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Facts And Fiction In Akachi Adimora - Ezeigbo’s Chldren Of The Eagle And The Last Of The Strong Ones
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1.3 THE LAST OF THE STRONG ONES (1996) A SYNOPSIS
The
novel is an imaginative reconstruction of the history of Uga, a town in
South Eastern Nigeria. Woven around the lives of four influential women
who flourish alongside their male counterparts in the leadership of
their town, the story relates the struggle of a people to free their
community from the clutches of meddlesome British colonialists,
chronicling their experience as they resist a disruptive order that
threatens their tradition and their humanity. Amidst the dramatic build
up to an inevitable collision between tradition and change, the author
embarks on a journey of role re- evaluation and redefinition of
womanhood within the context of the Igbo culture.
Following the
footsteps of Nigeria’s first female novelist, Flora Nwapa, who protested
the relegation of the Igbo whom in a patriarchal society in her works
Efuru (1966) and Idu (1968), Ezeigbo’s work is a reaction to the
unacceptable socioeconomic situation of Igbo women in particular and
Nigerian women in general, under colonial rule.
Like other Novelists
in the womanist genre, Ezeigbo is preoccupied with the struggle for
change, consciously expressed in the different forms of protest. In the
case of The Last of the StrongOnes (1996) however, the author chooses
to’ reconstruct the social realities of the Umuga community by
entrenching women in active leadership roles alongside their male
counterparts. This can be seen as a deliberate insistence on positive
Igbo Heroines as a means of drawing attention to the importance and
relevance of the woman’s voice, despite tradition.
Thus, by tracing
the history of the Umuga community through the voices of women and
reconstructing the transition process via women’s experiences, pains and
emotions, t author protests the one sided presentation of gender roles
in the writings of men which overlooked the militant role of women in
the struggle against Colonialism (C.F. Nina Mba 1997).
Adimora
Ezeigbo, through her fictional novels enlightens her readers on issues
concerning her society. Social realities are entailed in her works,
these issues are facts.
1.4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FACTS AND FICTION.
Literature
teaches moral lessons to man. A lot of lessons can be learnt from
various works of literature. This is what we mean by didacticism. At the
same time, literature is a source of entertainment. It is a known fact
that man is always facing one problem or the other, because of the
complexity and multiplicity of human problems. Human mind is most of the
time being troubled. Literature can be used to heal the mind. This is
what we mean by psycho-therapeutic function of literature. One should
not forget to mention the fact that literature can be used to promote
culture. Through it, we are exposed to the norms and values of various
human societies.
Recently, I asked my sisters to make their biodata
available to me as soon as possible, to write down facts about their
lives that I might include in the family book. I belie\re I should also
put together facts about my life that can go into the book. What is
fact? And what is fiction? Can a line be really drawn between the two? I
often think that the line between fact and fiction is blurred. What
about the myths that society surrounds itself with? Is myth fact or
fiction? People create myths to explain the unexplainable, the
unknowable. In my family, we have our myths, just as Umuga has her myths
(p.368).
The above excerpt by the author, explains that facts are
real events and happenings in her life. Through her short stories and
novels, the author tells us about her family background and childhood in
‘The Blind Man of Ekwulu’. She also tells us ‘The War’s Untold
Unstory’: The challenging years of youth and also through her short
story ‘Agarachaa’, She writes on the fact of the memories of her youth.
However, ‘The life out there’ tells us the single and searching days of
the author. In ‘The life out there’, the author writes on the strict,
stern and constraining background in which she grew:
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This research work addressed itself to the way people tend to see fictional works. People see fictional works as being fictitious, but they are over laid with fact. This long essay, using Akachi Adimora. Ezeigbo’s works as guide, demonstrated the impact of the intermeddling of fact with fiction in literary works. They do not always obstruct each other and when harnessed depending on the ingenuity of the artist they can serve multiple purposes. The sociological socialist realism theory is ... Continue reading---
