Postcolonial Politics in Three African Novels: A Man of the People, Petals of Blood and A Bend in the River

Abstract

This dissertation will examine Achebe, N’gugi and Naipaul’s novel which are based on postcolonial Africa’s scenario to inquire about the political condition of African countries in their post-independence era. These novels focus on the lives of the African people who lived amid extreme corruption due to their own black oppressors who betrayed viciously. Predominantly, the purpose of this paper is to find out about the process and way of the political leaders’ oppression in African countries who subjugated their own men after their liberation. These novelists have portrayed the scenario of colonial period along with post-colonial time which help to compare the political condition of African countries. Freedom is supposed to bring all kinds of emancipation for the citizens of a country, whereas these novels show the situation was the same for the common people: corruption, poverty and inequality were the same. Achebe’s A Man of the People takes the readers to a fictional journey where they can see the corruption of the politicians of Nigeria and their brutal exploitation. On the other hand, in N’gugi’s Petals of Blood, the consequence of extreme coercion is portrayed along with a hope for the people of Kenya for a better future where there will be no conflicts between rich and poor, and where the politicians will think about their own men without hoping for their own interest. Finally, in A Bend in the River, Naipaul shows Mobutu’s dictatorship in Zaire and his fascism against his own people who gave their lives for their own land and helped him to have his power as a politician in a free state.