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Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God

are sources of health care delivery services that are available to the 
sick in the selected texts. It indicates that there is marginalized 
presence of the education on African medical culture which seems 
to undermine the use of African traditional medicine in the 
texts.Our finding is that the two systems of medical practices are 
represented in African literary texts but the choice of the system 
represented and explained in a particular text depends largely on 
the author's vast knowledge of any or both of them.
Keywords: Representation, medical, practice, African, 
comparative.

Introduction
Literature and medicine are two different disciplines but 

have appreciable relationship. In literature, the writer, or poet, or 
novelist, or drama artist diagnosis, warns, and treats social vices at 
individual or national level. In medicine, the doctor or medical 
practitioner is concerned with the maintenance of and the 
prevention, alleviation, or cure of diseases. He diagnoses and 
treats the soul, spirit, and body of the sick. As writers use different 
literary forms to diagnose and treat social vices so also African 
medical practitioners use two main systems of medicine to 
diagnose and treat the sick. These are modern system of medicine 
and traditional system of medicine. These two systems of medical 
practices are used in Africa to treat sicknesses and ailments as 
represented in the corpus.  Analyzing the practice of medicine in 
literary texts is what we term medical literature or medical 
humanities. This form of literature dates back to the period of light 
in Europe and France as( Aja 45) noted.''L'intérêt des écrivains 
littéraires pour la médecine est antérieur à la période des Lumières 
en Europe et en France notamment parce que Le Médecin malgré 
lui et Le malade imaginaire (1673) de Molière et La Peste d'Albert 
Camus (1947) témoignent de la relation entre littérature et 

Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A 
Comparative Analysis of Veronique Tadjo's En Compagnie 
Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God

Ndu Augustina Orie
Department Of Modern European Languages

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
ao.ndu@unizik.edu.ng

08075065710

Abstract
Medicine is as old as man. For centuries, Medicine has 
increasingly come under closer scrutiny in literary text due to the 
fact that literature proves suitable means for addressing patients' 
illness concerns. Literature as a mirror of society reflects all life's 
endeavor of man, his fortunes and misfortunes.  One main 
objective of medicine is the relief of human suffering, and the 
softening of the symptoms that cause distress to humans.  In the 
other hand, literature aims at describing elements that cause 
concern or suffering to humans. In Africa, the practice of medicine 
has been from the beginning. Before the arrival of colonialists in 
Africa, roots, barks, herbs, and animal materials were used for 
curative purposes. This type of medicine is what is referred to as 
traditional medicine. This type of practice of medicine is most 
often embedded in African cultural beliefs.  Africa coming in 
contact with the western world through slave trade and 
colonialism embraced another type of medicine that we term 
modern medicine. This paper investigates the representation of 
medical practice in African literature using Veronique Tadjo's En 
Compagnie des Hommes and Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God. It 
describes how African writers explore the ontological nexus 
between medical practice and literary studies, and deploying the 
postcolonial theory, specifically Achille Mbembe's argument, it 
contends that both the orthodox and traditional medical practices 

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Africa through literary criticism in order to correct the social vices 
inherent in this practice through this medium, but we observe that 
many critics are yet to take up this all important responsibility 
hence this present work seeks to fill this gap.  This role becomes 
very crucial as it forms part of human sciences which plays 
important role in the development and preservation of human 
culture.

Medicine is the practice concerned with the maintenance 
of and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease. According to 
Dictionary.com/browse/medicine online source, ''Medicine is any 
substance or substances used in treating diseases or illnesses: It 
also sees medicine as the art or science of restoring or preserving 
health or due physical condition, as by means of drugs, surgical 
operation or appliances or manipulations''… Traditional medicine 
according to (Ezekwesili and Okaka 80348) is viewed as a 
''combination of knowledge and practice used in diagnosing, 
preventing, and eliminating disease''. This may rely on past 
experience and observations handed down from generation to 
generation either verbally, frequently in the form of stories, or 
spiritually by ancestors or, in modern times, in writing''.

Pallipedia free online palliative care dictionary observes 
that ''Traditional medicine refers to the knowledge, skills and 
practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences 
indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health 
and in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of 
physical and mental illness''. Traditional medicine covers a wide 
variety of therapies and practices that vary from country to 
country and region to region. In some countries, it is referred to as 
"complementary" and "alternative" medicine (CAM).

According to medical news today.com online source, 
''Modern medicine is that field of health and healing which 

The interest of literary writers for medicine dates back to 
the period of light in Europe and France, noting the work of 
Moliere's Le medecin malgre lui et le malade imaginer and Albert 
Camus's La peste shows the relationship between literature and 
medicine. Our translation.

From the perspective of medical literature, the chosen 
corpus describes different sicknesses and the different therapies 
used by the two medical systems known and practiced in Africa 
for health care delivery. It is worthy of note that writers for ages 
have always included medical discourse in their literary works. 
According to Squier:

“Writers take part in suffering, in sympathizing and also 
are spectators of sicknesses, epidemics and pandemics. 
They therefore have the responsibility to represent them 
either in fiction or nonfiction because fiction plays the 
dominating role in the articulation of biomedical 
imaginary, the zone that articulates the contribution of 
psyches in biomedicine'' (124).

It is important to note that it's not only writers that exercise their 
creativity towards medical write ups, medical doctors are equally 
involved in medical humanities.( Louis 177) defined medical 
humanities as ''programs that seek to re-introduce human and 
social sciences, visual arts and literature into medical field”. 
Despite the fact that writers have contributed a lot in medical 
literature, literary critiques seldom find it a subject of discussion, 
therefore many literary critics have not really paid attention to the 
analysis of traditional and modern medicine, and they only view it 
as the enclaves of medical practitioners thereby relegating their 
responsibilities of societal cure through criticism to the 
background.  Today having acknowledged literature as all 
encompassing, touching every aspect of human life, few critics 
have seen the need to evaluate medical activities and practices in 

Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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smuggled her out of the hospital but invited a traditional medical 
practitioner to treat her traditionally. In Leonora Miano's Contours 
du jour qui vient, the protagonist suffers an incurable blood 
disease. According to the protagonist, they have spent all that they 
had in paying for drugs. Que depuis que papa était mort, tout ce 
que nous possédions passait dans le paiement de mes soins 
médicaux. ( CJV10). She also received treatments from Kwedi, a 
woman who gave her decoctions to drink. The population in this 
novel seeks the help of priests and pastors to receive divine 
healing.  Papa and Mama Bosangui affirm that they have through 
their prayers healed old Ebabadi of paralyses as the old Ebabadi 
testifies to the healing by walking to the front of the Alter herself 
without support. In Fatou Diome's Le ventre de l' Atlantique, the 
author describes how her grandmother uses her experience of 
traditional way of delivery to help her daughter in labor. In 
describing the African cultural heritage through her grandmother, 
she exposes how this woman with her experience uses herbs to 
treat childhood diseases thereby making the new born fit to 
survive in their new environment. 

In Chinua Achebe's Things fall Apart, the author also 
describes the rich cultural heritage of the Igbos of Nigeria, 
opening the eyes of her readers to the traditional ways of curing 
sicknesses in igbo land. When Ezinma was sick of Iba, Okonkwo 
gathered herbs, roots, and barks of tree for the treatment of 
Ezinma. We also note Okagbue in the same novel that the author 
describes as medicine man, which was believed to specialize in 
healing infertility and also putting an end to any form of maternal 
misfortune through his divine powers. Many and more novelists' 
have treated the issue of medicine in their works but many critics 
are yet to emerge to throw more light on this very important part of 
life.

includes nurses, doctors, and various specialists. It covers 
diagnoses, medical research, and many other aspects of health. It 
is also sometimes called allopathic medicine which involves the 
use of drugs or surgery, often supported by counseling and 
lifestyle measures''.  For Britanica.com/science/medicine online 
source, ''Modern medicine is also called allopathic medicine. 
Modern medicine involves the use of drugs and surgeries to help 
and cure the disease or solve the problem of the patient''. The goals 
of modern medicine are to help in the prevention of diseases, 
promote the health of every individual in society and improve the 
quality of life of individuals or groups. In literature therefore these 
two systems of medicine is always accounted for,  either when 
describing Africans socio-cultural heritage  in the case of 
traditional medicine or when describing societal problems of ill 
health as it affects individuals and the society at large as in the case 
of epidemics or pandemics and the therapeutics prescribed for 
solutions. 

Many novelists have described characters with peculiar ill 
health and the different therapies used in trying to find solution to 
their health problems through traditional medicine or through 
modern medicine.  In Behind the clouds by Ifeoma okoye, the 
author paints the picture of the protagonist Ije Apia in her 
struggles' to overcome infertility. Ije and Dozie were happily 
married but without children. They long for a baby to crown their 
happy marriage. In the cause of seeking for solution to this 
problem, they consulted both medical doctors (MM), herbalists 
(TM), and spiritualists (priests and pastors). In Ahamadou 
Kourouma's Allah n'est pas obligé, the mother of Birahima the 
narrator suffers ulcer of the leg which incapacitates her, a situation 
which makes walking difficult for her. Her relations trying to help, 
recommended modern medical treatment. The only solution 
prescribed by the modern medical practitioner, is to amputate the 
affected leg; this resulted to rejecting the treatment.  They 

Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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The corpus of this work shows the dominance of Western 
culture and values over African culture and values. Medicine 
practice is often represented in African literature as African 
authors set to expose African cultural values   and heritage in a bid 
to deconstruct the western false claim that Africans had no culture 
and civilization before colonialism. This theory was developed in 
the Anglo-Saxon world by theorists like Edward Gayatri 
Chakravorty Spivak, Homi Bhabba. This theory makes it possible 
to analyze the writings produced by writers from countries with a 
history of colonization. This analysis examines works written or 
published during the colonial period. She also shows us how this 
situation of servitude is represented in literature.

According to Dobie, "post-colonialism is about third 
world people because whites are the oppressors of the colonized." 
(206).This theory is about the submission of one population to 
another by addressing the cultural, political and economic 
domination carried out by the colonial masters. He questions the 
superiority of European culture over African culture. She also 
considers the imposition of this so-called superior culture on 
Africans. Traditional medical practice and modern medical 
practice are well represented in African literature as the two 
systems of health care delivery available to Africans but critiques 
often pay less attention to it because today Africans attach less 
importance to the practice especially the traditional medicine 
because of the dominance of the modern medicine practice.

Comparative Analysis of the Representation of Modern 
Medicine in the Corpus

Modern medicine involves the use of drugs and surgeries 
to help and cure disease or solve the problem of the patient. In 
modern medicine, every sickness is consequential to a particular 
pathology detected through medical analyses and consultations. 
Three therapeutic processes are involved in modern medicine.  

Concept of Post-Colonialism
Post-colonialism takes the post-independence era into 

consideration. Post-colonialism began in the 1960s, when 
immigrants from already colonized countries arrived in American 
and British universities and colleges and began to analyze their 
history. This term results from the colonial phenomenon and its 
effects. It focuses on the conversation between colonizing nations 
and colonized societies. It is a study of the effects of colonialism 
on African cultures and civilizations.

Following Achille Mbembe's concept of postcolonial 
theory, this paper examines the representation of medical practice 
in African literature. According to Mbembe, the post-colonial 
notion specifically identifies a given historical trajectory, that of 
societies emerging from the experience of colonization and the 
violence that the colonial relationship implies (Mbembe102).  It 
locates the starting point of post-colonialism at the end of 
imperialism. Aspects of post-colonialism are found in literature, 
politics, culture and identity of colonizing and colonized 
countries. Colonialism aims to explain these literary works that 
come from the former colonies by placing them in their cultural 
and socio-cultural context. Gilbert notes that:

Postcolonial critique can be seen as a more or less distinct 
set of reading practices if it is understood as a concern 
primarily through the analysis of cultural forms that 
meditate, challenge or reflect on relations of domination 
and subordination, economic , cultural and political (and 
often within) nations and races or cultures, which 
characterize their roots in the history of modern European 
colonialism and imperialism and which, in equally 
characteristic ways, continue to appear in the presence of 
neo-colonialism (71).

Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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This is a clear indication that though the villagers might have their 
beliefs on the cause of certain illnesses, they still patronized the 
modern medicine.  Consequently, the practice of the two systems 
of medicine co-existed from the colonial period. In as much as this 
encounter and presentation of modern medicine might not be 
lengthy enough to form a study in this particular novel but 
traditional system of medicine is well treated and explained as it 
forms part of the cultural heritage of the African people and it 
opens the eyes to a system of medicine that might otherwise not 
have been popular at that period. In our cultural studies, 
everything that makes up culture should be well analyzed. The 
case of Captain Winterbottom and the introduction of modern 
system of medicine were actually presented to buttress the belief 
of Africans when certain actions taken are viewed as affront on 
their traditional religious system. The narrator observes:

Perhaps it was Captain Winterbottom that brought it on; 
perhaps his steward was right about the cause. But on that 
very morning when two police men set out to arrest 
Ezeulu in Umuaro Captain Winterbottom suddenly 
collapsed and went into delirium (AFG 149 ).

All that Dr. Savage was devoted doing during this period was to 
care for the sick and help him regain his health. This is the very 
essence of both systems of medicine in Africa. Although we were 
not eventually told the diagnoses of the doctor on the case of 
Captain Winterbottom but he already diagnosed fever from his 
own experience, he even prescribed a preventive solution that 
eventually did not materialize before he was eventually forced for 
cure.

In En compagnie des hommes Veronique Tadjo tries to 
describe the scene the epidemic Ebola created in Africa and the 
struggles embarked by every one that was infected and those not 
infected by the virus but in one way or the other were affected by 
this deadly virus. Through the use of modern medication, doctors, 

They include the diagnostic therapeutic process.  Preventive 
therapeutic process, and curative therapeutic process. The goals of 
modern medicine are to help in the prevention of diseases, 
promote the health of every individual in society and improve the 
quality of life of individuals or groups. In Chinua Achebe Arrow of 
God, the practice of modern medicine was noted when Captain 
Winterbottom collapsed after giving instruction to arrest the chief 
priest Ezeulu. Before now Captain Winterbottom had had signs of 
malaria and was advice to see a doctor for treatment but he 
declined and put it forward:

For two days now Captain Winterbottom had been feeling 
unduly tired and run down. The rains did not seem to bring 
the expected respite. His gums looked paler than ever and 
his feet felt cold. He would not be due for another bout of 
fever for yet a while, but these were the signs all right. Of 
course he was not afraid as a new boy might be. Fever for 
an old coaster was no more than an inconvenience; it laid 
one off for a few days that was all…  You should go and 
see a doctor (AFG 147).

This was a case of treatment of modern medicine. In the case of 
Captain Winterbottom, he was already used to this ailment and 
could do self-diagnoses and even self-prescription. Of course this 
didn't work as he eventually collapsed, was unconscious.  Here 
hospital,  doctor  Mary Savage, a mention of special ward where 
he was kept all indicate that he was receiving treatment through 
modern system of medicine. Dr. Savage was also known to be 
carrying out surgical operations, the villagers already knew 
Wednesdays as the day of cutting open of bowels:

Captain Winterbottom's delirium lasted for three days and 
in all that time Dr. Savage rarely left his bed side. She even 
postponed the operation which she performed every 
Wednesday for which that day was known throughout the 
village as the day of the cutting open of bowels (AFG 150).

Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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locaux ou étranges, ils se sentent unis par un désir commun 
d'éradiquer Ebola. Il y a aussi, bien entendu, les autres 
docteurs, mes collègues les plus proches(ECDH 27).
The majority of the workers came in minibuses. They 
wake up very early, leaving the house while the children 
are still in bed. Among them are nurses, determined in their 
mission, the psychologists with their difficult task, team 
members, water team members, decontaminators, body 
buriers. Cooks and launderers of simple but essential work 
also came, then the administrators and the logisticians who 
go quickly to their offices at the other end of the center. 
Local and foreign volunteers, they felt united by a 
common desire to eradicate Ebola.  There were other 
doctors as well, my closest colleagues. (Our translation).

Above are the medical practitioners in modern medicine. The 
presence of any epidemic in any society attracts the attention of all 
including writers who are either spectators, sufferers or those who 
join to find solution to the problem. Therefore, the way and 
manner such situations are managed in the society should be the 
concern of all. The representation of such occurrences in literary 
works is a manifestation that writers are mirroring well the society.  
No aspect of societal life should be ignored by critiques that are 
saddled with the task or responsibility of interpreting these literary 
works and giving them life:

Les soins aux malades ne sont que des traitements de 
soutien. Il n'existe pas de médicaments efficaces contre le 
virus. L'important, c'est de réhydrater le malade. 
Beaucoup de liquides, autant que possible. Alimenter 
aussi par voie orale et, si ce n'est pas possible, par voie 
intraveineuse. Il faut donner des comprimés pour contrôler 
la fièvre et surveiller les problèmes gastro-intestinaux. 
Traiter la douleur, faire diminuer l'anxiété. Les patients 
sont devenus des proies faciles. Il faut soigner les maladies 

nurses, care givers and volunteer workers combined medical 
forces to battle against the epidemic caused by Ebola virus, for the 
medical personnel and the entire community it was a battle. This 
novel unravels the trauma, the panic and the fear such life treating 
epidemics can create in humans and it equally reveals  how 
humans faced by a common enemy  that fears no class or status 
can unite to fight  to gain victory. From the very first page of the 
novel we note the commencement of Ebola through two children 
of the same parents who had been infected after eating bats they 
got from their hunting expedition.  One of the narrators in the 
novel notes:

Moins d'un mois plus tard, ils étaient à  l ' a g o n i e .  L e 
sang coulait par tous leurs orifices… Quand l'infirmier fut 
alerté, … Éloigne-toi, vous êtes en danger, j'appelle 
l'équipe … L'équipe arriva. Les hommes sortirent leur 
matériel.(ECDH 12).
In less than a month, they were in agony. Blood was 
gushing out of their opening cavities. When the Nurse was 
alerted… she instructed, 'stay far from them, you are in 
danger, I will call the team,… the team arrived. The men 
brought out their materials. (Our translation).

The nurse that was alerted who called the team, in this case the 
medical team indicates that the treatment received by these 
patients was that of modern medicine. The methods of treatment 
also indicate the system of modern medicine:

La majorité des employés arrive en minibus. Ils se sont 
levés très tôt, quittant la maison alors que les enfants 
dormaient encore. Parmi eux, il y a les infirmières, si 
déterminés dans leur mission, les psychologues à la tâche 
difficile, les membres d'équipes d'eau, assainissement, 
enterrement des corps. Arrivent aussi les cuisiniers et les 
blanchisseurs au travail modeste mais essentiel, et enfin 
les administrateurs et les logisticiens, qui se rendent très 
vite dans leurs bureaux a l'autre bout du centre. Volontaires 

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Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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Comparative Analysis of the Representation of Traditional 
Medicine in the Corpus

The two systems of medicine have a single objective of 
treating the sickness that ravages man physically and morally. 
Traditional medicine practitioners in Arrow of God include; the 
magicians or medicine man, and divinities or chief priests. The 
medicine man or magician practices magic which he combines 
with healing. His main objective is to reestablish the unity of  the 
soul and body of an individual. He uses appropriate therapies that 
he deem suitable either to cure or to prevent diseases. The man 
Otakepkeli in our corpus serves as example (AOG 148,196).

A divinity or Chief priest achieves this feet through 
rigorous and long learning. He is considered by his people as a 
small god whose duty is to interpret the will of the gods or 
ancestors and communicate them to the living. Most times, their 
therapies are preventive, because they are expected to foresee the 
evil. Ezeulu the chief priest is a perfect example.

In traditional medicine, the same sickness may be said to 
have different causes depending on the medicine man or healer. 
Sicknesses may be caused by spirits of ancestors who are angry for 
one offence or the other committed by an individual or community 
at large. It could also be caused by bewitchment or no respect for 
social or customary practices. The therapy for curing the 
convulsion of Nwafo was the carving of an okposi:  This is in 
agreement with what Ayodele noted [diseases mostly revolve 
around witchcraft/sorcery, gods or ancestors, natural, as well as 
inherited.

Nwafo's eyes picked out the special okposi that belonged 
to him. It had been carved for him because of his frequent 
convulsions at night. They told him to call it Namesake, 
and he did. Gradually the convulsions had left him (AOG 
6).

qui se greffent sur leurs corps atteints :  i n f e c t i o n s 
bactériennes, paludisme, typhoïde, tuberculose. Il ne faut 
pas s'arrêter de soigner, même quand les malades semblent  
être proches de la mort( ECDH 29).

The care of patients is nothing but the sustaining of 
treatments. There is no effective treatment against the 
virus. The important thing is to rehydrate the patient, as 
much liquids as possible. Feeing through oral therapy, or if 
not possible through the vein. Tablets are given to control 
fever and guard against stomach problems. Treating 
sadness, help in reducing anxiety. The patients have 
become easy prey.  We should care for the illnesses 
transplanted on their suffering bodies. Malaria, Typhoid, 
and Tuberculoses. We should not stop to care even when 
the patients are close to death(Our translation).

These are the therapies used by modern medical practitioners in 
combating the virus Ebola well represented in this novel. It is 
equally educating as we navigate its contents. Literature here 
performs its enlightening objective through sensitization in the 
society but we ask where are the critiques whose duty is to 
interpret the writer's motive to the populace?  This is in line with 
what KRA KOFFI Jerome noted that literature is an arm of 
persuasion, of education, and a sort of preventive and curative 
remedy to the social vices that is suffered by the society (117).

To prevent the spread of Ebola virus, the author in the 
novel educated the populace through the invention of a 
communiqué by the ministry of health on how to prevent Ebola. 
Documented in a novel is an attempt to educate even the unborn 
population about the virus Ebola. It is worthy of note that literature 
and medicine have preventive therapies for illnesses. 

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Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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Sicknesses were also prevented by introducing weeks of rest.  
Certain festivals are introduced to prevent illnesses as we 
observed in the corpus. The introduction of new yam festivals, 
festival of the first pumpkin leaves were geared towards making 
the population to observe some days of rest (AOG 64-65, 201).   
This is the practice in the modern medicine system where people 
are given bed rest in hospitals to reduce stress which has been 
discovered to be the cause of dangerous ailments like 
hypertension, stroke and paralysis.  This practice had long ago 
been in practice by the traditional practitioners. 

The consultation of a dibia is also to prevent a mishap or 
calamity (AOG 158, 217). The son of late Ogbuefi Amalu had to 
meet a Dibia to find out the best way his father's burial should be 
conducted to avoid his wroth. Couple Matthew Nweke consulted a 
dibia regularly for protection and safety. African traditional 
medicine practitioners combine medicine with their religious 
practices just as we have seen in our corpus. The methods of 
prevention always depend on their religious and cultural beliefs.   
Ezekwesili and Okaka remark:

The traditional healer provides health care services based 
on culture, religious background, knowledge, attitudes, 
and beliefs that are prevalent in his community. Illness is 
regarded as having both natural and supernatural causes 
and thus must be treated by both physical and spiritual 
means, using divination, incantations, animal sacrifice, 
exorcism, and herbs.

The writings of Achebe are preoccupied with the physical healing 
of an individual and equally the societal healing where the 
individual comes from. This societal healing is achieved through 
mythical celebrations which sometimes represent traditional 
healers' practices and major festivals in African societies. In En 
compagnie des hommes, despite the fact that Veronique Tadjo 

focused on the modern curative therapy of the Virus Ebola, she did 
not equally hesitate to make mention of the role  played by the 
traditional practitioners in the combat against Ebola.  Although 
Ebola is a strange infection to the traditional healers yet they tried 
their lot in the combat against the deadly virus. This is instructive 
as in all African societies, the usefulness of traditional healers as 
the main means of providing health care cannot be over 
emphasized. In some Asian and European countries they may be 
regarded as alternative medicine but in Africa this is the major 
system of medicine.  Ezekwesili and Okaka, agrees with this fact 
when they noted that ''In the continent of Africa, the practice of 
traditional healing and magic is much older than some of the other 
traditional medical sciences and seems to be much more prevalent 
compared to conventional medicine.'’

In our corpus En compagnie des hommes, the mother of the 
children who were infected with the virus Ebola consulted the 
traditional healer when the medical team of modern medicine 
delayed their arrival. This traditional healer or medicine man tried 
to give the woman some herbal mixtures to help the children. The 
therapy used by this healer was both preventive and curative just 
as in the case of modern medicine. He first of all prescribed 
cleaning of the whole village and purification rites to prevent the 
occurrence of this virus:

La mère ne pouvait plus rester là sans rien faire. Elle alla 
chez le guérisseur pour chercher les plantes qui soignent… 
Il faut nettoyer le village, faire des rites de purification. 
Mais il eut pitié d'elle et lui donna des décoctions pour ses 
enfants(ECDH 12).
The mother could no longer stay doing nothing. She went 
to the traditional healer to look for healing plants…we 
should clean the village and perform purification rites. But 
he had pity on her and gave her some decoction for her 
children(Our translation).

Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
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Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Arrow of God. Heinemann, 1964.
Ajah, Richard. '' Entre orthodoxie et oralite '' : Un discours medical 

de La femme aux pieds nus de scholastique Mukasonga'' 
dans Le Caïlcedrat, vol I, no 1, 2018, pp. 45-65.

--- La dramaturgie du dialogue interculturel : Contribotion de la 
medecine traditinnelle et la medecine moderne au 
developpement humain dans La Tignassse de Zaourou 
Bernard ZADI''. Dans  AGORA : Journal of Foreign 
Language Studies, no 5, 2019, pp. 64-78.

Ayodele Samuel. The Yoruba Cultural Construction of Health and 
Illness.Nordic Journal of African Studies, vol 11, no 3, 2002, 
pp. 322-335. 

Diom, Fatou. Le ventre de l'Atlantique, Anne Carrière, 2003.
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Criticism. Wordsworth, 2009. 
Ezekwesili-Ofili, Ozioma and Okaka, Antoinette. Herbal 

Medicines in African Traditional Medicine.Open Access 
peer review. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.80348, 2019.

KRA Koffi. '' Littérature et médecine : Une  relation mal perçue'' 
Le Caïlcedrat. Vol 1, no 1, 2018, pp. 117.

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MédicaleSuisse, vol 2, no 5, 2002, pp. 177.
Leonorah, Miano. Contours du jour qui vient, Plon, 2008.
Mbembe, Achille. On the Postcolony. University of California 

Press. 2001.
Ndu, Augustina, and Obiora, Ijeoma. 'The Significance of African 

Cultural Heritage based on Maryse Conde's I, Tituba, black 
witch of Salem'. Journal of Chinese and African Studies, vol 
2, no 1, 2021, pp. 198.

Okoye, Ifeoma.  Behind the Clouds; Pearson Education Limited. 
1982. 

 

Conclusion
From this study, we have seen that literature and medicine 

are seen as two different disciplines which have appreciable 
relationship. While medicine seeks to heal the physical body, 
literature is always all about inventing, prescribing and healing 
because the doctor needs the right choice of words to describe the 
body or explain the pathologies of patients. In literature, the 
writer, or poet, or novelist, or drama artist diagnosis, warns, and 
treats social vices at individual or national level. We have noted 
that the two systems of medicine, modern and traditional medicine 
are well represented in African literature as we peruse the corpus 
of this study,Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God and Veronique 
Tadjo's En compagnie des hommes The various practitioners of 
these two systems of medicine and the therapies they use in 
treating illnesses as presented to us by the authors have been 
examined as well.  We conclude that the two systems of medical 
practice are well represented in African literary texts but the 
choice of the systems narrated and explained in a particular text 
depends largely on the author's vast knowledge of any or both of 
them.  We therefore invite literary critiques to dive into the 
analyses and explanation of medical practices as they are 
presented in literary works in order to clarify, and educate the 
public on the happenings in these areas. Perusing a literary work 
by authors in other countries provide the opportunity of inward 
journeying, a lot can be learned through this means.  By so doing, 
we promote the education of African medical culture. (Ndu and 
Obiorah 198) is of the opinion that “There is need to understand 
the values of the African culture and avoid unwholesome 
imitations which further divide Africans and make them 
insignificant” (198). This equally applies to our medical culture, 
lets develop it by all means possible.

Ndu Augustina Orie: Representation of Medical Practice in African Literature: A Comparative 

Analysis of Veronique Tadjo’s En Compagnie Des Hommes and Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022



105 106

Embellishing Language in Oral Tradition through the Use of 
Proverbs in Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo's The Last of the Strong 
Ones

Nwafor, John Onyema
Department Of English

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam 
Campus

nwaforjohnable@gmail.com
07037828182, 07087870380

&
Emma-Agbiri Nneka Augustina

Anambra State Civil Service Commission, Awka.
emmaagbirinneka@gmail.com

07037766554

Abstract
This paper explores the use of proverbs as an aspect of oral 
tradition. The study draws its inspiration from the observations of 
people's attitudes in society and attendant consequences. The 
novelencapsulates the vast pool of human deeds in their notorious 
and sublime forms—a story of all the tragic, moving, comic, 
boring, challenging, perturbing, and even ennobling actions and 
inactions of human beings. It is the narrative of four women 
namely Ejimnaka, Onyekozuru, Chime, and Chibuka. The study 
discovered that the novelist used her artistic power through 
proverbs to give an insight in what the culture of the Umuga 
people was before the coming of the white men. The novelist 
made use of the Igbo setting. There are names, proverbs, idioms 
and practices that epitomize the Igbo culture and Igbo world view. 
Her works are linked between her  and her lived experience. fic�on

The major source of her stories in the novel is her own direct 
experience through fiction.  Oral Aesthetics is highly portrayed in 
Ezeigbo's works in her constant use of songs, proverbs, lullabies 

Squier, Sussan. “Literature and Medicine, Future Tense: Making it 
Graphic.”Literature and      Medicine,vol 27, no2, 2008, pp. 
124-152.

Tadjo, Veronique..En compagnie des hommes. 2017.
Vamara, Kone. Life-writing and the precept of talking cure in 

African-American autobiography: A study of Richard 
Wright's Black boy and Rebecca Walker's Black white and 
Jewish, Le Caïlcedrat.  pp. 259, . 2018.

Nwafor, John Onyema & Emma-Agbiri Nneka Augustina: Embellishing Language in Oral 

Tradition through the Use of  Proverbs in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s The Last of the Strong one
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022

mailto:emmaagbirinneka@gmail.com
https://newprojecttopics.com.ng/internal-auditing-efficiency-2/

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