52 pages • 1-hour read
Anthills Of The Savannah
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
Anthills
Anthills function as the central symbol in Achebe’s novel, representing the endurance and resilience of African communities in the face of political upheaval and environmental catastrophe. As the titular symbol, anthills provide the overarching metaphor that frames the entire narrative, suggesting how authentic culture and community bonds persist despite the destructive forces of corrupt leadership and natural disaster.
The symbol first appears in Ikem’s “Hymn to the Sun,” where he describes “trees [that] had become hydra-headed bronze statues so ancient that only blunt residual features remained on their faces, like anthills surviving to tell the new grass of the savannah about last year’s brush fires” (28). This image captures the central tension between destruction and survival and associates it with Storytelling as Cultural Preservation and Political Resistance: The anthills become witnesses to catastrophe, preserving memory and providing continuity across cycles of devastation. In keeping with this idea, the anthills reappear as Chris reads Ikem’s poem while traveling into Abazon itself: “Perhaps it was seeing the anthills in the scorched landscape that set him off revealing in details he had not before experienced how the searing accuracy of the poet’s eye was pried not on fancy but fact” (194). The anthills here become the vehicle through which Chris fully internalizes Ikem’s narrative critique, catalyzing the moral transformation that results in his death.
Ultimately, the anthills reveal how grassroots African culture maintains its essential character even when political institutions fail. Just as anthills survive brush fires that consume surface vegetation, the fundamental structures of community—represented by characters like the old man from Abazon and Elewa—endure despite the moral conflagration created by leaders like His Excellency. The symbol suggests that while political systems may collapse, the deeper foundations of African society possess an anthill-like capacity for survival and regeneration.
The Drought
The drought in Abazon serves as a symbol of the moral and spiritual barrenness that pervades the nation under corrupt leadership, developing the theme of The Corrupting Nature of Absolute Power. Achebe uses this environmental crisis to expose how the regime’s disconnection from the people affects the most vulnerable citizens, who lack political voice or influence.
The symbolic weight of the drought becomes clear when the old man from Abazon explains their desperate situation. He reveals how government officials initially promised that His Excellency would visit to see their suffering but then withdrew this promise after remembering that Abazon had voted against him two years prior. This clarifies that the drought is not merely a natural disaster; rather, it represents withholding of government care as political retribution.
The drought also symbolizes the spiritual desiccation of the ruling class, embodied by His Excellency’s retreat to the artificial paradise of the Presidential Palace while his people suffer. The contrast between the Palace’s “opulence” and Abazon’s parched landscape illustrates how power has become isolated from human need. Ikem’s “Hymn to the Sun” further develops this symbolism, depicting a landscape where “even the clouds [a]re subdued” and “the earth br[eaks] the hoes of the grave-diggers” (29). The drought thus becomes a manifestation of the moral void created when leadership abandons its fundamental responsibility to serve the people’s basic needs.
The Tortoise and the Leopard
The parable about the tortoise and the leopard functions as a central symbol in Anthills of the Savannah, representing the moral imperative of resistance even in the face of certain defeat. Achebe presents this traditional folktale through the voice of the old man from Abazon, demonstrating how Indigenous storytelling becomes a vehicle for political wisdom and cultural preservation.
The symbol’s meaning shifts depending on its speaker and context. When the elderly Abazon leader recounts the tale, it embodies the grassroots struggle against governmental oppression. The tortoise’s defiant scratching in the sand before his inevitable death becomes a metaphor for Abazon’s drought-stricken people sending their delegation to an indifferent capital. As the old man explains, “[T]hat is all we are doing now. Struggling. Perhaps to no purpose except that those who come after us will be able to say: True, our fathers were defeated but they tried” (117-18). The story thus becomes a declaration of dignified resistance. When Ikem adopts this tale as the title for his university lecture, the symbol acquires additional intellectual dimensions, representing the writer’s duty to bear witness regardless of personal cost. The tortoise’s insistence on leaving evidence of struggle parallels Ikem’s commitment to journalistic truth telling despite mounting political pressure. The symbol ultimately connects to the theme of Storytelling as Cultural Preservation and Political Resistance, illustrating how traditional narratives transcend their original contexts to become frameworks for understanding contemporary political realities.
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