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Home , Ala (odinani), Alusi, Amadioha, Chike and the River, Igbo name, No Longer at Ease

“CHIKE’S SCHOOL DAYS” AND “DEAD MEN’S PATH” BY : A PHENOTEXTUALIZATION OF RELIGIONWISE CULTURE SHOCK AND ACHEBE’S EARLY SCHOOLING

Fetnani Cecilia

Abstract

Using Edmond Cros‟s sociocriticism, the article shows that Chinua Achebe‟s “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” are a phenotextualization of religionwise culture shock and Achebe‟s early schooling. First, they encompass the idea that comes to pieces in a confrontation with ; second, Chike, the protagonist whose Christianized family is at the centre of the cultural and spiritual crisis, is nobody else but Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, “The Ogidi Boy”; third, Achebe‟s untimely enthusiasm for Shakespeare‟s language is implicit in the civilizing and religious clash. In concrete terms, the Igbo traditional is rejected and defeated; belonging to a Christian family made up of six offspring, Chike John Obiajulu is Albert Chinualumogu Achebe‟s double christened after the Igbo customary words connected with Christianity; and, as a schoolboy at the schoolhouse of fictionalized Ogidi, Chike/Achebe, who strongly dislikes arithmetic, prematurely shows a passionate interest in stories, songs and in the musicality of English. Keywords: Achebe, Christianity, Cros, culture shock, early schooling, English, Igbo, Odinani, passion, phenotextualization, religionwise, short stories, sociocriticism.

Introduction

With an oeuvre focusing on the Igbo customs and traditions, the impacts of Christianity, and the conflict between the Occidental and African traditional values in the wake of the advent of colonialism1, Chinua Achebe claims to be a champion of his people‟s cultures and traditions. In his short fictions entitled “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path”, two stories excerpted from Girls at War and Other Stories, he not only shows his predilection for the culture clash2 between and Africa, i.e. the Western religion

1 Colonialism brought about an encounter between Europe and Africa, a contact which results in a religious clash, as shown in the following: “The contact of the Africans with the Europeans marked the major conflict of cultures. It is one of the outcomes of colonialism. Most often, religion, social organization in which culture dominates, and political structure form the basis of culture conflict.” (Mba, 2013: 36)

2 Although Achebe has not invented the theme of the culture clash between Europe and Africa, the innovative ways in which he deals with this topic transforms him into a prominent advocate of African (Igbo) cultural values. This idea is summed up as follows: “Achebe is considered as one of the most important figures in contemporary . His novels [and short stories], which chronicle the colonization and independence of , are among the first works in English to present an intimate and authentic rendering of African culture. His major concerns, according to Abiola Irele, involve “the social and psychological conflicts created by the incursion of the white man and his culture into the hitherto self-contained world of African society, and disarray in the African consciousness that has followed.” (Draper, 1992: 1)

(Christianity) and the traditional African religion3 (Odinani4), but also writes about himself, his early education, just like in his “ […] based upon [his] life experience” (O‟Brien, 1999: 1). Such a liking leads to postulate that Achebe‟s “Chike School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” are a phenotextualization of religionwise culture shock and Achebe‟s early schooling. The questions that can be answered read thus: How and why are the selected short stories a phenotextualization of a religionwise culture shock and Achebe‟s early schooling? What is the consequence of the cultural and religious confrontation between Christianity and Odinani, the Igbo traditional religion, on “Chike” the protagonist, who turns out to be little “Achebe”, that is to say, Achebe‟s double? Could the chosen stories be part of Achebe‟s autobiography and/or “autrebiography”? To succeed in broaching the subject of “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” as short fictions in which the author “phenotextualizes” religionwise culture shock and the earliness of Achebe‟s education, it would be helpful to define terms like “phenotextualization”, “religionwise culture shock” and “early schooling”. The word “phenotextualization” has been coined after Julia Kristeva‟s term “pheno- text”, which “refers to the text as a “fact” or an “appearing” in its concrete manifestation or material form.” (Kristeva, quoted in Bodine, 2002: 29) If the “phenotext” means the physical text, then “phenotextualization” could mean the act of textualizing or rendering as text, the fact of creating the printed text. Put differently, “phenotextualization” is the result of textualizing, or again a written form. It makes reference to the typographical version of the literary text. As for the phrase “religionwise culture shock”, it encompasses two important terms: “religionwise” and “culture shock”. While “culture shock” refers to “a series of events and experiences” (Naysmith and Corcoran, 2001), which reveal the direct and antagonistic confrontation of European culture (Christianity), and African culture (Odinani), the adjective “religionwise” means concerning religion. The expression “religionwise culture shock” not only designates the cultural clash, the religious conflict occurring between a Christianity (introduced into Igbo land by colonialism) and an Odinani existing and practiced in its natural environment, but also the “state of disorganization as existing when a conflict of standards arises and the new standards begin to take root one by one, disrupting the fairly well

3 As a traditional African religion in Igbo land, Odinani is a polytheistic religion opposed to Christianity which is monotheistic. In point of fact, the scores of . If is the “supreme” , and Agbala the god that is able to tell the future and talk to the spirits of dead fathers, Ani is the female god portrayed as follows: “Ani is the of the earth and harvest. Many people in the Ibo village animals to Ani to entice a good harvest for the year. She is called upon many times during the year to bless crops (i.e. the Feast of the New Yam). It is also said that it is a crime against the earth goddess (Ani) to kill a clansman (chapter 13). (Kucharski, 2015). Ani is also referred to as , the or goddess of the earth, fertility and mortality, as shown in these terms: “Ala (also known as Ani, Ana, Ale, and Ali in varying Igbo dialects) is the female Alusi () of the earth, morality, death, and fertility in Odinani. She is the most important Alusi in the Igbo . In Odinani, Ala rules over the which holds the deceased ancestors in her womb. Her literally translates to „Ground‟ in the , denoting her powers over the earth and her status as the ground itself. Ala is considered the highest Alusi in the Igbo pantheon and was the first Alusi created by Chukwu, God almighty. Ala‟s husband is , the sky god.” (Crayola, 2012)

4 “Odinani (Igbo: d n n ) comprises the traditional religious practices and cultural beliefs of the Igbo people of southern Nigeria.” (Afulezy, 2010) “Odinani” or “O di n‟Ani” in a literal sense means the following: “It is anchored on the Earth Deity, a creation of the Supreme Creator”. “Okike” (Creation), “Alusi” ( Forces or again ), “Mmuo” (Spirit) and “Uwa” (World), which are the four complex constituents of the cosmos, are the fundamentals of “Odinani”. On top of these four elements into which the cosmos is divided according to the philosophy of the Igbo traditional religion, can be mentioned the of religion related to the useful coexistence on earth. (Omenani, 2012)

integrated pattern of old standards” (Holt, 1940: 744). The collapse of the traditional religion (Odinani), or again social and spiritual disruption happens as a result of such an encounter. The recourse to the noun phrase “religionwise culture shock” can also be accounted for by the fact that religion is a “cultural component” (Qun et al, 2019: 447). As for the phrase “early schooling”, it alludes to the author‟s primary school education since “Achebe spent his early childhood in Ogidi, Nigeria, a large village near the famous marketplace of ” (O‟Brien, 1999: 1). In other words, it makes reference to Achebe‟s life experience as a schoolboy “In the Primary School” (Achebe, 1972: 39), or again in “the village school” (Achebe, 1972: 38). The aim of this article is to show the extent to which “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” put into phenotext the religious conflict between Christianity and Odinani, the Igbo traditional religion, as well as Achebe‟s early schooling. To this goal, Edmond Cros‟s sociocriticism will be used, since it is a sociocritical theory of the cultural subject, which deals with the ways in which history is incorporated into the literary text, not at the level of the contents, but on the formal plane. (Cros, 2003: 53); thus, the study zeroes in on the structures of the phenotext in to interpret the spiritual aspects, the antagonistic tensions existing between the in contact, and also the education and life experiences of an Achebe sent to the schoolhouse of Ogidi. In other words, the phenotext will be reconstructed by taking into account the semiotic and ideological dimensions of the author‟s writing, thereby explaining “its fault lines, its internal contradictions – in the end, its irreducibly social nature.” (Cros, 1988) That is why terminologies such as “intertextuality main line”, “ideosemes”, “morphogenesis”, “genotextuality”, “cultural subject/(pheno)text”, “genotext”, “phenotext” and “the discursive formation”, will be used as metalanguage for the analysis, which falls into three parts. While the first section examines an Odinani “Falling Apart” faced with Christianity, the second and the third parts respectively prove that the protagonist from “Chike‟s School Days” is Achebe‟s double, his fictionalized self, and that the phenotext reveals the Nigerian writer‟s premature fascination for Shakespeare‟s Language, i. e. English.

1- An Odinani “Falling Apart” Faced with Christianity

The advent of /Nigeria, particularly in Igbo land brought about a religionwise culture clash between Christianity and Odinani, the traditional religion of the Igbo people. The manifestations of such a spiritual conflict can be perceived first when Amos‟s family abandons Odinani in aid of Christianity; and second when the Igbo customary religiosity is depicted as a vanquished, a defeated , whose practice of is trampled on.

1-1- Rejection of Odinani, the Igbo Traditional Religion

Before tackling Amos‟s rejection of Odinani in aid of Christianity, it would be sensible to set the scene by enlightening the reader about the cultural and spiritual values of Odinani. These are perceived through the narrative function which the diviner performs in the studied short story because he epitomizes Odinani and Igbo ways. He is “The Seer [playing the role of] Custodian of Regenerative Wisdom in Traditional Society” (Ojinmah, 1991: 1). Not only is he the guardian of the Igbo people‟s customs and traditions, but also the advocate of its revitalizing lore, a philosophy in the absence of which the collectivity, usually, is ill- fated. (Ojinmah, 1991:1) Actually, the diviner is a medicine man, a character who is believed to have special magic powers of healing. He is the traditional priest by whom the Igbo gods give their messages. As such, he is endowed with great powers with which he reads the past,

the present and the future. This character to whom old Elizabeth pays a visit in order to find a remedy to Amos‟s spiritual “sickness”, is portrayed as “the man of the four eyes”, a greatly powerful and wise man:

This diviner was a man of great power and wisdom. As he sat on the floor of his hut beating a tortoise shell, a coating of white chalk round his eyes, he saw not only the present, but also what had been and what was to be. He was called „the man of the four eyes.‟ As soon as old Elizabeth appeared, he cast his stringed cowries and told her what she had come to see him about. „Your son has joined the white man‟s religion. And you too in your old age when you should know better. And do you wonder that he is stricken with insanity? Those who gather ant-infested faggots must be prepared for the visit of lizards. (Achebe, 1972: 37) The aforementioned quotation proves that the diviner is truly powerful because as soon as Elizabeth gets into his hut, he throws his “stringed cowries”, and tells her about the reason for her visit. In fact, he informs her about Amos‟s and her own conversion to Christianity. With his “prophetic vision” (Ojinmah, 1991: 76), the seer guesses the question Elizabeth asks herself about her son‟s “madness”. The sacred wisdom of the diviner can be measured by his use of Igbo proverb expressed as follows: “Those who gather ant-infested faggots must be prepared for the visit of lizards.” As a prophet sent by the Igbo gods to teach the people, the seer is viewed as a wise man, an (old) individual who uses an Igbo proverb to give Elizabeth and her son Amos the message of the Igbo divinities. The aforementioned paremy conveys a meaning, which “the white man‟s religion” will put it thus: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6: 23). In other words, one reaps what one sows, which means that Amos, who has abandoned his fathers‟ traditions and customs and religion for the white man‟s , in the name of which he decides to marry an Osu woman, must be ready to pay for the drawbacks of his deeds and heresy. The price of such sacrilege and self-denial of a free-born person who makes himself into an Osu or again a slave, is the isolation of the individual, who sets himself against the whole Igbo community and its customary and religious laws. As a linguistic material drawn from oral literature, the Igbo proverb used by the diviner in “Chike‟s School Days”, as well as the one uttered by priest Ani in “Dead Men‟s Path”, is a way in which Achebe pays homage to spiritual orality by showing that the religious discourse is an art in Igbo land. (Djangoné-Bi and Okafor, 1979: 342) Therefore, in the traditional locale where the indigenous proverb is pronounced, the divine verb plays a very important place. (Djangoné-Bi and Okafor, 1979: 342) In such a milieu, the art of conversation is preponderant since it values parole, speech, which encompasses traditional and religious wisdom. As African scholars put it, the indigenous proverb is the “noyau de la philosophie traditionnelle [et religieuse]” (Djangoné- Bi and Okafor, 1979: 343), that is to say, the “the hard core of the customary [and religious] philosophy”; the fundamental element of Igbo lore and spirituality. As a master of orality and endogenous religiosity, the diviner, who feels affection for his people‟s sayings, and uses an Igbo proverb to teach a moral lesson to old Elizabeth and her son Amos, is aware that the local maxim is an essential aspect of the spiritual discursive aesthetics. Achebe could have found the English equivalent of the Igbo aphorism which he puts into the diviner‟s mouth (“Those who gather ant-infested faggots must be prepared for the visit of lizards”), but he did not do it. Quite the opposite, he has conserved its traditional form, its original flavour. (Djangoné-Bi and Okafor, 1979: 344) By the use of the quoted adage, the diviner shows that he is a custodian of Odinani and the Igbo customs and traditions; and above all an expert in Igbophilized and spiritualized parlance.

For the Nigerian writer, the Igbo prize Igbo epigrams because they bestow a status of good speakers upon people who use language skilfully and wisely. Achebe writes: “Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten”. (Achebe, 1972: 17) An old man, the diviner “eats words with the proverbial palm oil”, which points out to his proximity to the wisdom of the traditional religion. (Djangoné-Bi and Okafor, 1979: 344) The diviner‟s customary utterance to old Elizabeth encompasses time-honoured truth which gives weight to his warning and makes him into a repository of Odinani, as well as the Igbo age-old customs. With a stock of Igbo proverbs which the seer embodies, it can be said that he is a reference book, a reservoir of proverbial wisdom and spiritual values, which are the wise man‟s food. (Munonye, 1969: 184). All those customary and spiritual assets did exist and made the traditional community so stable and thriving that they are considered as stability and endogenous development factors in the African universe existing before Africa‟s contact with Europe. Such an idea is expressed thus by Kofi Awoonor (1976: 252):

To Achebe, the African world before the arrival of Europe was a well-integrated one, with dignity and honour… As a story of the tragic encounter between Africa and Europe, [Things Fall Apart] is an attempt to capture and restate the pristine integrity which has been so traumatically shattered by that confrontation. Achebe‟s ancestors‟ cultural and have not been created at random in the customary society; they have a purpose, which is expressed in these terms: “Our ancestors create their myths and legends and told their stories for a human purpose […] Their artists lived and moved and had their being in society, and created their works for the good of that society.” (Achebe, 1975: 19). Such humanitarian lore has been established for “the good of the [traditional] community” (Achebe, 1975: xiii), for its benefit and well-being. The usefulness of the traditional religion, which is practiced through the use of “Dead Men‟s Path”, is further shown in the utterance of the village priest of Ani. This seer says the following to Michael Obi, a character incarnating the white man‟s ways:

„Look here, my son,‟ said the priest bringing down his walking-stick, „this path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it. But most important, it is the path of children coming in to be born… (Achebe, 1972: 81)

The quote above shows the importance of Odinani for the villagers. In point of fact, as the old man puts it, the living of the entire collectivity is contingent upon this century-old “path”. For the old seer, the inherited track not only allows the deceased to “depart” the village by it, to allow the ancestors to pay a visit to the villagers by it, but also permits the infants to be born to get to the village by the hereditary path. Talking about the preponderant roles of the passageway blocked by Michael Obi, who that the school “cannot allow people to make a highway of our school compound” (Achebe, 1972: 81), and that “The whole purpose of our school […] is to eradicate just such beliefs [because] Dead men do not require footpaths” (Achebe, 1972: 81), Nonyelum Chibuzo Mba (2013: 35), writes the following: “Dead Men‟s Path” is an exposé of the belief of the Igbos in the relationship between the living and the dead ancestors and the unborn child. The path is symbolic of three realms of existence: the dead, the living and the unborn.” Odinani, a cult in which the ancestors are venerated, is practiced through the interdependence between these three worlds of life. Like a Cartesian and Christianized Michael Obi who closes the path because he thinks that venerating the ancestors by using a footpath “is just fantastic [and that] Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas” (Achebe, 1972: 81), Amos, his wife Sarah, his

mother Elizabeth and his son Chike, turn down the sacred and ethnic wealth of Odinani, in aid of Christianity, the “monotheistic religion” (Venner, 2013: 90), a revealed spirituality founded on the belief that there is only one God. The and hymn-singing which are done daily on a regular basis are not only the signs of Amos‟s family‟s rejection of Odinani, but also the proofs of the family‟s adoption of the white man‟s religion. Achebe writes: “Amos had many years before bought a tiny bell with which he summoned his family to prayers and hymn-singing first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This was one of the ways of the white man.” (Achebe, 1972: 35) These “prayers and hymn-singing” open and close the family‟s day marked by steady family prayers performed “in the morning” and “at night”. Here, it is worth mentioning that this object, the “tiny bell”, which is “a hollow usually cup-shaped metallic device that makes a ringing sound when struck” (Merriam Webster’s Dictionary & Thesaurus), which Amos purchased many years ago, is one of the symbols of the practice of the white man‟s religion. In point of fact, not only do the strokes of the “tiny bell” allow Amos to tell the hours of prayers to the members of his family, but also this instrument suggests the idea that each member from Amos‟s family places his/her in Christ, in the Holy Spirit and in God the Father. It is with such a tool that Amos “summons” the members of his family to “prayers and “hymn- singing”, which are acts and practices of prayers and songs of praise to God. The sentence (“This was one of the ways of the white man”), points out that Christianity is not the initial religion of Amos, his wife Sarah, their five daughters and their unique son Chike. It also shows that the family has been converted to Christianity, a religion of which practice appears as one manifestation of the Western culture and civilization. Chike, as well as his two elder sisters, is brought up in a family setting marked by an education based on Christianity, a religion which the white man brought when the he came to colonize and civilize the indigenous populations in Africa, precisely in Igbo land. The heterodiegetic narrator utters the following: “Like his sisters Chike was brought up „in the ways of the white man‟, which meant the opposite of [the] traditional [religion]” (Achebe, 1972: 35). In this sentence, it is implicitly shown that “the ways of the white man” embodied in Christianity are opposed to “the traditional ways and spirituality of the black man” incarnated in Odinani, the customary religious beliefs. As a result, it can be inferred that Amos‟s family has abandoned his people‟s traditional customs and traditions, and has adopted Christianity, the white man‟s religion. As a child, Chike receives the sacrament of which proves that he is now a Christian, that is to say, an individual who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ. As such, Chike is part and parcel of God‟s children, those whom have been baptized in a Christian church, and whom are born anew by the act, the ceremony of baptizing:

The child received three at his baptism – John, Chike, Obiajulu. The last name means „the mind at last is at rest‟. Anyone hearing this name knew at once that its owner was either an only child or an only son. Chike was an only son. His parents had had five daughters before him. (Achebe, 1972: 35)

Chike‟s two other given names (“John” and “Obiajulu”) are significant. If the first one, i.e. “John”, refers to the patron saint after which he is named in the Christian religion, i.e. Saint John as one the disciples of Jesus Christ, the second one, i.e. “Obiajulu”, which means in Igbo language “the mind at last is at rest”, alludes to Odinani, and to the traditions and customs of the Igbo people for whom Children‟s given names has a significance in the vernacular. Expressed in the Igbo dialect, the word “Obiajulu” signifies that with Chike‟s birth, Chike‟s parents are finally satisfied because after bearing five daughters, their sixth

infant is a boy. So from this birth their mind, their spirit can be at rest, since they are no more worried because the long awaited son and heir is now born. On top of practicing Christianity in the family, Amos sends Chike to a school where he is taught the beliefs of the Christian religion. As a matter of fact, this Christian family further demonstrates its adoption of “the white man‟s ways” by sending Chike to school, particularly to the “religious class” in which he learns to sing, to dance and where he is also taught the catechism, which is corroborated by these terms: “Being so young, Chike was sent to what was called the „religious class‟ where they sang, and sometimes danced, the catechism.” (Achebe, 1972: 38) The lexis “catechism” should be underlined and explained. In point of fact, in Christianity the word “catechism” refers to the teaching of the Christian doctrine and moral to the people who are baptized. A catechized boy, i.e. one who is instructed by means of a catechism, Chike is to develop into a Christian who has been received into the Christian church. The actions and speeches, performed and uttered by the characters of Amos and Chike, as well as those done and held by Amos‟s mother (Elizabeth), the diviner, and Michael Obi, reveal the idea that Odinani is under threat from the development of Christianity and the Western school, notably “the new school” (Achebe, 1972: 79). Rejected by Amos, his family, Michael Obi and his wife Nancy, Odinani concedes defeat faced with Christianity, since its practice carried out through the Osu caste system and the veneration of the ancestors, which are age-old traditional and spiritual norms existing in the Igbo customary society, falls in disuse with the and the closure of “Dead Men‟s Path”. Consequently, Odinani is nothing else than a vanquished Igbo spirituality. 1-2- Odinani, a Vanquished Igbo Spirituality

Christianity vanquishes Odinani, i.e. it defeats the Igbo traditional spirituality completely in a religious and cultural competition in which both religions and cultures are involved. To better evaluate how Christianity wins against Odinani and the traditions and customs of the Igbo people, the study should be started with a presentation of what Edmond Cros calls “intertextuality main line” (“axe de l‟intertextualité”). For Cros, “intertextuality main line” corresponds to all the semiotic material which exists before the work of writing and encompassing not only the anterior texts, but also the historical matter retransmitted, as well as the represented society where different social practices take place. (Cros, 2003: 197) Thanks to Cros‟s metalanguage termed “intertextuality main line”, the study will deal with what an Osu is in the Igbo traditional society, how he is discriminated against by the customs in the past, and how nowadays he has become a free person owing to the white man‟s religion. Setting the scene of the religionwise culture shock that breaks out between Christianity and Odinani when Christianity enters into contact with the indigenous spirituality, Mba writes what comes next:

Certain traditional customs are countered by religious injunctions of Christianity. Such [sic] is exhibited by the contrast between the concept of status and social class in which the caste system (osu) became a social problem being unaccepted by the society of Umuofia, and accountable by Christian religion which believes in equality of man in the eyes of God. This and many others [sic] related issues bring about clash between new Christian converts and their kinsmen who remained loyal to the traditional religion and ways of life. The interpreters and court messengers were not the only threat to the customs and traditions of the people. The new class of natives produced by the school and church also formed another conflict group with the people. (Mba, 2013, p. 39)

The extract above shows how Christianity opposes the Igbo traditional law about the Osu caste system. Formerly accepted and obeyed by everybody, the Igbo social class establishment is questioned by the “new Christian converts” who “believe[s] [now] in equality of man in the eyes of God”. But the tribesmen who still practice Odinani and the ancestral ways do not tolerate such affront from the part of the proselytes. Thus, a confrontation is caused by this disagreement. How can this be accounted for? Actually, in the past, an Osu, an outcast, was not only owned by one of the diverse gods of the clan, and the latter lived on the margins of society, but also he/she was not shown any deep respect. He/she was rather scorned and disliked, and above all expectorated at; he/she was not allowed to get married with a free-born person, and was denied any possibility to get any of his/her clan. When he/she passes away, their dead body was placed in the earth in the Bad Bush by their relatives. The passage below sums up the condition of the Osu, as shown in the “intertextuality main line”, that is the socio-historical, cultural and religious background to the Igbo referential society:

In the past an Osu could not raise his shaggy head in the presence of the free-born. He was a slave to one of the many gods of the clan. He was a thing set apart, not to be venerated but to be despised and almost spat at. He could not marry a free-born, and he could not take any of the titles of his clan. When he died, he was buried by his kind in the Bad Bush. (Achebe, 1972: 36) Enslaved to clannish gods, objectified, or again reified, and discriminated against, the Osu was formerly treated unfairly and inhumanely by the “free-born” people. The terms “Osu”/”free-born” (person) are ideosemes which refer to the genotextual utterance, the historical matter. These ideosemes are also morphic, or again morphogenetic elements composing the genotext, which is considered as an ideological product (Cros, 2003: 62). Cros defines the morphogenetic field as a virtual space where several morphic components work. He describes the word “morphogenesis”, from which the adjective “morphogenetic” derives, as a fruit of history which incorporates a historical material. “Morphogenesis” itself is a concept which refers to the functioning of the genotext whereby emphasis is placed on the origin and the essential role of forms. (Cros, 2003: 73 and 197) The vocable “morphogenesis” can be similar to the lexis “genotextuality”. Redefined by Cros, the designation “genotext” refers to the socio-historical, cultural and spiritual context corresponding to an ungrammaticalized enunciation, in that this statement has not been put into formula yet in the phenotext, the printed text (Cros, 2003: 55). With Julia Kristeva, the appellation “genotext” is connected with the process of generation of the signifier system. (Cros, 2003: 57)

The phenotext emerges from the clashing coincidence of two contradictory discourses which are about the fundamental stakes of the society. (Cros, 2003: 54) Achebe‟s “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” are good examples of a cultural and religious clash in which the opposing worldviews of the Western and the African/Igbo cultures are exposed. Thus, if the Occidental ways are considered “modern”, the African ones are deemed to be backward. Therefore, Odinani, as well as the Igbo customs and traditions, becomes synonymous with backwardness, which is opposed to modernity, civilization and sophistication conveyed by Christianity, “the humanitarian religion” (Venner, 2013: 90), which has come to reduce the suffering and to improve the living conditions of the Osu, the marginalized, those who are discriminated against in postcolonial Umuofia. These contradictions and plurality reveal the modality in which history (the contact of the cultures and religions and the crisis generated) is incorporated into the phenotext. (Cros, 2003: 53-54) An antagonistic phenotext can only be created by a conflicting genotext in Achebe‟s “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path”, where Amos‟s and Michael Obi‟s religious

intolerance, their foolhardiness and their affront to the traditional religion have brought about nothing else than the ingredients of a spiritual conflict between Christianity and Odinani.

Amos, Chike‟s father, who is a “free-born” individual, has chosen to turn himself into an Osu by getting married with Sarah, an Osu woman, in the name of Christianity. This act is an unprecedented event in Igbo land because Amos has made himself an Osu while being fully aware of his deed, and people think that he has gone mad, he has lost his head because of “the new religion”. The heterogenetic narrator puts this thought as follows:

Chike‟s father was not originally an Osu, but had gone and married an Osu woman in the name of Christianity. It was unheard of for a man to make himself Osu in that way, with his eyes wide open. But then Amos was nothing if not mad. The new religion had gone to his head. It was like palm-wine. Some people drank it and remained sensible. Others lost every sense in their stomach. (Achebe, 1972: 36) Paying attention to the phenotext‟s unsaid by resorting to what Louis Althusser terms “symptomal reading” (Althusser, quoted in Cros, 2003: 15), allows to better explain the aforementioned quote. Applying a “symptomal reading” to the quoted excerpt means doing a reading which pays more attention to what the text silences than to what it expresses. What is implicitly meant is that Christianity has made Amos become so much blind that it is as if he has drunk too much palm-wine which has made him become drunk. In the great quantity of palm-wine he has absorbed, he has lost good sense, reason in his stomach full with this alcoholic liquid so that people say that he is not aware of his deeds. The comparison of Christianity with the corrosive effects of palm-wine on heavy drinkers of palm-wine reveals the extent to which Christianity is harmful to Odinani and to the traditions and customs of the Igbo people. Like palm-wine which brings the drunk person to “lose every sense in their stomach”, the white man‟s religion has made Amos gone mad, because “with his eyes wide open”, that is being fully conscious of his act, he made himself an Osu by marrying Sarah, an Osu woman. From a status of “free-born” man, Amos becomes willingly an Osu, a slave, because of his marriage with Sarah, his Osu spouse. As a result, this atypical wedding is qualified as a “mad marriage venture” (Achebe, 1972: 36). Amos‟s act is a rebellion against Odinani and the traditions and customs of his people. He has transgressed a traditional and spiritual norm by breaking the Osu caste system‟s prescription in the name of Christianity. It can be said that Christianity has triggered off a negative transformation of Amos who sets himself against the rules of his clan by his “mad marriage venture”. Through Amos‟s action, Christianity clashes with Odinani and the Igbo customary norms; both ways, the white man‟s and the Igbo‟s, come into a religionwise conflict. The divine clash between Christianity and Odinani is all the more serious that Mr Brown, the white , is Amos‟s unique helper in his “mad marriage venture”. Mr Brown backs Amos up in his rebellious undertaking, as mentioned in this sentence: “The only person who supported Amos in his mad marriage venture was Mr Brown, the white missionary”. (Achebe, 1972: 36) Actually, Amos becomes involved in this foolhardy enterprise because of Mr Brown‟s fortification and encouragement, which is expressed in this utterance: “Amos had emerged from Mr Brown‟s parsonage greatly fortified.” (Achebe, 1972: 36) From the excerpt highlighting Amos‟s spiritual metamorphosis, two significant terms (“fortified” and “parsonage”) can be mentioned and analyzed for enlightenment about Amos‟s defiance against Odinani.

The lexis “fortified” means that Amos is made to feel stronger and braver against Odinani and its supporters, and that it is in the name of “the new religion” (Christianity) that Amos summons enough courage and determination to defy Odinani, as well as his people‟s customs and traditions, by marrying an Osu woman. Meaning the house provided by a church for its pastor, the term “parsonage” is a symbol of the setting up of Christianity in Amos‟s village. But the word “parsonage” also stands for the source of Amos‟s religious strength, which makes him bold, foolishly adventurous in his rejection of his people‟s ways, and which leads him to adopt the white man‟s. In behaving so, Amos shows that he is alien to the white man‟s customs, because “the European culture [and religion] which he has imbibed sees marriage as an individual‟s affair rather than being public / communal affair as in African culture.” (Mba, 2013: 43) Amos has become alienated from the Igbo spirituality and ways. His attitude makes the reader feel that he no more belongs to the Igbo community. Like Michael Obi who deprives himself of the support of Ndume local inhabitants by opposing their practice of Odinani in “Dead Men‟s Path”, Amos does without Odinani. As a result, he appears as an “alienated individual”, whose alienation stems from “cultural diversities / experiences”. (Mba, 2013: 42) An explanation of the word “alienation” will help the reader to make himself a mental picture of the type of alienation which Amos undergoes. The term is explained as follows:

Alienation is a social phenomenon and the alienated individual is non-conformist. He is usually too humble to participate in what others are doing. His passions and concerns differ significantly from others in his society. Alienation is constant nostalgic feeling of loneliness. The alienated person is grossly misunderstood by his society and this could expose him to danger. People could term him mad and thus reject his mode of life. This situation could endanger his life or even make people to want to destroy him. […] Further study of alienated characters in African fiction reveals that they are in three categories namely, alienation emanating from cultural diversities / experiences; alienation from individuality: decisions and expected actions; alienation and individual‟s perception of his society. (Mba, 2013: 42)

As institutions introduced into Igbo land by colonialism, Christianity and School have respectively represented factors through which Amos and Michael Obi have both assimilated the white man‟s culture and religion. The religionwise clash stems from their experiences of the African and European customs. (Mba, 2013: 42) On the one hand, the theological conflict which breaks out because of Amos‟s marriage with Sarah, and on the other hand, the sacred clash occurring between Michael Obi, the newly appointed Headmaster of Ndume Central School, and the villagers owing to the closure of “Dead Men‟s Path”, whose utilization expresses the local inhabitants‟ practice of Odinani and their ancestors‟ ways, not only separate Amos and Michael Obi from their society, but also prove that both characters are “alienated individuals”, “ non-conformists”, since they do not follow the beliefs and practices of their forefathers. Put differently, they are dissenters who do not conform to their collectivity‟s customary and spiritual standards. As a Christian and a deviant, Amos makes the Osu, the outcast, or again the social class of untouchables, or again “the enslaved to Igbo traditional gods”, to acquire freedom thanks to Christianity, which appears, here, as a “humanitarian religion” (Venner, 2013: 90), which removes the pains and brings comfort to the marginalized, the excluded and the objectified. By converting to Christianity, by getting married with an Osu woman and by becoming thereby an Osu, Amos has set himself, his Osu wife and their children free from their bondage to the Osu caste system. It is no wonder that his son Chike tells one of their “non-Christian neighbours” (Achebe, 1975: 68) that they do not eat “heathen food”, that is

“pagan food”, food offered to the idols. Amos‟s child‟s rebellion against Odinani is depicted as follows:

One day a neighbour offered a piece of yam to Chike, who was only four years old. The boy shook his head haughtily and said, „We don‟t eat heathen food.‟ The neighbour was full of rage, but she controlled herself and only muttered under her breath that even an Osu was full of pride nowadays, thanks to the white man. And she was right […] Now all that had changed, or had begun to change. So that an Osu child could even look down his nose at a free-born, and talk about heathen food! The white man had indeed accomplished many things. (Achebe, 1972: 36) The passage mentioned above shows that the advent of the white man‟s religion (Christianity) has brought about great changes in the cultural and social life of Africans, particularly through the case of the Igbo people. These mutations are even more perceived through two sentences: “Now all that had changed, or had begun to change”, and “The white man had indeed accomplished many things”. These syntaxes sum up the quintessence of this article in that they reveal the idea that the advent of the white man‟s ways, particularly Christianity, makes “Things” such as the worshipping of ancestors, or again the traditional religion of the Africans/Igbo and their customs and their traditions to really “Fall Apart”. In other words, it could be asserted that Odinani “Falls Apart” with the establishment of Christianity in Igbo land. Therefore, it could be thought that “today […] everything is upside down”. (Achebe, 1972: 38) Indeed, the introduction of Christianity into Igbo land has turned Okonkwo‟s world “upside down”, it has caused large changes and “A confusion […] in […] [the local] religion” (Venner, 2013: 90), and in his people‟s lives, as well. The connection between “Chike‟s School Days”, “Dead Men‟s Path”, and Things Fall Apart is manifest since Achebe‟s three writings share the same topic, notably the religionwise culture shock. First dealt with in 1958, in Achebe‟s first novel, the theme of “cultural conflict” is repeated again in Girls at War and Other Stories (1972), which is a proof that this subject matter is Achebe‟s favourite keynote. A concern which gives rise to the birth, the start of “African fiction”, thereby making Achebe into the “founding father of African literature”, as expressed in the excerpt below:

The themes of colonial domination and cultural conflict mark the real beginning of the African fiction. Chinua Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart published in 1958 is very important at this period. Such thematic concern dominates the literary writing of 1950‟s to 1960‟s by African elites […] The Anglophone African writers believe in realism, that is, representation of situation as it is. To attest that Africans have culture, Chinua Achebe presents in Things Fall Apart in which the killing of Ikemefuna is a typical example. To the Africans, the whites are not the agents to telling about God because every society has its own religion. Things Fall Apart is a reaction against colonialism. Achebe creates an imaginary Igbo society focused on a man whose dignity is centred on the Igbos and his excesses or extremity was abhorred. (Mba, 2013: 33)

Actually, Okonkwo‟s downfall in Things Fall Apart is synonymous with the collapse of the Igbo cultural and spiritual values embodied by the novel‟s protagonist. Likewise, Odinani is vanquished, defeated in “Chike‟s School Days”, where characters like Amos, his child Chike, and his wife Sarah bring the customary spirituality, as well as the customs and traditions in use in the Igbo community to fall in disuse. By forbidding Chike to eat “heathen food”, Sarah makes Odinani get into a situation in which it is no longer being used since the whole collectivity‟s spirit of sharing and solidarity is disrupted, as expressed in the extract below:

Sarah taught her children not to eat in their neighbours‟ houses because „they offered their food to idols.‟ And thus she set herself against the age-old custom which regarded children as the common responsibility of all so that, no matter what the relationship between parents, their children played together and shared their food. (Achebe, 197: 35) As shown in the quote above, it is in the name of Christianity that Sarah prevents her son Chike from eating the food offered by their neighbours, because they are not converted to Christianity. They are considered as pagans, idolaters and idolatresses who “offered their food to idols”, that is, to the spirits or again gods of the clan. If idolatry, or again idol worshipping, or again the adoration of ancestors and Christianity do not go hand in hand, then refusing food “offered to idols” equates to oppose Odinani and one of the customary values of the Igbo people who view the education of children as a collective responsibility of the whole community. This entails that despite the misunderstanding of neighbouring parents, their children can play together and share their food. The practice of Christianity brings Sarah to question such spiritual and customary values as socialization, socialism and solidarity, which are promoted by Odinani and the traditions and customs. In point of fact, a Christianized Sarah, who “set herself against the age-old custom”, which fosters children as wealth belonging to the whole community, is put in an awkward position since Christianity, which is a religion that is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the belief that he is God‟s son, does not forbid social mix of God‟s children and food sharing. On the contrary, it encourages God‟s children to meet and spend time with one another in a friendly manner and in order to enjoy themselves. So friendship, solidarity and love are fostered by Christianity, and yet there is a confusion and a clash between the practitioners of both religions. A character like old Elizabeth, who has converted to Christianity like her son Amos, also embodies the religious crisis, which is grasped by the fact that she straddles two religions: Christianity and Odinani. The spiritual shock occurring in old Elizabeth is all the more profound that she finally returns to Odinani. Such a return is not at all synonymous with a victory of Caliban5‟s faith over Prospero‟s. On the contrary, this fluctuation between Odinani and Christianity equates to a failure of the traditional . Her practice of Odinani before the advent of “the new religion”, her abandoning Odinani and embracing, or again taking up Christianity, and her dropping Christianity and her returning to Odinani, prove that she is racked with doubt and that her African and Igbo faith is not steadfast. The lack of spiritual steadfastness shown in her three oscillatory postures not only reveals indisputably that her life is in utter disorder, but also that she has lost her customary religious and cultural identity, her Africanity and her Igbophility. Elizabeth‟s final return to Odinani because she cannot stand her son‟s marriage with an Osu woman and Amos‟s turning himself into an Osu, despite his free-born person status, symbolizes a defeat of an Odinani whose values have fallen in disuse. Indeed, characters like Elizabeth, Sarah, Amos, Michael Obi and Chike have all contributed to the collapse of Odinani, as well as the breakdown of the customs and traditions of their people. It can be asserted that Christianity has triggered off “the progressive erasure of old religious beliefs” (Venner, 2013: 123), in Igbo land. It can even be said that Christianity, which jeopardizes the traditional religiosity, can be likened to “The Fascist Religion” (Gentile, 2002), a worship which does not allow any opposition.

5 A prominent character in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare (2009), Caliban, who is depicted as half human and half monster, represents the Black enslaved, colonized and dominated over by Prospero, Shakespeare‟s protagonist portrayed as an embodiment of the White, the colonizer, the dominator. In the context of colonialism in which Europe and Africa meet, the African/Igbo spirituality refers to Caliban‟s religion, i. e. Odinani, which is opposed to Christianity, Prospero‟s faith, or again the Occidental religiosity.

Like the warning tale Little Red Riding Hood (Lang et al, 2005), “Chike‟s School Days”, as well as “Dead Men‟s Path”, is a “cultural text”, defined as a fragment of intertext of a certain kind which intervenes in the genealogy of writing according to specific functioning modes (Cros, 1991: 131). In “Chike‟s School Days”, and likewise in “Dead Men‟s Path”, two types of cultures and religions confront each other: the Western civilization (Christianity) and the African/Igbo culture and spirituality (Odinani). In the ensuing religionwise culture shock, Odinani surrenders, it admits that it has been defeated and wants to give up struggling. Such a spiritual and cultural defeat is voiced by Okonkwo, a character being “an embodiment of Ibo traditional values and its excesses” (Ojinmah, 1991: 11), in Things Fall Apart. In point of fact, Okonkwo arrives at the conclusion that “the white man has put a knife on the things that held them together and they have fallen apart.” (Mba, 2013: 39) As an epitome of Odinani and Igbo customary values, Okonkwo collapses by committing suicide. Similarly, Odinani, the traditional religion in which the ancestors are worshipped and which is exemplified by the law of Osu caste system in force in the traditional society, falls in disuse in “Chike School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path”. Achebe himself gives further reasons why African psyche made up of African culture and spirituality was defeated by the European civilization and religion, when he says what follows:

When I was a schoolboy it was unheard of to stage Nigerian dances at any of our celebrations. We were told and we believe that our dances were heathen. The Christian and proper thing to do was for the boys to drill with wooden sword and the girls to perform, of all things, Maypole dances. Beautiful clay bowls and pots were only seen in the homes of the heathen. We civilized Christians used cheap enamel-ware from Europe and Japan; instead of water pots we carried kerosene cans. In fact, to say that a product was Ibo-made was to brand it with the utmost inferiority. When a people have reached this point in their loss of faith in themselves their detractors need do no more; they have made their point.” (Achebe, 1973: 9.) Mentioned in Achebe‟s utterance quoted above, such words as “heathen” (repeated twice), and “loss of faith in themselves”, testify to the fact that Odinani and the whole of Igbo culture are totally defeated. The defeat is all the more lamentable that the Igbo come to self- denial, or again “self-contempt”, an attitude “which leads the African into believing that they are inferior to all other races.” (Ojinmah, 1991: 3). To Achebe, accepting “racial inferiority” on any ground is a spiritual and cultural sin which he will not pardon if he were in God‟s shoes. He writes: “If I were God I would regard as the very worst our acceptance – for whatever reason – of racial inferiority”. (Achebe, 1975: 44) Achebe, who attempts to remove “racial, religious and cultural inferiority” from Africans‟ minds by teaching them “Where the Problem Lies” (Achebe, 1983:1), “Where the rain started to beat” and “Where they began to dry themselves”, through Chike‟s and Michael Obi‟s stories, respectively in “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path”, does nothing else than tell the reader about his own childhood life experience, particularly in “Chike‟s School Days”. So, Achebe‟s protagonist “John, Chike, Obiajulu” (Achebe, 1972: 35), can be viewed as Albert Chinualumogu Achebe‟s double.

2- “John, Chike, Obiajulu”, Albert Chinualumogu Achebe’s Double

Considered as a unique and logical body, Achebe‟s fictions “can be seen to constitute an „autobiographical‟ dramatization of […] Ibo experience.” (Olney, 1973: 158) As a result, “Chike‟s School Days” can be viewed as “Achebe‟s own private story or his personal autobiography” (Olney, 1973: 158). Talking about Things Fall Apart and , Achebe himself confessed in an interview that they are a story of his native land (“l‟histoire de mon pays natal Ogidi, dans l‟Est nigérien [sic]”) (Achebe, quoted in Olney, 1973: 158, and

also in Afrique No.27, 1963). Using “self-characterization”, through the case of the protagonist in “Chike‟s School Days”, Achebe, who fictionalizes himself by calling himself “Chike” in “Chike‟s School Days”, proves that depiction and construct of fictional characters cannot be put down to chance. Named “John, Chike, Obiajulu” (Achebe, 1972: 35), the main character could be considered as Albert Chinualumogu Achebe‟s double. Chike and Achebe are so much alike that the unnamed woman who offered the so-called “heathen food” to Chike could be deemed to be part of “The non-Christian neighbours of [Achebe‟s] childhood” (Achebe, 1975: 68). The resemblance between Chike and Achebe can be studied at two levels. First, Chike and Achebe belong to a Christianized and large family of six children; second, onomastically speaking, Chike and Achebe share the same naming since they are “named in a similar fusion of traditional words relating to their new religion” (Wikipedia, 2000, Ezenwa- Ohaeto, 1997:7); a type of appellation in which “Albert” (Albert Chinualumogu) and “John” (John Chike Obiajlu), stand for their Christian names, and “Chike Obiajulu” and “Chinualumogu”, their Igbo designations. 2-1-A Christianized and Large Family of Six Children

Like Chike‟s parents who became Christians, Achebe‟s father Isaiah Okafo Achebe and mother Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam (Encyclopedia Britannica), “were converted to the Protestant Church Mission Society (CMS) in Nigeria.” (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 1997:7) Like Chike and his parents who rejected Odinani, Achebe and his progenitors “stopped practicing the religion of [their] ancestors.” (Wikipedia, 2000). Not only do Chike and Achebe belong to Christian families, but also these are composed of six children including each of them as the sixth, or again the last born. Chike‟s father “had had five daughters before him”, and “Chike [himself] was an only son” (Achebe, 1972: 35); Likewise, Achebe had had five siblings: two elder brothers and three older sisters, respectively named as follows: 1-Frank Okwuofu, 2-John Chukwuemeka Ifeanyichukwu, 3-Zinobia Uzoma, 4-Augustine Ndubisi, and 5-Grace Nwanneka (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 1997: 7). Though the names of Chike‟s five elder daughters have not been mentioned, it could be asserted that Achebe has fictionalized this factual element of his life by transforming his two senior brothers into sisters so that it is written that Chike has got five daughters. This is a fictional device which blurs the autobiographical dimension of the story being told; but it is also a narrative ploy allowing Achebe to create an “autrebiographical” short story.

Coined by J. M. Coetzee, the word “autrebiography” (Coetzee, 1992: 394), is used to refer to the innovative narratives the South African writer creates in Boyhood and Youth, where he writes about himself as an infant and as a young man by resorting to a third-person (“He”) narrator. By doing so, Coetzee violates the autobiographical pact postulating the use of the first-person (“I”) narrator. Writing about “Chike” in “Chike‟s School Days”, Achebe writes about himself, but he does so without using “I”, but rather “He”. Used as a prefix in the coinage “autrebiography”, the French word “autre” meaning “another” in English, simply expresses the idea that the Nigerian short story writer pens about another boy different from the boy he used to be. In fact, the short fiction appears as a writing about Achebe‟s double from whom he takes a narrative distance by using “He” instead of “I”. What Achebe is achieving by his autrebiographical short story is to invite “the reader […] to an ambiguous reading” (Lejeune, 1989: 32), an interpretation in which the narratee has to get ready to view the story to belong partly to autobiography, and to some extent to fiction. (Lenta, 2003: 160)

Like James Joyce who refers to himself as Stephen Daedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Achebe renames his young self Chike in “Chike‟s School Days”. Achebe cannot write about Chike‟s life experience as a schoolboy without penning about himself, without fictionalizing himself. By doing so, he proves that “All autobiography is storytelling [and that] all writing is autobiography.” (Coetzee, 1992: 391) What is being meant is that any piece of literary writing

produced encompasses aspects of writers‟ real-life experiences, their “Personal Myths6”. Therefore, “Chike‟s School Days” is a short autrebiography, that is to say, a short autobiography written in the third person (“He”), which has allowed Achebe and Joyce to make “a separation of the mature self from the young self.” (Lenta, 2003: 162)

One last common point between Chike and Achebe is seen at the level of the part Zinobia Uzoma, or again one unnamed sister in Chike‟s case, the first daughter in Achebe‟s biological family, played in Achebe‟s life as an infant. In point of fact, Mrs Ikpeze, born Zinobia Uzoma, is the third youngster and the first female child of Isaiah and Janet Achebe. Zinobia Uzoma was a kind of second mother for Achebe because she actively contributed to his upbringing by taking care of her “youngest brother”. When the heterodiegetic narrator (using “He” to tell the story in which he does not take part), who happens to be at the same time homodiegetic (Chike or again little Achebe himself as a character taking part in the story being told), and autodiegetic (Chike or again fictionalized Achebe as a hero in his own story), says that “he remembered the song his elder sisters sang” (Achebe, 1972: 38), and that “his young mind dwelt on the many stories about teachers and their canes” (Achebe, 1972: 38), he refers to the “stories” and “the song” Achebe‟s “elder sisters” (Augustine Ndubisi and Grace Nwanneka), and particularly Zinobia Uzoma, told and sang to him. Actually, Zinobia Uzoma, who “carried [Achebe], watched over him, saw him crawl, stand and walk” (Egejuru, 1995), told little Achebe many stories “When Chinua was old enough to listen to fairy tales.” (Booker, 2003: 115) When asked to retell the stories to Zinobia Uzoma, Achebe would tell the tales to his elder sister verbatim, which allows the latter to ascertain from this that Achebe was not only passionate for storytelling, but also that he has got a memory like an elephant. This event in Achebe‟s life is described as follows: “She [Zinobia Uzoma] encouraged him to retell the stories to her, “and would repeat them exactly as I told them to him,” she said. It was then that she noted Chinua‟s great interest in storytelling as well as his prodigious memory.” (Egejuru, 1995, Booker, 2003: 115) Not only do Achebe and Chike his lookalike belong to a Christianized and large family of six children, but also the Nigerian author and his character Chike share the same onomastic.

2-2-An Onomastic Common to Chike and Achebe

Chike and Achebe share the same onomastic, i.e. the survey of history and origin of people‟s names. Like a Chike (nick)named “Obiajulu”, an meaning “the mind at last is at rest”, an used for “an only son” because “Chike was an only son”, Achebe owns an Igbo “unabbreviated name, Chinualumogu” (“May God fight on my behalf”), which was a for divine protection and stability.” (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 1997: 7) Indeed, the “mind at last is at rest” means that God has finally blessed Chike‟s parents with a boy because they “had had five daughters before him” (Achebe, 1972: 35). God has “fought on their behalf” and has blessed the family with an heir. Therefore, Chike‟s “Obiajulu” and Achebe‟s “Chinualumogu” perform the same function which is to prove that God the Father, Jesus Christ‟s Father and all Christians‟ Father, fights for his creatures whose expectations are fulfilled. A unique son is not only given to Amos and his wife Sarah by God, but also the latter grants his “divine protection and stability” to the “only son”. As a result, Chike

6 Charles Mauron‟s psychocritical phrase “Personal Myth”, more specifically the writer‟s “Personal Myth”, refers to the penman‟s textual image being built in an unconscious way, and which makes it possible to grasp his/her unconscious personality revealing the nature of his/her person (Mauron, 1963: 141). For Mauron, any text is the expression of the unconscious, which refers to the author‟s real-life experiences mentioned in their biography, since the latter is not a ghostly individual. (Mauron, 1964: 142). Used by Mauron, the word “psychocriticism” appears as a critical method meant to explain the “unconscious meaning”, or again the “latent” content opposed to the “manifest” signification. (Mauron, 1963)

appears as Achebe‟s double because of the deification of their names (For Chike, “Obiajulu” = “the mind at last is at rest”; and for Achebe, “Chinualumogu” = “May God fight on my behalf”).

Chike‟s and Achebe‟s Igbophilized Christian names (“Obiajulu” and “Chinualumogu”) testify to the fact that Chike‟s and Achebe‟s parents were at an important point in their life, that is to say, they were at a religion crossroads since they must decide which way to go next in their spirituality. Actually, Chike‟s and Achebe‟s “parents stood at a crossroads of traditional culture and Christian influence.” (Wikipedia, 2000). Being part of two opposed worlds, “the traditional Igbo world” and “the colonial Christian world”, Chike, Achebe and their parents have to make an important choice related to their belief. The decision makes them have one foot in the Igbo tradition by conserving Igbophilized and deified names, and another foot in the modernity by adapting the worshipped Igbo appellations to Christianity. One such posture shows that Achebe (like his lookalike Chike) belongs to two opposed and conflicting worlds, as shown thus: “Achebe was a child of both the traditional Igbo world and the colonial Christian world, because his father, Isaiah Achebe, worked as a catechist for the church Missionary Society” (O‟Brien, 1999: 1), or again in the following: “Chike was brought up „in the ways of the white man‟, which meant the opposite of traditional.” (Achebe, 1972: 35) Besides, the “tiny bell with which [Chike‟s father] summoned his family to prayers and hymn-singing” (Achebe, 1972: 35), as well as Chike‟s attendance at “the „religious class‟ where they sang, and sometimes danced, the catechism” (Achebe, 1972: 38), shows beyond doubt that Amos (Chike‟s father) and Isaiah Achebe (Achebe‟s male parent) are also alike since they epitomize catechism and Christianity. The onomastic connection between Chike and Achebe, and the spiritual link between Amos and Isaiah Achebe corroborate the hypothesis according to which “Chike‟s School Days” appears as “Achebe‟s story, his family‟s story, and the Ibo story” (Olney, 1973: 159); in other words, this short story is “l‟histoire de mon pays natal”, as Achebe puts it.

Released in 1966, Achebe‟s first children‟s book entitled , which could either be an autobiography or again an autrebiography about his life experience as a child, gives sufficient proof showing that the name “Chike” has not been given to the main character at random. Such a choice cannot be put down to chance since it also connects the protagonist with the Igbo‟s conception of divinity, just like the morphemes “Obiajulu” and “Chinualumogu” do. Actually, meaning a baby boy and also a baby girl name, the word “Chike” is used mainly in Igbo language to designate the “power of God”. It comes from the lexis “Chi”, which means “God”. Such terms as “Chijioke”, “Chinelo”, “Chinese”, “Chioke” and “Chyke” are Igbo variations of the lexis “Chike” (BabyNamesPedia, 2009-2020). It is worth mentioning that Chike‟s and Achebe‟s names, as well as Achebe‟s own children‟s (“Chinelo”, his first daughter born on 11 July 1962, and “Chidi”, his second boy and third child born on 24 May 1967, after his senior brother Ikechukwu, born on 3 December 1964), encompass the letters “Chi” (“Chike”, “Chinualumogu” or again “Chinua”, “Chinelo”, and “Chidi”), which means that these denominations rhyme with God, i.e. “Chi” in Igbo language.

The protagonist‟s Igbo name “Chike” (“power of God”), as well as his other Igbo name “Obiajulu” (“the mind at last is at rest”), and Achebe‟s “Chinualumogu” (“May God fight on my behalf”), are all Igbo appellations which denote and connote the divinity of their tags, and signify that right from their births the fictional character or again the paper being (“Chike”), and the bone, blood and flesh being (Achebe) are both bestowed with divine callings which show their parents‟ gratitude and faith in God the Father whose divine mercy and love have blessed Amos and

Isaiah Achebe with the grace of procreation and protection for themselves and for their offspring. Called “Chinualumogu”, Achebe‟s wish or again his “prayer for divine protection and stability” (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 1997: 7), has been all the more granted by his “Chi”, his God, that he and his four children have been blessed beyond their expectations. Achebe has become not only famous as the most acclaimed African writer writing in English, with his innovative novel and short fiction writings, but also has benefitted from a longevity since he died at 83 on 21 March 2013.

Achebe‟s four children, Chinelo (now 58 years old), Ikechukwu (now 56 years old), Chidi (now 53 years old), and Nwando (now 50 years old), have all honoured their parents by succeeding in their studies and their lives. Chinelo Achebe is a lecturer in Women‟s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, at College of Liberal Arts Affiliate Faculty, Ikechukwu Achebe, an Africanist Historian, Chidi Chike Achebe, a Medical Doctor in Boston, Massachusetts, and Nwando Achebe, a Professor of History at Michigan State University. And to cap it all, their mother Christie Chinwe Achebe, Achebe‟s wife, is a Professor of Psychology. Achebe is a great intellectual, thinker and university Professor who has perfectly accomplished his mission on the earth by giving the World Republic of Scholars five brilliant highbrows, including his spouse.

Achebe has not prioritized his career as a writer and his struggle for the promotion of Igbo culture. When he said that “There are few things more important than my family” (Achebe, 2011), he did not mean his professional activities to be the “few things [that are] more important than [his] family”. What he wants to say is that the communal affairs connected with the well-being of the African/Igbo community is “more important than” the affairs of his family. Any Africanist well aware of the Igbo philosophy fostered by Achebe‟s oeuvre, knows that the community always prevails over the individualism, since “The communal good is all-important and any personal denial of group commitment appears to weaken the whole and is deplored” (Cook, 1977: 4)

It is because Achebe refuses to embody Okonkwo‟s (from Things Fall Apart), and Obi Okonkwo‟s (from No Longer at Ease), individualism that he puts forward the pre-eminence of the communalism over the family. Notwithstanding, Achebe has not relegated his family to the background. The interests of Achebe‟s people have not been totally at variance with his family‟s concern. Though he is aware that “Contribution to the life and welfare of the community is the greatest good; and […] [that] individualism is seen as negative” (Cook, 1977: 4), Achebe has not only pushed his small family to the top, but also has worked his way up to the position of the last word in African literature. Chike, Achebe‟s double, who is taught to reject Odinani and embrace Christianity can only show great interest in the colonizer‟s tongue, in Shakespeare‟s language. “Chike‟s School Days”, in which Achebe‟s childhood experience is displayed, perfectly exemplifies Achebe‟s premature passion for the English language.

3-Achebe’s Premature Passion for the English Language

Achebe is “The Ogidi Boy” who “passed through the primary school at Ogidi and Nekede near ” (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 1997: 21), or again Saint Philips‟ Central School, which he joined in 1936 (Sallah and Ngozi, 2003: 31, Lynn, 2017: 12). The unnamed village in “Chike‟s School Days”, may be the Igbo village of Ogidi, Achebe‟s own village situated in South-eastern Nigeria, the village where Achebe was born and raised. At the schoolhouse of fictionalized “Ogidi”, the unidentified “Ogidi” from the studied short story, not only is Chike‟s “individual character” shown, but also, through the protagonist, Achebe‟s early love for the sound of English words is revealed. 3-1- An “Individual Character” Shown in the Village Primary School

The village Primary School is where Achebe‟s “Individual character” (Achebe, 1972: 3), i.e. his personality, is shown. Chike, or again little Achebe, who grows up in a Christianized family is sent to the European school where the and values he receives in his family is brought to perfection. His father who turns his back on Odinani and the cultural wealth of his ancestors, wants him to develop into a good child of God and a model citizen. Thus, little Achebe/Chike attends three kinds of educational institutions: the “religious class”, the “Infant school” and the “Primary School”, where he is sent in order to “tackle the mysteries of the white man‟s learning.” (Achebe, 1972: 38) In the “religious class” (Achebe, 1972: 38), Chike/Achebe is taught about the catechism, i.e. the beliefs of the Christian religion. Terms like “the catechism” (Achebe, 1972: 38), and “the catechism lesson” (Achebe, 1972: 38), prove that Chike/Achebe was instructed about the ABCs, the basics of Christianity. From the “Infant School”, Achebe goes up to the “Primary School”, where learning proper begins, as shown in this sentence: “Chike was promoted to the [Primary School] where a work of a more serious nature was undertaken.” (Achebe, 1972: 39) The “Primary School” of fictionalized “Ogidi” can be viewed as a rural laboratory where Achebe‟s personality is shaped, where “his individual character began to show” (Achebe, 1972: 39). Indeed, that school greatly contributes to the foundation of his intellectual development. Phrases like “at the tender age of [six or seven]” (Achebe, 1972; 38), and “Being so young” (Achebe, 1972: 38), corroborate the idea that Achebe‟s propensity for disliking Mathematics and liking tales and melodies starts when he is in the village Primary School. Such a standpoint is substantiated by these words: “In the Primary School […] He developed a strong hatred for arithmetic. But he loved stories and songs.” (Achebe, 1972: 39) As a matter of fact, terms like “his individual character began to show”, “He developed a strong hatred for arithmetic”, and “But he loved stories and songs”, are proofs that Achebe‟s literary disposition, his deep dislike for calculations, and his passion for storytelling and Igbo songs date back to his childhood. Achebe‟s personal temperament marked by a profound feeling of dislike for computations and by his enthusiasm for “stories” and “songs”, is manifest in his life as a schoolboy. As a result, it can be asserted that the village Primary School located in Igbo land lays the foundations for Achebe‟s fascination for storytelling, to the detriment of Mathematics. Here, one biographical element from Achebe‟s life can be mentioned in order to show that Achebe left the sciences for the letters. In point of fact, “In 1948, Achebe [who] was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at the University College of Ibadan […] refocused his program on literature, religion, and story.” (O‟Brien, 1999: 3) A pupil who was excellent in class could only be awarded a scholarship to study a scientific subject (medicine) reserved for brilliant scholars; at that time only the brightest schoolchildren were selected to read such knowledge-based disciplines, and it was even believed that the future belonged to science students educated in order to help their country to embark on the road to sustainable development. Becoming a doctor and practicing medicine could only lead Achebe to act for the sanitary, economic and social emergence of post-independent Nigeria. But Achebe “changed his studies to English literature at University College”, which means that he decides to answer the call for his natural disposition, i.e. his profound love for the letters, for literature. The “Doctor” and “Professor” that he became was not to care for and cure sick people, but rather to treat and heal Africa and Africans suffering from cultural and spiritual diseases caused by colonialism and its aftermath; hence, the publications such fictions as Things Fall Apart, “Dead Men‟s Path” and “Chike‟s School Days”, which are scriptural medicines meant to be remedies for “Decolonizing the Mind” (Ngugi, 1992), of his people, and above all, for telling

them “where the rain stated to beat [them]” (Achebe, 1975: 44), where their problems, their customary and religious sicknesses began. Knowing the start of such cultural and spiritual maladies, would allow them to know “where to begin to dry ourselves” (Ojinmah, 1991: 8), that is to say, to find the appropriate cure, the right solution. Achebe himself confesses that his passion for stories and storytelling can be traced back to his years of study in the village Primary School. He writes that stories and the Igbo language have always been of great interest to him because he has “always been fond of stories and intrigued by language - […] Igbo, spoken with such eloquence by the old men of the village.” (Achebe, 1975: 67) The author‟s confessed fondness for tales and the Igbo vernacular matches with Chike‟s fascination for fables and the Igbo tongue so that it is believed that Achebe writes about himself, he “autrebiographicalizes” himself by telling “his [own] story” (Nkosi, 1972: 5) in the third person singular, “from the perspective of an indigenous African”. (Ojinmah, 1991: 2). Notwithstanding, it is not in the village Primary School that he starts writing his stories; indeed, “fascinated with […] traditional African cultures [including Igbo tales and language], [he] began writing stories as a university student.” (Wikipedia, 2000). But Achebe‟s storylike and Igbolike interests have their roots in what could be termed “Achebe‟s School Days”, which reveal Achebe‟s early love for the sound of English words. 3-2- Achebe’s Early Love for the Sound of English Words

Chike who “went to the village school” (Achebe, 1972: 38), where he started the “religious class” at six, and the “Infant School” at seven, began the “Primary School” at eight, which corresponds to the age at which Achebe commenced the learning of English. Achebe himself said the following: “I began to learn [English] at about the age of eight.” (Achebe, 1975: 67) Therefore, it is at eight, particularly “at a period when Anglophone school children were fed a diet of English literature” (Ojinmah, 1991: 2), that Achebe‟s early love for the sound of English words arose because his schoolteacher displayed a mastery of Shakespeare‟s language. What is being said is that Achebe‟s instructor‟s command of English greatly inspires him to love the English language. This accounts for the precociousness of the Nigerian short story writer‟s passion for the English alphabet. The author‟s schoolmaster‟s brilliant knowledge of Shakespeare‟s language is a source of his addiction to English letters and sounds. Because of Achebe‟s schoolteacher‟s “unanswerable erudition” (p. 40), his high level of oral proficiency in English, he is viewed as a “teacher […] fond of long words” (p. 39), and as “a very learned man”. (p. 39) It can be asserted that Achebe acknowledges the role of provider of linguistic enlightenment which his educator played in his becoming a great literature scholar, and that he even pays him homage. If truth be told, the instructor to whom respect is shown, is a bookworm, a person who likes reading very much. He is a forerunner of Achebe‟s passion for reading and fiction. Under such a masterly influence, Achebe has developed from an ordinary Nigerian scribbler into a thriving penman, especially the “founding father of the modern African novel in English” (Jaggi, 2000), the “Eagle on Iroko” (Tembo, 2013: 23), and the “Asiwaju (leader) of African literature” (Tembo, 2013: 18) In other words, Achebe must have become the jewel of African literature with Things Fall Apart because of his schoolteacher‟s masterful seminality, since the latter is an inspiring teacher, one who excites and encourages small Achebe to feel enthusiasm for English. The precursor‟s “pastime [which] was copying out jaw-breaking words from his Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary” (Achebe, 1972: 39-40), could only bring him to be a mentor who paved the way for Achebe‟s international fame awarded him by

his first novel, whose topic is repeated in Girls at War and Other Stories, notably in such short stories as “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path”. Words like “pastime”, “copying out jaw-breaking words” and “Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary”, reveal the extent to which the instructor himself shows a passionate interest in his hobby, which is reading and jotting down jawbreakers, i.e. words that are very difficult to pronounce, from the “Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary”. Making a reference to the noun phrase “Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary” is pregnant with meaning since it is suggestive of the idea that it stands for the reading devotee‟s bible, i.e. a book containing reliable information which explains the etymology, the origin of the English words. Put differently, the “Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary” is a reference source accounting for Achebe‟s pedagogue‟s “unanswerable erudition”, his indisputable great academic knowledge. Achebe‟s teacher‟s “unanswerable erudition” so influenced him that it led him to be mad about Shakespeare‟s language. The latter‟s uttered words (“Procrastination is a lazy man‟s apology”) (Achebe, 1972: 40), to a pupil who turns up late at school, are engraved on the protagonist‟s memory, which is also marked by the schoolmaster‟s lexicon background termed “explosive vocabulary” (Achebe, 1972: 40), which is to say extensive and impressive lexis. The use of the adjectival phrase “explosive vocabulary” suggests the idea that a new world is being created in Chike‟s/Achebe‟s mind. It is a “fairyland” (Achebe, 1972: 39 and 40), a “Wonderland”, a fantasy world inhabited by the English words. The presence of such exciting, beautiful and interesting linguistic units, allows to posit that a Chike in Wonderland, or again an Achebe in Wonderland is at work in “Chike‟s School Days” or again in “Achebe‟s School Days”, just like in the example of Alice in Wonderland (Carroll, 1903). Printed books like the “Chambers’ Etymological Dictionary”, and the New Method Reader, can be deemed to be part of Chike‟s/Achebe‟s created “fairyland/wonderland”. Actually, such adjectival, noun and verb phrases as “explosive vocabulary”, “fairyland quality [of] words” (Achebe, 1972:40), and “filled […] with […] exultation” (Achebe, 1972:40), attest to the fact that a magical bookish world is created in the protagonist‟s mind. Even the “meaningless song” (“Once there was a wizard. He lived in Africa. He went to China to get a lamp.” (Achebe, 1972: 40)), which Chike/Achebe invents from the first and mere sentences from his New Method Reader, and which pleases him so much, a coined song into which words like “Periwinkles” (Achebe, 1972: 40) and “Damascus” (Achebe, 1972: 40), are inserted, suggests not only Achebe‟s fascination for “stories and songs”, but also expresses little Chike‟s/Achebe‟s hope to become a great African writer writing in English. The words contained in the made up song (“wizard”, “Africa”, “China” and “lamp”), are significant since they could be read as four terms summarizing Achebe‟s crowning achievement. The lexis “wizard” (a man with magic powers in stories), refers to Achebe as a magician of words, and also as a novelist and as a short story writer who is especially excellent at novel and short story writing. As a continent, the one Achebe is from, the word “Africa” (a large land mass of the earth inhabited by black people), suggests that Achebe is a brilliant African storyteller, “a wizard”, whose travel to “China” (a country in East Asia, the most populous nation in the world), foretells the idea that Achebe, who “lived in Africa” (Achebe, 1972: 40), will become Africa‟s most well-known writer. And this prediction does come to pass because Achebe got international acclaim with Things Fall Apart. The vocable “lamp” (a device using electricity, oil or gas to make light), makes a reference to Achebe as an embodiment of literary illumination, since “Achebe was, literary speaking, acclaimed Africa‟s unparalleled luminary in a citadel of learning: unquestionably the most widely read African writer on the globe.” (Tembo, 2013: 23)

The last sentence in the short story‟s closure contains a paradigmatic metaphor (Jenny, 2003), a metaphor in absentia, which sums up the signification of Chike‟s/Achebe‟s created song by suggesting a phantasmagorical “window” (Achebe, 1972: 40), a means of access through which little Chike/Achebe “saw in the distance a strange, magical new world” (Achebe, 1972: 40). If the magicalized “window” suggests Achebe‟s revelation to the world as the “Asiwaju (leader) of African literature”, the terms “strange, magical new world” allude to the magicality (a reinvented African writing, an Africanized and Igbophilized English) of Achebe‟s fiction, which ranks his oeuvre among the “World Republic of Letters” (Casanova, 2004). Moreover, in the very last four words (“And he was happy”) (Achebe, 1972: 40) of the studied short story, the adjective “happy” cannot be put down to chance. It is significant for two reasons. First, it could be connected to the worldwide celebrations and international colloquia held for Achebe all over the world. Second, it could be associated with the writer‟s anticipated satisfaction with his literary achievement. Apart from his schoolmaster‟s academic influence, Achebe‟s natural inclination for his ethnic group language also accounts for his untimely liking for the musicality of Shakespeare‟s language. As a schoolboy who “loved the sound of [Igbo] words” (Achebe, 1972: 38), or again as a pupil who “loved [the] rhythm [of Igbo language]” (Achebe, 1972: 38), because he has ears which make him sensitive to the vernacular (Igbo), Achebe prematurely develops an obsession for the music of English terms, even for the words whose sense are unknown to him. Such a contention is fully vindicated by this extract: “And he liked particularly the sound of English words, even when they conveyed no meaning at all.” (Achebe, 1972: 39) With Achebe, listening to the sounds of English words is a compulsion so that the simple fact of hearkening to the Anglicized utterance arouses feelings of great and excitement in him. That is why “Some of them simply filled him with elation.” (Achebe, 1972: 39) Such words as “Periwinkle” (p. 39) and “Constellation” (p. 39) are good examples of terms whose sounds are attractive to little Achebe, though he is unfamiliar with their meanings. Being a lover of Igbo “sound and rhythm”, Achebe could only be an English-lover since he has a good ear for the melody of languages.

Any reader familiarized with critics of Achebe‟s fictions is aware of the fact that Achebe has willingly made up his mind about the choice of the colonizer‟s language, a tongue which he defends as a medium for making African literature. Indeed, a controversy about which language to choose for making African fiction broke out between two schools of thought. Headed by Ngugi Wa Thiong‟o, the first one fostered a recourse to African vernacular, or again indigenous tongues, because it was believed that English and other Indo-European languages belong to “the neocolonial structures that repress progressive ideas”. (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 1997: 246) Thus, Shakespeare‟s language was considered as a “neocolonial” language, which prevents Africa from developing linguistically, psychologically, culturally, spiritually, and socio-economically. Championed by Achebe, the second group of writers suggests the use of English for making “a non-colonial narrative” (Achebe, quoted in Wikipedia, 2000). For Achebe, despite its negative impacts on Africans, colonialism provided Africa with a linguistic medium for communicating with one another since each African nation has several indigenous languages making communication among countries impossible.

In an essay titled “The African Writer and the English Language”, Achebe shows the ways in which colonialism gave Africans from various language backgrounds “a language with which to talk to one another” (Achebe, quoted in Wikipedia, 2000), a language which makes it possible for the author to communicate efficiently with his narratees throughout Nigeria, because it is “the one central language enjoying nationwide currency” (Achebe, 1975: 77-78). Viewing English as “the one central language enjoying nationwide currency”, means that it is accepted by scores of people. Written in English, Achebe‟s fictions have been read in countries under colonial rule (Ogbaa, 1999: 192), where Achebe proves that he has literary merits since he escapes the traps, the “shortcomings”, the “serious setbacks” of “the master‟s tools” (Lorde, quoted in Ogbaa, 1999: 193). His command of Shakespeare‟s

language, allows him “to push back [the limits of English language] to accommodate his ideas” (Lorde, quoted in Ogbaa, 1999: 193). In other words, he has done “the work of extending the frontiers of English so as to accommodate African thought-patterns” (Lorde, quoted in Ogbaa, 1999: 193) Like James Baldwin, he has used the English tongue not only to give a specific rendering of his own experience, but also he has mastered it and developed it . (Mezu, 2006: 23)

For Gabriel Okara, Achebe‟s appropriation and expansion of English can be compared with the evolvement of Jazz music in Uncle Sam‟s country (USA) (Okara, quoted in Wikipedia, 2000). “By altering syntax, usage, and idiom [Achebe] transforms the [English] language into a distinctly African style.” (Azohu, 1996: 413) As a result, Achebe‟s Africanized oeuvre lays an impressive foundation for the language -- expansion process. The author‟s adaption of English to the Igbo cultural and religious values equates to Igbophilize it in such a way as to bring a critic to say the following: “In some spots this takes the form of repetition of an Igbo idea in standard English parlance; elsewhere it appears as narrative asides integrated into descriptive sentences.” (Azohu, 1996: 415-419) A phenotextualization of the religionwise culture shock occurring between the Igbo customary and spiritual identity and Christianity, as well as a phenotextualization of Achebe‟s attendance at Primary School can only be carried out by a recourse to an Igbophilized language, as pointed out thus: “Around the tragic stories of Okonkwo and Ezeulu, Achebe sets about [pheno] textualizing Igbo [religious and] cultural identity.” (Yousaf, 2003: 37) Likewise, such stories as “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” reveal Chike‟s, Amos‟s, Sarah‟s, Elizabeth‟s and Michael Obi‟s societal and devotional loss.

Conclusion

Using Cros‟s sociocritism, the study of a phenotextualization of religionwise culture shock and Achebe‟s early schooling in “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path”, has revealed that Odinani collapses in a confrontation with Christianity, that the protagonist “John, Chike, Obiajulu” is Albert Chinualumogu Achebe‟s lookalike, and that Achebe shows an early fascination for Shakespeare‟s language while attending Primary School. Put differently, Achebe writes the cultural and religious clash, as well as his life experiences as a schoolboy. Thus, Odinani the Igbo customary religion has been rejected by Amos‟s Christianized family, the Igbo spirituality has fallen in disuse, a sign indicating that it has been defeated by Christianity; the conversion to Christianity, the size of the family and the naming of the main character after the Igbo traditional terms connected with Christianity, have appeared as biographical, autobiographical and autrebiographical indices showing that Chike is Achebe‟s clone; Achebe‟s rejection of arithmetic, and his predisposition for the English letters and literature express themselves in the Primary School of fictionalized “Ogidi”, where his unseasonable keenness for the musicality of English has developed. The crisis which Odinani goes through is partly due to the inferiority complex developed in such characters as Amos, Chike, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Michael Obi. These paper beings have experimented the superiority complex caused by their conversion to Christianity. Because they have adopted the new religion, they believe that their African spirituality is primitive and inferior to the white man‟s which is deemed civilized and superior. In the name of Christianity, Cartesianism and Modernity, Amos and Michael Obi have respectively married an Osu woman and closed the “Dead Men‟s Path”. Their rebellious deeds testify to the fact that they are culturally and spiritually dead since their Africanity and their Igbophility, or again what makes them Africans and Igbo has been voided so that they are neither Blacks/Igbo nor Whites. Such characters who set themself against their community‟s ancestral, social, traditional and religious practices can but fail, as shown in Michael Obi‟s example. As an embodiment of “The Novelist as Teacher”, Achebe wrote “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” in order to teach his people “where [they] went wrong, where

the rain began to beat [them]” (Achebe, 1975: 44), “where” they became ashamed of their customs and traditions and their spirituality. Put differently, both short stories are didactic pieces of writing by which Achebe endeavours to instruct African societies, as Achebe himself puts it as follows:

[My goal is] to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement […] I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the Europeans acting on God‟s behalf delivered them. (Achebe, 1975: 44-45) For Achebe, any worthy African writer should re-educate the African about “Africa‟s past” (Rogers, 1976: 1), by “map[ping] out what we are going to be tomorrow”, i. e., “act[ing] rather than […] react[ing] […] determin[ing] what kind of society we want, how we are going to get there, what values we can take from the past, if we can, as we move along” (Lindfors et al, 1972: 11-12). Achebe is adamant about the African writer‟s role as a teacher and holds the view that the latter “cannot expect to be excused from the task of re-education and regeneration that must be done.” (Achebe, 1975: 45). Consequently, “The Novelist as Teacher”, who is unable to escape the mission of restoring his people‟s cultural and spiritual dignity, should be a visionary whose task is “to provide a vision for those who are going to order […] society.” (Maduka, 1981: 5-18). As “a participant in the drama of social change in Africa [Achebe] […] use[s] his skills to help shape the future of the society” (Maduka, 1981: 13), by (re)appropriating African cultural and spiritual heritage helpful in finding out appropriate solutions to Africa‟s development setbacks. Such an undertaking will bring Africans to know “where to begin to dry [themselves]” (Achebe, quoted in Ojinmah, 1991: 8). That is why “Chike‟s School Days” and “Dead Men‟s Path” are meant to prevent Africans from “take[ing] off before we have repaired our foundations” (Ojinmah, 1991: 12), to guide them to “first set the scene which is authentically African”, so that “what follows will be meaningful and deep.” (Achebe, 1973: 10) Works of art like “Chike‟s School Days”, “Dead Men‟s Path”, and Things Fall Apart, are indisputably fictions by which Achebe makes reparation for “our foundations”. References Achebe, Chinua, “Chike‟s School Days”, Girls at War and Other Stories, London, , 1972.

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