The Story Archive

A Man of the People

Chinua Achebe · 1966 CE · Novel · Nigerian · Contemporary

Odili Samalu, a young schoolteacher in an unnamed West African country, is flattered by a visit from his old pupil Chief Nanga, now Minister of Culture, and accepts an invitation to stay at the great man's house in the capital before working out what the hospitality is worth. A woman, a scholarship and a newly founded opposition party turn the visit into a rivalry conducted at rallies and through hired thugs. Achebe finished it days before Nigeria's first coup, and readers took the coincidence for prophecy.

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Attributes

Genre
SatirePolitical
Theme
Power & CorruptionBetrayalWealth & GreedIndividual vs Society
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Anti-HeroVillain / TyrantEverymanTrickster
Plot structure
Rise and FallIronic ReversalUnreliable Narrator
Symbol / motif
The FeastThe CityThe House
Conflict
vs Personvs Society
Mode / tone
SatiricalIronicRealist
Culture / tradition
Nigerian

Closest analogues