A Man Of The People By Chinua Achebe Novel Anaysis by Teacher Hassan Lemunje

A Man of the People (1966) is a novel by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.
Written as a satirical piece, A Man of the People follows a story told by Odili, a young and educated narrator, on his conflict with Chief Nanga, his former teacher who enters a career in politics in an unnamed fictional 20th century African country. Odili represents the changing younger generation; Nanga represents the traditional West African customs, inspired by that of Achebe's native Nigeria. The book ends with a military coup, similar to the real-life coup organized by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Major Adewale Ademoyega, Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Captain Chris Anuforo, Major Donatus Okafor, and Major Humphrey Chukwuka. Plot introduction Edit

A Man of the People is a first-person account of Odili, a school teacher in a fictional country closely resembling post-colonial Nigeria. Odili receives an invitation from his former teacher, Chief Nanga, who is now the powerful but corrupt Minister of Culture. As Minister, Nanga's job is to protect the traditions of his country especially when he is known as "A Man of the People". Instead, his position is used to increase his personal wealth and power that proves particularly alluring to Odili's girlfriend; she cheats on him with the minister. Seeking revenge, Odili begins to pursue the minister's fiancee.

Odili agrees to lead an opposition party in the face of both bribes and violent threats. Then there is a military coup.[2]

Diction of the novel
This refers to how an author employed the use of language (simple or complex), literary techniques and figure of speech.
In the novel, “A man of the people” an author used simple language in which it is well understood by his audiences. And in the book of “A man of the people” the author employed the use of PidginEnglish in small extent, for example, “…I go go haskam if he want see you. Wetin be your name?...” (Page 31). Also the author in the novel, employed the use of figures of speech and literary techniques as follows;
Symbolism;this refers to the usage of characters representing concept, idea or an object. The author of the novel used persons and objects to symbolize things as follows
(i)                  Gold and chain to symbolize wealth (page 7).

(ii)                Kidney pie, steak and milk grill to symbolize western culture on food (page 46).

(iii)               Azoge’sstick to symbolize small remained wealth of an individual (page 85).

(iv)              Chief Nanga to symbolize selfish persons and irresponsible ones.

Repetition; this refers to the literary technique of repeating the same word frequently for more emphasis, for example, “…sir, sir, sir…” (Page 9),“…hear! Hear!..” (Page 10), also “…no, no, no, I said…”(Page 93).
Hyperbole; this refers to a figure of speech in which something is described as better than it really is. For example, chief Nanga says“… it is a mammoth crowd…” (Page 10), but in fact, people were not many as mammoth crowd.
Saying; this refers to a phrase expressing a basic truth which may be applied to common situation. The author of the novel employed the use of saying frequently in his work, for example, Chief Nanga says “…do the right and shame the devil…”(Page 11), “…better the water is spilled than the pot is broken..”(Page 28).
Simile; this refers to a figure of speech in which two things are compared using “like” or “as”.The author used simile like, “…he looked as bright as new shilling…” (page 38), “…blows were falling as fast as rain…”(page 140), “…her back was as perfect as her front…”(page 92), “…a sadness deep and cool like a well…”(page 140).
Metaphor; this refers to a figure of speech implies comparison of two unlike entities without using of “as” or “like”. The author used metaphor like when Chief Nanga says “…he has become an earthworm…”(page 42).
Ellipses; this refers to the omission of grammatical words in a sentence or phrase, for instance the author used ellipses like “…you didn’t tell me,Mr.…er…” (Page 62), “…a brilliant song called…erm…what is it called again?...”(page 63).
Personification; thisrefers to a figure of speech in which inanimate object is given human qualities. In the novel, the author employed the use of this like, “…if alligator comes out of the water one morning and tells you that, crocodile is sick …” (page 120), butin fact an alligator cannot speak a word, and“…what one dog says to another…”(Page 125).
Imagery; this is visible representation of an idea, concept, object or realities. In the novel, imagery was employed like “…he has now an ice cream eating permanent secretary…” (Page 109), an ice cream is an imagery representing the national wealth.
Rhetorical questions; these are questions in which an asker do not expect an answer. For example,”…why should you? Do I know book? Am I not ofthe Old Testament?...” (page 118)
Vulgarism;this refers to the use of the word or termthat is considered offensive or distasteful, this was shown by an author as jean says “…sex means much more to a woman than to a man, it takes place inside her. The man uses a mere projection of himself…”

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