Volume 17, No. 1, 2020
Obi Okonkwo, Odili Samalu And Chief Nanga: A Sociological Critic Of Value Orientation In No Longer At Ease And A Man Of The People
Virginia Obioma Eze , Ikechukwu Emmanuel Asika , Sosthenes Nnamdi Eke , Ifeoma Grace Akabuike , Nwakaego Gladys Obi , Ewuzie, Olisa Felix
Abstract
Society and individuals have certain values at all given times, which are adjudged positive or negative depending on their effects on society or individuals. This paper draws insights from Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People to study the socio-cultural value orientation that exists in society at a time and its implications to the people so oriented. Through a sociological approach which considers man and his relationship with other men and with his environment, and through a qualitative textual analytical methodology hinged on Gaius’ Affective-Cognitive Theory of value, the study examines the influence of individual’s value orientation on self and on society as well as the society’s value orientation on the individual with specific reference on the major characters in the texts selected. The result of the study reveals that the values of the protagonists were not only influenced by pressure from society but also by personal needs and idiosyncrasies, which eventually led to their ruin, bringing us to the conclusion that the society as well as well as the individual are contributory to their socio-cultural value orientations. It is therefore, suggested that the society and individuals should be considered in all matters capable of improving their value orientations positively at all given times for the betterment of human society.
Pages: 853-864
Keywords: Values, Individuals, Society, Needs, Improvement, Orientations, Humanity.