Colonialism And Colonialism In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe once said, "the world is like a mask dancing...if you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place," (Goodreads). Renowned for his novel Things Fall Apart, in which he responds to the stereotypes of the British who conquered the continent of Africa in the era of New Imperialism, Achebe explores Igbo culture through many aspects of daily village life. Contradicting the racism employed by whites in the 1890s in order to justify slavery in earlier history, Things Fall Apart offers a new fresh perspective into the lives of ordinary villagers of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, before they are taken over by the British. Just as the whites in Europe, the tribe applies their own religion, customs, beliefs, and language to their lives. Through this lens the reader is able to extract a deeper meaning of the powerful message Achebe communicates by penning the famous novel.

According to Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian writer who believes in the power of story, if one traps oneself into the narrow world of “single story” about another person or country, that person would risk a crucial misconception. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is considered as the most authentic response to contemporary Western’s literature depiction of Africa, which usually obligates the readers to only look at the “single story” that is written with personal stereotypes under an ethnocentric point of view. As a result, in his famous Things Fall Apart, Achebe contrasts the perspective of the colonized on imperialism with that of the colonizing in order to provide an alternative to the Western literature’s “single story” of Africa.

Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by

Colonialism occurs when one nation takes control of another. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the British did to the Africans. The British took over their land basically without the Africans knowledge. Although the British created a more developed civilization with the many aspects they brought to Kenya, they greatly affected Africans economically, politically, socially and culturally. With that being stated, Kenya would not be the country it is this very day if it weren’t for the British colonizing the Africans.

Post colonialism deals with cultural identity in colonized societies and the ways in which writers articulate that identity. Things Fall Apart is a good novel that serves as a reminder of what Nigeria once was. It shows how a society can deal with change, how change affects the individuals of that society, and how delicate a change can be; so much so that the people themselves are surprised at the change.

Things Fall Apart is a story of a village in Nigeria around the late 1800’s. It explains African history and British government, from the Christian church and how they forced their religion on the Igbo culture. Igbo traditions faded away and eventually the Igbo culture was gone. The missionaries whose objective was to spread and convert Christianity were able to establish a rift in the Igbo tribe which allowed for government and law to become a part of the land in Nigeria and become Westernized.

In Things Fall Apart, there are many things that make it a great piece of postcolonial literature. The book is about the Igbo tribe, and how Christian missionaries came into the town of Umuofia. Okonkwo was the antagonist of the story, and it also shows the development of this town and his relationships. In Things Fall Apart, there are numerous examples of colonialism, how Christians invaded and what they did once they arrived in Africa. Along with that, many metanarratives were shown, and Chinua Achebe used two different languages in this story. Things Fall Apart is a great book, with many different contextual features.

Achebe excelled at school, and won a scholarship to study medicine, but changed his studies to English Literature at University College. He became fascinated with world religious, and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student. Then he became a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic, who was one of the first to write a Postcolonial novel, so we can’t talk about postcolonial literature, without talking about the master piece of Achebe “Things Fall Apart”, that played a vital role in presenting a complex, dynamic society, to a Western audience, who perceived African society as primitive, simple, and

Throughout the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, one can see how the Igbo and Nigerian natives crumble at the hands of British settlers. The author uses this title to simply explain what he really thinks happens during colonization - they fall apart. During this time period, it’s obvious that the native people begin lose their customs and traditional African ways due to the British influence. Religion is an important topic discussed throughout the novel and it’s interesting to see how some indigenous people struggle to follow the missionaries settlers and let their religion of Christianity creep into their lifestyles; some villagers are punished and even killed for trying to stick to their traditional ways. Some may argue that the introduction to christianity may have benefitted the indigenous people during this time because these missionaries were willing to give the Africans education, but they were forced to learn a Christian lifestyle and were deprived of their original beliefs and

Colonialism, by definition is “the control or governing influence of a nation over a dependent country, territory, or people, but colonialism is much more sinister than simply influencing a “dependent country, territory, or people” as the above definition would have us believe. If we were to form our own definition of colonialism based on the current refugee crisis in Europe or the horrors that took place in Africa and America in the past, we can say that colonialism is the exploitation of a territory’s natural resources, taking full political control by force over a territory, and the forcing of these people to assimilate to their beliefs

While there are many novels written about white colonization in Africa, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart illustrates the views of not only the Nigerian people in Igbo but also the white imperialist side of the story. Achebe wrote the novel as a response to other books about the colonization of Africa, which were typically written by white men. Joseph Conrad, among many other authors wrote African characters as less intelligent and primitive humans who were better off after the colonization of Africa. Achebe shows the reader that the people of Igbo had a fully functioning civilization with a developed religion, language, and political system. They were not just a helpless, uneducated civilization waiting for someone to come and reconstruct

During the 19th century, European colonization and imperialism swept the face of African societies. The voices of these entrapped societies were highly suppressed throughout the time period resulting in a narrow westernized perspective of the event. However, this changed when Chinua Achebe-- the first African to have a novel published-- created his masterpiece Things Fall Apart. Through this spectacular novel, Achebe depicts the clash of cultures between the British colonists and the Igbo tribe as well as the mixed emotions in regards to western influence among tribal members through the lenses of Okonkwo and his son Nwoye. Through the cultural interactions between the British and the Igbo people, Achebe is able to artfully and elaborately

Throughout the book Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe challenges the typical stereotypes of colonial Africa. The story follows the lives of the Ibo people, and explains the culture and traditions of African tribes in Nigeria before and after being colonized by the Europeans.

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a modern example of postcolonial literature and is one of the most influential pieces of its genre. Postcolonial writing presents important themes and lessons of justice, equality, and freedom that can be applied to present times. It reminds us of how important our freedoms are and why we need to protect them. The colonized write about their exploitation and show how there is persecution in their colonized society. Postcolonial authors use specific methods to undermine their colonizers and reveal their backward logic. Things Fall Apart has various examples of meta-narrative, decolonization struggles, and colonial discourse worked in throughout the novel. Chinua Achebe’s writing styles showcase these techniques to subvert his European colonizers.