Can literature be universal?

Analysis of Chinua Achbe’s Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease in light of Charles Larson’s Heroic Ethnocentrism: The Idea of Universality in Literature.

Charles Larson rejects the idea of universality in literature; he is of the view that literature produced in one culture represents a set of values which are peculiar to that culture only, therefore to call a piece of literature universal is to impose these values on other arbitrarily, he writes, “when we try to force the concept of universality on someone who is not Western, I think we are implying that our own culture should be the

Standard of measurement”. Each culture has its own set of norms and values which are peculiar to them. Larson writes, “For the most part, the term ‘universal’ has been grossly misused when it has been applied to non-Western literature, because it has so often been used in a way that ignores the multiplicity of cultural experiences.” Larson holds that the concept which are very in vogue in west and are parts of western culture, such as kissing, sex, love, lengthy descriptions of country-life and the concept of hero. He analyses the African culture and literature in comparison to that of the western and concludes that whatever are deemed fashionable in west, are even not recognized by many people in Africa. But does it imply that these people are inferior and uncivilized if they don’t know the western values, he writes, “are these attitudes so different for the African? Is the African way of life less sophisticated than our own? Or is the belief that these supposedly ‘universal’ attitudes should be the same as ours the naïve one? Is this what we really mean when we talk about ‘universality’ in literature—if someone does not react to something in our literature the same way that we do, then he is to be considered inferior? Perhaps the term itself is meaningless”. He says that the African people instead of hero, an individual with extraordinary power, believes in group experience, they value village, clan and tribe etc. he therefore concludes, “The time has come when we should avoid the use of the pejorative term ‘universal.”

Things Fall Apart:

The novel reflects the traditional African society with its own culture untainted by western influences. There is no mention of sex, love, and romantic relationship between the opposite sexes. The African people have been show as firmly believing in superstitions and myths ,the occasion of death is accorded more importance which can rarely be found in other cultures. The society depicted is totally patriarchal and the status and role  of women is confined to domestic chores.  The novel depicts traditions and customs of the African people. There is a great focus on the laws of the tribes.

They believe more in superstitions than in concrete things, as the passage goes, “A snake was never called by its name at night, because it would hear”.  The belief that the ghosts of the dead persons appear and mediate in their disputes has been depicted as follows, “Each of he nine Egwugwu represented a village of the clan . Their leader was called Evil Forest. I am the Evil Forest I kill a man on the day that his life is sweetest to him’. A strange practice of penalty and compensation as Achabai writes, “to choose between war on the one hand, and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation”. In order to cure their disease they would resort to other practices than medicine intake, as the passage goes, “the medicine itself was called agadi-nwayi, or old woman. It had its shrine in the center of Umufoia, in a cleared spot.”

In the Nigerian culture as depicted by Achebe , “ onkonkwo has three wives and eight children”. At another passage he writes, “ There was a wealthy man in the Oknonkwo’s village who had three huge barns, nine wives and thirty children’.

The people largely believed in personal achievements and those who were strong in achieving things, Okonkwo’s father was weak in achievement as he says, “ Ask my dead father is he ever had a fowl when he was alive’. They also believed in chi or personal good.

The patriarchal societal order exists in the African culture , domestic violence against women is a common practice and was condoned. As he Achebe writes, “and when he returned he beat her very heavily”.  They also believed in a week of peace in which violence was forbidden, “ in his anger he had forgotten that it was the week of peace”. The origin of the practice is described as, “ our forefathers ordained that before we plat any corps in the earth we should observe a week in which a ma does not say a harsh world to his neighbor.”

They people would firmly believed in tribes and clan laws and any breach of the same would be termed a crime.  As it is put, “ but the law of the land must be obeyed”. Okonkwo’s act of beating his wife is termed by the tribal law as a severe violation , as he writes, “ you would still have committed a great evil to beat her”. The punishment  for the breach of laws is severe as he writes, “ In the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died. But after a while the custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve”.  When the boy gets killed by Oknkwo’s gun the punishment for it is exile, “he could return to the clan after seven years”.

The architectural designs of the African people has been depicted in the noel which is different from that of the West. Instead of apartment or villa there exists obi, and the use of goatskin is vogue for chair. There is division of work some  are assigned to male and other to the female as it is said, “ can I bring a chair for you, no that is a boy’s job”.

The western values such the concept of romantic love,sex, kissing have no room in the African culture. The Africa people even disliked their education system and resisted the inroads of their religion. If the values which are in vogue in Western culture and transmitted through their literature, and the literature  is called universal , then in the western view.

If the standard of the western measurement of literature are applied here, the African literature will be classed as a sub literature, simply because it does not reflect the western values which to them are universal. But in fact every culture has got its values and customs which represent their past and present and no single culture has the authority to declare it  values as universal and superior and judge other people’s culture and values as inferior and less significant. It is therefore Larson opposes the idea of university in literature. 

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