THE PRINCIPAL ROLE AND IDEALISM OF ODILI IN CRYSTALLIZING THE RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY WITH REGARD TO: A MAN OF THE

Abstract

This paper descusses The Principal Role and Idealism of Odili in Crystallizing the Relationships within  the Community. A Man of the People reveals how dysfunctional and uncivilized a colonizer’s ideas can serve in another country, Nigeria.Lindfors contributes. Then, with the coming of the white man, things fell apart, and anarchywas loosed upon the Ibo world. The white men, in other words, were not bringers of light to a dark continent, as was popularly supposed, and their “civilizing mission” did not result in peace, order and harmony. Rather, they were ignorant servants of a powerful English queen who disrupted awell-ordered, cohesive, pacific society by imposing on it their own forms of government. It describes Nigeria in its post-independence phase, during which time the country became a ‘cesspool of corruption and misrule’ in the context of colonial-style social and economic development, a situation that resulted in conflict between the emergent, elitist middle class and the general population. Achebe’s reputation as a novelist rests on his impartial understanding of, and ability to represent, the Nigerian environment. His realistic characterization, and diagnosis, of his country’s malaise has the power to inspire a revolution informed by African ideologies.