African Literature: A Tool for Societal Regeneration

Abstract

Contemporary societies across the world are faced with the burden of prevalent and diverse societal wrongdoings which have possible future implications that are alarming and worrisome if not controlled. Therefore, the need for societal regeneration for a better future becomes imperative, and this change can be achieved by various means. This study argues that African Literature can be considered a tool through which the desired change can be achieved. Thus, this study aims to demonstrate how African Literature fulfils the criteria of being a tool for societal regeneration by examining the paradigms and moral positions in matters that affect the society using a textual and interpretative analysis of selected literary works (Ayi Kwei Armah’s Fragments and The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born and Achebe’s A Man of the People). This study is premised on the fact that African Literature provides an opportunity for a connection with indigenous roots that made the traditional society a relatively non-perverted one while the simultaneous all-round forward progress of the contemporary is not jeopardised. Considering the potential in literature to achieve social change, a reading culture must be revitalised and encouraged, especially among millennials who are victims and promoters of these menaces, as it provides a mechanism for corrective psychology and orientation.