Atwood’s “Dancing Girls” and Achebe’s “The Madman”

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Brief Synopsis of the two works
Comparison of various themes in the two stories
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

This paper provides a comparative essay on the works of two eminent authors Margaret Atwood and Chinua Achebe. While Margaret lived in Canada and Chinua was from Nigeria, two nations on different continents and different worlds, each had a unique style of writing in which the readers were immersed along with the characters and the stories. The two works discussed are Margaret Atwood’s “Dancing Girls” and Chinua Achebe’s “The Madman”. The paper first provides a brief synopsis of the story and then provides a comparison of different subjects that occur in the books and how the author has handled the subjects.

Brief Synopsis of the two works

Margaret Atwood’s book ‘The Dancing Girls’ is a collection of 16 short stories and the Dancing Girls is one of the stories and has given the name for the collection (Atwood, 1998). The story relates the experiences and fantasies of the main character, Anna student, who is staying as a tenant in a guesthouse. There are some other tenants such as a trio of South Koreans who study mathematics in the college and another man, an Arab who intrigues Ann. The story is intense in its portrayal of the background and subtle nuances and interpretations as the lonely Ann lives out her boredom and her college pressures. The landlady Mrs. Nolan is talkative and garrulous and always complaining as she hounds her tenant. The story ends when one day the Arab gentleman hires some dancing girls, brings them to the room and has a big party. The landlady drives the girls out and the Arab and Ann are left with her dreams of creating an Urban design (Cooke, 2004).

Chinua Achebe’s The Madman (Achebe, 1991) is about a man called Nwibe who has worked hard, long, and earned success. He has a flourishing farm, has married several times as is the custom in the characters place and he has fathered many children. Nwibe has higher aspirations and wants to be the leader of his clan but one day when he was bathing, a madman steals his clothes. Nwibe runs after the madman, stark naked and in the process he commits sacrilege when he enters the marketplace naked and offends the local god and deity and he becomes tongue-tied and cannot speak, so great is the trauma. People now begin to see Nwibe as the mad person and not the madman who had stolen the clothes. A witchdoctor is called and he is finally cured but his importance and stature in his village is lost. The story picks up with interpretations of sanity and insanity and what is the difference (Booker, 2003).

Comparison of various themes in the two stories

A comparison of various subjects and themes in the two stories has been presented in this section.

Writing style

Achebe’s style of writing in the story in unique and he has discarded the unwritten principle that African writers should do their best to imitate what native English writers do. Consequently, while reading the book, it is evident that this is a native African speaking about his land and his people and in his tongue (Ezenwa, 1997). In addition, the author always believed that stories are written for a human purpose and need to have a definite theme and should head in a required direction, just like the ancient African myths. The author believed that stories should have a proper ending and not leave the reader is confusion. The language and the style of writing is simple and rustic and he always uses similes and metaphors when trying to describe an object so a long road that stretches would be called ‘”that long, beautiful boa-constrictor of a road..”. There is no difficulty in understanding what Achebe is trying to say and he explains his thoughts in such a manner that it brings to mind the African native village in its entire primitive splendor. He also tends to use less of dialogues between the characters and it is more of a narration in which the author himself narrates the story in third person (Innes, 1978).

Margaret Atwood style of writing can be described as post modernistic, simple yet intense. She is loquacious in her description and interpretation of the context is unique as is her depiction of her subjects, Margaret was a feminist and the story revolves around the female characters. Men in the story are depicted as mere props and other than the Arab, men find a derogatory mention. In this story, she has attempted to explore the inner self with wide ranging and determinative constructions of words and sentences. Margaret was a feminist and did not shy away from using terse and rather crude language at times but there is nothing of eroticism or sexuality in the story. The narration is in third person with a few dialogues thrown in for good measure (Howells. 2006).

Comparison of Characters

The Mysterious Characters

Other than the main characters around whom the story is created, the unknown and mysterious characters who actually drive the story and take it forward are the Madman in Achebe’s novel and the mysterious Arab in Atwoods novel. Both the stories begin with introducing this mysterious character rather than the main ones. In Achebe’s novel, the madman’s appearance is the first sentence: “He was drawn to markets and straight roads. Not any tiny neighborhood market where a handful of garrulous women might gather at sunset to gossip and buy ogili for the evening’s soups but a huge, engulfing bazaar beckoning people familiar and strange from far and near…” (Achebe, 1973). In Margaret’s novel, the mysterious Arab is the first thing that is introduced: “The first sign of the new man was the knock on the door. It was the landlady, knocking not at Ann’s door as she had though but on the other door, the one east of the bathroom. Knock, Kncok, Kncok, then a pause, soft footsteps, the sound of unlocking..” (Atwood, 1998).

There is an element of suspense and anticipation built into the story right from the beginning and the reader would be held by the mystery. But while the madman in the novel is a nobody who wanders from place to place, naked, gets beaten, has kids throwing rocks at him, the mysterious Arab on the other hand is more poised, dresses properly and is well adapted to his surroundings. But both characters draw attention to themselves, the madman with his antics and the Arab draws attention basically because of his foreign looks, tattoos and his habit of borrowing the landlady’s vacuum cleaner. Again both the authors have depicted their mysterious character as basically jobless. The madman of Achebe is doomed to a life of waste and nothing more can be expected of him. The Arab from Atwood’s novel on the other hand seems to be engaged and seems to have taken up some studies but actually; no one knows what he does. He spends his time either sitting in his room or standing at the doorway and looking at the street. When Ann sees him “He was leaning in the doorway of what at home, she would called a vestibule, smoking a cigarette and staring out at the rain through the glass panes at the side of the front door”. The landlady, Mrs Nolan is very upset at this behavior and when she sees Ann, she shouts “You see him? she whispered. ‘Who’? Ann said. ‘Him’ Mrs. Nolan jerked her thumb, ‘Standing down there by the door. He does that a lot. He’s bothering me, like I don’t have such good nerves”.

The Main Actors

The main characters in the two novels are a study in contrast. On the one hand we have Nwibe from Achebe’s novel who is a farmer in the town of Ogbu and on the other we have Ann from Atwood’s novel who is a modern day feminist girl. Both have ambition in common and have worked from humble beginnings to their current position in life. While Nwibe wants to rise to be the headmen in his village and that was his greatest goal, Ann wanted to qualify as an Urban designer and cover herself with glory by designing wonderful green spaces. Nwibe is a rustic African and all his friends, his immediate and extended family are based in an African village, as can be expected while all of Ann’s friends and families have a city based background (Nischik, 2000).

The difference starts from how these two handle their environment and the neighborhood. Nwibe has all his assets in the village and its surroundings and he is bound to his environment. He has several wives and has to interact with them everyday. He is also fearful of breaking the traditions and must live by the code of his people and his village. So in effect, even though Nwibe is a man, society has placed some constraints on him. The case of Ann is different. She is not bothered about what tradition and her parents have to say about her and her staying alone. She also is not in touch with her parents and receives a very occasional letter. While Nwibe has dreams of only being elected as the headman, he is content with his huts and surroundings and he has even got a zinc sheet cover for the roof and to him that is the epitome of advancement in his village (Jaya, 2003). Ann on the other hand longs to get out of her environment and there is a great sense of frustration and desire in her outlook. She regards her present lodgings dismally, does not like the room and its green painted walls and the fact that she has to share the bathroom with the Arab. She also does not like the locality she stays in. So she decorates her rooms with paintings of Braque still life’s, she has hung a madras spread as a curtain in front of the cooking area, she has put up several prints and she wants her surroundings to look neat. After reading through the story, Ann comes across as a person of unfulfilled desires and dreams. Even in her native place in Canada where she grew up, she was not happy with her home as it was close to the expressway and was beside a gas pump where she could hear the sounds of traffic all day. She longs to move into the flat where here friend Jetske, the girl from Holland stays. She was also not happy with her father, mother and two brothers whom she regards as low achievers. Perhaps her dissatisfaction with her childhood home had made her architecture so that she could design better buildings. Margaret narrates that after seeing cloister of houses she realizes that even if she designed a fine building, it would end up being in a ghetto and surrounded by several ugly buildings so that the beauty of her creation would be lost. So now she has taken to Urban design and this means designing a whole block or city (Howells, 2006).

Therefore, it can be seen that Nwibe, the main character from Achebe’s is a male who is held down by society restraints and who has social growth ambitions. It can also be seen that Ann is a woman, who cares nothing about the society and is not held down by any restraints but wants to grow socially and has her ambitions. While Nwibe is content with his surrounding, his farm and hut and would not move out from there, Ann is the flighty thing, dissatisfied with her environment, is restless and wants to move as and when the opportunity presents itself and always seeks improvement and betterment. This is a common theme in Margaret’s stories and shows the attempts by feminists to break out of their shells to achieve something better (Cooke, 2004).

Other Characters

There are several other characters in both the stories who lend support to the main characters. Achebe’s novel has his wives Mgboye and Udenkwo and while the former was quiet and ready to accept her fate quietly and even the barbs and taunts that Udenkwo threw at her, the other wife Udenkwo was a woman of fiery temper. We see her being scolded and chastised by Nwibe when she is shouting her anger and complaint loudly. It can be understood that she resents the other wife Mgboye who she feels is more loved by their common husband and she is unhappy with her lot. Udenkwo can best be compared to Mrs. Nolan, the landlady in Margaret’s novel. She is also always complaining, is suspicious, like to snoop around and make a nuisance of here self. However, it should be noted that when Nwibe is running around naked in the market place, it is Udenkwo who rescues him and even takes off her top cloth so that her husband can be covered and she is in tears as she takes him back to his hut. Some amount of comparison can be done about Jetske and Mgboye and though both are poles apart in their roles and character, both are complacent and content with what they have. This would not be the ideal feminist as per the portrayal of Margaret (Cooke, 2004).

Sexuality as a theme

Both Achebe and Margaret have not emphasized the sexuality of the characters. Nwibe is a much-married man and has two wives and nothing is mentioned about any conjugal relation between them. There is some amount of narration about Ann and most of this is subdued. “she had one real boyfriend, Beefy Bill Decker with his two tone car that kept losing the muffler. They had spent a lot of time parked on side streets, rubbing against each other through all those layers of clothes… She had relationships with men since then, but she had treated them the same way, circumspect”. Margaret tended to show her feminist characters as not very obsessed or reserved about their sexuality and to her characters, such things were casual affairs and not worthy of giving them a second thought (Nischik, 2000).

Breaking the Taboo and the Triggering Act

The trigger in both the stories is the taboo that the mysterious characters pull. In Achebe’s novel, the madman sets the story in motion when he steals the robe that Nwibe had removed when he was taking his bath. The result was traumatic as Nwibe rushed after the madman and entered the marketplace naked, breaking a taboo that caused him to lose his tongue. Nwibe is regarded as a madman by the people in the marketplace as all they can see is a naked man who looks wild and is searching for someone who stole his robe. The trauma that Nwibe suffers and the loss of face is devastating and he becomes withdrawn and it was only after a witchdoctor cures him that he regains his ability to speak (Mezu, 2006).

In Atwood’s story, the trigger happens at the end of the story when the Arab brings in dancing girls to his room and has a boisterous party. The thoroughly shocked Mrs. Nolan, the landlady drives out dancing girls and the Arab. The effect on the Arab is not clear but is changes Ann subtly in a different way and she is left wondering at the hostility that the landlady shows “He and his friends could easily have overpowered her but they would not even have thought about doing that. They would have been too frightened. What unspoken taboo had they violated? What would these cold, mad people do next?”. A very interesting point here is that Ann begins to equate the landlady as mad and the Arabs as the victim and begins to feel sympathy for them (Howells, 2006).

Conclusion

The paper has presented a comparative essay of two short stories, Margaret Atwood’s “Dancing Girls” and Chinua Achebe’s “The Madman”. The two stories, though they are based in different continents and different cultures, they have certain common themes and some unique differences. Themes such as the writing style of the authors, Comparison of Characters, Sexuality as a theme and Breaking the Taboo and the Triggering Act have been examined in detail. Points of similarities are that both the main characters Nwibe from Achebe’s story and Ann from Atwood’s story have dreams of furthering their social ambitions and work hard to achieve them. Differences are that Nwibe is portrayed as one who is content with his property and is restricted by certain social taboos while Ann is a free feminist who does not care anything for what society has to say to her. An analysis of other characters has also been done and appropriate comparisons done.

Bibliography

Booker, M, Keith & Gikandi Simon. The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press. 2003.

Cooke, Nathalie. Margaret Atwood: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers). 2004. Greenwood Press

Ezenwa-Ohaeto. Chinua Achebe: A Biography. 1997. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Howells, Cora,l Ann. The Cambridge Companion to Margaret Atwood. 2006. Cambridge University Press.

Innes, C. L. and Bernth, Lindfors. Critical Perspectives on Chinua Achebe. 1978. Washington: Three Continents Press.

Jaya, Lakshmi, Rao, V. Culture and Anarchy in the Novels of Chinua Achebe. 2003. Prakash Book Depot.

Mezu, Rose, Ure. Chinua Achebe: The Man and His Works. 2006. London: Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd.

Nischik, Reingard. Margaret Atwood: Works and Impact. 2000. Camden House.

Random House. 2007. An Interview with Margaret Atwood: Random House. 2008. Web.

Brooks, Jerome. 1994. The Paris Review Interviews of Chinua Achebe: The Paris Review. 2008. Web.

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