Alienation In Ayi Armah's the Beautyful ones are not yet Born and Fragments

Abstract

For some time now, Africa has experienced a process of change from the traditional African social, political and economic patterns and values towards an increasing assimilation of foreign culture and its values_ Nevertheless, the African traditional values have remained resilient throughout this process of change and have exerted considerable influence on the more aesthetically and culturally sensitive members of the society. These people have been, and still are, determined, in the face of overwhelming international obstacles, to express, through various media, some of the major adverse effects which have emerged as a result of this process of change in relation to the society and its members. This paper attempts to examine Ayi Kwei Armah's concern about a significantly negative derivative of this process of change in post-independence Ghanaian society - the alienation of individuals and groups from family and community with its attendant sense of discontinuity or of disconnection -which he perceives as an experience with tragic possibilities for both the individual and the society.