The success of a piece of literature depends on many factors, however, the impact it leaves on the reader/viewer can determine its publicity. This is because the readers/viewers are more likely to talk about it, therefore writers often leave great impressions of their work on the audience in order to make their views heard. In all three texts, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miler, the writers have evoked emotional response amongst their audience through various techniques. In their literary works they were able to cause a stir through questioning change or challenging the norm of society in regard to colonialism, female oppression, or the unrealistic desire to achieve the “American Dream”.

In Things Fall Apart, Achebe tells the story of Ibo society both before an after colonisation by white people. Achebe’s novel is a success as he is one of the few – and perhaps the first – to write about the colonizing period from the perspective of black Africans, as opposed to the more commonly told story from the perspective of white colonisation. In separating the novel into three parts, the reader is able to witness the rapid social change in Ibo society. This structuring of the novel allows readers to learn more about Ibo society, culture, traditions, and values in Part 1. Part 1 is the longest section of the novel; significantly, this allows the (probably white, “Western”) reader the opportunity to become familiar with Ibo society, including their religion and beliefs in different deities. For example, readers learn that if a couple are to be married, the groom has to pay a “bride price” in cowries to the bride’s family. In Parts 2 and 3, the novel shifts to focus on the arrival of colonial whites. However, before this happens, half of the novel has elapsed, and the reader has become familiar with the Ibo, developing and understanding and emotional connection to them. The arrival of whites causes significant disruption in Ibo society. Their society changes irrevocably, and it is likely that the reader will a sense of intrusion and sympathy with the Ibo people.

In addition, the shift in the novel after Part 1 allows a passage of time to elapse. In the 7-year period between Parts 1 and 2, the tragic protagonist Okonkwo returns to Umofia from his motherland Mbanta where he has been banished. Okonkwo’s return from exile reveals to the reader what has been lost in Ibo society. The white colonizers (and possibly the reader) view the Ibo as primitive savages. The colonizers perspective reflects a failure and unwillingness to understand the Ibo, “but how could they if they don’t even understand our tongue, and they think our customs are bad”. The reader is encouraged to share the Ibo point of view and to develop sympathy as they powerlessly accept colonial domination.

Similar challenges in conventional view are also apparent in Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House. Whilst Achebe challenges perspectives on race and ethnicity, Ibsen is concerned to reveal the inequality that exists between genders in late 19^th century Norway. Ibsen reveals this most obviously through focussing on the entrapment of the female protagonist, Nora Helmer. Ibsen employs dramatic irony in order to question the position of men and women. The political implications of Ibsen’s play were significant around the time of its first performance; it was frequently banned as it was thought that the ideas in the play may incite women to challenge the hegemony of patriarchy. Through dramatic irony, theatre audiences learn of Nora’s habit of lying to her husband, Torvald. Audiences learn, as the play progresses, and lie builds on lie, that Nora is a deceitful character. Early in the first act, the audience learns that Nora has lied to Torvald over the purchase and consumption of macaroons which Torvald has “forbidden”. Acts such as the eating of macaroons, create dramatic irony, and they foreshadow the “the big thing”. It is this “big thing” that is central to the drama; specifically, Nora, the audience learns, has forged her dead father’s signature in order to secure money for a trip to Italy in an attempt to improve Torvald’s health. To a contemporary audience, this may not seem particularly shocking. However, the reaction of an audience at the time of first production is likely to have been very different. Not only is Nora morally culpable, in lying to her husband, it is also the case that “women cannot borrow money”. The role reversal that has a woman providing for her husband upsets ideas about what is appropriate and possible. This challenge to conventional thinking led to the banning of the play, and this idea at least continues to intrigue modern audiences.

Modern audience, however, are likely to take a very different view of the play than 19^th century audiences. In particular, views of women have changed quite significantly. Women are often legally equal to their husbands – quite different to the circumstance of Nora and Torvald. Women no longer have sole responsibility for child care (although they may continue to do most of it). And, women do not function as objects that exist to beautify the lives of husbands. Modern audiences are unlikely to see as affectionate Torvald’s patronising his wife Nora through diminutive expressions such as “songbird” and “skylark”. In fact, contemporary audiences are more likely to recognise the relationship between Torvald’s symbolic diminution of Nora and her physical entrapment in her “doll’s house”. It is in this sense that the modern viewer in the play is likely to develop a strong emotional response, sympathetic to Nora, and hostile to her condescending husband.

As in Achebe’s novel and Ibsen’s play, Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman evokes an emotional response in theatre audiences. It is the use of flashback that arouses emotion and appeals to pathos. Throughout the play, the anti-hero protagonist, Willy Loman, and everyman failing in his pursuit of the American Dream, experiences a series of flashbacks. These flashbacks are revealed to audiences through the use of music and the sound of a flute. The music conveys a transition as Willy moves from the present to the past. Willy goes through his normal routine while continuing to live in the past. This behaviour shows Willy’s sad transformation – a downward spiral – as he struggles to attain the material success that would represent the attainment of the American Dream. He fails to earn commission as a salesman, meaning that “nothing has been planted” for his sons Biff and Happy.

Through flashbacks, audiences learn that the past was more prosperous for Willy and there was a greater sense of promise at a time when Biff was an elite football player. Miller’s technique allows audiences to see Willy’s descent into madness as he loses touch with reality. The audience develops sympathy for Willy as the dichotomy between appearance and reality becomes increasingly obvious. Willy wants his son Biff to become a great salesman believing that “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Because in the end, personality wins the day”. However, it isn’t only personality that matters and this is why Willy never remained a great salesman. Willy is dislocated in a changing world, a world in which personality is no longer adequate to achieve success. In this sense, like Okonkwo, Willy is a man out of time. He becomes increasingly stubborn, reminiscing about past success, whilst in the present he is just a “little boat looking for a harbour”. The use of flashback in the play provides a contrast between Willy’s ideal world and his unfortunate present. The audience is likely to develop sympathy for Willy. It is his intransigence that leads him to descend into madness, and tragically, like Okonkwo, to commit suicide.

In conclusion, there are various techniques employed by writers to encourage an emotional response from a reader or audience. In the examples discussed, the writers have shown how structuring a text, creating dramatic irony, and using flashbacks can provoke emotion. However, it is also the case that contexts of production and reception, including the characteristics of the reader/audience, influence the actual response to a text. Responses may be positive or negative, but literary works, such as those discussed, are often memorable and enduring when they provoke readers to reconsider their social circumstances. Sometimes literary works actually contribute to questioning society’s values, and are participants in social change.