Class Stratification and Poverty in Nigerian Literature: A Study of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Festus Iyayi's Violence

The concepts of class stratification and poverty are not new in any society especially the African society. Many Africans presently live below the poverty line and this is further exacerbated by high level class inequality. Right from the creation of man, there has been class while poverty gradually crept into the society as the supply of the people was not meeting their demands, thus only those who have what it takes were able to survive and stay above-board. There is the classification between good and evil, male and female, white and black, poor and rich, influential and non-influential, educated and uneducated and so on. The class stratification being looked at in this research however has to do with the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and how this has contributed to the advancement of poverty in society. The two Nigerian novels purposively selected are Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Festus Iyayi’s Violence. The choice of these texts is due to the fact that they belong to different generations of Nigerian writings, thus we considered the views of the two generations on the subjects of discourse. The method of investigation adopted is the critical textual analysis using the Marxist literary theory. The research considered the speeches, actions and events that portray class and poverty. The authors’ intentions and views on these concepts were equally established with the hope of an end goal of finding solutions that will take Africa out of the shackles of poverty and inequality.

Keywords: Class stratification, Poverty, Nigerian Literature, Chinua Achebe, Festus Iyayi.