A Man of the People | Techniques

A Man of the People Techniques

Achebe has been much commended for his creation and use of his naive narrator, Odili. Like Gulliver, he is a good reporter but not always a good interpreter of what he sees, and he is instrumental in creating irony and providing a satirical view of much of the action of the novel. That he is well on the way to a political career himself by the book's end is no small part of the irony.

There is obvious humor in Achebe's choice of names for the political parties, P.O.P. and P.A.P. The seriously taken political party, C.P.C. started by Max cannot be reduced to such an acronym.

Political satire extends to the blundering delivery and repossession of stones and pipes for village sewer and waterworks building. A character whom the villagers have named "Couple" (ironic probably because the pipes never do get coupled), an ex con,...
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