When the anchor of this page mentioned to me in passing the death of Professor Albert Chinua Achebe on Friday afternoon, I felt it was not true. Not that man should not die and live forever because he has swallowed anti-death pills.
But yours truly was shocked because it was not public knowledge that he was sick to the point of death. Only a few weeks ago, he had stirred the hornet's nest with his latest book, a historical memoir on the Nigeria Civil War. It is an open secret that he was confined to the wheel chair after a motor accident some years back.
I came across Chinua Achebe in the old Form Three of the discarded Grammar School system in the early 1970s, when his classic and masterpiece was our main literature text. The subject was called English Literature then. In that epic contribution to world Literature, Achebe exhibits an unparalleled mastery of the art of story telling.
His handling of Things Fall Apart is awesome. I have not come across anyone who has read that book and said he did not understand it. So fluent is he in that novel that we looked for other titles of his and joined them together to form a sentence that runs thus: When the Arrow of God falls on A Man of the People, Things Fall Apart and things are No Longer at Ease! Four great works by Achebe, which distinguish him as an engaging writer.
A lot has been written about Achebe and his works, especially Things Fall Apart. The novel has been translated into many languages and adapted into film. Yet one book of his that I will not forget is his collection of short stories titled Girls at War. I can't recall all the stories in that collection now but I remember Girls at War and The Mad Man.
Achebe tells the story of the Nigeria Civil War with its attendant destruction of lives and property. He exposes the atrocities committed by soldiers on both sides and, more importantly, reveals how the young girls of that era got entangled in the web of confusion, causing them to be messed up by the rampaging soldiers.
In fact, the title of the story gives it a sarcastic bend and a satiric twist at the same time that it is not just soldiers that are at war now but these young innocent girls of Eastern Region.
The war changed everything about them. Their language became corrupted. War terminologies took on new meanings when sex is discussed.
The ladies' dressing changed to reflect the times. Their outlook changed to make them attractive to the maniacal soldiers. They fought, among themselves, over men and lost all sense of shame. Just as the war destroyed the fabric of the Igbo society, it did not spare the innocent young girls and women of that unfortunate era. Achebe uses his mastery of the art of story-telling to expose the evils of war not necessarily in terms of lives destroyed physically but thousands of lives destroyed through contamination and pollution of an existing unsullied system.
The Mad Man is also an extraordinary story. Everyone knows that the Igbo love tradition and chieftaincy titles. It is an appreciative community that recognises outstanding people in the society confer titles on them.
So, there is this aspirant who has fulfilled all conditions and is supposed to be honoured the next market day. Everybody agrees he is a good man and it is sure as death that it is he that the title will go to. He has got his home ready, his wives and children are in joyous mood waiting for the day to come.
A few days before the D-day, he goes to his farm to bring home some yams in readiness for the occasion. On his way back, as usual, he wants to have a shower in a stream. He pulls off his clothes and jumps into the water. He enjoys his bath and as he makes to get out of the stream he sees a popular mad man in the society where he drops his clothes. Before he could get out of the water, the mad man has put on the clothes and scurried away.
Such is the master story teller Achebe was.
- Ogundolapo is a media executive with Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria
