CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

"Mythology is the picture language of metaphysics [. . . ] the womb of

mankind's initiation to life and death" (Joseph Campbell, "Bios and Mythos"

19-20).

Myths have exerted great enchantment over man's imagination from

the very beginning of humanity. Writers, regardless of time and culture, use it

in varied forms. As a result, every epoch has its own versions of myth and in

every epoch myths function as one of the controlling powers of human life,

art and thought.

In the ancient literatures writers presented, through myths or mythical

representations, a rich and colourful world where gods and men co-existed

and moved freely together. Myths derived their meaning by application to life

situations; to the readers they offered explanations of natural and other

phenomena and lent themselves. as extended metaphors describing situations

in their own life.

Writers regard myths as relevant topics for literature, even in this scientific

era of drastic changes. Myth i,; a pluralistic concept, which encompasses

various socio-cultural and religious dimensions. There is no universally accepted

definition of myth. Myths become meaningful and relevant when they are

interpreted within the culture that created them. Eric Gould in Mythical

intentions in Modern Literature writes.

Myth is now so encyclopaedic a term that it means everything or

nothing. We can find in it whatever we want to say is essential

about the way humans try to interpret their place on earth. Myth is

a synthesis of values wtiich uniquely manages to mean most things

to most men. It is alle!xory and tautology, reason and unreason,

logic and fantasy, wal..ing thought and dream, atavism and the

perennial, archetype arid metaphor, origin and end. (5)

Johannes Maringer, a spc!culative anthropologist, asserts that "early

man lived an intensely mythico-religious life" (33). Even in the modern times

one can observe innumerable mythical representations in socio-cultural

practices. Myths provide valual)ie knowledge and have profound intensity.

For example, the 'Orpheus-Euyd~ce Myth' is informative, notable and tragically

elevated. Similarly, the 'Myth of Cledipus' is interpreted as a "quest for identity"

(Day 21).

Myths have flourished th~oughout the ancient world in varied forms.

Martin S. Day observes that "the cave paintings of the upper Paleolithic period,

. . . reveal an extensively mythical atmosphere" (33). The great civilizations

such as Egyptian and Mesopotan~ian exposed wonderful and whimsical things

through myths. In Greek thought, myths explained social, rational and religious

beliefs. Besides, myths conveyed ideas regarding the origin of gods, kings,

man and nature. Thus each civilization has its own interpretations regarding

myth, which is inseparable from primitive religions.

Defining myth is not an easy task as its meaning now is not the same

as the Greek mythoswhich meant 'speech' or 'message'. The modem didionary

meaning of myth is "a story that originated in ancient times, especially one

dealing with ideas or beliefs about the early history of a race, or giving

explanations of natural events, such as seasons".

Social scientists hold different views on myths. All, however, seem to

agree on the basic fact that a myth is a 'tale' or a 'narrative'. Psychologists,

novelists, poets and playwrights tire all interested in the study and application

of myths as myths are mysterio~~s and abounding treasures of information.

Freud and Jung explored myths as part of their effort to understand the

individual and collective human .3syche.

To poets like T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats myths provided a vision of

wholeness that would regenerate the fragmented civilization. Novelists like

R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao use nyths in their novels to serve various thematic

and structural purposes. In The hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell

writes:

Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every

circumstance, the mytns of man have flourished; and they have

been the living inspiration of whatever else may have appeared out

of the activities of the human body and mind. (3)

Myths are classified acc3rding to the themes they deal with. For

example, 'Cosmogonic Myth' relates how the entire world came into existence.

'The Promethean Myth' describes how Prometheus stole fire from heaven to

be given to mankind for which he was punished by the gods. Levi-Strauss

argues that myth is language ancl "it always refers to events alleged to have

taken place in time: before the vlorld was created, or during its first stages"

(qtd. in Grace Stewart 2).

Martin S. Day classifies mqths into archaic myths, intermediate myths,

derivative myths, ideological myths and so on. Archaic myth "arises from a

non-literate tribal society of food gatherers, hunters, nomads, or rudimentary

agriculturalists" (3) and such myths are "crude, naive and awkward" (3) in

appearance.

Intermediate myths are founded on archaic myths. But they are "skilfully

shaped by highly conscious writers" (5). Day cites Ovid, Aeschylus, Sophocles

and Euripides among the anciert writers as exponents of this theory. These

writers showed "aesthetic impuljes and [were] intent upon neat, attractive

telling of a good story" (5).

The derivative myth is "szt in contemporary or future surroundings

[. . .] relying upon immemorial pz tterns" and Day cites Tarzan and Superman

as modern models based on anc ent mythic heroes like Hercules (8).

In 'Ideological Myths' "mythical notions and mythical concepts continue

to control modern life and behaviour" (9). In heroic myths one "recounts the

superlative deeds of ancestors iind supposed relatives, or the magnificent

accomplishments of an individuiil, a society or nation" (22).

Soteriological myth is "the myth of saving, of salvation" while etiological

myths explain the 'brigin of things and reason for things" (21). For example

the 'Oedipus myth' can be explained in various ways. Archaic people may see

this myth as the "horrifying cause for a devastating catastrophe while to the

moderns it may be a psychologic:al drama" (22). The prophetic myth speaks

of "possibilities of vision and re diction" while eschatological myth is

" prophetic vision" about the final state of things.

Besides, Day speaks of the 'early myths' where there was the tendency

to call things 'male' or 'female'. For example, rivers were attributed with

feminity or they appeared as "the emblem of fertility and nourishment" (97).

He cites an example from Indian mythology. He writes:

The holy river Kaaveri is named for the lovely daughter of Brahma

who married the sage P.gasthya on condition that he never leave her

alone. Going on an errand, Agasthya deposited Kaaveri in a vase

entrusted to a disciple. F'iqued, Kaaveri caused the disciple to stumble,

the vase fell and shattered, and Kaaveri flowed off as the river. (97)

Writers like Emile Durkh.zim, Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowaski see

myths from a functionalistic point of view. For example, Durkheim comments

on myth:

Myth basically fulfils the function of establishing, maintaining, and

expressing social solidarity. Myth gives identity to a social group, binds

together the members of a community and carefully sets each group

apart from others. Within myth are the fundamental structures and

organization of society, and within myth are the values of society. (249)

In "Myth in Primitive Psychology" Malinowaski terms myth "the charter

of primitive society, the dogmatic backbone of primitive civilization" (qtd. in

Day 253). Thus these writers emphasise the social functions of myth. They

see myths as one which "works upon the gaps in the social system, soothing,

tying together, strengthening and re-establishing the frayed cords that bind

the social structure" (Day 253).

Sometimes writers may u:,e a particular myth or the context of the

myth in their writings. In The Literary Impact of The Golden Bough, Vickery

writes of contextual works:

By contextual works is rneant those literary creations which focus

on ancient myths or rituals in order to realize their role in the ordinary,

daily existence of their t'me, to relate them to an even more remote

and primitive past, or to find in them metaphors whose continuation

into the present il1urninc:s its central dilemmas. (143)

John J. White, in Mytholqy in the Modern Novel states that "the

substitution of a particular myth far an archetypal patern" (47) is very common

in writings. He adds that characters like "Oedipus, Electra, Narcissus and

Clytemnestra are called archetypal images" (47). Through the application of

such myths man's perception of the world becomes more clear. Levi Strauss

in Myth and Meaning writes : "Myths give the feeling that man can understand

the universe and that he does understand the universe" (17).

Frequent applications of references to myths like 'Iphigenia myth',

'Oedipus myth' or 'Promethean myth', are seen in literatures. 'Iphigenia

myth' explains how Agamemnon, the famous Greek warrior, slew his daughter

Iphigenia on the altar at Aulis, to appease goddess Artemis. In the Bible also

a similar myth occurs. Jephthah sacrificed his daughter to propitiate Yahweh

his God. In the battle field he vov~ed that, if Yahweh would help him to win

the war, he would sacrifice the firjt creature coming forth to meet him when

he returned home. The first to greet him was his only child, his daughter

(Judges 11: 30-40).

Similarly 'The Fall Myth', The Creation Myth' and 'The Babel Myth'

are all familiar myths named after the occasions or situations of the events

that happened. 'The Fall Myth' explains how Adam and Eve violated the

divine commands through which i:hey lost Paradise. Due to this fall, the present

world of complexity, confusion and suffering, death, labour etc. became the

lot of mankind.

The 'Myth of Babel' accc,unts for the divergences of language. The

confusion of languages inflicted by Yahweh has often been interpreted as

punishment for man's pride who attempted to construct a building that would

touch heaven (Genesis 11 :I-9).

Many myths express impot-tant perceptions of the society that generated

them and provide insights into the pattern of the society. Oedipus myth is one

of the famous Greek myths which have inspired playwrights, novelists and

psychologists. The Delphic oracle warns the Theban King Laios that he will

save the city only if he dies chiltiless. Besides if a son is born, he will kill his

father. So the son born to Laios, Oedipus was left in the mount Cithaeron

and found by a shepherd from Sicyon. Later he saved Thebans from the

sphinx, killed Laios, acquired throne and married the Queen Jocasta. When

he realises that the plague in the kingdom was the result of his incestuous

relationship with his mother, he blinds himself and observes penance. Oedipus

Rexand Antigone are based on Oedipus myth.

Orpheus myth is another c:ommon myth and it tells how Orpheus, a

Thracian singer and lyre-player, lost his wife Eurydice. Grief-stricken, he went

down to Hades, overcame all obstacles, but failed in the end as he could not

keep his promise to Pluto the King of Hades. Stricken by sorrow he dies.

'The Narcissus Myth' says that Narcissus a handsome youth looked

into the water in the spring and not knowing that he saw his own reflection,

unconsciously fell in love with hirnself and killed himself.

Greek myths are reinterpreted in Wole Soyinka's Bacchae of Euripides.

By giving an African interpretation Soyinka establishes a link between classical

writings and contemporary litertrture. James Gibbs says: "Soyinka took the

bones, and some of the flesh, of the original and completed it in such a way

that his own ideas on power ritual, religion and tragedy became clear" (qtd.

in Rao 41). Tiresias is presented as a blind prophet as in the old myths.

Similarly Dionysus is also borrowzd from Euripides and he follows him closely

through the major part of the play. Lillian Feder in "Myth, Poetry and Critical

Theory" writes:

Myths are used in literzture in three major ways: mythical narratives

and figures are the ol~ert base on which plot and character are

created; or they are submerged beneath the surface of realistic

characters and action; 3r new mythical structures are invented that

have a remarkable resemblance to traditional ones. (LCM 53)

Myth seems to have had its roots in the oral tradition. Besides, myth

making is a feature of all ages and it is not the habit only of the primitive

mind. It is created and preserved through recitation, rituals or such other

practices. Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces shows that

"myth is the secret opening throc.gh which the inexhaustible energies of the

cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation" (3).

Myth and ritual are inseparable and are the two faces of the same

coin. While a myth is a narrative, the ritual is a performance. The Dionysian

ritual , the Ogun ritual of the Yoruba in Nigeria, the Holi festival in India and

the Onam festival in Kerala are all examples of rituals that originate in myths.

Isidore Okpewho, the Nigerian writer observes that "any narrative of oral

tradition so long as it lays emphasis on fanciful play" is a myth ("Rethinking

Myth" ALT, 11, 19).

Wole Soyinka in Myth, Ljtt?rature and the African World maintains that

myths are "immenselyuseful . . . [as] they might lead to theatrical revolution"

(19). According to Satyanarain !Singh, the African myths are "supernatural

stories expressive of truths concerning archetypal human passions, and explain

the problems and mysteries of life and death" (CL 135). That is why "myth

and folklore in Africa have been the source and mainspring of a writer's

social, moral and aesthetic perc~ptions" (139).

Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian novelist, defines myth in terms of its

relevance and meaning to life. According to him "[elvery people has a body

of myths or sacred tales received from its antiquity. They are supernatural

stories which man created to explain the problems and mysteries of life and

death-his attempt to make sense of the bewildering complexity of existence"

(Morning 35). Besides, he maintains that an artist or writer should assist his

society to better understand their past and present. He says:

Our ancestors created their myths and legends and told their stories

for a human purpose (including, no doubt, the excitation of wonder

and pure delight); they made their sculptures in wood and terracotta,

stone and bronze to sense the needs of their times. Their artists lived

and moved and had their being in society, and created their works

for the good of that society. (Morning 19)

Harry Slochwer in Mythopoesis speaks of the relevance of myths. Myth

"unfolds the living chain which connects the recurrent recognition scenes of

the human drama. They assure L.S that we are not strangers and alone in the

world" (14). Richard Chase in Quest for Myth says: "myth is literature and

must be considered as an aesthetic creation of the human imagination"

(qtd. in Sebeok 95). According to Satyanarain Singh, myths are important as

they "enshrine the values and !deals of a civilization wherein the true, the

good and the beautiful. . . have the impress of an integral and holistic view of

life" (135).

The multi-religious, multi-ethnic and ritualistic tradition of Indian culture

is closer to Achebe's and Arma'i's world than any other cultural realms. For

instance, the Ramayana and tk,e Mahabharata, the two great Indian epics,

are the hidden treasures and preclous possessions of our culture.

Sometimes myths may unjergo changes through contact with other

cultures. For example, though the Africans tried to retain their distinctive

myths, the domination of Islam anc Christianity forced them to undergo change.

Still the lgbo, Yoruba and Hausa tr.ibes preserved many of their myths. Writers

like Gabriel Okara in The Voice, Duro Ladipo in Obakoso, Wole Soyinka in

his plays and Chinua Achebe anc Ayi Kwei Armah in their novels portray the

African world of myths and rituals.

The thrust area of this studlj is development of mythic consciousness in

the novels of the celebrated Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe and the famous

Ghanaian novelist, Ayi Kwei Arrrah. In order to represent and reflect the true

feelings and real experience of th, societies they portray, these novelists use a

great deal of archetypal patterns, images, symbols and popular myths and

this study focuses on its applicatim, significance and relevance.

Achebe's major contribi~tion is to the field of fiction and in this

dissertation two of his novels, Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God have

been selected for close study. Arnmh enriched the African culture by providing

philosophical and spiritual dimcmsions to his fictional manifestations. The

novels examined here as representative of Armah's fiction are Two Thousand

Seasons and The Healers.

Achebe and Amah through their application of African folklore, songs,

parables and other literay devit:es have contributed to the richness of their

fiction. S t o y telling sessions portrayed in the novels embody the centrality of

narrative imagination in African culture. The stories are educative and inform

the readers about their socio-cultural and religious life. Thus mythic elements

form the warp and weft of their writing. The expertise with which these two

novelists employ mythic elements in their novels is worth study.

Achebe's and Armah's fictianal works project protagonists who are on

a par with Achilles or Odysseus i r ~ one aspect or other though they fall short

of being cultural heroes in the strict sense of the term. The traditional societies

portrayed in their novels reveal thzir concern for myths, rituals and traditions.

Through this they highlight the African culture in an unbiased manner.

In Myth and Reality, Eliade asserts that myths are "the most general

and effective means of awakening and maintaining consciousness of another

world, a world beyond, whethe.. it be the divine world or the world of the

ancestors" (139).

In the preface to Myth, Literature and the African World, Wole Soyinka

observes that "[mlan exists [. . . ] in a comprehensive world of myth, history

and mores; [and] in such a total context, the African world, like any other

world is unique" (xii).

Achebe with the eyes of 2 native son assesses and analyses the pre-

colonial, colonial and post-color~ial Igbo society and entrances his readers

with his thought provoking and interesting account. Armah presents corruption,

alienation and moral degradation as part and parcel of Ghanaian life. The

novelists assume the roles of teachers, psychologists, philosophers and seers.

In African Literature Con~es of Age, C.D. Narasimhaiah writes that

African Literature "may not have the counterpart of the Vedas, Upanishads

and the Sutras but its myths and proverbs reflect, like the drum beat and the

ring of the temple bell, the distilled wisdom of lived experience of a people

who had evolved over the millenr ia a homogenous culture" ( I l l ) .

Myth and rituals are interrelated; knowledge of myth is essential to

meaningful performance of rituals. In "Greek Myth and Ritual: The Case of

Kronos" H. S. Versnel says that myth is "the counterpart of ritual: myth

implies ritual, ritual implies myth, they are one and the same" (121). Thus

many myths ancient and modern are associated with rituals. In Myth: A

Symposium Sebeok writes: "[nloi only is the myth the explanation of the rite,

it is at the same time . . . the expliination of the god" (78). According to Day

rituals are " established patterns of actions and possibly words solemnly and

repetitiously performed to mark a specific occasion" (254). Rituals may be

religious, secular or collective in nature. Combining a rite with a narrative

produces ritual myth" (22).

The Africans are known for their faith in magic and fetishes. Such rites

were performed to get a desired action. They believed that they could get

favourable results for their petitions only when the gods and goddesses were

pleased. Fetish is an object into which supernatural force has entered to

charge it with the strength of the spirit world.

They observed the rites of passages as they believed that a boy is

transformed into a man and a girl into a woman by ritual. So they celebrated

different stages in life: birth, naming, admittance to family or clan, puberty

rites, marriage rites, death ceremonies and burial customs. The male initiation

ceremony was celebrated with great pomp and it was very rigorous too.

Belief in 'Shaman' is ano th~r remarkable aspect of African life. Here,

human beings are seen as 'uneathly' beings. This term is taken from the

Tunga people of Siberia and they believe that "the ghosts of dead shamans

skeletonize the new candidate, eating his flesh and drinking his blood, before

covering his bones with new flesh' (Day 110).

Belief in Gods and Oracles is another distinctive quality of the African

people. It is the "state of god within" (123) and the divine possession of an

oracle means that "God is speaki ig directly through the oracle" (123). The

Yoruba myth speaks of the "Sky God named Olorum, who after beginning

the creation of the world left it to a lesser god Obatala to finish and govern it"

(Eliade, Myth and Reality 94).

The lgbo tribe of West Africa used to " kill the younger twin, presuming

him to be demonic" (Day 348 ). To prevent twins, medicine men uttered

incantations so that the two foetu:;es are twisted into one. Generally women

avoid 'twin' fruits or nuts to preved conceiving twins. A man can father only

a single child and twins are therefore regarded as the proof of a faithless wife.

Frequently twins are believed to have different fathers.

Similarly night and darkness were subjects of dread to African people.

Day observes that "early Greek nyths portray Night and Darkness as the

primal elements of nature" (189)

The cult of ancestor worship in Africa is very common and it includes

all deceased and not just the (mcestors. It is spread all over Africa and

sometimes it is part of the religious ceremonies.

House spirits inhabiting orie's house is another remarkable thing. These

spirits are pictured as friendly and rarely too unfriendly. Similarly their

conception of gods and supernatural beings is notable. The gods are the

protectors of the nature, animat? or inanimate things. They are responsible

for fertility, wealth, possession, power etc. The village god takes care of the

society and protects them frorn flood, drought, fire or from such natural

calamities. To propitiate such deities they offered sacrifices, offerings and

were ready to observe necessaly rites. Each harvest time mother earth lavished

on them colossal fertility.

Among the Africans the 'egwugwu' represent supernatural force. They

are the guardians of the moral code and punish severely those who transgress

the laws. For immoral deeds such as incest or murder, the 'egwugwu' possess

the power to exterminate the entire family of the offender.

Chinua Achebe, the celebrated Anglophone African writer, is universally

acknowledged for his brilliance, w ~ t and scholarship. Known as the author of the

highly laudable fiction, Things Fali Apart, he enjoys wide acclaim far and wide.

Achebe was born in 1930 at Ogidi in Eastern Nigeria as the fifth of six

children to devout Christian parerits. He graduated from the University College

of lbadan in 1953. During these university days he realized that "the s toy we

had to tell could not be told for us by any one else no matter how gifted or well

intentioned" (Morning 70).

Achebe became highly popular through the publication of his first novel

Things Fall Apart (1958). He drew material from the collective experience of

the lgbo society and it is the tragic and moving story of Okonkwo and his

village Umuofia. No Longer at Ease (1960), located in the present, is about

Okonkwo's grandson Obi turning into a corrupt bureaucrat under the pressure

of a sense of obligation to his cctmmunity and his people. Arrow of God

(1964) set in the twenties, is about the chief priest, Ezeulu, in East Nigeria

who comes to trust an ignorant and essentially cruel British District officer.

A Man of the People (1960) is set in post-colonial Nigeria, and it is a

comic, satiric portrayal of the corn,pt political system of the new country. In an

uncanny way it almost predicted the coup of 1966. Achebe's last novel Anthills

of thesavannah (1987) comment. on the military regimes in post-independent

Nigeria. The novel deals with the political situations at the time of writing.

Though the novel is set in an imaginary country, Kangan, the readers readily

realise that the author is talking abC3ut Nigeria. This is because the names of the

main characters are drawn from d.fferent tribes in Nigeria. He wrote novels out

of a deeply felt need; a need to tell the world that "African people did not hear of

culture for the first time from Eurcbpeans; that their societies were not mindless

but frequently had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty, that they

had poetry and, above all, they hiild dignity" (Killam 8).

Achebe considers it the rioble task of a writer to work for the uplift of

the society creating social awareness in the people. In Morning Yet on Creation

Day he writes:

And so our world stands in just as much need of change today as it

ever did in the past. Clur writers responding to something in

themselves and acting also within the traditional concept of an artist's

role in society-using his art to control his environment-have

addressed themselves to some of these matters in their art. (15)

Achebe's commitment and earnestness as a writer are expressed in

Morning Yet on Creation Day. He wites:

I hold, however, and h a ~ e held from the very moment I began to

write that earnestness is appropriate to my situation. Why? 1 suppose

because 1 have a deep-seated need to alter things within that situation,

to find for myself a little more room than has been allowed me in the

world. (14)

In "The Role of the Writer in a New Nation" Achebe writes that "the

writer should be concerned with .:he question of human values. One of the

most distressing ills which afflict new nations is a confusion of values" (African

Writers on African Writing 9).

Achebe has expressed how his Christian upbringing influenced him in his

evolution as a successful writer. The Christian rituals that he observed helped him

in his artistic profession and throughout the novels he uses religious implications.

Benjamin Akiga, Ntiyong Udo Akp,m, T.M Aluko and Onuora Nzekwu are just a

few of the Nigerian novelists whose works show the influence of Achebe.

Ayi Kwei Armah was born in 1939 at Takoradi, a harbour city in

Western Ghana. His early education was at Achimota College. Later he

spent several years in America i ~ t Groton school and Harvard University.

Back in Ghana he was shocked to see disillusionment and loss of values in

the independent Ghana.

Armah's first novel, The Bei~utyful OnesAre Not Yet Born, was published 4

in 1968. In 1970 his second novc?l Fragments and in 1972 Why Are We So

Blest?were published. The first three novels portray corruption in the political

and social spheres in contemporary Ghana. Besides, his moral and social

outlook and his didactic tone as a writer are explicitly evident in these novels.

His last two novels Two Tl~ousand Seasons (1973) and The Healers

(1978) deal with African traditions and values that existed in their pristine

nature before the advent and exploitation of the Arab predators and European

destroyers.

Armah's writings show t ta t he was influenced by the Martinican

psychiatrist, and revolutionary, Frantz Fanon's writings, specially The Wretched

of the Earth published in 1961. Armah, like Fanon, writes extensively about

alienation and violence. In The PIovels ofAyi Kwei Arrnah, Rao writes that

Armah's works "embody his proiound concern for his people, his race and

his continent. His moral outlook is underlined by a pragmatic social ideal"

(27). He presents a country where there is a strong tendency to imitate Western

mores and manners. This craving for western standard leads to corruption at

the national level. Thus the first three novels show materialist attitude taking

firm roots in Africa and an ardent iispiration for western patterns of acquisitive

consumerism and privileges as in Fragments.

The Healers reveals some ctf the historical myths such as the episode

of the fall of the Ashante empire a r d the ultimate reunification. In the last two

novels Armah presents the indigmous African traditions and values. For

example, Two Thousand Seasonsznd The Healers depict the ultimate triumph

of truth and peace over falsehood and power. Robert Frazer observes that

"Armah's prose style has becomc increasingly transparent, the amount of

ambiguity, for example, having noiably declined" gradually from one novel to

the other ( 7 ).

The narrative techniques of 4rmah exhibit the gradual growth of mythic

consciousness and the oral traditim of story telling as an excellent mode of

cultural expression. Through this, one witnesses " the artist's growing awareness

of the social context and his affirmation of the communal consciousness and

racial memory as in The Healers" (Rao 60). Sackey in Modern Fiction Studies

observes that "a key element of Armah's art is his return to African traditional

aesthetics as sources of his fiction' (391).

The Healers (1978), sub-t~tled "an historical novel" exhibits scenes

and stages from the Ashante Empire. To portray these scenic episodes Armah

moves back and forward giving all the details of the colon~al encounter with

the Ashanti empire. In this he juxtaposes the calm, composed, healers with

the power crazy, war mongering people, thereby making a comparison between

the spiritual with the mundane.

The major characters are: Asamoa Nkwanta, the general, extolled to

Ulyssian stature; Densu, the exerr~plary youth with unlimited stamina and a

staunch believer in the healers and Damfo the master healer.

Armah gives another arrag of characters: Ababio, a power monger;

Buntui, his mute and obedient helper and the kings. There occurs a severe

clash between these two forces-the inspirers or healers and the manipulators.

The Healers is a mixture of fiicts and fiction, as they are truthful episodes

taken from the chapters of histoy ningled with imagination and oral tradition.

The novel divided into seven parts, with six subdivisions in each part, enriches

the thematic and structural beauty. Ps Ahmed Saber observes, "Ail these narrative

methods are used to enhance the csmmunal theme of the novel" (73).

Another special trait discernible in Armah is, the "fusion of different

time frames and slices of histoy" (Rao 14) in his fictional works. Through the

effective representation of mytt~ical consciousness in his fiction, Amah

ardently advocates for the restoration of spiritual and moral values which

were essentially a part of primitive African culture.

Myths at the psychological level, dmmatise the anxiety and agony of modem

man in Achebe and Armah. The insiability of society exerts tremendous pressures

on the relationship between the individual and the community. The writer, Armah, J

specially writes about liberating the individual from this chaotic situation. The

protagonists in Achebe and h a t 1 resist and transcend the culture. Achebe's

characters fail utterly while Armah's shine as graceful and powerful heroic figures.

In Modern Fiction StudiesSackey shows that Amah's "imagination is

not constrained by his western literary education but positively energized by

African oral poetics" (391).

Thus Achebe and Armah, zlaborately give African myths, traditions

and religious practices. There the1 speak of the traditional heal~ng practices,

control of nature by ritual acts, thfz unlon with the dead ancestors and their

belief in Oracles and Gods.

Chapter one deals with various definitions of myth, its application and

its relevance. A brief account of Achebe's and Armah's life has been given to

establish a connection between thair works and the mythic application in the

succeeding chapters.

In chapter two, the selectetl novels of Achebe and Armah have been

analysed with psychological application of myth, where myth is seen as an

'archetype'.

Chapter three juxtaposes traditional African rituals and religious

practices with biblical parallels in the selected novels of Achebe and Armah.

The writers succeed in making many references to the spirits, special visits of

these spirits, the communication t~etween the spirits of the ancestors with the

present ones etc as integral part of the novels, and they do not look like super

imposed ones.

Chapter four deals with socio-cultural myths. It shows how Achebe

and Armah blend the country's piat, its myths, tradition, dance forms, music,

marriage and rituals with the present day reality, thereby asserting that myth

is 'culture itself ' . For this, the myth of the land, the rituals observed, the

proverbs used are all interwoven in the fabric of the novels. All these mirror

the wisdom of the African people

Chapter five attempts a con~parison between Achebe and Armah so as

to bring out what is distinctive in c:ach writer's use of myths. The concluding

chapter examines the validity of the finding that though both Achebe and

Armah make liberal use of myths in their novels revealing the richness of

Africa's cultural past, each does 3 0 in his own distinctive manner and that

they are alike, yet different in their treatment of myths.