Ideological Foundations of the Igbo Oral Proverbs Translations of Achebe in TFA (Things Fall Apart)

Abstract

Proverbs in TFA (Things Fall Apart) (1958) should not only be seen as unique performances, but also as specific encapsulations of ideological and sociocultural accretions of the Igbo people in Nigeria. The avalanche of proverbs in TFA and their representations give the novel an amazingly peculiar and attractive outlook. Those may be some of the reasons why the book has a global critical acclaim and has been translated into 36 languages with more than 80 million copies sold in 50 languages. Although the proverbs call special attention, because they constitute landmarks in the plot development of the novel, their ideological underpinnings are not readily discernible. Nevertheless, a great preponderance of works done on proverbs usually indicate the proverbs' functions within contexts of application giving little or no attention to their ideological foundations. Therefore, beyond the functional application, this write-up uses the sociosemiotic approach to CDA (Critical Discourse Analysis) and Black's interaction view of metaphor to critically investigate the proverbs found in TFA with the intention to account for the imagery, unravel opaque structures, sociocultural bases, and power relations that underpin the sustenance of the proverbs or otherwise. Findings indicate that the proverbs originate from Igbo spirituality. Through the use of floral, faunal, socioeconomic, and political discourses, the life experiences of the people are summed up in the wise sayings.