CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Literature over the years has portrayed the general human life activities in the

society, even though it refers to the body of knowledge on the know-how of

specific areas of human endeavour. According to Kenneth Burke, literature serves

as a "systematic reflection of the society and the societal behavior, as it means all

of systematic society and societal behaviour can reflect in literature" (Adams 942).

This means that literature is a "reflection of the society, a force in society that is

described in literature or simply a separate part of social life" (Hegtvedt 2).

However, it cannot be separated from human experiences which includes the

social, political, religious, cultural environment among others. According to Ngugi

Wa’Thiongo, literature is "a reflection on the aesthetic and imaginative planes of a

community's wrestling with its total environment, with nature" (Wa’Thiongo 22).

Individual writers tend to derive their creative source from the social environment,

which is recreated into fiction in form of thematic thrusts. This explains why

literature could aid in the transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the

world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations and patterns. These

ideas, meanings and values are derived from the socio-political engagements of

man and its influence therein.

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 Ngugi Wa'Thingo reveals that because the "artist is a medium in the act of

creation (in a Platonic sense), he cannot operate outside imbibed beliefs, interests

and experiences in life" (Wa'Thiongo 53). To him these beliefs, experiences and

influences, determine the social stand he takes in his literary work and ultimately

his relevance to his society. This suggests why he opines that "literature does not

grow or develop in a vacuum; it is given impetus, shape, direction and even area of

concern by social, political and economic forces in a particular society” (Wa'

Thiongo xv). These forces drive the society and her peoples in which the artist

belong. As regards to this, the artist assumes the role of “a spokesman for the

society in which he lives” (Dathorne 3) and interact with. As such, the writer plays

the role of the community’s griot; by “supplying a critique of society for the

greater understanding and enrichment of life there” (Gordimer). His critical view

of the society suggests the thematic concerns embedded in his/her artistic work.

This view has triggered the literary representation extended to locating and

analyzing social circumstances that inform the production of texts.

The thematic concerns in literature do not focus on any particular discipline.

It cuts across the social, political, economic, religious, cultural, spiritual aspects of

life. This is because the human society evolve around numerous times and seasons

that sustains it existence. That is why "writers who are genuinely socially

conscious, set their works within the framework of the society to highlight the

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point that literature and society are interdependent" (Cook 76). This implies that

the themes in a literature can be directed towards the attainment of a variety of

objectives. Hence, the engagement of literature with social experiences becomes in

a manner of perception, an “ideological projection,” a social vision which he is

convinced “holds the most promise for strengthening the bond between experience

and medium, since it prevents the entrenchment of the habitual, and the

petrifaction of the imaginative function by that past or present reality upon which it

reflects” (Soyinka 64).

In a similar stance, Van Peer shows the connection between the novel

(literature) and society as he looks at the social oriented thematic contents in order

to achieve a holistic appreciation of their meaning. To him, the production and

consumption of a "text and discourse serve particular purposes. Apart from

aesthetic ones, which are studied in poetics and stylistics, texts represent social

values and traditions and relate to ideological positions which originate in extra

textual structures of reality and society (Peer 15). He reveals that the societal

values and its contradictions (politics) are some of the artistic features associated to

literature as seen in works of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ola Rotimi, Vicky

Sylvester, Helon Habila; Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Toni Kan's

Night of the Creaking Bed under study.

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 In order to explore the thematic concerns in Adichie's and Kan's selected

works, my choice of the sociological literary theory will best unveil the position of

lots of sociological issues happening in various parts of Africa but Nigeria

precisely, occasioned by man’s interaction and co-existence. The consciousness

about literature and society gives an insight on the production and consumption of

text and how its varying discourse serve particular literary purposes. Thus, the

writer’s stylistics and textual representation of social values and traditions, relate to

ideological positions of literary structures in reality and society as captured in

Habila; Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Toni Kan's Night of the

Creaking.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Literature is an institution in the society that uses language medium in

propagating the socio-political, economic, religious, cultural events through

thematic concerns. As such, it tends to look at the relationship between the man

and his interaction with the society, and how it affects the social interpretation of

live. In this regard, the thematic concerns of literature evolve around the socio-

political challenges such as oppression, sex and sexuality, social injustice among

others which. This study extends the creative courage explored by several writers

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in the explanation of the diverse thematic perspectives which may have not been

treated from Adichie's and Kan's perspectives.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this study is to examine the thematic concerns in Chimamanda

Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Toni Kan's Night of the Creaking Bed. Specifically,

the objectives of the study are:

* to explore the social and cultural discrimination against women.

* to examine the effect of child abuse as thematic concern.

* to explain the theme of sex and sexuality.

* to eximine the impact of masculinity and male dominance in literature.

1.4 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is aimed at viewing the thematic concerns in Adichie's

Purple Hibiscus and Toni Kan's Night of the Creaking. Nevertheless, some library

and internet materials are also used in this research as secondary sources. Hence,

this study will be limited to only the sociological theory of literature.

1.5 Methodology

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 The methodology employed in the study is th ‘sociological theory' which

seeks to give a "stronger sense of the material preconditions, historical flux and

cultural diversity of discourse, practices and institutions of art" (Harrington 31). In

this regard, a textual analysis of the selected texts will be necessary. It is used in

order to respond to issues depicted in the texts under study. To this effect, the study

will give a revelation of the human societal events through literary themes as seen

in the study.

16 Significance of Study

This study looks into the social challenges depicted in the literary themes

captured by writers. As such, the study tends to showcase the human society as it

provides a platform for human expression of mind either through the oral of

written forms. In this regard, this work will be relevant to future readers,

researchers and the Nigerian society at large with its broader analysis of the

thematic concerns in literature while capturing the thematic thrusts in Adichie's

Purple Hibiscus and Toni Kan's Nights of the Creaking Bed.

1.7. Biographies of authors

1.7.1 Biography of Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda Adichie was born in the city of Enugu in Nigeria, the fifth of six

children in an Igbo family. She was raised in the university town of Nsukka in

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Enugu State. While she was growing up, her father James Nwoye Adichie worked

as a professor of statistics at the University of Nigeria. Her mother, Grace Ifeoma,

was the university's first female registrar.The family lost almost everything during

the Nigerian Civil War, including both maternal and paternal grandfathers. Her

family's ancestral village is in Abba in Anambra State. Adichie completed her

secondary education at the University of Nigeria Secondary School, Nsukka,

where she received several academic prizes. She studied medicine and pharmacy

at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this period, she edited

The Compass, a magazine run by the university's Catholic medical students. At the

age of 19, Adichie left Nigeria for the United States to study communications and

political science at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She transferred

to Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) to be near her sister Uche, who

had a medical practice in Coventry, Connecticut. She received a bachelor's degree

from ECSU, summa cum laude, in 2001. In 2003, she completed a master's degree

in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. In 2008, she received a master of

arts degree in African studies from Yale University.

1.7.2 Biography of Toni Kan

Anthony Kan Onwordi known as Toni Kan (born on 11 th June, 1971) is from

Delta State, Nigerian. He is born into the family of Mr Louis Zulu Onwordi, who is

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a retired teacher and popularly called ‘The Master’. He is a writer, editor, Senior

management executive, and teacher. He studied English literature at the University

of Jos and earned M.A. in English Literature at University of Lagos in 1999. He

became a magazine editor at the age of 26. He is the author of Nights of the

Creaking Bed (2008), a collection of short stories- noted for exploring themes on

African sexuality, Ballad of Rage (2004)- a novella, When a Dream Lingers Too

Long- a collection of poetry among others. Toni Kan is an award winning poet,

essayist and short story writer. He is one of Nigeria’s most anthologised young

poets and short story writer. Toni Kan was the winner of the NDDC/Ken Saron

Wiwa Literature Prize (2009), LNG Literature prize competitions in 2003 and

2004 respectively. His works have appeared in Salthill, Drum Voice Revue,

Farafina, Sentinel Poetry Quarterly and the ANA Review. His works are greatly

influenced by his editorial role with Hints Magazine- a weekly publication of

Romance Journalism – a genre that explores sex and sexuality, romantic tales and

relationship issues. Presently, he is in the board of Next– a newspaper firm.