Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe

ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH

 

 

 

 

BY

CHINUA ACHEBE

 

Plot 

 

        The Anthills of the Savannah is about the political instability in an unknown African country. It is a study of the lives of the rulers and the ruled in the task of political engineering and social stability. It pictures the whole process of the political insensitivity prevalent in African nations, the socio-economic neglect resulting from the feeble but prevailing resistance put up by the ruled and consequent power change that have been the lot of African states. Braimoh, Emmanuel, Elewa, Beatrice, Sam, Chris, Ikem and half a dozen others are characters through whom this society in turmoil is mirrored.

 

        The visit of the elders of Abazon to the presidential palace does not please the head of the military junta. His anger at the delegation from a region who had consistently opposed his administration is transferred to the members of his cabinet who were rounding off their meeting when the crowd arrived. Professor Okong, the Commissioner of Home Affairs is detailed to meet with the crowd to assuage their feelings and tell them the leader cannot meet them personally as a result of some high level commitment with a foreign dignitary. The lie works but the reverberations of the visit shocks the society to its marrow.

 

        First principal actors in the government are linked with the agitation of the Abazon elders. Their inaction in the failed referendum to plant the head of state as life president is linked to their present role. Ikem, the editor of National Gazette, a native of Abazon is declared a ringleader in the plot. He is suspended from his job. His speech at the University is misrepresented as a call for a coup detats. He is arrested and later killed. Meanwhile, the elders of Abazon who had called to seek government intervention in their drought problems are arrested. They are accused of being in league with Ikem and his foreign collaborators to destabilize the so called legally constituted authority. Due to this, attention has been effectively diverted from the problems of drought in the northern region of Kangan.

 

        Chris, the commissioner of information a friend of Ikem is deeply touched by the death of Ikem. Although he is a member of government, he embarks on a number of actions to counter government Propaganda against the dead journalist who has been painted with various anti-national activities. Chris is declared enemy of the state and a price tag is put on his head.

 

        In his life-time activities, Ikem has won the friendship of many of the workers and students of Kangan. Braimoh and Emmanuel, representatives of these strata of the society join Chris in the new struggle to give the world the truthful state of events in Kangan. Students and drivers are organized in the plans to bring down the military junta that has killed ikem and put some activists to keep their mouth shot and others to take to their heels.

 

        In a telepathic flashback, the rise of Sam, Chris and Ikem to the prime leadership position in Kangan is told by two of the actors themselves. Beatrice who had been involved in their lives is not left out in the witness box. Sam, Chris and Ikem attended the same Lugard College, the bleeding ground for leaders of the emerging African nation. While Sam went into the army, graduating Sandhust, Chris and Ikem went for university education and took to Journalism. A military coup brings Sam into political leadership. He enlists the support of Chris and Ikem. Chris is involved in the recommendation of his commissioners. Chris is given the information portfolio while Ikem takes over Chris’ former position as editor of National Gazette. The cultivation of the friendship of Mad Medico, a white man (his real name is John Keats) by the troika is revealed.7 he helps Sam in his early days in Britain to acclimatize, giving him a girlfriend to the bargain. It is therefore not surprising that Mad Medico who stunned many by getting the job administrator in the Kangan elitist hospital could outwit the Kangan medical doctors in the heat generated by graffiti.

 

        Mr. Dick a Whiteman, editor of Reject visits Mad Medico. He is entertained in company of Chris, Ikem Beatrice and Elewa. When Sam decided to go mad at his friends, Chris and Ikem who had become disinterested in his dictatorial regime, it is Dick’s letter in which he expresses his appreciation for the reception accorded him by Keats and friends that the security forces used as evidence of foreign collaboration with Ikem. And that they were also using the drought-ravaged Abazon areas to destabilized the government. Mad Medico is deported at the same time as Ikem is killed.

 

        After Chris had been declared wanted, the home of Beatrice, his fiancée is raided. Before this time, she had warned Chris to mend fences with Ikem. In her opinion, Sam’s persecution may start with Ikem but it will continue more than him. This insight might not have been unconnected with her invitation by the head of state to a meeting of his kitchen cabinet and visiting female American journalist where according to her, Ikem was tried in absential. The repulsive scenario has also revolutionalised her but Chris advises her to keep her civil service job and play a low-profile support to the cause of the struggle. She readily becomes a source of strength to Elewa who has been devastated by her fiance’s death. Both women are at the final hideout where Chris, Emmanuel and Braimoh are secretly moved out of Bassa to the northern part of the country and from there to the outside world.

 

        The author imbues Ikem, Chris, Emmanuel and Braimoh with the radical and witty temperament of the unrepentant activist. Even with all the odds against them, they never say die! They man oeuvre through all the police checkpoints, selling imaginative dummies where necessary, and escape into Abazon, a relatively safe haven for the opposition. News of a violent change of government reaches them as they set feet on Abazon. While plans are made to come back to Bassa and continue the struggle, Chris is shot by a tipsy police officer whom he tried to stop from abducting a young girl.

CHARACTERIZATION

 

Ossai: Johnson Ossai is the Director of State Research Council, a ruthless fellow who devised merciless torture. For his effectiveness in the oppressive scheme of government, he is promoted to the rank of a colonel. He is not seen again after the death of Sam.

 

Elewa: Elewa is one of Ikem’s girlfriends. In the course of events, she becomes the most favored and is in the company of Ikem’s leading friends. Together with Beatrice, she joins the struggle for which Ikem dies and finally bears a child for the dead journalist.

 

Okong: Prof. Okong is the Commissioner for Home Affairs in the military government headed by Sam. Chris recommended him for appointment. He was a columnist when Chris was editor of National Gazette. Though he was trained to be a Baptist minister by a Baptist mission, he changes and becomes a professor of political science. He has a knack for words and is often relied on by the Head of State to assuage bad feelings.

 

Dick: Dick, a Whiteman, is a poet and editor of a poetic journal called Reject. His visit to Mad medico and subsequent entertainment by Medico’s circle of friends are used by the government to accuse the opposition of collaboration with foreign government to destabilize the government of Kangan.

 

Mad Medico: Mad Medico is the administrator of the Bassa Hospital. He is a friend to Ikem, Chris and His Excellency. He has a good taste for strong drinks. Another quality in him is his love for graffiti. This nearly cost him his job and residence in the country if not for the intervention of Sam and Ikem. He is deported almost the same time Ikem is murdered.

 

Beatrice: Beatrice is Chris’ fiancée.  She holds a first class honors degree in English from the University of London. She works as a civil servant in the enviable rank of Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Her friendship with Ikem and her love relation with Chris bring her into the forefront of the struggle against the government. She becomes the symbol of the new hope after the death of both Ikem and Chris.

 

Sam: Sam is the head of the military government of Kangan. He attended his school at Lord Lugard College and later went for a military career at Sandhust. He is a ruthless dictator who sacrifices his friends to maintain his evil government. At college, he was a social paragon and a school captain in his final year.

 

Ikem: Ikem is a journalist, the editor of the National Gazette. He is a poet with a radical bent, a good judge and friend of men. His revolutionary zeal and objective comments on national issues does not go down well with the military authority. He is suspended from office and subsequently murdered by the state force. 

 

Chris: Chris is also a journalist, the former editor of National Gazette and later Commissioner for Information. He is a good friend of Ikem and Sam. He initially abhors Ikem’s open hostility to government’s inefficiency, believing in silently reforming the system from within. The death of Ikem changes his views. He becomes a firebrand revolutionist. Chris is a dogged fighter; he carried the news of the political violence outside the shores of Kangan. Chris is an effective organizer and mobilizer. His leadership of opposition made it practically impossible for their activities to be broken by government and its agents. His love life is not visible, his first wife, Louise deserts him after six months. His romance with Beatrice was yet to bear fruit when he died, fighting for the cause he believes so much in. He is the unsung hero of Anthills of the Savannah.

 

THEME

(i)                Theme of political power

(ii)              Theme of love

(iii)            Theme of friendship

(iv)            Theme of natural disaster

(v)              Theme of violence and corruption.