ABSTRACT: This research work examines Corruption and Violence in Fetus Iyayi’s Violence and Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People. The study has revealed that Festus Iyayi and Chinua Achebe belong to different generations of Nigerian writers who see corruption, violence and socio-cultural conflicts in our Nigerian societies as the result of misleading and corrupt practices of political leaders in our contemporary Nigerian society. The study also shows that Nigerian societies are faced with political conflict, political disillusionment and political oppression because of mal-administration, dictatorship and excessive socio-political conflicts imposed by the corrupt leaders. The study therefore recommends good literature novels with good moral lessons to be exposed to the learners on the effects of corruption and violence in our Nigerian society and Africa at large. The authors’ views are equally established with the hope of an end goal of finding solutions that will take Africa out of the shackles of corruption, violence poverty and inequality.
Corruption and Violence in Fetus Iyayi’s Violence and Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Chinua Achebe and Festus Iyayi are Nigerian most renowned novelists who by virtue of their writings expose the social vices in African societies like, corruption, violence, exploitation and social-political conflicts in the society. In the same vein, they are among the prolific Nigerian writers who are aware that their leaders have made caricature of the Nigerian independence. These writers were there to see that nothing has really changed; rather things continue getting worse and worse by the day. Their frictional novels depict life within a particular historical background and convey a sense of growing disgust and unrest within Nigerian society, a society that has started to emerge from the ‘colonial complex’ caused by years of denigration and self-abasement. This reason makes them to writes against the political and social ills in their different societies.
For instance, Achebe’s reputation as a novelist rests on his impartial understanding of and ability to represent the Nigerian environment. His works have primarily focused on African politics, the depiction of Africa and Africans in the West, and the intricacies of pre-colonial African culture and civilization, as well as the effects of colonization of African societies. In A Man of the People,he describes various political and social corruptible acts that have taken place in Nigeria since its publication in 1967. He lampoon how the rich and corrupt politicians in the Nigerian society who are represented by Nanga and the poor and idealists represented by Odili.
On the other hand, Festus Iyayi is a post Nigerian civil war writer and a Nigerian novelist. He is a pioneer of social realism, a literary approach that analyses society and its problems in Marxist terms. His works deal with everyday oppression of the common man by his fellow Africans; his works also clearly describe the concept of class struggle. His novel Violence is referred to as one of the first truly proletarian novels in Nigeria, which portrays the Nigerian society as it progressively moves towards the path of retrogression, degeneration, corruption and moral decadence. It is on this assertion the background to this research work aims at exposing the theme of corruption and violence in the novels under investigation.
Corruption and Violence in Fetus Iyayi’s Violence and Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The statement of the proposes the fact that, Iyayi’s Violence and Achebe’s A Man of the People are novels that critically examine the fact that corruption and violence are the major issues affecting our Nigerian society today.These socio-political problems are to be investigated and confirmed as issues negatively affecting the masses in Nigeria.