SELF CONCEPT IN THE NOVELS OF JOHN A. WILLIAMS AND CHINUA ACHEBE (BLACK AMERICAN, NIGERIAN)

The fundamental objective of this study is to determine the effect of racism and oppression on self-concept among black writers. Using the works of Chinua Achebe and John A. Williams, a methodology has been designed whereby the self-concept of each writer can be analyzed. The analysis provides quantified data which is used to test the validity of previous literary and psychological theories regarding the similarities of development between African and African-American writers.;By using the tenets of Content Analysis, a methodology was developed whereby self-concept (as evidenced by narrative statements and characterizations in the novels), could be assessed. The content analysis model was used to analyze Achebe's No Longer At Ease and A Man of the People, and Williams' Night Song and The Man Who Cried I Am. Analysis of the data collected from the novels provided information about those factors in each author's environment which motivated him as each of the novels in question was being written. In addition, inferences were made regarding the novelist's psychological characteristics, (as well as aspects of his culture and changes therein), which could be identified as antecedents (motivating factors) for each mode of communication (novel) utilized.;Most of the literary theories professing similarities of theme and development, as well as motivation, among African and Afro-American writers were tested. These previous theories had no quantitative component, which has caused them to be questioned. They were tested in this study and found to be valid.;John A. Williams and Chinua Achebe were both found to exhibit the negative self-concept predicted by Memmi as characteristic of the colonized writer. In addition, both were found to be effected by oppression more so than racism. Williams' environment was classified as colonial based upon the analysis of his novel. In addition, the methodology designed was found to be valid for the classification of the self-concept of a novelist based upon an analysis of his fictional work.;This research was initiated in order to resolve some of the conflicts regarding analogous development among African novelists and novelists of African Descent living in the America's. It was hypothesized that if both the African and the Afro-American novelist (and their works), met the criteria for a colonized writer outlined by Albert Memmi in The Colonizer and the Colonized, both novelists could be said to have lived in a colonial environment. Likewise, both could be assessed as having the psychological attributes of a colonized person, thereby, substantiating previous assertions that the Black American's experience has also been a colonial one, fraught with the resultant psychological traumas.