Maldives Politics through Chinua Achebe's novel, A Man of the People

In Chinua Achebe's novel, A Man of the People, two contrasting groups of people from a political and social aspect based in West Africa.  The groups are the old and the new generations of politics and two characters represent them.  Odili, the narrator, represents the new intellectual generation, while Chief Nanga, Odili’s former teacher, represents the old style of bush politicians.  The conflict between the old and new ways is portrayed through the two characters as they not only disagree and quarrel over political views but also women.  The story ends with a military coup that foreshadows the Nigerian Revolution of 1966.  "Chinua Achebe proved to be a better prophet than any of the political scientists"(K.W.J. Post, xiii).  Achebe captures the inside reality of the lives of the contrasting characters as he demonstrates energy and brightness as well as violence and corruption.

LEADERS

In A Man of the People, Chief Nanga, is referred to by the narrator, Odili, as a man of the people, and the most approachable politician in the country.  He is the minister of culture and his speeches to the public represent everything that a politician should do and be.  But as Odili tells the story, it becomes clear that Chief Nanga does not practice what he preaches.  The money that is supposed to go towards helping his community he uses instead to build four-story buildings, which he rents out for his own profit. 

Chief Nanga is supposed to be standing up for the traditions and beliefs of the pre-colonial African culture by defending the common man and opposing the European-oriented post-colonial intellectuals.  This notion of defending the unique and colorful African culture is evident in another book of his called Arrow of God where he explains in detail the various rituals, artistic creations, clothing, beliefs, politics, and a sense of community and disagreement among tribes in Africa.  However, in A Man of the People Achebe focuses more on the politics of West African communities.  Achebe shows the switching of power between the old and new styles of politicians and how the old style bush politician, Chief Nanga, is becoming more and more greedy as he learns the political system. 

The politicians in this novel stand as an intermediary between the government and the common people but are portrayed by Achebe as the evil side.  Chief Nanga learns to be greedy and learns how to win elections through the corrupt system of politics he was against in the first place.  The important thing for Chief Nanga is that the people trust him.  He relates to them more, because he considers himself closer to the common man and far away from the intellectual, who represents a more European style of living and thinking.  By representing his country after colonialism, he has the incentive to stay as far away from the European style of life and politics as possible.  As Odili explains the story, however, Chief Nanga only tells the people what they want to hear about defending their culture and way of thinking, and Nanga acts in a voracious way to obtain what he wants in his personal life; money, power, and women.

Chief Nanga's corrupt way of leading the people by telling them one thing and doing another is what eventually brings his reign to an end.  Nanga taught Odili when he was young and Odili respected and liked him as a teacher.  He learned many things from him and was happy when he heard he was first elected.  But as Nanga grew more, powerful within his office and country, Odili began to grow smarter and he became more aware of the corrupt reality.  It was not finally realized though, until he actually had the chance to live with Chief Nanga and witness how Nanga abused his money and power by over-spending his money and having his way with the women he desired.

Odili gives his insight on this situation when he narrates, "We ignore man's basic nature if we say, as some critics do, that because a man like Nanga has risen overnight from poverty and insignificance to his present opulence he could be persuaded without much trouble to give it up again and return to his original state.  A man who has just come in from the rain, dried his body, and put on dry clothes is more reluctant to go out again than another who has been indoors the whole time.  The trouble with our new nation as I saw it then lying on that bed was that none of us had been indoors long enough to be able to say, to hell with it.  We had all been in the rain together until yesterday." 

He goes on to talk about his group of people as the smart and the lucky and how they had scrambled to the one shelter their former rulers left and taken it over.  The metaphor here is very powerful and it really makes it clear the point Achebe is trying to explain.  The point is that a person who goes from having nothing (Nanga) to having everything is going to be more reluctant to go back to having nothing compared to someone that has had everything the whole time, thus making him more greedy to gain power and more defensive against giving up this power. Odili emphasizes that the new nation was never indoors, but together in the rain, and they desperately needed to experience a little shelter.                 

VOICES

A voice is a powerful source for spreading beliefs and enforcing laws.  In the political voice of A Man of the People, Chief Nanga tells his fellow citizens only the things that he feels they need to hear.  His motivation is to gain the approval of the people through the things he says and he persuades them to think that his one voice will represent everyone’s voice.  He is not only a man of the people, but also a voice for the people.  The only side of Chief Nanga the people hear, however, is his politically persuading West African voice that is heard as a voice that will defend and protect against the European style of living and colonizing while representing the African culture.  His methods work to not only persuade the people to vote for him, but to believe he is doing everything he can to help them.  The people are in a way a puppet being controlled by Nanga and his thugs.

In the novel Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, the voice of Mr. Kurtz plays a huge role in the actions of his followers and the people seeking to meet him.  People trust his voice as a powerful sound and that sound echoes through their minds like a drum pounding in an African jungle.  His voice, like Chief Nanga's, is heard as the voice of the people.  Both voices in each novel are listened to as though it is a gavel striking down upon the table.  What is heard by the people to do is what is done.  Both men use their voice to enforce laws and actions.  Kurtz is in charge of a huge ivory production line that is meant to make him and his home country a fortune.  Nanga is in charge of his country and is the Minister of Culture, and his thugs do whatever he needs done to ensure he keeps winning elections.  In this story, Odili sees a different side of Chief Nanga that the people do not see.  He sees the greedy and gluttonous Chief Nanga and he sees the lust and passion driving Nanga to have his way and to have women bow down to him. 

This evil side of Nanga that no one ever sees due to his power and way of hiding the truth and having his way with women is seen by Odili as a powerful enough reason to run against him in the upcoming election.  This dark and empty side of Nanga motivates Odili to seek a friend he has not seen in quite sometime, Max. Together they split away from the two political party systems in West Africa that they see as corrupt and self-centered and they form their own political party that is meant to represent the common man.  The argument Nanga uses against Odili is that Odili is an intellectual who has a European style of education and thus is farther away from the common man.  This is a good argument, but coming from the mouth of Nanga, it is hypocritical and untrue.  Nanga finds a way to take the women that Odili has feelings for away from him, and thus Odili seeks revenge as he is determined to defeat Chief Nanga in the upcoming election and win back the woman he desires. 

A voice is so powerful; people fail to realize this until they think of voices that stand out in history and the meaning of the voice.  The voice of Martin Luther King Jr. has touched so many and made such a huge impact on the world.  He is one man with one voice and it really makes one realize the influence that one man can have on the world.  Adolph Hitler on the other hand, used his voice to kill millions of Jews while attempting to spread his view on what the world should look like on the outside.  Jesus Christ used his voice much like Martin Luther King Jr. as he spoke without using his fists or guns to spread his message.  He touched so many people with his one voice that it is hard to believe the largest religion in the world originated from one man.  Muhammad’s voice played a huge role in the history of the world as he started a religion known as Islam that is the fastest growing religion in the world today.  The power of one voice, as one can see, is incomparable to anything else in the world.  In the novels, A Man of the People, and Heart of Darkness the power of the voice is evident and plays a crucial role in the behaviors of the people listening.

MOTIVES

In the novels A Man of the People and Heart of Darkness, the characters are motivated by different underlying factors that ultimately control their behavior.  The motives for each character determine what methods each uses to achieve his goal.  Violence, discovery, power, curiosity, greed, money, lust, and revenge are some of the different variables controlling the behaviors of the characters in these two novels.

In Heart of Darkness, Marlow's motive for travel and exploration is curiosity.  He simply loves every bit of discovering new places and seeing things for the first time.  Marlow wants to find new sights and sounds, and he wants to explore for the sake of exploring, not for the sake of colonizing and overtaking.  Unlike Marlow, the other main voice in the novel, Mr. Kurtz, explores to seek money and power.  Each man has the urge to travel and explore, but each man has a different motive driving him to behave in different ways.

In A Man of the People, Odili's motives for running against Chief Nanga in the election is to seek revenge and to prove that he is closer to the common man than Nanga.  Odili is upset and jealous of Chief Nanga as he wins out both the girls Odili attempts to have relations with.  Nanga wants to prove that no matter how old he is, his political power, money, and charming good looks will always win over the younger less powerful intellectual.  When asked if he (Odili) was serious about Elsie from Nanga, Odili played it off like he did not care and told Chief Nanga that he was not serious about her.  It was not until one night that Odili had the intentions of sneaking up to Elsie's room when he realized Nanga has beaten him to the spot and the competition begins.  Nanga justifies his actions by explaining to Odili that the reason he (Nanga) asked him about whether or not he was serious about Elsie was to find out whether she was spoken for. Elsie screams Odili’s name, but Odili does not care enough about her to react.  If he did care, he would have responded.  Instead, he packs his bags and leaves, and is only mad at Nanga for competition's sake.

This creates a motive for Odili to find his old friend, called "cool" Max, and to start a new third political party in an attempt to undermine Chief Nanga.  However, as Odili becomes more involved in politics he begins to see the corruption within the whole political process.  His father is very much against him for attempting to run against the Honorable Chief Nanga, and this creates a controversy between the two men.  At one point when Odili has established himself as the voice of the new party, Nanga tries to bribe him to drop out of the election, and Odili refuses.  This episode takes place in front of Odili's father and is a two vs. one-person debate.  The two being Nanga and Odili's father team up against Odili in the argument about whether or not Odili should accept the money and drop out of the election.  Nanga tells Odili that his friend Max accepted money and Odili could not believe it.  He later finds out that Max, using is wits, accepts the money to help fund Odili's campaign.

Chief Nanga has motives to obtain as much power as possible and he uses violent and greedy methods to obtain this power.  He lives in a fabulous house, constructs big building to rent and profit from, and has hired thugs to kill or arrest the person he needs killed or arrested.  He arrests Odili’s father at one point, bribes Max and eventually has Max killed, wins out the two girls Odili is after, tries to bribe Odili, and at the end tries to exploit Odili in front of the mass of people gathered to listen to his (Nanga’s) campaign speech.  Nanga stuffs ballet boxes and does everything he can with the power he has to suppress Odili’s attempt to overtake his position.

Motives can play a crucial role in determining the methods a person uses to acquire the things he wants in life.  Many men have the same motive, to spread their beliefs and thus to have people listen to them and respect them.  The modes of spreading ones beliefs will determine the fate of the world.  If a man believes he is doing the correct thing based on his beliefs there is always going to be a controversy.  Politicians have to persuade the people that their beliefs will not only come true, but will benefit everyone.  If a politician has a powerful enough voice, most often, that man will persuade his listeners to believe in him.  Nanga makes the people believe that they are so much better off than they would have been under European control that they do not even question what Chief Nanga is doing with all the power and money he has.  Odili realizes that the country could be made so much better if the people just knew the facts, but in order for him to gain the faith of the people, he must go up against the man known as “a man of the people”.