precedes it, thereby increasing the complexity of the novel.
The use of expository narrative method: The use of letter narrative method is perceptible in the framework of the novel. For instance, characters like Chris and Ikem exchange their view through the medium of writing. This can be seen when he writes against his Excellency as an editor of the national Gazette. He says, my view is that “any serving president foolish enough to lay his head on a coin should know he is inciting people to take it off, the head I mean” (162).
The First Person Point of View: This point of view tells a story in the first person, using first person pronouns, such as “I”, “We” here, the narrator is the person who has experience or witnessed the event he narrates. Through this point of view, the author allows the reader to hear from the horse’s mouth. Achebe uses this point of view to create an intimacy between the reader and the characters in the novel. For example, Ikem tells the people of Abazon the evil attitude of his Excellency, as I visit my people. The people then decide to pay the president a solidarity visit. As they get to the headquarters, the officials are afraid. The head of state decides to send Professor Reginald Okong, his commissioner for Home Affairs to pacify them.
Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
Smile: Simile is a figure of speech whereby two or more things that are of different nature are compared using such words as, “Like” and “as” and so on.His Excellency is like a baby monster, but as the action unfolds, he grows and becomes like a full-fledged evil dictator. The first example shows the comparison of his Excellency to a monster in terms of lack of regard for the people he supposed to be leading and for that they suffer. The second exampled compared Sam, His Excellency as evil dictator who goes so far to have his childhood friend (Ikem) killed because he is perceived as a threat.
Personification: Personification is the giving of human attribute of quality to an inanimate object, example this time his Excellency the military detector of Kangan, rises at the end of a meeting and Chris, with every other minister creates a noise in scrambling to our feet (7).The example bestows his Excellency Sam (Inanimate object) human quality as being the machine.
Characterization in Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
Sam: He is concerned with maintaining his position for life presidentand heis ready to do anything to remove people who stand in his way. He rises to power and becomes the president after a successful coup that removed the previous dictator. He was a good friend with Chris Oriko and IkemOsodi during their school days; he rewards them with positions in his Cabinetafter winning the election. He becomes increasingly paranoid and authoritarian as the novel progresses, which is primarily motivated by the threat he senses from Abazonian protestors. His Excellency later grows increasingly more authoritarian and becomes the subject of protests; he becomes disengaged not just from his old friends, but the rest of the cabinet to the point of ordering their assassinations.
Ikem Osodi: Ikem has been a class mate of both Sam and Chris at Lord Lugard’s College. When he completed his secondary education, he went abroad for further studies. He completed his University education three years earlier when Beatrice went to Queen Mary’s College, but he was still in London “doing odd jobs for publishers, reading his poetry at the African Centre and writing for Third World journals” (90). Ikem was finally persuaded by his friends at home (Kangan) “to return and join them in nation-building”, apparently immediately after the overthrow of the civilian government. When he arrived, Chris, who was then Commissioner for Information, appointed him as the editor for the National Gazette, the national newspaper of Kangan.
He has been very critical of the policies and decrees of Sam’s administration as well as the socio-economic set up of the fictional state of Kangan. Through his editorials, he embarks on a crusade, for instance, against the public execution of convicted criminals and the calls for the deportation of Mad Medico, the expatriate hospital administrator. Chris is obsessed with Ikem’s militant approach to reforming Sam and his dictatorial regime. One interesting observation that could be made from Ikem’s transitivity profile is the repetition of key expressions relating to his job as an editor.
Detailed Summary and Analysis of Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah
Chris Oriko: Is thecommissioner for information, a friend to Sam His Excellency, Ikem and a boyfriend to Beatrice. He is one of the primary narrators;as the Commissioner for Information and one of the first advisers to His Excellency. He is a long-time friend of IkemOsodi and His Excellency. During the course of the novel, he becomes more and more alarmed with the bad and awful behaviours of His Excellency. He is romantically involved with Beatrice, who helps him go in to hiding after Ikem is assassinated
Beatrice Oko:Beatrice is the major female character in the novel. She is Chris’ girlfriend and Senior Administrative Secretary at the Ministry of Finance. She holds a First Class degree in English from Queen Mary’s College in London. She has a very close relationship with many of the government officials of Kangan. She has been a close friend of Ikem since she was at Queen Mary’s College. By her association with Chris and Ikem, she has become friends with Sam. Her skilled manoeuvring of places for him to hide help to avoid several assassination attempts. She also becomes a caretaker for Ikem’s pregnant wife after he is murdered by His Excellency Sam.
Elewa: Elewa is Ikem’s girlfriend and she is an illiterate sales girl in an Indian shop in Bassa, the capital of Kangan. Through Ikem, she comes associated with prominent personalities in Kangan, namely, Chris, Beatrice and Mad Medico. The discussion on Elewa’s character demonstrated by extracts of key episodes in which she appears across the narrative. These extracts are made of the clauses in which she functions as a participant in the episodes.
Professor Okong: Professor Okong is a member of the President’s Cabinet and His Excellency’s scolding of Professor Okong at the beginning of the novel foreshadows Sam’s power-hungry behaviour.
Ikem’s militancy and efforts at reformation of the corrupt socio-political system of Kangan are circumscribed around his editorials and his talent at incitive writing. As Chris says of him, Ikem has “no solid contact with the ordinary people of Kangan” (39).
