REPRESENTATION OF ENVIRONMENT IN SELECTED CHINUA ACHEBE’S NOVELS

REPRESENTATION OF ENVIRONMENT IN SELECTED CHINUA ACHEBE’S NOVELS

ABSTRACT

The environment is not only an essential element of Chinua Achebe’s novels, but also the vital component of the people’s existence in the society. In Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe vividly portrays the unique natural environment of the people and the people’s interaction with it. The environment intersects all aspects of the people’s lives in the society. It is the centre of their being. The representation of the environment in the three novels of Achebe reflects not only the levels of environmental consciousness of the people but also their different conceptions of the environment.  Given the central place of the environment in Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah, as well as in the lives of the people, the environmental study of the three novels become very apt and essential. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate the representation of the environment in the three novels of Achebe.