Chinua Achebe's Views on African Writers and the English Language

African Writers
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African Writers
Chinua Achebe was an African writer whose work has been read and credited all over the world. His work has included his view on the use of English and African languages in literature; his stand was that use of English in the literature by African writers is inevitable, especially if they are to be enjoyed by Africans who are diverse in their native languages and the world as well. Not all African writers support his view, Obi Wali opposes this argument and says that African literature can only be productive and creative when expressed in native African languagesCITATION Jen152 \l 1033 (Jenkins, 2015).
Chinua does agree that English did come from the worst situations and events that human race will ever be subjected to, colonialism and slavery and therefore adopting this language would be a betrayal to one’s language and dignity of Africa and giving an upper hand to the perpetrators of these atrocities. However, he does acknowledge the diversity of languages in Nigeria and Africa at large and mastering each native language would be tedious and even impossible. He defends himself by saying even though the language is a reminder of injustices done to Africans, it is a unifying factor and especially among writers, and he narrates the fulfilling conversations he had with Joseph Kariuki, a Kenyan because his literary work was done in English which both understood.
Achebe continues to support his argument by stating that use of English in writing African literature is effective in teaching the world about the ways of Africans as was done by Olaudah Equiano who ...