Thank God It's November – A Response.

This is my response to “Thank God It's November; Thank God it's Friday; Thank God I Finally Read Things Fall Apart” by Ifeoluwa Olawole:

I was in Form 3 (American 9th grade) when I first read Things Fall Apart. Even at that age, I was stunned by the savagery of the protagonist. Well…obviously, the author wanted to portray him as a “strong-willed” man.

I had to read the book again thirty something years later when I was about contributing an essay to a literary journal. Here is an excerpt from that essay:

Why is it that the only authors and books of African origin that are acknowledged and celebrated in the American media are those with negative stories?

They are the books on African ugly past, civil wars, child soldiers, human trafficking and other social vices. The more gory and pathetic the story-line, the greater media coverage the book gets.

For instance, two categories of story-lines that enjoy continuous accolades from American readers are; one that gives a portrayal of the African man as a savage who will act first and think later while the other paints the African man as a philanderer who drinks his life away.

Without mincing words, an example of the first category is “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “The Palm Wine Drinker” by Amos Tutuola is an example of the second category.

Ironically, in the glorious days of Oprah Book Club when a book by an African author was eventually selected, it turned out to be a book about some prostitutes in Africa. This was in spite of the abundance of several great books that either celebrated African dynamic cultures, values and love for education or those books that documented the political emancipation and self-determination of the African people.

It’s no wonder therefore that a whole lot of writers with African origin have since resorted to the sad habit of “playing to the gallery” by writing what the Americans want to read --- for financial gains. There are two losers here; first are the authentic and positive African stories that never attract the interest of publishers. And second is the gullible American reading audience that is fed the false impression that the African society has a monopoly of social ills.